Infinite Evolution: Return of the Talentless Mage-Chapter 28 - 0. Cold Night Approaches

Night soon arrived, and just as Ralph anticipated, it was growing cold. Each step he took sent shivers across his body. The sun had almost fully gone out left for the small light that escaped the clutches of the sky.

The moon had begun to creep into the open night sky, casting its radiant glow over the forest.

’I should find a good place to camp soon, somewhere a bit warm.’ His breaths were shallow due to the cold mist that surrounded the forest.

He stopped walking after taking a few more steps and turned around, making a 360 turn around him. It had grown dark, his surroundings were almost pitch black except for the open areas not covered by trees.

’Where should I stay? I can’t go too far from the river, so I don’t lose my way, but I can’t stay too close either. Animals and creepers love staying around these areas at night

His mind was in distress. The cold was causing his brain to freeze, and his current situation made it even worse. He hadn’t been in a situation like this enough to know what to do next.

He didn’t even have a way to make a tent because he had no materials or the necessary items to even make one. Neither did he know what type of forest materials could be used to make one.

His bag had grown heavy over the few hours he was walking. He couldn’t even feel his spine. It felt hollow and light, his limbs felt like they could fall off any moment, but he first had to prepare himself for the night before they gave up.

He dropped his bag close to one of the bushes and moved toward the river, bending low and splashing his face with the chilled river water.

’This is somehow refreshing even though it’s cold...’ his body was warm from walking and sweating all day. He could barely feel the cold, not until he splashed his face with water.

He drank from the water after he was done washing his face, then he rose to his feet and dragged himself toward the bushes to find any pointed stick he could use.

"It’s so dark, I can barely see anything clearly.." A sigh escaped his lips. Instead, he started using his legs to find sticks.

A crunch sound came from beneath his feet, and he bent low to pick it up, but something bit his hand. "Ahh!!" A scream escaped his lips in desperation.

He stared at the bite mark, using the radiant light from the moon to see it but he couldn’t see it clearly, so in return he reached for whatever bit him and raised it up to the moonlight.

Before him was a snake, a bright green snake, fully fed. By luck, he held it by the head, or he would have been bitten again. Fear gripped him tight as he held it, his hands began shaking.

’A-a-a...s-s-snake?!!’ He stammered within, his eyes widening from the thought. At first, he wanted to drop it and let it go, but then again, it could attack him once he let it go.

His mind spiralled, and he almost fainted from the idea of him holding a snake with his bare hands. That’s when his stomach grumbled, and he remembered he hadn’t eaten since the afternoon.

Then he glanced at the snake, and a thought appeared, burning bright in his head above all other thoughts. Yes! That idea, it came to the front, standing above all other spiralling ideas in his head.

"What if...." He whispered, watching the snake wiggle in his hands, trying to escape his grip.

All it took was one thought, and the snake would be dead. After all, he had the ability to absorb and release life energy, and the snake was glowing with it. From the weight and how agile it seemed, it had just eaten not long ago.

He hadn’t eaten a snake before, or maybe he had. He mostly didn’t care about what he ate back at the clan, whatever the cooks served him under his father’s supervision, he ate without questioning.

So maybe he had eaten a snake’s meat before or maybe he hadn’t but that question was for those who had the luxury to pick. Here in the wild, it’s eat or be eaten.

With one concentrated thought, the snake’s agile wiggle became weaker and weaker by the second until it could no longer wiggle or move anymore.

"Sorry.." he bent his head low, honouring the snake’s sad death even while being the cause.

For now, he had gotten food to eat, the next issue to be solved was a fireplace to cook and keep him warm for the rest of the night.

He had no idea how to make a burning fireplace in the cold but he had to try either way, because survival was the priority not an option. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He dropped the lifeless snake beside his bag and sent his foot into the woods to look for able firewoods, ones that will catch off when set on fire. They had to be dry, brittle and definitely not wet in any way.

He gathered all the firewood he could find, not just any woods. Mostly the ones that fit his description.

He gathered them in one place, in the open where he could use the moon’s light to see what he was doing and whether he was doing it correctly.

He bent low and stared at the gathered woods, thinking of ways to light them up. His former method had no way of working in this kind of situation, especially the fact that he was now in the open.

’Hmmm...what can I do and how can I do it?!’ He asked himself, the cold starting to slip through the coat and settle on his skin.

’A living body generates heat right?!’ a thought crossed his mind, his fingers ready to act on it.

Life energy normally promotes growth, warmth, circulation, and vitality. If Ralph overclocks it and channels it repeatedly into one spot, then maybe he can generate enough heat to create fire?.

It was a thought worth trying, there were no risks involved and if it worked, he was practically levelling up his life energy ability and learning more than he already knows.

’It’s worth a try but I’d need something that can easily catch a flame!, something burnable!’ He picked up the sticks and examined them, some were usable, others were too cold to try out with.

He remembered something in his bag and rushed to it, pulling out a box of ash he had packed in his bag. With this combo, he had a probability of generating fire, the only question was...will it work and can he survive the cold night with it?.