Not wanting to risk falling to his death after having just escaped with his life, Vaan left the sword in the tree and swapped it out with the iron bow… or so he planned. But unlike before, where the sword and shield felt familiar in his hands, the bow felt completely foreign.
In the end, Vaan turned the bow into a sword, using the fact that it was mostly iron to his advantage. Unfortunately, whether because he was worn out or because he wasn’t fighting for his life, the iron sword he got out of using his Spark of Creation was shoddy and unbalanced. While it had an edge and wouldn’t break anytime soon, it was far from the serviceable dark blade he made in the darkness earlier.
“…Should I risk it anyway?” Vaan looked up at the sword pinning the goblin corpse at the top of the tree, weighing his options… but after a few minutes decisively decided to leave it be.
Instead, he took a closer look around his surroundings.
Like he noticed before, it was a forest. A deep one, judging from the shadows in the distance.
Vaan sighed. “Just one thing after the other, is it?” While he had managed to make it out of the cave alive, he was still lost and far from civilization.
Shaking his head, he decided to keep moving forward. It was the only thing he could do unless he planned to sit around and pray to be rescued.
Did the world decided to give him a break after his brushes with death? Even after an hour of walking, Vaan didn’t run across any monsters. He saw birds and other forest animals, but nothing dangerous.
Instead, he managed to find some berries that he remembered were edible and a clear stream where he collected water using a small satchel that he made from leaves.
Tossing a few berries in his mouth, Vaan took the time to go over what he could remember while he had the chance.
Other than his name and how to use his ‘Spark of Creation’… he didn’t remember anything. No, that wasn’t completely true. Pieces of information popped into his head when he saw things, like how he recognized the edible and poisonous berries.
At the same time, he couldn’t forget the fact that he knew how the goblins fought, their characteristics, and even how to use a sword and shield.
So that begged the question. Who was he? And why was he in the cave? Not only that, but what was with his clothes?
From the state of his non-existent shirt and tattered pants, it almost seemed like he had been stabbed to death and managed to come back to life… But that was impossible.
Right?
Vaan sighed and ran a hand through his hair… And speaking of that, he still didn’t even know what he looked like.
“I really hope this forest isn’t too big… and that there’s a town nearby.” Vaan muttered to himself and then popped another berry into his mouth, chewing on it.
Whatever the case, he had two priorities. The first was to obviously stay alive. The second… he had to find out who he was.
Why was he in that cave? Why did he have this ability called ‘Spark of Creation’? Why was he suddenly able to fight after realizing it?
And most importantly of all…
Why did he feel so much regret when he thought that he would die before reaching ‘Babel’? And what was Babel?
Questions without answers. Ones that only made Vaan irritated.
With a sigh, he shifted his thoughts to his ability instead.
‘Spark of Creation.’ Something that used imagination and ‘base materials’… So far, Vaan had managed to use it to make a sword and shield out of some metal and… apparently shadows? He also managed to enhance his body using the goblin corpses as well as learn some of their techniques somehow. Then there was how he turned the iron bow into a sword and then some leaves into a water satchel…
It seemed to be a versatile ability. The problem was, it was almost ‘too’ versatile.
What were the limits? What were the criteria?
Vaan popped another berry in his mouth and frowned.
It seemed intelligent enough to skip the process and give him what he wanted directly if he focused on the end result. But on the other hand, when he tried to directly use it, like with the iron bow to recreate his sword, it didn’t work right.
Mulling over it in his head made Vaan wish that he had a journal to write things down-
Vaan blinked. “Oh. Right.”
He glanced down at the berries in his hands. Then he glanced over at the leaves lying on the ground. Next, he looked at a few fallen feathers.
With a sigh, he quickly gathered the materials and muttered, “I blame the amnesia. I can’t be such an idiot, right?”
Then again, he did wake up in a goblin infested cave…
Birds, chirping in the distance. The faint buzz of insects flying around. A bubbling creek, thin rays of sunlight, filtered down from the canopy above.
Amidst all of that, Vaan walked forward, scribbling notes down in a makeshift journal with a self-inking quill about his power.
So far, these were his findings.
- The more exact he was about trying to make something, the more that could go wrong unless he knew exactly what he was doing.
After trying to recreate his sword again with the scrap iron blade, he realized that he got the best results by just thinking of a sword and letting it do its magic.
- The power wasn’t unlimited.
Since he could make a sword, Vaan tried to make a magic sword that could shoot flames or something. However, all he got out of it was a massive headache and a bloody nose. It was possible that something like that could be created but he either lacked the ability or the materials.
- Logical relationships helped the process, but weren’t necessary.
This was a corollary to the first note about how trying to detail everything worked against him. At the same time, it seemed like something didn’t have to make perfect sense to work. In one experiment, he picked up a rock and thought that it would be cool if he could turn it into a gemstone and managed to make a small, cut diamond. Of course, the more illogical the relationship, the more effort it took.
He was drained after turning the rock into a diamond, but making leaves into a bag took almost no effort at all.
- He could make ‘skills’ with the ‘Spark of Creation’.
Vaan found that imagining himself doing an action and then willing Spark of Creation to work would let him do that act with the same expertise as he imagined.
In other words, if he tried throwing a rock at a tree and imagined it hitting, the spark of light that appeared when his ability did would emerge and he would hit the tree every time without fail afterwards.
He had a feeling that there were other things possible along those lines, but it took a lot more out of him than making things out of raw materials, so he set it aside until he was at a place where he could safely practice.
After rereading his notes one more time, Vaan shut his journal and then looked at his surroundings.
Trees, trees, and more trees.
Seeing that, Vaan glanced at the sky and muttered, “Should I make a shelter?”
He couldn’t make out the sun, but the sky was starting to change color and the shadows were growing longer. Night would fall, and if he wanted to be sure that he was able to safely make a shelter with his ability, he should start before it actually got dark.
Frowning, he glanced back at the forest in front of him.
He had walked a fair distance now, so the end couldn’t be that far… could it?
Did he dare risk moving forward and getting caught at night? Or did he want to risk setting up shelter and hope there weren’t any powerful monsters roaming the area?
Just as he was pondering the question, a strange sound echoed.
“Kweh!”
“Hm?” Vaan turned back to look at the source of the sound. “What was that?”
It sounded like a bird, a sort of squawking noise.
Silence, and then the sound repeated. Louder this time.
“KWEH!”
But it wasn’t just the sound. Soon, the ground began to rumble and trees started to fall in the distance.
“A giant bird, huh?” Pulling out his sword and shield, armed with his new knowledge about his ability, Vaan smiled, eager to test his mettle.
And then he saw what was making the sound.
A giant lizard with polished emerald scales, each the size of Vaan’s shield. Crimson and beady eyes that flickered with rage, scanning the surroundings. Wings that were vast enough to cover an entire boat when unfurled. Claws that looked more like giant ivory swords than a part of an animal.
Vaan froze.
The creature froze as well, its beady eyes swiveling to look at Vaan.
He carefully edged backwards, muttering. “That’s not a bird.”
Silence. And then-
“KWEEEEEH!”
-The Emerald Dragon of the Southern Forest charged.
