Success and Failure

For some time afterward, aside from his daily meditation routine, Blade Tusk spent most of his time making tools and processing meat.

The former saw great progress. Out of more than ten attempts, he successfully found a soil that had just the right thermal conductivity and heat resistance once finished.

Afterward, he immediately took his results to the Witch Doctor and the Chieftain, demonstrating the flavor of boiled meat.

Having tasted boiled meat and found its texture superior to raw meat, the tribe's "decision-makers" decisively made the decision to stockpile the soil Blade Tusk had named "clay" on a "large scale."

He also roughly taught the young Trolls such "techniques" as starting fires, building stoves, and "making pottery." Though the "creation" of fire could only be done through spells, they had, in turn, figured out how to preserve "fire starters," greatly reducing their dependence on the Witch Doctor.

Thus, Blade Tusk decisively withdrew, intending to focus his energy elsewhere.

It was worth mentioning that although it was called "pottery," it was, after all, something in quotation marks. He was not entirely certain whether it was truly "pottery," or perhaps "tile" or some other such thing.

But since the objective had been achieved, there was no need to agonize over it. He simply gave it the name "pottery."

As for how "pottery" would develop in the future, he would leave that to the power of time.

Besides "pottery," the other line of research being carried out at the same time was far less successful.

He tried smoking, roasting, air-drying, and other processes in turn, testing everything from small chunks to entire carcasses.

Furred and skinned, unskinned and peeled—he studied them all.

He also tried storing them in ventilated open air, ventilated underground spaces, sealed underground spaces, and more.

Yet no matter how he tinkered with it, the results could not overcome the Black Forest's damp rot.

"Blade Tusk, forget it. Stop messing with this."

While inspecting one of the cellars, the Middle Witch Doctor stood blocked at the entrance by the stench, pinching his nose as he earnestly tried to persuade him.

And as Blade Tusk looked at the scene inside, he too felt deeply helpless.

"It's fine. If it can't be stored, then it can't be stored," the Middle Witch Doctor consoled him.

"Ugh, how did this happen? Has there really never been a case of wild beasts licking stones or eating dirt?"

Still wanting one last struggle, Blade Tusk asked unwillingly.

"At least, there are no records of it in the tribe, and the warriors have never observed such a thing either. Besides, the 'livestock raising' experiment you mentioned is already underway. Out of all those different 'beasts,' we'll surely find something suitable. Stop fixating on this."

The answer was no different from before, leaving Blade Tusk somewhat disheartened.

The previous 'all-powerful' successes had only been coincidences in the end. Should I just leave it at that?

The thought of giving up began to grow, making Blade Tusk feel terrible.

In his previous life, compromising with reality had been an all-too-common part of his existence—but he had not experienced that yet in this life.

"Wait a little longer. Let me think about it," he replied.

The Middle Witch Doctor admired his persistence yet felt helpless over his stubbornness. With a sigh, he said, "Enough. Let's clean this place up first, then get a good day's rest. Think about the rest tomorrow."

Gathering themselves, the two stepped into the cellar and began dealing with the mess.

"Mana conversion, fire element standby; starting position, three centimeters before the palm standby; oversized shaping, full wide angle ahead, triple-speed jet stream standby; super-concentration ring, target flame core temperature increase thirty percent, delay one hundred percent standby." *2

In a rhythmic tone like poetry, they recited the spell meant to assist self-suggestion and confuse nature.

This was a "cross-circle spell" formed by stacking "rune components."

Its flaws—such as its lengthy chanting time, the intense concentration required during preparation, and the need to stand rooted at extremely close range to cast it—doomed it to be unusable in battle.

But magic's charm did not lie in violence. Its value was embodied in using little to accomplish much against nature.

And in that regard, the spell being used at this moment was already excellent enough.

As the two Trolls heated the cellar with an enhanced "Super Fire-Breathing Spell," a scorching gale rose from some unseen place, immediately swallowing their figures and surging outward through the entrance.

After receiving a thorough "bath," Blade Tusk's mindset gradually adjusted as well.

By now, the spell had taken shape. The maintenance phase required comparatively little focus, so he left only part of his attention on sustaining the flames and spoke again.

"How is the gathering plan going? I haven't paid much attention lately. Has it been going smoothly?"

As his lips moved, the scorching wind and steam pouring into his mouth seemed to become merely "high temperature" in quotation marks to a Troll.

The sensation on his mucous membranes was only slightly warmer than that on his skin, causing not the slightest harm.

"A bit troublesome. The Blade-Tusk Beasts are hard to track down. Those creatures are too alert."

"Ah, that really is a problem. If we haven't even found the Blade-Tusk Beasts, it'll be hard for the Chieftain's side to start stockpiling food, won't it? Otherwise it'll all stink by then too, damn it."

"Why have you gone around in circles back to this again? Can't you think about something else?" the Middle Witch Doctor complained.

"Uh, I didn't mean to. But doesn't this also show that 'food storage' is already a huge problem we can't get around? I always feel that this is a massive threshold for 'civilization' to cross. Once we get past it, the benefits will definitely be far beyond anything we can imagine."

"That's why I keep telling you to be patient. You can't expect to solve every problem in your own generation, can you?"

"Mm, right, right."

"What you've accomplished already is incredible enough. Look at the words we use, and the flames in our hands—you're already remarkable."

"Right, right."

"What a stubborn fellow!"

The perfunctory answer made Middle Witch Doctor snort in irritation.

As they talked, the space gradually became dry. The stench of rot had mostly dispersed, and the chunks of flesh had basically carbonized.

Stopping his spell, Middle Witch Doctor reached down to feel the texture of the soil, then sniffed the air. Deciding there was no problem, he said, "All right. Tell the little ones to carry it out and throw it away."

Blade Tusk nodded at that and stopped maintaining his spell as well.

The two turned and headed for the exit.

As they walked, Middle Witch Doctor stared thoughtfully at his palm.

"What is it? What are you thinking about?" Blade Tusk asked curiously, his mood somewhat improved.

"Tell me, are we really controlling these so-called 'fire elements'? And the other spells too—'water elements,' 'wood elements,' and so on."

"Mm? Why do you ask?"

"Well... honestly, I don't know. Part of it is just intuition. It feels right, because fire and water really do appear, so the existence of 'water elements' and 'fire elements' seems perfectly natural. But at the same time, there's another voice telling me that 'fire elements and all that are complete nonsense.'"

Hearing Middle Witch Doctor's doubts, Blade Tusk also fell into thought.

In terms of physical properties, this world was both similar to and different from his previous life. For someone like him, who had lived two lives, it was actually easier to become trapped in such confusion.

Without waiting for an answer, Middle Witch Doctor continued talking to himself.

"Look at those chunks of flesh just now. Don't they resemble burned wood? Black, layer upon layer—why is that? Flesh can't be made of 'wood elements' too, can it? Otherwise, wouldn't we be able to eat wood every day? Hahaha. If wood really were edible, that'd be pretty convenient."

"Um... it's not impossible to explain. What if wood elements aren't the same thing as plants? And what if all 'complex structures,' including us Trolls, are composed of multiple kinds of 'elements' together? If that's the case, then wouldn't the similarities between the residue left after burning be explainable?"

"That sounds pretty reasonable. But if we put it that way, then compared to things like 'fire,' 'water,' 'wood,' and 'wind,' that black stuff left behind after burning seems more deserving of the characteristics an 'element' should have, at least from the perspective of 'forming complex structures.'"

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