A small breeze plays against my skin. With a yawn, I rise from my slumber. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I recall the events of the day. How could I forget? The area around me is covered in blood, as though a butcher set up shop in the middle of a forest.

Surprisingly, I'm still intact—completely. I have two hands, each with ten fingers, and two feet, each with ten toes. I wiggle them playfully. Heh, it feels good to see them move so freely.

…

God, I'm easily amused.

With a sigh, I get up and stretch. Ahhhhhh, it hurts so good. My muscles feel like I've just completed a hard workout, and now I'm trying to work out once more—you know, the good kind of pain. Taking a look around, I find that all that's left of my old friend is half a corpse. Yay! My strategy worked!

Just kidding. I knew I had nothing to do with this. As I stand up, a warning symbol—a triangle with an exclamation mark—is clearly visible in my field of vision. That's not good. But there's only one thing to do. Ignoring it completely, I look around and my fears are alleviated: there is no demonic monster in sight.

I shake my head at the thought; I don't even want to think about whatever finished off the lion. Instead, I take a few careful steps toward the dead lion. You might think I'm overly cautious when approaching a thing that was clearly dead, but you have to look at it through my eyes. Not long ago, I was literally ripped to pieces, and now I'm slowly approaching the thing that did that to me, as healthy as a newborn child.

Despite my fears, the lion is, in fact, dead. As I stand in front of its head, I raise my hand and extend only my middle finger high into the sky. "Serves you right, bitch! Eat me, will you? Now look at you!" Rage escapes my lips as I curse at the dead. it burned my throat but I needed to spit out every single word. Each one brought me closer and closer to calm, until finally, I'm just panting in front of it.

With a deep breath, I find serenity in this moment. I sit down and breathe deeply, taking in the iron-filled air. The moment passes and I once again open my eyes.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Well, now what?

The gentle breeze reminds me that I'm not dressed properly. Clothes should be a priority, but right now, I find myself extraordinarily hungry. Perhaps it's to be expected, given all that I've gone through in the span of... days?

Shrugging with a sigh, I wonder where I could find some food. What could I do... Oh, hello there, little lion man; it looks like you're the answer to my prayers!

Clothes and food, all wrapped in one! I get to work disassembling Mr. Lion. It's slow and hard work. If he hadn't already been torn apart, I would have nowhere to start and would have probably given up at some point. But thanks to the creature of my new nightmares, I'm able to get started and the gore didn't bother me at all. yay, growing up. as I struggled to tear the skin from bone I gathered the brilliant idea to use the bones scattered around from some poor human who was brutally ripped apart here recently. The small bone works perfectly for my tiny hands. and it seems Mr. Lion had sharpened it with his teeth for me. How kind!

Quickly I used a rough stone to make a couple of bone daggers. with my new tools in hand, I began my work. Hours pass, and I have to stop. It's slow work, and I'm terrible at it. I have enough lion hide scraps to make a blanket for myself as soon as I figured out how to sew it up, but for now, it's... something. that's better than nothing, I guess. Whatever! The important part is the meat I have. Ahahaha, it's in a nice pile! A nice, big pile of thick cuts of steak! my mouth was already watering, I could taste the stake. I just need some firewood; I can put the ribs together and use them as a grill. That was a thing, right?

My excitement quells my hunger long enough for me to run into the woods and grab a ton of firewood. On the way back, while humming a tune of victory, I come across something horrible. Bandits! Vandals! Bastards! My poor lion man; his freshly processed corpse is being raided by savages! Tiny dogs, no bigger than a propane tank, are chomping away at my meat. There are ten of them in total, and they're making quite the progress.

I analyze them; despite my anger, I'm no fool. I think.

Vikr Kleine Rasse Jackal - Animal, Scavenger

Level 3

Life Stamina: 3/3

Mana Flow: 87%

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 4

Constitution: 5

Arcana: 2

Well, at least they're not close to the lion. The other jackals read about the same, except for the one with a title.

Vikr Kleine Rasse Jackal - Animal, Scavenger

Level 5 | Pack Leader

Life Stamina: 10/10

Mana Flow: 83%

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 5

Constitution: 6

Arcana: 3

… Why do tiny dogs have better stats than me? I mean, sure, I beat even the lion in Arcana, but come on! I don't know any spells, so it's useless. Whatever, I have a couple of Bone Daggers! Hehehe, this will be easy! I flourish it as I prepare for the fight. but unfortunately, it slides out of my grip and tumbles to the ground. shit, alright, no one saw that!