Chapter 18: Sharpening the Stone Axe

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The crafting of stone axes would definitely be entrusted to the crafting team led by Butterfly eventually, since the scope of ‘handicrafts’ was quite broad. But before that, he needed to study and experiment on his own. If he didn’t understand the process himself, how could he teach Butterfly and the others?

Given the current era, the importance of stone tools was indisputable. Without exaggeration, until they discovered copper and iron ores and acquired the technology to smelt and forge them, stone tools were their most essential instruments.

Under this premise, the simplest and earliest method was to find suitable stones and use them directly. To improve, one had to incorporate the technique of ‘grinding’ or ‘polishing.’

Grinding wasn’t just rubbing a stone against another; the character for ‘grind’ actually implied striking. Others might not know this, but Zhou Xu had done similar tasks as a child in his village. Back then, besides breaking off tree branches to pretend as swords and knives, they sometimes liked to find stones, smash them with a crack, and pick out pieces with sharp edges to play with as weapons.

The ‘strike’ in grinding roughly meant just that. Of course, the actual operation couldn’t be as careless as when he was a kid; it had to be done more meticulously.

Take the stone axe, for example: first find a suitable stone, strike it to form a rough outline, then begin the grinding process.

At that moment, as Zhou Xu picked up a stone and began striking, he felt a nostalgic sense of childhood happiness. Now that he thought about it, the intelligence of children and that of early humans were quite similar. The difference was that children did this for fun, while early humans did it to make survival tools.

The sound of stones clashing echoed through the camp. Even Butterfly and the others who were making bark bags couldn’t help but cast curious glances his way. Zhou Xu paid them no mind and continued focusing on his task.

This was undoubtedly a laborious job, especially when there was only one meal a day. Not to mention, the precision of the strikes couldn’t be guaranteed; often the result fell short of initial expectations.

Faced with this, Zhou Xu could only relax his standards. In this era, they simply couldn’t demand high precision.

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He expected that even if he made ten stone axes, each would look different—and that was perfectly normal.

With this mindset, the work went much smoother.

For the first stone axe, Zhou Xu struck here and there, inevitably taking more time.

“Hm... this should be about right.”

Shaking his sore arm from swinging the stone, he looked at the roughly shaped rock in his hand. After careful inspection, he finally moved on to the grinding phase.

Grinding required more effort and time than the striking phase.

In fact, the stone axe was already usable as it was, but Zhou Xu intended to grind it carefully, investing enough time and energy to create a better, more functional weapon. He believed the effort was well worth it.

Unconsciously, accompanied by the sound of grinding, a whole morning slipped by. Looking at the stone axe taking shape in his hands, Zhou Xu couldn’t help but grin.

The stone axe wasn’t perfectly smooth—far from it. To him, this was at best a rough grind, but it was absolutely sufficient for now.

He picked up a bark rope of suitable thickness; the next step was his specialty.

“Done!”

Wielding the first stone axe, Zhou Xu couldn’t help but swing it a few times, smiling like a child.

As a child, finding a branch called the ‘Dragon Ascending Sword’ could make him happy all day long, but after growing up, he never felt that again.

From a modern perspective, this stone axe might look crude and shabby, but it represented his time, energy, and sweat poured into carefully crafting it, blow by blow, in such limited conditions!

The intense sense of accomplishment it brought was something no delicate modern object could match.

At that moment, the stone axe in his hand gave him the purest, most primal thrill and satisfaction.

“Here, take this! Help me test the new weapon.”

Eagerly, he called over a tribe member on patrol and tossed him a wooden stick suitable for making a bone spear.

“Hold it horizontally, yes, just like that! Get ready, here I come.”

With that, Zhou Xu charged forward in a flash, swinging the stone axe to strike the horizontally held stick.

Suddenly, a sharp crack echoed, accompanied by flying wood chips. The stick broke instantly, leaving the tribe member holding it stunned on the spot.

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Zhou Xu paid no attention to him and immediately checked the axe’s blade. A satisfied smile spread across his face.

Basically, achieving this level meant it was perfectly fine.

He walked over to the fire, drank half a bowl of water under the admiring gazes of the tribe members, and was about to make another stone axe. He called two tribe members over to observe and learn as he began teaching them.

Just then, Dashan returned with the gathering team.

Unlike the hunting team, the gathering team would accumulate a considerable amount of supplies after half a day of foraging.

So they usually chose to return to camp first to drop off their goods, rest, and drink water before heading out again.

“Dashan, you’re back just in time.”

Upon seeing Dashan, Zhou Xu quickly gestured him over and handed over the stone axe.

He felt a bit reluctant, but in the end, he entrusted it to Dashan.

“Here, this is for you.”

As Dashan received the axe, he instinctively weighed it, his eyes lighting up.

It seemed his talent as a weapons master was kicking in. Even though Zhou Xu hadn’t explained yet, Dashan already had a rough idea of its purpose.

“Thank you, chief!”

Receiving the new weapon filled Dashan with excitement, further boosting their confidence in exploring.

“How’s the exploration around the Black Forest’s perimeter?”

“Pretty much done. If nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to start venturing deeper into the Black Forest tomorrow.”

After learning the progress from Dashan, Zhou Xu nodded, feeling reassured.

[Tomorrow... If I speed things up today and have a few more people grinding simultaneously, we should be able to catch up.]