Re:Knowledge - Survival From Zero in Another World

Humble Beginnings

A/N: Thank you One Way Road for the original prompt. Note, I am not a scientist, or any sort of professional really, so take most of the information here with a grain of salt. Don't try any of this stuff for yourself, either.

IMPORTANT NOTE: While extremely intelligent and extremely resourceful, the Natsuki Subaru of this story is not OP. He can't do everything, and he can be brought down just as easily. Don't go into this story thinking of that just because he's a 'genius'.

ARC 1 - The Forest

Prologue – Humble Beginnings

"No, not that...not that, either...ah man, where the hell did I put it-?"

An annoyed voice rang out through the silent Natsuki household, one coming from a certain boy.

"Oh, there it is. Hydrochloric acid." The boy spoke casually, as he lifted up a beaker filled with completely clear looking liquid. He brought it to eye level, seemingly measuring the contents with a glance. "Yeah, this should be enough."

The area around this boy was even more unbelievable than the casual nature with which he spoke of the dangerous chemical he held in his hands. It was some sort of lab, one that looked far too professional and expensive to be based in a home.

Everywhere, there were beakers, mechanical equipment, gas chambers, a large variety of tools and apparatus that well showed just how properly this lab was set up.

And in the middle of it all stood a single raven-haired, tracksuit-wearing boy: Natsuki Subaru.

"Man..." Subaru sighed, flipping the safety goggles he was wearing up, as he stepped away from the mixture he was about to make. "I wonder if I should even use this. Hydrochloric acid is always the last resort, anyway. To make an all-purpose fertilizer, I can't add too much of this, or it's going to throw everything off."

The boy's eyes peered down at the concoction in front of him. He was making something very simple – an experimental new plant fertilizer. He had a lot of options to choose from rather than simply adding hydrochloric acid, but it was the most effective mix, especially for plants that loved that acidity.

Or at least, that was what he was hoping. Subaru knew that hydrochloric acid was somewhat unsuitable for fertilizer-making considering that it had calcium chloride - but this experiment was a challenge to himself. He wanted to attempt making a fertilizer that could still be used, even with hydrochloric acid within it.

"Well, I'm not exactly a botanist in the first place. Guess I'll have to put this project on the side for now."

Natsuki Subaru was by no means a slouch, but he wasn't a stupidly hard-working sucker, either. He set out to work with specific goals in mind, and he knew when it was time to pause or quit a project.

He took off his gloves, disposing of them within a special trashcan, and went about cleaning up everything he had set out. One of the simple rules of the lab was to clean up after you were done experimenting, after all.

"Reminds me of elementary school." He snickered, bringing his now washed hands to take off his safety goggles. Yet, for some reason he couldn't fathom, he decided to keep them on. He had them specially made to look as much like regular glasses as possible, so they weren't really that off-looking to be seen in public with, anyway.

Not to mention, they had a black and orange frame, the color combination that Subaru absolutely loved.

In the end, though, he didn't really care about being seen as strange. He went around everywhere wearing a lab coat over a tracksuit. It wasn't exactly the most aesthetically pleasing look, but it was the look that Subaru had become accustomed to over the years. Not to mention, he had a ton of them stuck at home, so he could just switch out coats whenever he was entering his lab again - cross contamination wasn't really something he was looking forward to.