Preparations for a Shelter

What a beautiful sunset. Wait, sunset?!

Kyriaki bolted up to a sitting position. She looked around but only saw tall grass. With the same old surrounding view she already knew, she focused more attention on her body and then felt a familiar sensation in the lower half of her body. She looked down and—

"It's back!" Kyriaki said with excitement while pumping his fist into the air. "My voice is also deeper, so I presume I'm back to being a man again. With that, I would believe that the reincarnation process would depend on the death count, huh." he concluded.

He was referring back to the question he had several nights ago about the reincarnation cycle, with his third death, there was more data. Therefore, for now, at least, Kyriaki had answered the question. Each 'version' of 'Kyriaki Haris' would switch and materialise depending on the death count. Odd numbers for the male version and even numbers for the female version.

It was his third death, so the body's gender would be male. The previous reincarnation was a female, and before that; a male. This hypothesis also answered the question of why the first reincarnation was a male rather than a female if Kyriaki went off with the 50-50 hypothesis, but since he hasn't died before, his death count would be zero, and when he committed suicide to gain a younger body, the death count went up to one, an odd number.

"But last time, didn't it take less than a few seconds for me to regain consciousness? Why did this one take hours?" Kyriaki questioned. It was strange. If it was slightly longer, then it would be fine; it would be a pattern, and as a human being, Kyriaki subconsciously liked patterns. 

However, since this reincarnation cycle had taken much more time compared to his previous two, it most likely meant that something else was determining how much time each reincarnation cycle takes. 

"I will have to put this aside for now... I gotta get ready and kick that lioness' ass along with its entire pride." he vowed. 

Standing up, Kyriaki saw his surroundings in the gold, orange and red rays of the sunset and stretched his body. Compared to his female version, his new body was much wider and he felt physically stronger as well. He also regained some of the lost muscle mass such as on the biceps, deltoid, abs and quadriceps area, but not by too much. In fact, it wasn't that noticeable unless a proper examination was conducted, and only then the gains would be noticeable. 

However, being the owner of the body, Kyriaki was able to sense the slight difference between this body and the previous one, and he unsheathed his short sword before getting into a combat-ready stance. 

He then swung the short sword a few times before returning it to its sheath. Kyriaki then nodded and smiled. "My swings have both power and speed now." 

His movement was fast. Even faster than the speed he used to kill the beast previously. Although it might be an effect of reincarnation, his swings do not have much technique in them at all. From a bystander's perspective, Kyriaki's swings were more like a beginner starting to practice swordsmanship rather than an experienced and battle-hardened veteran. 

But there is more power and speed in these swings, so either way, it's fine... right? Hopefully so...

While his technique for his swings and swordsmanship may be similar to an amateur's, since he has the power now, one strike on an enemy will undoubtedly cause some damage, whether major or minor, such as bone fractures, internal bleeding or damage to organs. 

"Well, I should get going. I don't feel hungry so all my nutrients and energy must've been restored to full so let's head to bed and try my luck tomorrow." 

Having learnt his lesson now, Kyriaki carefully and slowly made his way out of the field of tall grass. In an open-stretched area there was no need to act carefully as dangerous animals and beasts can be easily spotted from afar. 

In less than an hour, he trekked back to his base by using his environment as a compass and reference and by then, the sun was down. Immediately, the temperature dropped by several degrees, leaving Kyriaki shivering in the cold. His campfire was helping; only slightly, however, as the strong gusts of wind kept the fire in check. 

"Darn it, first-t, I got k-killed by a lioness-s, and then now-w I'm about to f-freeze to death!" he complained. 

He had no shelter built yet so the only option was to endure it throughout the night. The grass bed wasn't helping much either; he didn't have a blanket made out of grass as there was no way Kyriaki could make a blanket out of grass. If he did, the structural composition would be terrible and would most likely fall apart quickly. 

"Ah... achoo!!" 

Kyriaki rubbed his nose with his finger. "I really need shelter... returning to the cave is an absolute no-go as it's pitch black even on a mostly cloudless night... man, I fucked up. I should have built a shelter first when I arrived here." 

He guiltily starts to look around to try and find something that could work as a temporary shelter from the wind. But as expected, there was no solution to the problem at hand. In the end, Kyriaki had to endure powerful winds the entire night and he wasn't able to catch a single wink of sleep. When the first rays of the sun started to peak over the distant horizon, only then things started to get better. The air temperature rose a tiny bit, making things just a tiny bit better. 

Dreadfully exhausted from the cold and the lack of sleep, Kyriaki, with his remaining bursts of energy, grabbed as much firewood as he could and threw it all into the fire before collapsing and immediately falling asleep. 

...

By the time Kyriaki had woken up, it was well over midday. He clumsily got onto his feet and stretched his body. He looked down at his campfire and it was fully extinguished. It was not like he cared much though, as he could always reignite it with the piece of flint he had on hand. 

But he was incredibly hungry. Like starving. 

I believe my body used way too much energy to keep me warm during the night, otherwise, I wouldn't be this hungry... well, let's get some food and then I'll start on a simple shelter.