Chapter 249: Containing The Cubs

The beasts moved aside, and Tera walked to the first tree to open the portal at the base. Then, one by one, she started walking around and completely uprooting the dead and damaged trees.

The healthy ones that were in the way, she planted back into the uprooted holes.

Every wolf in the clearing went completely still in various states of surprise and shock as they watched Tera work her magic. Her mates were impressed as always at the impressive spectacle while the cubs, most especially, were frozen in bewilderment at the vanishing trees around them.

At some point, Tera started humming as she moved around.

To the beasts watching, it looked like the forest was rearranging itself at the whim of a small, shiftless female who wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

Tera had used the portal to transport the useless trees to a different part of the territory.

Within minutes, the clearing had opened up into a wide, flat space. The interlocking canopy was gone, and faint sunlight came pouring in clearly for the first time. The ground was dotted with clean circular holes where the original trees had stood, and the tree line around the perimeter looked subtly different, fuller in places that had been sparse before.

Two structures could fit here comfortably. With room to breathe.

Tera stood in the centre of the new clearing and admired her excavated site.

She did not need to excavate the whole space she needed yet. She would tackle what was necessary at the moment and work bit by bit. After all, she didn’t have infinite passes.

She turned to the assembled beasts.

"Alright. Here’s what’s happening on this land."

She paced the perimeter of the clearing as she spoke, gesturing at each section.

"Two of your homes will be here."

Everyone’s eyes bulged, and they looked at the large space before them. Then she could see them mentally trying to calculate the size of the shelters from her clan and how four to five of them could comfortably fit in this space.

Yet, Tera was saying only two?

"I’ll still clear the other side to make space for two more shelters. Then there will be another one for your animals in case the weather gets bad. The current animal pen will also be reinforced."

The wolves mouthed the words as if trying to understand what she was saying. Meanwhile her clan members nodded vigorously, proud to understand that big word.

[...’Reinforced’ has four syllables. The wolves are currently on syllable two]

’Oh, come off it!’

[(─?─)]

Tera smiled at the wolves. "It will take some time, but I’ll move the pen and animal shelter to a distance where the smell wouldn’t affect your homes every time the breeze shifts."

Two wolves immediately nodded with the fervour of beasts who had suffered this exact problem.

Whenever she drifted near the animal pen before they had washed them the first time, she remembered how terribly they smelled.

"And I’ll be making one more shelter for you all to store your food and farm supplies."

The wolves looked fascinated by this.

Tera nodded.

Unlike the main shelters, this storage one would be smaller and sealed with clay, which this territory had a small abundance of.

"But first—"

Tera looked at the cubs.

If she recalled, there were fifteen of them. Too many to be leaving around carelessly on an active site. Some stared right back at her, while the rest tumbled over the others, chasing tails and biting ears.

It was slightly jarring to see this because all the time she had come here previously, they had been quiet and seated in one place without making a sound.

One of them had detached from the others and had literally rammed his head against the bamboo piles. Then he stopped and growled at it like it had started the fight.

[?? CUB IMPACT DETECTED ??]

[Structural damage to bamboo pile: 0%]

[Structural damage to cub: Also 0%. That skull is concerningly thick]

[This system is beginning to understand why Host prioritises cub containment]

Tera’s mouth nearly dropped in shock. If he had hit it with even harder force, the pile would have collapsed on him!

Before she could shout for someone to take the cub away, a male wolf had swiftly done it.

Those cubs needed a freaking enclosure ASAP!

- ※ - ※ - ※ –

It had been stressful, but Tera was not taking any risk!

Using the shorter bamboo stalks she had cut off from the fight against the corrupted beasts, she’d had the males create a quick makeshift cub enclosure by hammering the stalks tightly into the ground.

They were tall enough to keep the little cubs from climbing out and wide enough for them all, including the older ones, to have some space. The females and another male wolf had been assigned there too to watch over them and ensure not a single cub left the enclosure.

And the wolves had taken it seriously, as they didn’t want their cubs to get injured.

A lot of the older cubs still strained on their toes to pout at Tera from over their fenced prison.

They should have looked scary, but were adorably cute instead. And the cubs could not understand why some of the adults were laughing at them instead.

Calis turned to Tera.

"You haven’t explained what we would be doing, and what exactly our shelters would be. You still haven’t told us."

"Oh. Yes."

She opened her system shop and immediately purchased the shovels, and the males watched in shock as a heap of them poured out of thin air.

They were left staring at the strange object.

"What is this?"

"Shovels. You will need them for digging."

Her mates and the other males frowned. "But the hoes are used for digging."

"These ones are mainly used for digging, and I promise you they are better than those hoes."

She smiled at Calis and looked around at the wolves.

"You’d be digging a foundation."

Everyone was puzzled.

"Foundation?"

Tera nodded, then returned her attention to Calis. "In answer to your question..."