The goblin lizard that I so aptly renamed as goblizard noticed me with my weapons standing and started giving low growls towards me. It seemed to notice I wasn’t as fearful but it was still hungry and my previous fear seemed to have eternally marked me as fodder.

It started walking towards me at a slightly fast crawl before it suddenly jumped using its powerful hind legs and flew in the air towards my thigh.

I had never fought jackshit in previous life so I did the only thing I knew. I swung madly towards the goblizard with my stick using it like a bat. I missed its head but still managed to hit the lower back close to the tail which luckily for me, sent it to my left side missing me.

Phoenix cried “ Jupiter now! Go hit it again and stab it! “

‘You go stab it! That thing looks like it can bite my goddamn face off!’ I bitch as I ran towards the unbalanced goblizard that landed on its side and smash my stick against its head which left the ugly thing confused from what I could tell. Adrenaline coursing through me I lifted my other hand holding the pointy rock and with all my strength drove it into the things neck.

I was still scared of the thing and didn’t know if I killed it so I just left the rock in its neck and started smashing my stick against it non-stop. It wasn’t the manliest scene but it was goddamn effective in my opinion.

About a minute later Phoenix had to yell at me to stop as I was going to turn its head into pulp otherwise and with that done. I had my first ever kill of anything larger than a common household spider. It felt oddly invigorating, the threat of death, the adrenaline and the joy of success. I wasn’t sure I could kill another human but technically, I don’t have to face that situation here which let my conscience clear of guilt or at least it does when it came to ugly goblizards!

I pulled the thing near where I was sitting and saw Phoenix spread a tentacle into the thing for a few minutes before it came back with “ I checked its abilities and it doesn’t seem to be useful to us though its overall strength is about a bit more than half of yours. We were lucky; it seems it’s on the lower end of the creatures here.”

I was curious at its inspection and asked “ How did you find out its overall strength?”

“Oh. I just did what I do when I check the other things we absorbed. My tentacles have receptors in them that allow me to look at muscle strength, brain anatomy, a brief scan over its genetic structure and its body’s ability to move and anything else that may seem unique.”

‘I guess that explains how it recognizes what I need when we gather stuff’ I thought.

“Though what exactly do you absorb then? Its genes?”

“Well, I absorb whatever the body of what I absorb uses as its basic building blocks such as nutrients, cells, organs or in some cases a specific gene itself though we haven’t gotten there yet as my precision needs to grow overtime but that’s how I generally do it. Followed up with my body converting all that into nutrients that our bodies are capable of absorbing. I have more receptors to absorb certain things with so in some cases I simply use myself as the medium to allow you to gain the benefits when your human cells won’t naturally absorb new and unique food.” It diligently explained.

It seems Phoenix really does work hard to help me get stronger. I couldn’t help but smile with a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.

“…Thanks Phoenix, I appreciate it.” I said softly.

“Hehe.” I felt Phoenix wiggling in my head and it seemed it was happy I thanked it.

“Now let’s be a little more prepared for next time!” I declared as I started using the plant fibers and started forming rope. It wasn’t the best quality stuff I made but with about an hour of twisting and tying I managed to piece together my bat with three pieces of sharp rock on opposite sides of the end of the bat and tied it all up with handmade rope.

The bat officially evolved into a spiked bat.

I lamented my idiocy at not having brought anything when I had so much cash leftover since I was going to leave the goddamn planet so I didn’t stop there as my worries with future monsters didn’t allow me to so I fashioned a nice little dagger with more stone and rope. Made a few sharp rocks to be used as projectiles and finally made a pickaxe looking thing to have as a backup. The whole process took about 3 hours starting with my spiked bat but it made me feel safe and luckily no other goblizards showed up in the meantime. Some may think one weapon is enough but that’s bullshit as you never know what you would face and so much could happen when running away or in a fight that I wanted to be extra prepared so that my little human life doesn’t die on this planet without anyone ever knowing I was here.

The odd sun was still high in the sky a little past midpoint so I figured it was afternoon. The days here seemed a little longer which Phoenix confirmed from comparing it to the two days it spent on Earth and the speed of the current suns movement but it needed a full day to pass before I can get a specific number of hours.

With all my gear in check, I skinned the lizard and kept the claws as material for a future tool and tried to make a fire to try and eat some meat which slime god reassured was edible.

‘Handy is what Phoenix is.’ I realized as Phoenix was able to always check whatever we kill or inspect for poison or harmful effects in my body which was super convenient. I would have probably died a good 30 times just from trying to make rope without Phoenix which was a scary thought.

Now onto the problem at hand “How to make fire?”

“Phoenix, you have any ideas? Should I try to use friction on the wood like on Earth?” I asked as I didn’t know if the same rules even applied to this place but I was left stunned at the reply.

“Yeah, you could though why don’t you just use your energy on some wood and light it up?”

‘Holy SHIT!’ An explosion went off in my head as I was told I could already use my energy to make a fire! Fire! The hallmark moment of cavemen! The tool with which humans had slayed winter! The power of the sun! FIRE!

Yes. My mind got a little overly excited once more at the idea of burning a path on my new life on whatever planet this was but I considered it a fairly normal reaction.

I went on to asking how it was that I start fire with my energy and was shocked again.

“Wait, you don’t already know? You still had an energy value of 1 on Earth didn’t you?” Phoenix asked confused at my question.

“Uhh…” My head looked down, my expression full of sadness at that remark.

“We didn’t really have a way to use that energy, if anything the best we had were unproven rumors of some people using it to heal others or a monk who set himself on fire.” I muttered an explanation.

All I got after that was a simple “Oh” but it felt like I was being judged and ridiculed even more as some backwater bumpkin which left a sour taste in my mouth.

“Uhm… Do you know how?” I ask hoping to change the subject quickly.

“Of course I do. I am Phoenix! Unlike some people I still have skill.” Phoenix answered with pride and a slight disdain at my lack of ability which further worsened my mood.

‘I knew it! Slime overlord is just a big dick! So much for that kindness crap, probably all a ruse.’ I grumbled internally at being mocked. It’s not my fault we were so inapt at causing fire with our bodies. Its fire for god sake!

“Don’t worry Jupiter, here let me show you a little bit how. It’s quite simple really, just gather the energy you have. It should be around your core usually, then let it flow through your body and into your fingertips and then just focus on using it to manipulate the area around your finger to vibrate at faster and faster rate until it sparks into fire. Having a mental image of fire helps direct the energy better as well into getting the desired results.”

‘Well that doesn’t sound too hard, actually.’ I thought with some relief but after a good half an hour of trying I was left with a grumpy Phoenix and a sullen face.

I was cursed at by Phoenix as completely untalented and useless once again. I didn’t know why but I just never managed to feel this energy, I was told it’s subtle but why the fuck does it have to be borderline invisible!