Ohot gave the bag a thorough look before arching an eyebrow and inquiring, "What's the purpose of this?"
"This is called a Bag, used to hold items, instead of carrying them in a leather pouch. It's much more convenient than a leather pouch and can hold more. The materials are also easy to find!" Minh Vũ explained.
Ohot seemed skeptical, but when he saw members of the Stone tribe organizing their belongings into the bag, he became convinced.
"You teach us how to make Bags! We'll give you 10 large animal hides in return," Ohot proposed.
"Agreed!" Minh Vũ immediately agreed.
In this situation, it wouldn't be wise to offend the other group. Therefore, Minh Vũ promptly accepted the offer. He then proceeded to instruct the Stone tribe on making Bags, while his own people prepared for tomorrow's journey and evening meal.
Inside the Stone tribe's dwelling,
Ohot and Simba sat together, with Ohot examining the bag closely.
"The Great Stone tribe cannot be defeated!" Ohot mused.
"Why's that?" Simba asked, somewhat puzzled.
The Stone tribe has someone who can create many useful items. Look at the ceramic pot and the Bag. They're both excellent. If we can recruit the maker of these items to join our tribe, we'll become stronger. We won't fear the cannibal tribe to the west anymore.
Talking about the cannibal tribe sparked Simba's courage, darkening his face. It seemed like the mention of the cannibal tribe filled Simba with resentment and fear.
"How do we subdue them?" Simba inquired.
"We need to establish good relations with them! We'll start with their young leader and then lure their creative mind to us! Once we know their intentions, we can even eliminate that hostile tribe!" Ohot suggested slyly.
Meanwhile, after receiving 10 large animal hides as payment for teaching the Stone tribe to make Bags, Minh Vũ's group received even more gifts, including salt, provisions, and various other items. Furthermore, their attitude was extremely friendly, as if the two tribes had been close friends for a long time.
Minh Vũ was very suspicious of this situation. The Stone tribe couldn't be this kind-hearted. Surely, they had ulterior motives. However, for now, Minh Vũ couldn't discern their intentions and decided to set aside his suspicions and deal with the immediate matters.
For the past few days, snow had fallen heavily. According to Klu, they had to change their route and travel along the mountain slopes, where there was less snow. The route they had taken a few days ago was now buried under thick snow.
After finishing their meal, everyone began to rest early, leaving only two guards from the Stone tribe. Minh Vũ also retired early to prepare for the long journey ahead the next day.
Nothing eventful happened during the night.
At dawn, while darkness still enveloped the Stone tribe's dwelling, Minh Vũ's group woke up, prepared breakfast, and set off towards their own tribe.
However, to their surprise, despite their early departure, Simba, the leader of the Stone tribe, personally bid them farewell, and their demeanor was very friendly. This made Minh Vũ even more suspicious.
Today's route took them along the mountain slopes, which was quite challenging to traverse, but still better than the flat route they had taken a few days ago.
The trees had shed their leaves, leaving only some evergreen trees with foliage, creating a monotonous landscape of white and gray from the trees and rocks. The atmosphere was extremely bleak.
Snowfall continued heavily, making it difficult for the group to travel in the freezing winter weather. The adults coped better, but the children struggled immensely, their faces turning pale with cold. The situation worsened when one of the women, five months pregnant, appeared extremely weak.
"Klu! How much longer until we reach the tribe?" Minh Vũ couldn't help asking.
"Probably two more days!" Klu replied.
"What!?" Minh Vũ exclaimed.
Understanding Minh Vũ's concern, Klu explained further, "There's a small cave on the other side where we can take shelter!"
"Good!" Minh Vũ urged them to speed up, as the women and children couldn't endure much longer.
Soon, they arrived at the location Klu mentioned. It was a small cave, more like a crevice protruding from the mountain wall, providing enough space for 30 people to take shelter.
Minh Vũ immediately instructed the hunters to start a fire while the rest collected snow for melting into water. The group couldn't bear the freezing temperature outside, which was at least minus 5 or 6 degrees Celsius. It was unbearably cold, especially for the pregnant woman, whose condition was delicate.
Half an hour later, under the warmth of the fire and with food, the group regained their strength. Klu intended to continue their journey, but Minh Vũ disagreed. With the heavy snow and the group's health not being optimal, Minh Vũ decided they would stay here until the weather improved.
Klu disagreed, insisting they should return to the tribe as soon as possible since it was dangerous outside, especially at night.
However, being the leader, Minh Vũ's decision prevailed, and everyone had to comply.
To ensure the group's safety, Minh Vũ ordered everyone to construct a simple defensive wall using branches and snow.
Quickly, they gathered wood, branches, leaves, and snow to build a barrier around their shelter, creating a rudimentary but sturdy fence that could deter wild animals.
The large animal hides were utilized efficiently, with some serving as shields and others as mats, making their sleeping quarters quite comfortable, not as bad as Klu had imagined.
At this time, the snowfall showed no sign of stopping, and the temperature dropped even further as evening approached. Minh Vũ and Klu walked around, surveying the surroundings for anything useful, as they didn't have much food.
However, the area consisted mainly of rocks and trees, with no additional resources to be found. Minh Vũ felt disappointed and was about to return when he noticed a crevice in the distance.
From about 50 meters away, he could see something resembling a block-shaped object embedded deep in the crevice. His spirits soared.
He hurried over, observing carefully, and silently prayed.
In the crevice, he could see clearly now. The place was teeming with insects, primarily bees. More accurately, they were honey bees.
And that block was a large beehive, weighing at least 10 kilograms. 10 kilograms! That was honey, honey that was incredibly beneficial for regaining strength and spirit, especially in this winter season.
Thrilled as he was, Minh Vũ had no intention of harvesting the hive right away. He needed to carefully consider before embarking on this endeavor.
Bees, even in modern times, were dangerous creatures, let alone in this primitive era.
Bees came in many varieties, each requiring different methods of capture and handling.
Examining the hive, Minh Vũ could determine that it belonged to a honey-producing species of bees, but these bees were large, with three yellow segments and two black segments on their bodies. Their colors were striking, indicating they were likely to be lethal.
However, the characteristics of these bees were extremely disadvantageous in this freezing winter. At the end of autumn, after collecting enough honey, the queen bee would stop laying eggs, and the male bees would be killed by the worker bees to conserve food. Furthermore, during winter, the bees would become sluggish and less aggressive.
Secondly, everyone knew that bees had no night vision and were highly sensitive to smoke. Minh Vũ observed carefully before instructing Klu to prepare tools for capturing this honey-filled hive.
Upon understanding Minh Vũ's intention, Klu, although terrified, sat down on the ground, stammering, "Vũ! No! Bees! Sting to death! Surio died! Sting to death!" Klu spoke fearfully.
It turned out that the Great Stone tribe had suffered a bitter lesson when attempting to harvest honey from this hive. More than half of them suffered severe losses, which had deeply ingrained in Klu's memory.
"It's okay! I have a plan!" Minh Vũ reassured him, patting his shoulder.
Although Klu was still terrified, it seemed that deep down, he held Minh Vũ in high esteem, even more so than Vu.
Meanwhile, Orc, who was sitting in front of the pot of porridge, blinked continuously, staring at the cooking fire and drooling.
"Orc! Get some firewood and leaves ready! We'll have a delicious meal tonight!" Minh Vũ returned with Klu and immediately announced some exciting news.
At the mention of a delicious meal, Orc couldn't resist letting out a roar. Then, he stood up hastily to prepare firewood and leaves.
Smoke was the best way to deal with insects, especially bees.
Orc, Klu, and Out climbed up the trees to gather fresh leaves, while others on the ground prepared plenty of firewood. One batch was for keeping warm during the night, and the other was for capturing the bees.
Fortunately, the materials were readily available, so it didn't take long to prepare.