Marcus Clifton was an orphan. The memories of Marcus' early life were not very clear. As far he could remember, he had been staying in an abandoned building from his teens.
In the early phase of his life, Marcus sustained himself by searching scraps of food from the garbage and left over dustbins of food outlets. As he grew, he started to take up part time jobs. Though securing a part time job not that easy as there were few businesses and people who were willing to hire a dirty and unkempt fellow like him.
On the other hand, fortunately, this world was not as cruel and lawless as one would expect of a world which was maddeningly racing for power. Even though crime was rampant, one could not simply kill because they just wanted… well a lot of people had the power who could kill just because they wanted but people with that sort of status had no reasons to encounter the likes of Marcus.
There were sort of governments and law authorities keeping things in order in the slums. Because of this Marcus, was able to keep himself alive. This did not mean that he had no problems.
Bullies and gangsters of the streets were common and Marcus had to lower his head in front of them. He also had to give 30% of the income he earned as sort of protection money to the street thugs.
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Marcus likely everyone else had started his cultivation journey at the age of 17, one year before from the present. As he had expected, he was no genius. He had an average talent. He had no special spiritual veins or any physique or bloodline. Neither did he have access to any resources nor a mentor to guide him in this complex journey.
The only thing available to him was the basic cultivation manual which was freely available to everyone.
While for years, Marcus had remained subservient and never tried to go against the powerful people and had acted docile, he was completely different from inside.
Marcus was an extremely ambitious man. Unlike most orphans whose ambition ended at comfortable sleep and delicious meal, Marcus was different.
He aspired to be successful. He wanted power. He wanted to stand at the pinnacle of the world.
For his entire life he had been constantly belittled and bullied because of his lower status. As a poor orphan he had no power and that was his fate. Though he maintained his smile bearing all what was thrown at him, he seethed in anger from inside.
And the cultivation was the path which could have helped him achieve his goal.
In the last year, Marcus had increased his efforts and hard work manifold. Despite his average talent, he was never demotivated. Other than doing sufficient work to earn himself a living, he would only cultivate.
In the past one year, thanks to his maddening effort, Marcus had good enough progress considering his talent.
He had successfully entered the first step towards cultivation and had reached the 3rd Order Spiritual Relam, the first realm in the endless cultivation journey.
Marcus was not satisfied with his progress. Also, with time increasing his cultivation was going to be difficult. Without access to resources, the spiritual energy in the environment was not sufficient for him to keep this pace.
To break the shackles, which was binding Marcus, he needed much more power. And to break this shackle, Marcus decided to dive into the danger.
Having no access to cultivation resources, the only resources which he had any chance to get his hands were inside the dangerous forests- monster cores or some spiritual herbs.
But to go alone in the forest while still being in the Spiritual Realm was to put one into the mouth of death.
Even so, braving the risk, Marcus had decided to venture into the forest outside the town. To keep himself safe and give himself a better chance of living, Marcus did not venture deep inside the forest and roamed only the outskirts.
For the first 4 days, he had been lucky as Marcus had not only keep himself alive but also had hunted two beasts of 2nd Order Spiritual Realm.
Absorbing the two cores of these monsters had increased Marcus' strength by a little bit. But today, all his accumulated luck had run out.
A 4th Order Spiritual Realm beast had found him. Though Marcus was able to outrun the beast, he had been badly injured.
Thinking that he might have chance of recovery after some rest, Marcus had arrived in this cave but unfortunately, he had lost his life.
This was the tale of Marcus Clifton.
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