Chapter 2: Chapter Two

"Fuck!!!" I screamed under my breath as I stepped on another sharp rock and hopped around on one foot.

I'd stepped on dozens of rocks during my hour or so walking through the forest.

They did no damage, not able to pierce or even mildly irritate my enhanced skin. Despite that, it still felt like I had stepped on a lego each and every time.

I huffed. "Would it have been too much to give me some damn clothes? Hell, I'd be okay with just some crocs."

"I've gotta figure something out," I mumbled to myself.

I was supposed to be able to create things out of nothing as long as I knew the materials. My body just so happens to be made of materials, so I should be able to use that to at least make some basic clothing.

"Now I just have to figure out how this works," I mumbled as I reviewed my skills. "Hmm... Convert mana into things in my database... I somehow know that the database is empty. Probably the coprocessor telling me that. Just have to use my Analyze skill then."

I focused on the skill with the intent to use it on my body.

My mana was consumed, and a huge amount of information about my body flooded my mind. My coprocessor picked up the data, sorted and categorized it, then stored it all away without needing conscious input from me.

I raised a foot and imagined a basic shoe, really nothing more than a sock with a thicker and more sturdy sole. I figured it was better to start small and simple.

With the image locked in my mind, I activated Synthesize.

The skill took my basic design and prompted me for additional details I quickly provided.

I watched in awe as my conduits briefly flashed a soft blue, and the item I imagined materialized on my foot.

"Holy shit," I whispered.

I then began the process of getting myself fully covered.

Deciding to go with a similar theme to the shoe I had made, I expanded the material to cover my body.

I was now wearing a skin-tight body suit made of a much thicker layer of the same kind of carbon nanotubes that reinforced my skin.

The suit was matte black in color, except for where my conduits were. I'm not entirely sure how it worked, but they merged into it.

I ended up looking like I had stepped out of a sci-fi movie.

After confirming that the suit came out as intended, I smiled as my coprocessor saved the design. Now I could recreate the same suit instantly, no longer needing several minutes to go over the smaller details.

I gathered my resolve and took a tentative step onto the rock. A relieved sigh escaped my lips when I wasn't assaulted by memories of stepping on legos.

The relief was short-lived, however.

The sharp snap of a twig being stepped on rang out, and I started, jerking my head in the direction it came from.

I froze when my eyes took in the creature that met my gaze.

The ugly, green-skinned monster stared back at me, also frozen in shock. It was short and potbellied, wearing only a stained cloth tied around its waist.

The goblin held a crude spear, a sharp stone wedged onto the end of a somewhat straight stick, aimed to strike at me.

Knowing you're in a world full of magic and monsters is one thing. It's a whole other thing to actually be confronted with the iconic starter mob.

We stared at each other, neither moving an inch. This went on for almost a full minute before the goblin found its resolve.

It let out a shrill screech and lept toward me with its spear aimed at my center.

I flinched and closed my eyes while, on pure instinct, I lashed out with a kick.

I heard a snap and two back-to-back thuds.

I opened my eyes while berating myself mentally for closing them in the first place.

I again stood frozen as I processed what had happened while my eyes were closed.

Somehow, without me even feeling it, the goblin's spear had snapped in two when it made contact with me. At the same time, my wild kick made contact and launched the monster into a nearby tree.

I only stood and stared, baffled at my strength and durability, as the goblin's breathing slowly halted.

The system alerts snapped me out of my stupor, and I sighed in exasperation.

"Does that mean that EXP can be earned without killing something, but you have to kill at least one thing for those methods to work?" I mumbled. "Gah! This is so confusing!"

"I need to find a city with a library, or somewhere I can gather some information."

A drop of rain hitting my head interrupted my thoughts, and I sighed again. "Before all that, I need to find shelter..."

---

I came across a cliff after another hour or two of walking. After searching for about ten or so minutes, I found a cave set into the side of it.

I peeked in and sighed in relief when I found the cave unoccupied.

The cave was tiny, barely a hundred square feet. Thankfully, it was slightly elevated and positioned so that very little rain could make it inside.

Laying against the back of the cave, I was quickly lulled into a deep sleep. The day's events had left me mentally exhausted.

---

Roughly an hour after I went to sleep, I was jolted awake by a loud crack of thunder.

The relatively light rain had evolved into a massive thunderstorm that had been raging for three days now.

It didn't take long for me to notice that, as a Synthorg, I don't have to eat, drink, or sleep. This worked out well for me. The storm outside was so violent that I doubted I'd have been able to find my way back if I had gone to forage.

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Thankfully, between my race and skills, I had plenty to keep me occupied while I was stuck.

I could confidently say that the Coprocessor perk was the best part of being a Synthorg.

It automatically cataloged everything that I learned, essentially giving me a perfect memory, and quickly provided any calculations I needed. It proved invaluable when I figured out magic.

My Aspect skill was incredibly powerful. It allowed me to do pretty much anything I could imagine as long as I could make a strong enough mental association between the desired effect and a circle.

In many forms of Earth media, circles were heavily associated with magic. Being the giant nerd that I was, this gave me an incredible amount of material to work with.

I started with something simple. I carved a circle in the dirt and wrote 'warm this cave' inside of it.

Excited to be able to do magic, I poured mana into it. Nothing happened.

I read over the skill and tried again. This time, I did as it said and willed the circle to do what I wrote.

The cave instantly began warming up.

Almost vibrating in excitement at performing magic, I kept experimenting. It didn't take long for me to discover that Aspect was truly overpowered. It was only limited by my strength and imagination.

I spent most of the first two days figuring out how to give my mana shape outside my body. Eventually, I could create magic circles out of pure mana.

The rest of the three days I'd been in the cave was spent on obfuscation. I wasn't sure what language this world used, but I didn't want anyone to be able to read what was written in my circles.

If you saw a big circle with 'FIREBALL' written inside, you'd have a pretty good idea of what you were about to be attacked with after all.

I took full advantage of my coprocessor here. I built a data matrix. This basically turned my spells into circular QR codes.

Even if someone knew how to decode my matrices, it would take a long time. This wasn't an issue for me, however. My coprocessor allowed me to encode and decode a matrix instantly.

Content with my progress for the time being, I stepped just outside the cave and tried to get a feel for how much longer the storm would last.

The storm didn't seem to be ending anytime soon. I quickly cast a few analyzing spells and returned to the cave, sitting against the cave wall with a frown.

Despite the incredible flexibility of my magic, I knew very little about how magic functioned in general. However, even with my limited knowledge, I could detect that the storm was magical and rapidly building in strength.

I now had to make a decision. Should I leave the cave and search for civilization? Or should I stay and turn the cave into a base of operations?

I looked down, and my frown deepened. This damned clone pregnancy had proceeded unbelievably quickly. I didn't think I could cover much distance between this and the weather.

It had only been a little over three days, but my pregnancy had already progressed to the point that my belly was massive. I looked to be well into the sixth month, give or take.

"I guess there's not any need to rush out. I've got plenty of time. "I grumbled with a sigh. "It should be easy to build this place up with my magic... I should definitely get started. At this rate, I've only got a few more days before I find out exactly how this clone thing works."

I slapped my cheeks, stood up, and got to work.

I summoned a magic circle and focused it on the cave's back wall. The circle shifted the dirt and stone, compacting and reinforcing it.

After a few short moments, I had transformed my little cave into an antechamber of sorts.

I kept going, and several hours later, the antechamber led into a square hall. It was massive, roughly 10,000 square feet.

Satisfied that the basics were complete, I returned to the antechamber and used Synthesize to create a basic wooden door at the cave entrance.

A small ray of light brought forward an issue I'd forgotten to consider.

My cave had no source of light and no air circulation.

I hadn't noticed it before due to my enhanced eyes allowing me to see fine in almost complete darkness. Air would quickly become an issue, however. I need to make sure fresh air is brought in.

"Magic is the obvious solution to these problems." I thought out loud as I paced. "My circles can easily create light and even filter the air."

I stood at the entrance to my main chamber. "The only issue is mana. Not only would the circles be a constant drain on my mana pool, but they would also stop working if I got too far away..."

"A Mana Reactor!" I blinked as the thought hit me. "My perks say that I have a mini one inside my body that provides my quick mana regeneration. Can I recreate one to use here?"

As it turns out, yes, yes, I could. My coprocessor quickly provided the details.

The beings that brought me here had apparently also sent along an information package on Synthorg biology and technology. This included how the mana reactor worked and how to create one.

The reactors were surprisingly easy to make. I could already produce one with the materials I had available to synthesize.

However, it would only be around 50% larger than the version within my body. My walk through the forest provided mostly plant-based materials, and a bigger reactor would need metals and other exotic materials.

Building the reactor took almost a full day. With the coprocessor and Synthesize, it wasn't difficult. However, it was incredibly complex, costing a massive amount of mana and time.

After completing it, all I had to do was activate it. I had to pour in my entire mana pool and a whole hour's worth of regeneration to do so.

I placed the fully functioning reactor into the back wall of the main chamber. I then engraved a circle on the wall around the reactor. The circle would serve as a distribution hub, transferring mana from the reactor to other circles linked to it.

The next day started with laying down a complex series of circles throughout my base. I placed the previously mentioned circles for lights and air filtering. I then set up other circles for security and comfort.

Roughly half the day was spent on the circles, and the rest I used to create what furniture I could with the materials available to me.

I sighed with the satisfaction of a job well done and flopped back onto the surprisingly comfortable bed I had fashioned.

As soon as my head hit the pillow, I jumped back up and glared at my stomach, which had stopped growing roughly three hours ago. When I had laid down, it had dropped, and I felt my clone shift, forcing its head lower down, lodged in my pelvis.

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