Marlon was awakened by something small coming and going against his cheek, as if a cheese grater had been passed over and over against his skin.

He opened his eyes, and his awakening was also synonymous with pain recalled to his memory. His stomach and shoulder were throbbing painfully, and his skull felt as if it was about to explode, waves of pain pounding and pounding the boundaries of his mind.

He fleetingly recalled his bloodthirsty madness, as if it were something very distant, intangible almost, foreign to him, a spectator of his uncontrollable hate.

He quickly identified the pseudo-grater, which was none other than Luna's tongue. Her mouth seemed slightly swollen, a consequence of her violent encounter with the tree that had knocked her down.

"Ha, you're awake! Take it easy, you got yourself pretty banged up anyway, kid."

Loki's voice sounded like drums playing fanfare inside his skull, and he winced helplessly. With one hand, he gently caressed Luna to reassure her, while with the other he gently sat up. Each movement revived the pain of the cauterized wounds, in addition to the twinges that ran through every square inch of his body.

The sun was shining brightly and shining without a cloud in the way. The burning fireplace was now nothing but ashes and only a slight trickle of smoke rose from the pile of ashes.

"Com...how long was I out?" asked Marlon with a grimace of pain.

Even the sound of his own voice was causing stabs in his head and his dry throat was making his voice hoarser than usual.

"A little less than twenty-four hours. But considering what you've done to yourself, it's not surprising. Thanks for the great experiment on human pain, by the way. I never thought it could be so intense!"

Marlon could almost detect a trace of pleasure in the AI's voice, but he would return to the subject a little later. For the moment, two things were important to him: to make past the pain resounding in his skull and to eat.

Indeed, now that his body had awakened, in addition to the pain, a nagging and compelling hunger was gripping his stomach. And he knew where to find food. Right next to him.

The spits were still over the fire, and although some looked completely charred, some still looked edible.

Measuring every move and pausing as the pain tore through him, he rose to his full height and finally grabbed what appeared to be meat over the now extinguished fireplace.

He literally devoured it in less than thirty seconds, then without being able to stop, caught a second one to which he subjected the same fate. The taste of burned mixed with the one of the meat did not matter to him as long as it filled the black hole which was his stomach at this precise moment.

He thanked inwardly, and ironically, of course, the bandits who had left him such a buffet at his disposal. He retrieved a few pieces of what seemed to have been fish once and threw them to his chimera, which had been meowing insistently since the moment he had started eating. It threw itself on it with ferocity and began to devour as greedily as its master.

Once this life-saving meal was over, Marlon thought about what to do next.

His priority was to recover, of course, but he couldn't stay here. It was far too exposed, and any group of people with bad intentions, or even one guy with bad intentions, could easily finish him off. Given the state he was in, he was sure he would need at least a few days for his body to recover.

He cautiously touched his forehead and winced as a simple caress threw him like a violent blow. He seemed to have easily doubled in size and it was a miracle he didn't have any broken bones.

First of all, Marlon had to find a sheltered place, not far from the shore. He turned his gaze towards the gigantic mountains and decided to slowly explore behind the various rocky masses. With a bit of luck, he would find a cave that could accommodate him for the time of his convalescence.

"I totally approve of this plan. Look for a sheltered spot, lick your wounds, and we'll go to Delia afterward. All you need to do is run into another player and it will end very badly. This area is full of caves of all kinds, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding one."

It took Marlon a few minutes to get going. He found a dead branch at the foot of a tree with a V-shaped end. The size of the piece of wood was perfect and he leaned on it, slightly relieving his left side which was throwing him painfully.

Before leaving the bandits' makeshift camp, he didn't forget to pack the remaining half-burned food that was left over from the extinguished fireplace.

And that's how he finally set out, limping and hobbling, leaning on his makeshift crutch.

As best he could, he moved along the rocky ground, taking care not to slip on the many small pebbles scattered on the ground, like gravel. The heat of the sun was hitting the rock, which gave off a constant and burning heat, an incredible contrast with the shores of the lake where the air was much cooler.

Fortunately, he seemed to have used up his quota of bad luck for the moment, because it only took him about twenty minutes of searching through the rocky meanders to find a cave that could accommodate him.

The entrance to the cave was so discreet that he had passed it without seeing it. It was Luna, who by insistent meowing, had pushed him to come and see the place where she was.

A slightly sloping rocky overhang camouflaged the bulk of the entrance from prying eyes, and the rocky gray tones made the contours and reliefs almost invisible to the distracted eye.

He was only about ten minutes from the lake, which was still manageable even with his crutch. The slight elevation of the cave compared to the surrounding area also allowed for a relatively clear view. Trouble could thus be avoided much more easily.

It took Marlon more than an hour, despite the relatively short distance, to carry his pack to his new troglodyte camp. The unbearable pain that seized him when he forced a little on his bruised body was the main reason, his paranoid vigilance following shortly.

The fact that death had come so close to him had made him much warier, much more anticipatory of his surroundings and everything in them. Thus, every animal's burbling or pebble's sliding on the rock made him take cover. Then he would observe what was happening before moving again.

Once settled in the shelter of his cave, he was happy with Luna's find and rewarded her with another piece of a skewer. His shelter was about twenty meters deep, which was more than enough and especially much bigger than the size of his room when he still lived on Earth.

As quickly as his condition allowed, he gathered deadwood in preparation for the fire he would have to light that evening. The ceiling of the cave was not completely sealed, with a few cracks that let air through.

It was a blessing for the moment because it would allow him not to suffocate with the smoke from a campfire. But if big storms started to fall, it could be problematic.

"Don't worry, in this area, there are very few storms. Lots of snow though, but winter won't come for another two or three months so you don't have to worry about that either."

Marlon was rather reassured by what Loki said.

Retrieving a blanket from his bag, he laid it down near one of the cave walls, making himself a cozy little nest in which he could rest. It would take at least two weeks of recovery to get back to his optimal condition, so it was better to spend them in some comfort.

The afternoon was well underway, and the temperature had become less warm outside, so the young man lit the fireplace and made himself comfortable. The little effort he had put in and the pain he had felt since waking up in pain had finished exhausting him. He didn't last long and collapsed from exhaustion as the night was still falling.

The next few days were relatively monotonous, but not totally uninteresting either. Resting as much as possible to let his wounds recover, he still went fishing once a day to get fresh fish. He had set up a simple system with a few pieces of wood so that his fishing rod was well anchored in the ground, avoiding him having to hold it and pull on it to bring up his catch. So he didn't suffer too much, and he also managed to catch two fox-like animals with the two wolf traps he had.

When he had finished catching his day's sustenance, he returned to his cave entrance where he practiced for hours tracing runes and testing various intentions to see how far it would eventually take him. Fortunately, he had stocked up on scrolls when he left Akranio, and he also recycled the fox skins so he could use them for support.

It is a knowledge that he had acquired in Akranio too, thanks to the good care of Selia...

He discovered more than interesting combinations during his experiments!

First of all, the most useful was certainly the combination of Breath and Protection. He had not yet taken the time to test this one, but when he discovered it, he could have hit his head against the ground despite himself. With the right intention, and after several unsuccessful attempts, he managed to create a layer of protection covering his body. This protection was a very condensed wind that acted as a second skin and did not prevent him from wielding a weapon or breathing normally. It was completely invisible, except for a slight colorless shimmer, and made no noise that would allow it to be spotted.

If he had trained more diligently before, he would never have been hurt by those arrows. The condensed layer of wind seemed to be able to block all conventional projectiles, at least as long as it didn't have the power of a cannonball. But he could only really know that after testing his theory, which was impossible for the moment.

[Windy Armor] was the name of the skill that appeared in the Class and Skills tab of his interface. It was the third name that appeared, along with [Sprint] and [Flame], the first two skills he had obtained by using Run, and then for the second by mixing Breath and Spark.

His second discovery was much more offensive, much more destructive, and during his tests, Marlon almost lost some feathers.

This was the first time he tried to combine three runes at once. The flaw in his skill [Flames], as his interface had decided to call it, was that it could be avoided if the opponent had good mobility or very good reflexes. This had been the case in his last fight, and it was what had caused his injuries. If he had succeeded in charring them all in the first shot, the archer would never have succeeded in hurting him. Probably not.

So he tried to combine Breath, Spark and Vision. He intended to create a fireball that could track enemies in his field of vision. His first three attempts failed miserably, and each time Marlon came close to being blown up because he couldn't see a clear target.

The fourth, however, was the right one. An animal passed in the distance, near the path leading to Delia, and Marlon focused his intention on it as he finished tracing the runes. A tongue of flame rose from the fox skin he was using for support and shot at the poor beast with incredible speed.

Squiiiiiiiiik

The animal's sound of agony lasted only half a second, and then it was charred from paw to tail. The explosion did very little damage to the surrounding area, seeming to concentrate all its power on the target that Marlon had intended.

When he clambered to retrieve the remains of his victim, he was surprised to see that even the animal's organs and bones had been reduced to dust. The power of the Rune was not multiplied but concentrated.

A few tries later, he even managed to separate his flame, which took two different targets and tracked them until it reached them.

But the separate flame was not as strong, although it was still lethal to small animals. So it could help him in fights against an individual or two, but he couldn't track down and burn a whole group of people to the ground...

He opened the interface and saw the appearance of a new skill, [Fire Tracker], a self-explanatory name if ever there was one.

"I must admit that I have seen better originality. But it's a great discovery that you made there. When we get to Delia, we'll have to find other players to reinforce your knowledge of runes. I knew it was powerful, but the possibilities are endless.

"Hey, you're the one who gave me this class and you don't even know how far it can go? How is that possible."

"It's...long to explain. Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"It's not like I have anything else to do. I only have a few scrolls and pieces of skin left for the runes, I'll keep them just in case. I won't be able to train with a sword for another two or three days, and it's going to get dark..."

Indeed, Marlon's wounds were healing well, as he was giving himself a lot of rest without falling into total inactivity. His head was not hurting at all, and in two days maximum he could resume his training as a swordsman because the cauterizations were not so painful anymore. And he felt that his internal pains had calmed down a lot too.

"All right, all right. I'll explain a little bit about how this all works. At least what we understand about it."

Loki remained silent as if to organize his thoughts, and then began to explain to Marlon what he knew about this world.

"We had access to very old records from this world when we discovered it and opened a passage between dimensions. Something tried to get through to our side, but luckily it failed. The great difference in the laws of physics and the universe between our two dimensions surely explains this failure, but we were never sure. Nevertheless, we received a mountain of data that we managed to convert into videos on the ins and outs of this world. The most important being of course magic, in all its forms. It comes from an inexhaustible source that we named the Aether, about old heroic-fantasy works from Earth. This ether is like...like the void between atoms. It is the majority everywhere, but invisible and intangible. And the recordings we had showed us the different uses of this force that existed on Gaia, or Neo-Life, as we decided to call it."

He paused for a moment, but seeing that Marlon said nothing, he continued his story.

"Each 'Class' corresponds somewhat to a genetic code that individuals may have in common and allow a certain use of that ether. As some on Earth have blue eyes, others black hair, et cetera. We, therefore, inject the consciousnesses in this dimension by rewriting the genetic component allowing to use such or such class. Rewriting the DNA is nothing for AIs since their invention. Our...' chosen ones', if I may say so, just have access to much more complex and rare genetic components that we have of course kept under wraps. But know that their number is very large. Out of fifty rare 'classes' that we have distributed to our foals as we saw fit, there are still over a hundred more."

"But as a result, why did you choose this specific class for me?"

"haha, it wasn't the only one, if you recall. The two classes I chose both have one specificity: they can transcend the barrier of genetics and the limitations that many other classes have."

"You lost me there. What do you mean they can cross the line?"

"Imagine for two seconds. As an Incarnator, you can transform yourself according to your understanding. What if you understood all the classes that exist? What if you really understood what that meant? Your potential would be unlimited. And Runist? Imagine what you can do in a few weeks. In a few years, creating runes to change your DNA won't mean anything to you, not even a worthy challenge. But you need to find a Grandmaster."

The implications of what Loki was saying were monstrously huge...

Marlon got stars in his eyes and couldn't help but ask the fallen AI:

"Where can I find a Grand Master?!?"

"Haha, calm down, even I don't know. You'll have to explore this world in its entirety, and it's huge, much bigger than the Earth! We have received partial geographical data, and we know that there are five known continents, each inhabited by different races. Others exist, but the fragments we have had have not allowed us to extrapolate their population and what they are. But before all that, you will have to become much stronger. At the moment you are just a twig that can give way at any time. When you become a tree with strong roots, then we can look for that famous master.

Loki had finished his story, and the young man had great difficulty falling asleep that night. He imagined all sorts of futures, each one as glorious and exciting as the next. Some of them, straight out of Marlon's adolescent fantasies, was met with mocking snickers from Loki.

This irritated the young man, who then stopped fantasizing and ended up closing his eyes and turning towards the wall of the cave to find sleep.

Two days later, as he had planned, he was finally able to resume sword training, and he didn't wait. It took him two more days before the twinges from his nearly healed wounds completely disappeared.

He then decided to check his statistics. Not that it really mattered to him, but it was a precious indicator to know his evolution and his capacities in the form of tangible numbers.

Revenge Drelor: Level 5            

Runner of Ancient Times: Level 3 (beginner mastery)

Strength: 25     

Agility :20         

Intelligence :15             

Reflexes :12

Constitution :10            

HP : 400            

Mana : 90         

Charisma : 8

Influence : 30   

Chance: 5

Familiar :

 

Feline Chimera (level 1), possible evolution, ????

Loki (level 1 ), possible evolution, God, Transcendent

 

Sword mastery : Beginner         

Fishing : Beginner

Survival : Beginner

Marlon was greatly surprised by what he saw in the status window. That his stats had increased was one thing. His strength hadn't gone up as much as he would have liked, but his recovery had probably had something to do with it. The same goes for his agility and reflexes.

But his luck had decreased by five points! Was it due to her injuries, or to the bad encounters she had in Takpes?

"Probably a mixture of both. After that, don't forget that it's just an indicator. These are points calculated according to mathematical variables and vectors, nothing else."

"I know, I know. Did you see that you became a familiar, haha?"

"Hmmpff, level 1 at that...this interface really doesn't know what it's talking about! Only, I admit to being intrigued by the evolution part."

The young man was also greatly interested in the fishing and survival part. So combat skills were not the only ones taken into account! Would it be possible to raise the level of fishing to the level of master? Would it benefit him or not? How many additional skills could he get?

The questions raced through Marlon's mind, but he knew he wouldn't get the answers just yet. He would probably have to wait until he got to Delia for that. So he took his pain in patience for the moment.

Rusty from only ten days of lack of practice with the sword, he remembered Rastan's words that one loses one's skills in mastering the sword much faster than one gains them. So he put twice as much effort into his training and only stopped when his body stopped carrying him, which helped him a lot in not asking himself ten thousand questions about his skills.

Even Loki advised him once or twice to take it easy, but his determination had taken on even more substance with the AI's revelations. He had no more time to waste on moping or daydreaming. He had to progress, whatever the cost, and above all, he had to hunt.

It had been a few days now, but his thirst for blood had resurfaced and was becoming more and more imperious, as if it had not been fed for too long and was remembering him well. He would wake up with his body shivering, not from cold, but from the desire to smell the blood of his enemies. At night he would dream of his last fight and wake up excitedly in the night, disappointed that he would not be in the thick of the fight as his dreams faded.

Then, on the fifteenth day, he was finally completely healed. No more twinges, no more pain. His body had returned to the shape it had been in before his injuries, or even better. His runic knowledge had improved, as well as his fishing and survival skills.

"Do you feel ready to finally go to Delia, the Capital of the continent?"

"More than ready! I was tired of staying in this rock hole! Haha, let's go!"

What made Marlon happy was that at last he could find other players and slaughter them. The imminence of the satisfaction of his impulse made him deeply happy, a satisfaction that could almost be compared to carnal pleasure.

He dismantled the camp very quickly, then went to wash himself one last time in the very cold water of the lake, taking the opportunity to shave the shaggy beard that had grown on his face with the blade of his dagger. He couldn't avoid making some small cuts, but he preferred to look civilized for his arrival in town.

Then he gathered his long hair into a ponytail which he tied with a piece of cloth.

The air was cool, and the sky was overcast.

Without turning around, he walked down the path toward Delia, a smile as cold as the weather around him plastered on his face.