The Anti-Heat Protein produced by the tentacle had allowed Jack to feel insignificant pain and more of a comfy warmth from the fire.
Jack could finally remove the fire by undeploying his tentacle back to the digital storage of Sephiroth. But when he deployed it again, his face shifted into a deadpan as the flame was still there.
He rushed back to the nearby river and drenched his tentacle and hands with cold water. Apparently, it won't stop the constant kerosene getting secreted with the mucus, keeping the flame alive right after it was in contact with oxygen.
Jack could control the kerosene adulteration so that the flame on his tentacle was weaker but he wasn't able to fully extinguish the flame. There could be some mixture that allowed the tentacle to produce an extinguishing chemical but apparently, Jack wasn't the brightest kind within this field.
He kneeled to the ground, as he said a good bye to his primate style of traveling.
"Wait! Maybe if I constantly experiment on it, I'll learn how to extinguish it eventually as time passes by!"
Just like that, he got his motivation back.
As his tentacle burned like an eternal torch, he managed to keep it on low heat as he kept it back to his tailbone, trying to constantly experiment with the adulteration of the kerosene.
At one point, he turned the mucus into an explosive instead.
[Petra Tentacle's Health> 90%(-10)]
Thankfully, the Anti-Heat Protein prevented any further damage. His life was saved, but his improvised clothes weren't.
"Right, I'm naked again." Jack just went along with the flow. "There was nothing to hide anyway."
With a dissatisfied stare into emptiness, he was forced to walk by land and always kept his tentacle up and not touch the ground, or else he would cause a severe deforestation.
After a prolonged depressing walk, he finally reached onto the same glade again. Most of the materials were still there except some that got wrecked by the fight of the Cube Slime and the Players back then.
"Well, this rejuvenates my mood for a little bit." He grinned in content as he reunited with his tools again. "The damaged pork meat was spoiled there but at least I got the tusks."
With the whole safest route mapped within his head, he travelled back and forth two times while transporting his belongings and resources to the ruins in front of the mysterious giant entrance on the east. Before the dusk arrived, he hunted another forest boat to fill up his stamina.
"I still haven't got the species name of the boar I killed because it was already dead, even before realizing that it had been attacked."
[I bet that the name would be something funny again.]
Jack even did the effort to get back and transported the skinned body and went back to his camp twice. There was supposed to be more material and meat being left behind but when he got back for the third time, another large predator had stolen his prey's remains.
With everything set, Jack created another bonfire. This time, the process of rekindling the flame was a lot easier with the ability of Petra Tentacle to just set things ablaze.
There were strangely a lot less creatures roaming within the vicinity of the ruin. As Jack slowly roasted his pork meat with numerous herbs and spices that he tasted raw one by one on his travels, he decided to finally make use of the large pelt for something.
With pride and satisfaction, he was able to turn it into a wearable pants and warm cloak. Jack's creativity was at its peak.
So in the pursuit for his artistic sense, he added the tusks as an armament and accessory, making it more intimidating and also telling the people who saw him wearing the cloak to immediately think of a child barbarian.
[You're having fun, Jack.]
"I do?" Jack snuggled with his own warm cloak as the deployed Petra Tentacle was still aflame in the background. "Maybe I do. The night might be long but I'm still unsure if I can survive throughout the night with that terrifying abomination roaming at midnight again."
[You don't look like you're worried about it though.]
With a melting comfy expression, he tilted his head. "Mostly because I have nothing to lose. If it does appear again, I'll just act accordingly to survive.
"Tomorrow we will be exploring the mysterious cave if nothing significant happens. There could be a relic or hidden treasure of this world that I could utilize or use as a Mutagen."
[It has only been two days since you're awake. Most people would probably freak out or die. A situation where it took a person with conscience to adapt after a week or a month, you immediately got used to it in just two days.]
"Ahahaha!" Jack then leaned to the pillar behind him, closing his eyes. "Most people didn't realize that their eyes, ears, and head were constantly gone full apes ans frustrated because nothing rarely goes to the exact thing they want. If only they realize it, that they know that every second matters, that everything personal like your own mental health matters...
"Before diving into a lake, you need to assure yourself that you'll hit the shallow water, eventually crushing your skull. But most of the time, it was the lake that dives into you.
"You can't assure yourself of this and that most of the time. Only when you realize that you're going to struggle and make a work out of it. Your eyes, ears, and head, will be calm and try their best to come up with a solution.
"And most of the time, the solution is just to calm the heck down." Jack chuckled.
After Jack was sure that the pork was done, he assembled a buffet for himself. He dined with glee and tears running down on his cheeks.
Jack rested for a while before working out to see if he could use the consumed material to strengthen himself. He did a burst of long reps of push ups, sit ups, and pull ups with some other calisthenics workout until he was dead tired.
Having two sources of light within the vicinity, he tried to fall asleep, calling it the end of the day.