Important discoveries

Waking up with a stretch and yawn Ace felt incredible. He had slept like a baby and even dreamed he was one, sucking on a pacifier. Feeling the splinter falling from his mouth he understood where his dream came from and maybe why he was so energetic. It could also be an effect from the pieces of tree he had chewed on, real or a chemically induced delusion.

"Dishwasher, scan my body," Ace decided to be safe and asked the chip.

[Scan complete]

[Increased amounts of unknown energy in hosts body]

[Analyzing hosts recent actions and circumstances]

[Preliminary conclusion reached]

[Unknow energy obtained from consuming biomass]

[Unknown energy has increased host's cellular regeneration]

Ace was slightly shocked hearing the chip say he would heal faster due to the unknown energy but that would explain why he felt reinvigorated every morning despite going to bed sore and drained these last few days. However if it could increase the rate at which his cells regenerated, what's to stop it from going out of control and making his cells multiply unhindered, like cancer.

"Dishwasher, is the unknown energy likely to induce cancer or any other cell-diseases?" Ace asked the chip, even if there was nothing he could do to stop the energy if it was cancerous.

[Further analysis required to reach a complete conclusion]

[Preliminary results show no negative effects relating to unknown energy]

Although it still wasn't guaranteed, hearing he wasn't in danger was a weight off of Ace's shoulders.

'What if everything on this planet is so big because this energy induces natural and rapid cell growth? With some time to evolve from single celled organisms it wasn't completely unreasonable for things to reach the sizes they had'

If life followed a similar evolutionary path as on his home planet Ace could see things gradually geting bigger and bigger and finally reaching their current comparatively enormous size.

Although Ace's theory somewhat covered why things got so large, animals like that deer would need incredible strength to move their bodies.

'Since the energy increases recovery and muscles grow stronger after being used past their limit and healing, getting stronger fast should be possible. The energy might even change the limit of what's possible for the physical body to reach,' Arriving at this idea Ace decided to try it out by increasing the intensity of his training, especially when he found a sustainable source of food.

Since he had explored the edges of the forest before he went to sleep, it was time to inspect the ocean. If it seemed like it held life maybe he could try using the splinters to fish.

It didn't smell of salt or pollution like the oceans he had encountered previously but it wasn't scentless like freshwater either. He couldn't put his finger on it and decided to not think about it as he eventually reached the shoreline.

Although he could get liquid from the sap of the young trees they weren't infinite but this ocean on the other hand was definitely not running out of water any time soon. Scooping up a handful of water and taking a sip Ace found the taste to be surprisingly metallic but it seemed he wouldn't have any problems with drinking it long-term. And if he could drink it so could fishes and the like.

Quickly gathering a bunch of grass from the forest the he was going to turn into fishing line by cutting it into very thin strips, then twining and tying together the strips. Now Ace needed a rod, hook and bait. The rod was easy, for that he used a splinter slightly shorter than himself that he had almost completely sucked dry, it wasn't as soft as when fresh but seemed a lot more resilient and sturdy. Using a sturdy piece of bent wire, sharpened against the ground, tied to the grass fishing line as a hook Ace only had bait left.

Determining what to use as bait was difficult, he didn't have the proper tools to look for worms in the ground that was hard as ordinary rock and he hadn't found anything in the forest that looked like it could be used as lure for fish. The only thing he had found was the young trees but he doubted that was enough. Looking at his hands a flash of inspiration struck him. What if he soaked a small piece of wood in his blood!

Ace put a small piece of wood in a bowl before making a shallow cut on his arm with a knife. The cut was shallow and as soon as he had determined the splinter had gotten enough blood he sealed the wound with a spray made just for that. The spray was very efficient when it came to sealing small cuts and wounds, it was even made to blend in with the skin.

After the piece had absorbed almost all the blood Ace put it on the hook and prepared to head to the shore from the pod he was currently in. Before leaving the pod however he remembered the size things tended to have on this planet and grabbed some rope. Tying the rope around himself and to the pod he was ready to go fishing.

After Ace threw the bait as far as he could he started walking up and down the beach, as far as his rope stretched. While walking back and forth he looked at the sea and let his thoughts wander. He had thought the slightly reddish hue of the water was due to the atmosphere but when he remembered the taste it triggered his memories. Although the smell was very faint what he earlier couldn't place he now could. Combining the smell and taste he determined it smelled faintly of blood. It could be iron as well but that's not as dramatic.

"Sea of Blood" Ace said out loud. This was the first location or object given name by him and also an important landmark on the map his chip was in the process of making by scanning his surroundings.

With the name he had given it he felt it was appropriate he had used his own blood the first time he fished in it.