Chapter 5 – A New Place (1)
Despite the seemingly barren area, life thrived near the magma flow as plants and creatures adapted to the environment with tenacity.
Several hours had passed very quickly. No changes to the day and night cycle could be observed due to the ash-covered sky, which very little light could pass. Only thick smoke clouds could be seen bellowing from volcanos, and flowing glowing magma lit the environment.
“I believe I have discovered the cause of what happened to us. It appears to be related to the summoning process. The energy used during the process seems to have caused the problem with your body and my system. I have taken steps to analyze the issue and hopefully prevent it from happening again. However, it will take some time before we are fully functional again. Fortunately, most of the data is still intact but needs some time to be restored.”
Continuing, Romy gave Nolen said with a concerned tone.
“I don’t have much function I can activate. Aside from some functions, you can control the nanites in your body and give them commands. I have a minimal function available.”
“How long before you can get your systems operational again?” Nolen asked.
“I am still running diagnostics. It may take days, weeks, months, or even years. I will keep you informed.”
“Well, we should find a way to make camp and find some food.”
Luckily, when Nolen was headed to shore, he found a black wood that grows in this environment. He then used some of it to start a fire by piling some of the wood in one place, and then he walked to the magma river and deeper into one of the sticks in the flowing magma.
Surprisingly, the wood took a while before it caught fire. It was probably an adaptation it had to make to cope with this environment.
He then threw it into the pile. It took some time to start burning, but it did eventually.
Nolen continued to gather more wood until he had enough to create a small pile to hold the rest of the wood he needed to make a campfire away from the burning river.
He then wanted to chunk a piece of meat from the magma shark to eat.
“Let me scan it first before you start tearing into it. I restored the touch base scan function I had while you were starting a fire.”
“Oh, right. Go ahead.”
The crystal surfaced from Nolen’s hand, and as he reached out to the Magma Shark, it then scanned the Magma Shark. Then, it started to glow and make a sound.
“Scan complete.”
“What does that mean? And more importantly, is it edible?”
“It means that the data on this animal is now stored in your system. We now know the composition and anatomy of the animal. You can have at it now.”
Nolen began tearing the meaty part of the Magma shark with his bare hands and roasting it over a fire. Although it took some time, the meat eventually began to cook. Interestingly, the creatures in this area have evolved to have high-temperature tolerance, just like the plants.
After roasting the first piece of meat on the fire, Nolen searched for anything that could aid their survival, then settled in for the night, or what he thought was the nighttime. It was hard to tell from all the clouds in the sky.
