I seemed to hear a voice from far away. What is it saying, I do not know, I do not remember. I seemed to have said something back, but I also failed to remember it. What I do remember was a sad yet beautiful smile and a blinding flash of light.

"Ugh..."

I was shocked awake, but before I had the chance to gather myself, outside the window, I noticed an unfamiliar crimson sky beyond the destroyed buildings. Where the hell am I? Thinking that, I hurriedly looked around. I am inside a room, yet this is not the room I was sleeping in. Taking a closer look, the room is filled with stacks of rations on one side, and stacks of books on the other. Taking one of the books, I saw its title, "Survival Guide" and was thrown into further confusion.

"ROAR"

Hearing the sudden roar from outside, I was shocked out of my thoughts. Carefully peeking out of the window, I stared blankly at the sight outside. Out there, a pack of abnormal looking wolves was confronting a dog twice their size. With a wave of its thick arms, the dog sent a wolf crashing onto a building, a single bite and a wolf instantly died. No matter how you see it, the dog is far stronger than the wolf. But in the end, the dog became worn out, and the pack pounced on it, killing it in moments and dragging its corpse away. At that moment, I instantly realized that this is not the same world as my old one.

"Hah, what the hell is this situation..." I muttered blankly.

Walking away from the window, I felt cold sweat flowing down my back. Even a single one of those monstrous wolves could send me to die, more so a pack of them, and if there is more of them out there, a step outside might mark my death. Even if I were to die, at least I want to know what is happening right now. With that thought, I remembered the book I was holding and hurriedly opened it.

"Seriously...?" 

On the first page, the first sentence I saw was [How to Survive in an Apocalypse] in bolded text. The sight of it made my eyebrow twitch, but I continued to flip through the book. It explained how to gather water, how to gather food, how to escape from danger, how to find and make shelter, and other general things. The book is easy to understand, suspiciously so. In the first place, who would even have the time to write something like this during an apocalypse? And the other books and rations looked new, it was as if they were all specially prepared for me.

"But so what?" I said to myself, knowing it makes no difference in this situation.

Once I finished reading the book, my eyes wandered and I caught sight of another book with an interesting title, [How to Catch Beasts]. Based on what the first book said, the main source of food during the apocalypse is the meat of those monsters, even with the existence of the prepared ration, I had no idea whether there is any possibility of coming back to my old world, I might need to gather food on my own in the future. And so, for me who could not even tussle with a chicken, that book seemed like a life saver. But as I flipped through the book, I realized that most of the methods in the book require me to confront them at the end of the day, only a few would allow me to defeat them without direct confrontation, even then, the book explained that only few of the beasts would be caught by this sort of method. Basically, this thing is pretty much useless. Resigning myself to this situation, I glanced outside. It was then that I noticed that several of the wolf corpses were still left where they were. Seeing no other beasts outside, I realized this chance and hurriedly went out of the building.

It took me time since I was in a high rise apartment and had to go down several stairs, but when I carefully looked around, there was still no living beasts outside, so I hurriedly went out and approached one of the corpses. Taking a closer look, the wolf is bigger than I first thought, it is at least twice my size when it is on all four. Before I could continue examining it, a howl from the distance interrupted my thoughts. I did not bother looking around and hurriedly dragged the corpse back into the building and back into the room. Looking out the window, I saw a crowd of beasts fighting over the corpses, several of which I recognized from the illustration in the book. Once I confirmed that none of them held an interest in the building I am in, I pulled my gaze away and looked at the corpse I managed to drag back.

"This thing is seriously a monster..." I muttered to myself, looking at the beast which looked far more ferocious than any animal I knew of.

After some thought, I remembered the the survival book explaining about how to skin beasts corpse with a knife. Looking through the room, I found a worn-out knife in one corner of the room which seemed to be a kitchen. Returning to the corpse, I tried to stab the knife into the corpse, only for the knife to fail to even go through the skin. Shocked, I reexamined the knife.

"No matter how blunt it is, it should still be able to cut meat..." But then I realized that this beast is not like those I knew before, with its hide apparently being far thicker than I thought. 

Maybe there is a book that could help. With that sort of thought, I went through the pile of books and found a book with the title [Apocalypse Bestiary]. After some thought, I flipped through the book and saw an illustration which looked like the wolf in question. Reading through it, I saw a section of the page describing a soft spot on its body, and following that, I finally managed to cut through its thick hide and saw blood flowing out. It was not as if I never saw blood, but seeing so much of them still made me slightly queasy.

In the end, I barely managed to skin the corpse while sacrificing large chunks of meat and covering myself with blood. I could only sigh while wiping off the accumulated sweat and think about the following step.

The survival book said that it was best to cook the meat with fire, but none of the methods to start a fire provided by the book is currently viable for me. After some hesitation, I grit my teeth and tore out a large piece of bloodied meat.

"Screw it..." I muttered and bit harshly onto the raw and uncooked meat. The taste is, as expected, horrible, and the meat is as hard as leather. It took me all I had just to bite through the meat and eat it, but not wanting to let the taste linger, I rushed myself to finish it and took a prepared water bottle to down the meat. In the end, I could only finish a small part of the meat before feeling overwhelmed by the taste.

"sigh... if I have to eat this for the rest of my life, it would be really- Ugh?!"

Suddenly, a horrible churn came over my stomach. I felt my body burning, my bones breaking. I could taste the acid and blood as I vomited a mix of vomit and blood, yet that barely saved my from this overwhelming pain. With that sort of feeling, I felt my mind becoming faint...

Once I woke up, I was momentarily confused. But soon after, I remembered my current situation and looked around. Near where I laid is a puddle of vomit and blood, emanating a sour and bloody smell. Thanking my luck for not smashing my head on that disgusting puddle, I examined my body.

Luckily, I no longer felt the pain I was experiencing before, just the memory of it caused me to shudder. Weirdly, even after vomiting so horribly, I did not feel worn out, somehow I felt weirdly energized instead. Just as I was deep in thought, I felt a sudden hunger kicking in. The feeling was so overwhelming that I unconsciously reached out and took the nearby leftover monster meat and devoured it. The meat was soft, unlike before, yet I had no time to ponder over it as I busily filled my stomach. In the end, the large meat I cut out is cleanly eaten, yet I still felt some hunger, so I once again took the knife and cut out another piece of meat from the wolf. The knife is no different than before, if not bloodier, yet it cut the meat much more easily, seeing this, I am finally sure of the abnormal increase in my strength.

"This is just... crazy..."

I sighed after finishing the meat. Somehow, I no longer felt troubled about eating the bloodied meat, I even drank the blood to quench my thirst after. Even if they say humans are adaptable animals, this is obviously abnormal. In the end, I could only attribute it to the painful experience I just had. Fortunately, after the first time, I no longer went through it again even after eating even more of the wolf meat. But thinking of the weird physical and psychological change I went through, even though I wanted to sigh and complain, I knew that it was necessary for me to survive longer in this apocalyptic world.

After resting, I thought of my next course of action. Even if I became stronger, I still need to prepare myself to survive in this world, just like the monstrous dog that was killed by the pack of wolves. First of all, I tried to make a mental checklist of what I should do. I already have a base, now I just need to fortify it so that those monsters cannot easily enter. Aside from that, I need a stable source of food and water, which is currently those animal-turned-monsters outside, and to achieve that, I need to hunt them down.

Finally, that leads me to another important point, I must become stronger to survive in this world, at least to the point where I could easily hunt down some monsters to feed myself. With that sort of resolve, I looked through the pile of books. It took me a while to find 2 relevant books, [Making Weapons in Apocalypse] and [Fighting in Apocalypse]. After a cursory look through its contents, I decided to focus on the former first. As someone who did not know how to fight in the first place, it would be better to first rely on tools before improving myself, and so, I dove right into the task.

Initially, I considered making a spear out of stone, but without any material as the shaft and experience at hand, I changed target and chose the easiest and maybe most useful, a stone knife. Fortunately, many parts of the building seemed to be crumbling, hence it was not hard to find a relatively small stone as practice. Following the guide, I took another stone and used it as a hammer. It was easy at first, with my enhanced strength, a single strike could get rid of a good chunk of stone. But later on, I needed to be more precise and use my strength carefully. The activity itself is boring, I repeatedly gave up mid-way, only to come back soon since I had nothing better to do.

"Finally done..."

I was not sure how long it took for me to finish the ugly stone knife in my hand, but it did not feel like a day have passed. I could only attribute it to my enhanced strength. Still, the task was seriously boring for me who had not done something like this before. When I tried to make a cut on a wall and compared it to the worn out knife I found, the stone knife I made could hardly compare. It was then that I realized that this weapon making business is not as easy as I thought, I could only hang my head in defeat.

In the end, I could not bear to do a boring activity like smashing a stone against another stone to make a stone knife again, and switched my focus to my other option, learning how to fight against those monsters. Had it not been for me enhanced body, I would not have even considered this idea, even the book gave a warning that only people with a certain amount of strength should even try fighting monsters. With such confidence, I looked through it. Sadly, unlike what I initially thought, the book only showed what is best to do in certain situation against certain monsters, the rest could only be gained by experience it said. In the end, the book seemed to have only told me one thing, 'Go fight a bunch of monsters, you will slowly learn' or something like that. I could only scratch my head and complained inwardly.

In the end, I returned to working on a weapon. Looking at the stone knife, I thought for a moment and decided to make another knife. But this time, instead of using a stone to smash another stone, I used the terrible stone knife I made to cut through the stone. As expected, I had an easier time making the knife this time. It was easier to make precise shapes with the knife, no matter how terrible it is. Maybe I should have used the knife I found to make the first stone knife, it might have been much easier. But thinking again, it is the only non-stone knife I currently have, so it would be better to save it for better use.

And so, I repeated the cycle of making stone knives, eating, and sleeping. Occasionally, I also took breaks and read through the pile of books out of boredom. The cycle continued until I ate up all of the wolf meat, which somehow managed to last so long without going bad even though I did not bother to preserve it. Sadly, the rations that I originally had did not last long. I realized that after my body enhancement, my appetite seemed to have increased massively, the pile of rations that originally could have lasted a few weeks was eaten up after a few days by me, though I am not sure if even a day had passed. The sky seemed to be eternally red, there is no moon or sky, only something which looked like crimson clouds dotting the sky. The shadows is always spread out no matter where and when, as if the time is always mid day. Where is the light even coming from? I sometimes wondered. It was one mystery after another.

"I guess this is how the apocalypse is?"

Now that I had no more food, I had no other choice aside from leaving my base that I have been holed in for who knows how long. Resolving myself, I took the several stone knives I made and the knife I had found before. It was kind of sad that, in the end, all the knife I made still lost to this worn out knife. As I was sighing to myself, I picked up the book I have been planning on bringing with me, [Apocalypse Bestiary]. Even though my memory became better after the body enhancement, I do not have anything like photographic memory, so it would be better to bring the book with me in case I need to refresh my memory when meeting some beasts. It is too bad that I could not find anything close to a map among the pile of books, but just having what I have now is already beyond fortunate.

And so, with my preparation done, I finally went down and left the high rise building. Just like what I have been seeing through the window all this time, my surroundings is filled with nothing but ruins. Unlike before, I carefully paid attention. The surroundings looked desolate, with no sign of life aside from the occasional howling coming from the beasts. Yet for whatever reason, there is a feeling of destructive artistry, but I soon shook my head. Since when did I have any sense in appreciating art? I inwardly mocked myself.

Returning my focus back to my original objective, I walked through the broken street, carefully searching for any monster. After passing a few streets, it was then that I came across a single wolf feasting on its captured prey, something which looked like a giant cat. Looking around, I saw no other wolf nearby. Maybe it broke off its pack to hunt? Or maybe it is a lone wolf in its truest sense. Regardless, there is no better prey than it.

Carefully, I approached with my stone knife in hand. I could feel my palm damp with sweat. I kept my distance, fearing that I would alert the wolf. Seeing that it still had not noticed me, I strengthened the grip on my knife, braced myself, and threw my body right at the wolf. The wolf instantly noticed my presence and turned its head, growling. But I had already arrived right before it, I kept my surprise at how I managed to throw myself so strongly and hurriedly aimed my knife right at its weak point, a certain place at its back, the same one I had cut through to skin the first wolf I skinned.

The instant I plunged my knife deep into its flesh, the wolf howled! I inwardly cursed, knowing that if I did not kill the wolf quick, monsters would soon gather here, hence I pulled out the knife once again, planning on giving it a finishing blow. But the wolf suddenly moved and I reflexively held onto it. As if feeling my hold, the wolf suddenly stopped and shook its body wildly. I was somehow able to held onto it and even took the chance to make another stab at its back.

Suddenly, the wolf stopped shaking its body, I was momentarily dazed and had no time to prepare for what came next. The wolf rammed onto a nearby building, with me right at the brunt of impact! I gasped for breath, both my chest and back were in pain, but I forced myself to focus as I strengthened my grip on my knife and repeatedly plunged my knife into the wolf. As if realizing its predicament, the wolf repeatedly rammed at the wall, it even tried to bite at me, but I flexibly moved my body to dodge while keeping a death grip on the wolf. Maybe it could turn into a battle of attrition, but I still remembered the possibility of more danger coming because of the wolf howling out. Out of desperation, I kicked, punched, and even bit the wolf. It did not take long for the wolf to become exhausted after all its blood loss and exhaustive actions, its movement dulled and its body kept shaking. Taking this chance, I moved and plunged my knife right at where its heart should be. As if feeling its death coming, the wolf howled once more and once again rammed at a building, but this time, I let go of the wolf and rolled away, leaving it to crash alone. In the end, after a loud rumble, the wolf stopped moving and laid motionless.

I was momentarily dazed before I quickly woke up and rushed to the wolf. Ignoring everything else, I hurriedly dragged the body away. It was after I passed a few streets that I heard a long howl coming from around where I was fighting. Thanking my lucky stars, I dragged the body away even faster. It was not until I returned to my room in the high rise building that I let out a sigh of relief. After relief, the exhilaration and joy came from the success of my first hunt.

"Haha..." I let out a small, held back laugh.

I wanted to laugh out loud, but I am really afraid of attracting monsters to this area, so I could only do my best to hold myself back. But the feelings could not be held back, so I hummed to myself and made more stone knives. The ones I brought out had broken down when I used them to stab the wolf. They were not very durable in the first place and the wolf flesh was pretty hard. And since they were not made well and were made out of stone in the first place, I did not really think much about the loss. I could make more as long as there are stones around anyway.

It did not take long for me to finish making a new stone dagger, and the moment it was finished, my stomach growled, it was time for me to eat my first, personally hunted, prey. Using the newly made stone knife, I carefully skinned the wolf of its hide. Although the result is still not very good, it is still better compared to my first time doing it. Once I filled my stomach, I pondered what I should do next. It could be said that I only managed to beat the wolf mostly through luck. Had the wolf not been alone, had the wolf not been too busy eating its prey, had other monsters came earlier, and most importantly, had my body been as weak as before, I would have long died there. And so, I thought that it would be better if my body became even stronger, far more than now. If I could overwhelm those monsters by sheer strength, how great would it be? And if I reach that point, I could even try learning those fighting techniques in that book I was forced to give up on! The more I thought of the idea, the more excited I became.

And with that state of mind, I started preparing for my training session. At first, I wanted to see if there is any books that could help me prepare, but the closest thing I found was a book with the title [Becoming Stronger in Apocalypse], but the only thing it contained is mostly some weird recipe about some miracle medicine that could apparently make you stronger using materials that I have never seen nor heard. They should have titled the book Miracle Medicine in Apocalypse, I inwardly retorted as I closed the book.

Even though I was disappointed that there is no book that could help, since I have been relying on them all this time, training my body should not be so hard. I could just do some push-ups, sit-ups, sprints, and the like. With that sort of thought, I stood up, wanting to start right away. But I suddenly felt an ache on my back and chest, causing me to remember that I was hurt from the fight against the wolf that I had forgotten from my excitement. And so, I could only postpone my training session to after I finish recovering from my injury. In the meantime, I will just make more stone daggers, in hopes I would slowly improve with more practice.

And then after a good sleep, I suddenly realized.

"I already recovered..." I blankly said to myself as I touched the parts of my body that was injured before. Maybe I should have expected it, but I am amazed nonetheless, and injury like that should have taken maybe days or weeks to recover if it had been my old body. But after that, I remembered my initial plans.

"I guess it is time for me to start my training session." I muttered with a faint anticipation bubbling inside. And so, a few days passed as I spent my days going through my self-made training session.