The gazes from his tribesmen made Luk’s body tremble.

  “I-i-i actually did nothing. I just throw my spear and miraculously hit this boar.” Luk softly spoke as he looked down to avoid the gazes of his tribesmen.

  Someone holds onto his shoulder

  “Hehehe let me explain what happened.” Horm happily tells the story.

  It was short, but everyone quietly listened.

  “The Sun Goddess blessed your spear,” said someone.

  The cheerful laughter filled the entire camp.

  Luk's trembling slowly disappeared, and he smiled.

  After hearing what happened, Civ started the fire. Then the firewood group started stoking it.

  Civ was going to butcher the Boar, but he was interrupted by his father.

  “My son, can I do it?” Kivrah asked his son, while the other hunting group that trained at the camp also wanted to butcher the boar.

  “Sure Father!”. Civ gave Kivrah the tools, and he started butchering it with the help of the hunting group.

  The camp was more lively as the feast started.

  However, the boar was too big for them to finish in one day, and there are almost half of the boar remained.

  “Hmmmm, this meat is too big to waste.” Knowing that this will not be edible the next day, they need to do something.

  Civ called the hunting group.

  “I need your help. Since we still have this big of meat, we need to cut it into smaller pieces.”

  Everyone looked at each other, but Arsh sat down and asked.

  “So how small are we talking?”

  Civ quickly got a chunk of meat and put it on a flat stone. He carefully cut it into small and thin strips.

  “Like this,” He showed it to them with his palm.

  Some of them still did not understand it. But since this was a request from the Chosen, they gladly followed the process.

  As the hunting group cut the meat into pieces. Civ moves to gather some fresh branches.

  He created a small fire and put some fresh leaves on it, producing smoke.

  With the fresh branches he gathered, he stabbed them to the ground and arranged them like a miniature teepee hut.

  Inside, tied smaller branches serve as a platform.

  Then he covered it with branches with leaves on it as many as possible.

  Once the smoke started to fill the structure, he placed the thinly sliced meat on the platform.

  ‘This is an experiment for now.’ Civ was hopeful about this plan.

  The rest of the meat, he sun-dried it since it's not yet past noon. There is still enough time to remove the moisture from the meat.

  Using a “Y” stick, he stabbed it into the ground in a square formation and placed a long, thinner stick in the middle of it.

  Then he placed multiple sticks horizontally. Creating a net-like structure serving as a rack.

  He places the meat there to dry. He created multiple structures of it until they were able to place all of the meat that was sliced.

  “Son, what are you doing?” Kivrah has so many questions, but he started with this one.

  “Oh this one Father? I’m trying to see if we can eat this tomorrow.” Civ confidently smiles at his Father.

  Kivrah gave Civ a complicated look.

  “What do you mean by eating this tomorrow? It will still spoil after today.” Kivrah can’t help but question his son.

  Ever since he was a child, they found out that the meat would not be edible later that night or the next day. So after they eat, they immediately throw it away or eat as much as they can.

  But this method Civ is using is the first time he has heard of it. He wants to stop his son because, for him, this is a waste of time. But he is also curious if that is possible.

  Hearing what his Father said, Civ paused a moment while staring at his Father.

  ‘Yeah right, this is not a technique they are doing here.’

  Civ was so entranced by experimenting with different things. It was already out of the ordinary in their tribe.

  “Sorry Father. But since we are going to discard this meat, is it better to check if there is any way we can still eat it tomorrow?” Civ tried to reason with his Father.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Even though his Father firmly rejected his request, the rest of the meat was already sliced into pieces.

  Knowing the reason, Kivrah also ponders for a moment. Now that they have a way to hunt boars, they do not need to spend their whole day just gathering berries.

  “Alright. Please continue and let me know right away what you learned from this.” Kivrah

  put his hand on the back to go back to help the tribe.

  “I will Father.” Getting the approval from his Father is still nerve-racking for him.

  After the tribesmen had eaten their portion. Kivrah instructed everyone to go to their groups based on the items that they would create.

  The cordage team that will be handled by Civ stayed in the middle of the camp near the Shaman’s hut. The stone-knapping team led by Arsh was gathered at the back of the Cave. The Firewood team, or as Civ called the resource gathering team. They followed Horm to the river to gather the stone that was needed for stone knapping.

  The rest of the hunting group has been given free time for now since Civ will be busy. Some of them go to the stone-knapping team to learn. While some in the cordage team and the rest, instead of resting, focus on spear throwing.

  Now there is proof that anyone has a chance to kill a boar. They want to make sure they are skilled in using the spear.

  Luk and Safi also practiced. They tried to recall the experience of hunting the boar. They know that they have to make sure that next hunt they are hitting it intentionally.

  Civ started teaching the volunteers how to create cordage. He was able to teach it using simple motions. So most of their tribesmen followed the steps, but there were still things to improve.

  On Arsh's end, it was the opposite. Given that stone knapping is hard to learn, most of them struggled. Most of the stones that Horm and his team gathered were broken in one or two smashes. Arsh expected this. But she patiently taught everyone who wanted to learn, and also did a 2 or 3 stone spear while teaching the team.

  The afternoon proceeded as planned by Kivrah and Civ. Being the first day of teaching things, everyone had a hard time doing it. But everyone is actually happy, they are trying their best and helping each other to learn it step by step.

  Looking at the lively atmosphere, Kivrah and Shaman Mashu smiled.

  “Tribe leader, your son lifts up our tribe.” Shaman's wrinkled face brightened as she looked at Civ.

  “I agree, now everyone is showing a smile on their faces”. Kivrah nodded while following the instructions from Civ in creating the cordage.

  The gloomy camp was replaced now with laughter and hope. Everyone also wants to contribute in any way possible.

  The dawn comes, and everyone ends the learning session today and takes a rest by the campfire. Horm started the night of storytelling. Then he dragged Luk to help him re-enact the hunting that happened today.

  While everyone was having a good time at the campfire, Civ checked the meat he had dried earlier.

  The meat from the sun-dried had already lost all of its moisture. It has a tough and leathery texture. Rubbing it makes you feel every fiber of the meat.

  Chomp!

  Civ bit one of the strips. As he expected, the taste was bland and metallic. But if you are going to preserve meat for a longer time, this will do its purpose.

  ‘Now for the smoked meat’

  The smoked meat was brownish and had a smoky aroma.

  Chomp

  When Civ took a bite, his taste buds alerted him.

  A sweet and tender sensation captures his mouth, making him eat the whole strip.

  Civ laughs, “Tasting a new flavor does make you want more.”

  Seeing the strips on the smoking equipment he created. He wants to eat all of it now, but he holds his urges as he needs to discuss this with his Father and the Shaman tomorrow.

  For now, since his Father already slept early tonight. He collected the dried meat and kept it in the cave for tomorrow’s discussion.

  He also slept early as he heard his tribesmen talking about the Civ and the team’s hunts.

  The next day, Civ woke up early in the morning. The first thing he did was to check the meat that he stored in the animal's skin.

  “You wake up early also, Son?” Kivrah was surprised that his son woke up earlier than him.

  Usually, Civ wakes up when the sun is already out, but today he wakes up before sunrise.

  “Yes, Father! How was your sleep?” Civ did not look at his father as he was busy inspecting the strips.

  “What are you doing my son?” Kivrah noticed that his son was busy early in the morning.

  Civ stops and turns around, his eyes are sparking, and he is smiling.

  “Remember the meat I left in the sun yesterday? It is dried and not spoiling!” Civ excitedly shows it to his Father.

  Kivrah's sleepy eyes lit up. He grabbed one of the meat strips and smelled it.

  ‘It does not smell bad.’ He bit the dried meat. The taste is not that good, but it is edible.

  “You were right my son! We can really rely on the Sun Goddess to eat the meat another day!” Kivrah's sluggish body turned ecstatic, knowing this was possible.

  “This is great! Let's go first to the shaman to tell the great news!”

  Both of them get up, and the excited Kivrah walks fast to the Shaman's hut.

  At the Shaman’s hut, the Shaman was still praying. When the light touched the stone altar, she finished her prayer for the day in a few more sentences.

  “Sun Goddess, grace us with your warmth today.”

  The Shaman bowed in front of the altar, and Kivrah followed through. Civ just copies his father’s gesture as he is not familiar with the morning ceremony. All he knows is that the Shaman and the Tribe leader talk early in the morning before everyone is awake.

  “Shaman Mashu, I have good news for you!” Kivrah cannot wait any longer and initiates the conversation.

  Kivrah’s excitement made Shaman Mashu’s eyes light up.“Oh please tell me the good news, Tribe leader.”

  Kivrah looked at his son “Civ please show it to Shaman and explain it to her.”

  Civ nodded and unrolled the animal skin, and there was the dried meat.

  “Shaman Mashu, this is dried meat. Please take a bite.” Civ reaches out one of the sun-dried meat strips to the Shaman while he is also chewing one.

  Looking at Civ chewing the dried meat, the Shaman accepts the dried meat and takes a bite.

  ‘It is hard to chew, but this is still meat. ’ But by connecting the dots, she realized something.

  ‘An edible meat!’ She was surprised again. Everyone knows that eating meat after the day is not possible. Since it will spoil and will be dangerous if consumed after a day.

  But the one she is holding is not spoiled, and it doesn't have an awful taste.

  “Civ, can you please tell me how you made this meat?” the Shaman asked Civ while eating the rest of the strip.

  Civ explained to both of them in detail how he came up with this solution. They were both amazed and thankful for Civ.

  “The Sun Goddess is really looking out for us. To think of the solution to making the meat last longer is to be by her grace!” The Shaman devoutly praises the Sun Goddess again.

  Looking at the excited face of Kivrah, this is a discovery worth celebrating. While they enjoy eating the meat strips, Civ pulled another strip. It was brownish in color, but they noticed a different smell from the first meat he gave to them.

  Civ smiled and reached out for the brown meat strips

  “Father, Shaman Mashu, please take a bite.”