Chapter 60 - Today I don't feel like doing anything...

At this moment Hermann was simply shocked. He was in a world were children were being sacrificed for the entertainment of others while their families have to observe their brutal deaths.

Suddenly realization struck him really hard. The special event he had agreed on participating in must have been the Hunger Games. With most of his skills and the power he had acquired previously sealed he could only hope to grow strong enough before his time had come. When he activated his Internal Observation Skill he with great relief saw that no extreme scars had been left behind. As he had only worked with his Observation Skills to a limited degree and lacked much practice he would wait until he could properly walk again to examine the result of the whipping. Although this might raise some questions it greatly improved his chances of winning the games. When he tried to equip his armor, sword and shield his system simply told him that those items as they contain otherworldly powers had been taken away the the world will in order to ensure a fair competition. Dissatisfied and disappointed Hermann closed his eyes once more and drifted back to sleep.

The next time he woke up it was much more unpleasant. This time the person who seemed to be his mother had shaken him awake forcefully. There were more people present this time besides his mother, based on the memories he viewed one seemed to be his father while the other one seemed to be his uncle. According to the memories his grandparents and aunt had passed away a few years ago in a year when they had lacked a lot of food after a dry summer had reduced the harvest by a lot. His uncle had never really recovered from it and had not married afterwards and when looking at his age now he probably never will again.

Now all of them looked at him worriedly. His mother held a warm bowl of soup which she carefully placed on a small bedside table next to him. Now that he had gained some memories he actually knew where he was. This was actually the room of his uncle but he had probably moved to the small mattress where Hermann usually slept. It seemed as though they all hoped for a good recovery and were willing to put his well being as a gravely injured child over their own. To Hermann this behavior was completely irrational. A family which didn't own much to begin with would give up essential things for someone who might never be able to return what they gave him. Strange indeed. Yet...despite this irrational behavior he seemed to like it. He had to chuckle at the thought.

When they saw his smile they seemed to be a bit more relieved. His mom carefully began to feed him the soup while his father and uncle watched. When his father watched him eat a bit before he went out of the room after he told the rest that he would look after the kids before going to bed. His uncle followed soon after with an almost identical excuse but his mom seemed to be to busy stuffing his mouth with soup to care about her surroundings. When he had eaten what seemed to be enough for her she finally began to speak to him and told him about what had happened today.

His whole family worked in the different departments. His mother and older sister worked in the orchards over the summer and mostly took the smaller kids with them to better take care of us whenever they had to go. His father and uncle and older cousin, which he couldn't remember before as he didn't live with them anymore, switched between two departments. In the early morning and evening they took care of dairy cattle and between both shifts they worked on the fields where many different crops had been planted. While he listened and smiled Hermann already began to feel sleepy again but soon after they had finished talking his mother insisted to look after his wounds. To her astonishment they had almost completely healed by now although they had looked really serious just five days ago when they had last checked the injuries while Hermann had been unconscious. Confused she shook her head, blaming her lack of sleep over their last few days and the bad lighting in the room for her bad vision and allowed him to go to sleep. Before she could even leave the room with the rest of the soup he had already went into a deep slumber.

The next time Hermann woke up the room was empty. Underneath the closed door next to his bed a bit of light shined through, making him guess that he woke up in the morning while everyone was probably already off to work. Curious on how his injuries were he tried to get up slowly. Although he felt no pain when he got up his limbs felt heavy and his movements were off which he blamed on both being in a new body as well as having slept and not moved in a while. Step by step he slowly stumbled towards the door while supporting himself by holding onto the wall. As he opened the door with a few problems he was greeted with many rays of light that shone through the small windows of the shack. The room he seemed to be standing in was seemingly the combination of a living room and a kitchen area. The TV which stood in front of an old damaged couch was probably the only electronic device in the house as it was property of the government and a necessity in each household. Three more doors lead to different rooms. One belonged to his parents and another lead to larger room where he and the other children slept. The third one lead to a small bathroom and a small stairway close to the entrance shortly before the kitchen lead downwards to a cellar where they stored consumables and more. To avoid someone falling down from the kitchen they had put up a barricade with planks, boards and some branches and screwed everything onto the wall. Although it looked insecure it had been done pretty well and did it's job.

Letting go of the wall Hermann made his way towards the bathroom and when he arrived there he climbed onto a small stool to look at his back in the mirror. After he took off his shirt and the bandages he studied his reflection carefully. Across his back many straight scars crossed each other. I seemed that they had only continued until the tenth hit when they saw that he had already gone unconscious after the sixth. Luckily they had already healed and rose colored small elevations where all that remained. Carefully he traced each one with his fingers. In the near future they would turn white and accompany him for the rest of his life in this world. Hopefully they next reinkarnation would go much more smoothly.

Putting his shirt back on he walked towards the couch and laid down to get some more sleep, this time for pure enjoyment as staying home alone was boring and the only thing they showed on TV was propaganda. Hopefully his siblings would return soon so that they could go and play. He couldn't go out because he was still supposed to be recovering from his injuries so exploring around his house wasn't an option. By now his Energy&Matter Skill had already taken care of the wounds and now provide much more to him, allowing him to now live without the consumption of food or water so he didn't need to go eat. His body automatically recycled water so he didn't need to go the toilet if he didn't want to go. Already half asleep he wondered how his familiars lived. Did they suffer as much as he did? With these thoughts in mind Hermann slowly slipped deeper into dreamland.