I observed the aura in my body after I took a safe distance from where I ran from. I didn’t want to run too far and run into something else, though there was no guarantee that where I was currently was free from danger as well.

I could see the semi-transparent aura that vibrated in my hands with energy, I flared vitality in all of my body, and the colorless energy spread to cover all my body.

It was mesmerizing to actually see me doing something magical. Unlike Lea’s whose ability was clear to see, mine was something intangible so it was reassuring to see my ability take physical form and know for sure that I wasn’t just misunderstanding the effects of adrenaline or something.

Though that’s just a remnant thought. The effects it can display now have long past the level where it could be plausibly explained by such things.

I mentally allowed the message to be displayed only for it to tell me what I already knew.

Affinity: Light and Vitality

Soul Strength: Lower Level 2 -> Lower Level 3

I ignored the message as it slowly disappeared and looked back towards my surrounding. The previous caution and fear started to leak. I tried to place a cap on top of it but the emotion was too large to bottle.

Ugh, Why? My eyes scrunched in frustration at my bad luck and all the decisions that led me here.

What stroke of fate led me to be further and further away from everything. My home, my family, my country. Now the planet?

My perception due to the recent revelation changed from despairing for having to survive here for almost a year to despairing whether I can ever go back again. My thought returned to the sinister pitch-black hole and recognized it for what it was, an otherworldly gate.

I recognized the signs of it now; the unnaturalness contrast to everything around it, the vines which made its border, gripping onto the walls as if latching itself onto this plane, the pitch blackness that seem to lead nowhere. I should have run away as soon as I saw that.

I clapped my face, snapping me out of my spiral downwards. I didn’t have time for all this, daylight will soon be over and I'll be stuck out in the open if I was too busy ruminating on my mistakes.

I looked around me. There wasn’t anything to use for me to build a shelter. The trees were rock hard, I didn’t have any tools and I doubt building one from sticks and leaves will protect me from anything but rain. Preferably, I want something to cover and protect me properly but I couldn’t just return to the cave, I was hundred percent sure that the faceless variant was out looking for me.

I pulled my sleeves up and picked a relatively flat rock. It's time to get dirty, I guess.

I began digging a hole with the flat rock. The earth thankfully didn’t share the unnatural hardness that the trees possessed and I made short work of it using my vitality by building a small hole on the ground.

I jumped into the hole that reached my chest and began digging sideways inside of it. This was a lot harder as I had to remove the soul that clumped up inside the hole. But after an hour of vitality empowered hard work, I managed to build a small vertical space - enough for me to sleep while curled up - inside the hole.

After placing a few twigs and sticks that were covered with leaves and foliage, the hole was practically invisible in the forest ground.

Hopefully, it won't cave in while I was fast asleep.

I noticed that the way vitality was being used changed a lot. Before it always got expended at a flat rate and I was more or less out of gas in about 10 minutes.

Though there was some element of control as I felt slightly stronger when I flared as much as I could and could mute the flaring to an extent. But there was always a fixed rate, almost like a default mode at which it was supposed to work at.

But now the rate at which it was being expended decreased or increased on how much I exerted myself. It felt like it became a part of myself, almost like a second muscle when activated. Using the appropriate amount of energy for the appropriate task. If it was before, it would have worked at the same default rate and I would have been spent after 10 minutes of work even if I was digging holes or if I was fighting.

Well, I don’t think it's gonna be expended in just 10 minutes anymore. I could sense that the amount of aura that was available to me had exponentially increased when I climbed the level. Don’t know by how much though, gotta limit test it when I was safe and free.

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I opened the ‘door’ to my new home and descended inside the vertical space after placing back the camouflage door. If you ignore how claustrophobic, it was, I could see myself getting used to this.

It was kind of comfy in a strange way. I rested my back against the sand wall as light shower started raining outside. Huh. Just in time. The door made of thick layers of leaves since I was scared that no amount would be enough, actually acted as an umbrella and kept the rain out of the hole.

In the calming backbeat of rain hitting on the door, I flared the aura in my body. I then lowered the intensity on my body while focusing and condensing it on my fists. I wanted to practice and get used to this motion to be quick enough that it was reflexive.

The aura that condensed in my arms got much thicker and brighter than when it was on my whole body that it was enough to faintly lit the dim underground cave.

Huh. Can I make it even brighter?

I condensed it even further, my goal being to try to light my new dim home as much as I can. The aura flared with more vitality and expenditure, but it didn't make it brighter. I furrowed my eyebrows as I condensed the aura even further. The aura condensed even further as it vibrated uncontrollably from my hands as if it was about to spew out of nowhere. I could feel the unbalanced strength it held if the rate at which vitality was being expending was not an indication.

But it never got any brighter. Maybe it never does? But why did it get brighter when I condensed it to my fist?

Maybe it's not about the intensity? Something else? I tried flexing my mental muscle as I tried to nudge the aura in different ways. It went unsuccessfully in numerous attempts as my brows moved sideways and upwards as the backbeat outside increased in volume.

Until it finally clicked and the dimly lit cave was bathed in light as if a bulb was just turned on inside the electric less cave. Mysteriously this torch of light that my fist just turned into didn’t hurt my eyes or impede it in anyways. But more importantly than that, my newly larger tank of aura was being expended at an alarming rate, going from almost full even after an hour of light digging to almost 0.

The sudden shock of my hand glowing bright made me pause for a second but I quickly ‘let go’ of this new unfamiliar feeling before I was left helpless. And the room quickly returned to its previous dim appearance.

I stared at my hands, it was clad in flaring vitality, but not glowing anymore.

OK. What was that!!

An old word that I always ignored made its appearance in my brain. Was that Light(affinity)?

How? It never came before, no matter how hard I tried. And wasn’t I using vitality? Not light? I wanted to try again, to not forget this new sensation. If it was as useful and strong as ‘vitality’. The ‘vitality’ that carried me all the way here, then I just got a huge power spike.

Not to mention the rate at which my aura got spent, it was bound to be something powerful, maybe a charge attack? explosion?. In my excitement, my head smashed into the short ceiling, pouring rain over my parade and glittering eyes.

I stroked my head as I calmed my excitement. well, I cant use it till my aura regenerates back anyhow.

It was only then that I noticed that the light shower outside had already become a torrential rain. It was beating down on the poor camouflage door with a loud gatling noise and the water had already leaked inside the hole, mixing with the sand, creating muddy water that was slowly filling up.

How did I not notice this! I quickly walked on all four out of the vertical hole and jumped out of the underground home I made myself. The heavy downpour hit my body like getting hit by thousand small beads. Not to mention it was frigging cold.

But I couldn’t risk staying inside and getting caved in. I was almost sure that I would survive with what I was now capable of but I didn’t want to risk having 4 feet of soil over me.

I quickly moved under a tree that was next to me while I cursed the rain. This damn rain was going to destroy what I've built with hours of hard work and aura. Hopefully, it's over soon and I could still salvage it. I was already missing having a proper ceiling over my head.

30 minutes later. The heavy storm that continued to pour had already flooded the entire area. Water was steadily climbing as it started to reach my knees and I was forced to climb the tree to prevent being under which I was going to be if it was going to continue any longer. I gripped the unnaturally hard tree for any purchase and climbed towards a branch.

I had experience climbing trees from back home so it wasn’t any more difficult even with the heavy rain beating down on my face. But what did make things difficult was that I keep forgetting that this wasn’t back home and that there were shitty things out here in this new world that had nothing better to do except for going after my life in any way.

My hand which reached on to grab on a branch suddenly was grabbed. The flat mantis-like animal which camouflaged itself on the branch grabbed my hands with its inwardly spiky forelegs as it vigorously took a small chunk of flesh from my fingers with its bite.

I fell into the muddy water in pain along with the mantis in my hands. I quickly grabbed it with my other arm as it was struggling for its dear life goal of taking more chunks of flesh from my hands and tore it in half while empowering myself with vitality.

God Damit. Even the small animals want to kill me. What is this? Australia?

I trudged along the muddy waters as my hands bled into the muddy water that was quickly rising in level. This time even before placing my hand on the tree, I checked for any fucking animal that had camouflaged itself and was about to bite my fingers off.

I was about to place my arms in the tree when I was suddenly pushed into the muddy water with a weight on my back. I was confused at first which then turned into alarm as I felt sharp pain all the way from my shoulders to my back.

With my hands as support and my face half in the water, I tried getting this thing off my back. Suddenly my hands shook uncontrollably along with my body as it tensed and spasmed.

Any concept of movement was long forgotten as every muscle in my body was shaking and spasming as hard as it could while I was being electrocuted. My head dipped into the water as my consciousness slowly faded away while my body was still spasming.

Just as I was about to pass out and die without even seeing the face of my murderer, the shock slowly waned and disappeared, but to compromise for that, the teeth sinking on my back went further in which consequently brought consciousness back.

I thrashed around in the deep muddy water, struggling to get this thing off my back. I flared my almost depleted vitality as I tried to get a hold of it, when another animal, looking like a mix of tadpole and a crocodile jetted from the muddy water, biting on my side.

And with a small shine of blue in its muddy brown body, another course of electricity coursed through my body.