Chapter 2 – First Day
The smell of damp earth and rotting leaves was the first thing he felt.
Then came the cold.
He opened his eyes again. This time there was no crystal-clear water, no divine light. There were tall trees, a green canopy blocking the sun, slippery moss beneath his bare back, and the distant sound of running water.
And he was completely naked.
He sat up slowly, feeling his body respond differently. Lighter. Denser. His muscles didn't ache, despite having woken up on top of rocks. When he ran his hand across his chest, he noticed the definition was far more pronounced than before. Broader shoulders. A more defined waist.
He stood and walked toward the river he could hear nearby.
The water was clear enough to reflect his image.
He stopped.
The man staring back wasn't quite the same one who had died in the hospital. His hair was now a vivid blue, identical to the goddess's. His eyes, the same crystalline color. His face looked sharper, more harmonious. Flawless skin. His entire body had gained volume and proportion, as if someone had sculpted an improved version of him.
'So the contract really worked… at least the aesthetic part.'
He touched his own chest, right at the center.
There, deep in his chest, was something. A small warm source of light, pulsing very slowly. It didn't hurt. It didn't burn. It just… existed. Like a second heart made of light.
'What is this?'
He didn't know. Not yet.
But he set it aside for later.
Survival first.
He'd watched too many seasons of *Naked and Afraid* to die of hunger, cold, or exposure on the first day. His mind began working automatically.
'Shelter first. Then water. Then food. Tools somewhere in between.'
He studied the terrain calmly. He needed somewhere dry, ideally with some natural protection from wind and rain. He found a small rise near the river, where the roots of a large tree formed a partial wall. Perfect.
He got to work.
He broke off long, flexible branches. He wove them between the roots and nearby trunks, creating a basic A-frame structure. Then he covered it all with layers of large leaves, moss, and tree bark for insulation. On the ground, he made an improvised bed from dry grass and more leaves. It wasn't comfortable. But it was dry and blocked the wind.
'Good enough. I won't die of hypothermia today.'
Only after finishing the shelter did he go looking for tools.
He found a straight, fairly thick branch. He broke it to the right length using his knee and a rock. Then he found a sharper stone and began chipping the tip, patiently. It wasn't pretty. But it was a spear.
'Now we're talking.'
He moved through the forest carefully, stepping only where the leaves were damp so as not to make noise. He watched the wind. He watched the tracks. He watched the animals' natural paths.
The first rabbit appeared almost an hour later.
He didn't chase it. Instead, he positioned himself downwind, waited for the animal to get distracted by a root, and threw the spear with precision. The rabbit died instantly.
'One.'
He cleaned the animal with a stone flake, made a small fire using the bow-and-board method, and roasted the meat. He ate slowly, chewing well.
After the rabbit came another. Then a third. Once his body was fed, he decided to raise the stakes.
He found bigger tracks. A young boar.
The fight was harder. He used the terrain to his advantage: he pushed the animal toward a slope, made it stumble over roots, and finished it off with the spear to the neck. He came away with a few scratches, but alive, and with enough meat for two days.
'That should give experience… if the system works the way I remember.'
Now came the important part.
He sat at the river's edge, washed his hands, and closed his eyes.
'Time to test the contract.'
First, the most basic thing he remembered from Aqua.
He filled his hands with dirty river water — muddy, full of leaves and small insects — and brought it to his mouth.
The instant the water touched his tongue, something happened.
A gentle warmth rose up his throat. The water in his mouth cleared on its own, as if filtered by some invisible force. The taste of earth vanished. It became pure. Clean. Almost sweet.
He swallowed.
'Purify… it worked.'
His chest throbbed faintly, the source of light pulsing stronger for a second.
He smiled.
Then he tried something else.
He stretched his hand toward the surface of the river and murmured, almost voiceless:
"Create Water."
The water rose in a small vortex, obedient, forming a floating sphere the size of a basketball. He held it in the air for several seconds before letting it fall back.
'That works too.'
He tried more.
"Heal."
He placed his hand over a deep scratch the boar had left on his arm. A soft blue light enveloped the wound. The skin closed before his eyes, leaving only a thin pink line that soon faded.
His chest throbbed again.
He sat there for a long while, testing everything he could remember.
Water. Purify. Basic healing. Create Water. Even a weak improvised "God Blow," which made the river's surface explode in a column of water with surprising force.
Each time he used a power, the source of light in his chest pulsed a little stronger.
He still didn't know what it was.
But he knew one thing:
The contract had worked.
And he was still only at the beginning.