Bird calls gently roused Ace from his slumber. Flashes of last night’s events ran through his mind, and he instantly jumped to his feet, his mind fully alert. His body was flooded with adrenaline, confusing the bird calls with the screams seared into his memory. The frightened screams resounded fresh inside his mind, and it took him an entire minute to realize those various sources of despair were long since snuffed out.

He patted his body, relieved to find himself neither skewered nor maimed and finally allowed himself the luxury to assess his surroundings. It looked like any other piece of this forest, with the same massive trees stretching towards the sky as if they were trying to devour it. He didn't know how far or how long he'd need to walk to return to their previous campsite, but he immediately abandoned the idea. Those guys were on their won as far as Ace was concerned. Whoever could survive would survive, and to him it really didn't matter if they did.

He looked up and caught glimpses of the sun through gaps in the canopy above, estimating it was late morning. He instinctively tried pulling on his sleeve to check the countdown but smiled ruefully when he saw he was bare-chested. The countdown displayed seventeen hours.

He surveyed his surroundings one last time and then hid back in the underbrush to collect his thoughts. His legs were sore, a constant reminder of last night’s ordeal. He realized his survival instinct had pushed him to run to complete exhaustion, a dangerous gamble that could have sent him to his doom. He estimated he’d been asleep for ten hours at least and counted his blessings that no creature had stumbled upon him during that window of time.

Even in a foreign world, his instincts still held him prisoner, he thought. As past memories began flooding back, he shook his head and forcefully returned to the present. He had to figure out his current situation and plan accordingly, promising himself he would survive this hellish world.

Ace didn’t mind dying; in fact, he wished for it, but it had to be his choice, not the decision of some random creature in a foreign world.

Growl!

Hearing his stomach roar, his hair stood on end as the image of Riley transformed into compost flashed in his mind. He immediately imagined the worst, thinking he’d ingested the fruit while unconscious, but upon further analysis, he realized it was an overwhelming hunger deep inside him, as if he’d just run a thousand miles and could eat an entire restaurant’s worth of food.

He raised himself above the vegetation and perked his ears, trying to figure out which direction he’d come from, but he couldn’t tell even after spending five minutes trying. He gave up and resolved to not finding the food stash at their old campsite, figuring the ants had likely taken it anyway. He didn’t want to risk meeting them again without decoys to aid his escape.

His stomach growled again, and a torpor overwhelmed his body. He felt as if every ounce of strength in his body was sapping away, and he quickly arrived on the shores of unconsciousness. Confused about how he’d acquired this condition, he knew there was no time to figure it out. He chose a random direction and began walking.

There was only one thing on his mind: food.

He walked and walked, and the only things that seemed remotely edible were random fruits from the forest, including the purple ones that turned Riley into fertilizer. As much as he hungered, he wouldn't eat anything unless someone else tested it first.

Just as he was about to fall to the ground, his nose caught a whiff of a smell that sent his body into a frenzy. His body felt instantly energized, and he ran in the direction of the scent.

Surprisingly, Ace ran for a whole five minutes, covering several miles with his enhanced physique in during this time. It was as if his previous fatigue was nowhere to be found. Eventually, he stopped as he caught sight of a large furry mound in the distance.

Since the large sparse trees were the only actual trees in this forest besides the ground vegetation, he spotted the curiosity from afar. As soon as his eyes caught sight of it, Ace could feel his mind go into a frenzy, but he forced himself to slow down as he got closer.

He noticed small black creatures scurrying around the fur mound, but the closer he got, the more rabid his mind became. By the time he was a hundred feet away, Ace found himself roaring at the creatures, delighting in their dispersal into the tall undergrowth. He waited a few moments to ensure they wouldn't return before jumping forward.

Upon reaching the fur mound, he frantically searched for the source of the intoxicating smell. Eventually, he found a large gash from which red liquid flowed, staining the ground a deep crimson.

He saw a huge trail of blood leading away from the gash, stretching far into the horizon. But Ace didn’t care; his eyes caught sight of a strip of meat hanging by the edge of the gash. He immediately pounced on it and began wolfing it down.

The blaring alarm in his mind did nothing to dissuade his hunger, and he ignored every thought that warned him this was a bad idea. He chewed on the tough meat but when he realized his teeth wouldn't be able cut through it, he began swallowing entire chunks of it. He saw a stream of blood coming from the large fleshy cave, and he slammed his mouth in its path, gulping like a crazed man the flowing blood.

Only when his stomach threatened to burst did Ace come back to his senses. He pulled away with a frightened look, wiping the blood from his hands onto a patch of grass with disgust.

Before his mind could reel itself back to normality, a warm feeling spread from his stomach and seeped into his whole body. His muscles bulged, filled with fresh energy, and the soreness in his legs instantly vanished.

He stood there in shock for a couple of minutes before finally calming down. Although still afraid something might suddenly grow out of his stomach, he carefully analyzed what was happening to his body.

He knew his body was growing stronger and realized it made sense that an increase in strength should be followed by an increase in energy intake. He assumed his body was so starved of energy that he’d gone crazy with hunger and eaten raw meat without realizing it.

He shook his head, trying to figure out what kind of animal had such meat that seemed to soothe his body like a well crafted medicine. When he moved to the front of the fur mound, he saw a large head sporting a long snout lined with palm-sized fangs. All the hairs on his body stood on end as he swiveled his head, fearing that whatever killed this creature might still be around.

Norman’s words of caution—that the wolves might not be the largest creatures in this forest—quickly resurfaced. It seemed his conjecture was correct; this was not the apex predator. Ace looked at the blood trail leading off into the distance and prayed that whatever had injured the beast wouldn’t follow it back. He did not wish to meet the creature capable of fighting an elephant-sized wolf.

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With the situation as stable as it could be given the circumstances, he calmed down and thought about the hunger he felt mere minutes ago. He wondered what would happen if the same hunger appeared back on Earth and if this meat could be substituted with the normal meat available back on earth.

The image of the wolf pack running at sports car speeds flashed through his mind. He shook his head, knowing there was no way normal meat would be this nutritious. He thought of what would happen if he was deprived of this source of food, and he was assaulted by a wave of fear. For some reason, he felt it was imperative that he secured a supply of this meat as soon as possible. He also didn't wish to feel that weakness that he had experienced ever again. He didn't dare imagine what would have happened if he hadn't encountered this carcass.

Ace thought of bringing some wolf meat back with him when the countdown ended. He knew his father’s hunting knife had traveled with him to this planet, but not the gun. He remembered falling unconscious that night with them in his hands, but only the knife had traveled with him.

He wondered why the gun hadn't also made it here. In any case, if the knife could come to this world, could the wolf meat travel as well? He thought to test that out, but before that, he needed to stash the meat and hide it from whatever creatures lived in the forest. If the creature that fatally injured the wolf or a pack of wolves found the carcass, there was no way he could keep the meat.

Ace began looking around for a spot to hide the meat and spotted a hollowed tree in the distance.

He ran towards the hollowed tree and noticed lots of dry wood in the vicinity. When he looked up, he saw a clear picture of the blue sky above. The canopy around the hollow trunk was gone, and he believed the tree to have died, with the collapsing canopy leaving a four hundred-foot wide gap in the otherwise continuous canopy.

He felt like he was in a foreign land, having grown accustomed to the canopy covering the entire sky. When he looked up, he felt like a frog in a massive well, gazing up at the unreachable heavens.

He shook his head and began scouting the area. There seemed to be no creatures around the massive dead tree, and curiously, even the undergrowth had almost disappeared, with only some bushes here and there.

He approached the dead tree and saw a massive cave leading deep inside. He cautiously waited outside the entrance for a few minutes, ears perked for any sounds from within. Hearing none, he carefully stepped inside.

The pungent smell of rotting wood assaulted his nostrils, and he grinned happily. This was the perfect place to stash the meat. Since he could smell the meat from a mile away, other creatures probably could too. The rotting smell of wood appeared to be the perfect cover.

He reached the end of the small cavern and, finding it empty, smacked his thighs with a satisfied laugh. He felt like his luck was turning around and looked forward to seeing how much meat he could store before his luck changed.

He swiftly returned to the wolf carcass and began thinking of how to partition the meat. Even with the knife, there was no way he could cut through the thick hide of the monster. Even the meat itself seemed unbreakable. He tried ripping a few pieces from within the body but couldn’t tear even a small piece.

He analyzed the edges of the large gash and realized the only reason he could eat to begin with was because some palm-sized pieces of meat were already loose. Ace’s respect for the creature that killed the wolf grew, bordering on reverence. He wondered how powerful the predator was to take down such a beast.

Ace patted his belly, hoping it could manage to digest the meat. He could feel the outlines of the pieces of meat, realizing he’d swallowed them whole. Despite this, indigestion didn’t worry him; the warm feeling spreading from his stomach felt beneficial, filling his muscles with unprecedented strength.

Letting go of his admiration for the meat and its killer, Ace continued trying to figure out a way to cut the meat. The loose pieces were too small to fill his stomach again, and he needed a way to cut new strips or risk going hungry back on Earth.

Just as he was about to give up, an idea struck him. He went to the wolf's snout and pried its mouth open with great difficulty, using a branch to prevent it from snapping shut on his arm.

Two rows of extremely sharp teeth greeted him. He licked his lips and carefully thrust one arm deep into the wolf's mouth, testing each tooth for looseness.

When he reached the middle of the mouth, right at the biggest fang, he pulled and felt a small wobble. Smiling, he pulled ferociously on the fang, eventually prying it from its socket, slamming into the ground with a loud thud.

He held up the eight-inch-long fang, as thick as a beer bottle, and inspected it. The inside, normally facing the back of the throat, had a sharp edge. A light touch split his skin, sending a cold energy through his body.

Shivering, Ace felt a warm sensation from his belly neutralize the cold, returning him to normal. He wondered what that cold energy was, but sighed in relief when it appeared to not be anything tooo dangerous. Ace was thankful he hadn’t cut himself while pulling on the fan, having luckily pulled on anything except the sharp side of the fang to pry it out.

Testing the fang on the wolf’s thick leather, it miraculously split the hide in half at the slightest touch. Ace laughed heartily and began cutting pieces of flesh from within the wolf.

He worked like a machine, cutting long strips of juicy muscle and piling them next to the carcass. He was so engrossed that he lost track of time, feeling like a miner who’d struck gold.

When he finally came to his senses, he was shocked to see a large pile of meat standing at his back. The sun was swiftly approaching the horizon, and he realized how long it had taken to carve so little of the carcass. His arms were sore from the effort, even with the sharp fang.

Seeing the hour getting late, Ace began carrying the meat to the tree hollow. Despite carving nearly a ton of meat, it only took him five trips over a single hour to transport it all.

By the time he finished, the light was dimming. Despite wanting more meat, he chose not to risk the night, fearing the ants would be drawn by the scent.

He found a small opening inside the cave's wooden wall and stashed the meat there. For some reason, seeing the pile of meat flooded his brain with happy chemicals.

Looking at the red pile, he felt that if someone were to ask to convert the pile into gold, he would kill them on the spot. Elated, he patted his belly, still feeling the meat he’d eaten earlier, providing a stable stream of energy to his body. It felt like less than ten percent had been digested, yet he’d carried a ton of meat for over a mile.

Remembering his endurance feat from last night, Ace realized it wasn’t just his stamina that had increased, but his strength as well.

He went outside and, seeing the massive dead branches strewn about, decided to test himself. With over eleven hours remaining and no canopy above to attract ants he felt like he was safer here than inside the forest. He selected a massive thirty-foot-long piece of wood and strolled towards it.

The unbalanced log had a thicker end. Hugging the large side, he estimated it to be the equivalent of around two thousand pounds to lift it off the ground. Though normally impossible for a normal human, Ace mysteriously felt that he could lift it.

Taking a deep breath, he spread his legs wide and squatted next to the log. Hugging it tightly, he bulged his arm muscles and pushed with his legs, pressing the ground hard.

Creaking noises resounded from his back, and he heard popping noises from his spine, but feeling no pain, he kept going. Slowly, the wood inched off the ground. By the tenth breath, he stood straight, the log still in his grasp.

In complete shock, he let go, feeling a powerful tremor through the earth, confirming the log’s immense weight.

He looked incredulously at his hands, the shock lingering for a long time. The sensation of holding two thousand pounds of weight in his hands was a feeling that intoxicated his mind, and for the first time in his life, a wondrous feeling overwhelmed Ace. He didn't know it at this time, but this was the pivotal moment when he fell in love for the first time in his life. Only when the horizon lit up with a blue light did Ace snap out of the state that had taken hold of him. Night had fallen, and he decided he needed a proper assessment of his body once back home, possibly even a doctor’s checkup.

Despite apprehension about what a medical exam might reveal, Ace knew one thing: he loved his new body.