As he passed a thicket of bushes, a peculiar aroma suddenly wafted to his nose.

It wasn’t the scent of flowers, but rather the fragrance of a woody spice, something like cinnamon bark.

’Could it really be cinnamon bark?’

While Panama doesn’t have the common, traditional type of cinnamon tree, it does have similar varieties that can provide a nearly identical flavor.

’But on second thought, the part used for spice is the inner bark. It’s covered by an outer layer, so theoretically, it shouldn’t be this fragrant.’

He stopped, closed his eyes, and sniffed in all four directions. After walking a short distance in each, he gradually pinpointed the source of the scent.

It was a very ordinary-looking tree.

At least, it looked unremarkable, mixed in with the lush forest.

If it weren’t for this strange fragrance, he probably could have passed by it five or ten times without ever noticing its existence.

The tree wasn’t tall, only about three or four meters. The surfaces of its dense leaves were slightly reflective, and their texture was rather firm, somewhat resembling lemon leaves in shape.

Between the leaves, on the branches and at their tips, grew dense clusters of small, green and brown fruits. It looked a lot like the kind of ornamental plant you’d see in a residential green belt.

He stared at the tree as relevant facts flashed wildly through his mind, eliminating possibilities one by one.

’Shaped like lemon leaves, small and clustered fruits, green and brown in color, bark emitting a light fragrance...’

To further confirm his suspicion, he decided to climb the tree and get a closer look.

A tree of this height was nothing to him; he scrambled up it in just a few steps.

Standing on a branch, he plucked a brownish-green, wrinkled-skinned fruit that looked like it had been air-dried and brought it to his nose for a sniff.

’This scent... it’s a bit like pepper, and a bit like cinnamon, and maybe a hint of clove?’

’I know! It’s allspice!’

The moment he identified the tree, he was suddenly reminded of the kitchen at the restaurant where he used to work. There was a jar of spice powder labeled "allspice."

He had just graduated back then and didn’t know much about these things. He’d assumed allspice was just a finished powder made from a mixture of various spices.

But as the information about the fruit flashed through his mind just now, he finally understood that this was what the English name referred to.

Because this tiny little fruit contained the flavors of multiple spices, it was given that simple, easy-to-understand name.

’What a great find!’

’This is awesome! With this stuff, my spice problem is basically solved. I have to pick some to take back. From now on, I only need to focus on finding herbs.’

The green allspice berries had smooth skin, a sign they weren’t ripe yet. Mature allspice should be darker, more brownish, with wrinkled skin, closely resembling peppercorns.

So, he was going to pick the darker-colored fruits. As for the unripe ones, he’d leave them on the tree to mature, as usual.

He picked a little more than two handfuls, put them in his pocket, and zipped it up to prevent them from spilling out without him noticing.

By the time he reached the bamboo forest, more than an hour had passed.

The mountain was exceptionally difficult to climb at night. He had to double-check many familiar landmarks several times to be sure, as it was easy to get lost with a single misstep.

A flick of his headlamp clearly illuminated the tender new shoots on the bamboo forest floor.

The smallest were palm-high, while the largest already reached his knees. They were fresh and glistening, covered in a thin layer of moisture.

It was finally time for the bamboo knife to make its debut!

He stretched his arms, bent down, and grabbed the tip of a shoot with his left hand. With his right, he swung the bamboo knife’s blade forcefully at the base of the bamboo shoot, near the ground.

CRACK!

With a crisp sound, the wrist-thick bamboo shoot was instantly chopped in half.

’Whoa, it works this well?’

Surprised, he felt the edge of the blade. It wasn’t even half as sharp as the kitchen knife he usually used.

Then he felt the cut on the bamboo shoot and had a realization.

It turned out he had cut too high. He should have dug down a bit into the soil before cutting.

But what was done was done. He couldn’t be bothered to dig a hole now, and besides, he didn’t have a suitable shovel on hand.

Bamboo shoots grow back after being cut. Moderate harvesting not only doesn’t harm the grove but actually helps promote the growth of new shoots.

After filling the bamboo basket with shoots, he tried chopping down a bamboo stalk. To his surprise, he could actually make a dent. It was about as effective as his stone axe, though, requiring many strikes to create a deep enough groove.

’Looks like the blade isn’t sharp enough. I’ll sharpen it more tomorrow.’

He returned to the shelter, fully loaded, a little after nine in the evening.

"Friends, I have a great idea!"

As soon as he got back to the shelter, without even taking a rest, he immediately chopped off an arm’s-length section of bamboo stalk. He split it in half lengthwise and knocked out all the inner nodes, making it completely hollow.

He carved a groove on the left and right sides of the shelter’s entrance ceiling. He mounted one half of the bamboo stalk there, making sure it was stable. Then, he picked two smoldering pieces of charcoal from the fire and placed them in the middle of the bamboo trough.

Then he placed the other half of the bamboo stalk on top, creating a storage container that was open to the outside on both ends but ventilated in the middle.

He then inserted a piece of bamboo into the wall above each groove to serve as a rain guard.

When he was finished, he looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction.

’How can I be so smart? This way, there’s airflow at both ends, but it’s not exposed to the wind. It can keep the charcoal smoldering for a long time, it won’t get rained on, and it won’t cause carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide poisoning inside the shelter.’

Just one small piece of bamboo had solved a problem that had been bothering him all day.

’If possible, I should try to chop some bamboo to stockpile every day from now on. This is a strategic resource!’