No matter how strange everything had been, he had managed to survive one more day on the other side of the portal. However, how much time had passed? Hours? Days? There was no way to tell, as the sun didn't follow Terra's twenty-four-hour cycle.
'I didn't know if it would work. The Northern Cold Tree has a composition that's extremely difficult to achieve. Looks like I'm pretty lucky.'
To put it simply, the existence of this cold tree was due to Nova's control over the Plantae Kingdom, an ability born from his control of Calem Energy.
Energy-based abilities allowed people to control aspects of matter and the planet's physical laws. For example, someone with the ability of pyrokinesis could create and control fire, manipulating the composition of combustion and other factors that generated flames.
Something similar had happened with Nova.
'I guess that's because I've been able to control plants since I was a kid… Thanks, Mom, for the free botany lessons.'
When someone becomes deeply attached to an aspect of physics and nature, they tend to learn how to control it. Since childhood, Nova had helped his mother take care of the house plants. That planted a small interest in the Plantae Kingdom within him.
As a strange and isolated child with little to do, he studied the planet's plants and learned how each one functioned. Well, that didn't mean Nova knew every plant on the planet—he simply studied the most interesting ones.
Among them was the famous Northern Cold Tree, which grew at the planet's North Pole.
'Even if it's not perfect, it saved my life.'
A tree with the ability to heal the wounds of biological beings—that was what it was. Its fruit worked like an elixir of life, capable of curing fatal injuries. However, something so valuable was also extremely rare.
Moreover, recreating one perfectly was completely impossible.
What Nova had achieved was nothing more than a cheap, low-budget replica. Considering the conditions under which this tree was born, that only made it worse.
'Now I just need to stay here. I'll let this miraculous tree heal my wounds with its magical snow, and then I'll be able to go home.'
He closed his eyes and rested.
The snow covered his wounds. The bones inside his body began to reconnect in a miraculous way. His body slowly healed—there was nothing else to do but wait.
It would take a long time, but for now, he could live.
***
Days? Weeks? It didn't matter. Once he had barely recovered, Nova prepared to continue his journey. He tore apart his trench coat and turned it into dozens of bandages to support his deteriorated body. His ribs still weren't fully set. His organs hadn't completely healed, but at least he could move now.
Using one of the tree's branches, he collected all the fruits hanging above.
'There's nothing here that would help me.'
The frozen corpse of the Aberration was nothing more than frozen meat.
'I could try eating its flesh, but I don't know if it'd be poisonous to my body.'
But there was one thing that would be useful.
He looked at a small piece of shell, conveniently shaped like a shield, with cracked edges.
'Looks like you'll be useful after all.'
With everything ready, Nova set off.
He now carried a sturdy staff made from one of the tree's branches. Anyone foolish enough to attack him would receive a solid blow to the head.
The fruits were also extremely important. They were juicy and provided enough liquid for the body. They also enhanced wound regeneration and refreshed the throat.
The small shell shield was a separate matter altogether.
Its outer structure was hard, while the inner structure was smooth and soft. Nova only needed to tie a rope made from scraps of his trench coat around the edges to carry everything as an improvised backpack.
'Now I have twelve Sweet Flakes. I need to protect them with my life—or my life will slip away if I lose them.'
It was better to be ready for anything. Even though he had started with just a few seeds, he now had food for several days, a weapon, and a shield. Excellent!
'My back feels really cool.'
Just touching the fruits produced a faint cooling sensation.
Speaking of that, as he walked across the sand, Nova remembered the day he learned more about this tree.
During secondary school, at fifteen years old, he happened to come across information about this tree in a book and decided to ask his teacher after class.
She was a very kind woman who loved being a teacher. She taught her students all kinds of things, especially topics related to nature.
The teacher told him everything that was known about the Northern Cold Tree.
The first tree had been discovered by an expedition group at the North Pole two centuries ago. Both the fruits and the tree were thoroughly examined until their powerful healing properties were discovered.
As an additional note, the tree emitted a dense yet pleasant amount of energy. It was deduced that the excess energy during the tree's growth was what gave it those properties. Biological beings, being part of that same energy, were healed by the fruits and the snow produced by the tree.
'Someday I should get my hands on a real Sweet Flake. Learning its composition through the communicator just doesn't work that well.'
He continued walking for hours. Those hours turned into days. As the fruits were consumed one by one each day, Nova began to think that moving away from the tree might not have been a good idea—but staying there hadn't been one either.
Apparently, everything in this world was a bad idea. Can't there be anything good here?!
Looking at the communicator, which was now down to less than half its battery, he saw that seven days had passed since he arrived in this world. It felt like much more, mainly because the massive sun never disappeared beyond the horizon. The absence of night stretched time unnaturally within his mind.
Now Nova was eating another fruit—he only had eight left.
The fruit's texture was somewhat firm at first bite, but as he chewed it became soft and juicy. Its fresh sweetness traveled across his tongue before fading down his throat. This fruit played a huge role in keeping Nova from dying of thirst, as it fulfilled the two core needs of survival: food and water in one.
'Oh, man. Even if it's a defective copy, it's delicious.'
In a situation like this, it was a feast worthy of the gods.
When it was time to rest, Nova used the shell shield to avoid burning his backside and ate his daily fruit to stay hydrated and nourished. He also made sure all his belongings were in order. He kept four seeds hidden in his socks and three more in his pocket—just in case of an emergency.
'Hm?'
In the middle of his calm, something disturbed his senses. A sensation clenched his heart, attacking him without causing pain.
Confused, he looked toward the horizon.
'There's something.'
An energy crawling along the ground—an energy very familiar to humans.
'It could be…'
An opportunity to escape.