The morning air in the cabin was filled with a low murmur of voices, a change from the usual quiet start to the day. Neil, drawn by the unusual sound, walked softly towards it, his bare feet making no noise on the wooden floor.
He found the kitchen where his uncles, Kael and Rhys, his father, and all the other grown-ups were gathered around the familiar blocky wooden chest. Their faces showed they were puzzled and a little annoyed. Kael and his father were taking turns trying to lift the chest's lid, but it wouldn't open.
"What's happened?" Neil asked, his voice still sleepy.
The family turned to him, and they all seemed relieved to see him. His grandfather stepped forward, his eyebrows pulled together. "Your mother tried to open the chest earlier, lad, but it's stuck tight. Called your father, and he couldn't open it either. All the goat meat is inside, you see." The grown-ups all looked worried. "Think you can do something about it, Neil?"
Neil listened, his mind already thinking quickly. The chest had always opened easily before. Why was it stuck now? He held up his hand. "Wait, let me try." His uncles and father stepped back so he could reach the chest.
He went closer to the chest and bent down. He put his hand on the smooth, blocky top and pushed the lid gently. It opened without any trouble.
A sound of confused talking filled the kitchen. Why had it opened so easily for him when they had struggled? And why hadn't it even moved while they were trying?
Then, an idea came to him. He remembered that the day before, everyone had used the chest without any problem opening it. And then he realized – he was the last one to touch it, and he clearly remembered closing the lid before going to bed. He had just done it without thinking, because the chest had always stayed open before.
"Mother," Neil said, a thought forming in his mind, "could you try closing the chest?"
His mother, still confused about why the chest was now acting stubborn, did what he asked. The lid closed smoothly. "Now, Father," Neil told him, "try to open it again."
His father held the lid tightly and pulled upwards with effort. The chest didn't move at all. Even Uncle Rhys, who was very strong, tried to open it, but it stayed closed.
"Now, Mother," Neil said again, a knowing look in his eyes. She slowly reached for the lid, and this time, it opened as easily as it had for Neil.
The grown-ups all made sounds of surprise and understanding – or at least starting to understand. Neil's idea about the chest was right.
"Neil, what in the world is going on?" his mother asked, her voice a mix of confusion and wonder.
"It seems," Neil explained to the puzzled faces around him, "that once someone closes the chest, only that person can open it again."
The family started talking about this, all at once. "That's a real problem!" Grandpa said, shaking his head. "If the one who closes it goes out hunting or gathering, we'll be stuck waiting for them to get back to get to the food!"
"I'll think about it," Neil promised, already trying to find a solution in his head.
The immediate problem was solved when his mother took out the remaining deer meat from the chest for breakfast. The good goat meat stayed safely locked away, showing the strange way his made things worked.
While the women started cooking the morning meal and the others worked on their tasks, Neil went back to his thoughts, looking for a better way to store things than the chest. Then, he remembered something from his past life – the simple wooden barrel that was easy for anyone to use.
He looked at his inventory in his mind.
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100 dark oak wood 1 slot
28 dark oak wood 2 slot
79 stick 3 slot
Seeing he had plenty of dark oak, he decided to make a barrel to see if it worked differently from the tricky chest. He quickly turned eight logs into thirty-two planks, then used six planks to make twelve wooden slabs. He now had twenty-six planks and twelve slabs.
Opening his crafting screen in his mind, he put the wood in the right pattern for a barrel: three planks on the top and bottom edges on the left and right sides, with two slabs in the middle of the top and bottom rows, leaving the center empty.
The blocky shape of a wooden barrel appeared in his inventory. He carried it into the busy kitchen and put it next to the closed chest. He asked Aunt Seraphina and Grandma, who weren't as busy as the other, to help him test his new thing.
They agreed quickly. Neil asked for a wooden plate, the kind they used for eating, as something to test with. He first opened and closed the barrel himself, and it felt the same as the chest.
Then, he asked his aunt to put the plate inside and close the barrel. After she did, he asked his grandma, "Could you try opening it, Grandma?"
His grandma reached for the barrel's lid, and everyone was surprised when it opened easily. She took out the wooden plate without any trouble.
Neil felt very happy. The barrel was the answer – a place to store things that everyone could get to!
He explained the big difference between the chest and the barrel to his aunt, grandma, and the others who had come to watch because they were curious. The chest was private and locked; the barrel was open to everyone.
"Grandma, Aunt Seraphina," Neil said, "let's take everything out of the wooden chest and put it over here."
They did what he asked, carefully moving the good goat meat and the useful hides. While they worked, Neil quickly made three more barrels. Once the chest was empty, he touched its blocky shape and thought "Collect," putting it back in his inventory.
He then put the barrels in a neat square in a corner of the kitchen. His grandma and the other women were very happy, already thinking about how they would use each one for different things. They started putting the goat meat in one barrel as extra food, another for the food they used every day, and one for the hides, leaving one barrel empty for now.
While the women were busy with their new storage, Neil quietly went back to his room. He looked at his inventory in his mind.
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100 dark oak wood 1 slot
20 dark oak wood 2 slot
79 stick 3 slot
2 wooden plank 4 slot
4 wooden slab 5 slot
He then got ready to go out. Washing was something they didn't do often because it was cold and they had to melt ice for water, so he just changed his clothes. He still thought about making a never-ending water source, but he needed iron to make buckets.
As he was getting ready, his mother called him for breakfast. He went to eat with his family, telling them how well the barrels worked. He also said he would use barrels to store things when he made the underground room.
After breakfast, everyone went to do their work for the day. Neil finally headed towards the familiar mountain cave, excited to start mining stone for his big project.