Chapter 3

Author's note: I just want to say thank you for reading this story of mine. I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment or review.

And I would like to point out that in the previous chapter when Nikolai devoured the zombie, I wrote that the digesting time was 1 day. It will now be 1 week instead.

That is all, and thank you for reading.

[ Back to the Story ]

Is there anything better than potatoes? Yes, there probably are, but when you're in the middle of a forest with no food, except potatoes and salt. You make use of what you have.

Nikolai sprinkled some salt on the steaming potatoes and took a bite.

" Blin that's good. " This morning, he made a good discovery. Apparently, those fifty corpses he cremate the previous day were planning to stay in this cabin for a long time. That would explain the box full of can food he found.

They were to last at least for another two years, which was a good thing because he was going to save them for later... very very later, like months later.

Next was that, there was a calendar hung in the bedroom and it showed that it was the 23rd of March 1998.

With all that said and done, his breakfast was done. Today, he was going to explore this forest a bit. Trekking through the quiet forest was calming, the birds are cheerfully chirping on the trees, the clear blue sky and the clean air. He even took in the fresh air and it was a pleasant feeling... It was all good, but his focus was immediately on his choice of clothing or should he say the only clothing he had.

" I really need to get some pants and some underwear. " The black robes he wore, offered only exterior cover but the interior especially his nether regions were left uncovered.

He eventually came across a stream, it had clear water probably drinkable and most importantly.

" Food. "

There were plenty of fish swimming around, looking so delicious and full of meat. So like every normal person, he took out the bow he borrowed from the zombie, nocking an arrow he took aim.

His target was the biggest fish he spotted, it would be his dinner. With his sight set, he released the arrow.

SWOSH!

The arrow flew straight towards the fish he had set his sights on. It tried to swim away but Nikolai was not going to let that happen.

SPLASH!

He jumped in and quickly grab hold of the arrow and lifted the fish above the water. He went back to dry land and put the fish out of its misery by stabbing it with the black knife that he had summoned.

The fish was bigger than his hand and definitely had enough meat for dinner. He then looked at the arrow that had impaled the fish and a thought came to him.

' Since when did I learn to shoot an arrow so accurately? ' Since he had his memories wiped clean, he had no idea who he was except for his name, age and his nationality. So him being this good with weapons that also included fighting which he did the previous night was a mystery.

Did those cult people trained him to be a warrior of some kind? Like a cultic warrior for their evil God or something? Just was he?

But those thoughts quickly died down as he heard his stomach rumbling. Well, he had already caught dinner, so it was a good time to go back to the cabin.

{ 2 hours later }

" Looks like I have to sleep naked tonight. " With his only piece of clothing drying by the fireplace, he searched for any kind of clothing that could cover him from the elements.

He then took a good look at his nude self in the tall mirror in the bathroom. ( Look at the paragraph comment for the picture. )

He had tanned skin, brown eyes, a little goatee growing on his chin, slick back hair with sides shaved and a mole near his bottom lip.

He then traced his fingers at the scars that seemed purposely carved onto his face. There were two vertical scars at both his eyes running from his temple to his jawline, and four scars on his lips that were made in the shape of fangs. These scars made him look very intimidating to be honest as if he was a killer of some sort or like a hound. Then there were the other scars that were present all over his body, he counted thirty scars caused by blades, five patches of scars caused by burns and very long claw marks on his back.

Physically, he was fairly tall and well-built and it seems like he was quite gifted down there as well. That brought a chuckle from himself.

He stopped admiring himself and decided to prepare dinner. Roasted fish with salt sounded very appetising and it did. He took a little pride in that he caught it and that brought the taste to another level. That tasted like an accomplishment.

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The night was a dangerous place, especially in this forest. It was then that monsters lurk, seeking victims to slaughter. A group of draug strolled near the cabin, they could sense a soul and it attracted them like moths to a flame.

But the owner of this soul was not a nobody he is Nikolai Volkov, The Baba Yaga.

" Ay! Debil! I came prepared. " Out came Nikolai wearing the armour from the draug he had slain, consisting of a chainmail shirt, a helmet and finally pants more specifically Skjoldehamn Trousers. He was armed with a dark sword he had summoned and a round shield for defence.

It didn't really take that much time to deal with the Undead, with armour to protect his tanned hide and with a sword to cut through his enemies. He was more than equipped to exterminate the draug.

After ensuring that no more of the undead remained, he decided to take a well-deserved rest.

The next day, was not so different from the previous day. Have breakfast, go to the forest in search of food, come back with food, bring logs and chop them. Take a bath, make dinner, eat dinner, wait for a while, hear sounds of the undead, kill the undead and then go to sleep.

This routine repeated for the rest of the week, it wasn't really boring, he got to enjoy the scenery, hunting the local wildlife and a fight to the death with the undead.

With the spare time he got, he spent it on training. Although his body seemed to be able to fight on instinct, it would not hurt to polish it even more, because what is better than a shiny metal? a more shinier metal.

Days passed very quickly doing things on a routine makes time pass by really fast and then the fated day arrived. Again the voice echoed in his head.

[ DIGESTING TIME: 30 SECONDS ]

The creepy voice kept track of the digesting time for him, though its voice was still creepy, hearing it for a week straight eventually made him comfortable around it.

The time was probably around eleven thirty, close to midnight. He had already finished dealing with the undead that can routinely provide him entertainment.

The timer went down.

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1

[ ITEM DIGESTED ]

" BLYAT!!! " A pain like no other came to him targeting especially his head, the pain was a long-lasting and sharp pain that was so relentless he felt like his skull was being split open and the insides were stabbed by a red hot metal rod. " UROD! DEBIL! #@$#×#... " For the next thirty seconds, colourful words came from his mouth in response to the pain he experienced.

Nikolai had a week to deduce why his head hurt when the voice had digested the item. It was probably because it was forcing information into his brain on how to use the devoured items. This time however he devoured a zombie, an " item " that was way more complicated than a blade or a shield, so the pain was going to be very intense and he was not looking forward to it.

But unlike the blades and the shield, the information it gave him was slightly different.

[ NEW SPELL LEARNED: UNDEAD WILL*]

With the pain slowly fading away, he was left confused. He had no idea what that voice just said. New spell learned?

He had no idea what this spell does, but knew how to activate it, so with a deep breath...

" UNDEAD WILL " He chanted.

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Nothing.

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He felt nothing... No pain, no fear. He felt nothing... Calm... That is what he is feeling... Calmness. Everything appeared calm.

He stopped the spell and everything came back, the pain, the fear. He breathes heavily for a few seconds to calm himself.

" So this is what this spell does huh? " Zombies are dead and the dead have no emotions, the spell probably made him emotionless, with no fear, and gave him an extremely high pain tolerance.

It would make fighting easier, with fewer things to worry about during a battle, but it could also lead to his downfall as he would disregard any injury received and still continue the fight.

Well, it was a good skill to have anyways. Since the black mist could devour items again, he decided to let it devour the axe. It was a very useful item to have, he could chop wood with it and it would be a waste if it were to get worn out in the future.

But the mist had other plans.

[ ITEM DEVOURED ]

[ DIGESTION TIME: 10 MINUTES ]

This mist was very shameless, it decided to devour the armour he was wearing. From the helmet to the chainmail and even the pants. With his armour removed, he was left nude, completely nude.

He was really expecting to devour the axe, it seemed that he had to wait.

Well, it was a good time to get back inside and get clothed. He patiently waited for the creepy voice to tell the time to get to zero.

Another headache was going to arrive in ten seconds, he was bracing himself for the incoming pain, but in those few seconds, he had an idea!

" UNDEAD WILL " The same nothingness came to him and he was calm.

The timer reached zero...

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Nothing.

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No pain.

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Well, it was good and the information flowed to his brain. It felt like he was reading a book, more specifically just simply flipping all the pages of the said book and somehow he remembered all the contents of the book. That was a weird experience.

[ ITEM DIGESTED ]

He summoned the armour and performed a few simple movements. It did not feel any different, it was just the same armour he wore during the fight, but it was just black in colour.

Before he retires to bed, he let the mist Devour the axe, his bow an arrow and as well as a sledgehammer he found during the day, because why not. Using the spell, he relieved himself from the headache that would usually assault him.

The next day after he had breakfast, he decided to clean the surroundings of his cabin. There were the draug that he had to drag to a pile to be burned and if you asked why because they smell, that's why.

Then there were the weapons that the defeated draug left for him, fifty rusted swords, twenty-three wooden Shields, seven axes and ten bows. He had really no use for them, he already had each of them devoured by the most, and devouring them would likely bear no rewards for him.

Then there was this.

[ DEVOUR!!! ]

[ DEVOUR!!! ]

[ DEVOUR!!! ]

[ DEVOUR!!! ]

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" Shut up! I don't have any items for you to devour. " Nikolai was already accustomed to the creepy voice echoing inside his head, but it demanding to devour something every ten seconds was getting annoying. Like when a child demands for food from their parents every ten seconds, that was the feeling he got.

" Man being a father, is very difficult. " He joked.

The mist seemed to take offence at his words and decided to throw a tantrum.

[ ITEM DEVOURED!!! ]

It devoured the sword he was holding in his hand.

Nikolai was flabbergasted, " Blayt! what the hell are you doing? " Was it trying to punish him by giving him a headache, this is sure very childish. He had a spell to counter the pain, so it was going to pose no problem for him, it was going to take it five minutes to digest the sword anyways anyways.

[ DIGESTION TIME: 5 SECONDS ]

" FIVE SECONDS!!! " Alarmed by the sudden short digestion time, he immediately chanted the spell.

" That was close. "

' Five seconds, that's a lot quicker than the first time. Was it because it already has information about the sword? '

The five seconds came and the information flowed to him. It was the same actually, but something was different.

[ ITEM DIGESTED ]

[ ITEM HAS BEEN IMPROVED ]

" Ah! So that's why it felt different. "