How long has been passed since I killed that beast? Three days, maybe four? I am already getting bored of staying inside my cave.

There aren't many things to do inside.

While I spent quite some time drying or smoking the meat I got, I did nothing unordinary. Of course, I cannot take the risk of fighting against anything with the wounds I currently have, but that doesn't mean I should do absolutely nothing as well.

Usually, I keep myself busy with something all time. That's the sort of lifestyle I like, but being forced into doing nothing except the necessities for my survival is. Well, too monotonous for me.

It almost feels like the first months of retiring from the military.

Yes, I am happy that the last strike from Giant Wolf only wounded me and not slashed me in half, but that doesn't mean I will be happy about my current condition.

My chest hurts like hell when I try to do something heavy or even if I touch it.

While I screamed in pain a lot trying to carry all the meat I got from the dead beast, easier jobs like liting a fire or collecting wood to lit the fire did not hurt much as I expected.

While that encourages me to do something heavier, I should learn to put my ass on the floor and wait until I get better.

God damn, that's harder than I expected. Well, that's normal when I think about it. I spent all my childhood jumping from activity to activity.

And when I reached age seven, I lived with my grandfather for around seven years and a half. He taught me basic math, writing, reading, etc.

If these were the only things I learned from him, I will probably be dead right now.

That old man, my grandfather, lost some screws inside his head on his days of service in the military.

From his eyes, a human who cannot survive in the wild had no value for his life, pretty harsh and stupid considering how advanced human society is right now.

But he was influential enough to force my father into sending me to train with him to a forest where the closest human establishment is twenty-five kilometers away.

While he was harsh on his way of thinking, that man was a veteran of two wars and one of the most renowned generals of our countries history.

So, while he was harsh, he knew what he was doing.

My training started as I learned how to use a knife.

The first thing I learned was how to hold a knife. Grandpa scolded me a lot till I learned how to do that properly.

My training continued as I learned how to cut things and sharpen my knife and ended when I learned how to carve wood. That took one year of my life.

But he still had many lessons to teach. With a shortlist. I can give you this.

Foraging, trap making, usage of primitive and modern hunting tools, tracking wild animals, cleaning and using a firearm, and for the final lesson hunting a deer on my own with nothing but a knife.

And surprisingly, these were only the things I learned to survive. I also learned how to hold a speech, table manners, manipulation, and basic science to a degree (mostly about guns.)

While all these things have a lot of great stories behind them, it is overwhelming to think about what happened in all.

But my stories do not end there, as I left my grandpa and returned to the family mansion. I needed to go into a regular school like everyone else.

So with some tests (I barely managed to pass because of my lack of public education) and physical exams (which I surpassed every other participant), I joined a prestigious military high school.

But those times are a story of another time.

It feels great to think about the past, and I especially feel good near my wound. I suppose I can try something? Can I?

I have been continuously thinking about how I haven't used any of the tools I got from the goblins.

Wouldn't it be nice if I built a door to my cave and built a warming system that allows me to stay inside my cave comfortably?

Don't I have a lot of time to spend, tools to gather materials, and enough knowledge and skills to do something like that.

I pressed both my hands to the ground and jumped up. I am excited and ready to do something!

"Rough planning and material gathering time!" I shout.

But before I start collecting materials, I must know what I need. Specifically, what I will use to build.

Someone without a plan is fated to failure as history proved it many times in the past.

Well, I have one thing in my mind. I can cut down some trees (or a single tree, depending on its size.) And turn their logs into rough, long planks.

Later I can use that logs for building the door and the walls next to it.

After that, I can use a dirt mixture to close the gaps between the planks and stop the cold air from getting inside.

And for my final step, I can make clay and stones into making a furnace-like thing inside, with pipes (again made out of clay) to connect to the outside to prevent carbon dioxide poisoning.

If I make the thermal insulation correctly, that means I can even bath inside my cave! Which I seriously need right now.

To work then!

******

The sound of an ax hitting a tree's trunk echoed inside the forest. Sound of my ax!

For the building, I choose the tallest tree near my house. So I can easily carry the wood.

"Timber!" I shout as I finally defeat the tree.

The long piece of wood hit the ground with high speed and raised a massive cloud of snow and dirt.

"Part one is complete. Now, it comes to the tricky part."

I do not have the proper equipment or knowledge to process that thing into planks, but I once saw construction workers splitting giant rocks into two simply by nailing iron rodes inside them.

Something similar can work with that as well.

I began carefully placing cuts into the tree's trunk, enough for me to put triangle-shaped woods I carved.

Now there are four lines of twelve triangles put on the tree's trunk, waiting for me to nail them inside.

"Thankfully, I got this weapon." I raised my polehammer to the air and began hitting the triangles.

"One!" I shout, "Two!" Came after it, then three, and four.

I raised my polehammer to the air and hit the triangles. Again, and again, until every single triangle except the last one got inside the tree's trunk.

"This is the final one!" With all my strength, I hit the triangle and nailed it inside the tree's trunk.

The part of the log popped out of the trunk as I expected only milliseconds later.

"Yes!" I shouted with happiness and jumped to the air, then screamed in pain. "Fuck!"

"I must not forget about the wound, but look at that." I touched the log plank I got. "After I finish with the other parts and cut them into four same-sized smaller planks, the first step will end."

I grabbed the piece I got and dragged it away from the rest of the log, and after a second of catching my breath, I turned back to work.

One, two, three. With all my strength, I am hitting the triangles. And after my every forty swings or so, a new piece of log plank leaves from the trunk.

It doesn't matter if my chest hurts or I feel tired. Pain, tiresome, the things that make me remember I am still a human, the things that make me believe I am still alive.

I am ready to endure anything for them!

I delivered one more hit.

The last piece's popped out, and now it is time for me to carry all these things into my cave.

"Work never ends."

I threw myself to the ground as I dropped the last log plank to the ground.

"Finally, it is over."

I am panting like a dog, and my chest is burning like hell, but god damn, it took much more effort than I think it will be, and because of that, it feels even better.

I will rest for now and finish the building the next day. I forced myself enough already.