chap2

He had hoped he was somewhere with societal support really. A free clinic, maybe some library access, even a random stranger willing to answer some questions.

But no, this was a forest clearing. Far enough into said forest that every direction seemed equally useless.

Also he was... very naked. Great. Wish he had noticed that before having passed out on the ground here.

Thankfully, 'Slow Recovery' needed almost no power to operate and prevented his impromptu nap from causing any back pains or irritation.

The weather was also temperate, so he suppose he should count his blessings.

Before he could side track himself, he mentally reached into the stardust for today's charge.

It melded into 'Slow Recovery', modifying it to redefine what 'Recovered' meant.

Now he would slowly 'recover' to an optimized state. It wouldn't make him super attractive or have a godly physique, but his muscles would be strong, his skin clear, and his inner organs improved and optimized. Probably.

Well, it shouldn't make things worse anyway.

If lost, one should stay put for rescuers to find them. As he was unsure if this planet was even inhabited, he decided to go that way!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Unexpected positive from the regenerative power-up: exercising sucks less. Every time he reached a limit, a few minutes rest and recovery fixes the strains and cramps from this unusual level of work out.

He walked till close to nightfall, but stopped when he found a river.

The rule of 3 says one can live 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food... and this is the first water source found today.

Vague memories had him digging a hole in the sand near the banks, so at least there was some basic level of water filtering from the river as it seeped through.

That said, this was barely better than drinking it straight from the source, and he was putting a lot of faith into the health recovery power at this point.

The liquid was cold, and so much better tasting than expected. Hopefully that meant there weren't any strange chemicals in this.

He may be able to sleep exposed (Literally... sigh.) but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it. There hadn't been any caves or traces of civilization yet, and he could feel the temperature dropping.

A few minutes got a couple of stones, a few knocks created a cutting edge that was... well, pretty terrible, but better than raw hands.

He cut down the taller dry grass near the river and made a huge pile next to the densest thicket of trees found nearby. It was horribly exposed, but it did somewhat cut down the wind and kept his body off the soil.

The cold made it all seem pointless, but he tried to focus on the warm pulsation from healing. Sleep did eventually come though.

Next morning, he carefully checked his wounds. The left hand was fine now, and the tiny scratches from being exposed in the wild while working had healed near instantly earlier, which was great. But at this point he realized that he should have heard SOMETHING if this was close to society (Assuming it exists). Heard no planes, cars, etc.

The new charge would have to help him live long enough to really get this gravy train rolling.

A twisted thought later, and 'Fire Manipulation' replaced 'Slow Recovery', which floated away into the mental stardust fields.

The cold air slammed into his flesh, feeling twice as cold now that the constant healing was gone. Gritting his teeth, he finished gathering what sticks could be found and tried the friction method of fire starting.

Uh... did not go well. Thankfully though, he got a spark a couple of hours later.

It was a very sad spark, less than an ember, and if he was a normal person it would have vanished before being noticed.

'Fire Manipulation' though made it sparkle like the sun.

Instantly, he pulled the spark to now useless grass bed, whipping it into a small pile of flames. A twist of his hand had it coil like a snake or noodle, and wrap around his limbs.

He couldn't help smile slightly. Warm. Most of the heat directed inward towards the flame itself, actually, but this was marvelous.

His grin became shark-like as he turned to the forest.

Fire can be a real issue in a place like this, but he hadn't focused on fire creation with this power, but fire control.

It compacted on itself again and again, absently sending out streams of fire to the gathered wood to help fuel it for its supernatural actions even as its temperature skyrocketed.

He flicked a finger at one of the trees farther from his camping site, and felt glorious victory as a razor thin whip of white flames slipped over to slice it at the base, the angle of the cut allowing the trunk to tip.

At the end of the day, he had some charred wood poles and boards that allowed him to actually set up a leaning shelter, with some planks to act as a chair, and a flaming multi-tool that was currently smoldering the planks under his back, heating his sore body in the dark night.

He would have to switch to healing again in the morning, but at least for now he had somewhere warm to sleep.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Well... it is all on fire.

Not sure what he expected really. That said, he apparently subconsciously protected himself through the night, and the embers and ashes from the burned shelter didn't even char his hair as he slowly got buried.

Also: Smoke inhalation was not an issue. Nice.

Living through stupid decisions is nice.

Thankfully he had ALSO subconsciously pulled all the fire into a 3 meter radius of his sleeping spot. So no forest fire, just a merry burning/smouldering pit where he woke up.

A new day had him pushing the charge into 'Fire Manipulation', and he focused it toward manifestation. The embers around his body flared up and streamed into his claw like hand before he walked over to get some more fuel from the pile of logs farther away.

Well... the ONLY pile now.

Everything near the sleeping zone is well and gone now.

A flash of light and the pile vanishes, leaving a pillar of flames over his palm. A twist of the fingers had it spiral down into a thin red disk the size of a quarter, glowing like a heartbeat.

Idly, he played with the coin. This was the most compressed he could get it, to the point where even the surface felt cool because the power was being crammed inward.

Tossing it at a tree, it was fascinating to watch flames spill over the branches and limbs before sucking back to the coin, expanding it.

Carefully standing back, a quick switch to 'Slow Recovery' showed the material was still stable even with the controlling power removed.

Swapping back and having a few more experiments, he found that this red metallic material was very light, strong, and could be set to release heat at any level if desired. Higher the temperature, the faster the material dissolved away.

In other words, great building material. Bed frame that emits low level heat? Please! And if he could turn it into chain mail, he could finally have some damn pants.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

In retrospect, he shouldn't have burned THAT much of the local fuel. Trees. He meant trees.

Still, he now had a sold metal-like shelter, with walls, a floor, and roof. Furniture, though very HARD furniture, that was warm to the touch. A cooking surface that professional chefs would die for, as it could perfectly cook any dish.

Not that he had anything to cook.

Clothing, by the way, was a no go. His control was great with flames, but when manifesting it into objects bigger and simpler was easier. A giant cube was easy, but thousands of tiny links in chain-mail nearly made him pass out trying it.

So, naked and hungry but NOT shelter-less.

Also, the water was safer to drink now that he could boil it.

He sighed as he relaxed on the warm slab, having 'Slow Recovery' socket-ed and some fairly serious hunger pangs.

Drinking more water only helped so much