The Lost Super-Hero
Chapter 8 - Hotpot in a Hotspot (1)
A few days later, Nolen came across a massive crab-like creature. One of its claws was burning red, while the other was as blue as ice. Nolen named this creature the Elemental Crab. It was as big as Nolen himself. He spotted it from afar while exploring the area. It appeared to be a species that had adapted to this environment.
"Let's see if I can cook that up. Romy, scan it first and find out its weakness." Nolen expressed.
Romy has now recovered some functions, including increased range for scanning.
"Okay, scanning now."
After a few moments, Romy responded.
"Scan complete."
"Now, let's see how we can kill it."
Nolen looked at the data and considered spears the best option. He had crafted a few throwing spears out of an obsidian-like rock and the nearby black tree branches he had picked up along the way. They were strangely sharper and more reliable, which Nolen attributed to the title of Artisan.
During a few-day survival refresher, Nolen discovered he could craft items from bone and leather. While creating a spear using a rock, he also found that he could craft items out of stone. Once Nolen learned the skill, it would become a part of him, just like the last time it unlocked a new skill. Although he initially felt strange, he has gotten used to it lately.
He then began to stock the creature. When he saw an opening, he threw the spear at the beast. It struck the creature's leg joints, making it flinch and retreat to nearby rocks.
Nolen then ran toward the creature.
The creature noticed this and made a gesture with its claws, and a fireball came to Nolen.
The ball was large and orange, resembling the fire swirling around it. Suddenly, the fireball darted past Nolen, feeling the heat as it passed him and landed a few meters, causing him to flinch. Though Nolen had battled numerous individuals with fire-related powers, very few could create such a powerful full fireball. The heat and force behind him made the feeling even more real.
After shrugging off the close call, he continued to chase the animal and then decided to throw another spear at it again. This time, the spear struck the creature's carapace, causing it to flinch just in time before it aimed an ice spear at Nolen using its other elemental claw.
The ice spear flew by Nolen's head, missing him.
Nolen hurled a spear at the creature while it was distracted. The spear pierced the creature's eye, causing it to screech in pain and retreat further.
"Romy, keep scanning and tell me what you think."
"The carapace of the Elemental Crab seems to have the same density as tempered steel. You should proceed and continue to attack the gaps of its armored shell. Don't worry about losing it; I'm also tracking it."
Nolen agreed with Romy, but he had only one spear left and needed it to make it count. Nolen continued to stock the Elemental crab until he found an opening. Putting all his strength in the last throw, he pierced the part between the crab's eye of the Elemental Crab. It fell to the ground dead.
The ice on the claws melted, and the flames disappeared, leaving only glowing parts. Nolen then started to open up the shell, making sure not to do as minor damage as possible, harvesting the meat and shell of the creature. He needed more space to store it due to the limited space in his backpack, so he had to carry a lot of it by hand.
Romy then spoke to Nolen.
"Good job, now you have a source of food."
"Yes, I am hungry," Nolen responded.
"Do you think you can process it so I can store it for later?"
"I don't see why not. Let me give you some processing methods." Romy then gave him a list of processing methods for the crab meat.
Nolen set camp and processed the materials he harvested from the Elemental crab.
As he was doing it, he heard a noise in the distance and felt a gaze upon him.
He gazed at a distant cliff on a mountain far beyond the reach of normal eyesight. Someone was observing him.
Romy noticed it and asked Nolen, "Is everything okay?"
"Can you scan that ledge over there?"
"Sorry, that's beyond my scanning range."
"It's fine; I'll continue to process this then. Please keep an eye out with sweeping scans of our area."
"Will do."
***
The following day, Nolen was fully prepared to proceed with his journey. He had successfully processed the materials he had harvested from the Elemental Crab the day before, which provided him with an additional layer of protection. Nolen had added parts of the processed carapace of the crab to his clothing, creating an armored layer, and then placed the rest in his bag. He had explicitly kept parts of the claw, as his appraisal skill, which he seemed to gain after killing and processing the creature, determined that the claws of the Elemental Crab were valuable.
Romy advised Nolen to use the parts of the carapace from the Elemental Crab to improve his armor and add a layer for temperature control. It was warm near the Magma River, but the further you moved away from it, the colder it got. Since ash clouds always covered the sky, temperatures would drop the further you were from the magma river, and it was even worse at night.
Nolen had equipped his armor with interchangeable parts that allowed him to regulate his body temperature. He had made these parts using the claws, so if he felt hot, he could replace the plate with the ice claw plate, and if cold, he could use the plate fashioned from the fire claw. The idea came from Earth Soldiers' armor plates, which could be exchanged if damaged.
"So, how does it feel? Is it warm enough for you?" Romy asked.
"It's just right. We should head out."
"I agree. Let's head out then."
Nolen continued to explore the shore a bit more and then moved away from the magma river, not knowing what was in store for him.
