Homesteading in a fantasy world

I was woken up by the panicked sounds of the cows and right after that I heard a huge bird cry so loud it hurt my ears. It took me a moment to realize where I was, but after that, I quickly got up, strung my bow and ran outside.

I saw the biggest bird I’ve ever seen flying towards the cows that were running to the safety of the barn. I quickly started to shoot at the now diving bird that was trying to get one of my cows. Its body was the size of a car, and its wingspan was enormous.

My arrows just bounced off but luckily one hit close enough to the beak that the bird got hurt and stopped its dive and started to circle around again. This time the cows were close to the barn, and I started to shoot quicker at it and run towards the tower hoping to get its attention.

Luckily or unluckily, I did get its attention, and it started to dive towards me. Even with all my stats, I was never going to outrun it, and halfway there, I needed to use my movement skill and quickly jump to the side so the birds would miss me. After a quick roll, I instantly continued running.

It seems that the bird needed some time to recover its height, and it had to work hard giving me enough time to reach the tower and climb it quickly.

Loading a bolt took a bit, and the bird was already circling towards the barn again. This time I quickly shot it with the longbow and the results were better. I think it scratched it and that got it mad enough for it to dive towards the tower.

I waited until it was too close to do anything about the bolt that would fly towards its heart. With a thump, the bolt flew true and hit the bird in the chest.

It quickly lost its air stability and started to drop like a rock. It hit the ground headfirst and snapped its neck, quickly dying because of that. I stayed up there breathing deeply and still trying to understand what had happened. Less than 10 minutes after I woke up, and I had gone through so much, it left me dazed.

I checked the skies to see if there was any more, luckily there didn't seem to be. I thanked the ballista for once again saving my life, or at least the lives of my animals. Just in case I stayed on top of the tower looking out to see if any more will come.

My stomach was telling me I needed food, so after about two hours of watching, I got down and went to check on the bird. The feathers were huge, but that was only the outer layer. It had multiple layers of feathers that went smaller and smaller.

Looking at the size of this thing, I will have feathers for a lot of arrows. I couldn’t even use the biggest ones because they were the size of the arrows, but perhaps, they will be useful for some crafting material for a future project yet to be determined.

After that, I went and checked on everyone in the barn. Everyone was good, and the cows went back to eating. I did the same and ate some breakfast. I should really make some sort of a pouch so I could store some emergency rations on me at all times.

Starting the job of extracting all the feathers from the bird turned out to be an extremely time-consuming job. I had to do them individually to get all the feathers out and the bigger ones needed help at the base; I needed to cut a slit into the skin to get them out.

The rest of the feathers were easier but I also couldn’t just leave them on the ground, or the wind would blow them away so I had to gather them in handfuls and tie them together with some string.

The combined wingspan was about 10 meters, which it completely needed because its body was built like a predator, its talons the size of my legs.

To cut its skin, I needed to use piercing cut. I will get so much leather I will need to work on it for the rest of the day, if not even longer, to butcher it. The bones were extremely strong and hollow, like every bird.

When evening came, I was yet to finish butchering it but still got two levels in it. As I continued extracting all I could, I found an egg inside that was actually formed correctly.

It wasn't huge; it was smaller than an ostrich egg about the size of 5 of this world's chicken eggs. I was able to hold it in one hand. At that moment, an idea formed in my head, and I started walking towards the chicken coop.

Placing the egg in one of the nests and, to my surprise, a rooster quickly ran up and started to try to hatch it. Instead of continuing to butcher today, I did some smaller woodworking.

I built a smaller area where I could put the chicks so they can’t run away. I’m pretty sure the chicken eggs are going to hatch any moment now. Luckily, I didn’t forget about them, and I also tightened up Freya’s stall so if she wanted, she could leave, but the puppies couldn’t.

After that I was able to take out the first load of meat, I put into the smoker to see if it is actually possible to cook it and to my surprise it was. It turned out as extremely tough meat, but it was edible and tasted good. Only problem was it meant some extra work for the next few days.

It took another day for me to harvest the huge bird, getting me another level in butchering. During that time, I also used my ability piercing cut a lot and got a level in that as well.

During this day, I also tested and used the faster material preparation ability. It did work as expected. It took a huge amount of energy, but I was able to accelerate the drying process from taking one or two years down to a month at the most.

Here I have to thank my energy storage stat. Now I believe it also helps recover energy faster because otherwise I would not have been able to do so much.

The leather I had to cut into smaller pieces otherwise I wouldn’t be able to process it and I’m guessing that it will still take a lot of time for it to dry and I ran out of the powdered solution that I had stored up and without it making leather would take an extremely long time.

For some reason, I think that the goblins have a similar powder or even a better version that I will try to get my hands on the next time they came for help.

It was now time to start carving to get my skill high enough to be able to get another ability. At the same time, I still needed to keep smoking the meat. I purposely did extremely fine and detailed work to help me level it up. It did work and by the end of the day, all 4 benches were done and I was able to tier up basic wood carving.

Skill increases basic wood carving level 10 is upgraded to wood carving level 1

Choose one of the following abilities

burning end

sharp blade

tracing line

Sharp blade will be the winner here. I simply need it too much. I have learned that general abilities like sharp blade are a lot more flexible and better overall than sharp drill where I could only use it with drills.

You have gained a new ability sharp blade level 1

Testing the ability out, it was all that I hoped. I could use it with anything that had a blade part on it and make it a lot sharper. With enough energy and concentration, I could go through wood like butter, and it will get even better as it increases in levels.

This time I’m going to be smarter, and I looked at my skills to see which ones would be next to tier up. Animal care was at level 9 and if I spend some more time with the animals, I bet I could get it to tier up.

Fitness enhancement was at level 8 and to level it up, all I have to do was keep training. Now logging was level 8, but I don’t know yet if I can get an ability at level 10 or at level 20 at that tier of the skill and it takes way too long to level up at this tier for me to try to push for it.

Butchering, I have got now to level 9 and if I get another big kill and not just rabbits, I am guessing that I could push that to 10 and tier it up.

Basic bow making is level 8 and I’m guessing I could push it to 10 easy enough, same with basic smithing that I could cheat a little because metal can be reformed again and again and perhaps it's a good idea to do that. Basic stealth is level 8 and I can train that up as well.

It would be a good idea to push some skills during the next month as I would have a lot more free time if any more trouble doesn't come.

I will need to weed the potato field. The vegetable field, thanks to my preparation, won’t need a lot of work, but will still need some. Luckily, the grainfields don't need any help in weeding. They are tall enough that they will soon smother out any other weeds, being able to outgrow them.

Next day I woke up and did my chores, but then at the chicken coop I found that almost all the eggs had hatched, and I started to transfer the chicks into their spot.

I quickly carved out multiple rock bowls for them to use as water containers. It was tall enough that the chicken could go and be with them and check up on them, but the chicks couldn’t leave.

When I helped with the puppies a bit, I finally got the level up for basic animal care and got the choice in an ability.

Skill increases basic animal care level 10 is upgraded to animal care level 1

Choose one of the following abilities

animal sight

health check

soothing touch

This time I have to pick the sight one. It would be so useful. I guess knowledge actually helps make better decisions, who would have guessed.

You have gained a new ability animal sight level 1

I messed around with it not just to understand it, but to help my basic energy manipulation get better. For that I didn’t just mess with the sights but also at the same time messed with everything else that used energy that I know.

This extreme level of training helped push me to the limit. I was able to tier up the skill after half a day, getting me another choice of abilities.

Skill increases basic energy manipulation level 10 is upgraded to energy manipulation level 1

Choose one of the following abilities

direct energy

energy lance

extreme energy precision

They all sounded excellent. Energy lance would probably be a combat ability while the two others are more utility, but I think extreme energy precision will be important for any energy manipulation. Overall, I think this is the best choice, and I picked it.

You have gained a new ability extreme energy precision level 1

I’m quite sure that I’ve made the correct choice. It felt like I have been using a tool that’s handle is loose but now everything was firm and precise.

I could feel that I could push some abilities a lot further now and others are more easily manipulated, like the sights giving me even more precise control.

Now I could even choose to see specific stat energy moving, not just viewing them all at the same time. This feel like it will become a good thing in the future but currently I was still too inexperienced to make any use of this.

After that, I pushed my physical body by running and doing weights that gave me another level in heavy training. I went to sleep after a swim and dinner. I’m hoping that tomorrow I will be able to push fitness enhancement to level 9.