— "Cabrum!!!!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
During the cold and humid night, flashes of lights illuminated the night and the silent forest.
The rain was falling heavily and there was no place to escape it. Edart was awake and soaked on his branch. Although the tree protected him from the heavy rain, the water still ran down the trunk and dripped between the leaves. After an hour of rain, he was already soaked.
There was not much he could do, he had not found any cave and going out to look for one in these conditions was asking for death, besides the cave he found could already be occupied, where its occupants might not be willing to share the space.
— "Boom!"
The sky was lit up again and a noise much louder than before echoed in his ear.
— "Creeeck, creeck!" "fuuuuuuo!" "Bammm"
Fifty meters away, Edart, wide-eyed, saw a tree being struck by lightning, its trunk immediately catching fire. Sounds of wood breaking could be heard, despite the heavy rain that muffled the sound quite a bit.
Soon the tree tilted and began to fall, hitting the ground hard. The fire that spread along the trunk soon went out. Only the sound of rain remained.
— "How long will this go on?" He asked no one in particular.
Edart was terrified to see a tree being struck by lightning in front of him, it reminded him of the danger of standing under a tree during a storm. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen to him standing on one when it was struck by lightning. All he could do was pray to get through it.
— "Unfortunately there is nothing I can do other than hope for the best."
Trying to focus his attention on something else, he picked up the new stones he had obtained. These stones were the cores of the slimes he had killed the day before.
In his hands were two earth cores, one plant core, and two water cores. They were brighter now than when he had gotten them from the slimes. These cores were a deep black color with a slight tint of their elemental color.
Now, only the edges of the cores were black, as if they were glass. Inside, he could see a strong, deep color of the corresponding element. Edart deduced that it was due to the mana that had somehow been absorbed by the core.
—"Amazing, they are full of mana. If I can use that, I can have a reserve of mana. Maybe if I create a staff. Eris, can you think of any way to use the cores?"
—"Maybe if you can manipulate mana, you can use it for yourself. There must also be some way to channel the mana from the core through materials, then we could create equipment."]
—"I see. Well, between manipulating mana and finding some material to channel it, I think it would be easier to control."
When Edart used his skills, he could feel the flow of mana running through his body. Although it was faint, he could train until he could manipulate the mana.
Remembering the previous day, besides the cores, he had other good rewards. Now that he was fighting against earth slimes as well, he killed 23 slimes which gave him two more levels and four free points to be assigned. It was getting harder and harder to get new levels.
Looking at his attributes, he decided to leave all of his attributes at level 10 at least.
His hunter job leveled up, reaching level 5, which unlocked another skill.
— ["Acquired skill: 'Camouflage (Uncommon) (Level: 1)'"].
— ["Description: The art of blending in with the environment so as not to be found. Every good hunter must know how to stay hidden and not be detected by their prey.
This skill increases his agility as he evolves. Agility +1."]
This was a skill that used up mana over time, but also varied in consumption. If he stood still, it would consume less, and he could keep it active for up to two hours with his current mana. If he walked, the time would drop to 30 minutes.
Edart discovered this with some tests, it was important for him to know the limit of his abilities. This ability does not make him invisible, but it seemed to make him one with the environment he was in, similar to the camouflage that the army used, especially snipers.
His other abilities also improved, with Tracking, Collect, Club Handling, Spear Throwing and Throwing going up by one level. Accurate Shot gained two. Throwing reached level 10, which gave him 3 more points in Agility and Strength.
Which left his status like this.
— ["Name: Edart Zanuy
Health: 45/47.
Mana: 25/25
Stamina: 34/34
Characteristics
Vitality (VIT): 10.
Strength (STR): 16 (+4)
Endurance (End): 9 (+2)
Agility (AGI): 11 (+4)
Intelligence (INT): 9.
Will (VON): 10 (+2)
Perception (PER): 15"]
Remembering this, a small smile appeared on his mouth. He was stronger and much better than when he arrived in this world, but he knew that this was nothing, he just hoped he wouldn't meet anyone too strong, who could finish him off with a slap.
— "I still have a long way to go." He said to himself in a whisper.
The rain continued to fall, the sky was bright and trembled occasionally. Unable to sleep, Edart concentrated on trying to control his mana until the weather improved.
…
It was already light, and the storm had diminished in intensity, becoming a light rain without lightning.
Edart was on the border of the forest with the Slimy Plain. Hunger bothered him, preventing him from concentrating on practicing, so he left his shelter in search of food.
"If this rain doesn't stop, I might be in trouble." Edart thought.
He was already soaked when he climbed down from the tree, and when he started walking through the forest, his feet were covered in mud.
Standing in front of the stream, which had doubled in size and strength, Edart wanted to try new things, in an attempt to better understand mana and how it worked.
— "Eris, I'll count on you to keep an eye out for possible dangers."
— ["You can count on me, nothing will go unnoticed by me."] After hearing this, Edart knew he could concentrate completely and forget about the world around him, because if something happened, Eris would alert him.
He sat on a rock near the stream and crossed his legs, looking at the rapidly flowing murky water. He concentrated, activated his mana perception ability, and watched the mana flowing in the water. The dots passed by quickly, as agitated as the water was.
— "This is going to be harder than I thought."
Edart concentrated and focused his mind in the middle of the stream, trying to stop the mana at that point. After a while, he began to feel the mana flowing through that spot.
Feeling the mana was like a sixth sense to him, just like touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. This was completely new and strange to him. Whenever he concentrated on feeling the mana, it was as if his body extended to the spot where he wanted to interact with the mana.
Concentrated, he felt his hand extending to the stream. As he 'touched' it, he felt as if the water was flowing through his hand. It was, in fact, the elemental mana of water and his hand was an incorporeal hand, which his will created to interact with the mana.
— "This is incredible." He said to himself.
Amazed by the sensation, Edart was immersed at that moment. Every time a point of mana passed through his incorporeal hand, he felt the potential energy that contained that point of mana. It was as if that point wanted to be molded.
After a while of contemplation, Edart, with his hand, began to make a barrier in an attempt to stop this moving mana, but his attempts were in vain and the mana points continued to flow the flow of water.
— "It's not working, what do I have to do?" He said to himself, distressed for not being able to do what he wanted, however, he did not stop.
Time passed and his attempts to stop this mana resulted in failure. Edart did not give up and kept trying. He felt like he could do it, and the mana points gave him the feeling of wanting to be manipulated and turned into something.
…