Chapter 3 – A Month of Survival
A month.
That was how much time had passed since he'd arrived in that world.
Thirty days since he'd woken up naked in the middle of that forest. Thirty days since he'd begun his new life.
And in that time, a lot had changed.
He stood before the river, watching his reflection in the crystal-clear water. For a few seconds he remained silent, studying his own appearance.
His hair had grown considerably. When he'd arrived in that world, the blue strands had barely passed his shoulders. Now they were long, falling halfway down his back. The blue was intense and bright, exactly like Aqua's hair, and under the sunlight some strands seemed almost luminous.
He ran a hand through his hair.
*'This is definitely not normal.'*
Not that normal was something he could still expect. After all, he possessed the body of someone who had received the powers of a goddess.
Actually...
He corrected the thought.
He hadn't received just a few powers.
Aqua had granted him exactly what he'd asked for.
A connection to her divine power.
And, thanks to how he'd worded his request, he possessed every ability that belonged to the goddess.
Her sacred magic.
Her purification.
Her creation of holy water.
Her healing.
Her support abilities.
Her resurrection.
Her Sacred Dispersion.
Her enormous amount of mana.
And even the supernatural traits that came with her divine nature.
It was an absurd amount of power, and he was fully aware of it.
The problem was that power didn't automatically mean experience.
So during that first month, he'd dedicated himself to a single thing.
Learning.
His body had also changed.
A lot.
The first week had been the hardest. His body was still adjusting to its new condition, but as the days passed, he noticed constant changes.
His muscles had developed, his shoulders were broader, his arms were stronger, and his physical stamina had increased considerably. Even his recovery ability seemed far superior to that of an ordinary human.
It wasn't a sudden transformation. It was a gradual evolution.
Each day, his body seemed to adjust better to the enormous amount of divine energy he possessed.
He'd started that month not even knowing how to survive. Now he could walk through the forest for hours without showing signs of fatigue. He could carry animals, build, hunt, train, and still have enough energy to keep going.
He looked at his reflection again.
Long blue hair.
Crystalline eyes.
A far more developed body.
And an appearance that, inevitably, resembled Aqua.
*'I hope nobody asks too many questions.'*
He could already imagine it.
"Why is your hair blue?"
"Why are your eyes just like the goddess Aqua's?"
"Why can you use sacred magic?"
"Why do you have such an absurd amount of mana?"
He sighed.
*'I'm going to need to think up a convincing story.'*
But that would be a problem for later. Right now, he had more pressing concerns.
The shelter had evolved as much as his body had.
The small improvised space built on the first day no longer existed. In its place stood a much sturdier structure, with walls made of thick logs, a roof reinforced with several layers of leaves and hides, and a raised floor to keep out moisture.
There was an area for sleeping, another for cooking, and a third where he stored his supplies. Around the shelter, several traps had been set up. Some were meant for small animals, while others served as warning systems. If any large creature approached during the night, he'd know.
That place had stopped being just a shelter.
It was his base.
His territory.
And during that month, he'd accumulated a considerable amount of resources.
Dried meat.
Herbs.
Firewood.
Tools.
And, most of all...
Hides.
Dozens of them were stretched over wooden frames, drying in the sun. There were wolf hides, boar hides, monstrous lizard hides, hides from creatures resembling large wild dogs, and even from medium-sized monsters he hadn't managed to identify.
He'd quickly learned that killing a monster didn't necessarily mean he could use everything it had. Some creatures had poisonous meat, others had useless organs, and some had parts that could be sold.
He still needed to find out the exact value of each thing, but hides were a safe bet.
*'Once I get to a city, this should earn me some money.'*
He'd need to buy clothes, food, equipment, maybe a decent weapon, and, above all, information.
He already knew what his first destination would be.
The Adventurers' Guild.
During that month, he'd learned to use his powers and realized something important.
Aqua's powers were even more versatile than he'd imagined.
The first was the simplest.
Water.
He could create water practically at will.
At first, he'd only used it for drinking. Then he realized he was wasting an opportunity.
*'Water isn't just for quenching thirst.'*
He began experimenting.
He created small amounts of water to clean food, cook, wash wounds, put out fires, and clean his own clothes. He also discovered he could create small slippery patches to hinder creatures chasing him.
But it was when he started combining water creation with his sacred magic that he found something truly interesting.
Holy water.
The water created by his magic could be turned into sacred water, which had extremely potent properties against undead and evil creatures.
He began storing it in small containers.
He didn't need to.
But it could be useful.
Maybe he could even sell small amounts of it.
*'If I can produce this practically for free, holy water could become a source of income.'*
It was just a possibility, but an interesting one.
Purification also had countless applications.
He could purify contaminated water instantly, but he didn't stop there. He began testing the ability on different liquids, contaminated substances, poisons, and stagnant water.
He discovered his magic could remove all sorts of impurities.
It wasn't simply cleaning.
It was as if his magic identified whatever shouldn't be there and removed it.
That sparked his curiosity.
*'If I understand exactly how this ability works...'*
Maybe he could do a lot more.
However, he had no intention of testing poisons on his own body.
He still had some common sense.
Healing was another matter.
"Heal."
Divine light enveloped his hand, making a small wound vanish before his eyes.
He studied the result carefully.
The healing was extremely efficient.
Minor wounds disappeared almost instantly. More serious wounds required more energy and concentration, but he didn't seem to have any real limit to worry about.
He could also remove poisons, treat illnesses, and deal with certain curses.
He was certain he possessed other, even more powerful healing abilities, but there was one he preferred not to test.
Resurrection.
He knew Aqua was capable of bringing people back to life under certain conditions, and since he had the same abilities, he should be able to as well.
But he had no intention of finding that out the most dangerous way possible.
*'I'm not planning on dying just to confirm I can resurrect myself.'*
It was an ability he'd save for when he truly needed it.
His offensive magic had also been tested.
Sacred Dispersion.
Or Turn Undead.
Against ordinary creatures, it was powerful sacred magic. But against the undead...
It was another story entirely.
During one of his explorations, he came across a group of undead creatures. They weren't very strong, but there were many of them.
He raised his hand.
"Turn Undead."
A holy light exploded through the forest, and within moments, the threat was gone.
He stood in silence.
*'That's absurdly efficient.'*
He'd found an enormous advantage.
Most adventurers would need to face the undead one by one.
Not him.
Against certain enemies, all he needed was his sacred magic.
That could make certain quests extremely easy.
But there was a problem.
His divine aura.
He'd discovered it by accident.
The undead were drawn to his presence.
At first, he thought it was a coincidence. Then he began to notice a pattern.
The longer he stayed in a given area, the more undead showed up.
He watched a creature shuffling slowly toward him. Then another appeared.
And another.
He sighed.
*'My divine aura is attracting the undead.'*
It was ironic.
He had an ability perfect for destroying them, yet his own presence seemed to invite them closer.
*'That could be a problem once I'm in a city.'*
If his divine aura worked that way in an urban setting, he might end up drawing monsters toward the population.
So he'd need to figure out how to control or hide his presence.
Another discovery had been his enormous mana reserve.
At first, he'd been extremely careful. He used little magic, conserved his energy, and rested after big spells.
Then he noticed something.
His mana simply never ran out.
He could cast a spell, wait, and his energy would come back quickly.
It was like having an almost infinite reservoir.
*'So this is Aqua's famous infinite mana.'*
He understood now why Aqua could use magic on such an absurd scale.
The problem wasn't the amount of mana.
It was knowing how to use that power.
And that was what he intended to learn.
That was how he started experimenting with different combinations.
He created water, turned it into holy water, and used the sacred water to set traps against the undead. He created large amounts of water to reshape the terrain and used support magic to temporarily boost his physical capacity, combining the effect with his own strength.
He'd discovered something interesting.
He didn't need to use magic conventionally.
He could use his powers as tools.
If an enemy was too fast, he could create a slippery patch. If it was too strong, he could reshape the terrain. If he was hurt, he could heal himself. If he was poisoned, he could purify the poison. If it was undead, he could destroy it with sacred magic.
And if he needed to flee, he could simply create a large amount of water to hinder the pursuit.
*'I don't need to be stronger than my enemy.'*
He realized.
*'I just need more options.'*
That was the true advantage of having so many abilities.
But there was one technique he was still far from mastering.
Blood Manipulation.
The idea had come to him during a hunt.
He'd been watching the blood of a dead animal.
Blood.
A liquid.
And, in theory, part of its composition was water.
So he tried to manipulate it.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Once more.
A small drop moved.
He stopped.
The drop floated before his eyes for a few seconds before falling.
He stared at it.
*'Interesting.'*
Manipulating blood was much harder than manipulating water.
There was something different about it.
A resistance.
Maybe it was life force.
Maybe it was the magical nature of blood itself.
He still didn't know.
But he began to experiment.
He could manipulate small amounts of blood outside the body, form a thread, move a drop, shape a small sphere.
Nothing too impressive.
Yet.
But he already had a few ideas.
A blood needle.
Extremely thin threads.
Small projectiles.
Maybe even a temporary weapon.
But there was one fundamental rule.
He couldn't waste too much blood.
*'If I drain too much blood from my own body, I'll simply die.'*
He made a mental note of the observation.
The technique was far from ready.
For now, it was just research.
But he had a feeling it could become extremely useful.
That month, he'd also faced countless monsters.
Small ones.
Medium ones.
Some dangerous.
Others relatively easy.
He'd learned to fight, to observe, to wait, and to strike when he had the advantage. And, most importantly, he'd learned not to fight when he didn't need to.
Some creatures were killed with his spear. Others fell victim to traps. Some were defeated with magic.
And the undead...
Well.
Those barely stood a chance.
He looked at the hides stretched out to dry. There were a lot of them.
Far more than he needed.
*'This should be enough to get started.'*
But there was something that made him even more curious.
Experience.
XP.
He knew the concept from that world and knew that an adventurer's card recorded a person's stats and abilities. On top of that, adventurers could allocate skill points.
And he'd spent an entire month building up experience.
A lot of experience.
*'I must have racked up enough XP for an absurd number of points.'*
He began to imagine it.
Strength.
Speed.
Endurance.
Intelligence.
Luck.
Magic.
Maybe he could improve his combat ability even further. Maybe he could boost his physical stats. Maybe he could gain new abilities.
A smile crossed his face.
*'First I need to get that card.'*
That was his priority.
Because up until that point, he'd only been surviving.
Once he got his card, he could finally find out exactly what he'd earned during that month.
That afternoon, he began preparing to leave.
The hides were dry. The meat was preserved. The herbs were organized, and the tools were ready.
He packed his few belongings and put the pack on his back. His long blue hair fell over his shoulders, so he tied it back partway, leaving only a few strands loose.
Finally, he grabbed his spear and looked at the shelter.
He'd spent a month in that place.
When he'd arrived, he'd had nothing.
Now he had food, equipment, hides, experience, and an enormous set of divine powers.
He touched the center of his own chest.
That small source of light pulsed gently.
He still didn't fully understand its nature, but he wasn't in a hurry.
He had time.
At least, he hoped he did.
He looked at the forest and began mentally organizing his next steps.
First, find a city.
Then, sell the hides.
Get some clothes.
Figure out exactly where he was.
And then...
The Adventurers' Guild.
He needed that card.
*'After an entire month of killing monsters...'*
He smiled as he adjusted the pack on his shoulders.
*'I probably have XP stacked up to the ceiling.'*
He started walking, leaving the shelter behind as his long blue hair swayed gently with his movement.
The forest fell away behind him.
For the first time since arriving in that world, he was leaving his small territory.
Not because he'd been driven out.
Not because he was fleeing.
But because he was ready.
A month had been enough to learn how to survive.
Now it was time to begin his real life in that world.
He gripped his spear and kept moving through the forest.
*'Adventurers' Guild.'*
*'Adventurer's card.'*
*'Point allocation.'*
If everything worked the way he expected, that month of survival might just be the beginning.
And once he found out exactly how much he'd accumulated...
He could finally start building his own path in that world.