Chapter 7 Learning the Ropes

After getting used to the fact that he now has a fairy companion, that may or may not have been born from a sentient tree he is planning on living in, which he is not thinking about, AT ALL, James begins to work.

As much as he enjoyed the beautiful view of fantasy land, being so high up, exposed, and with little in between him and the open air, let's say he was ready to see what he could do with his new powers.

So, while the fairy flitted around James and observed him, he began carving out a rudimentary home in the tree. However, his first attempt failed spectacularly.

Maybe because he was no longer working off of adrenaline and coming off of a heightened awareness comparable to a god, but he realized pretty soon that he would need to work on control of his powers.

They cut a chunk out of the tree when he used them the first time. However, it was exactly as wide as the hole he was sitting in. Pulling it out was only possible if he planned on seeing if he could now fly.

The piece imploded when he tried taking only a portion of the block he cut. Thankfully he wasn't showered in splinters, but the fairy did end up rolling around in the air laughing at James, who was covered in a mound of sawdust.

From there, he had some successes and a lot more failures. Occasionally he would be in the perfect mindset to do precisely what he wanted, which was to compress an area of wood into a small smooth marble.

Most times, it would take a weird turn. He had, at times, made the surrounding wood implode like in the beginning, burn, rot, and even disintegrate. The last one frightened him immensely as it reminded him too much of the cult lady he fought.

The weirdest reaction to his ability, a bit of a lucky break for James, was when instead of anything destroying the wood, it would overgrow. He wasn't sure what type of tree he was in, it hadn't told him personally, at least, but he was getting very curious.

The growth his ability produced differed wildly. Sometimes it would grow bark, sometimes moss, but the best was when it grew fruit.

James had been worried about his chances of survival, considering his last stroll on the ground. He now had a means by which he could stay alive without risking himself.

He whooped joyfully the first time he saw the fairy eat the fruit. So what if he used the innocent fairy to check for poison? It's a fairy; it would have been fine… probably.

As he worked, he discovered how his new ability worked. It was much like his old ability to make the surroundings malleable, but now it followed more closely to its exact definition. He could force change upon something through his will and focus.

Unfortunately, it required quite a hefty amount of those mental energies and practice, lots and lots of practice. Also, he was back at square one.

He could still bend and manipulate matter with ease in his hands, but anything not physically touching his hands strained his abilities and led to all the happy and unhappy accidents. That's why even though he knew it was a crutch, he began to use his hands more when he felt exhaustion coming on.

Eventually, he had widened the area to a decent-sized room, enough for him to walk a few steps in either direction. Satisfied for the moment, he lay against the wall opposite the opening and began munching on one of the fruits that sprouted. It looked like a three-pronged banana with a comb-over but tasted like coconut, and he was hungry, so he wasn't going to complain.

While he had been working, the fairy had continued to flit around him, observing everything he did and sometimes laughing when he failed. It hadn't taken him long to get used to his little companion to the point that he had nearly forgotten she was there.

At the moment, she was standing beside him, concentrating hard with arms out and palms open towards the wall he was leaning on. Not having much for entertainment, James had been watching her for the past few minutes as she scrunched up her face. He honestly thought it was adorable.

He spit out his fruit when the wall shifted behind him by moving back maybe a centimeter.

Wiping his mouth on his arm, James took one look at the fairy now proudly staring up at him, and then one look back at the wall before shaking his head.

"Fuck it, everything about this place is already weird. Why not give a two-inch person with wings born from a tree, powers? Hell, it even makes sense." He chuckled, smiling at the young fairy.

The little one was quickly becoming James's lucky charm.

From there, the afternoon went very similar to the morning, except that now the fairy was helping. It couldn't do everything that James could and quickly tired out after each use of its new powers, but it was certainly trying.

In this way, James found that the fairy, whom he had begun calling Rose, could, on command, create fruit branches. Something James could only do occasionally and by accident.

He lifted Rose over his head and danced around their widening home when she showed him that.

Finally, the day ended after James exhausted himself a few more times. Looking around, he thought it was pretty good for one day's work and felt proud.

His room had now widened to the size of a small apartment. The opening was pulled together so that instead of a gaping hole, it now resembled a small window covered in intertwined branches, courtesy of Rose.

In one of the corners was a section of the floor covered in the fluffiest moss James or Rose had grown throughout the day. James intended to use it as a bed to avoid sleeping on the hard wooden floor.

That's why James laid on that section after eating another few interesting fruits, with Rose falling asleep on his chest. James, however, remained awake.

Staring at the darkened ceiling using the light of the stars coming through the window, James considered his situation. He decided to plan out his future steps.

First, he needed to get stronger. If it wasn't clear from the golem after his life, then the view and sounds outside his window were all the motivation he needed to get stronger, deadlier and more of a threat.

However, his dream was still to create a safe home for himself and those he cared for. This is why he would also need to work on the more functional factors of his ability, like the creation of fire and probably other things.

Finally, he was in a clearly magical world. He suspected the Rose was some prodigy at Nature magic, if that was a thing, and he wanted to learn. Not only would it bolster his abilities it also needed to be said that in this world, magic was also real!

James planned a training plan for the next month based on those criteria.

When he woke up in the morning, he would eat and then begin training his ability for combat. Maybe learn to create air shields like before, or shoot spikes from the earth, anything to help if he was to get into a fight.

Then after exhausting himself, James would work on his physical body. He had noticed that it had grown slightly stronger after healing, only barely enough to notice he wasn't the same as the day before. Also, lets face it, sometimes a person needs to make a tactical retreat, and being fit would help. Or, you know, for close combat, but seriously? In a world of magic?

After working out, he would have his lunch and begin cleaning up the damage he would probably do from combat training. He would also work on making his new home more comfortable and improve at providing all the necessities like water and food.

Finally, at the end of the day, after another meal, he would meditate in the hopes of developing his magical potential before going to sleep.

At the end of the month, James promised himself he would take all his hard work and test it. He would go hunting.