Reed headed down the wide street in the direction away from the location which he had started at. He walked unsteadily between the rows of buildings, mustering what little energy and focus he had remaining to look inside windows and broken walls for anything of potential interest. It almost all consisted of, what could be considered in this world, typical rooms filled with recognizable furniture and odd decoration. As he meandered through the city, a familiar figure emerged from a connecting side alleyway.

The creature with its long, trailing amalgamation of arms spotted Reed the same time he spotted it. Being as close as they were, Reed was unable to react in time as the creature turned to a blur shooting towards him. He barely had time to raise his sword before the appendage speared him through the abdomen. With a surprising reaction time considering the terrible state he was in, Reed let the blade of the sword drop while adding whatever force he could manage and sliced through the conjoined arms that were impaling him. An inhuman shriek assaulted his ears, but he was too occupied at the moment to pay any attention to the creature. Reed furiously controlled his magic to keep his internal injuries at bay, trying his best to stave off death a little longer. Something rammed into him from the front, both bodies slamming to the ground. The creature, with a now significantly shorter arm amalgamation, viciously tore into him. He didn’t last long after that.

Reed shot up in his bed to panicked heavy breathing and the beginnings of a cold sweat. It took several minutes for him to calm down from having been torn to shreds. When he had gained some measure of respite, his brows furrowed together at the distinct lack of an alarm clock. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and checked the time. It was 7:45.

That couldn’t have been right. Even disregarding the time he had spent in the trancelike state training his powers — which he couldn’t determine the exact length of but was sure it had been at least several days — he had spent plenty of hours prowling the city. He was certain of it. And yet the clock indicated he had been asleep for what could only have been mere minutes.

Although now that he thought about it, the very first time Reed had fallen and been transported to the other world had lasted an absurdly short time as well. He had died rather quickly in that instance though, not to mention that the question of how time there translated to the real world wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. Why then had he slept through the night the other two times? The only answer he could think of was that the two instances in question were relatively tame deaths compared to the gruesome and traumatizing deaths that had caused him to instantly wake up. Of course, he was just guessing, but by the way things were going Reed would have ample opportunity to test his theory.

He got up and trudged into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. The heart-pumping burst of adrenaline he had woken up with was beginning to fade, and the sleeping pills he had taken less than an hour ago in the waking world were beckoning him back to the comfort of his bed. With eyelids growing heavier by the second, Reed jumped back onto his mattress and drifted off in a matter of mere minutes. Opening his eyes he was greeted by a fleshy light.

As he got to his feet, Reed made note of the fact that he wasn’t tired in the slightest. Not wishing to be spotted by the grotesque-armed creature, however, he didn’t stick around to ponder the observation. Instead, he again proceeded through the sequence of steps that had yet to fail him. He obtained a sword, waited for the creature to pass, and made his way to the second floor of the research facility. Again he snuck up behind the inert denizen and swiftly decapitated it. Reed climbed up to the platform above and sat down in the center yet again.

He immediately began making use of his magic, attempting to focus it throughout the entirety of his body to stave off thirst as he had briefly tried before. Doing so was immeasurably harder than healing a select wound, as Reed needed to affect practically every part of his body for this to work. He started with the minimal success he had achieved before, slowing down the rate at which his body grew dehydrated. But as he had with healing prowess, the effect of Reed’s magic had gradually increased. It took several days of slow improvement, but eventually, he reached a point at which when actively controlling his magic Reed’s thirst degradation would come to a standstill. In theory, he could survive forever without another drop of water.

The issue with such a statement, however, presented itself in the gnawing hunger pains within his stomach and the exhaustion of not having slept for days. Reed therefore altered the manner in which he willed his magic, changing it to stave off hunger. Due to how similar the process was to that of thirst, it took him mere hours to reach a similar level of proficiency. At which point he allowed himself to collapse to the floor for some much-needed rest.

When Reed awoke, both his thirst and hunger had grown to a painful level as he had been unable to use magic whilst asleep. He hastily sank back into training his powers, desperate to avoid having to find some way to kill himself rather than slowly starve to death. Reed attempted to merge the two effects he had been working on together and was successful, but doing so reverted the efficiency back to merely slowing down his body’s need for sustenance, albeit both needs at the same time. Reed’s condition continued to slowly worsen, nearing a point at which he would be unable to proceed training his powers when he finally reached the level of sustaining himself indefinitely.

Reed was exhausted yet again, but he couldn’t afford to lose access to his magic for the several hours associated with a quick rest. He pressed on, days flowing by under the unchanging light of the sky. Reed had lost all semblance of how long he had been sitting there, wracked by various forms of torture, but at some point, the constant burning dryness of his throat and piercing aches of his stomach were alleviated. Only slightly, but it offered him a glimmer of hope within his self-imposed hell. The severity of his hunger and thirst ticked down, little by little for as long as he could manage until he could force himself to stay awake no longer.

Reed was getting rather sick of coming to his senses lying on hard ground. He sat up and was pleasantly surprised at the fact that he felt… alright. He felt well-rested with a distinct lack of any pressing need for food or water, plus there were no wounds currently plaguing him. As Reed had gotten better at controlling his magic, his awareness during the process had likewise increased. It made him all the more aware of passing time, as well as the accompanying pain and monotony.

“What the hell are you doing to yourself?” He whispered to himself, staring out the window at the alien civilization before him. Berate himself as he might, Reed knew exactly why he was putting himself through such torture. Somehow he had gained access to this mysterious world and magical powers, which he would undoubtedly have to pay the price for eventually. But at the moment he had been given an opportunity to survive the harsh reality of the wider universe that he had been unfortunate enough to witness, and consequently live in fear of for years. He would do whatever it took to ensure his survival in such a world, and he would squeeze this nightmare of a place for every opportunity it could provide, regardless of the suffering it may cause him.

It was in this vein of thought that he resumed his sitting position and began a new line of experimentation.