"He needs to replenish his heat in time, but for now, the humidity within this cave is too high. The branches he gathered previously may not be able to ignite. Arthur, you have to figure out a solution, otherwise he might die."
"But what can I do? I... I can't make those branches ignite either? I can control water, but not fire..." Arthur seemed anxious, but Shiller remained calm as he said, "That's true, you can't ignite the branches in the humid air, but you can make the air less humid."
At this, Arthur suddenly went blank. Then, he stood up with a start and began pacing in place, saying, "Right, exactly! I can control water, so I should be able to do the same with the water in the air. Let me try..."
Arthur closed his eyes and focused, trying to recall the sensation he had when he manipulated water in the stream. Soon after, many small water droplets appeared in the air, congealing into a large sphere of water that was slowly moved out of the cave by Arthur's control.
He heaved a sigh of relief, looked down at his hands, and showed a joyful expression. He turned to Shiller with shining eyes saying, "My god, professor, I never thought I could do this..."
However, to his surprise, Shiller furrowed his brow. He put out One Hand, seemingly to feel the air, then shook his head, saying, "No, that's not enough. Trying to dry out the cave won't work. The storm outside is constant and the humid air will keep seeping in."
This crevice could hardly be deemed a true cave, as caves must have depth within. But here, it was clearly a narrow crevice formed by faulting and displacement of the rock layers during geological formation. Though small for the mountain, it provided barely enough space for a human to take shelter.
It was a tight fit, with basically no space left over when three people, two standing and one lying down, were inside. If they tried to squeeze five people in, at least one person would likely get wet.
In an open space like this, total isolation from the water vapor is impossible, and the crevice's entrance is almost the same width as its deepest part, so there are no means to block the entrance with a door. There simply aren't enough materials here for it, and no naturally occurring materials would be sufficiently waterproof.
After some contemplation, Shiller decided to slightly expand the cave and create a space larger than the entrance at the back. Still, to achieve this, they needed to use Gray Mist.
Although Gray Mist doesn't like to eat rocks, he can indeed engulf the mountain into himself and then dissolve it. After Shiller dispersed himself into Gray Mist, the components of Gray Mist seeped into every nook and cranny of the rock wall behind him.
Almost instantly, the rock wall of a hemispherical area behind them vanished out of thin air, turning this place into a genuine cave, with a relatively small entrance and a much larger inner space.
Arthur moved the weak and feeble Oliver to the back of the cave.
But another issue was that they had to find something to block the cave's entrance. Shiller thought for a moment, then transformed himself into Gray Mist again. After settling down at the entrance, a transparent crystal began to grow across it until it was completely blocked, leaving only a small opening on the right side.
Yes, it was the Kryptonite Crystal, the leftovers from what Gray Mist had eaten before. Though not much was left, the crystal wall that Shiller crafted was not thick. Its connection with the cave was simply very sturdy, and it remained intact against the storm.
Thus, Arthur could use his water-control ability to remove all the damp air in the cave, finally allowing them to use some branches for a fire.
After the fire was lit, Oliver instinctively moved closer to it. Having warmed up a bit, his spirits lifted somewhat, and he uttered in a hoarse voice, "Thank you for saving me..."
Arthur shook his head and said, "We're far from being done. We need to get you out of here and back to a regular city."
Shiller stood by the wall formed by the crystal, looking out through the transparent Kryptonite at the tropical storm reaching its peak outside. Once tall trees and shrubs lay flat on the surface of the earth, as if worshipping the relentless power of nature.
He heard Oliver's conversation with Arthur behind him. Oliver said, "My arrogance and pride have led to this. I totally brought it upon myself..."
"After I took over my parents' corporation, I thought myself quite a business genius and ignored anyone who tried to advise me otherwise. I accepted many orders beyond our capability..."
"My stubbornness resulted in mismanagement of the company, leading to layoffs and pay cuts. But I still lived a life of luxury and leisure, sailing yachts for fishing..."
"Then, I was pushed off the boat by a disgruntled employee..."
The sound of Oliver's voice, weakened by fatigue, seemed as distant as a faint sigh from deep within the cave. He said,
"If only to carry on in pain like this, I'd rather drown in the sea..."
Shiller turned around and, seeing Oliver's expression, knew that Oliver's will to live was not strong, unlike himself when he had to deal with the gunshot wound.
Back then, perhaps due to the pain, he had no mind to think about anything else, with his only thought being to survive. As such, he was able to endure the pain and bleeding, even struggling to take care of his wound.
But once he relaxed and had nothing to do, he would start to overthink, feeling choked by the pain, and thinking it would be better to end this hopeless struggle sooner.
Shiller walked over and crouched next to Oliver, saying, "I have some bad news for you. Before we arrived at this island, we ran into some drug traffickers who destroyed our boat."
"That is to say, we're also stuck here... Don't look at me like that. Let me tell you, our superpowers are not strong enough to fly us back to America from here."
"And, as you can see, both of us come from big cities and have no experience surviving in the wild. If you die now, we both might end up dying here."
Oliver's eyes widened. After a long pause, he breathed a long sigh, slowly sitting up and saying, "That is indeed bad news."
"So, if you've rested enough, would you mind sharing how you managed to survive here for the past three months?"