Beastmen: She Tames the Land-Chapter 52: Building a raft

Since the day Visha made fish, everyone has been enjoying the wonders of fish.

They went from roasting it, to frying it, to putting it in a soup.

Visha shook her head, thinking about the meals she had been having recently. She thought to herself that when they settled down, she would find Willa. She would pass on a few recipes to her so they wouldn’t think about asking her to make anything for them.

Several days passed as they walked along the river. Uri noticed that the river was getting wider. With his mapping skills, he was the first to notice the difference.

Visha didn’t notice the river widening much. What she noticed was the flora. The plants went from being mostly green to a carpet of colours. She assumed that it was because spring was starting to get into full swing.

She was excited about finding plants she hadn’t seen during the winter and early days of spring.

With the new foliage came animals. Big fat rabbits hopped past them as if they didn’t see them. The sound of birdsong became louder. Their arrival made Visha think of the food she hadn’t tasted for a while.

She saw a large bird fly overhead and couldn’t help licking her lips. She thought about all the chicken dishes she hadn’t had in a while. Sweet and sour chicken, braised chicken, curry chicken, baked chicken...the list could go on.

She could practically smell them.

Visha was brought back to her senses by Uri’s voice.

"We cannot cross this."

Visha looked over to see that the river had widened abruptly. The small bend hid the fact that the river became almost three times wider.

They would either have to turn back or find a way to cross.

Visha took in her surroundings. She looked at where they came from and where they needed to go.

A boat would be really helpful right now.

[Task: Build a raft capable of carrying you and your pack to the other side of the river]

[Reward: 100 CP, 1 knowledge shard, Improved log raft blueprint]

Visha put her head in her hands. She should have known that thinking about it would have led the system to act.

She looked around to see if there was anything she could use to make a raft. She didn’t need to look far. A tall tree fell into her vision. She opened her arms to figure out how big the trunk was.

She considered using the tree, but she didn’t have anything she could use to bind it. She thought about the clay-moss she still had in the space. She didn’t want to waste it. She might need it for another time.

She thought of using vines, but she hadn’t seen any vines with enough strength to hold a raft together.

"We can build a raft," Visha stated. Since she wasn’t sure how to go about it, she would ask the others. They were a team, so why not think about it together?

"A raft?" Xeno asked.

Visha nodded, "Hmm, a raft. We can make it from trees. But I don’t know how we would make them stay together."

"Tell me how to make the raft, then we can look for something to use," Uri said.

Visha spoke quickly, but clearly, "We need to know which trees can float if we cut them down. After finding the right tree, we need something to secure them together. Maybe a strong vine or something similar to wrap around each log so they stay together. That’s about it."

Uri’s eyes scanned the layout of the land. Something he was constantly doing on the way. He stood there, thinking.

"We don’t need to worry about the tree. Ba, Uncle Cato, and I can go cut them down." He looked at Visha. "How many do you think we need?"

"Six, maybe seven, it depends on how big the tree is. But do you know which ones float?" Visha asked, worried.

Xeno smiled, "You don’t need to worry, I recognize some trees that we have seen floating in the river before. I can get some."

He called the two people he mentioned and went to cut down the tree.

He placed his hand on Uri’s shoulder and touched Visha’s cheek before leaving.

While they were cutting down trees, Krag and Uri went back. Uri remembered seeing some vines hanging from a tree some distance back. He needed to move quickly, so he couldn’t bring Visha with him.

Since even if he isn’t in beast form, Krag moves swiftly, he brought him with him.

Fil, the only male available, started patrolling. He ensured that everyone was protected until the others came back.

While they were waiting Vishs couldn’t stop looking at the other side of the river. She could see the trees and flowers on the other side.

Her vision was one of the things she had to get used to. Going from regular human vision to what she had now took some adjusting. Everything seemed magnified. But she grew to enjoy it.

Like now, as she looked at the flowers on the other side, she noticed they were more vibrant when compared to the side of the river she stood on.

The more she focused on the other side of the river, the more she realized that compared to the side they stood on, the other side of the river seemed to be experiencing summer, not spring.

She thought that when everyone got across, she would ask Uri or Xeno if this was a normal thing.

It took about an hour for Xeno and his group to come back. When they walked back, each of them was carrying a log under one arm. It was thick, bigger than them, yet they carried it with ease.

They put the logs side by side before turning back to go for another set.

By the time they came back with the other set, Uri and Krag returned. They looked like they had just finished fighting.

Visha came up to him, searching his body for bruises.

"Don’t worry, Sha’mīn. When we get to the other side, I’ll tell you what happened."

Visha nodded, still looking unsure.

To take her mind off the issue, she started inspecting the vines. She tried breaking them, but found they were very resilient.

Seeing this, she was satisfied.

Now, everyone needed to work together to string them around the logs.

According to her memory, Visha advised everyone how to thread the vine. First, wrap each log individually, then do a criss-cross pattern around the logs, as if weaving them together. The final step was wrap the logs as a collective.

In the midst of making the raft, Visha realized she didn’t have any paddles. Luckily, they were in a forest, so wood wasn’t an issue. They were able to quickly make a few paddles.

Visha also had to explain what a paddle was and how to use it.

At this time, Visha was grateful for her random scrolling in the middle of the night. Information she read and thought was useless actually came in handy.

Uri and Krag ended up going back for more vines because they realized they didn’t have enough.

By the time it was finished, the sun was almost close to setting.

"Do we still set off now?" Visha asked Uri.

"There’s still enough time before dark. As long as all goes well, we should be able to cross before the sun sets."

With a nod, everyone began pushing the raft to the river.