I grunted as I held the red hot piece of scrap metal up to the stumb that was once my arm to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding, I bite onto the rag I had put in my mouth to not scream and alert any nearby enemies of my location.
Today had started normal, I'd gotten ready for school and had a hearty breakfast before grabbing my bag loaded up with all my supplies and had exited my house but instead of my door opening to show my neighbourhood it had instead opened to show a massive jungle with trees I couldn't see the tops of and plants I couldn't recognise.
I'd obviously stopped dead from the complete change of scenery and that had been a mistake as my momentary pause had given the local wildlife a chance to take a swing at me in the form of a massive bug like thing pouncing from the underbrush with mouth agape ready to make me its latest meal.
I was only luck that I survived the things assault as it's appearance had made me back up and trip on a root so instead of an instakill in the form of it slicing through my neck with its pincer like mouth it had instead cleanly sliced my left arm from the elbow down off.
I had screamed at the pain and that had made the thing even more aggressive so with more willpower than I had ever used in my life I ripped some of the fabric from my now stumb of an arm and shoved it in my mouth to shut me up.
The rest of the interaction had been a blur of running and stumbling out of the creature's attacks by the barest margin, all I really remember was tripping on a spike of metal while running and the bug like thing pouncing at me.
My fall had left the area the bug had aimed at completely void of my presence and instead of landing on me it slammed facefirst into a spike of metal similar to the one it tripped on.
The swift death of the create had allowed me time to catch my breath but had also given time for me to come down from my adrenaline high and for the pain and blood loss to finally kick in fully.
That is how I found myself using my lighter to heat the scrap metal I'd found to cauterize my bleeding stump of a left arm.
As the pain of he burning reached it peak I momentarily blacked out and found myself in a very blank space with only a table and chair Infront of me, I hesitated a moment but eventually sat at the table to which the once empty table was now full of a collection of different vials of liquid stars.
Just looking at them hurt my head but also gave me a very simple explanation of what they were, these vials were full of essance from the CYOA of the same name if slightly different.
Before me sat three essences, the essence of the crafter, the essence of the mad doctor and essence of the king. These essences combined to make me able to create anything at all and to summon the materials needed to create said thing, I was peak human and my body was sculpted to my tastes while my own abilities would pass to my children. My will was infinite along with my stamina and endurance, my mind was a steel trap of information that none could effect and my would was mine and mine alone.
I reached out with shaky hands and grasbed the essence of the king, it shone with gold stars and swirls of human potential made manifest. I took a deep breath and brought the vial to my lips and forced myself to drink it in its entirety.
Even as my throat seized and my entire body protested my actions I forced my body to move with willpower that grew greater by the second, when it's entire contents were tipped down my throat the vial dissolved into gold particles and my self expanded into something greater than it was, my moderately health body became a statue carved from stone by the divine while my soul grew to become humanity personified.
I felt as the essence tried to heal my lost arm but I pulled it back as I had plans for it if the next essence was as all encompassing as it seemed, other than my arm I let the essence run wild in my body as it optimised it to its fullest potential and beyond.
I grabbed the table Infront of me to steady myself and payed no mind as the table cracked from the force of my grip. I took a calming breath and opened my eyes, my once dull brown had become a bright iridescent topaz colour.
I steadied myself and reached for the next vial and with much less hesitation I knocked it back like a shot of whiskey. The change was less physical then the essence of the king but all the same it was an incredibly powerful experience.
My already expanded mind grew to become a machine able to encompass an entire planet to even begin to equal it's possessing power (that doesn't make the MC infinitely smart just really good at calculating things).
I felt a direction that didn't exist before become available for me to interact with, I knew instinctively that if I reached into this place while intending to create something I would be able to pull anything from this place, no matter it's rarity or impossiblity.
In my mind I felt millennia of experience in all things crafting form, I could not picture any faces or even remember any names but I had lived and unimaginable amount of time just creating things and maintaining them.
I didn't react as much from this influx of information like I did with the essence of the king so in much less time I was able to move to the last essence.
I grasped the vial and chucked it back in the same way as the last when I was flooded with a similar amount of knowledge as with the essence of the crafter but this time pertaining to all things biological and alchemical.
I was a master of anything from potions to creating homunculus, from supersoldier serums to super viruses like the blacklight. I was a master of all things relating to life and monsters.
I sat back in the chair I found myself in just taking in all the knowledge I had been given and already I could feel blueprints form for new prosthetics for my missing arm, amung them I found what I was looking for.
I felt myself start to wake up and with a sigh I braced myself for the flood of pain from the brunt stump.
My eyes snapped open and I could feel the pain yes but it was distant, like I could ignore it if I do wished. I focused on the blueprint I had found and customised for myself and let my mind fall into the process of creation.
I reached for the otherplace and from it I pulled a collection of materials I would need, from a bead made from crystallized time itself to a rod of mana steel I retrieved anything I would need for my new arm.