Being "Permanently disabled" presented many problems for Zane in a world where the strong excel and the weak are left the scraps. In the 19 years that he had been alive, Zane was well aware of the suffering of the weak as he endured it for the majority of his life.
Physically and mentally abused by his peers because he was such an odd case, they treated him like a disposable toy. Even with his good looks girls were too put off by his "disability", so they instead ignored him and considered it unfortunate that he was born so weak.
Few people had ever treated him like a person, few people acknowledged the suffering he had to accept with welcome arms. However a few in the face of many, made their kindness overshadowed by others hatred.
Thinking about all this, Zane still didn't break. After the first few times he had been bullied, Zane realized the path he had been forcefully made to walk. So instead of sulking he decided to live to the best of his ability in isolation, this way Zane had no worries about abuse from other people. Admittedly, Zane was aware of how lonely this lifestyle was, but it was peaceful.
Waking up from his thinking, Zane picked up his wooden bow by the rope grip and proceeded to nock an arrow. 'Maybe I'll give it one more shot, then I will pack up for the night.' Reaching this conclusion Zane began to search for any mana beasts that could serve as both his food and a source of income. What Zane was unaware of was that this decision to stay for one more attempt would be the turning point of his life...
Zane ran through the forest, although moving at high speeds he kept his footsteps silent as to not attract the unwanted attention of a grade 3+ mana beast or alert his prey. Each step he made boosted himself forward with speed that matched that of a top athlete.
Although lacking in mana, Zane had to train his body to the peak possible strength as to compensate for the fact that he couldn't compete with the majority of F ranks. So he had spent his life making his body as strong as possible and the results showed his effort.
'Strange... I could have sworn I heard a silver winged deer's cry over here' Zane thought inwardly as he slowed to a complete stop before immediately looking around him. The silver winged deer was as described in the name, a deer with a pair of sparkling silver wings.
However contrary to the name the deer could not fly with these wings, but instead used them to propel itself forward on the ground and the wings could even be used to pierce, cut and stab at things they deemed a threat. As a peak rank 2 magic beast they were truly powerful, but that was precisely why Zane was willing to stay out hunting for a little longer.
Zane had an extensive knowledge when it came to mana beasts since he has spent so much time researching them through books to improve himself as much as possible. The idea of catching such a creature made Zane grin with excitement.
Not only was its meat a delicacy that he couldn't afford, the price such a mana beast would sell for could cover Zane's living expenses for almost a whole year! This was not something Zane was willing to let go so easily.
'Alright calm down Zane, don't lose yourself to expectation.' After consoling himself Zane prepared to carry on searching for the deer.
*crunch* *crunch* *crunch*
Before he could move a muscle, Zane heard a loud crunching noise come from behind the thick green forest directly in his line of sight. Startled, yet curious, Zane decided to slowly advance towards the source of the sound, placing each footstep with the utmost care and concentration.
Now being only an inch from the forest covering, Zane lifted both of his hands and began parting an opening in the wall of leaves as he held his breath in anticipation.
What he saw sent shivers down his spine and made his whole body freeze in place. 'Shit! A forest troll!' Zane cursed inwardly. His excitement had been flipped 180 on him. 'Why is there a grade 6 mana beast here?! My luck just gets worse and worse! Shit!' Zane screamed internally. He knew that he could barely handle a low grade 3 mana beast at most, let alone a forest troll that would average around grade 6.
'Okay at least it hasn't noticed me, I can still escape with my life. I am not it's opponent and it seems to be solely concentrated on its meal.' The meal being none other than the silver winged deer he had heard the cry of.
'Damn I was so close' Zane muttered mentally, his face showing visual disappointment. Luckily his green attire helped him to blend in with the surrounding forestry so that he could stay hidden. Deciding to cut his losses he slowly began to retreat from the forest troll that was still chomping down on the bones of the deer.
*crunch* *crunch*
*CRACK*
Suddenly a loud crack sounded from below Zane, he quickly looked at the forest floor to see his foot on a broken branch. 'Oh no' Zane felt his body tighten like someone had submerged him in water and the pressure was keeping him stuck in place whilst slowly trying to crush his bones. This was known as aura, the power emitted from a mana core also representing the strength one wields without having to fight.
Raising his head to look back at the troll, Zane's heart started beating faster until it felt like it was going to explode. As he faced forward, his worst fear at this moment came true as the troll stared back at him with a look of pure hatred. The trolls glowing red eyes locked onto Zane.
The troll had stopped eating its meal and began to stand up, keeping eye contact with Zane and picking a piece of meat from its teeth with his stone club that measured the same size as his leg. The monster stood around 9ft tall and had dark green skin that helped it to camouflage with the forest so that it could more easily hunt its prey, similar to Zane's camouflage but natural adaptation in the forest troll's case.
Zane could feel his body trembling to the point where he was unable to keep himself calm. 'No I can't die here I haven't even found out who I am' steeling himself with this thought, Zane snapped back to reality and tried to think of his options to escape the troll.
*bom* *bom* *bom*
The troll had already taken 3 steps forward as it began advancing and with each step it took the ground shook, unbalancing Zane.
Composing himself Zane raised his bow before releasing an arrow straight at the trolls eyes, the arrow flew through the air towards the trolls eyes. However before the arrow landed its mark the troll slapped it away with his free hand. A belittling smirk formed on the beasts mouth as it looked at Zane with eyes full of disdain.
Zane already knew his arrow wouldn't hit its target but that didn't matter since he just wanted to distract it long enough to give himself an opening to escape. The arrow Zane had shot at the troll was his own crafted arrow which was just made of ordinary materials without mana enchantments, so he was aware that it had no chance of penetrating the trolls eyes let alone its stone skin.
Using the trolls momentary pause, Zane had already began sprinting at full speed through the forest, no longer trying to hide his presence but instead pushing himself with as much strength as he could muster from each stride he took. His feet pushed repeatedly against the forest floor as he twisted and turned, dodging between the trees whilst trying to throw the troll of his tail.
Unfortunately Zane knew from the knowledge he studied back at his old village that once a forest troll has locked its eyes onto its prey there is practically no escape. It uses its own mana core to empower its eyes and follow the trail left by other creatures. This was why Zane had yet to head in the direction of his home cave out of the fear that he would lead the troll to the place he lived.
No matter how much he twisted and turned he could feel the troll not far behind him and slowly closing the distance, making Zane want to scream in frustration from the feeling of death that was creeping up on him.
'Come on think Zane there has got to be some way to lose this troll. If I can't escape it's tracking then I need to get somewhere it can't reach me' Zane began processing ideas to lose the troll whilst still in a full sprint through the forest. Taking a quick glance back he saw the troll bulldozing after him, bursting through the trees like they were twigs whilst a look of greed filled the beasts eyes.
'Climbing a tree is out of the question' Zane chuckled inwardly. Even in such a threatening situation he couldn't help but find it quite comical how he was surrounded by high trees that he was inclined to climb, but the particular beast chasing him could break them like they were hollow branches.
Zane was beginning to lose hope. He needed a way out of this chase but it felt like his mind was blank. However he took another stride forward and felt the ground below his feet begin to collapse. Looking down Zane saw the forest floor cave inwards as he began falling into the newly formed hole.
"What the fu-" before he could finish cursing he was being dragged downwards by some mysterious force, looking up at the fading light of the forest through the closing hole he was falling through until the light was sealed off and Zane was left falling through an endless darkness.
The troll stood in place scratching its head, confused to how it's prey disappeared right before its eyes.
Zane slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with a strange sight before him. He found himself in a small circular room. The one circular wall and the ceiling were both a white marble, but throughout the walls were cracks with a purple light shining through. Looking closely at the purple light Zane found his instincts tell him to be careful of the purple energy, he didn't know why, but something told him it was dangerous so he kept his distance.
When he paid more attention Zane found that the purple light was the only source of brightness in the room and without the light he would be in darkness. This gave the room a violet glow.
In the middle of the white room stood a 4 foot altar. The altar was made of the same snowy white marble and was decorated in lavender runes that ran in a straight line down each side of the altar. Circling the altar to make sure there was nothing he was missing, Zane began to inspect it further as he moved closer to it.
A white spike stuck out of the top of the altar, emitting a strange feeling of power the closer Zane moved towards it. Reaching out bandaged hand while his left hand clenched in anticipation. Zane ran his fingertips across the spike, expecting the worst he grit his teeth and prepared his body for a shock. However nothing happened.
"Strange I thought there would be more to it" Zane muttered whilst concentrating on the altar, an expression of doubt clouding his face. As he was about to pull his hand back from the spike, he felt a strange suction force followed by a stinging pain in his hand.
Switching his focus from the spike to his bandaged hand, what he witnessed made his face pale. The spike began glowing with purple energy as it sucked blood from the wound on his hand. What worries Zane most wasn't the blood, but that the suction showed no signs of stopping as it filled an almost endless drain.
'This is bad, the rate at which this altar is draining my blood I doubt I will be alive once it's full. But I can't pull away from the spike, it's like a vice has gripped my hand.' Zane was trying his best to think rationally but the longer this went on the weaker he felt. 'I've got to stop this now or I'm going to die!' Panic filled his mind as he used all his strength to pull his hand back, unfortunately it didn't budge a single inch.
Just when Zane was preparing to give up, he felt the suction relax. The altar had stopped draining his blood. Zane's usually tanned skin was a pale white due to his vitality almost being sucked dry. Looking back towards the altar he noticed the spike was glowing even brighter than before and had begun rotating as the energy gathered above the spike.
An orb of violet energy was forming and growing bigger as the spike spun increasingly, the aura it contained pulsed throughout the circular room. The purple crack in the walls responded to this energy and the room started violently shaking like it was alive and unable to contain the excitement that came with the purple orb growing.