Moonbound: Reincarnated as a Moon Elf

Noctis' breathing quickened at this realization as he stood up to look at the shadow properly once again.

His long shadow assimilating into the eerie shape of his creation.

'Calm down. Calm down. It's just the height and the relative position of the holes. Contours and edges are mostly fine with little adjustments.'

With this, Noctis once again started hammering away at the slab.

His body, pushed to the extreme by his adrenaline, however, lacked any of the finesse required to come even close to what he had achieved earlier.

A little too much strength here, a dabble of a hit there, and the shape of the shadow morphed more and more into an unrecognisable form even stranger than the markings on the ground.

Kneeling on the ground, supported barely by the tree next to him, Noctis took deep breaths as he realised the futility of all this.

As wet as he had been after getting out of the sea, with the only difference of cold replaced with extreme heat, Noctis desperately tried to control his racing heart.

Anxiety and fear clouded his heart like never before. He felt like he had been sent back to the facility, helpless and always at the edge.

'No way out now. It was doomed from the start.'

Noctis looked at the slab and hammer and started running in the opposite direction.

With rasped breath, he ran towards the setting sun without any plan or precaution whatsoever, unable to think anything at this point.

He hadn't made it far when suddenly he felt like the ground beneath his feet had vanished.

Noctis looked below only to see the dreaded sapphire sea below. His body stiffened immediately as the illusion dissipated and the large, flawless moon came into view.

With horror on his face, Noctis' stiff body fell into the sea with a loud splash.

***

[Is all this truly necessary? Didn't he already do well enough?]

The stag looked towards the doe with worry in her eyes.

{The challenge, in its essence, has little to do with capabilities. Although I admit he is unnaturally good at it, makes one wonder what kind of world he used to live in before. Regardless, is it necessary? Perhaps, perhaps not.

One had to realise that in this world, however, he won't get chances to improve himself; the challenges won't wait for him to measure up to them, they'll test him straight on, and he has to learn to deal with them, better sooner than later.

But you can be assured that it'll benefit him greatly once he awakens his affinity properly. Just as long as he passes it.}

[But having not awakened his soul core yet, his mind is still too susceptible to the effects on his psyche. Isn't it a little too much for him?]

{That is… fine, I'll allow him some leeway…}

***

Immediately as his hot body was thrown in the icy water of the sea, his body experienced an immense shock. Physiological as well as psychological.

His muscles tightened all over his body, cramping at places as pain clouded his face.

His reflex gasp from the shock allowed dense, cold seawater to enter his throat, already burning, now cramping too as he thrashed violently from drowning.

An intense headache accompanied by the feeling of his skin burning made it all the more unbearable as panic set in his mind.

Confused and disoriented, he couldn't even make out his surroundings, much less the scenery above, to do much as gather himself and move towards the giant shadow.

Closing his eyes, Noctis tried to bear through the pain while making sure not to lose consciousness, as that would certainly spell death; he dreaded the next few minutes.

The good news was that he could move his body just fine, but his body was too exhausted to move, and he didn't know how long his mind was going to stay in this fogged state.

Just as he started counting his time left for his imminent death, another splash sounded as he suddenly felt a slight pain at his neck.

Due to the numbness, he didn't feel much pain but could still make out the feeling of pinching he had come to familiarize himself with. It was the owl picking him with her beak.

Opening his eyes, he could see the faint silhouette of the white owl against the dark blue water, trying but failing to pull him towards his side.

Understanding her intentions, Noctis bit his lips hard and forced himself to orient himself straight towards that direction before propelling himself straight up.

Not long after, he could see the very faint line of the white bridge and some crimson red marks.

Focused on just surviving for now, he didn't make anything of it and just bit himself harder as he powered himself up, taking the owl in his arms before jumping straight up with his full strength, getting out of the sea.

Despite getting out of the water, both the elf and the owl stayed sprawled on the water surface with their eyes closed and lungs heaving.

There wasn't a muscle in his body that didn't outright feel like breaking apart right now.

His fine motor skills were in a terrible state as he spasmed on the ground uncontrollably. Despite the cold air and the freezing water, his skin still felt like it was burning.

If it weren't for the pain assaulting his body, he would have long fallen unconscious as his headache worsened by the minute.

After getting out of the water, all his anxiety and despair turned into anger as he hammered his loose fist on the water surface in frustration.

He felt pain in his hand, a positive development as far as he was concerned, as at least the numbness subsided for just that instant.

He hammered it once again, cursing his inability to do anything.

He kept barraging his hands, sometimes with the speed that he broke the surface of the water as his right hand turned completely black and red.