Legendary Traveler: By Earning Progress Points I will Become Supreme!-Chapter 56: Working with Pelts and Hide (1)

’Well, I never expected to turn it all into warm clothing to begin with. After all, there are plenty of other things I need rawhide for, like making sutures and using more durable binding materials.’ Pinching the brim of his nose, Aoni noticed the faint flicker of pop-ups out of the corner of his eye and knew they were merely notifications of progress points gained, so he ignored them and looked around the thawed-out platform.

What was he looking for, you may ask? That’s simple: the viscera from his harvesting, more specifically, the basin he had used to store the Brains of each dead animal.

Since he was out in the wilderness and didn’t have the optimal tools on hand for tanning hides, he, of course, had to use one of the oldest methods known to humankind: Braining.

Now, don’t get it twisted, you perverts. Braining is simply a term for using brain matter as a preservative to aid in the sealing and tanning process.

It was messy and, quite frankly, quite gruesome, considering Aoni would need to mash the brains into liquid, soak the hides and pelt in it, and then give it a good rinsing.

It didn’t take the Lad long to locate the basin, and unfortunately, there was a slight…ok, massive issue. The instant Aoni drew close and removed the top half of the basin; he was assaulted by a stench far worse than he could smell in the Cave…because all the viscera and brains had turned to sludge.

"Fuck…"

For the next several minutes, the Lad resisted the urge to empty his stomach until finally deciding on his next course of action. Without Brain matter or, more specifically, the emulsified oils in the brains that would aid the tanning process, there weren’t a whole lot of other options other than supplementing it with different oils, such as egg yolks, bear fat, olive oil, fish oil, lard…

’Ok, think Aoni, think, ignoring the lack of oils, what am I missing….Calcium phosphate, in theory, I can make a solution of 1 part water, 1 part fish oil, and 1 part calcium phosphate,’ Snapping his head to the far side of the platform, the Lad noticed the pile of bones was still present.

’Crush the bones, mix them into water, add pressure and high temps, and extract what’s left, that’s calcium phosphate. That’s one part down, but I need to make lard…which is pretty easy; even if the meat spoiled, I should be able to boil it up and extract plenty.’ Wearing a frown and gazing cautiously at another basin used to store all the animal remains, Aoni’s mind ran through his options before coming up with a suitable substitute for Brainmatter.

As ingenious as the idea may seem, it wasn’t merely a matter of critical thinking for the Lad. Instead, it was more like conditioning, thanks to years of survival training.

One of the biggest things the Academies taught was how to adapt to unfavorable situations and overcome them quickly. This was done by constantly reinforcing core aspects and flooding students with information and resources.

Even if he wasn’t proficient in something, Aoni had more than enough knowledge stored in his mind about how to make clothing, gather materials, or craft enough items to suit his basic needs. With the wealth of information passed down by the Academy, it wasn’t just him who was like this.

Practically every new traveler from his country follows the same thought process, almost as if following a checklist to meet his needs in any given situation.

In that way, the country was able to ensure that the loss of new Travelers, a valuable commodity, wouldn’t be due to something as stupid as dying to their environment within the first couple of weeks.

Mind you, at the same time, there was a finite point at which the training would become obsolete, but then again, the only purpose of the Academies was to get their students off the starting point.

So, while Glacia slept with her belly full, Aoni went to work, beginning with something he wasn’t looking forward to: emptying out the Cave of everything he required.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Logs needed to be dragged out, Vestr and Austr required to be removed from the sled, all the vines needed to be piled up outside, and on top of that, he needed a box of matches.

So, while it took multiple trips and a lack of oxygen, eventually, he was able to get all the materials necessary for his plan stacked up in orderly piles outside of the Cave.

From there came the start of a long process that involved crafting several key items, the first of which was a stone bowl. Unlike when he crushed up the salt, a more durable container was required since he would be exerting quite a bit more force than when crushing up the minerals.

Thankfully, he had the foresight to upgrade both the durability and sharpness of his weapons because all it took was a few well-placed strikes, and a chunk of rock the size of his torso came off the outer wall of the Cave.

From there came the annoying task of carving it into a bowl shape, which ended up resulting in him using his knife like a chisel and another rock like a hammer.

Still, between his increased stats and resolve within 30 minutes, he had a decent-sized stone bowl ready to meet his needs. However, with one goal met, another was created, and that was crafting a container to hold the bone powder once made, which was remedied after another carving session with some wood, and thus, a new drawer three times the size of the ones used to dry the hides was born.

From there, the next step was cleaning the bones off in some snow to free it of any gore and meat, then grinding it down, and soon enough, the entire newly crafted wooden drawer was filled to the brim with bone powder and covered with a log to keep it all from blowing away.