WARNING THE MOST FERAL FORM OF MANA HAS BEEN ABSORBED INTO YOUR MANA CORE. DO YOU DARE CULTIVATE SUCH POWER? Yes / No

Beast mana charges 8/3000

With pain echoing throughout his entire body, Dante laid on his back, staring up at the floating purple screen.

He placed a hand over his heart, reaffirming that he was still alive.

With a dejected smile, he removed his hand, wiping the residue of blood and sweat off on his shorts. Wolves had a keen sense of smell, said to be a pack of sharks on land…He knew this wouldn't be his last encounter.

"Where the fuck are my levels!?" Dante screamed.

Dante Evergold

Race: Human

Mark: Lonely Hero, Burning Path

Essence Points: 110

HP: 180/180

SP: 160/160

MP: 250/250

Physique: F

Strength: 17, Endurance: 16, Vitality: 18, Dexterity: 19, Agility: 15, Intelligence: 28, Magic: 25, Perception: 17, Focus: 20, Willpower: 14, Fire Resistance: 12

Combat Level: F

Dark Vision Lvl 1

Legacy

Affinity of Fire 30/300

Will of the Lonely Hero [Locked]

Arcane Blessings [Locked]

He had no class, and no new levels. Killing only rewarded essence points, which although were useful, they weren't enough to increase his survivability in battle. For that, Dante knew he must set out to gain marks. Currently it was the only method he had to increase his attributes.

Deciding to save a few for the future, Dante placed half of his essence points into the skill tree, Affinity of Fire.

It is said the first Sage cultivated Fire within the Void. All was dark. Cold. Yet they withstood the heat.

• +1 to Fire Resistance

• +1 to Magic

• Skill unlocked: Fire Manipulation

The Fire flowed throughout their veins, lit within their mind's eye. The first Flame was born.

• Skill unlocked: Fireball

The Void broke. The Flame grew.

• +1 to Fire damage

• +1 to Fire damage

Dante couldn't help but let out a toothy grin.

"Goddamned furry, trying to sweeten me with treats."

The new fire skills description were as expected, with their damage, control and spread increasing per level.

Dante immediately tested his new ability, and the response was phenomenal. Better than any 4K VR monitor on the market.

A spiraling red ball of flame no larger than a baseball blasted out from his hand. With the use of Fire Manipulation, he commanded the orb to grow larger and larger. The intensity grew with the smile on his face.

As the mass doubled, the core of the flaming ball gained weight and Dante felt a slight tug on his arm.

Now straining to increase the skill, his head warned of an approaching headache.

Fire Manipulation has reached level 2

With that, Dante blasted the now basketball sized egg into a tree. It exploded with a flare, the force of the fire blasting through the tree.

"If I can increase the size further, the force should multiply." Dante bit his lip, "However I won't be able to idly standby while charging it in battle."

From there, his mission was to grind. With a spear and new magic powers, he would grow his arsenal. Gathering essence points to develop his fire spells.

Reviewing the beast mana prompt, Dante wondered. "I'm already playing with fire, what could possibly go wrong by absorbing a feral form of mana into my core?"

With caution to the wind, he selected yes.

"Eh," he shrugged. "As long as I can still wipe my own ass, I should be fine."

Next, Dante summoned the dire wolf core from his inventory. The prompt asked if he wanted to learn the skill Bite. Declining, he stored the beast core away, deciding to sell it the first chance he got.

Itching to turn the tables, Dante left in search of prey.

~

Dante stalked through the forest like a hobo version of Gambit. He carried an overly large poker in one hand, and had his other hand spread out, ready to make it rain down fire.

His wounds were bandaged in wolf pelts, wrapped and tied by twine made from tree bark.

The spear now had a bladed tip, formed from stone he smashed together. The process took upwards of two hours. Only halfway through crafting the spearheads, did he become satisfied with the final products.

Wishing to speed the process up, he hoped for obsidian, but knew that would have required a much more hellish landscape. Already he was feeling dehydrated, what with having practiced his fireball skill.

Though, while gathering bundles of vines, Dante did eventually level up the skill, after he had been ambushed by two more wolves.

In that encounter he gained thirty essence points, only having killed one of the wolves while the other fled, scared of his fire.

He had a daunting suspicion after that kill. That in order to gain beast mana, he would have to drink the blood of a beast. The prospect was a bit off putting, but nevertheless he set out, easing his way through the forest to track the grey wolf. He suspected it would lead him to a den where he'd find more to harvest.

Dante smiled, whipping his forehead. The atmosphere of this world, called back to the times he sat in his gaming chair. Addicted to the notifications that signaled the increase in power. But this wouldn't be for a character that stole hours of his life upon creation. No this was for himself.

"A Mystic Berserker…or a Wolven Archmage!?"

The possibilities were real, and endless. No logging off for the night, no school or work in the morning. This was it.

But there were two problems he faced. Where were his friends, and what of the person who had summoned him?

From what he remembered, the prompt said that he had a Summoner's brand. The brand granted him power from his Summoner, but he idly wondered what the mysterious person gained in return.

It was an odd thing to do; leaving someone in a forest alone to fend for themselves. Was it an intergalactic reality show? Was it truly a test to become a sidekick? Either way, his plan from the very start was to desert.

Fire Manipulation has reached level 3

Looking up from the shifting vortex of fire, Dante noticed he had entered a new area.

"Why would the wolf flee here?"

The trees were smaller, stockier with an array of branches extending in all directions.

A number of the trees were rotting, with dead yellow leaves that were somehow too stubborn to fall off.

Sniffing the air, Dante frowned. "Is that, manure?"

If the past area of the forest was a graveyard, riddled with debris from a passing storm. This area was an open sourced barn.

Quickly fashioning a makeshift mask, Dante sped up, keeping his eyes open for anything abnormal.

He didn't spot anything out of the ordinary, though he did manage to glimpse a squirrelly fox, making off with a bird. The tiny dino was trapped between the golden red snout of the sly animal.

Dante caught himself calling out to the mystical fox, tempted on becoming a tamer to a magical creature. He couldn't be sure, but the luster of it's sunset colored fur and the wisps of smoke emitted from the charred bird, seemed to heavily imply a touch of elemental power. They were kin he thought.

Up ahead, Dante heard the splash of water, and he whispered a prayer. 

It wasn't until he reached the river, when he revoked the prayer and blasphemed against god.

The swamp was a murkish blue, that released a green mist. Fish floated down the contaminated river, and there was no telling of what analog of a sea monster lived in there.

Returning to the wolf tracks, Dante fell as a snake jumped out at him. Yet he managed to crawl back safely, incinerating the lizard.

You have been poisoned.

-1 HP

-2 HP

"What how!?"

Dante turned around, he thought he had fallen in mud.

Tainted Slime lvl 2

The blob monster slithered like a zombie, trying to engulf his hand.

A fireball to the face evaporated it in seconds.

You have slain Tainted Slime Lvl 2. 4EP absorbed.

Dante swerved around, he was sure the swamp creatures had a stealth ability. Similar to the wolves they had surrounded him, over thirty of the undulating green blobs. He swung his spear, disappointed that the new spearhead had slightly corroded in that brief second.

Conjuring a fireball, Dante spread it into a fan, then blasted away a wide area of the slimy monsters. The range drastically decreased when he did this, though it gave him a path to freedom.

Gaining some distance, Dante placed more points into his AOF skill tree.

• +1 to Fire damage

The Darkness sought to douse their anger. The heat rose, their blood boiled.

• +1 to Magic

• +1 to Fire Resistance

• +1 to Fire Resistance

• +1 to Magic

What followed next was a crazed arsonist. Dante bathed large swaths of the swamp in fire. Dead organic matter combusted, adding more flame for him to control. Before he knew it, his mana was spent.

Waiting on his mana to regenerate, Dante slashed through the tainted monster cores. Briefly he wondered if he was missing out on a specialized skill of theirs. Perhaps, regeneration of body parts, that was a skill he wouldn't mind obtaining. But he also suspected it probably wasn't the wisest choice to gain a skill from a tainted core.

Finishing up his mass extermination, Dante tallied up over a hundred essence points. His proficiency with the fire skills were increasing. Fire Manipulation had a noticeably reduced strain on his mind. Besides level, the more accustomed he became with his skills, the less negative traits they harbored.

Realizing that, Dante activated Dark Vision. He had come to suspect that the swaying particles of darkness; were ambient forms of mana. The skill not only allowed for night vision, but held a simplistic form of mana sight as well.

Staring into the depths of the dark river, Dante divided the mana spectrum in order to categorize it.

Fire was the easiest form to understand. Water came second, as he stood near the river bank, but not too close as he was weary of breathing in the green fog.

Beast mana had to be something special, he theorized. Unlike the elements, it was unique, giving off a sense of primal aggression. He had yet to encounter it again, besides from the dire wolf blood he consumed, which again further shed light on how he would begin to absorb such a power.

Dark Vision has reached level 2

Dante continued down the embankment, cleansing the swamp of the slime monsters.

Circling the swamp caused a great amount of annoyance. Flies buzzed all around, and though they weren't an abnormal size. There was still a chance they could attack in a frenzy like the murder hornets he heard about.

Eventually the swamp cut him off. It extended much further out than he expected. So for ten minutes Dante had clenched his ass, slowly creeping his way forward with mud caked on his skin. The feeling was a bit unpleasant, especially when he discovered the reason for all the flies.

They were grotesque amphibians, who's sphincter had apparently broken. A hybrid of an amphibious primeape. A tree dweller, hanging upside down by it's prehensile feet. The ugly little things were clearly tainted. There were dozens of them, assaulting each other with shit, in what Dante hoped wasn't a mating ritual. 

At the sound of a rustle, he looked up finding one of the creatures above him.

With one powerful push, it leaped towards a hidden snake. Gobbling it whole, in one bite.

*Rrrribbitt*

Mutated Bog Frog lvl 7