Unexpected Encounters

The first thing that greets me is heat. I open my eyes and see nothing but sand in every direction, and my heart plummets. I had been spawned in a desert!

Quickly realizing how screwed I was, i do the only thing I know for sure will help. Walk towards the setting sun.

I'm kind of up set that stupid Guide even knew the sun would be setting, but didn't tell me about the desert..

Taking stock of the situation realized at least two of my active abilities would be unhelpful right now. First, because there were no shadows in the desert , Shadow Meld. Second, because of the sand mixed with extreme heat and lack of water, Fleet Footed. I curse realizing that all of my speed and Agility in general will be ineffective thanks to the desert.

The heat is almost unbearable, and since I spawned naked I was afraid of what the sun would do to my sweat drenched skin. If I made it out of here I very well may be burnt to a crisp.

That line of thinking and the realization that I had only a dim idea of how to use my active skills, made me want to start messing with Solid Energy.

Walking towards the setting sun, I look at my hand and start to try and pool energy into my right palm. Slowly I began to see what looked like a pea beginning to take shape in my palm! I was so overwhelmed that my loss of concentration made the energy disperse. Even still my enthusiasm was uncurved! Just like most guys my age, I grew up playing RPGs and dreaming about using the kinds of magic i would read about in the fantasy novels I was obsessed with! Now here I was walking through a desert practicing what could only be called as magic!

I try again. This time stopping in place not only to rest but to use my full attention on the task at hand. If it wasn't for the fact that every time I took a skill or passive during my Beginning, I was given general info about each skill and how to use it, theres no way I could make it a whole day out in these conditions.

The energy pools on my hand again reached the size of a pea. This time i pour my whole consciousness into the job! knowing that if I fail i would probably die. The energy reaches the size of a marble, then a golf ball. Each time it got bigger I felt just a little weaker. When it reached the size of a base ball the true work began.

Taking a risk, I begin to stretch the green energy across my body. The result I was aiming for was to be covered head toe with just my face exposed.

Somehow I achieved just that. Even adding a bill like a base ball hat, so that my face would have some protection.

I felt a little tired when I finished but it wasn't very noticable. What I did notice though was that I no longer felt like a frying egg! Unbelievably my gamble worked! Solid Energy as i understood it absorbed damage dealt to it in exchange for a corresponding amount of my energy. Therefore the heat damage I was taking from the sun would be absorbed by Solid Energy!

Moving forward after even covering my feet with Solid Energy I felt alot more hopeful after solving one problem so fast. Though the water issue would be a matter of luck. If there was no water between here and the warp town then there was no way I would make it. And if i deviated off course then i would definitely get lost...

The sun set with those thoughts muddling around in my head, making me depressed. Luckily right before the sun set below the horizon I was able to see a bright star directly south and continue my journey.

Traveling at night was not much better. The desert quickly became cold. I could feel my energy reserves depleting as Solid Energy consumed them while absorbing the damage I would've taken.

Walking for hours while being sure to never lose sight of one specific star in the sky was exhausting. I was so focused on the star that I almost didn't see the lights angling my way from the right. Almost.

The time spent walking through this barren wasteland left me with nothing productive to do besides think about my newfound skills, giving me some ideas of how to defend myself if it came to it.

The lights keep closing on me. Theres three of them, each at the point of a right triangle, with the right angle pointing up.

I stop and put my hands together. I begin to pool more energy into my hands to turn solid. I gather much more than I did for my suit. This time noticeably depleting my energy reserves. Though not enough to effect my movements.

By this point i can see that it appears to be a lizard man whose riding some kind of hover bike, the lights are coming from its head lights. The bike is headed straight for me and i can see that the lizard man pulls a long two handed sword from behind his back. judging from his actions and the fact that hes still on a collision course with me i determine that his intentions are anything but pure.

 so i do the only thing i can think to do in this situation, i begin to form the energy iv been accumulating into a large wedge like ramp in front of me, connecting it to both of my arms and extending it over top of my head.. 

 i complete the ramp right as the hover bike is upon me and crouch to my knees to brace for impact. now i dont know if the lizard man didnt see my actions or if hes just to confident in the power of his vehicle, but he nails the wedge head on. Immediatly i feel a huge reduction in my energy from the impact and even slide back a few feet as my arms collide against my chest but i gain my desired effect. The spine of the wedge causes the bike to careen off at an angle as the bike goes airborne, which causes the the bike to flip over on its side in the air before its smashes onto the ground with the rider underneath of it. Both rider and bike slide several feet before coming to a stop.

 I immediatly retract the wedge and pull the energy back into myself as i learned to do from the information that entered my mind when i chose the skill. Doing so allows my to regain some of the energy i put into crafting the construct. After doing so i form a small knive in my and and go rushing over to the man that is trying to disentangle himself from underneath the bike. With the lizard man facing away from me as i approach him i use all my strength to plunge the knife into the mans back. fearing that once is not enough i continue to do it multible times until i feel the man collapse onto the sand with greenish blood flowing in all directions.

 i crouch there for a few seconds as the adrenaline slowly dissipates from my body when realization dawns on me.. i just killed someone for the first time. i then jump to my and put distance between me an the corpse before collapsing to my knees to throw up all of the acid in my stomach. I kneel there for a few minutes dry heaving before falling onto my back panting heavily, felling mentally spent from all the thoughts going through my mind about what i had just done.