Return of the Woodcutter

"Waaah!"

Aito dashed towards the nearest monkey and swung his ax. The creature didn\'t react in time to dodge the blow, and its brain matter spread on the sand.

Leaving no time for his enemies to react, Aito grabbed another by the neck and squeezed.

CRACK!

He paused in surprise at how easily he had broken that monkey\'s neck but was reminded of the danger by the furry feeling on his broad back.

The monkey bit into Aito\'s shoulder. A warm liquid ran down his white skin as a painful sensation seized him.

He gritted his teeth and sped up backward, hitting a coconut tree. His enemy released its bite and uttered a painful cry.

"Kyaaak!"

Aito reached back, grabbed the evol monkey, and hurled it towards the other.

BAM!

Stunned by the impact, both creatures laid on the sand. Aito didn\'t leave them any time to recover and rushed towards them before bringing down his ax. Monkey blood splashed and dyed the sand red.

"Damn monkeys," Aito said, before sitting under a tree\'s shadow.

He let out a painful groan as he examined the bite mark on his shoulder. Blood was pouring out of the wound and needed to be treated immediately. With nothing else to clean it, Aito headed for the sea.

\'Better that than nothing.\'

He remembered that in French Polynesia it was common practice to dip a wound in seawater when injured on a beach. Apparently, it helps kill some bacteria that could infect the wound and thus speed up the healing process. However, it could also lead to infection. But it was a gamble he will take.

Then Aito took off his shirt, revealing his perfectly round belly, and ripped a piece, which he used to bandage his shoulder. He tore another piece to cover his head in order to protect it from the sun and wore his now sleeveless shirt before taking a well-deserved break.

If it wasn\'t for the monkeys, quest, lack of accommodation, the goddess, and the need to survive, that island would have been a great place for a holiday—for him at least.

However, he currently needed to find food, water and build a shelter.

***

In the gods\' council room, on the white side, seated at the four-colored round table on her white fluffy chair, Filona was watching Ogoro and Sheila\'s progression with keen interest. They had challenged the red portal. Only a few had picked that path before them, even less survived.

Their trial comprised surviving an undead apocalypse for two months. The siblings were currently hiding in a police station where they had found weapons to defend themselves. Thousands of zombies walked on the city\'s streets, their sheer number proving to be impossible to handle for two normal humans. Fortunately, they were slow and could be avoided.

From the black side, Brutalina drew her black wooden chair next to Filona, her long red hair tied in a ponytail twitched as if to manifest her interest. She bent forward, accentuating her toned body curves, to look at what Filona was watching. "Ho, Red challengers? And two of them at that! Gahahaha! If they survive, I\'ll claim them!"

Brutalina\'s ample chest moved up and down with her black leather armor, her guttural—but somewhat feminine—voice echoing in the four-colored room.

The goddess of pain favored those who challenged adversity even more than other gods and was more willing to take those two under her wings.

Filona clicked her tongue, "Hands off, you sadistic masochist! They will become archers under my church and not some unrefined muscle-brain warrior!"

The two goddesses bickered amongst themselves in an unsightly manner, unbefitting of their statuses. Something they would only do when they are in a familiar environment where they can relax. In presence of mortals, they would always keep a divine demeanor—well, apart from a certain god.

On the blue side, leaned against his blue leather armchair, Zalon pushed up his glasses. The god of wisdom wore a long blue robe, showing his status as a former mage.

"Fighting over them is useless. They may choose their own path. We might determine their classes according to their performances and stats, but the choice is still theirs. Hum?" Zalon said when something caught his attention. "Filona, why is there a black challenger?"

Filona pushed Brutalina away before regaining her previously dignified attitude. "I\'ve warned the candidates as we agreed upon, however, the foolish mortal stood still until the end."

On the red side of the round table, lying in his red bed, the god of sloth, Belmand yawned, readjusted his red pajama and pillow before comfortably leaning against it.

"So be it.*yawn* It\'ll be entertaining to see him *yawn* lose his mind to that thing.*yawn* But if he survives…" Belmand said, before emitting snoring sounds.

The three other gods shook their heads.

***

Walking along the beach, Aito found a river flowing into the ocean and drank from it. He could not care less about bacteria at the moment, since he needed to ease his thirst. Aito knew it might cost him later on, but he seriously doubted he would die from it.

He followed the river upstream, hoping it would bring him to a safe place where he could build a shelter. It led him near the island\'s only mountain where the river seemed to flow from underneath it, which looked weird.

Near it, he found a cave. It will be of great help since he wouldn\'t need to waste stamina on building a shelter, though it was far from being a welcoming home.

The inside was damp and gloomy. He walked deeper into the cave and, unable to peer into the pitch blackness, stopped. Aito decided to stay near the entrance. Who knew how deep that cave really was?

His water and shelter problem solved, he now needed to arrange some food. His stomach sent him a reminder by letting out a loud rumble.

Aito opened his inventory and took out the body of an evol monkey he had picked up before leaving the beach. Thankfully, he had learned to prepare the preys he hunted from time to time in Lac St Jean.

Standing by the riverside, he first emptied the creature\'s stomach with his ax and discarded its guts in the river. Then skinned it, but the blade wasn\'t made for that purpose and he damaged the hide. He placed the tattered hide in his inventory to dry it later on since it could come in handy.

Once done, he found a branch and skewered his soon-to-be dinner before realizing he had no fire. Aito never had learned to make one out of nothing. Movies depicted it as a simple task but… he seriously doubted that it was the case.

On the horizon, the sun moved down to progressively be replaced by the night.

"I have no time to try my hand at making a fire."

Soon it would be nighttime, and moving in the dark was a bad idea. He wanted to fortify his shelter before that happened.

Aito walked out of the cave to the nearest coconut tree and drew his ax. The ax\'s blade viciously bit into the wood, already reaching a quarter of the tree\'s girth. With that single hit, he was now certain that his strength wasn\'t comparable to before. It took him only three other swings to bring down the tree.

"Is that because of my strength stat? Interesting."

He already had an impressive strength before, other woodcutters had been jealous of him because he could swiftly cut down a tree.

Aito separated the coconut tree into five different parts and used them to cover the cave entrance. With his newfound strength, it had been easier than expected. The last section had tree leaves and coconuts on it.

He stored the coconuts in his inventory and brought the leaves inside the cave before closing the entrance behind him. He had made a crude fortification, but he judged it should be enough for the first day.

Aito weaved the coconut tree leaves together, placed them on the rocky ground and laid down on his improvised bed.

"A bit itchy but it\'s better than nothing."

By then, the sky had already darkened.

Aito peeled a coconut with his weapon before breaking the shell, drank the coconut water inside, and scrapped the meat to eat it. Coconut meat had been one of his favorite treats back in French Polynesia. Add to it some coconut water and it made for a delicious snack. He really didn\'t want to eat evol monkey meat raw. Who knew what kind of germs lurked in that?

Having eaten his fill of coconut meat, Aito placed his ax next to him and, tired from his first day on the island, quickly shut his eyes. His last thoughts went to his current goal.

\'I will find redemption, no matter the cost.\'

As the tears ran down his cheeks, his consciousness quickly faded, soon to be replaced by nothingness.

***

The next morning, Aito woke up to find that his wound was healed. He formed two hypotheses: either the coconut had a miraculous healing effect or the trial stage did it. Either way, he will be able to ascertain it in the coming days.

"Whatever, it\'s not like a blue ethereal window will appear in front of me to give me the answer."

BING!

[Congratulation! Your wounds have been healed due to a good night\'s sleep!]

"Never mind what I said.." He chuckled.