Shao Xuan lifted the curtain and walked in. Caesar also squeezed in, but it didn't dare to touch anything. Once, it was curious about an object in the room, so it approached and sniffed it. As soon as it touched it, its nose was pinched. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get it off. The more it tried, the tighter it got. Even though Shao Xuan quickly helped it take it off, it still hurt for a long time. Since then, Caesar was very obedient every time it came here. It only followed Shao Xuan closely, out of curiosity.
Ke's house was bigger than most of the houses nearby. It was about a hundred square meters. There were all kinds of stone tools hanging in the house, from stone cups and bowls for daily use, to stone knives and spearheads for hunting. There were also many kinds of tools, including organic tools such as antlers and animal bones. There were also stone tools, but most of them were compound tools, which were a combination of the former two. Compound tools were mostly used by the warriors in the tribe.
After glancing at the tools hanging on the wall, Shao Xuan withdrew his gaze and went directly to the small room where Ke was polishing tools.
Ke was sitting there with gray hair. Because he was polishing stone tools every day, the animal skin he was wearing was covered with a layer of gray stone powder. His hand holding the stone tool was full of calluses and also covered with a layer of gray stone powder.
Ke's eyes were fixed on the stone tool he was polishing. He didn't look away when Shao Xuan came in, as if the stone tool in his hand was the only thing in the world.
Shao Xuan knew Ke's character well, so he directly took out the animal skin bag and took out two stones from it and handed them to Ke.
"Uncle Ke, can you help me make two stone knives or daggers?"
The two stones that Shao Xuan took out could only be made into short daggers. They were not long.
Ke stopped his work and raised his head to look at the stones Shao Xuan handed over. Then he looked at the two fish Shao Xuan dragged over. "Sure, keep one." He meant that he could polish it, and one fish was enough for the crafting fee.
"Keep both of them. The other one is for you. Thank you for your help in the past six months." Shao Xuan smiled.
Every time he found a stone that could be processed, he would come to Ke to trade. At first, Shao Xuan was not familiar with the trade, so he found some bad stones, but Ke still exchanged them for food. Later, when Shao Xuan learned how to identify the stones, he thought about it. How could a person who worked with different stones every day not be able to identify the good and bad stones? It could only mean that Ke did it deliberately.
Although Ke always had a long face and gave people a sense of alienation, he had indeed helped Shao Xuan a lot. In addition, two days ago, Shao Xuan saw Ge, who was in charge of transporting food, here. When he talked to Ke, it was obvious that they had a good relationship. Shao Xuan guessed that when Ku left the cave and went up the mountain, Ge asked Shao Xuan to take over the cave. It was probably because of this stoneware master.
Ke frowned and was about to say something when Shao Xuan quickly took out a small stone knife and handed it to Ke. "Uncle Ke, this is a stone knife that I made myself. Please take a look."
Shao Xuan's stone knife was not made of good stone. According to the standards of stonemasters, it could only be classified as below average quality. It was slightly better than the stones on the gravel ground, so it didn't take much effort to polish it. Shao Xuan finished it in three days.
Ke took it and took a look at it. His finger, which was stained with stone powder, gently brushed across the knife. Finally, he pointed at a third of the knife near the handle. "Here, no."
Shao Xuan knew that an experienced stoneware master could see the shortcomings of a stoneware at a glance. For example, when it came to knives, they could see the biggest failure when polishing them. And the place Ke pointed at just now was to tell Shao Xuan that there was the biggest failure when polishing.
Why was it the biggest failure?
After all, Shao Xuan was a layman. When he was polishing stoneware, it was all based on his imagination. Shao Xuan did not understand the so-called technical skills in the eyes of stoneware masters. This stone knife, in Ke's eyes, was naturally full of failures. And the place he pointed at just now was the biggest failure of all failures.
The more people he met, the more he knew about this tribe. The more Shao Xuan knew that he could not underestimate the wisdom and ability of the people here. Taking out this stone knife, Shao Xuan also wanted to learn more polishing skills from Ke.
This stone knife only had the shape of a knife, and it was only used in normal times. Naturally, it was very different from the ones used by the warriors who went out for hunting. In the eyes of Ke, a stoneware master, it was full of flaws. He could tell at a glance which part was easy to break, which part was overpolished, and which part was lacking.
Looking at the expression on Ke's face just now, Shao Xuan knew that he was not satisfied. Considering that Shao Xuan was just a kid and had no experience in polishing stone knives, he said that to Shao Xuan. If other warriors came and gave Ke such a stone knife, Ke wouldn't say a word. He would just throw the knife away and ignore it completely.
"Uncle Ke, can I learn how to polish stoneware from you?" Shao Xuan asked. Now he was not in a hurry. There was still a whole winter coming. If he could learn some stoneware polishing skills, he could practice more in the winter when he stayed in the cave. After all, he had stone materials at hand.
Unfortunately, Ke shook his head. "Not now. Wait until you awaken."
Polishing a stone required him to awaken his totem power? What kind of logic was that?
Although confused, Shao Xuan did not continue to ask. Seeing Ke's expression, he knew that he did not want to talk about it in detail.
Since Ke said so, he must have his reasons. But …
Shao Xuan calculated that after this winter, he would only be ten years old. According to the situation of the other children in the cave, the early ones would awaken when they were eleven or twelve years old. At least one or two years later, like Ku, would awaken when they were thirteen or fourteen years old.
Thinking about it this way, there was still a long time.
Although he could not learn now, he could always watch. Shao Xuan squatted next to Ke and watched him polishing the stoneware.
Some things seemed simple to the onlookers, but when they started, they would realize that it was totally different from what they imagined. Shao Xuan looked at the dagger Ke had polished, and then looked at the one he had made himself … Well, he would not know until he compared them. Without looking at the stone materials, he could tell the difference just by looking at them. No wonder Ke looked so forbearing when he looked at the dagger Shao Xuan had made himself. He must have cursed him a thousand times in his heart, but he did not because Shao Xuan was just a kid.
When it was getting dark, Shao Xuan helped Ke set up the stone pot, lit the fire, and chopped the fish. Then he said goodbye and went back to the cave with Caesar.
Not long after Shao Xuan left, Ke put the polished stoneware in a box, wiped his hands and started to prepare the food. The water in the stone pot was already boiling. When he was putting the fish meat that Shao Xuan had already cut into the pot, there was a light sound from the window behind him, followed by the whooshing sound of arrows flying.
"Ouch!"
Thump!
The person who came in through the window fell to the ground.
Ke did not even raise his eyes, but stirred the soup in the stone pot with a spoon.
"Hey, Old Ke, why did you change your trick again? Ouch … "The one-armed Ge rubbed his buttocks. Just now, his buttocks hit the ground first, and his legs were tightly bound by a rope. Otherwise, he would not have fallen from the window. He was only missing an arm, not a leg. Under normal circumstances, how could he fall so easily?
While they were still cursing, Ke continued to stir the soup in the stone pot, ignoring Ge who came in through the window and was still talking a lot.
Ge finally untied the rope and stood up. He sniffed and immediately came to the stone pot, "Fish soup?"
He glanced around the room and saw the fish on the side. He smiled, "That guy came here?"
"…" Ke did not say anything.
"Ah Xuan, that brat, dragged the fish to me yesterday to exchange for a big bag of salt. What a big plan! I went to the cave today to have a look. Wow, you don't know, the cave is full of fish. This winter, those brats will have a good time. Tsk, no wonder you recommended Ah Xuan to take over Ku. It hasn't been long, but the situation in the cave has changed a lot. Half of my salt was exchanged by that brat." Ge clicked his tongue and sighed.
There was a naturally-formed salt pool near the mountain where the tribe was located. The salt of the tribe came from there. However, the tribe controlled the salt and gave a fixed amount of salt to each family regularly to ensure the minimum living requirements. If you wanted more, you had to exchange with other things. Don't even think about stealing. There were soldiers guarding the salt pond. The people in charge of the salt pond were all from the mountain. If people wanted more salt, they had to go up the mountain to trade for it. However, Ge was in charge of food, so he naturally had more on hand. Shao Xuan took the fish directly to him.
Ge found a stone stool and sat down when Ke still did not say anything. He said to himself, "I saw that guy sharpening a stone knife the day before yesterday. He came here today to ask for your guidance, right?" Before Ke answered, Ge continued, "Actually, that guy is a good guy. He is energetic and smart. At first glance, I can tell that he is full of bad ideas. Just like you, he is suitable for those things of yours. Since he came here and showed his sincerity, why don't you accept? "
Ge, who was swinging his feet, glanced at the chopped fish on the table and fixed his eyes on the stone pot. It was different from Old Ke's usual way of setting up the stone pot. At first glance, it was obvious that it was set up by someone else. It was not as stable as Old Ke's. It must have been done by the guy who came here just now.
Ke shook his head and said, "It is easy to get hurt."
"That's right. You haven't awakened your totem power. It will be bad if you have an accident. After all, those things you are playing with … are quite dangerous."
Ge pulled off an arrow from his animal skin coat under his armpit. When he came in through the window, he only paid attention to the arrows, but didn't pay attention to the leather rope on the window. That was why he got hit.
It was just a small wooden arrow, which could be easily broken by a finger. However, it pierced through his fur coat in the blink of an eye, which showed how fast it was shot.
Ge played with the half-palm long arrow between his fingers. After a while, he moved his finger and flicked it. The small arrow was accurately shot into the thin wooden tube hanging in the corner.
He didn't know where these small arrows came from, so he could only put them in the wooden cylinder first. The wooden cylinder was filled with the things he threw. When it was full, he would naturally take out all the things inside and put them back.
"Old Ke, you will have to wait for a long time. According to the physique of those kids in the cave, you will have to wait for at least another two years." Ge sighed.
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