Despite Jack's earlier confidence in leaving the nascent village behind, he didn't know his next move. Maybe he'd explore or go hunting? He shrugged and continued his trek down the rocky slope at a leisurely pace. He hadn't thought much about what he'd do once he left. He thought about his plans as he descended, casually hopping down a dozen feet at a time.

Going over a mental checklist he realized that without a group to provide necessities, he'd need to gather them himself. That wasn't much of an issue since he'd already dealt with that for a few days. For now, he guessed he should look for a good spot to hunker down.

Stopping on a ledge for a moment, he looked towards the river. Jack considered how far he'd have to walk before he wouldn't have to worry about people wandering into his camp. "Well, whatever. I'll keep moving till it feels right."

Jack felt light. Some might think him crazy for that, but he didn't care. The overbearing impulse to avoid people and be independent wouldn't fade. He'd have to sit down sometime and consider how much his evolution had changed him.

Jack's mood soured as a thought came to him. Were his enhanced and predatory instincts a direct result of the government's tampering? It would make sense. If he'd started an insane program like this he'd want to give the subjects more incentive or drive to reach the desired goal.

"Argh!" Jack shook his head. Thinking about useless things wouldn't get him anywhere. He'd need to keep his senses sharp while he traveled. Closing his eyes, he expanded his awareness. It was time to move.

It took Jack a day and a half of walking till he found a satisfactory location for a home. He'd continued through the night since sight wasn't a limiting factor in his ability to sense danger, at least in the forest. He'd had to change course a few times to avoid a strange-looking jackal-dog thing with spikes and some motorcycle-sized reptiles that clung to branches. They had a strange glow to their scales; the light seemed to bounce around their skin like the old dvd sign, going from one end and back.

He'd had a close call with those. Luckily he'd opened his eyes in time to see them. They barely registered on his thermal vision. He'd facepalmed and cursed his stupidity at that revelation. Of course, some reptiles would be difficult to see with thermal vision. They were cold-blooded.

Aside from the few close calls, Jack honestly enjoyed the nightly travel. He looked on in wonder at every new thing he saw. There were small flying creatures that seemed to be a cross between a bat and a bird.

They made almost no noise as they flitted about with their featherless wings, catching insects in the air and openly taunting some strange blobs in the trees. He couldn't make out their shape with thermal vision and wasn't exactly sure they were blobs, but decided to call them blobs for lack of a better option. Jack nodded. Yes, they were blobs now.

It was barely morning when Jack found what he was looking for. It was a burrow at the base of an enormous buckeye-looking tree. A very large burrow at the base of a VERY large tree. It would take over 20 grown men to wrap their arms around it.

Jack shook his head in awe. Things like this were a rare occurrence back on Earth. Here, it was only the norm.

Smiling, he looked at his great find. The burrow was a diagonal hole in the ground that expanded more as you went further in. It was large enough that Jack barely had to duck to enter.

He'd already stuck his head in and felt nothing inside with his unique senses. Either the burrow was abandoned, or the inhabitants weren't home. Jack chuckled in delight. This was perfect! Even if the original inhabitants returned, he saw that as a win. That way he wouldn't have to go looking for food, the food would find him.

The inside of the burrow had some leaves scattered across the ground and some roots crisscrossing the ceiling. The walls were only dirt and rock. Honestly, it looked pretty cool. Sadly, it could still use some work. Although the floor was bumpy and littered with twigs, leaves, and root fragments, it would have to do for now.

Jack wished he could have stayed in Micro Mountain; it was such a perfect location and had plenty of room for expansion. Sighing at his misfortune, he left the burrow. Luckily, the burrow wasn't that far from the river. He'd followed it as he traveled for convenience, after all. The river was a perfect source of both food and water.

Jack looked around at the area around his burrow. It would be annoying but he couldn't do any cooking or light a fire inside. Even if the smoke had a way to escape, he wouldn't risk burning the roots comprising the ceiling. He'd probably light all his fires near the river, for safety and convenience.

Weariness began to set in as Jack had stopped for the first time all day. The burrow was tempting, but he'd make some safety features first. Collecting tens of relatively straight and thin sticks, Jack sharpened one end of each of them, then struck the ground with them. Firmly implanting them in the entrance of the burrow. The small branches wouldn't stop predators, but they'd alert him in time to defend himself. Hopefully.

Turning back from the entrance of his new home, Jack scooped a ton of dry leaves into a pile and fell asleep before his head even hit the pile.

The late morning was quite productive for Jack. He'd caught two decent-sized fish and roasted them over a fire. It was surprisingly easy to start a fire by friction when you had a superhuman physique. Who knew?

He'd roasted the fish over the fire till they turned black. He wasn't taking any chances with eating undercooked meat. Wait... Could he even get food poisoning anymore? Jack shook his head; it wasn't something he wanted to test, even if he was immune. He had his refillable bottle currently filtering some water for him as he carefully pulled the fish apart. The soft, white meat was revealed as steam rose into the air.

Jack tentatively lifted a chunk of the delicate meat to his mouth. It tasted strange. There was no fishy taste. It tasted like a mix of pork and mushrooms.

His eyes lit up and a surprised look flashed across his face as he tore into the fish. It wasn't what he'd expected, but it tasted quite good to someone as hungry as him. The fish lasted only a few moments as Jack inhaled the meat. It was one of the best things he'd had here on Eidolon.

Sitting back against a tree, Jack enjoyed the morning sun as he looked out across the vast river. The sound of the rushing water caused the tension in his shoulders to relax.

Smiling faintly, Jack realized something. "Maybe it won't be that bad here after all." That was until he heard something he didn't expect.

*BEEEEEP*

Instead of the usual message he'd seen before, a new one appeared.

Beneficial genetic material detected. Integrating new material.

Jack's wristband lit up once again and he looked down in shock. Wasn't it supposed to be disabled for a while? It'd only been a day and a half.

Then the realization hit him. The message was different. Why wasn't he given a choice? Looking up in fear, Jack stood up and dashed back to his burrow as quickly as possible. Darting across the forest, Jack dove into the burrow and rolled in a very ungraceful way, slamming into the dirt wall opposite the entrance. Dirt fell on his face as he lay there.

It was here. The burning cold feeling pervaded Jack's body like a sledgehammer. It wasn't nearly as bad as he'd expected. This time it was more like covering his entire body in a sports rub for pain. He'd overreacted for nothing.

Quickly the feeling faded from his body and he stood up. "That was weird." He said, voicing his thoughts. He couldn't feel much of a change from the fish.

In a panic, Jack reached up to his neck but quickly calmed down when he couldn't find any gills. Sighing in relief he chuckled to himself. There really should be a way to check what changes he'd undergo from each evolution.

Jack exited his burrow and inspected his body. He didn't feel any noticeable changes even after ten minutes of checking. Shrugging, he decided he needed more progress. He'd been stagnant for what felt like ages. "Guess its time to hunt." He said aloud, his face lit with burning eyes and a small, feral grin.