Gravis looked at the indecisive spider and frowned. He didn’t want it to remain standing there. If it came, he would show it a good time, and if it retreated, he could finally temper his bones. Yet, it just continued standing there.
Gravis took his saber and started cutting off a big rock from the cliff. The spider continued watching him, not sure what Gravis was doing. Gravis quickly cut off a big chunk, and before it could fall, he grabbed it with both of his hands and lifted it up. This stone weighed several hundred kilograms, but he could lift that easily with his body.
He lifted the rock above his head, changed the hold, so he held it only with one hand, reared back, and threw it like a ball at the spider. Even though the spider seemed to look at him, its eyes were not that good. It was feeling Gravis’ vibrations on the ground, and it heard his breathing and movement. So, of course...
BANG!
The stone hit the middle of its head, and it screeched. Its carapace didn’t crack, but the impact shook its brain. It staggered to the side and shook its head, trying to get its bearings.
BANG!
In the time where the spider was still shaking its head, Gravis had cut off another rock. This time, it hit two of the spider’s knees. The spider’s legs were curled up, and its ’knees’ were actually higher than its body, so it was pretty hard to hit its body from the side.
Yet, the carapace on its knees seemed to be weaker, and it cracked a little. Gravis couldn’t see the cracks, but he could hear them. Gravis decided to concentrate more on the legs as he cut up his third rock.
The spider, on the other hand, started retreating into the forest. It seemed like this prey was too much for it. Gravis threw one last rock for good measure and hit its abdomen. The abdomen seemed to be more fleshy, and the rock bounced off, but not before the spider screeched again.
Gravis nodded in satisfaction, waited a little, and jumped back down. He was already kind of stepping on the border of the rules by being above the cliff. He didn’t want to stress the Guild Masters’ patience. Who knew, maybe they were watching?
Gravis reached the bottom and looked around. Nothing else seemed to be in the surroundings, yet he couldn’t trust this place. Maybe the spider decided to come back? This was its territory, after all. So, Gravis followed the cliff and started running along its edge.
After several minutes and several kilometers, Gravis stopped. He had not seen any caves until now, and he decided that it was probably easier making his own. He looked at the cliffs and decided that it would be better to make it halfway up the cliff.
Gravis jumped and ’stuck’ himself to the cliff’s side at the height of about five meters. Then, he slowly started creating a cave. He mainly used his Elemental Synchronicity to break the stone down and then moved the gravel to the side, changing it, so it stuck to the side. If it fell down, it would be a chore to carry it back later. He still needed that gravel.
After some minutes, he had created his ’cave’. Well, it was more like a small hole, and less like a cave. Yet, it still reached a depth of about two meters. Gravis went in and moved the gravel back to block the entrance. He stacked it up and blocked nearly everything of the entrance. Only two small holes remained, one at the top and one at the bottom.
The one at the top would funnel in fresh air, while the one at the bottom released the used-up air. Gravis had learned this design for a ’cave’ in the theoretical lessons, back in his homeworld.
Gravis sat down and sighed to relax. Finally, he could temper his bones. Yet, Gravis noticed that he was rather tired. He had been awake for a long while, ate a Fire Torture Pill, and fought a middle-grade demonic beast. Gravis decided to get some sleep first before he started tempering his bones.
Like this, Gravis went to sleep, and the night passed without another incident.
-------
Gravis woke up when light shined through the upper hole, right onto his eyes. He wanted to stretch, but he couldn’t due to the limited space, at least not without destroying his entrance. Yet, his stiff muscles annoyed him to no end.
Gravis destroyed his entrance without a second thought and stretched himself. He looked into the basin but couldn’t see very much. Even though he was at the height of five meters, many trees were still taller. He could hear the birds singing, and he saw some small rodents running around at the floor before they all vanished. Apparently, they had been scared by Gravis breaking open his entrance.
The animals reassured Gravis that this was a safe territory. He stretched himself until he was happy and then went back to work. He started making his hole bigger and shoveled all the rocks and dirt out of the entrance. He wouldn’t need it this time.
After nearly two hours, Gravis had created a nice cave with enough space to move around. He could also stretch himself, which was a plus. Happy with his creation, he jumped back into the basin to get some food. He was starving.
After some minutes, he came back with some wood and some dead critters. He placed the wood down before the cliff and took out a particular stone from one of his small sacks tied around his waist. He had bought that stone in Body City when he saw how useful it could be.
He took out his saber and rubbed the stone against his saber, creating lots of sparks above the wood. Making fire with the stone was a lot easier than the traditional method. Gravis cooked his food and ate until he was full.
Seeing no more need for anything else, Gravis jumped back into his cave and started moving gravel from the cave to the entrance, blocking it again except for two holes.
He sat down in the middle of the cave, the light from the holes illuminating parts of the cave. He took out one of his sacks and opened it to find seven pills inside. He took one out and looked at it with a smirk. Gravis’ profile and the pill’s shadow were painted at the back of the wall by the light shining through the holes.
"Let’s start!"