I walked toward the horizon for what felt like hours. Since nothing around me changed, it was hard to tell how much time had really passed. However, something did happen shortly after killing the avian creature: the gauntlet on my right arm dissolved into red energy and was quickly absorbed into my body.
It caught me off guard. I felt as if some invisible pressure had been lifted from me, but at the same time, my body weakened. It was like losing adrenaline—like the strength I had felt just moments before was rapidly fading away.
I was uneasy. I had lost something that might have been the only thing keeping me alive—an ephemeral power that made me feel invincible. Still, I wasn't in a safe place. This wasn't the time to experiment or figure out how to summon the gauntlet again. I was exposed. Vulnerable.
Time passed until I reached an area with more terrain variation. Everything still looked the same—the same sand, the same rocks—but now those rocks were massive, and among them grew dull, almost-dead plants clinging stubbornly to life.
I approached a smaller rock formation. I kept my eyes scanning constantly—I didn't want to be ambushed again, especially without knowing if I could fight back.
The structure was nothing special: two medium-sized rocks leaning against each other, forming a crude little shelter, resting atop a larger stone that served as the base. It looked like an improvised room, about the size of a cheap motel room. The entrance was narrow, which I considered an advantage if more beasts appeared in this place.
An almost perfect refuge.
My eyes quickly scanned the interior as I already planned to stay there for a while. I would need to secure the entrance, but that could wait. For now, I needed to rest and organize my thoughts.
I sighed briefly. Then, I took a deep breath and started evaluating my situation calmly, trying not to fall apart.
"First of all, no matter how hard it is to accept, this doesn't seem to be Earth—or any real place. The absence of stars in the sky confirms it. Or… maybe it's some point far in the future, near the death of the universe due to its expansion and everything is just too far away? If not, then I'm in a fundamentally different place—perhaps a different plane of reality? Hell? The afterlife? That seems the most likely. Hell, I'd even believe I was thrown into another universe. It's not impossible," I said as the wound the avian creature left on me had already faded into a thin line, barely visible to my eyes.
"Second problem: that gauntlet appears to be my 'trap card,' but I have no clue how it works. The fact that it turned into energy and entered my body suggests it's still there... but I have no idea how to activate it. And honestly, leaving my life to chance doesn't sound like a good survival strategy," I said while my eyes never left the small cave's entrance.
"Third problem: I might be insane or mentally broken. The fact that I looked at blood with longing, and not only that but actually tasted it with enthusiasm, is not normal in any sense. For God's sake, I liked the sensation—even if the taste was awful—and that is the worrying part," I said, my expression twisting into unmasked disgust.
I sighed again. For now, all I can do is focus on surviving. The mental breakdown can wait.
I knew the local fauna was dangerous—the small creature that attacked me upon arrival made that abundantly clear—and although the same is true on Earth, at least there, humans rule the planet. We are billions. Here? I don't even know if humans are a dominant species… or if there are any humans at all.
So for now, survival is all I can aim for. And for that… I need the gauntlet. I have no weapons, no strength, no skills, no advantages—other than my ability to reason.
"This is so fucking frustrating." I said it out loud, even though no one was listening.
I knew what I was about to try was so absurd it would only work in some trash-tier Chinese web novel, written by a redhead with daddy issues and delusions of grandeur.
Meditation.
Searching for an energy I don't understand, in a world I don't know, using a body that doesn't even feel like mine anymore.
The idea felt ridiculous. Dumb. But beggars can't be choosers.
So I sat down, closed my eyes, and tried to focus inward. At first, I felt nothing. Just silence. No lights, no voices, no moments of epiphany—damn those Chinese novels had me on edge.
But after a minute, something changed.
You know that pressure you feel when you walk into a pool and try to move? That resistance, that subtle discomfort?
That's what I felt… only milder. As if something invisible was wrapping around me from all directions. I don't know what to call it, but it was there. Present. Subtle. Persistent.
And then I noticed something else: it was like I was oil and this energy was water. We didn't mix. The energy inside me—if that's what it was—was completely different. Not incompatible, but definitely different.
And now that I had "opened my eyes," so to speak, I was painfully aware of all these energies.
Like a deaf person suddenly able to hear for the first time—every sound would be irritating, chaotic, invasive.
That's exactly how I felt.
But at least now I knew I had something.
Magic? Maybe. I had no idea.
Most likely, it was that damn strange gauntlet.
I didn't know how to proceed.
Hell, I even tried saying "status" like in a system novel, but of course, nothing happened.
So I went with another manual trick: try to manipulate the energy in my body.
Or at least, try.
I focused, tried imagining it reacting… but nothing.
Minutes passed. Then hours. Still nothing.
Until—already frustrated, nearly giving up—something moved.
Just a whisper, a tiny tremor… but I felt it.
That sensation burned itself into my mind like a spark of fire in the dark.
Shortly after, the energy began to spin inside me.
Slowly. Clumsily. Like a tiny whirlpool or weak current.
I "watched"—if that's even the right word—as it moved, and as I realized I was the one making it move.
The rotation accelerated. Faster and faster. Until it was so fast that the energy seemed to be still again.
And then, it happened.
The dark gauntlet reformed, covering my arm from fingertip to well beyond my elbow.
As if it had never left.
And with it… came a voice.
A thunderous, imposing voice—and with it, that comforting strength.
One that gave me a clue—goddammit—about where I might be.
"BOOST."
That single word gave me a splitting headache.
Not because of the sound.
But because of what it implied.