Chapter 2

After Tom gave some food to the wolves, he went into his study.

"I am going to sketch down some basic house for them. Fortunately, the study has quite a lot of paper and pencils although I haven't seen any pencils, I saw ink and some feather... I will have to use that..."

Mumbled Tom as he grabbed a vial of ink and a sheet of paper and placed them down on the table.

"Now then... I have two options... One, I either use wood or... I could use dirt and mud... Dirt and mud would be much easier, but I have never used dirt and mud for anything yet, so I might be clumsy and will have to restart a few times... As for the wood, I already chopped up the tree I cut down, so I would need to cut down another one... And, of course, I would need to use knives and the axe to carve out planks which I would then use as the building material... Arh... I will just draw a few basic ideas and then figure the rest out later! "

Thought Tom, and scratched his head, then dipped his pen into the ink and started sketching some ideas. As he was focusing on it, he started smiling and humming and didn't even notice how fast time went by. He spent a few hours designing houses for the wolves.

"I finally figured it out... I will just use the log and carve out the inner parts so that they can go in and lay down... I just need to find a bit larger tree... Although every tree is huge, a bigger house would be more comfortable for them. "

Came to a final conclusion Tom and he stood up. He placed the now-used feather down on the table and went to the storage room, which contained his tools. He grabbed a knife and, along with his axe, he left the house. At the front door, the two wolves were waiting for him. In front of the home, there were placed a dozen killed rabbits. The wolves were wagging their tails, and the moment Tom looked at the rabbits, they straightened their back.

"Wow, You hunted quite a lot... But I told you to rest."

Said Tom and looked at Lodié. The two wolves lowered their head and their ears and stopped wagging their tails. Tom smiled and chuckled and then brought the rabbits down to the basement, and then quickly left the plot and went into the forest.

"Hm... since they were this productive, I will have to do something with rabbit... But I am not the greatest cook; I only ever sandwiches and some very basic soup... I guess I will just have to get creative."

Mumbled Tom, and soon he finally found a somewhat larger tree. He put the knives down and got ready to swing. The wolves followed him and sat down a distance away from him.

"What is master thinking?! Cutting down this tree? It would take him weeks... These trees have such dense magical power that it is nearly terrifying. Now that I think about it... What even is he planning to do with this tree?"

Asked Doli as he looked at Tom and slightly tilted his head to the side. Tom took a deep breath and cut the tree down with one swing again.

"WHAT THE... Is he even... Wait..." Mumbled Doli

"He is so strong that he could cut down this tree with a dull axe... That axe is so dull that it wouldn't even be able to cut us, yet when Master uses it... It can cut anything... This tree is almost as thick as he is high..." Replied Lodié

Since the tree was so large, Tom couldn't cut the whole tree down with a single swing, as his axe was not big enough; a few swings later, the tree fell to the side. Tom started cutting down similarly large sections from the tree. Although it was not very tiring, it took quite a few swings. As soon as the seconds hit the wall, he scratched his head.

"Now that this is done, I can start working on its inner parts... I hope the knife will cut it just like the axe... And most importantly, will not bend and break."

Thought Tom, and he started chiselling the wood. The knife cut the wood just as easily as the axe did, and Tom made great progress, but as time flew by, it was already night by the time he went home. He went to sleep, and the wolves went back to the storage room.

"Doli... If Master has enough force to carve these trees with these tools... Why doesn't he use magic instead... it would be so much more convenient and faster! I am sure he is a very powerful magic user; I have seen what he did by drawing." Asked Lodié.

"I don't know... The only thing that I can think of is that he wants to live a normal life, maybe... That is why he decided to be here, far from everything... If I remember correctly, the nearest village is about a few kilometres away. Maybe that is why he sees us wolves as mere pets." Replied Doli and snuggled next to Lodié

"Then we must act as pets... But I don't know how a pet acts..." Mumbled Lodié, and soon both of them fell asleep.

The next day, Tom woke up early and quickly went into the kitchen to look for tools in order to start a fire. He only found a red stone, and after he touched it, at the end of it, a slight flame appeared; Tom almost lit the kitchen on fire accidentally.

"Wow... what a convenient little stone! Today we will roast those rabbits and have a feast!"

Mumbled Tom and walked put the stone back, without lighting anything on fire. He quickly walked over to the chopped tree and brought in a few firewoods and a few branches from the tree. With the help of the knife, he carried some wooden dust off, and using the axe, he chopped one very thin piece of firewood. Tom quickly went to his tools and grabbed the hoe. He quickly cleared a smaller area with it.

"Maybe this will do... I don't want the grass to catch on fire!"

Thought Tom, and he placed the thin pieces of firewood in a tent formation in the centre of the cleared area. He put the sawdust under this tent and put a few larger pieces of wood around it. He then quickly brought out three rabbits and a bucket of water from the pond.

"And now... I just have to skin them and prepare the meat... Uh... it will be disgusting..." Thought Tom.

Meanwhile, the wolves were watching him from a distance.

"To use these magical trees for fire... I don't know why he is doing it... But it means that these rare trees are nothing more than simple trees in his eyes... What a monstrous being!" Said, Doli.

"But look, he is preparing the rabbits we caught! I wonder... Will he give us something from the food? I am getting quite hungry just by looking at how he is preparing them." Replied Lodié.

"Don't be ridiculous! We are happy that he didn't kill us and sees us as pets! We can't be gluttonous!" Added Doli and hit the head of Lodié with his paw.

A few minutes after, Tom was finished preparing the rabbits, although his skills were still very mediocre, and he wasted quite a lot of meat. Tom washed his head in the water, and then put the rabbits' skin aside, and brought the wasted meat and unnecessary parts to the wolves.

"Look... Master cares about us! He gave us food!" Said Doli, and he poked his pair with his nose.

Tom quickly returned with the red stone and ignited the fire. The wolves sneaked a bit closer to Tom and sniffed in the aroma that was emitted by the roasting rabbits.

"N-now I understand... I-I didn't know this was possible..." Uttered Lodié

"he is using the magical power stored and collected in the wood... As it burns, it not only drastically increases its potential and energy but also purifies it. It is truly the work of an expert! I have never heard anyone do anything like that! W-wait... That flame... He used a magic crystal to ignite the fire, but that fire shouldn't be this potent... A simple touch and the fire crystal's power were drastically altered?!" Uttered Doli

"Doli, Lodié! Come here; here is your share! But be careful; it is still hot."

Said Tom as soon as he was done. He pulled the meat from the sticks and put two onto the ground, and he started eating the third. The wolves walked over to their meant and, with glowing eyes, stared at it. Soon they started drooling, but they didn't touch the food.

"What are you waiting for... It won't be that good if it gets cold!"

Said Tom when he was almost halfway done with his meat. The wolves slipped, and after a deep breath, they devoured the meat, leaving nothing behind. After Tom was finished with his meant, he gave the bones to the wolves and laid down on his back, and just stared at the sky.

"It felt great. It was way better than sandwiches or basic soups... It is such a nice, calm and relaxing area... But it feels a bit odd that I am not very surprised about what happened and how I got here... It feels as if it was perfectly natural... Although I am sure, magic exists in this world... I am sure I can't use magic; at least, I can't feel magic at all... Not that I know how it works."

Thought Tom as he closed his eyes. A few seconds later, the wolves snuggled up to him and lay down. They put their heads on top of Tom's chest, and he gently patted them.

"I will stay by Master's side... With his help, I managed to get stronger... Beasts being able to use magic is very difficult... But Master not only allowed us to get the required power to use mage but instantly allowed us to progress further!" Thought Doli.

A few minutes had gone by before Tom finally decided to get back to work. He sat up, and the wolves instantly stood up and wagged their tails. Tom patted them once again and walked back to the back to the area where he started carving the wood to make houses for the wolves. He worked hard, but still, the progress was quite slow as he had to push the unnecessary dust and debris every once in a while so that he could reach deeper in.

"I hope they will like it. Although the surface roughness will not be the best... But this is the best I can do for now... Wait... how the hell am I going to transport these trunks?! Even if I clear out its centre, I won't be able to carry it... I would need to come up with an idea for that later."

Thought Tom as he was about to go home for the night. As he stood up, he dusted his clothes because he was covered with a large layer of sawdust. As he got back to his plot, he brought a bucket over to the pond, and after he filled it, he rinsed his body with water; and then drank. Then he headed to his bed to sleep.

"I am curious, what kind of plan does Master have that requires that huge tree... I can't help but be curious." Said Lodié.

"I can't read his mind, but he is carving the wood out gently... That way, he will be able to use this dust to start more fire again; I think he is planning another feast, so we must go and hunt more for him, and maybe he will give us some more uniquely cooked meat."