Another day, another trial for survival in this cold place, but I am getting used to this place. Freezing temperatures, no humans, or, my favorite, monsters wandering the forest are something everyone desires to have around. Things don't look good but look at things on the bright side. I am clearing my head and finding peace of mind, it is like therapy, but I don't need to talk to anyone, go on morning juggles, or drink herbal teas.

To start my day, I got up from the ground, inhaled lots of fresh air into my lungs, and looked at the snowy forest. Trees tall as eyes can see, grass peeking out of the snow covering them. That's a sight I can look at all day, but I don't have that luxury, at least for now. The surrounding area still needs scouting, and I should find something to cut wood.

Skeletons are a steady source of equipment and easy to hunt. The only problem with being dependent on them for equipment is that they show up only once a day, and the items they have are random. It's better to go for them instead of waiting for them to come to me,

I moved back into the cave and grabbed the coat I got from the skeleton I killed yesterday. I modified it a bit using the equipment from the same monster. I added a handle to the back using leather strips and nails to hold the long sword. Also, I covered it with some clothing to prevent it from damaging the leather.

Now, I won't lie. With this long sword on my back, I feel like William Wallace, at least his representation in the famous movie, and of course, I prefer a different path,

Enough talking for now. I grabbed the fur coat, placed the long sword on my back, grabbed the bag, emptied it into a corner, placed several items in it, including my lighter and mace, then left the cave. Outside, I pulled out my lighter and looked at the compass on it. "I already moved towards the west. The berry bush is there if I need any food. But to find new things and skeleton, I will go east."

I put the lighter back into my bag and began moving towards the eastern part of the forest, and surprisingly, it wasn't that much different than the rest.

Except for some places like my cave, there are almost no elevations. That allows me to see the surroundings much easier, but that also means other things can see me with the same ease, and I don't want to know what sort of dangerous monster this place can suddenly decide to send after me. I must be careful.

I stopped after hearing a rustle that came not too far away, most likely caused by something passing through a bush. I placed one of my hands on the sword's handle and crouched, then changed my route toward the sound.

After a short walk, I saw the reason for the sound. A group of four skeletons, each has weapons and armor. They have two spears, one two-handed ax with a large head, most likely made for cutting lumber, and one short sword, coming to armor. I see one of them has rusty and worn chainmail, the other two members have helmets, and the last has shoulder pads and gloves like they ever need them.

"Now, now. I shouldn't risk anything by attacking a large group." I released my grip on the sword's handle a bit. "But all that equipment will drastically increase my chances of survival." I grinned. "I couldn't keep this part of me down." I pulled the sword from my back and charged toward the skeletons with a battle cry.

The ones with spears immediately turned toward me and thrust their spears. I blocked, then cathed the incoming weapons with my sword and spun it to make two of them drop their weapons, then turned towards the skeleton with the short sword and thrust my sword towards its rib cage. "Not heavy." I lifted the monster, threw it away with my sword, then immediately pulled my mace.

Disarmed skeletons were close enough for me to land a hit with my mace, so I ignored the one with the short sword and rushed at them. I grabbed one of them from the ribs, and pushed him away, then began landing blow after blow to the other's head until I cracked its skull, then changed my target to the other empty-handed skeleton.

It just recovered, and I still had some distance between me and the skeleton with the short sword, so I used the advantage of landing a blow from below into its skull and knocking it down, but before I managed to move and land the attack, the skeleton I threw away charged me with the two-handed ax.

The attack was sloppy and slow, so I evaded with ease, but meanwhile, the other two skeletons got into positions. I lost my element of chaos, but it won't spoil the fun for me. "Come on, attack! We just started, and I want more adrenaline in my veins."

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I suppose the monsters understood me because they began charging forward with their weapons directed at me. The first one to get into my range was the one with the ax. I avoided the incoming attack from the skeleton by stepping right. The skeleton kept moving after missing its attack. It failed to stop its momentum, so I put my leg in front of it and caused the poor thing to stumble on it. How bad of me. Of course, I helped it by smashing its head into pieces with a single powerful strike of my mace.

"Now, back to the rest of you." Other skeletons closed the distance. The first one to attack was one with a short sword. It began slashing its sword forward and slowly pushing me away while the other got closer and closer. "Well, I will need something bigger." I threw my mace at the short sword holding the skeleton's head and stunned it, then rushed to the two-handed ax on the ground, grabbed it, and slashed it on the spear holding the skeleton's head. I didn't even slow for a second in this motion, so my attack hit pretty hard and split its helmet and skull into two.

I turned towards the last skeleton and leaped towards it, and slammed my ax toward the connection point between its arm and shoulder. I don't know what, but I felt like my ax cut something hard, and the skeleton's arm fell from its body. I followed my attack with a tackle, and when it hit the ground, I smashed its head with the back of my ax, but of course, I removed its helmet before doing it. I can't waste more precious loot.

"And this was the last one." I dropped the ax, grabbed my sword, placed it on its handle, then moved to get my mace from the ground and put it back into my bag. There are too many items to get, but no way to carry them. I must improvise.

***

After pulling everything to a single place, I choose what to grab and what not to. I left the damaged helmet but wore the other one, gloves, and shoulder pad, then stuffed the chainmail into my bag. I turned towards the weapons. I could carry both spears in one hand and the ax in the other. I can't leave the short sword behind. No. Improvise.

"I hope I won't regret that." I wrapped some cloth around the short sword's blade, then placed the weapon between my belt and pant. It won't fall thanks to its handle, and clothing will stop it from damaging my body.

And that makes it all, I guess. Now I have everything, and I am ready to go back and start building traps around my shelter. I already have a plan in my mind. I can use tree bark to make fiber and branches as short spears. Combining two, I can fill the entire forest with snap traps that will kill or badly injure any small creature stepping over it.

My mood is good. I am even whistling while walking. Hunt was successful, and I gained more stuff than usual. My chances of surviving for another day have increased. I can only top today with a good meal. Perhaps I should visit the berry bush before night falls for fresh grabs, or I should sleep through this day. I might even search for more foes and pick a fight. It sure makes me relax. "Damn, I love this place!" I shouted.

***

I am back at my cave, but something is wrong. I feel a pain in my stomach. It is like something is burning it from inside my mouth. It is watering, and my brain screams for something, but what! I don't know. With a sudden urge to puke, I dropped the items to the ground and moved away from the cave.

"No."

What! Who said that? I gave a look around while still holding the puke. There was nothing, not even an animal. It is only trees I see every day. "Who are you." I tried to shout, but as I finished my sentence, a blood-like substance came out of my mouth.

"I detect unnaturally high amounts of addictive toxin in your blood. Your best chance is waiting until its effects are over." The same voice repeated. I don't know how it entered my mind, but whatever it says, I won't question mysterious voices after seeing monsters, and it is not like I can do anything else.

So I let myself down and closed my eyes, but I couldn't sleep. The burning in my stomach is slowly moving through my body. I can feel the same heat in my eyes, arms, and tips of my fingers. I need medical help. No, I need help.

I slammed my hands to the ground and pushed my upper body away from the dirt. "I see why I was this happy to be in this goddamn nightmare. Still, my body and will are not so easy to break!" I spit on the ground as I got up. I can barely keep myself straight, but no. I cannot lose losing my consequences. These plants' drug-like effects might have caused me to act a bit carefree.

"It is highly advised to stop resisting the toxin. One's health and wait until the body circulates and destroys t-

"Put your advice to your not very nice place. If I learned something from this forest, that would be that at least one monster will visit my shelter in a day, and I haven't finished today's quota." I shouted to the voice inside my head but stopped my nagging because more of that substance came to my mouth.

And as if everything was going fine and the only thing I needed was a fight, a wolf jumped out of the nearby greenish landscape with its fangs open, ready to attack. "You see the magical voice inside my head. I would be dead if I ever listened to you." I stumbled but managed to take a step forward. I hastily drew my sword but cut the leather strips while doing so. I can fix it sometime later. I have something more important at the moment.

Wolf did something similar too. It opened its mouth and began running towards me. I don't know what caused this animal to be this aggressive.

"Your scent." The voice inside my head answered my question. "Toxins cause you to give out a scent that will make predators think you are a defenseless prey, and its paralyzing effect is to make you a defenseless prey." And added more explanation.

"Good, I will avoid eating it next time." I slashed the sword toward the running wolf. Even though I didn't put much force behind it, its sheer weight and gravity gave it enough power to split the top of the wolf's skull into two, killing the creature right there.

I fell to my knees and began panting. A simple slash took so much energy, much more than it should. "Yet, I won. Even after getting drugged by a plant, I won!" I tried to shout out of happiness, but my voice barely came out. "Now, let's rest." I lay on the snow-covered ground. "And that strange voice, I have questions for you when I awake, don't go anywhere."