The following hours were filled with tense silence and slow movements northeast.

  The attack had quite an impact on all of them, so they didn’t have any shut-eye and just kept on moving.

  The next day came and went. They slept more that night because of the exhaustion they pushed through.

  Like that, around five days have passed.

  Surprisingly, they didn’t get attacked. Probably thanks to their smaller group and unusual appearance.

  At dusk on the sixth day, they reached their goal. The reason for that prickling yet not unpleasant sensation.

  It was a giant abyss. Spanning hundreds of kilometers in diameter. It was so big you couldn’t even see the other edge of it, heck you couldn’t even see one third of it.

  From what you could see, would be giant flora on the shelf-like protrusions from the sides of the ‘abyss’.

  Various avians flying or gliding through the air. Massive mammals and reptilians scavenging for food, mating or fighting.

  Only this breathtaking visage was finally able to break through the group's stupor.

  *gasp* Brakk couldn’t hold himself back. “This is insane!” he exclaimed.

  Even the usually quiet Raskar grunted in agreement.

  Only Torin and the boar remained quiet, the former pupils slightly dilating in astonishment before narrowing down in suspicion and confusion.

  ‘Well, this is unusual,’ he muttered to himself.

  He could feel the prickling sensation in the air even more.

  It even felt heavy and dense to an extent. Like moving through a viscous liquid, not to say that it felt bad, it was extremely relaxing, in fact.

  “Well, we still can’t go there so reign in your expectations, for now at least..” Torin said.

  “Why not?” Brakk instantly asked.

  Torin looked him in the eyes, then looked and nodded at Raskar. “Is it because we are still ‘missing’ one ascension?” Raskar answered in an uncertain tone.

  “That too, but even with four of us, we are too weak. Look at those beasts below; a single one of them could wipe us all out, not to mention pack animals or other intelligent tribes.” Torin calmly explained as he pointed the tip of his spear towards the abyss.

  Brakk seemed content with the answer, but Raskar caught onto the words “Other intelligent tribes?”

  “Yes, I’ve been blessed by the world and got to experience many lives before being able to ascend as you all did, but on my ascension my progress was deemed... Insufficient, but yes, I’ve met other intelligent tribes, and they have killed me and our other brothers and sisters.”

  Despite stating these bizarre claims, Brakk and Raskar seemed to completely trust him as if what he was stating was an absolute truth.

  “Well let’s get stronger then” Brakk enthusiastically exclaimed, while punching the air with one of his fists.

  And so the preparations for the descent began…

  ***

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  That week they hunted down the first of many beasts to ascend the last boar. It was the first and, for now, the last female boar to ascend.

  Collectively named Dashura to pay homage to the fact that she dashed through everyone first when they had to escape the wolf pack.

  As for her personality, she was rather bashful and scared of most things. Her weapons of choice, for the time being, were just rocks she could throw to momentarily stun or disrupt the opponents moves.

  In this timeframe they also found more flint, and Torin offered to make a spear for Brakk, but he refused, saying his fists were enough, and to be fair, these lesser boarlings did have their hand digits covered in hard keratin that remained from their four-legged days.

  As they needed a fresh water supply, they logically set up their ‘camp’ near one. A tiny snaking spring.

  The following month they established themselves even more.

  Instead of sleeping on the ground they now made primitive shelters - One stick leaning diagonally on a tree and other sticks, covered in pine needles, diagonally leaning on one side of the central one.

  The bedding consisted of a base layer made out of sticks to be more even and then pine needles and moss piled on top to make it more comfortable, but more importantly, to insulate the body’s warmth during sleep.

  The problem was that it only blocked one side so the other was open for wind and predators alike.

  The solution was quite simple.

  Just build another shelter with the central stick's bottom end being around a meter away from the first shelter’s bottom and the top touching the other central stick’s top.

  And since they had 4 boarlings everything worked out perfectly.

  The other two shelters were set up on the opposite side of the first two, so it offered even more coverage.

  You could imagine the all together shape formed by the four shelters as a diamond with gaps splitting them into four parts.

  That’s not all they did though.

  Torin wanted better and stronger fibers for many of their tools and shelters alike, but it took him a while to think of a way.

  They already made ‘rope’ out of grass, and that was what they were currently using.

  He tried cutting off the outer bark of some trees and braiding it into rope and it worked to an extent, but it still wasn’t quite as good and stable as he wanted. More fitted for construction rather than tools.

  He also tried roots, but he didn’t know the right way to process them, so it ended up being too stiff for tools to use again.

  As a last-ditch attempt he thought of using animal tendons, but they were wet and full of moisture, so he didn’t think that’d work either.

  Luckily he remembered making hot sparks once when he was trying different stones for toolmaking, the stone in question being pyrite, otherwise called ‘fool’s gold’.

  Thankfully it was very common and not long after he was able to replicate the hot sparks in his memories.

  Following that, the boarlings discovered ‘fire,’ and with that, using animal tendons for tool making didn’t seem impossible anymore.

  Fast forward two more months all their tools now used dried tendons rather than grass ropes.

  They also started cooking their food, as it made it easier to digest and saved more energy, in turn giving them more time to work on other projects, such as processing animal skin and turning it into leather.

  Then using the said leather for primitive vests that offered a limited, but still a valuable amount of protection against predators and environment alike.

  Torin even invented slingshots, which were a lifesaver, literally, for Dashura, as just throwing rocks by hand was a poor excuse for a proper weapon.

  Now this outstanding progress may paint an illusion that inventing these things from scratch was as easy as breathing, but in truth it’s extremely challenging and takes a lot of trial and error.

  The only reason Torin was able to do this is because he has, in essence, lived for hundreds of years, and every time he restarted, the accumulated knowledge was transferred to a piglet’s brain, increasing its activity.

  While this was going on, they were also gathering and hunting for food daily. The constant physical and sometimes mortal engagement increased their proficiency in using their weapons and bodies massively.

  At the end of the two months they even started hunting predators and bigger game on purpose, every kill yielding a magical surge of energy that slightly filled their bodies with warmth.

  This energy was dubbed ‘Jak’ by Torin and seemed crucial to their further progress on the path of power.

  In fact, Torin theorized that the prickling sensation brought about by the abyss was the Jak flowing in the air. Why he couldn’t absorb it was still a mystery though.

  Maybe a burst of denser Jak was necessary, or the dead soul played as some sort of bridge to transfer energy.

  Regardless, everything was going relatively well until around half a year later…