Chapter 44: Slow and Consistent Growth (1)
Ghost was right, they did indeed find Hannibal sitting around the pebbles, carefully inspecting them. However the moment he saw Lucius and the group come into view, he tried to walk away.
"Wait, stay," Lucius called out, stopping Hannibal in his tracks.
"You don't have to leave, I want to talk to you. The rest of you place the sleds next to the pebbles, I'll load you guys up and you can return to the camp," Lucius instructed, to which Alpha and his group obliged.
"What are you doing here?" Lucius asked as he walked behind Alpha and his group. Hannibal slowly approached him, walking beside him as they spoke.
"N-no reason. I just come here in my free time," Hannibal responded, a confused look on his face.
"It's a long story," Lucius replied, realizing that Hannibal was confused by his current method of walking.
"I heard you picked out the twigs, good job on that. How did you know which ones to choose?" he continued while trying to pick up a pebble.
~Ooof kinda heavy,~ he thought to himself as he hoisted it off the ground. He had to be extra careful since he couldn't properly balance using his legs alone, so he tried to heave the pebble onto the sled as fast as he could.
"I inspected the twigs you used to build the shed, and just picked out similar ones. I-It wasn't really all that," Hannibal answered, a far away look in his eyes.
"Is that so."
~He's really observant,~ Lucius noted down. He pondered if perhaps he ought to try teaching Hannibal a few complex concepts from back on earth to see if he would understand them. Of course, much of what he knew from earth might not even carry onto this world, but if Hannibal could understand them, then it would greatly benefit the development of the commune.
[+30 Strength.]
[+23 Stamina.]
[+3 Agility.]
"All done," Lucius called out once he was finished loading the last pebble onto the sled. There was still a whole bunch left in the mini quarry, however, he estimated that this was the maximum that the group could carry back to the camp.
"Okay, let's get going guys," Alpha ordered, and him men began to heave. However, just as Lucius had expected, despite all their efforts the sleds only moved a very small distance.
After pulling for a few minutes the group had only made it a few centimeters away from where they had started. They were exhausted, and their entire bodies were now covered with dewy perspiration.
"Captain," Alpha called out, looking back to Lucius who was currently having a chat with Hannibal.
"Keep going, I know you guys can do it," Lucius called out, a small grin on his face.
~He planned this,~ Alpha thought inwardly, realizing that Lucius had already known that they would find this difficult.
"Pull harder, the last group to get back to the camp has to do an extra hour of guard duty!" Alpha called out, to which all his men quickly got to their feet and began tugging at the harnesses once again, with a renewed vigor.
"Man I hate guard duty," one of the leaflings whispered, his group overtaking Alpha's as he said this.
"I don't think so," Alpha whispered, pulling even harder to get ahead. However, the others in his group weren't as strong, and in the end, they fell behind.
"Enjoy guard duty Alpha," the leafling from the group ahead laughed as they widened the gap.
*
"So, have you and Alpha spoken ever since?" Lucius asked once Alpha and the rest of his group were out of sight.
"Y-yeah, but not directly. He doesn't seem as angry as before, but he's made it clear he doesn't like me," he replied, "b-but of course I don't blame him," he blurted out immediately after.
"I'm working on getting along with everyone, but I kind of feel more comfortable alone. I don't know, maybe I'm just trying to avoid things," he continued.
"By the way Hannibal, how old are you?" Lucius asked, finding that Hannibal had a very clear-cut character, quite different from most leaflings.
"Hmm, I'm the olde- no, the second oldest after Pagan. This is my seventh commune, so I've lived through seven years," he replied after thinking for a moment.
"Seven years? What happened to your other communes?" Lucius asked, wondering whether seven years were a lot or not.
"They all died. Communes usually survive a few months before being wiped out."
"A few months?" Well now that Lucius thought about it, it did kind of make sense. When he was first born into this world, the commune had been halved during a single boar attack. And he couldn't imagine the leaflings surviving another one of those.
"How did you survive?" Lucius asked after thinking it over for a moment.
"It isn't that hard. I just didn't go outside the area I sprouted in. There was a hole in a nearby tree we could stay in, and the only time we were forced to move out was when the worms found the camp. Then we would have to find a new place," Hannibal answered.
"Interesting. So how old is Pagan?" Lucius asked, now a bit curious as to how old Pagan was.
"I have no idea. He was the one who first greeted me when I was sprouted, and from what I heard, he wasn't originally from that commune either. He's probably a few communes older than me," Hannibal answered after pondering for a moment.
"Ah, I see," Lucius whispered, before getting on all fours to walk back to the camp.
"By the way. Congratulations on your evolution," Hannibal called out before Lucius left.
"Oh, thank you," Lucius replied, turning to look back at him before proceeding.
"I'll catch up soon," Hannibal shouted just as Lucius was out of hearing range.
~I bet you will,~ Lucius smiled to himself.
*
On his way back he collected a few bundles of grass, which was sort of hard for him to carry since he had to use his hands to walk.
"Maybe I should just use a stick as a crutch," Lucius sighed to himself. As much as he was enjoying his new beastly form of movement, it was a hindrance to work.
Upon returning to the camp, Lucius found Alpha and his group blacked out, still hooked to the harnesses. However, though their bodies were drenched, Alpha had a smile on his face.
"Good work, Alpha," Lucius said as he passed by Alpha's sleeping body.
"I won. You guys are on guard duty," Alpha whispered in his sleep, tossing over as Lucius placed the blades of grass next to the pile of twigs.
Lucius then began unloading the pebbles, which proved to be a far easier process than loading them.
[+21 Strength.]
[+13 Stamina.]
[+3 Agility.]
After all that was done, he rolled them towards the supplies area, before starting his work on the new shed.
Firstly, he began weaving the rope, since it did not require him to stand, After weaving about 30 lengths of rope, he began choosing out the twigs he would use for the main build.
Just like with the first shed, he placed the twigs at an acute angle to the tree's trunk. However this time he made it even sturdier by tying the twigs together, before putting the leaves on it.
"Uh huh, perfect," he whispered to himself, after testing the new shed's stability. He then removed the leaves covering the old shed and used the remaining lengths of rope to tie them together before putting the leaves back.
"This is pretty good," he whispered, admiring his handiwork.
The camp now had two sheds, however, this was far from what he envisioned. But with Pagan evolved he was certain that his goal camp would soon come to fruition.
"Oh, yeah, I can use the last few lengths of rope for the sleds, huh," he whispered to himself before starting work on the extra sleds.
Unfortunately, he still found himself having to leave his work to collect more grass for rope. In the end, he managed to create 7 more sleds before becoming too exhausted to continue, which was more than enough for the current size of the camp.
After taking a quick rest, he called the leaflings and showed them to their new shed, before ordering them to rest.
*
"Still practicing, huh?" Lucius said as found Ghost practicing the same kick move he had taught her several days ago.
"I'm gettin' the hang of it," Ghost replied, her leaf completely drenched in perspiration.
"Indeed you are," Lucius replied, noticing that she could now do the high head kick. However, the spin kick still seemed to be completely in a different realm for her.
"Keep working on it," he commented, passing by to go visit the drooping branch.
"I can probably make a pulley system somehow," he realized as he stared up at the branch. After all, using a ladder to go up and down didn't seem viable for the future of the camp.
But as to how the pulley would work or even be built would require some planning. He was almost certain that he could not use the grass rope he had been using on other builds here, as he didn't trust its strength.
"Maybe I should bring Hannibal on this project, and see how he does," Lucius whispered to himself, already identifying key areas that would be important in the construction of the pulley.