Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 505: Chapter 304: Little Bear Triplets’ Big Sister Oriana

Hill heather was often used by elf druids.

It was a very peculiar kind of thorn, which could be combined into a beast-shaped battlefield heather when animated.

In Hill’s inherited memory, it had always been present, but he never had much opportunity to use it before.

In his valley, there were indeed photinia plants, but their age was not substantial, only capable of summoning the lowest-level vines, which were completely useless.

Moreover, with the demigod vine in the valley, he couldn’t summon battlefield thorn heather either.

After all, if he wanted it, Hill really didn’t know what to do. He had tried modifying other plants, but to no avail.

The fact that elves had passed this plant down for so long with practical use probably had its reasons.

In the Earth Bear camp, a ten-thousand-year-old heather was considered young. They clung to the ground, and every thorn was a terrifying weapon.

Yet, the hardest thorn could only be crushed to dust under the feet of an Earth Bear.

Hill first learned that this bad-tempered plant could automatically lay down its thorns to avoid making the Earth Bear uncomfortable and avoid getting stomped on.

The lowest-level heather in Hill Valley hadn’t even backed down against the sow, who later changed her name to the Duchess, fighting madly to the end.

Perhaps after being trampled on for hundreds of thousands of years, the heather here had evolved a bit.

This was actually a good thing; otherwise, even if animated, this plant would have been somewhat insane.

After seeing that Earth Bears had cultivated an instinct to avoid them, Hill felt safe using them.

Standing outside the camp, Hill animated these plants as he had imagined, manifesting as the highest-level Earth’s Fury Heather. Almost immediately upon waking, these plants burrowed underground.

”Hill, what are you doing?” Ula, having knocked another house flying, came over to see.

She still had over a month to go before giving birth and had just been sent back to camp, not yet able to sit still.

Grace and the others had passed the restless phase, lying on their backs and waiting for the puppets to feed them.

”I planned to organize the camp, so I animated some thorn heather,” Hill replied with a smile. ”This way, some chores around the camp can be done by them. It’s best if the puppets don’t stay outside for too long.”

Ula watched Hill command some giant thorn beasts to push houses and found it strange. ”Why not just let us do it? It’s a swipe of the paw.”

”I’m a magician. I don’t like manual labor,” Hill said bluntly. ”If I don’t do it, I certainly won’t let pregnant ladies do it.”

Ula shook her head helplessly. ”Earth Bear cubs are incredibly resilient. I could still be planting trees over there with no problem!”

”But you were still sent back!” Hill comforted Ula gently. ”Since Earth Bears value planting cedar trees so much but still brought you back to rest, I won’t let you do extra work, either.

Ula, have a good rest! Look, the puppets are already bringing out large barrels of juice, your favorite.”

Ula quickly turned around and rushed back to her house.

Hill breathed a sigh of relief. Even knowing these ladies were unbelievably strong, he couldn’t possibly ask pregnant bears to help him!

Whether a magician or a mage, they certainly wouldn’t do manual labor themselves. It wasn’t about capability; no one wanted to do it personally, regardless of strength.

But if there were no thorn heathers to help, Hill would’ve had to tough it out and do it himself.

No matter how lightly Grace and the others talked about it, Hill wouldn’t let them do manual labor.

Hill directed the animated battlefield heather to push the houses to their planned locations. Mithril plates were firmly inserted into the ground, ensuring the houses would remain stable, even during a storm.

Hill circled the camp, riding on a massive battlefield heather.

Not bad, the ladies couldn’t be affected no matter their paths.

After drawing a few circles on the ground and planning the locations for new houses, Hill decisively stopped working.

The remaining work didn’t require his intervention; it could wait for the clan leader’s return.

Among his belongings were a few large houses that could fit a family of three.

In the following days, Hill busied himself around the three mother bears. Although he knew they could rely on instinct, the concept of ”pregnancy” weighed heavily on his mind.

Hill made many preparations, even though he knew they wouldn’t be needed, just to ease his own nerves.

As a result, Grace quietly gave birth to her baby one night.

When Hill got up in the morning and saw no bear outside Grace’s house, he sensed something was off. In the days leading up to the birth, Grace had hardly gone on her daily kitchen pilgrimage.

Hill hurried over with some milk fruit.

This elven milk was incredibly nutritious, the staple food for elven infants. Elves rarely breastfed themselves; each elf grew up drinking juice from this milk fruit.

Knowing the mother bears would only nurse their cubs for a month, Hill planted a few trees in his pendant. Though rare outside the Forest of the Elves, a demigod druid’s seed pouch would certainly have them.

Milk fruit trees were difficult to cultivate because they could only grow accompanied by wood elemental spirits. Hill’s pendant contained several—not just wood elements, but the other three as well.

Their advancement was temporarily stalled, so they wanted to venture out with Hill.

Unfortunately, Hill hadn’t spent much time traveling before ending up in the wilderness, where these elemental spirits couldn’t venture out.

An elemental storm was chaotic; no single element prevailed, making it impossible for any elemental spirit to survive.

Hill gently knocked on Grace’s door.

”Hill, is that you?” Grace’s cheerful voice rang out. ”My baby is born! It’s a lovely girl named Oriana.”

”Congratulations, Grace. Hello, Oriana.” Hill laughed with relief. ”I brought elven milk fruit. Would Oriana need it?”

”We’ll see if my milk is enough,” Grace replied cheerfully, ”but I’d like some.”

Hill laughed: ”I planted three milk fruit trees in my space. One whole tree is yours, more than enough for both of you.”

Grace, satisfied, said, ”Leave it in the hall. I’ll get Oriana settled before coming out.”

Knowing Grace would stay with her daughter until she acclimated to the outside world, Hill left a crate full of milk fruit in the spacious hall.

Ten days later, Grace finally emerged with her daughter, but Hill only took a quick look, admiring Oriana’s cuteness before turning his attention to Sharlene.

First-time mom Sharlene had a premature birth.

Of the three mother bears, she had been the most nervous, constantly mumbling to her belly and not roaming the camp like Grace and Ula.

Grace would often go over to comfort her.

”Hill, hold her.” Grace firmly placed the bear cub in Hill’s arms, commanding Ula to return to her spot, asserting it wasn’t her place to intervene.

Hill, stiff and awkward, held the bear cub, watching Grace rush into Sharlene’s room.

However, his focus quickly shifted. Once Oriana realized her mom was busy, her mischievous nature took over.

Hill finally understood how tough it was to handle an Earth Bear cub.

It was like holding a miniature, berserk legendary warrior.

Every little paw swipe caused Hill genuine pain.

Having become a magister, Hill knew his own strength, yet this ten-day-old cub already exceeded his then-strength.

She was clearly not very heavy.

Of course, ”not heavy” was relative to Hill.

Hill didn’t know Oriana’s birth weight, but now she was practically a half-mithril plate, which wasn’t much for Hill.

However, even a small Earth Bear cub was about the size of a Husky and equally rambunctious.

Hill felt he could barely hold on, Oriana’s four thrashing little paws being quite the ordeal.

Fortunately, Sharlene gave birth quickly with Grace’s help.

It turned out her nervousness hadn’t manifested into any real issues.

When Grace reemerged, Oriana instantly felt her mother’s presence and settled down.

However, seeing Hill’s disheveled state, her mother knew the cub had been up to no good.

Grace immediately took Oriana and without hesitation, smacked the cub’s bottom with her other paw.

Hill felt he should say something for Oriana’s defense, but the stern parental discipline held his tongue.

He slowly edged into Sharlene’s room, leaning against the door.

He discovered that Sharlene, feeding milk fruit to her son Nils, wanted some herself.

For them, it was enough if the baby could nurse. The tasty food was for themselves first!

Half a month later, Grace began hunting early every morning, venturing far away.

Though Hill provided ample food, as a mother, she needed to stock up for her child.

She also wanted her cub to start living independently, not letting Hill care for Oriana.

Oriana needed to learn what it meant to survive on her own.

As their big brother, Hill only had to play with them, not protect or feed them.

Though Hill happily took responsibility, seeing Oriana dismantle high-level battlefield heathers into shreds made him realize he couldn’t argue it was too dangerous to leave her alone.

So, he watched from afar as Oriana ran rampant around the camp.

Only during mealtime did Oriana promptly return home.

Soon, she became fascinated by the tall cedar trees and began climbing them daily.

Grace didn’t interfere, until one day, Oriana climbed to the top, looked down, and forgot how to descend in fear.

Plucked from the treetop by Grace that night, the little bear was finally well-behaved.