A NEW DAY, IN MY NORMAL LIFE

Alex went and gathered some wood with the help of his axe. Carrying it back to a crack near him, he lit up a fire with his lighter, creating a bonfire. Despite the recent volcano eruption, Alex took precautions regarding the smoke. Aware that feathers would burn and stick to the skin, So, he tried to remove them from the birds and did the same with the rabbit's skin, using his knife. But alas, his skills were too poor.

Then taking a sharp stick, he took some Leafs from his pocket, which he extracted from a plant with an unusual height and rubbed them on the chicken, thinking, "According to the guidebook, this should limit its smell."

He then proceeded to skew the chicken and covered the crack with his tent, to control the smoke it will release. Instead of letting the smoke rush out, he released small puffs intermittently.

While this was happening, he constructed a makeshift grill using long sticks joined vertically and horizontally with cotton thread. After failing two-three time he finally, made that would not collapse instantly. He took it to the cave entrance, placed long leaves on the grid, tore some grass, and spread it over the grill, making a temporary cave door.

During the process, Alex rotated the cooking birds, replacing them with rabbits. By the time he slowly released the final smoke, it was already night. He took some coal from the remaining bunch that wasn't releasing too much smoke, threw it into his cave, used a sleeping bag on the ground, placed his tent upon it, sat on it to try it out, then went to the cave entrance. He closed his makeshift gate, securing a proper night's rest.

He then went to his backpack, took out some small different plants. "The guidebook said these could be used as spices." He crushed them together, put the crushed paste on his first chicken, and ate it. He thought, "Although not at all good, but at least, 100 times better than worms, 25 times better than last night."

Alex went to sleep, having experienced various new things and felt emotions like never before. He sighed, looked at the roof of the cave, and said, "Maybe this was all reincarnation is about— discovering yourself, letting your inner child out, and having no regrets, as those MCs of novels have said." In a low voice, he added, "Then what went wrong with my freaking reincarnation? it's all about realizing how not to die." In such a way, while muttering, Alex happily went to sleep.

Alex had those dreams where he had delicious lunch and dinner with beauties. Let's leave this poor man be.

As Alex was sleeping, the world outside was calming down. Although the volcano was forcefully awakened, it now again calmed down. All the remaining disturbance was because of the aftereffects. Clouds were gathering all around the newly erupted volcano and started to pour down acid rain as it looked like all the compounds released by the volcano were thrown back. This caused the volcano to make hissing noises as if it was trying to counter the rain. (Cooling of lava making that sound)

Alex's cave was about 5-10 miles away from it, so until now, he was safe. But as the clouds started moving towards the cave, slowly the rain reached the cave as it was below the ground. The rainwater slowly entered the cave after initially being blocked by the makeshift door. As the rain continued, door wasn't able to hold, and due to Alex's weak craftsmanship, it collapsed with the water it was holding.

Alex, who was drooling, woke up and tried to make sense of the situation. He reacted quickly as he noticed water was coming in, rolled both tent and sleeping bag, put them in his backpack, slung it over, the bag had become wet, but he couldn't care and rushed out of the cave.

Since it was still night and he was in the worst possible place with limestone region having large cracks all over, one wrong step, and he would fall into some crack filled with water. He went inside the cave, took the longest stick from the door, and tried to retrieve as much of the thread as he could.

Then he came out. Now, before putting his foot anywhere, he would poke the ground with the stick to see if it was stable or not, then only he stepped there. In such a style, he tried to cross the limestone region. While he was crossing in such a way, suddenly, when he put his foot on the surface, it moved, Alex felt panic and jumped back.

He was too fearful at the current state, and all he was doing was with an adrenaline rush, just like when yesterday the volcano exploded. He was reaching his limits as he was unable to get any proper rest. 

To gain his spirit back he started shouting, "'Advance, my soldiers!', 'Charge, my soldiers!', 'Advance, my soldiers! For the sake of survival and our freedom!'" He continued to himself, "Soldiers, the time has come! We stand on the precipice of change, facing the doom that threatens our existence. Are you ready to charge into the heart of the unknown? Our survival hinges on this moment! On my command, advance, my soldiers, advance for freedom's sake! Fight with all our might, for within this struggle lies our hope and freedom!" Looks like the inner Erwin Smith's (Attack on Titan) of Alex, has woken up.

After shouting, Alex regained his fighting spirit. He crossed the region while shouting throughout the process.

He quickly ran after crossing the region towards the hill as the rain showed no sign of stopping. He noticed that the backpack was not waterproof, and all the herbs, his lighter, and the map would likely be gone. As he ran, he heard a loud roar coming from the path he was taking. He stopped, exclaiming, "What's wrong with my luck!"

He changed to a longer path, but he had to run faster if he wanted to reach the peak in time. While running through the forest at such speed, he wasn't able to be careful and got cuts from some closely packed trees.

He didn't stop because if he reached the hill earliest, he could set up some traps. Otherwise, he couldn't fight the larger animals that could reach faster than him. He moved silently, not attracting any animal attention, as time was running out, and the rain was becoming much more intense.

Alex, who had only killed chickens and rabbits until now, was now contemplating how to defend against larger animals to establish a stronghold. With only two days remaining for him to survive and the realization that he couldn't last much longer in the water, he moved upwards. After a while of running, he reached nearest hilltop.

Taking a long and sturdy stick, he wrapped his knife with the stick by the threads to fashion a spear. Despite several attempts, he only managed to create an acceptable level of a spear. Holding the axe in his other hand, he climbed a tree on the hilltop.

Although his powerful body aided him in climbing, his lack of skill made it a struggle. After settling on a sturdy branch, Alex retrieved all the pine he could find from his backpack. Using it to blend in with his surroundings, he then proceeded to bandage his wounds and took two painkillers.

Nonchalantly, he tossed the bag onto another branch and waited, attempting to merge with the tree as seamlessly as possible. His eyes had become fatigued and red due to the persistent lack of rest.

Alex realized that no matter how much he tried to work with this body, it demanded more rest than he could provide. Now, his body reached its limit, and as he ran to the hill, his muscles were in pain. He could only manage all of this because his life depended on it; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to move.

As Alex reflected on all this, his eyes started to become blurry, and he either went to sleep or became unconscious, who knows.

While Alex was having a much-needed shut-eye, his surroundings were being filled with water, as if the water didn't have a place to go.

The limestone region was barely visible, and the water level was rising. It looked like the forest around Alex, which had escaped the bonfire and the lava, was trying to hold onto as much water as possible. The water from the hills and mountains was all gathering, and the rain became so intense as if someone was pouring buckets of water from above. Alex, who was unconscious, could only experience a much slower rainfall because of the tree shelter. However, the surrounding water levels were rising slowly but continuously.

Let's see what this new day brings. After all, it's just another day in Alex's normal life. What can he do next?

[** Author NOTE - Hey, guys! I'm trying to speed up the less exciting parts, like cooking and traveling, as they could take up too much of our time. Please bear with it, as once he gets to reincarnate, I'll provide more detailed explanations. For now, let's focus on his fun experiences and the journey ahead! **]