He spent his time after eating lunch making rope. The first piece was about the same size as the one he used for the obsidian knife, while the one following it was much bigger. He would twist out string to about 10 meters in length, then he would twist groups of strings together, and eventually twisting out a 9-meter rope that was 2 cm in diameter. When he had finished, the sun hadn't yet reached the other horizon, "Seems like these days are longer than I'm used to. Or maybe I'm near one of the polar regions. Anomaly did say the planet is bigger." He shrugged and picked out some more of the cooked snake, eating quietly as he stared at the big piece of obsidian he had.
He looked to the side to the few tools he had created. He had made a knife and a hatchet. He had tried to make some spear tips, but he had accidentally broken it in half. “For now, I should find a place to rest away from the river for the night." He used the leaves he had collected previously and wrapped the remaining cooked snake meat up in it, filling his basket. He put the knife and the hatchet in last so he could quickly grab them if needed.
He dropped some dirt onto the fire, picking up some of the larger pieces and dipping them into the water. When he was sure the fire was out, he retrieved the snakeskin from the river, shouldered his basket and walked deeper into the forest. As he walked inland more, he looked for, and found a few fallen trees. Eventually he found one he was looking for; a large tree that had uprooted itself and it created a hollow under it with its branches. He cleared away the hollow of sticks and propped them up against the trunk of the tree. He also went around the area collecting up more sticks and fallen branches, to stack up enough against the trunk to make a makeshift wooden tent. He then spread out as much grass as he could gather on the floor of the tent and built a fire pit down wind of it.
He used his hatchet timidly to cut some of the branches he found into shorter pieces. It felt like the hatchet would work, but he didn’t want to push his luck. As he set out the wood in the fire pit, and the remaining to the side so he could add more, he said to himself, “I could really use some leather. That animal I saw earlier would be perfect, if only it'd cooperate and let me kill it..."
By this time, the sun had reached the horizon, and the day had begun to darken. He had gathered up quite a lot of wood and was now just breaking it into good sizes to burn as he waited for night to fall. He was tired as it was the first day with this new body, and it still needed some breaking in. He had aches everywhere, his hands and feet were cut in several places.
As he sat there staring at the fire, he decided he wanted to try something he thought of earlier. He held his hands in front of himself, cupping them together. He then closed his eyes and took a breath to calm himself. He began to picture all the moisture in the air gathering up in one spot above his hands. He tried to imagine the water gathering in a ball above the palm of his hands, and like the flame he had made before, he tried to imagine a similar feeling.
As he watched his hands, sparkles of light began to reflect the flames from the fire pit. These little sparkles slowly moved to a point above his hands, where a droplet of water was beginning to form. He got excited but tried to maintain his concentration as he didn't want what he'd done so far to go to waste. The small droplet had increased in size to that of his thumbnail when he started to form a headache, and it became difficult to concentrate. The growth of the water ball had slowed down as a result, but he continued to gather the water from the air.
When it had grown to the size of a baby's fist, he cut the magic, and the water fell into his hand. He tilted his hands back and drank the small amount of water, a smile appearing on his face, just before his face turned pale, and he passed out.
He awoke at some time in the middle of the night, with a throbbing headache. The fire had died down a bit, so he added more wood to it and blew on the coals to stoke it. As he worked on the flame, he had his right eye closed, and was squinting in pain with his left. He hadn't kept his eye closed because of the headache; it was instead a habit of his to keep it closed whenever looking at a light from when he was in the military. It wasn't something he had done in the last few years, as he only had one eye, but it seemed natural to him again. He stood and stepped away from the fire, looking off into the dark, his once closed eye now open to see better.
He walked at the edge of the campfire, scanning the darkness, looking, and listening for anything. He felt fortunate this forest seemed to have only docile wildlife, but he wasn't going to let his guard down. When he was satisfied, he walked back to the fire, to re-work his tools. He was hoping they had dried out some and gotten tighter but found the truth to be the opposite. He tightened them down to pass time, and eventually the headache subsided. He had plans to get more sleep as he was still a bit tired, but he wanted to stay up a bit more to try something.
He cleared a spot on the ground of leaves and stones, setting a small rock on the ground in the center. As he stared at the rocks, he willed it to move. In his previous life, the people there could use, as Anomaly put it, the most primitive form of magic. His magic was telekinetic. While it wasn't strong enough to move large objects and it couldn't move things at high speed, it was better described as a delicate ability. Some tools specifically designed for him used internal switches that can only be activated with telekinesis. So, he wanted to get back into being able to use it again.
He moved the rock from side to side, around in a circle and make shapes in the soil with it. He purposely left it on the ground, and only used magic to move it horizontally. Earlier when he was gathering the water, he had exhausted himself, and he wanted to know his limitations with the ability he knows how to use. After a time, he added a second rock, and eventually a third, but he didn't feel himself weakening, nor a headache forming. He stopped moving two of the rocks, and just focused on the one he had started with. He used his magic to lift it off the ground and moving it around in a 3D space.
He felt he had more control than previously. Even after his N.A.P.A.S. was installed, he couldn't move objects as easily as this. As he got excited, he lifted the other two rocks with his magic, and had them all moving independently. "I think 3 is my limit for now. I'm surprised they haven't hit each other yet. Hmm, I wonder..." He dropped two of the rocks down on the ground and focused on the one rock remaining. He stood and moved to the edge of the fire light and looked out into the dark forest. Still focusing on the rock, he used all his strength to mentally throw it off into the dark. Listening, he heard it hit a tree and fall to the ground. Then, he heard an animal run off in the night. "Sorry." he said as he waved his hand in the direction of the leaving animal.
"I don't think it's fast enough to break a bone, maybe as fast as if I were to throw it. Oh! I could maybe do that to knock out one of those animals I see running around the forest." He smiled as he thought of the possibilities. "Perhaps I could even grab one of them." He made a face as he contemplated on that though, "Those long-eared ones may be a bit strong to hold down, but the little ones..."
“Oh, I’m an idiot.” He said to himself. He held one hand up and pictured water gathering, as he had done earlier, but this time, he said, “Drink.” A water ball about the size of his own fist formed above his hand and fell into it shortly after. Some of the water dampened the fire, but it wasn’t put out, so he wasn’t too concerned about it.
He crawled into the hollow and laid down within it. He wasn't tired, but he knew he needed sleep, and if he slept now, it'd be a light enough sleep that he should hear if something approaches. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
