At the riverside, Civ started to look for finer mud and collected a bunch of it.

  He placed it on a big stone that had a flat surface. But since he needs more control, he brings a flat trapezoid stone and places it beside the pile of mud.

  ‘If there is only a flat and circular stone here.’ Civ tried to look for the preferred flat stone he wanted to use, but no luck.

  ‘Well, let’s get started’

  He placed his tools beside him, and one of the things he brought was the grey ashes from the fire pit that he put in a leaf. He grabbed a handful of it and sprinkled it on the flat stone. Next is he rolled the mud like a ball and then flattened it, looking like a pizza bread. Pleased with the mold, he rolled some mud until it stretched and looked like rolled tobacco. When he molded it to his desired thickness, he placed the rolled mud on top of the base, coiling it. He did it multiple times until a half base was formed, then checked if there was any deformation. But it was holding up without any issue. He continued to add new layers to the form till it was 10 inches high.

  ‘Great! First product of pottery done!’

  What Civ created was a simple jar. Even though it doesn’t look good, it holds a big significance for Civ. This is another step for the civilization for his tribe!

  Seeing the jar he was formed, he did some finishing touches by rubbing a smooth stone. This smooths out some of the rough surfaces of the jar.

  “Whew! Now time to dry it.” He picked up the stone where the jar was placed and brought it back to the camp.

  Going back to the camp, it was almost getting dark.

  Civ sees that his tribesmen tried to make some smoked meat by hot smoking it.

  “Hey Civ! There you are. What is that thing?” Lowi first noticed Civ. Civ was walking towards the campfire, holding a stone that had something above it.

  Hearing what Lowi said. Other people also noticed the thing Civ placed next to the campfire while sitting next to it.

  Arsh did not hesitate and directly asked Civ, “Hey Civ, what are you doing again?”

  Civ looked up at Arsh and smiled. “This? I’ll let you know once this is finished.”

  Civ doesn’t want to explain it to his tribemen right now. He is aware that everyone is eager to know what this is. But until the product is finished and tested, he wants to keep it to himself.

  He occasionally rotated the other parts of the jar that were not exposed to the heat. He did it for 2 hours. He did not notice that it was already night.

  He has a feeling that it is already dry, so he put it in the middle of the campfire and put more firewood into it. Looking at what Civ is doing, they did not ask him anything about it. Since he said he will let them know. Instead, one of the tribesmen asks.

  “Civ, how did you hunt the two boars?” Civ looked behind him. It was actually his Father and the Shaman.

  “Oh Father. Sure, I will tell everyone the story.” Getting busy earlier, he forgot to tell his father about his hunt. The people also started to gather as their eyes were sparkling in the night. Awaiting the story.

  “I did not hunt them by myself. It just happened that I was there. Also, I thank Safi for giving us the directions where the boars were.” Safi shyly smiled as her tribesmen thanked her and praised her.

  “Now, this is what happened.” It was not that long, but Civ detailed the situation of the two boars fighting when he arrived. But Civ still re-enacts the fighting of the two boars. It actually piqued their interest.

  “I do not know that boars kill each other?”

  “The smaller boar actually won?”

  Many murmurs started to fill the crowd. But they stopped when Civ mentioned throwing the spear at the boar.

  “You instantly killed it?” One shot kill, it was still surprising with them. The instant kill of Luk for them was a guidance from the Goddess, but they praise the bravery and skill of Civ.

  Civ was confused with the sentiments of his tribesmen.

  ‘Wait, if it was guidance from the Goddess, wouldn’t it be the same for me?’

  Civ wanted to ask them, but just kept it to himself.

  After the story ended, Civ noticed his Father’s brows knitted. He stands up and calls Civ while the Shaman follows.

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  “You mentioned that male boars fight each other?” Kivrah asked Civ with an assertive tone.

  “Yes, Father.” Civ nodded.

  Kivrah looked at the Shaman. The Shaman nodded with a furrowed brow.

  “Listen Civ, we need to be careful from now on. Seeing that fighting means there are more boars that will come to this area.” He reminded Civ that this will be a problem in the next Sun days.

  Few boars are fine, but when multiple adult boars start showing up. It will be an unavoidable danger in the wild.

  Knowing this, they need to come up with a solution to make things safer for them.

  “Since we have enough food for the next few Sun days. I want everyone to stay here for a while and stop everyone from going north for now.”

  Civ nodded in agreement.

  For Civ, he does not have any plans yet for the next few days aside from learning pottery. This will be a good opportunity for everyone. He can try to teach them to accelerate the knowledge of everyone.

  But with the danger of a potential hoard of wild boars -

  There are some options he can do starting tomorrow. But since his Father is planning to talk to the tribe about it, this is better to have a discussion tomorrow.

  Getting the agreement of the three, they went now for the night to rest.

  The next day, Civ woke up early to check his jar at the campfire.

  Using a stick, he moved the ashes where the jar was placed last night.

  Excited, he held it with his two hands and picked up the jar.

  He started to check the jar by first flicking the jar.

  TING

  TING

  He was now able to create the lowest quality pottery that could be produced, an earthenware.

  Civ was pretty satisfied with what he was able to create. But upon further inspection, cracks are visible inside the jar and on its top.

  The product was a failure, but Civ was actually more excited now.

  “I was not expecting this will work on the first try. But it was a better result than I expected.” Civ was expecting that the cracks would be bigger or worse, and it would split into pieces.

  Recalling what he did last time, it seems he threw it into the fire too quickly.

  “We’ll take time to create a new one and test it.” Civ brings his tools and the jar. He tells Luk that he will be at the river in case someone looks for him. Then he went to the river early in the morning.

  At the river, after doing his everyday routine and getting clay. He smashed the cracked jar he created until it was powdered. Then, while molding the clay, he mixed it with ash and powder.

  He was able to finish it much faster today. Since it is still early in the morning, he produced two more jars for more samples in his experiment.

  Getting the desired size and composition, he went back to the camp to dry it in the sun.

  Back at the camp, everyone was already awake and started doing their tasks. Civ went back to the cave. Since the camp has made cordages, he wants to inventory all of the materials. Including the stone tools.

  Looking at the rolled double-ply cordage, Civ was actually shocked. The tribe is able to produce 40 meters in a few days! If they can make it consistently, he can start working on the tools he needs to enhance and create.

  Stone spears and the stone knives were actually more impressive. Some of the knives are so meticulously created that it was smoothed and much sharper. It's like a product from a seasoned stone-knapper.

  He wants to ask the group about it, but decides to set it aside for now. Because he will join them later once he is done with all the things he needs to check.

  Inspecting the stone spearheads, some of it was more detailed compared to others. There are spearheads that were shaped as long and pointed as possible. Some are delta-shaped.

  “This is the kind of spearheads I am planning to make last time. But looks like they already did it. I’ll ask Arsh who did this later.” Civ wants to know who made these more detailed spearheads. Even though he has enough ideas for the Stone Age tools, it is still better to have other people help. They can collaborate and improve anything based on their experience.

  After the inventory, Civ was amazed. They already have around 42 stone spearheads, 37 stone knives, and around 70 meters of cordage. For the few days of teaching them, this is much faster than he anticipated.

  “I am always surprised by the human capability to learn something new.” There are still many things he needs to teach the tribe. Seeing the items in front of him, it seems things will go smoothly.

  After Civ left the cave, he was welcomed by a pile of firewood in front of the cave.

  “Oh, you are in the cave. If I had known Civ, I would have gone inside.” Horm was dragging two dead trees and put them in front of the campfire.

  “Hey Horm, be careful!” Civ runs to the pile of firewood. He started dragging it away from the campfire.

  When the people saw the sweating, troubled face of Civ. They instinctively followed what Civ was doing. Then placed the dry wood away from the campfire.

  Civ looked sternly at Horm's face and said. “Horm! Next time, please put the firewood away from the campfire. We need to avoid unnecessary fires.”

  Hearing it, Horm tucked his chin. “Sorry Civ, I’ll do better next time.”

  Horm also realized his mistake. It might cause a big fire if he leaves it there.

  Since Horm apologized, Civ immediately calmed down. “Better not to leave it there next time.”

  But looking at the firewood, it was more than they needed for the night.

  “Hey Horm? Why is there so much firewood you gathered?” Civ was honestly curious.

  Horm flinched when he was asked by Civ again.

  “Uhm We-well.” He picked up the stone axe and showed it to Civ.

  “The axe was going to be broken, so I decided to pile up some more since firewood around the area was already gone.”

  Seeing the dishivelled stone axe, Civ was more impressed than annoyed. It endured so much force from Horm.

  “I get it now. If that is the case, you should have said it to me. I was going to teach Arsh how to make it later. So you should not be shy about breaking one.”

  Right now, aside from food, water, and shelter, fire was starting to be a commodity for the tribe. Cooking meat will make the food safer and palatable for everyone. Getting enough sleep around the campfire. It really helps them feel more energetic during the day. Keeping enough firewood every day is a must for them.

  “So just focus on finding dead trees around. We need more than that in the next days.” Civ patted his friend's shoulders. Horm's face turned bright.

  “Yes Civ. I’ll tell the team.” Horm was looking forward to his new stone axe.

  The cheerful Horm left Civ as he plans to use the dishiveld stone axe to the fullest.

  ‘I’m sorry, Stone Axe, but you need to ensure it a bit more.’ Civ felt pity for the first stone axe he created.

  It was almost noon, so he took a bite of the dried meat ration that we had.

  Looking at the three jars, his excitement couldn’t be contained.

  “Let’s fire up the first sample!”