Hunt and Craft.

He went out of the cave, found a narrow passage, and dug, using his Horont to turn ice to dust. Physical strength gave way to exhaustion really fast. One hour, two… after some time all he knew was to just dig because if he doesn't, that means he is dead and by the most gruesome death you can find out there – starvation.

"T-That… should do…" - he said in a hoarse voice.

Now he willed Krondan to take part in construction, filled the big hole with very sharp ice spikes, and cover it up by a thin layer of ice, enough to withstand the practically nonexistent weight of Aiden, but crumble under the more significant one.

"Now…" - he took out a knife and weakly slashed a palm, spraying it over the snow. – "Let's hope that is enough. If that won't work, I'm really done for."

Aiden went back to his hiding spot and slumped to the ground. He used a bit of lightning power to melt some water to drink with shaking hands. He laid there in semi-consciousness state, recalling mother's embrace and her face when she gave him up for food. There was no remorse, only helplessness of a human being doing everything to survive.

It gave him a painful realization that she will never think of him.

'I was a war orphan back on Earth and I am one here too. I wonder… is it too much to ask to have a family? Really, why even give me those memories before father's death if it all was taken away soon? To make me realize what I never had and what I lost?'

'That is no fun at all.'

Here he had a mother, but she chose his death over food. He had a father who died in battle that he barely remembers. Still, his grown consciousness made this baby memories vibrant with details.

'I swear, if I survive and have a wife and a child, I will never let them suffer like that. They will have this world to enjoy and I will be so strong, that nothing will be able to force us apart. If I stay alive, let's end this misfortune on me.'

Aiden drifted further along with the memories and now was standing near his mother on the day they received grave news of father's death. She was shaking and crying, but everyone around them looked a bit off, men like hungry wolves, women gloating.

That was because his mother was just too beautiful, igniting lust of men and jealousy of women among their tribal society. They knew what will happen next. Women had no rites inside the tribe, and mostly the only way to find food for them was to please men in an obvious way.

But then tribe lord without even giving his father proper burial claimed her as his.

Aiden remembered the wound that killed his father. It was on his back, made by a spear.

She tried to find some work, wash clothes and dishes, curing hides… but eventually, she was rejected more and more. It was obvious who did all that. Everyone knew, but nobody cared.

After weeks of a tough life, she couldn't go on anymore. He came in the evening with the roasted meat. She slept with him right away for it and then ate it all. He wasn't making love, no.

He was like a beast taking possession of the thing he wanted. He took her hard, essentially committing rape with torture and unleashing all pent-up desires. There was no way a weak woman will feel good about it, but in response, she only moaned in pleasure through clenched teeth. And little kid, that was already barely in any condition to stand due to hunger saw it all and was terrified.

Throughout this time, she never spared a glance at Aiden, neither did she share food with him. In the morning they went away just like that, leaving him alone. Not long later he was thrown out of the tribe by the chief's men.

And now he is no longer just Ling Feng, but Aiden too.

Sqick!

Suddenly a sound broke his sleep that sent his body in a cold sweat. Aiden turned around and despaired. There he found a beast sniffing his blood. It was a little fox as large as him, but its fangs told the story of blood and hunting.

"It's too small for the trap… and I can't even move properly anymore. I screwed up big time."

It lifted the furry head in his direction and in its eyes Aiden read intent to kill and satiate hunger. Giving up was not an option.

"Come then. Let's see who will eat whom." – he said weakly, and as if understanding him, the fox gave a disdainful glance before pouncing over with impressive speed. Its maw was opened, aiming at his throat. It never even considered a tiny kid a threat, but humans are very particular creatures that do wonders to survive.

Although he was dizzy and tired, his soul power was still there. And the main issue here – the fox is not even a hundred years old. Energy boiled inside, sending a wave into the ring and manifesting spirits on his body in a mere second. It was very quick, to the point of being almost instantaneous. That was phenomenal in itself.

Bloody maw closed in, spreading out and showing sharp teeth and fangs ready to take life. But just as it succeeded, a petal of ice and lightning materialized between the two. With sharp yelp white blur rammed in the barrier receiving severe shock and felt lightning numbing it muscles and nerves sending it in the semi-consciousness state.

It slumped on the icy ground, dragged to his arms because of sheer inertia.

With last beats of power Aiden used a knife and plunged it in animals' throat welcoming with no emotions spray of blood that went up in the air with each heartbeat of dying beast. He directly put it in Lonzaik and there used Horont to separate the body in different things like meat, bones, inner organs, blood, and fur.

"I don't have the strength to cook…" - he took out its heart and bit on it, devouring it all.

= You need to use Horont to decompose it in your stomach. You haven't eaten a proper meal in days. Raw meat can kill you instead of helping.

Aiden followed the Idea and immediately felt invigorated. In mere minutes, it filled his body with a warm feeling.

"So good." – he moaned in pleasure without a care for the world. That was his first meal for days. Who cares about face? All are equal in front of adversity.

After some time, he finally crawled to his feet and went inside the cave. The trap was still intact. Maybe there will be a fresh catch later.

Now he had time to cook, but no fire to do so. Only the power of ice and lightning. He decided to try. Lightning was too violent so to roast meat properly one needs to have thorough control over spirit power, as for ice it can balance the temperature from inside out, which is no simple matter.

He remembered training that Shrek Academy monsters went through under the guidance of Yu Xiaogang.

"I bet that theory freak won't find any better regime for me. This cooking can really help in the long run."

= Indeed. This will train your control of spirit power to perfection.

Thus, started his long stay here.

After all, going on a journey in his current condition was just a suicide run. On the third day, a colossal bear that was still not dead even after falling for it triggered the trap. Aiden exerted a colossal amount of effort to make it dead finally and through its sacrifice gained enough food for weeks to come.

Every time he killed a beast, he would store it in Lonzaik to perform skinning and flaying there.

After some time, he gained numerous bones, which he then split into components for Krondan synthesis. Blade created using bone essence was a marvel. It's like the sword has a life on its own and Aiden had a couple of speculations there regarding spirit bones and their similarity with his creation.

He left it for Nexus to analyze and will only progress further after contact with actual External Spirit Bone. He direly needed reference to the authentic thing in such research.

Fur was used to create clothes and Aiden could produce something neat, that normally would take a high technological factory to do. He wove the cloth from fur, which normally is impossible because of its length. However, it proved to be no obstacle for Krondan.

The resulting cloth was tough, warm, and looked like best silk out there. Aiden can tell that even in summer it won't be hot, on the contrary, created from the fur of spirit beast of ice attribute it's both warm in winter and cold in summer.

But what really made Krondan a wonder is its ability to change reflection angle giving Aiden a way to choose whatever color he wanted. And that can be done with already created goods in seconds. Great for disguise during an escape.

Of course, he wouldn't be so stupid to wear black amidst the snow, so all his clothes from top to bottom were white with some platinum ornaments. Who wouldn't want to experiment in beautifying things if they could?

Ideal wear!

As for leather, he used it for soft boots, belts, and gloves. He covered his long inky hair in a deep hood. Creating a hat surprisingly was too much effort, because you need yarn for it to have elastic property, otherwise, it will just fall off for good.