***
[Shards Acquired]
[Shards Acquired]
[Shards Acquired]
"Ugh... damn, that hurts like hell."
Soli sat down next to the corpse of a lizard he'd just killed, wounded, exhausted, and sweating. He was no longer wearing the clothes he had on when he first woke up. Now, he was dressed in guard gear; he had officially become one of the village guards.
About a month ago, a week after he woke up, some men had come and given him a new set of clothes—sturdy leather with tough black scales—and started taking him on patrols around the village.
"Show Status..."
The system screen appeared with its usual faint glow, like shards of glass piecing themselves together from thin air.
[Core: 98/500]
"Dammit... that's it? With this pitiful amount of shards, it's gonna take forever... Close."
There had been attacks on the village by the lizards, but they were infrequent, and he wasn't always the one to take them down. He had noticed an improvement in his strength and speed. Every shard boosted his strength and speed, and even some of his other senses had sharpened slightly. It made butchering these lizards a whole lot easier than that first time.
Soli stood up and yanked his dagger from the skull of the three-tailed beast with its tough hide. It was a wonder how these stone daggers could withstand so much pressure without shattering.
He wiped the blade clean before slipping it back into its sheath, then headed toward the river, as was his routine, to wash off the lizard blood that covered him. Leaving the blood on for too long had unpleasant effects—the smell became downright disgusting.
On his way to the river, he ran into "Gray"—a name he'd given him because of his color and since he didn't know his real name. In fact, Soli had given everyone he knew in the village silly nicknames: the guards were defined by their looks—Scarface, Shorty, Skinny, and Just-Thin.
The two reached the river, a place where the village women would go to fetch water and sometimes bathe. The young men of the village would often sneak peeks, but Soli and Gray paid no mind. Gray, despite being young enough to naturally join his peers in their spying, preferred to stick with Soli.
As for Soli, he couldn't be bothered to pursue a relationship. The village women were already drawn to his strength, and sometimes they would slip into his tent at night, but he'd always turn them away. He wasn't looking for pleasure; he was searching for something else entirely.
As the two were in the water, the women were stealing glances at Soli, whose body was growing more powerful with each shard he absorbed. Their staring was interrupted by the Village Chief. He was standing right behind them, speaking to the boy next to Soli, signaling for the boy to leave, and then gesturing for Soli to get out. The boy acted like a translator, but without even speaking.
The Chief led them to a place filled with the obsidian stones with lapis lazuli veins. They were clustered along the riverbank in specific, rare spots. Soli was surprised he hadn't noticed them before when passing by the river.
Many of the village youths and their parents were there, along with some hunters—whom Soli had also given his silly nicknames. They were intently examining the stones, staring at them for a long time before finally selecting one.
The Chief raised his hand and pointed towards a pile of the rocks, then looked directly at Soli.
Soli raised his left eyebrow slightly. He understood what the Chief wanted, but why? The Chief had already given him a dagger when he first woke up, and nothing had happened to it.
He walked towards the piles of rocks stacked in front of him. He moved between them, scanning them carefully left and right, until his eyes fell on a stone radiating a strong, vibrant lapis lazuli glow from beneath.
He bent down, moving a few stones aside to find the source of the light. It was a rock like the others, but the light it emitted was more intense. The combination of the black stone and the glowing blue veins created a strikingly beautiful pattern.
Soli stood up and pointed the stone out to the Chief, who responded with a smile.
The three of them then headed to one of the village carvers. The man was already working on a stone when the Chief entered and spoke with him briefly. The carver stopped what he was doing, studied Soli intently, then took the stone and smiled. The three of them walked away together before eventually parting ways.
A week passed, and the villagers and youths gathered in the village square. Some young men wore thick fur protective gear and carried small packs. They were saying goodbye to their families, who wept and hugged them tightly, while Soli and Gray watched from a slight distance.
The young men moved toward the village elders, who were standing just before the forest's edge. The elders held striped leaves smeared with a white substance, and others with those familiar small balls. The Chief painted the white paste onto the youths' faces and placed the balls into their mouths.
When he finished, the young men assembled before the forest boundary. The Chief shouted out words that prompted the youths to shout in response, and then they ran off into the forest.
The Chief, the elders, and the families remained for a while after the youths had gone, before eventually all returning to their tents.
Four days passed, and the air grew colder. Soli noticed that the hunters hadn't gone out. Not a single one had left the village in all that time. They made do with the lizards that attacked the village for food. Even though the attacks were few, the hunters didn't even go near the forest's edge.
On the morning of the fifth day, the Chief took Soli and Gray to the carver who had taken Soli's stone. There, the carver had finished crafting his weapon.
It was a slightly long dagger with a curved blade, serrated sections along the back, and an ornately carved handle. The craftsmanship was professional.
Then, the carver brought out a set of decorated protective gear made from tough leather and gray-green fur, without the hard scales. It was the same kind of outfit the young men who had left five days ago were wearing.
Soli instantly understood what the Chief had been planning for him back during the feast, and why it had been held for someone who hadn't done much. He'd had his suspicions before, but this confirmed them. Soli didn't object. In fact, he saw it as a golden opportunity to gather more shards instead of just waiting for lizards to attack the village. He could go out and hunt them himself.
On the eighth day since the youths had entered the forest, the villagers gathered once more in the village square in the early morning, along with the elders. They waited for a long time, perhaps nearly an hour, before the first young man stepped out from the forest's edge.
He was exhausted, wounded, and covered himself with those striped leaves. Slung over his shoulders was the carcass of a four-armed ape.
The boy was so tired he nearly collapsed, but the village hunters caught him before he fell. They took the ape from his shoulders, and everyone began to cheer, laugh, and celebrate him. The boy, despite his exhaustion and injuries, laughed and cheered along.
It wasn't long before a group of other weary youths emerged after him, carrying various kinds of prey. They all covered themselves with the same striped leaves. The cheers, welcomes, and laughter grew louder and more joyous.
Then the other group arrived. Like the ones before them, they were exhausted, wounded, and covered themselves with the striped leaves. But they carried no prey.
This time, the guards moved to assist them. There were no cheers this time. Instead, some of the youths in the group were crying, while others had deeply somber looks on their faces.
The families took their returning sons—both the successful and the failed—back to their tents. Meanwhile, the other parents kept waiting for their children. Their numbers dwindled until the light began to fade almost completely.
That's when the mothers broke down. They wept, collapsing to the ground. The fathers wiped tears from their faces, crying in silence as they held their wives. Siblings cried out, calling their brothers' names. Then, before darkness fully fell, they all returned to their tents.
The next morning, all the villagers woke up very early. They were preparing for the feast to celebrate the returning youths, using the prey the successful ones had brought back. The hunters didn't go out that day either; instead, they sat with the young men, talking—probably sharing stories and experiences.
Soli wasn't standing with them during the celebration. He was with the other families who had been waiting for sons that never returned. His task as a guard was naturally to assist the youths who had failed, as they had returned late. He watched them with cold, exhausted, almost dead-looking eyes.
"So, this is the normal reaction of parents..."
He muttered quietly to himself, remembering how Adam's parents had treated Their son , how they had ignored his illness.
Some of them returned, while others never did. This continued right up until the feast. Everyone ate, while the mothers and fathers waiting for their sons stood with trembling bodies and tear-filled eyes.
The next morning, the hunters returned to the forest to hunt and search for the bodies of the missing youths. It took them three days to find most of them, but not all. They held a funeral ceremony, this time without the yellow orb. The Chief merely painted their faces before they were pushed into the cave.
A week passed since the funeral. The surviving youths Those who succeeded had rested well and were preparing to go hunting with the experienced hunters. And Danny also had to prepare, because his turn would come next year.