He felt no pain, but somehow it seemed like his head SHOULD hurt from sleeping on a slab of metal with no pillow.
The metal was warm but odd feeling on his bare skin.
Yeah... clothing.
Reaching into his mind again, he paused.
An infinite darkness, with powdered sugar stardust. A glowing white shard.
At least privately, he was grateful his power was beautiful to watch.
A thought pulled the charge down from the mental sky, and he focused it on 'Fire Manipulation', pushing towards fine details.
Slabs of metal was useful, but he wanted cloth darn it!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
It was less cloth and more a series of connected smart phone sized blocks... but it covered him.
No more branches catching on his... dangly bits.
Forget hunger, THIS was a quality of life increase!
A hand wave had the metal structure collapse and fold into a large snake.
Very large snake.
It had no internal organs, but it DID have a mouth with fangs, slightly too thick to be considered sharp.
Blood red metal, he allowed the insides, mouth, and eyes to release the heat that the rest of the body focused inwardly.
With this much red metal, he had a mobile home basically, so why not move along and hope to find some place with less wilderness?
Glancing at the river, he decided downstream would be best. If he was on an island, this would lead him to the coast... and if not, at least he would have a water source if needed. He couldn't get MORE lost at this point.
A gesture had the snake craft an uncomfortable chair near the neck, and he had the flames form a basic set of steps to reach his new perch.
Following the river downstream, the snake would randomly eat whichever bush or tree looked annoying, slowly lengthening the tail and thickness.
Sadly he couldn't share senses with the snake, so all he could do is relax a bit and try to ignore any hunger pangs as his ride left a charred road for others to enjoy at some point.
At least the new trail wasn't a fire hazard. Any warmth was sucked into the snake when passing, so it just looked like an ash path leading back parallel to the river.
Subtle he wasn't.
Then again, being found would be a WONDERFUL change of events compared to this.
When the hunger got too bad, he paused at a rock near the river and had fire metal bars force themselves into the river.
They were strictly acting as a net, as boiling this river could have all kinds of issues downstream... maybe.
Depending on the development level of whatever society may or may not exist here.
Anyway, half the snake was now a series of V shaped traps that led into a controlled barred section, and the other half reformed into a much smaller but still usable shelter for him to wait in.
He may or may not have spent the rest of the time trying to make a better shirt/whatever this thing was. Honestly, it needed another charge in fine detail before his control got good enough to not fall apart at that level of compression.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
A full night of 'Slow Recovery' had managed to help keep his hunger pangs in check, but he really needed a more stable method of gaining food.
However, a lucky haul of fish over night managed to raise his spirits significantly.
Getting said fish OUT of the trap... well, in the end he just filled that part of the river with red metal, hauled the whole thing to the shore, and shoved the whole metal thing in the sand before releasing it, creating a small spherical pond. Well, larger than a puddle, anyway.
Another charge into 'Fire Manipulation' fine detail manifestation... mmm, mesh cloth.
The existing metal in the phone-shirt was FAR more than needed to rapidly construct a rough chain shirt/nightgown thing. But he wanted one more level of detail so he could create fine mesh, something soft and most importantly non-pinching when very close to the body.
This level WAS fine enough to control wires down to a thumb in thickness though.
The metal that had been lumped over his shoulders spiraled out into dozens of whips before twisting down and pulling the fish from its temporary home.
Huh... at this level of thickness, his 'Fire Manipulation' actually provided a small amount of tactile feedback when controlling the condenced heat.
Like touching something using gloves, but still, very useful.
It took a couple of tries to actually take the scales off the fish (Flame knife best knife), and he almost messed up cooking it before remembering to take out the insides (Not having to touch it directly made this far less gross.
In the end, he shoved one cord through the fish like a rotisserie spit and rotated heated cords near the thing, acting like a tube of fire with far more control.
It was unseasoned, the tail end was honestly burned, and he bit into more than a couple of fish bones.
It was magnificent.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The snake's name is now Kaa.
Why he could remember 'The Jungle Book' but NOT his parents was beyond him.
Anyway, Kaa was making good time, but he needed to keep 'Fire Manipulation' in the socket. He wouldn't vanish if the power was swapped, but a red metal sculpture was less than mobile without a power moving things along.
Unlike before, night travel was enjoyable. The seat was more like a lounge chair now, with mesh backing. Light was provided by parts of his body exposing his true temperature to the world, which also kept the deep chill at bay.
Making his eyes into spotlights required a bit of thinking, using fine control to create reflective surfaces on the fire metal and having a glowing spark of fire in the center... basically a lantern.
As for the Ash Trail, the most recent fine control enhancement had allowed Kaa's surface to form scales, so the travel speed had gone up.
Everything aside, the scenery was breath taking. Clear and clean water, huge trees (rapidly being absorbed if badly placed), and an empty sky.
Still too cold though.
He also (accidentally) found out that Kaa would keep following directions if his master fell asleep in his heated chair.
On a side note, 'Flame Manipulation' apparently ALSO protects you from sunburn. Who knew.
He chewed on what was left of the fish caught earlier before focusing on the power charge and pushing 'Detail and Sensation'.
Splitting its focus weakened the effect, but he didn't need much more fine detail control of his red metal and being able to increase his sensitivity to the wires would make them into marvelous tools for future work.
Feeling the micro-mesh cloth slip and slide over his body was almost a religious experience. No one appreciates good socks and underwear until they have to live nude in the woods. Or something like that.
It took some experimentation to ensure comfort and 'I'm not about to slip and slide everywhere', but only an hour or so passed before he had duplicated a sort-of cushioned chair on Kaa, had proper shoes, and a seat-belt.
Slithering was easy to learn, but not necessarily fun to experience.
The wires were fine enough that it only took a few minutes to dredge the nearby section of river, using the new sensitivity to detect and entangle four new fish food buddies, each much larger than the slightly burned one he ate the previous day.
Pulling them onto Kaa's back, he quickly waved a hand and crafted a flattened area that almost looked like a red metal campground on the back of this ever growing serpent.
He only burned two fish this time, so... progress? Encasing them in fully restrained red metal would act as a vacuum seal too, good for preservation.
He glanced down at a duplicate 'pillow', metal beads in a micro-mesh bag. Not exactly the best texture, and a bed with a mattress of this might feel odd.
Suddenly he paused, before a smile lit his face. Forget a mattress, he could make a hammock!
It was probably for the best that no one was around to see a young man wearing blood red, slightly glowing clothing... swinging in a hammock while an absolutely MASSIVE snake chewed a path of ash through the forest. These things cause questions.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
In the morning, a feeling of weakness had him spend his new charge on 'Slow Recovery', focusing on triage.
The power up allowed the ability to focus on the most dangerous health issues first, with the goal of rapid recovery of critical issues over less important things like bruising or fatigue.
Whatever it was, improperly cooked fish, some parasite, whatever, he could feel some vague sense of 'I handled it' from his power.
That said, he took a break since he had to wait for health reasons anyway. Kaa was coiled up, and the insides of the coil was converted into something like an Indian tent, with a hole in the roof and a fire in the middle. Well, it was ALL fire technically, but normal flame stuff was being released in the fire pit made of fire metal in the fire house.
He absently used his power to make the mesh hammock sway. The thin fire material was warm and comforting, he had food, water, and shelter... even something like emergency health care.
What would be more important? Focusing on abilities related to movement, like flight or teleportation? Or something more sensing related, so he could find out if society was nearby?
He could always go the 'Burn Everything, Ride Kaa to Glory' option. If he was more confidant about what realm he was currently IN, maybe he could be that level of arrogant.
In the worlds of One Piece, Worm, Dragon Ball, or (heaven forbid) One Punch Man, his level of power was nothing right now.
In CSI, Detective Conan, Star Gate, Scooby Doo, etc... Well, he could be king if he wanted. Not that he would. Too much work.
Of course, it could just be an empty planet with no aliens. Which... would suck.
Absently he watched the 'Slow Recovery' pulse modifications, tiny as they were, flow through his system.
Realm hopping was a no go for a while. A long while likely. But even if nothing existed here but forest, one day he would grow strong enough to leave.
Falling asleep, he failed to notice a high altitude drone changing pattern above.
Then again, leaving a massive white line on the land leading to a glowing red snake wasn't exactly an under cover situation.
At least he was sleeping well.