'Guess I'll come back tomorrow.'
The result of the appraisal was not as bleak as the night, however. Kivas noticed that the material of the crystal was very similar to the rainbow ore that he had dug up today. It was just a hunch, but Kivas thought that carving and processing the ore into the same form as the crystal on the stone mask might be the key to solving this puzzle.
'The crystal shape is not naturally formed through crystallization nor manual carving. It actually looked as if it was melted and molded.' Kivas went into deep thoughts as he practiced his spectral limbs control by doing pull ups on the nearby tree.
Despite being awfully bad at being a biologist, Kivas had a great interest in minerals and archaeology back then. Albeit for only a week, but it seemed like most of his memories of his former life were fully resurfaced like it was all brain new. He even remembered the time when he was one month old.
Everything that he read for a few seconds looked clearer than the modern camera inside his head. It could actually be said that he had acquired a photographic memory after he got put into this body, but it was only the memory of his former life. In this cycle of continuous death and revival, he managed to forget or even rightfully ignored the detail in front of him like a proper person does.
'Then again, how come a mineral became clearer when it was melted in a forge? It didn't shine as much as the one I got in my miniature cavern. Maybe because of the differing quality and concentration? After all, this is a world where things like Deadcraft and Woodcraft or whatever-it-was-actually-called exist, along with monstrously sized beasts roaming around a perfectly balanced forest ecosystem.'
And that was the result of today's exploration. As of now, he had two purple orbs in his position. Seeing how the boons' symbol on both orb were definitely that of Boon of Constitution with exterior body parts business, Kivas decided to hold them off for a while.
None of them were [Blight Expansion] too.
'I already have the greatest boon yet, so having bad rolls won't affect my gratitude for living.' Kivas nodded in agreement to his own as he did a handstand with one of his four spectral limbs.
He also noticed that the light of the sword symbol on his torch's stem had already been filled up to more than half and a quarter. Seeing the consistent rates of increases, Kivas deduced that it would be fully filled in 24 hours.
Which meant that he got to use those 20 seconds of high destruction potential two times a day at most. Although, seeing how the light had already filled half of it, Kivas could use it anytime today.
After another hour of soaking on the cold river, Kivas entered his miniature cavern and knocked himself to sleep.
He had awoken after 4 hours of sleep but he decided to sleep again because he felt like it.
Just as the sun rose to greet a new day, Kivas crawled out of his hole and began to stretch his legs.
'Do this body even needs stretching…'
It was his second day of staying alive, and to reward him, the Torch of Blight gave him a purple orb for his effort.
'So the second purple orb for staying alive is precisely 24 hours and 24 minutes. That is too much of a leap from the first.'
He then commenced his instinctive routine.
Working out.
Right after his morning feast-slash-bath near the waterfall, he used all methods to increase the proficiency of his ethereally linked limbs control. From the usual maneuvering training and climbing the cliff of the waterfall with his sharp quadpod legs like hooks, he also tried knotting a nearby vine to increase his dexterity.
'If possible, I need to be proficient enough to knit a sweater for myself!'
There were no animals that produced wools or the likes in this area, but Kivas hoped that he would find one.
Although the main perpetrator of why he didn't meet more dwellers of the forest was actually because of his Impurities that were trailing his path and danced its strokes in the air. Let alone docile animals, even predators were avoiding him like a plague.
The only thing that he could approach face to face was the Bonguses and the Snappy Plants. The thing is, the Bonguses behaved like they were the only living thing on this world, and the Snappy Plants were just plants.
In the middle of knitting practice, Kivas noticed a rustling on the nearby bush. He immediately went checking it out, only to be welcomed with a smoke bomb and a cries of someone running way from him.
'That is, actually rude. Very rude, even.'
Not interested on someone who sneaked and throw a smoke bomb on his face, Kivas ignored that event and continued his morning activity.
"Huf! Huf! What in the Angra Mainyu was that!?"
The appearance of a petite female with fluffy teal hair and an exploring cap with round rodent ears passing through the fabric. Strapped tools and poaches were everywhere latched onto her body. After running for a couple more meters, she was halted near a tree and took a breather, trying to settle down her anxiety.
"Urgh, this is the worst day I've experienced yet." Drool of hunger and exhaustion fell down from the edge of her mouth. "My map is gone, and someone teleported me into the Rakhasa Forest, the only place where its biome I haven't studied yet!!" With a face full of anguish, she faced the tree and knocked on the tree with great frustration. "Urgh, everywhere I look there are carnivorous plants! And the Sakhta Dragons are everywhere!
"I have no ration, and the latest fruit that I picked turned out to be poisonous." She ended up letting her tears flow down without much resistance, as she leaned her cheek to the tree and slowly slid down. "My Comms Sorcery is not working, and it seemed like nobody noticed that I've been missing for the last few daaaaaayyysss…!"
She felt a wet object rubbing against her cheek. It was only that he realized that the tree she was leaning was one of the Grabby Lechompskis.
"HIIIIIIIIIKH-"
Her body was immediately wrapped in vines, ready to be devoured like a hot dog at any time.
Few meters away from that incident, was the very same creature that she had just smoked. Kivas stood still in confusion, wondering how the situation came to this.
'What the hell I'm looking at.'
Sending out one of his spectral limbs, the vines were cut horizontally, barely giving any wound to the rodent lass. Further from that, the sharp and heavy xeno-crustacean leg of his had managed to pierced through the flesh of the plant rather gruesomely, leaving a large hole in its wake.
The vines and the mouth of the Grabby Lechompski was still moving, so Kivas sent another leg missile and butchered up the carnivorous tree like a puppeteer with his puppet being the mini version of Hellfire Missiles.
'I guess that is the karma for throwing smoke bomb at elderly.' Kivas nodded in agreement to himself.
Kivas planned to leave this rodent lass alone immediately, but after seeing how his torch gave him a purple orb for saving her, he decided to drag the half rodent child back near the river where she wouldn't accidentally kill herself in any kind of way.
That was three purple orbs in his possession as of now.
'She has the face equal to that of a modern teen who won't keep yapping and has an annoying intonation when talking. Not to mention, this kind of clueless creature would end up accidentally eating a poisonous fruit and gladly walk towards any psychedelic trap that can affect the human mind in the slightest. Does she really think that exploring the wild is the same as walking in her backyard??'
Kivas noticed a lot of tools and equipments in her possession, despite the initial impression of her being this good for nothing brat.
'Huh? A pick, a mini shovel, something that might work as a fire starter? Wait, is that a compass of this world?'
It was at this moment, that Kivas unknowingly tangled himself into his first major crisis.