Infinite Evolution: Return of the Talentless Mage-Chapter 29 - 0. Night has arrived!

With little time left, he had no time to ponder on the idea that had just crossed his mind. He had to act on it with immediate effect, and hope that it worked out for him because his survival depended on it.

’Alright, I can do this....Just breathe in and breathe out, how hard could it be?!’

He broke the brittle sticks into smaller shards so they could comfortably fit into his hand without pricking his skin. Then he held them tight, covering his hands to avoid the cold moving through.

’Now, concentrate as you did back at the second shed, but this time differently. Project an image of a ball in your hands, a hot ball rolling in your folded hands’

He closed his eyes, keeping them tight for the process. His mind portrayed an image, but his thoughts weren’t stable. Even though it was little, he had fear in him. Fear that something could attack him while he closed his eyes to generate the flame.

’Come on, Ralph! You can do this!. You have to do this!’ He cheered himself, aiming to motivate himself further for a better product.

He flexed his hands, stretching them to ease off the anxiety and stress and tried again. He made the image the only thing he thought of, but the slow movements in the bushes kept his mind from going that far and he ended up failing again.

’How can I do something I have never done before..! There’s no time for trial and error! This has to work one way or the other, you have no choice here in the wild Ralph!’

’You’ve got one more try, do it!’ He folded his palms tighter this time, cold sweat cascading down his temples. His body was slowly burning energy with each try he made and failed.

He slowly got tired each time, exhausting the built-up life energy within him. He didn’t have many tries left, if he burnt too much, he would collapse and maybe die, especially with no food to regenerate from.

The image in his head burned bright this time, the distracting thoughts in his head were shifted aside. The only thing clouding his mind was the image he thought of, and slowly his hand became warm.

But he didn’t stop there, even though he noticed the exhaustion was becoming worse. He continued, the sweat cascading down his temples increased.

His arms began to ache, and his energy depleted drastically but he continued with the image until he felt a small spark of heat.

He didn’t open his eyes even though he very much wanted to, he wanted to see his progress but if he opened his eyes, even for a minute. He would lose it all, with no energy left to try again.

’Almost there Ralph, I can feel it. Just keep your mind concentrated on the image you see!’ He motivated himself mid-thought.

The spark grew fiery, burning his hands slightly but he kept going. His body was now wet with cold sweat as more trickled down his forehead.

Then a surge of heat escaped his palms and he dropped it immediately on the firewood, almost missing the shot by an inch. "Great heavens that was close!!, Imagine if I missed that shot!"

The small flame grew bright, burning through the cold. He covered the heat with his palms, watching it grow brighter by the second until it was bright enough to burn on its own.

While he nurtured the flame, a sudden rustle in the bushes behind him caught his attention and he turned as quickly as he could.

He rushed without thought and drew the creature out of the bushes with his night meal in its mouth, about to chew. It skidded on the ground, the lifeless snake falling off its mouth in the distance.

"Thief!" He yelled at the creature, even though it had no way of understanding or communicating back. Days of staying alone in the forest messing with his mental health.

The creature came into the limelight, and from its features, it looked like a wolf in comparison. It had the facial description of a wolf, a long muzzle with a nose at the tip, long ears and a body similar to a dog.

Under the moonlight’s glow, it was green on the top fur and grey on the other half of its body. It had black eyes and a fractured leg, like it was wounded.

It looked hungry, ribs protruding from its skin despite the fur. It was whimpering, trying to balance its weight on its leg.

Seeing the injured creature, Ralph had no choice but to feel empathy for it though it was still a wild animal. He left it alone, erasing the thought of harming it and went on to pick up his night meal from the forest floor.

He staggered to the flame, hunger already catching him by the gut, pulling all his energy to the bottom. He didn’t waste another second, he took a stick and stabbed through the lifeless snake and set it above the fire.

He turned and noticed the limping beast had moved closer to him, even though he was a potential predator at the moment.

"Shuu!!" He chased it off, watching it skiddle away in fear. ’If it stays close to me and I get hungry, it might just be my next meal. It’s best if it leaves before that happens.’

He turned back to the fire and his roasting dinner, and black marks had started appearing on one end of the snake. It was slowly getting ready for eating.

Soft whimpering sounds came from the bushes, and he realised the beast cub was hungry too. He glanced at his dinner and noticed it wasn’t enough but his conscience pricked at him.

’Sometimes all they need is the energy to kill you.’ He remembered a wise word someone once told him.

He decided to ignore the cries and focus on his meal. When it was ready, he took it out of the fire and divided it into pieces, sticking them on sticks so he could eat them.

More whimpering sounds came from the bush and he got frustrated and called out the creature.

"Fine!, Come take a share and leave me alone." He tossed one of the meats at the creature.

It was scared to approach it at first but the smell drew it closer until he saw it chewing on the roasted meat he prepared.

He watched it eat, taking his own bites to fill his stomach and refill his energy. He couldn’t help but chuckle softly, it somehow reminded him of his situation.

"How does it taste? Good?!" He questioned it with a smile.

It didn’t answer because it couldn’t, but it barked loudly, chewing on the last part of the meat and hurrying to him for more.

"Eyy, eyyy, I got no more. This last one is for myself, I need it more than you do!"

But soon after he found himself feeding it the other half of the stick, and watching it eat. "Ahh, I’m too soft for this world!"

After he was done filling his stomach with the little he had, he brought his bag closer and lay his head on it, forcing himself to sleep.

The cold was spreading, despite the fire being so close to him, at this point he didn’t know how else he would survive the night. He left everything in the hands of fate and fell asleep.

Soon after he dozed off, the cub moved closer to him, and its eyes glinted bright green under the moonlight as it stared at him.