After a while, the shaking slowly stopped and a warm breeze brushed against Erik's face. He even heard birds singing all around him.
"Birds in winter? What is going on?"
Erik slowly opened his eyes only to be shocked even more. It was definitely not winter and he was standing in a forest. Around him were trees similar to pine and spruce. Just based on the surroundings he was unable to find out where he was.
Now he really regretted leaving his phone on the desk back at home. Without a GPS, it would be extremely hard to find his exact location.
He had no choice but to try and find his way out of the forest on his own. He found out that the ground was slightly slanted in one direction and that was probably the side of a hill or a small mountain. Going down the side, he should probably reach a valley or a river and maybe he would find some people living there.
Walking downhill for about thirty minutes he suddenly stopped and listened intently to his surroundings and sure enough, he heard the sound of running water. Going in the direction of the sound he found a small stream. Water was crystal clear and because Erik was thirsty he started drinking it. He ignored the possibility of disease and he didn't have any way of purifying the water either way.
After quenching his thirst, he continued downwards by following the stream of water. Soon a few more streams joined and it became a small river. After a few more hours he finally arrived out on a clearing in the forest. From the smoldering campfire, it could be seen that people were here not long ago.
Because he was a bit tired he sat down under a big tree and closed his eyes to rest. Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked around him. Then he looked at his body, stood up and started examining himself.
"Strange... Why am I not tired anymore after all that walking?"
In fact, that was the case. In only a few minutes of rest, he felt completely fine and full of energy. He felt like something warm was lightly hugging him. It was exactly like the feeling from the Ether Crystal, just much, much weaker.
"Wait a second!" He suddenly came to a realization. He extended his hand towards a giant rock near the river and concentrated his mind.
"Fireball!"
Immediately he felt a rush of energy from his entire body rushing towards his extended palm. A fire ignited in front of his hand and formed in a ball the size of a melon. Before he could even react it already shot forward at an incredible speed.
Woosh! Boom!
Erik was staring with his eyes wide opened and was stunned for a few seconds.
"Ahaha! Yes, it works!" he screamed in absolute happiness, fists pointing to the sky.
He was in absolute ecstasy. He was laughing loudly with no restraints. It was the first time in his life that he felt such joy, such excitement. His hypothesis was correct. The warmth that he felt entering his body and the lack of tiredness was no other than Mana. And in this place, he was actually able to use magic! It was an amazing feeling.
Many people would probably kill just to be able to use magic, and now he could. It was the best feeling he had in a long time.
After using a Fireball spell from his palm it exploded in a giant fireball after hitting that giant rock. Around it, the leaves and dry grass quickly started burning and with the help of the wind, it quickly started spreading.
"Oh, shit!" Seeing this Erik almost started to panic. To be responsible for a forest fire, he would have to pay a hefty fine and could even get some time in jail, not even mentioning it was dangerous since it was so close to him. Seeing this he quickly scanned the Elemental Codex for an appropriate water spell, that he could utilize. And luckily he found just what he was looking for. A spell that could create giant waves on nearby waters.
"Water Wave!"
Immediately the river started rising and formed a wave several meters high that was quickly nearing the shore. With loud splash water fell on the expanding fire and quickly extinguished it. The disaster was barely avoided and Erik thought that things could only go for the better, but he was wrong.
The sound of the explosion earlier attracted unwanted attention. Three wolves came from the dense woods behind him and cut off his escape.
Erik started frowning his brows. Although he wasn't really afraid of them now that he could use magic, facing many opponents at the same time was always a dangerous situation. Wolves seemed to be only watching him for the moment and waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
Learning from his last mistake, Erik decided against using fire magic. He quickly glanced at a few pages in the book and decided to try out some earth magic instead. He slowly extended his hand towards the closest wolf and shouted "Earth spike" in a relaxed voice.
Earth below the wolf slightly trembled and a cone-like a spike shot out from the ground and impaled the wolf through his abdomen. It lifted him a few meters from the ground and before he could even howl, he already died.
Seeing how easily he defeated him, Erik gained a lot of confidence and moved his hand towards the other wolf near him. However, the wolf was not stupid. He did not just stay and wait to be killed, and instead charged straight at him, and before Erik could even react the wolf already jumped with an open mouth towards his throat.
"Aah!" In a reaction, Erik subconsciously lifted his left arm up to protect himself and as the wolf bit him in the arm, he fell backward on the ground. He tried to protect his face and neck with his other hand and even tried punching the wolf, but the wolf was fiercely biting and wiggling around tearing the skin and muscle on his left arm.
In seconds, Erik was full of adrenaline and couldn't even feel any pain, but panic was quickly setting in. He grabbed the knife he brought with him and slashed towards the wolf's front paw. The wound that it inflicted wasn't deep. The fur blocked most of the force and the wolf received just a scratch. The second strike was a stab aimed at his chest. It struck hard and the wolf finally let go of the now completely bloody arm.
Erik swung the blade against the wolf's chest again, and that made it retreat back a few steps. Taking the opportunity, Erik quickly got back up on his feet. He was breathing heavily and he was feeling slightly lightheaded from the blood loss.
He was unable to accept his defeat and roared with all his might and like a madman leaped towards the wounded wolf, with a knife firmly grasped in his right hand. That action stunned the wolf and before he could move Erik already arrived in front of him and ruthlessly stabbed downward, directly into wolfs back, severing its spinal cord.
Erik didn't even notice that his opponent was already defeated, and while kneeling he kept stabbing the wolf while screaming like a demon. Finally, he realized that the wolf was already dead and in a pool of blood, then he quickly turned his head to look at the last one remaining.
Seeing that he was not attacking him he slowly got up. His body was trembling from all the adrenaline and fear, but he managed to stabilize himself.
"You want some of this? Huh?! Do you want some?! Come and get it!!" he was screaming at the last wolf with a crazy and wild expression on his face. He was fully prepared to meet his end with all he had.
However, wolfs aren't stupid animals. It's not in their nature to fight to the death if they can avoid it, thus the last wolf decided to give up on his prey and just slowly turned around and disappeared in the undergrowth between the trees.
"Uff…" Erik breathed out in relief. He got lucky that the wolf decided to leave. His left arm was bleeding heavily and he needed to quickly bandage it up, otherwise, he would lose even more blood. First, however, he went to the river to wash his wounds before he tore what was left of his left sleeve, and used it to bandage his arm.
The intensity of the life battle really drained him. Exhausted and lightheaded Erik sat down under a tree and closed his eyes.