Changes

A small clock started to tink somewhere in the deepest regions of Kyriaki's consciousness. 

Tick-tock tick-tock. 

Then, a small gear started to rotate. Then, the next, slightly larger gear also started to rotate. Repeat, repeat, repeat. 

After that, amid all of the darkness, a soft glow of light dimly lit up the space around it. There, a rough humanoid figure sits down without moving an inch. 

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"Phew. After three hours, I only extracted this little amount of salt..?" Kyriaki mumbled. Staring at the block of wood resembling a shallow bowl, there was a tiny pile of white crystals and different-sized pebbles. The white crystals were salt, extracted from the little salt content of rocks that made up the bedrock of the river. 

Kyriaki knew that the salt content would be minimal, but she didn't expect this to be minimal. "I don't even think that's six grams' worth. But that should be enough for my body currently. I need to find a salt deposit somewhere, and I should worry about other electrolytes now, such as potassium or magnesium. But I'm not too sure where to find a source for those..." 

Kyriaki's way of extracting salt from rocks around the river is simple. First, crush the stones until they are almost dust-like or in a state similar to that. Then, add water, mix it and then pour it into a shallow pan or bowl for the water to evaporate. And boom, you have yourself some salt. This way is not too effective, but it gets the job done. 

However, it is way too tiresome and back-breaking since crushing stones is difficult. Therefore, finding a secure source of salt is a must. But Kyriaki's mind was too focused on figuring out where to find a source of the other electrolytes, as only sodium is not enough to survive. 

"Well, down the hatch it goes," Kyriaki pinched half of the salt out of the wooden block and brought it up to her mouth, letting her saliva dissolve it, she then swallowed. "Uhm. Tastes salty. I still have two or so hours until sundown, so I would need a makeshift bed..." 

Dunking her finger into the river to clean it, she also observed her surroundings for grass she could use for her bed. With the salty taste lingering in her mouth, Kyriaki continued her preparations for the evening, with the river's cool water refreshing her as she cleaned her finger. Once she determined that her finger was clean enough, she splashed some water onto her face and neck to cool down a little. Observing the tall grasses swaying gently in the breeze, she decided on a suitable spot for her makeshift bed. 

As the sun began its descent, casting a warm golden glow across the plateau, Kyriaki gathered armfuls of tall yellow grass that were soft and fluffy together. The fire should be able to keep her warm during the night, so there was no need for a blanket, she started to lay down the grass under a lone young tree near the riverbed. 

 The bed was not comfortable, but it got the job done at least. Compared to the grass bed that she made on her first day, her second grass bed was much more comfortable and relaxing. 

With the bed prepared, Kyriaki returned to her campsite near the riverbank. She glanced at the fire, now reduced to glowing embers. "I would need to move this over there too." 

Kyriaki threw in some dry leaves around her and that was able to fuel the fire again. It wouldn't last long, so she added some sticks and twigs to the mix, which gave the fire ten or so more minutes to burn. During this time, Kyriaki warmed up from the cold temperatures of the night whilst also gathering some decently sized rocks to form a containment ring, as she didn't want her grass bed to catch on fire during her previous sleep time. 

"Tiresome," she sighed. "Ugh. Why is the human body so goddamn annoying?! I'm already sick and tired of constantly worrying about my electrolyte, thirst and hunger levels, and I expect to worry about my nutrients, hygiene and medical-related topics later on!" Kyriaki complained. It was true—she was sick and tired of these things. To make sure that she can survive, she must keep track of these things and hope for the best that she can source them somehow. 

And those thoughts were daunting, thus draining all of her energy to do something productive. 

"Well, it just shows me, a man from the modern era struggling to survive because the modern era was way too convenient. I must give my respect to our ancestors for living like this for tens of thousands of years. Anyway, it's time for dinner. Maybe I should skewer it since I've gotten my hands on some mushrooms today?" while grinning, saliva drooled from the edge of Kyriaki's mouth. After all, she hasn't eaten anything in a whole day. 

Before doing anything though, she washed the short sword's blade to clean it, and afterwards, started to dice the deer leg on a piece of rock. Naturally, since the deer leg has been interacting with the ground, bacteria and dirt would be present on the leg, thus, Kyriaki carefully removed a centimetre-thick layer to remove those substances completely. 

"How big should I make these cubes? Three centimetres? I don't know..." 

Eventually, Kyriaki landed on four by three centimetres cubes and chopped up the mushrooms a tiny bit to better fit the straight sticks she was going to use for the skewers. She skillfully impaled the deer meat and mushrooms, creating a simple yet appetizing shish kebab. Sprinkling just a little amount of salt onto the entire kebab, one was done. 

Repeating this process many times over an hour, Kyriaki was left with ten skewers with mushrooms and another twenty without or little to none. Kyriaki held eight of these kebabs at once, roasting them to medium-rare. 

"Ack! Hot!" Kyriaki cried in pain. "But it's sooo good." 

Tears of satisfaction rolled down Kyriaki's cheeks as she ate the homemade shish kebab. "There wasn't much to it. But the simplicity of it might have made it this delicious," she spoke, going for another bite. "Still, I wonder how long I could survive in this body. How would I die this time?" she wondered.