Leo had decided to spend the night in the tree. The wolves, it seemed, had left after a while, likely losing interest.
'I wonder how long I can keep this up. Even if I feel rejuvenated, I don't think I can drag this out forever.'
He was starting to feel weaker. His immortality, he realized, needed energy to maintain his peak form. He could probably go a week without food or water before things became serious, but he hadn't eaten or drunk anything yet. He was running on reserves. Once those ran out, every new wound would drain him further, making him weaker as his body began to consume itself.
As for his adaptability, it would help him—but not immediately. It needed time to adjust, leaving him with a dangerous window of weakness.
'Hopefully they'll give up after a while,' Leo thought, looking down.
For the next two days, he used the same strategy, moving from tree to tree whenever he got the chance. The wolves were unnaturally stubborn and kept following him.
He had no idea why. By now, any normal animal would have given up and gone to find easier prey, but these wolves showed no sign of leaving.
During those two days, Leo collected sharp stones and sturdy sticks whenever he could. It slowed him down, but he didn't mind. The wolves weren't the only things in this forest. He had already seen animals at least twice the size of their counterparts from Earth.
At one point, he even spotted a rabbit with a horn on its forehead and glowing red eyes, reaching up to his knee. The sight poured a bucket of cold water on his head. If even rabbits looked like that here, fighting was inevitable.
Now Leo sat on a branch with stones, vines, and sticks spread out in front of him. He had been gathering them since morning. Because he couldn't carry much in his hands at once, he'd had to climb up and down repeatedly, turning the whole process into something slow and exhausting.
The wolves were already back. Today, they just lay there beneath the tree, sleeping or resting, doing nothing in particular. Their pups were there too, running around and playing.
Leo didn't know why, but this time the wolves had brought the entire pack. The sight had startled him at first, but after everything he'd seen, he filed it away as just another fantasy-world oddity.
What actually bothered him was the pile of materials in front of him. He needed a weapon.
He stared at the stones, trying to remember anything—any scrap of knowledge that could help.
Then something clicked.
Bits and pieces of information surfaced in his mind. It wasn't much, but it was enough.
He picked up a smooth, hard rock.
'This should work as a hammerstone.'
Then he picked up a light blue rock—something Leo had never seen or heard of.
For one, it was too light, its weight comparable to a piece of paper. But the most surprising thing was its sturdiness. Leo had tried breaking it by smashing it against other rocks, but it didn't even have a dent. He didn't even know if the hammerstone could chip it.
The only reason he had some hope was that its edges seemed to have small cracks. He had been lucky enough to find a few of them in similar condition.
Leo placed the blue rock on the tree branch and started hitting the edges, trying to sharpen them.
He hit it for almost an hour, but it didn't crack at all. If anything, the hammerstone seemed to be the one cracking.
At this point, Leo was getting frustrated. He was tired, hungry, and in no mood to deal with this bullshit.
"Why won't you break?" Leo shouted angrily as he struck the rock with even more force.
This time, however, the hammerstone couldn't handle it and shattered into multiple pieces.
Leo just stared as the pieces fell onto the branch, then picked up another stone to use as a hammer.
He sighed.
Hours passed as Leo tried to chip the blue rock, everything ending in failure. He even tried using another blue rock to chip it, but neither of them budged.
In his frustration, Leo didn't notice when he picked up Rio and struck down toward the blue rock.
As Rio came into contact with the blue stone, its color seemed to dim slightly—then a small piece finally chipped off.
Leo looked at the fragment in amazement. Then he turned his gaze toward Rio, grinning.
"I knew you were my lucky charm."
After talking to Rio for a while, Leo continued chipping away at the blue rock using it.
However, when he finished shaping it, Leo noticed that the blue color seemed a lot dimmer, and the rock's weight had increased significantly.
'Hm, that's weird. I'm sure it was a lot lighter.'
Leo kept examining it for a while. After a bit of experimentation, he concluded that the rock had degraded in a way. For one, it felt less sturdy; it got a small crack after being hit by just three hammerstones. It also weighed a lot more than before—still light, but not as exaggerated as before.
He used Rio to sharpen the other blue stones, and the same thing happened each time.
For now, Leo didn't have the time or knowledge for a clear assessment, so he just logged it in his mind for future study when he had time.
Although the rock had degraded, it was still better than what he had originally planned for.
Once the chipping was done, everything else went smoothly, and after a few hours, he was finished.
________
Leo sat with a smile on his face as he looked at his creations lined up in front of him.
There were two daggers, a spear, and a necklace with Rio.
They weren't pretty, but they looked useful enough.
Leo picked up the spear and gave it a few experimental thrusts. He didn't know how good it actually was as a weapon, but it felt right in his hands. He tested the firmness of the blue stone embedded in the long stick and saw that it was solid enough.
He put down the spear and picked up the two daggers. He didn't have a sheath for them, so he planned to just wrap them with vines.
After testing the daggers for a while, Leo felt satisfied.
He had also wanted to create a bow, but he realized that he didn't have any suitable materials.
Leo then turned to the necklace and put it on. He knew there was something special about Rio and the blue rock.
'This is absolutely epic. I've upgraded from naked and defenseless to naked with toothpicks.'Leo thought smugly
Just as he was lost in thought, a sudden chill ran down his spine. Pure instinct made him duck.
Leo felt the air above him ripple as something shot past at high speed.
Whatever it was slammed into the trunk with a heavy thud.
Leo scrambled away from the trunk, gripping his daggers tight.
When he had gained enough distance, he finally got a clear view of the creature. It looked like a lizard, but it had the bulging eyes of a frog and claws almost ten centimeters long.
The lizard didn't give Leo any time to think. Its tongue shot out of its mouth at an astonishing speed.
Leo only managed to twist his body slightly as the tongue grazed his waist.
'Fuck, what was that?'
His waist burned where the tongue had grazed him. When he brushed the spot, his fingers came back wet.
'Great. Bleeding. Again.'
The lizard clung to the trunk, its frog‑like eyes bulging as they locked onto him. Its claws sank into the bark with a dry crack, wood splintering under the pressure.
Leo tightened his grip on the dagger. His hands were slick with sweat, his arms heavy from hunger and two days of climbing.
'I can't drag this out for long. I don't have the energy for a long fight.'
The tongue lashed out again.
This time, he was ready. Instead of jumping back, he twisted his body sideways, letting the tongue whip past his ribs. As it snapped back toward the creature, Leo swung.
The blue blade caught it.
There was a wet, slicing sound and a spray of dark fluid. The severed tip of the tongue hit the branch beside him with a sickening slap, twitching.
The lizard shrieked. The sound rattled his skull and sent a shiver through his already‑shaky legs.
Leo didn't wait.
He lunged forward along the branch, closing the distance while it thrashed. Every step made the wood bounce under his feet. The world swayed for a second as dizziness washed over him.
'Not now, goddamit.'
The creature swung a claw at him.
He dropped low, feeling the air tear above his head as the talons swept past. Bark and leaves exploded where they hit the trunk behind him.
Leo drove his dagger into its forearm as he slipped under the swipe.
The blue edge bit through the scales and managed to penetrate them, finding flesh, and leaving a gruesome wound. The lizard let out another ragged screech as blood gushed out from the wound.
Up close, its breath was hot and sour on his face.
Leo yanked the dagger free and hacked again, aiming for its chest, but the lizard jerked backward. His blade only scraped along its scales, carving a shallow line.
The branch shook violently as the creature shifted its weight, trying to regain balance and strike again. Leo's foot slipped on blood.
He stumbled.
A claw flashed toward his head.
He threw himself forward, too close now to dodge cleanly. The claw raked his back instead of tearing through his spine, white‑hot pain ripping a strangled gasp from his throat.
"Shit—!"
He crashed into the lizard's body, shoulder slamming into its chest. Instinct took over.
Leo drove the dagger up, straight into the side of its neck.
This time, the blade slid deep. Warm blood gushed over his hand, hot even in the cool forest air. The lizard convulsed, claws gouging furrows into the trunk as it thrashed.
The branch groaned.
Leo tried to pull the dagger out, but the creature's wild movements pinned his arm in place.
The wood beneath them cracked.
He had just enough time for one clear thought.
'Oh fuck.'
The branch snapped.
Everything dropped out from under him.
Leo felt the world lurch, leaves and sky flipping as he and the lizard fell toward the ground far below.
'I'm screwed.'