Surviving The Fourth Calamity
Chapter 507 - 306 The Three Little Bears: Good Child Bucky

Chapter 507: Chapter 306 The Three Little Bears: Good Child Bucky

Hill opened the door cheerfully: "Hello, Oriana! What’s up?"

Oriana initially didn’t intend to get straight to the point; she still harbored hope that Hill would see her cuteness and give her the toy to play with.

But she quickly realized that purely acting cute wasn’t effective. Although Hill opened the door and chatted with her, he had no intention of bringing up the toy directly.

Oriana quickly made up her mind; she was a straightforward little bear.

Hill soon saw a well-behaved bear face: "Can I play with your toy, Hill Brother?"

Since Oriana had softened her stance, Hill took out the slide.

He even specially asked Grace and Sharlene to help anchor the slide deeper.

The wide slide was five meters wide, with two platforms about twenty square meters each. Besides the climbing side, six ladders combined from top to bottom. Hill noticed that the two bear moms couldn’t help but take a few glances.

Sharlene thought for a moment and directly lifted Nils, tossing him onto the top platform of the slide.

Then she followed behind, pushing Nils all the way down the slide.

Seeing Sharlene could play, Grace went up without hesitation too.

Oriana was very angry; this was the toy she had begged for, so why were others playing with it?

Unfortunately, the toy’s owner was Hill.

Since Hill agreed to let others play, she could only accept it.

Oriana rushed to Hill’s side: "Hill Brother! Do you know Alchemy? Is this one of your alchemical products?"

"Of course. This slide is actually quite challenging to refine. Oriana, do you want to learn?" Hill replied with a smile. The slide itself wasn’t hard to make, but making it sturdy enough for adult Earth Bears was the tough part. Hill had studied the Mithril ratios for a long time.

"I want to learn!" Oriana’s eyes widened, "Things I make myself belong to me!"

Hill smiled and agreed.

Unfortunately, learning Alchemy had to wait until Oriana advanced to Legendary; her current task was to thoroughly integrate the inheritance.

As long as Hill agreed, Oriana was fine with it. She turned and started fighting for the slide with her mom.

As for Nils, he lay there thinking for a while and suddenly climbed up on his own.

Even Oriana, who was clawing at her mom, was shocked. She nudged her unusually lazy brother with her head: "Do you really like this slide?"

After finally climbing up, Nils lay at the slide entrance to rest. He spoke slowly: "I do like it. But I still want to sleep. Thankfully, this counts as an activity, so my mom has to feed me. It’s better than running."

Everyone understood the little bear’s meaning: If he could lie down, Nils would prefer to lie down. But compared to not getting food, he had to move. Sliding was definitely better than running.

Grace, who had been playing for a while, yelled from above: "Ula! Don’t come up to play before you give birth!"

Ula looked innocently at the few bears on the slide: "I’m just watching. Besides, if I can still go hunting, why can’t I play?"

Grace sneered: "Because the prey doesn’t weigh as much as you!"

Ula had no choice but to return to her house.

Hill blinked. He really overlooked the fact that, although Ula was older, she was still a bear and definitely didn’t have any reasonable restraint.

He regretted taking the slide out too early.

Hill originally planned to put the slide away by evening, but Ula didn’t give him the chance.

Probably driven by a desperate desire to slide, Ula gave birth a few days early.

It was a little male bear named Bucky.

Bucky, still nursing and unable to go out, had to wait another ten days before he could leave the house.

Grace checked on Bucky and Ula, and after finding everything was fine, she promptly announced she would leave in three days to plant trees.

Hill worriedly glanced at Oriana, but the little she-bear seemed unfazed.

She indeed didn’t like other bears in her mom’s arms but didn’t care if her mom left for a long time.

In the Earth Bears’ inherited memory, there was no concept of a mother staying with them for long. They were born knowing that their mom would only stay with them until they were a month old.

Then the cubs had to live on their own in a safe place, at most having a young bear deliver food to them.

Although the puppets in the camp weren’t bears, they were far better cooks than those young bears! Those guys had no cooking skills.

Grace left directly through the Mithril Range on the morning of the third day.

Hill saw her off, though Grace thought it unnecessary. She had carried a lot of food with her.

But she really liked the Condensed Water Pearl Hill gave her.

The last shell Aurelio brought back was with the Clan Leader; she had always wanted one, but the clan needed it more.

Hill didn’t even realize how much he had helped the clan.

At the World’s End, they did everything cautiously. They would rather walk tens of kilometers to get water than dare to channel water there.

The result of elemental chaos was that their bodies needed food and water to replenish nutrients.

Ever since they had that shell of pearls, life had become much easier; they only needed to go hunting periodically.

Previously, they did have such pearls, but the quantity was too limited for everyday use and could only serve emergencies.

These things were hard to survive in the deep sea wilderness; low-rank ones couldn’t make it, and high-level ones got eaten, making them very rare.

Grace happily left.

Realizing how important Condensed Water Pearls were to the Earth Bears, Hill prepared another shell full of them, planning to give it to the Clan Leader when Sharlene left.

When he found himself poor, he had taken all the pearls the sea monsters stuffed into his boxes from his warehouse, originally thinking he could sell them to the nobles. These things created quite an atmosphere, showcasing his strength, which the nobles always liked.

But selling them one at a time was a hassle. Finding a big client, Hill stopped considering selling the pearls.

He didn’t expect to find a use for them here.

Bucky was a good kid.

This was Hill’s judgment ten days later, watching with Oriana and Nils.

He was really normal. Although he loved to play and make noise, it was all within normal limits.

His exercise was sufficient too.

Ula’s prayers didn’t go to waste.

The only issue was his appetite, which was never a problem for Earth Bears.

Though they’d feed the cubs regularly, there was no such thing as a limit.

When Sharlene came back from hunting, she was almost insane with envy. Nils had a few more miserable days.

Luckily, Sharlene’s departure time soon arrived.

Nils nearly danced on the high platform of the slide, genuinely celebrating his mom’s departure, much happier than Oriana’s reaction.

Sharlene didn’t care at all; her task was finished.

With Hill’s Pearl Box and that shell full of Condensation Pearls, she quickly left the Ring Mountain.

Ula was quite happy taking care of her child.

Seeing that Oriana, still fond of the slide, had begun exploring the surroundings for about half the day, Hill knew her interest in the slide was waning.

Hill then set up a swing and a climbing frame near the slide, combining them. He used up all the Mithril he had and had to ask Ula to fetch more twice before it was enough.

Hill suspected Ula wanted to play, so he made the climbing frame very large and complex.

As Hill expected, Ula played on the climbing frame and swings with her cub Bucky and Oriana.

As for Nils, he almost lived on one of the swings. If Oriana passed by and thought to give him a push, he’d be even happier.

Hill made the swings specifically so they couldn’t swing too high, considering the strength of Earth Bears.

One slap from Oriana would keep Nils swinging for half an hour.

But Nils’s happy days ended with his father’s arrival.

When Hill heard his painful cries, he rushed out to see a giant Earth Bear beating him: "You made me miss my rest, so now you’re going to get a beating! If you don’t want me to hit harder next time, just keep exercising!"

Hill realized this must be Nils’s dad, the once lazy Valery.

But Nils’s cries were so pitiful that Hill wanted to step in.

"Don’t worry; Valery knows what he’s doing," Ula lazily watched, "He knows exactly how heavy a slap should be to cause pain without injuring a cub! After all, he suffered those beatings for years."

Hill forced a stiff smile; he really wasn’t used to this method of child-rearing.

"This is for Nils’s good. Earth Bear life doesn’t allow laziness. If the Clan Leader stepped in, Nils would probably be thrown out to fend for himself." Ula shook her head, taking away Oriana, who was lurking in the corner, ready to pounce. The little girl thought her brother was being bullied and wanted to intervene.

Hill watched silently, hoping to find a way to make Nils willingly move more. This kind of beating was too horrible.

After finishing his son’s beating, Valery came to greet Hill: "Welcome, Hill. The Clan Leader likes the pearls you sent a lot. Now we don’t have to ration our water."

He was genuinely joyful, though his words made Hill feel sad: "Hello, Valery. I’m happy to help the clan."

Valery grinned widely, though his paw on Hill’s shoulder was very gentle.

"Are you coming back every rest day now?" Hill couldn’t help but ask.

"Now I handle all the hunting tasks." Valery said with a complex expression, "The others said, once Nils becomes diligent, they will take turns again."

Ula gave Valery a sympathetic look. Though he had changed, he still disliked tasks beyond his duties.

He came back for personal reasons, losing his rest days and having to handle all hunting days. No wonder Valery was so irritable.

Bucky and Oriana were circling the crying Nils on the ground. The two little bears, facing such a fierce bear for the first time, were worried about Nils’s future.