Part 2: Rob’s Non-heroic Misadventures

The expanse of water seemed endless. Like a real conqueror, blueish liquid covered everything up to the horizon, not leaving even a single spot for others. As if it was not enough, it was constantly moving, not having any opportunity to spend its energy elsewhere. No barriers to break, no opponents to fight, no land to flood left it alone under the hot sun to toy with itself. And it did, sending wave after wave without any rest, periodically creating huge ones just for fun. Its childish attitude in this process turned even the dullest thing into real entertainment, which it tried to enjoy to the full extent, being observed by a red circle in the cloudless skies.

The latter looked like an adult, watching over its own kid playing in the sand and trying not to be distracted absorbed in its own reality child to get more time of calmness and quietness for itself. Still, the single eye never turned away even for a moment, perennially sending light and warmth as if it were a loving parent, trying to share its feelings with the whole world. Again, they felt as endless as the size of the ocean. At least for Robert, who was actively trying to keep himself alive in this pleasant scenery for the eyes of tourists on a cruise liner, but not for a direct participant in a game called “survival after ship sinking”. No, for him, it was pure torture that he had to endure.

One more time…

Closing his eyes for a moment, Rob concentrated on an ethereal feeling of heavy hardness, which was permanently present in the back of his mind after getting a new ability from God. Almost immediately his consciousness reacted, redirecting the constant flow of mana from the link between his soul and body to the imaginary visage of the simple tube. The very same tube, but in much cruder exaction appeared right inside his mouth. A moment later Robert began to dive deeper into the water, finally leaving the surface and its remorseless rays, constantly falling from the local star.

Oh, dear God, how I hate this shit!

Only descending more than ten meters deep (around 33 ft.), Rob managed to feel pleasant coldness. Breathing through the slowly growing tube, he tried to relax his exhausted body in this short rest, but as always, he didn’t have enough time. His increased weight was pushing him down without any pity for his situation. At least it wasn’t a single bad thing in the new world, as if everything went terrible from the beginning.

Robert’s experience in swimming barely helped him not to panic and keep him on the surface only to find out that it was a real suffering. The local red star was hot as hell, while there was not even a single cloud above him. Moreover, it didn’t seem to move for all this time, staying in the same spot despite hours of Rob’s struggles. That kept the water way too hot for his liking. On the other hand, it was clear as a glass and he managed to keep his sight even deep down. Occasional big waves forced Robert to be on guard all the time after the first miss almost led him to drown. And, of course, the strain on soul link from the flow of mana didn’t help. Fortunately, the ability to conjure steel felt oddly natural and innate.

A few experiments led to the creation of this cycle when he summoned a breathing tube to have a short break from the heat, the sun, and the constant movement while lessening the threat of not using enough mana. It took some effort to conjure proper form and adjust all timings to stabilize his situation, but that was it. Rob didn’t see the way out of it. He just prolonged his life, not saved. Accumulated tiredness, thirst, and hunger were already knocking on his front door. Soon, they would barge in without asking, greeting him personally.

Not easy but straightforward? Where the hell is it straightforward, when I can’t even find the land! What if there is none and the beast lives underwater? What if there is one single island, but it is on the opposite side of this fucking world? Damn, it can be easily in just a few miles, but I will still need enormous luck to find it! Fuck, fuck, fuck… Okay, calm down, Rob, and think. What can you do?

Another inner brainstorm led to an idea to make a metal boat using his ability. The problem was… There were a lot of problems with that. Despite easiness of usage, the precisions of it fully depended on his own skills, which he had on the level of barely existing. Basically, he was like an infant. His experience was laughable. Robert couldn’t make a proper thin-walled tube with a simple form. What he got was always a crude variant made by a random drunkard after a sleepless night at the party.

The boat was completely on another level in terms of geometry. Another barrier to achieving it was the need to keep the air inside, so the conjuring had to be made above the water. That, in turn, would immediately push him deep down together with his creation. There was a solution – to be fast enough. After that Rob would need just to change the contact point with the boat to the opposite side, without stopping fueling with mana the visualization of his future transport.

Now I can thank our scientists, who transplanted the part of an alien creature’s brain to children, giving me real multitasking. I can handle it. The need to constantly focus on the image of a summoning object while doing other things may stop anyone, but not me. However, the speed and accuracy might be out of my league for now. Moreover, there is a limitation to the size of possible mana construct. I fear it will not handle my weight… Wait! I can just use it as some kind of lifebuoy to stay on the surface with less effort. Okay, I have a rough plan now. Just need to train a little bit. I can do that!

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Therefore, his continuous struggles went in similar cycles. Nor did Robert track the time, not he had the opportunity to. All his attention was concentrated on this ability as his own life fully depended on it. The strain on his body started to hurt as if his usage of mana wasn’t enough, but he was out of options for now. His skin was long red from burns and each movement brought pain. Rob’s ability to restore his wounds and strength at heightened speed had long been lost to the insane amount of time in the real ocean under the scorching sun. Moreover, it seemed with an increased strain from the overflow of energy, his regeneration also started to slow down, despite the possibility of boosting by adding more mana. And his adaptive aspect seemed to be completely lost, turning him defenseless against a simple ultraviolet light. Having no clothes, was a repeatable torture.

The good thing is I am not bald! It would be deadly in such conditions… On the other hand, wet long hair is heavy and would only drag me down into the deep. Hmm, then what will be the best haircut for such an occasion?

Half-joking, half speaking with himself, Robert followed his plan with the perseverance of gear in working mechanism. With no time to pause for pondering, he just repeated a well-known set of actions. Swimming, conjuring, diving. Again, and again. His burned red skin made him sometimes abstain from any movement and just wait for his regeneration to do its work, when the pain became to be intolerable. However, soon his body seemed to adapt naturally, prolonging the number of cycles before once again capitulating under the attacks of the pitiless sun. Instead, new things emerged – the hunger and the thirst. They started to gain more and more ground, already being too strong to be ignored with ease. Robert knew in his mind that it wouldn’t be a problem for days, but mentally it was just another point of pressure on him.

Just one hundred more and I will try! Ninety-nine…

Setting a clear goal helped Rob to focus. At first, even such a low number seemed huge, but with each next step, he could literally count his own progress. He cheered when only half left. Robert congratulated himself on the last ten, almost forcefully stopping himself from rushing through them. Finally, after the last one was done, he made a short break and turned to the back. The bright light almost blinded him even through his closed eyes. His body was moving together with waves, giving him time to relax the strain after constant physical activity.

At least I can have a tan, which would have been impossible if I stayed in that bunker till now. As if I am on vacation in the place from a postcard.

The thought made him smile with a wide grin. That was immediately punished by the ocean – the wall of water crashed onto him in an attempt to bury him underneath. Salty liquid rushed inside his mouth, making Rob choke, while he was still under the surface. The panic almost got him, but he managed to keep his cool, emerging back to the air after a short pause.

No swimming on the back for long got it. And a note for the future – to test the ability of restoration to heal the consequences of drinking the salty water. I am sure it will not work, but who the hell knows those magic abilities, yes? Okay, the goal. Let’s start.

Focusing on the image of the hollow cylinder, Rob summoned an already familiar feeling of steel inside his mind, before connecting everything to the energy link. Without any delay, greyish material started to appear right from his both hands, quickly forming a similar structure. It wasn’t the exact copy but was close enough to create a small sense of accomplishment. However, the weight was already pushing Robert down. The moment he lost the visual contact was the exact point of everything going wrong.

The form distorted, turning into melted something, while adding even more kilograms to the scales. As if creating a chaining reaction, his aimed buoy appeared to become a crazy abomination, while getting even bigger. Rob almost drowned before managing to stop his conjuration and get back on the surface – he was pushed far too deep to easily swim back. And that was even with his increased physique and lessened needs of his newly acquired body.

An expected failure. Another one hundred tubes before the next attempt. Go!

It took around a dozen cycles of tries before Robert finally did it. His lifebuoy wasn’t in good shape, but it was there, filled with air and almost floating on the surface. Yes, almost, as this conjured swimming device appeared to have too thick walls for it. Still, Rob saw the progress and it boosted his morale to new heights. The hot sun, the constant exhaustion, the hunger – everything was still there to make his conditions worse, but he slowly was finding the way out from the main problem. The others would be next.

One by one. Steadily. No rush.

A loud thunderstrike resounded in the sky, making Robert tremble from surprise. Raising his head up with bad premonition growing inside, he saw dark clouds that were appearing at insane speed out of nowhere. The clear firmament was replaced with a stormy one in a mere minute. It looked so unnatural and odd that Rob even lost himself in trying to understand how it was possible, only waking up from a huge wave coming on him. It was much bigger than any before, and judging by the strength of the ever-growing wind, it was just the beginning of the incoming nightmare.

Turning around in an attempt to find a possible way to swim, Robert to his utter horror didn’t notice anything similar to the edge of the storm. No, as the ocean was endless, so was the cloudy sky, covering everything up to the horizon, not leaving even a single spot open. Moreover, the loud bangs from lightning started to increase its frequency, clearly only heating up before the complete outbreak.

To the hell the steady part – rush it, Rob! Now! And prey that no lighting will hit your fucking metal buoy… Suitable soul, you say? Yeah, right!