Melody was resting in her tree when a massive force crashed into her tree. "W-WHAT?!"

Her tree shook again. "What is going on?!"

"SQUUUUUUEEEEEEEE!" Something significant squealed outside her tree.

Cautiously Melody peaked out her hollow just to see a massive six-legged boar slam into her tree, starting to break its dead roots.

Stampede Boar. Danger Level: Medium.

Using six legs to achieve high charging speeds. Difficulty changing directions rapidly. The front side of the skull, snout, and tusks hardened to take significant impacts. Susceptible to piercing damage to sides and stomach.

Melody fell back as the tree shook, barely getting her skill off. "AH!" The Falda Lizard eggs fell and broke on her. "NO! MY FOOD!"

Melody grabbed her spear and headed to the hollow entrance. The boar slammed into the tree again, but Melody held herself in place. Stabbing downward with her spear, it snapped on the boar's head, enraging it. "Oh, come on!"

The boar slammed into the tree once more, snapping the roots and tipping the tree over.

Melody hit the back of the tree hard as it fell. She coughed and struggled to get air into her lungs as the tree rolled. The hollow entrance was now sideways. Melody could hear the boar sniffing around the opening, so she grabbed the broken pick and stabbed it out, jamming the pick down the boar's nostril.

The boar squealed in pain, backing and quickly running away.

After using her sense danger skill and feeling the area was clear, Melody crawled out of the tree with her pack and whatever she could salvage.

Her heart sank as she looked about her camp. The campfire and cooking bowl were trashed, and the water basin was destroyed.

"GRAAAH!" Melody screamed out in frustration. "WHY!?" The cauldron of anger within her began to boil wildly. "YOU KNOW WHAT! You come and take my home from me?! I'm coming to take yours, you future pork sandwich!" Melody roared.

After salvaging whatever she could, Melody quickly found the boar's tracks and began her hunt.

The Stampede Boar slept soundly next to its spring. It had nothing to fear. The female it attacked damaged its sense of smell, so it needed to rest and heal.

Bonk! A stone rolled away from it. It turned and saw an invader. It shouted something at the boar, but it did not care.

"SQUUUEEEEE!" It cried and charged after the invader.

Branches broke and shattered as it charged forward, its eyes on the invader. The invader ran off to the side, and the boar gave chase.

The invader stood with its back to a large tree. The Stampede Boar squealed in rage and charged forward. It would soon kill the invader and claim its meal.

Just before it got close enough to gore the invader with its tusks, the invader pulled a vine that lifted thick, sharpened branches.

The boar knew it was in danger and had to stop. One of its legs got caught up in a vine, causing it to turn just before the invader, the sharp branches diving into its flesh, casting it into the depths of death.

Melody was breathing heavily, her heart racing, the cauldron inside her calming. I, I did it. I did it!

She poked it annoyingly with her new wooden spear to make sure it was dead. After confirming, she celebrated by hopping around and cheering to herself before she slowed, dropped to her knees, and trembled.

"I can't do that again…" Melody was afraid, now that her mind was clearing of the fog of anger. She lost control of her emotions again. Melody may have been successful in her plan, but what if it failed? What if the boar hadn't stepped in her tripwire, or it snapped? What if she timed the spike trap poorly?

Melody stopped trembling, shaking her head to rid herself of such thoughts, and looked down sadly. Melody sniffled, wishing she had someone to talk to, and slowly got back to work.

Melody moved over to her somewhat broken spike trap and tried to pull it out. It took quite a bit of effort before she checked to find her trap had somehow got caught on a… root? It was strange and out of place, but Melody could not think of any explanation for it or why it seemed to be holding her trap in place.

Melody settled on just breaking the wooden spikes for now until she could string up the corpse to bleed it out. That was one thing Melody found horrible about giant cooking was that they never bled the bodies. It led to their meat tasting metallic and gamy because the blood coagulated.

Using her rope, she tied the boar's back legs, climbed up a tree, found a thick branch, and tossed the remaining rope over. Climbing back down, she took hold of her rope.

Hopefully, I am strong enough to lift this thing. Also, please don't break Mr. Rope. Pulling the rope, the boar was lifted into the air.

"Huff, I did it! I must be stronger than I thought. Oh…" Melody realized right then, she forgot to pick a point to secure the rope. She was lucky and found a convenient thick root she could use near her feet.

After securing the rope and digging a hole directly under the hanging boar, she pulled her stone knife out. She apprehensively grabbed hold of one of the legs to keep it steady and put the blade to the boar's throat.

Ngh. Just do it! Closing her eyes, she yanked the knife across, causing blood to gush out.

"WAHHH!" She fell back as the corpse bled out into the hole.

Survive. I need to do this to survive… Melody did her best to convince herself. Melody could handle raw meat, but excessive blood was a bit much for her at the moment.

Creating a primitive sled, she could transport the boar back to the spring she saw it by. The work helped keep her mind off the torrent of blood spilling into the hole. Hnnngh! How much blood does that thing have?! Keeping herself busy only helped a little...

After checking on the boar a half-hour later, it looked to be bled out.

She piled the dirt she dug back into the hole and lowered the boar onto her sled.

Melody dragged the boar back to the spring and rehung it. Using her hatchet to chop a few thick branches about her height, she dug another hole to act as a fire pit, cleared the surrounding leaves, and placed a stone circle around the hole.

"Hmm? Was that tree there before?" Melody looked at a tree that looked like it decided it didn't want to grow taller but broader. Melody could not remember if the tree was there when she first spotted the boar but just shrugged her shoulders and went back to work on her new camp.

The pit was loaded with several dried branches, logs, and tinder. A short time later, Melody had a decent fire going in her firepit.

The three long branches she cut were secured together in a tripod fashion with twine. Adding some more components in a simple lattice, she created some shelving. The tripod was set up directly over the fire pit to allow for cooking.

"Unlocked, Cooking Fire!" She joyously called out. Melody was so happy to be able to put more of her knowledge to use.

"Now, what to do with that…." She looked over at the hanging boar.

I guess I should try skinning it… My clothes are in bad shape, and I really don't want to go about Le Naturelle.

She went over to the spring to get a drink and used her identify skill before drinking. “WHAAAAAAAT?!” Melody cried in surprise.

Magic Spring: Water, clean. Water will self-clean regularly throughout the day. Spring refills over twenty-four hours. Water is imbued with magic, has the effect of restoring magic.

WHAT A FIND! This is great! Right! This spring is mine now! Melody committed in her mind that she would try to fortify the area with walls to make the location her home.

Melody cannonballed into the water.

"This feels… warm and tingly." Melody commented. It didn't feel bad, quite the opposite, she felt more energized, and her mind felt clear.

Melody worked to clean off her vest and shorts of whatever was left of the egg she couldn't get off earlier. Once finished, she calmly floated on the surface, feeling at peace.

Melody was apprehensive about doing it, but she had to deal with the boar.

Okay, you've seen the video hundreds of times. She thought.

Taking a deep breath, Melody gathered some large green leaves from a nearby tree that were big enough to act as trays and laid them out for the meat.

Rearranging her rope and adding some long twines, Melody had the hanging boar's hind and forelegs spread apart. This was to keep the corpse stable and make it easier for her to skin it.

Taking her stone blade, she cut around the joints on the hind legs, being careful not to cut to the tendons.

I wish I had a nice sharp knife! Melody internally cried as she struggled to cut the boar.

Starting at the cut on one of the hind legs, Melody cut all the way down the stomach to the gullet. She repeated the cut from the opposite leg. Then she crossed her cut across the chest to connect the two vertical lines.

Melody found the hide was coming off relatively easy as she pulled and cut the sinew and fat. Her high strength was making the job easier, but she still made several mistakes.

After nearly an hour, she had the hide removed from the body. Melody put the fur in the spring for a bit before she would shave any remaining flesh from it later. Melody was thankful the spring was self-cleaning.

It took her some time, but she had the boar butchered into several pieces of meat, ribs, ham hocks, organs, the head, and tusks.

Melody gathered some twine and broke off several fresh thin sticks. Arranging and tying them together, Melody created several latticed trays to use in her next item.

"Now! Cooking Fire has been upgraded to… Smoker!" Melody used her tattered hides to enclose the upper half of the tripod so that little of the smoke could escape. She splashed a bit of water to lower the intensity of the fire and soaked a bit of fragrant wood in the spring. That way, the wood would create a good amount of smoke to cook the meat.

Melody sliced the meat into thin strips, intending to turn it into jerky to preserve the food as long as possible.

She used her identify skill on the various organs and parts to see if any had beneficial effects. The only ones she found that had any use were the heart, tusks, brain, and liver.

Stampede Boar Heart: If eaten, cooked, or raw, it will give a permanent boost to stamina and strength.

Stampede Boar Tusks: Hard and dense. Tusks are almost at strong as steel.

Stampede Boar Brain: If eaten, cooked, or raw, it will give a slight chance to learn one new ability of Stampede Boar.

Stampede Boar Liver: High source of nutrients. Gives a temporary boost in strength.

Melody was both shocked and happy that the giant clan never ate the items. If they had, they might have been unstoppable, but she was more than happy to take advantage of the boosts if it meant increasing her chances of survival.

The stomach, kidneys, bladder, lungs, and intestine, she diced it all after cleaning them and buried them to add to an area of land she hoped to make into a garden. The liver was set to be smoked while the heart and brain would be cooked on the fire itself. After getting the meat started cooking, she began honing the edge of the boar tusk on a stone.

After an hour, Melody took out the first set of boar meat, flipped it, and added the second tray.

She continued to prepare the rest of the meat for the third and fourth trays. Another hour passed, and she pulled out her first tray, flipped the second, and added the third.

Over-Cooked, Smoked Stampede Boar Meat: Temporary boost in stamina on consumption. Dried out. Tough texture. Has a nice smoky flavor.

Oops, overcooked it. Let's try to pull the second batch out a bit earlier.

Melody tried a piece of the meat and found the description to be accurate.

Biting into another piece of meat, she picked up one of the tusks. They were not as thick as she thought they should have been. It almost looked like a wide knife with a blunt edge and pointed tip. Using her sharpening stone, the tusk did not take much time to hone the edge, and she tested it out on the tough smoked meat.

"Wow, this cuts way better than stone! Let's switch the blade out now." Melody happily cheered as she undid the twine of the knife.

Acquired: Tusk Knife! Melody waved the upgraded knife above her head.

Pulling the hide out of the water after letting it soak in the spring, she hung it up to dry while stretching it in a square frame she made.

Magic Spring: Water will self-clean regularly throughout the day. Time to clean: 9 minutes. Spring will refill over twenty-four hours. Water is imbued with magic, has the effect of restoring magic.

Melody smiled, happy her skill told her how long till the spring would be clean once more. She was also sure that the tingly feeling she had when in the spring was it cleaning her body. Sniffing her forearm, she found she had barely any scent at all, just a subtle scent of water.

She shaved off any remnants of flesh and fat from the hide with ease using her new knife.

I need salt and oil now. I remember seeing an interestingly named tree. Melody thought of her next steps to tan the hide. When she was hunting the boar down, she identified several plants and trees she found that may be helpful to her later.

After checking and swapping out the second load of meat, rearranging the third, she pulled the cooked heart and brain.

Smoked Stampede Boar Meat: Temporary boost in stamina on consumption. Has a nice smoky flavor.

Slightly Over-Cooked, Stampede Boar Heart: Gives a permanent boost to stamina and strength. Slightly burnt and dried out.

Cooked Stampede Boar Brain: Small chance to learn one new ability of Stampede Boar.

She usually was not too picky over foods other than peas, but the brain made her cringe as she bit into the mushy texture. Melody finished off the brain and had a bit easier time eating the heart. Though before she ate the heart, she held it above her head, saying 'Kali Mah. Kali Mah! KALI MAH!' before giggling at her silliness.

Melody felt a surge of power flow through her body, and a name played in her head.

"Charge?" Melody said, tilting her head.

Thinking on the name a bit more, she understood it would boost her dexterity, strength, and defense, allowing her to move along a forward path at a mighty pace.

Melody turned toward an open pathway. CHARGE! She felt explosive power flow into her legs, and she took off down the path.

"WAH! Too fast! TOO FAST!" She couldn't stop herself in time and ended up running up the tree in her path, then fell back to the ground when gravity took hold.

"Ow. Well, at least I know it works. It also makes a lot of noise." While rubbing her rump, she walked off to where the tree of interest was.

Salt Bark Tree: A tree that draws sodium from the ground and creates salt within the bark. Salt is on the inner layer of bark. The bark is very tough and rigid.

Melody got excited and tried to pull some of the bark off, only to find it was pretty tricky. She tried her stone hatchet and had a bit better luck, but it took a while to breakthrough.

After a considerable amount of effort, she was able to break off a piece of the bark.

"Ooooh! The salt is on the back of the bark! Identify!" Melody was excited.

Bark Salt: Salt from a Salt Bark Tree. Safe for consumption.

"Yes! Got Salt!" She held the bark above her head and paused.

I feel like I need to stop doing this… I know no one is watching, but I just feel like I am embarrassing myself… She thought, sheepishly lowering her prize.

Melody shaved off the salt from the bark and some from the tree's wood into an empty pouch. Returning to her camp, Melody covered the boar hide in the fine salt on both sides of the fur and rolled it up.

"If I remember right, I have to salt the hide multiple days in a row before I can tan it." She set the salted hide aside and finished up smoking the last bit of meat. The final cuts were the thickest pieces, like the ribs. She would have to smoke them overnight.

Smoked Stampede Boar Meat: Temporary boost in stamina on consumption. Has a nice smoky flavor.

She cheered her success and enjoyed a piece, then added a pinch of salt to the next and was thankful she found the salt tree.

"Now the problem is getting Alum. I need it to finish tanning the hide…." She looked over at the bark for the Salt Bark tree suspiciously. Identify.

Salt Bark: Very hard. Contains Sodium Alum.

"You, you have to be kidding me," Melody's eyes widened at the unnatural luck, "Nova?" She looked up toward the sky.

Could Nova be watching over me? If you are Nova, thank you. Also, please punish the god who put me in this situation. Melody finished her little prayer and began making a stone hammer to break the bark down to a powder.

The following day, she applied more salt onto the hide and hung it to dry once more.

Okay, I need to build a home. Sleeping outside is getting uncomfortable. Melody checked the wide tree near the spring. Walking around it, she estimated that it must have been around forty to sixty feet in diameter and about the same in height. Identify.

Homely Tree: A tree that is short but grows quite broad. Typically used to make homes by hunters and forest spirits.

"Perfect." Using her hatchet, she hacked into the side that faced the spring.

It took her about thirty minutes, but she broke enough of the outer layer to have a nice hole big enough for her to crawl through. She didn't want to make the opening too big, or larger predators would get to her quicker. One of them, in particular, was the Dread Wolf.

Melody swung her hatchet at the tree innards, and it sunk in like striking clay. "Whaaaaaat?"

Reaching in, she found she could somewhat grip and tear the inside of the tree out.

"Hmm… Identify."

Homely Tree Sapwood Layer: A very soft and airy wood.

Melody checked the sides of her hole, the four outer layers of the tree.

Homely Tree Bark (Outer): Protective and supportive layer of wood. Four inches thick.

Homely Tree Phloem: Transports nutrients produced by photosynthesis through the tree. Three inches thick. Due to nearby Magic Spring, it will provide a comfortable temperature at all times within.

Homely Tree Cambium: Produces new xylem for sapwood layer until the tree is fully grown. One inch thick. Maintains Phloem layer. If the Phloem layer is damaged, it will form a thin layer of bark to cover.

Homely Tree Bark (Inner): Protective and supportive layer of wood. One inch thick. Forms once the tree is fully grown.

Melody now understood why the tree was called the Homely Tree, and she got an added bonus with the spring. Once she cleaned out more space, Melody would have a perfect home for her to live even in the wintertime. Sending off a prayer of thanks to Nova, she got back to work.

It took her several hours to dig out enough space for her to lay or sit up in. Melody crawled out of her hovel and saw it was the dead of night, and her fire had died. Upset with herself for letting her fire die, she tried using the soft sapwood of the Homely Tree and found it lit pretty well. Not long after, she had her fire going once more to finish smoking the last bit of meat.

Melody checked the spring, finding it was clean. She took a deep drink of water. Popping a few slices of her seasoned boar meat, she moved her main food provisions into her hovel. Melody crawled in and wedged what was left of the spike trap she used on the boar into the hole to ward off any predators. Tomorrow, Melody would work on making a door and traps.