I'm surprised I woke up. Honestly. I was halfway sure I wouldn't when I closed my eyes and fell asleep right on top of my backpack.
But I do wake up. Feeling like absolute shit. No, actually. I feel worse than I ever have before. But I'm awake. "Ahhhhhhh. Fuck." I curse. Part of me regrets that I wake up. But now that I did, I was going to fight again.
Fight against fate and whatever else this world throws at me. And to continue to do that, I'll reach for some food. Knowing damn well I'll need every bit of energy I can get.
Only to immediately be overwhelmed by pain when I reach into my backpack with my right hand. "Owwwwwww. Oh, for fuck's sake. You dumbass." Completely forgetting that my thumb was broken.
The next few minutes I spend just clutching my hand close to my chest and just getting over the general pain and discomfort I feel. Until I decide to take my glove off and place my right hand in the snow. To cool it. In hopes of at least reducing the swelling that had ballooned my whole right hand to almost twice its original size.
Meanwhile, I eat breakfast, grabbing and unscrewing cans using my left hand. And as awkward as that was, it wasn't nearly as bad as actually eating. Even chewing and swallowing is painful in my current state.
So I'm actually grateful once I finish eating. Not that things get easier after this. Oh no. Just getting up is an enormous struggle. A struggle I almost don't win against my own body.
But I want to at least get to some kind of shelter today. Preferably, some natural cave or other. Just anything that will shield me from prying eyes while I recover. Something that doesn't need to be built.
Because if I actually had to build anything right now. I'd probably just give up and die right then and there. My morale is not even improving as I look down the slope and see that my kill is still just lying there.
Nothing has snatched it up just yet. And surprisingly, no crows or other carrion eaters were lurking around it. Maybe because I was still alive and so close to it. Whatever the reason was, my kill was still perfectly preserved. I don't care.
At the moment, I just wanted a safe place to rest. So I look around. Even just turning my head proves to be painful. Like everything else. But I keep looking.
Walking around on unsteady feet and falling to my knees more than once. But I always get back up to look around some more. My stubborn determination burns bright despite the pain and exhaustion I face.
I grit my teeth just as I did yesterday. I continue to fight. Until after hours of searching, I finally find a cave. A perfect shelter. Invisible from anywhere further down the mountain. And from up above, it just looks like any other ledge.
So I walk right in. Completely disregarding the possibility of another animal or monster having taken up residence here. And luckily, I got a break this time.
There were no signs of anything ever having inhabited this cave. Maybe because it was in the territory of the male Skjálfhirta, I killed. Making this rightfully my cave. By terms of conquest.
And that is how I treat it. I dropped my backpack right next to the entrance before I walk around in it. To get a sense of how large it is.
Though my exploration is short-lived. Not because anything happens. But simply because the cave is not very big. But it's enough. Enough for me to comfortably lie down in. For my backpack to be placed beside me. And for another person. Or rather. A corpse.
A corpse from a certain animal I plan on dragging up here. Just before, I was reminded how little food I had left for my journey. Not nearly enough to just take it easy and recover for a day or two like I plan on doing.
But with the meat from the Skjálfhirta (Skal-fitra)? Oh. I would have plenty of food. Enough to last me at least another week. So with my backpack stashed in the back of the cave, I set out again. Going back to the place where I had killed the Skjálfhirta (Skal-fitra).
Which was actually just around the corner. Not far away at all. Only about two hundred meters. Two hundred meters that took me a solid hour to cross. And that was without the corpse.
"Huh. I fear this is going to be a full day's work, gang." Considering the state I'm in, that was probably not an exaggeration. Sure, the uneven, rocky terrain was part of why everything took so long.
The biggest problem, however, was, of course, my injuries. Injuries that prevented me from doing anything right. I couldn't even safely descend the little slope to get to the corpse without falling on my ass twice.
My ass is luckily one of the few body parts that doesn't hurt too badly. So I scoot down the last bit of distance on my ass to get to the corpse.
Now, finally remembering that my spear was still lodged in it as well. And in another stroke of good fortune, it turned out it was just fine. Perfectly intact. Probably thanks to the modifications I made to it.
And since it was firmly lodged in the Skjálfhirta (Skal-fitra), I didn't have to bother to choose between one of the two. I could pull the corpse back to the cave and retrieve my spear in the same move.
"Heh." I chuckle at how optimistic I am. Because when I finally grab the leg of the Skjálfhirta and pull, it does not budge. I have to actually plant my feet down properly to move the corpse. I have to grit my teeth. Bite the bullet, so to speak, to get it moving.
My pace is glacial as I drag it up the slope. Every meter, a fight I feel like I can't win. But I made it. Slowly. Terribly slowly. But I make it regardless.
Cheering silently as I finally ascended the slope to flatter ground. After about a quarter of an hour of struggle. `Yay. Only one hundred and ninety meters left.` I grin to myself as I take a deep breath and continue my quest for food.
Using every ounce of strength I can muster in this current state to get my kill back to the cave before I collapse or the sun goes down.
Or well. Collapse permanently, at least. Because I do collapse. Quite a lot. Even when taking breaks, what feels like every meter, I still fall to my knees more times than I would like to admit.
Eventually, however, the cave comes into view. Giving me a second wind. And with one last herculean effort, I drag my kill into the mouth of the cave. I collapse, panting when I finally do so.
Just recovering on the ground for a few minutes before I decide to let things rest for today. Crawling forward until I'm at the end of the cave and lying down right there. Falling asleep in record time.
Awoken the next day by the morning sunlight. Definitely having slept longer than I ever have before. Considering it was just about to get dark yesterday when I reached the cave.
And I would like to say I feel better after having such a long rest. But to be honest, I couldn't say if I was doing better. I felt like shit. But my body was a tad bit easier to move than yesterday. For all that that's worth.
So I eat some breakfast. And then I do what I should have honestly done yesterday. I start to work on the corpse of the Skjálfhirta. Spending a few hours to process it as best I can.
Without the proper use of both of my hands. No real sawing or cutting tools besides a small pocket knife attached to a long wooden handle, and not much experience taking apart animals, it was a struggle, I'll tell you.
But every strip of flesh I managed to get from the corpse was a victory in my book. Until I realize that to make anything useful of this meat, I'd have to light a fire.
And even if I did have the material necessary to light one. I'd doubt I could do it as I am right now. So I get creative.
`Fuck. Let the cold do it.` I'll freeze-dry the meat to preserve it and make it edible. And the way I do this is quite simple, actually. I make sure to slice the meat as thin as I can.
Then collect all the thin slices of meat and go outside. Placing them on some snow before I cover them with more snow. So predators don't snatch them away. The cold will handle the rest. Which frees me up to focus on preparing the next batch of meat slices.
I repeat this process a few times. Much of the snow around the cave is now serving as freeze-dryers. I then memorize the locations carefully before finally discarding the corpse by kicking it down the nearby slope.
Of course, after getting the mana stone out of the chest of the Skjálfhirta and breaking its antlers off at the base of its skull. Because, despite everything, I remember. I remember that those can be sold for a decent chunk of money in-game. Money, I will surely need once I hit the city.
So I discard the corpse and stash the pretty, but small, blue magical stone in my bag. Right next to the Crystal Antlers.
Just in time for the sun to start setting. Another day passing by just like that. But at least this time I knew I had actually been productive and done something useful for a change.
So I'm quick to eat some well-deserved dinner, and shortly afterward, I'm already asleep. I was completely zonked out from the taxing day I had. The snow blowing down the mountain covered the corpse of the Skjálfhirta (Skal-fitra) down below the mouth of the cave.