Chapter 8

As it turned out, I was lucky after all. The prison island was located southeast of the largest continent. However, I learned this later. Initially, upon reaching the water, I constructed a large flat-bottomed boat out of ice, settled into it, and let the water's current guide me towards the strip of land visible on the horizon.

It took me four hours to leisurely move across the calm waters to reach the shore. Once there, with a simple gesture, I turned the ice boat back into water, and it once again became part of the ocean. Now, I could truly say that I was free and could move on. The question was, where should I go now? After a little thought, I decided to follow the coastline. Sooner or later, I would come across a settlement or a river. By following the river upstream, I could reach inhabited areas. People always prefer to settle near sources of water, making it easier to find them.

And so, I set off on my journey. Evening was setting in, and I decided to wait out the night and rest. Using water, I quickly constructed a small ice dome, more resembling a yurt, and climbed into it, sealing the entrance before sleep.

I woke up at night, or rather in the morning, as the sun was already beginning to rise above the horizon. Its light was visible, although the sun itself was still below the horizon. I was awakened by the sound of a dull thud against one of the ice walls, followed by a muffled growl.

"Who's not fond of life over there?" I muttered, concentrating and listening to my senses. "Hmm, breakfast-lunch-dinner has arrived. What's the rush?"

I quickly melted the ice yurt, slightly surprising the bear that hadn't expected such a move. Surprisingly, this bear looked exactly like an ordinary bear from my previous life, only larger. And why did it need such a thick fur coat if the heat here was unbearable?

Until the bear reacted, I raised my hand with the palm facing upwards, then slowly began to clench it into a fist. The bear, previously not in the friendliest mood, froze and began to breathe deeper, then started roaring in pain. I waited a bit, continuing to disrupt its heart's normal rhythm, causing chest pains similar to a heart attack. The bear took a step back, then sat down on its hind legs. I stopped tormenting the bear and abruptly clenched my fist. A couple of seconds of loud roaring, and the bear fell to the ground. I waited a bit longer, knowing that even after the heart stops, creatures continue to live for some time as their brain consumes the remaining oxygen. And this organ is always very demanding in terms of resources and energy.

After waiting a couple of minutes, I began to carefully remove the bear's skin with water threads, then cut open its belly and began to carefully remove the innards I didn't need, dipping them into the water and throwing them away.

After an hour, I calmly submerged the meat and bones with marrow into the water, which I then froze in a large pit I dug in the ground, creating a makeshift icebox for storing food.

Some of the meat was already in a large bowl of ice, where it was cut into pieces and subjected to extreme thermal processing through boiling. I'm not sure about here, but in my previous life, consuming poorly cooked bear meat was risky due to parasites. Regular boiling or frying didn't always help. Therefore, bear meat and some other types of meat should undergo prolonged extreme boiling. Meanwhile, I collected herbs and berries growing near the shore, maintaining a high water temperature. The meat was almost boiled in very dense steam.

Fifteen minutes later, after gathering everything I needed, I began to prepare a very rich, meaty soup with berry juice, meat broth, berries, herbs that made the meat spicy but delicious, and the meat itself, of course.

Forty minutes of work later, I was already enjoying a thick soup with plenty of spicy meat, which almost brought tears to my eyes - it turned out to be a very spicy dish! But I liked it, so despite the burning sensation in my mouth, I continued to eat with pleasure.

Having eaten my fill, consuming half of what I had prepared, I lay down on the grass where I had been eating and began to work on my body, focusing on quickly digesting the food and contemplating what to do next. At first, I wanted to find people, but... now I was thinking... why bother? I hadn't fully recovered yet; my hand had only just begun to grow back, and the complete regeneration of the limb would take three more days. Besides... why rush there? I had already gained fame as a waterbending genius; just the act of life absorption and blood manipulation had made me a master, although I still had a long way to go. It's essentially a simple skill in bloodbending; the only problem is time and energy expenditure. But for others, it's difficult, almost miraculous, so I became known as a blood master. I'm proficient with water and its three states, even though I'm only seventeen. And now it turns out that benders can indeed master other elements... but it takes a lot of time to do so. I had to meditate for almost a year, with short breaks of a couple of minutes for a sip of water and then back into the trance. Yes, sometimes I talked to the overseer. In my previous life, when such tasks took at most an hour or two, which was quite a lot for the vast majority, my period stretched out five to ten times. It turns out that if you don't use the same method in a forced and hopeless situation, where you devote all your time to it, benders need so much time that it's easier for them to become much stronger in their own element during that time. I had no other choice. And the earth became my salvation. Moreover, everyone considers it a priori impossible, so they don't even try to master other elements!

So I decided it was worth staying here and calmly developing, as I had done with water before.

After a workout, where I used my hands less and focused on my legs instead, trying to achieve success in earthbending, I finished the second half of the soup. In the evening, I made myself another small ice dome, where I fell asleep.

Thus, the days passed. Day after day, day after day. Sometimes it was boring, but those were the rare moments when I became stronger and more enduring. And the workouts didn't increase, as I usually didn't think about boredom, recovering in the ocean water. The rest of the time was occupied with food, workouts, meditations, and sleep. Not the greatest variety, but fully occupied with these activities, I didn't think about how to live on, what to do, why everything was the way it was now... constantly busy with my development, I didn't remember my brother, mother, friends... all those who were killed. Whose death made me what I am.

Earth turned out to be an interesting element. Like water, you could control it in different ways, interact with it differently, and get different results. It was easiest to control earth and stone when you touched it. Not what you were controlling exactly, like a small rock. No, touching the ground as a whole. You could also do it without touching; earthbenders used a contactless method, hurling rocks and keeping them in the air. But creating a mound in the earth was much easier because the bender touched the ground.

My location was perfect. There was a huge, practically boundless source of water, as well as excellent soil and stones. It was easy for me to hunt in the forest. Bloodbending was particularly helpful in this. I prepared meat in advance, storing it in the icebox, fortunately with a very large capacity.

Everything was going steadily; I had restored my hand and started actively regaining my physical form, and then continued to train further.

Earthbending... it came to me. Up to a certain point. At some moment, I realized that despite the training, I wasn't showing any new results, wasn't making any progress. I simply wasn't developing. I had already thought that this was my limit in this bending, as there's a legend of the Avatar, the one who mastered all the elements.

Such thoughts and the lack of any progress over the course of a month weighed heavier and heavier on me and made me drop my hands.

However, eventually, after a month and a half and three days, there was a breakthrough. I don't know the reason, but after I started training in earthbending right after another meditation session, I reached the level that was my limit... and then just went further, not even noticing it, as if there had never been that limit I had been bumping up against for a month.