Ch. 1..10

Chapter 1- Shooting Stars

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked on a wooden door.

No answer came.

Creak.

The door opened slowly, and an immaculately dressed person stepped in. It was a man with white hair, but it was a bit difficult to discern his age. Even though he had white hair, which obviously came from old age, there were no wrinkles on his face. If one only looked at his face, one might believe that he was rather young.

However, appearances often deceived.

If someone heard of this person's age, they wouldn't be able to believe whoever told them.

The man looked around the room with professional eyes.

It was a small study filled with all kinds of books, scriptures, tomes, and papers. An unbelievably soft, violet carpet was strewn across the ground, and a cozy fire crackled in the fireplace.

The man's eyes looked at the back of the room.

Another man was sitting on a chair behind a mahogany desk. Several papers were strewn across the desk, and the man practically lay in his chair, his head looking upward.

The man at the door slightly shook his head and walked over.

Bang!

He slightly kicked the table.

"Oh, wha- huh? Oh, good morning, Wester," the man who had just been sleeping said after recovering from the shock. He was an old man with gentle facial features, and everyone that saw him would believe him to be a nice grandpa.

"It's evening, sir," Wester, the butler, said to the old man.

"Oh, already?" the old man asked in confusion as he looked around his room. "I was working on this year's reward for the Clan Tournament. Guess I lost track of time," he said.

"Mhm," Wester uttered, deciding not to comment on how he had found his master napping.

"What? You don't believe me?" the old man asked with an offended expression. "Look! It's over there," he said.

A tome started to float from the desk and stopped in front of Wester.

Wester took the tome, opened it, and scanned through it.

"An Element-Neutral King Rank Spell," Wester commented. "You didn't read the dossiers about the candidates, did you?" Wester asked.

The old man felt like he had been found out.

BANG!

Wester put his hands on the stacked dossiers on the table, making it impossible for the old man to peek at them.

The old man groaned. "Fine! Fine!" he groaned, "but it doesn't really matter, does it? Element-Neutral Spells are worth more than Element-Specific Spells anyway."

"Sir, if you keep creating Element-Neutral Spells for every tournament, the other Clans will start believing that we don't care about the tournament," Wester commented.

The old man groaned again. "Fine! I'll just create one for every Element, and you can choose whichever you want to hand out in the future tournaments."

Wester put the Element-Neutral King Rank Spell under his arm but didn't comment on the old man's words.

Silence.

The old man felt a bit awkward as his butler only stood before him, not saying anything.

"Do you need something else?" the old man asked.

Silence.

"The Child of Calamity has vanished," Wester said.

The old man was a bit taken aback as he looked at Wester with skepticism. "Vanished? Did he flee? Why would he? He had money, freedom, status, a family, everything. What happened?"

"We don't know," Wester said. "When our people arrived at his home for their monthly visit, he was simply gone."

"Did you search for him?" the old man asked.

"Of course, sir," Wester answered. "I sent the seventh legion to search through every particle of the surrounding 50,000 kilometers. As a mere Apprentice, he couldn't possibly have traveled further, and we would have noticed any spatial fluctuations. However, we still couldn't find him."

The old man scratched his chin in thought. "Not even the other Clans could have hidden something like that. Additionally, they would only be shooting a fireball in their own faces by taking him away. I'm certain that he hadn't had any help."

"That only means that his Affinity has claimed his own life. That would also explain why you can't find a trace of him," the old man muttered.

Wester nodded. "That is also our assumption."

The old man also nodded. "I presume you need the seal?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

The old man gestured with his hand for Wester to give him something, and a piece of paper appeared in the air, which then floated to the desk.

The old man looked at the paper and read it.

Then, he put his finger at the bottom of the piece of paper, and his finger shone with purple lightning for an instant.

"As always," the old man commented as the paper flew back to Wester.

"As always," Wester said.

Wester turned around, left the study, and wished the old man a good evening.

After Wester left, the old man looked with furrowed brows at the middle of the room.

The old man waved his fingers. Some water gathered in the air, and a clear pool formed.

The old man looked into the pool, and the pool reflected a seemingly infinite world.

The old man's eyes moved with rapid speeds as he scanned through every hidden corner of the world in the pool.

Ten seconds later, the pool vanished, and the old man laid back on the chair.

"Sure enough, he's gone. No trace of him. That's a new one," the old man mumbled to himself. "I mean, Affinities can eat up their owners, so it's not really unbelievable. It just hasn't happened with the Child of Calamity before in the past 100,000 years. This smells fishy! Something's different this time!"

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The old man scratched his chin for a while longer, but then he put his head back in a sleeping position.

"Well, doesn't matter. The legions will find the new Child of Calamity anyway," he commented to himself as he closed his eyes.

Meanwhile, Wester was walking through a dimly lit hallway made of stone. Every step he took seemingly pulled him forward for hundreds of meters. It was difficult to discern what was more surprising, the fact that Wester was moving this quickly or the fact that the hallway was so long.

After some seconds, Wester arrived in front of a wooden door, which he quickly opened and walked out of.

Wester arrived in a grand hall.

The hall was two kilometers long and 300 meters high. Powerful weapons and adornments were on the walls as imposing, violet flags hung down from every column. The flags had white lightning bolts imprinted on them, and a gigantic table was in the middle of the hall with some chairs surrounding it.

Right now, the hall was empty.

Wester went through another door and down another hallway, this hallway being far bigger and grander than the previous one.

Wester walked through another door.

This room had several tables and chairs. Many different kinds of magical equipment could be found in the room. Several papers and different objects were on the desks.

"Good evening, sir. Do you require something?"

A blonde woman with ostentatious purple robes stood up politely. Electricity sparked around her as space seemed to bend around her.

She exuded incredible power.

"Oh, Sarah, perfect, I was searching for you. Everything going well?" Wester asked politely.

"Yes, sir. Thank you for asking, sir," the woman spoke politely.

"Sarah, I need you to do something for me," Wester said politely as he took out the paper the old man had signed earlier.

The paper floated over, and the woman looked at the paper.

Her eyes widened more and more as she continued reading. "Yes, sir," she said.

Then, she took the paper and walked over to a wall. She spoke complex and unfamiliar words that warped her surroundings.

Ten seconds later, an outcropping in the shape of a piece of paper appeared on the wall.

Sarah put the paper in the outcropping, and the paper burned away.

DING! DING! DING!

Three bells rang throughout an unfathomable distance, their sounds ignoring the upper limit of the speed of sound.

"Have a good hunt," Wester commented politely as he left the room.

"Thank you, sir," Sarah said with a bow.

SHING!

Sarah was engulfed by a bright light, but the bright light vanished just as quickly as it had arrived.

However, Sarah had undergone a world-shaking transformation.

Her purple robes were replaced by a shining silver armor, covered with different runes. Golden wing bones were on the back of her armor, which were quickly filled out by bolts of lightning, resembling the feathers.

A two-meter-long spear appeared in her hands, also crackling with lightning.

SHING!

Then, Sarah seemingly vanished.

She had teleported away!

SHING!

Sarah reappeared in the grand hall through which Wester had gone.

However, the hall was no longer empty.

10,000 people in golden armor with golden staves filled the hall in an orderly manner.

"We greet the general!" the ten people at the front of the army spoke in unison.

Sarah exuded irresistible power as she looked at the gathered army.

This was the sixth legion, which was responsible for reconnaissance.

"Men and women of the sixth legion," Sarah said, her voice echoing throughout the grand hall. "The Ancestor has given an order!"

Silence.

"The Child of Calamity has vanished, and a new Child of Calamity must have appeared in the world. The sixth legion will comb the world. Every child in the world below the age of one must have their Affinity tested with a blood test! If any child tests positive for an unknown affinity, the child will be brought to me personally!"

"I expect you all to finish by the morning!"

"Yes, General!" all the soldiers echoed.

"Go!"

SHING! SHING! SHING!

All 10,000 people teleported out of the hall and reappeared in the air outside the building.

Below them was a magnificent purple castle, built on top of several mountains of unfathomable height.

The castle itself was several kilometers wide!

Lightning crackled violently on the storm clouds below the mountains where the castle was built on.

Nothing aside from an endless sea of clouds filled with lightning could be seen.

The 10,000 people in the air crackled with lightning as their bodies shone in golden light.

BANG!

Then, with an explosion, all soldiers transformed into lightning as they shot into the horizon.

Their speed was impossible to follow with one's eyes.

On this night, many humans would notice golden shooting stars in the sky.

On this night, all babies below the age of one would gain a tiny red dot on the fingertip of their index finger.

This was where the blood was drawn from for the test.

No one but the peak powers would notice that this had even happened.

The entire world had been combed in but a single night and no one had noticed.

Yet, the Child of Calamity had not been found.

Chapter 2 - Alex

One month earlier, on Earth.

"Thank you for your loyal support, and please visit us again!"

A superficially cheerful voice shouted this phrase from a medium-sized grocery store. The phrase was targeted at a middle-aged man that was just leaving the store. The middle-aged man slightly waved one of his hands to show that he had heard, but he couldn't be bothered to answer.

As soon as the man left, the grocery store cashier sighed and went back to the cash register. The cashier was a young man with blonde hair, and he looked like he had just hit his 20s. A slight muscular frame was still visible when one looked at him from the back, but when looking at him from the front, one could only see a rather sizable beer belly.

Clack, thump, clack, thump!

As the cashier walked back to the cash register, the sound of his cane could be heard on the floor of the grocery store.

"Hello, welcome to Stevie's!" the cashier greeted with superficial politeness as he handled the next customer.

"Hard day at work, huh?" the young customer asked the cashier.

"It's alright," the cashier answered with a slight chuckle. "Everyone has to make a living."

However, these words didn't reflect the cashier's real feelings.

'This fucking grocery store is killing me, I swear!' he thought as he "happily" bagged the groceries. 'Every day with the same shit. Alex, do this! Alex, do that! I swear, when I've saved up enough money for college, I'm going to burn this place to the ground!'

Of course, these were only thoughts created in a stressful situation. Alex knew that he wouldn't really do it.

This cashier was Alexander Hoffmann.

Alex for short.

Alex's life hadn't always been like this.

He had had a bright future ahead of him in the past.

Sadly, life didn't go his way.

On the urging of his father, Alex started doing sports when he was 12. After all, doing sports while growing was very beneficial to the development of a teenager.

Alex's father was a huge fan of the MNFA, the Multinational Fighting Association.

The MNFA let fighters from nearly all disciplines of martial arts fight each other with the least rules possible. So, in short, it was an organization that handled mixed martial arts fights, MMA for short.

Alex had also grown to like watching these fights, and when his father urged him to do some sports, Alex decided that he wanted to do MMA.

His parents' feelings were mixed on that subject.

On one hand, it was great that their child was finally doing some sports, but MMA could get pretty dangerous if something wasn't handled correctly.

However, since it was not professional MMA and since there were several coaches around in the local gym, they agreed.

Some time later, when Alex had had his first practice fight against another kid in the gym, he got his ass handed to him. Yet, this experience awakened a certain kind of stubbornness in him, an urge to win.

Sadly, he lost the next couple of practice matches too. Well, one couldn't really consider these matches a loss since they weren't real matches. They were simply some sparring between two students.

Yet, when Alex didn't clearly win a fight, he saw it as a loss.

Alex had already planned to change sports and join another one since it felt frustrating to see how everyone was better than himself. Yet, he wanted to win at least one time!

So, he continued training, and eventually, he won.

When Alex won, he felt something that he had never felt before.

It was a kind of indescribable high!

He felt like he was floating on clouds, and he felt like he was the greatest in the world!

The feeling of fighting, which had always annoyed him since his body hurt after it, transformed into the polar opposite.

This feeling of fighting others wasn't annoying.

It was simply a clash between men!

They were showcasing their power in a very primal fashion!

Alex wanted to feel this feeling again!

Alex stayed in the gym and even came more often. MMA had transformed from a chore into a hobby. The pain of sore muscles became a familiar pain that Alex even started to enjoy. It sounded cheesy, but the common phrase of every single sports coach in the world resonated with Alex.

"Pain is simply weakness leaving your body!"

As the years passed, Alex completely focused on MMA. Even his grades started to drop, which had already been average to begin with. Alex wasn't stupid, but he never paid attention in school and didn't learn anything.

Stuff like math and physics was still okay since he could often deduce the correct answers logically, which was why those grades didn't suffer much. However, subjects like history and foreign languages had it far worse since one had to actually learn for these things.

Alex had a ton of arguments with his parents over this, but Alex always said that his future was MMA. He would join the MNFA, and he would earn a ton of money!

Alex barely passed high school but decided against going to college.

MMA was his future!

Alex trained as hard as he could!

His entire life depended on his success!

If he didn't manage to get into the MNFA, he would lose!

And one day, just after Alex's 20th birthday, he got accepted!

This was the greatest day of his life!

His dream was about to become a reality!

Alex won his first match pretty easily since his first opponent was pretty weak. His horrible win-loss record proved that.

Alex also won his second match, but it was a close one.

Yet, tragedy struck at Alex's third match.

The fight had been going fine. There was some back and forth, and he and his opponent were pretty evenly matched.

And then, the accident happened.

Alex and his opponent had been fighting from a distance since no one managed to find a good opening to tackle the other one to the ground. Alex saw an opening in his opponent's defense and performed a roundhouse kick.

CRACK!

His opponent barely recovered before the kick struck, and he managed to block it haphazardly.

His opponent's elbow hit Alex's ankle.

Alex's ankle immediately broke, and the medics jumped into the ring.

A day later, Alex got the news that his bones had damaged the nerves and muscles in his leg.

They could only fix it to the point that would allow him to walk somewhat normally with the support of a cane, but that was it. There was nothing more they could do.

Alex's career was over.

From the highest high of his life, Alex fell to the lowest low.

Alex had earned quite a sum of money from his three fights, but he basically wasted all of it in a drunken haze of destruction over the next year.

His life was over.

There was nothing anymore.

After a year, his family held an intervention for him, and Alex finally realized that he had to stop being such a pussy. One year was more than enough to wallow in self-pity!

So, Alex planned to save up some money for college.

Right now, Alex was 22 years old, and he was working in a grocery store precisely for this reason.

Even though his past was filled with incredible highs, and even though he fell into the lowest low, Alex was still young, and he knew that he could still make something of his life. He only had to work his ass off for the foreseeable future.

Then, he would go to college, and everything would turn for the better!

Time passed in the grocery store, and after helping close up the place, Alex left at around 10 pm. It was already dark out, but the streets were well lit. After all, Alex lived and worked in a less savory part of a big city.

As Alex stepped out of the grocery store, his nose wrinkled. No matter how long he had lived here, he simply couldn't get used to the disgusting stench of the dirty streets.

This part of the city was for low-income families, and the state of the streets reflected that very well.

Garbage, cigarette butts, old newspapers, old furniture.

This was a common sight on these streets.

Alex tried to ignore the stench and walked home. His home was barely a kilometer away, a distance where people argued if they should drive or walk.

Alex was walking since he wanted to keep his living costs as low as possible. Additionally, Alex somewhat enjoyed the walk since he was used to doing a lot of physical exercise.

After some minutes, Alex stopped as he looked at a couple of cigarette butts on the street.

And the cigarette bin right beside them.

'Oh, come on!' he thought. 'The bin is right there!'

Alex used his cane to push the cigarette butts to the side of the closest building. He hated these people that treated the streets as their own toilet, but he didn't hate them enough to pick up the cigarette butts to throw them away.

After some minutes, Alex heard the sound of a whining dog, and he stopped.

This wasn't the usual sound of a whining dog.

The dog's whining was very loud, high-pitched, painful, and desperate. Obviously, the dog was in a ton of pain.

The sound of dogs was normal in this city, but that sound definitely wasn't normal.

Alex searched around for the dog and found it in a dark alleyway between two buildings.

The dog could barely be seen at the edge of the streetlamps' lights.

Blood.

Bone.

A concerned look appeared on Alex's face as he saw the dog. Both of its hindlegs were severely broken. He could see blood coming out of its legs, and he could even see its bones poking out.

No wonder it was in so much pain.

Alex thought about if he should help it or not. He didn't have a pet, but he also didn't hate animals. It was nice to look at and interact with them, but he didn't want to bear the responsibility of owning a pet of his own.

On top of that, pets were expensive.

Yet, when Alex saw the broken legs, he got reminded of his own injury. A slight pain came from his ankle as the scene of being rushed into the hospital returned to Alex's mind.

In the end, Alex sighed.

'Fine, I'll bring you to a vet, but I won't pay much for your care.'

Alex slowly walked into the alleyway and closed in on the dog. The dog didn't move and only continued crying in pain as Alex came closer.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Don't move!"

Alex stopped as the familiar feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins assaulted him.

There was a knife at his throat!

Alex didn't dare to move as panic took hold of him, but he calmed down somewhat when he felt a hand hurriedly searching through his pockets.

'A robbery,' Alex thought.

Alex had only been in panic for two seconds, but his old fighting instincts kicked in.

Yet, Alex didn't attack.

It was essential to analyze the opponent first. Otherwise, mistakes were bound to happen.

As the hand of the robber searched through Alex's pocket, Alex slightly glanced at the robber. He wore a black hoody and black sweatpants. It was hard to make out his facial features in the darkness while looking at him from such an awkward angle.

Alex glanced at the arm that held the knife.

'He's gripping the knife with so much force that his arm is shaking, and the knife is also not directly touching my neck. He's probably new at this. Additionally, his arm is basically touching my shoulder.'

Alex also noted the appearance and condition of the dog.

'They injured the dog to lure me into this alleyway. A clever but cruel trick.'

However, a slight smirk appeared on Alex's face.

'Sadly, you chose the wrong target!'

BANG!

Alex's head shot backward and hit the lowered head of the robber. At the same time, Alex violently shoved his shoulder upward, pushing the knife away from him.

The robber became disoriented. It was never a good feeling to butt heads with another person.

Alex was in just as much pain, but as a former fighter, he could still make rational decisions under pain.

Without hesitation, Alex lifted his cane.

BANG!

And hit the side of the robber's head with full force.

The robber immediately lost his consciousness under the attack. Alex hadn't fought in over a year, but his muscles were still more powerful than average.

The robber fell over as Alex smirked.

CRACK!

Alex's smirk froze as it slowly transformed into terror.

'No! I didn't want to do that!'

Since the robber had lost consciousness, his body simply fell over to the side.

And his head violently hit the hard pavement.

A pool of dark blood was quickly forming below the robber's cracked skull.

Alex's world stopped.

He couldn't comprehend what was happening.

Did… did he just kill someone?

Alex began hyperventilating in panic as his mind tried to comprehend the magnitude of what he had just done.

CRACK!

And then, Alex's mind vanished.

Alex's body landed beside the robbers.

A huge crack could be seen at the back of his head.

Behind Alex's body stood another man dressed in black, fury on his face. In his hand, he carried a blood-smeared crowbar.

This was the robber's friend, who had been hiding behind some trash in case something went wrong.

When he saw the corpse of his friend, fury took hold of him, and he hit Alex on the back of the head with his crowbar, full force.

Alex died instantly.

He didn't even know how he had died.

"Fuck! FUCK!" the second robber shouted as he didn't know what he should do now.

He had two corpses on his hands now!

While the robber was panicking, two invisible, azure wisps left the corpses.

The azure wisps traveled into the sky and seemingly left the realm of earth.

Alex didn't feel alive nor dead.

He was awake but also not awake.

One could liken the state of his mind to dreaming. His mind didn't work properly, but there were still some rudimentary thoughts that appeared.

The azure wisps entered an empty void, and they stopped.

Many other wisps were there already, and new ones joined every second.

After a minute, a bright, white light suddenly appeared in the nothingness, and all the wisps flew to it.

They were inherently drawn to it.

This was where they were supposed to go.

These were the souls of the dead, and Alex was just one insignificant soul among many.

Suddenly, the void shook!

It was like reality was being torn apart!

However, the wisps only continued to travel to the light. They didn't even notice what was happening.

Reality seemingly broke like glass as an even darker hole appeared.

Then, a gigantic hand shot out of the hole.

It was the hand of a young, adult man.

With unreal speeds, the hand shot at one particular wisp, Alex's soul.

The hand used its thumb and index finger to clamp down on Alex's soul, and Alex felt clarity return to his mind.

'Wait, what happened?'

Yet, before Alex could look at his surroundings, he felt himself being pulled into the distance.

Before the hand vanished into the closing rift of reality, Alex could hear a voice, and that voice only spoke one word:

"Yoink!"

 

Chapter 3 - Dream?

"What? What happened? Where am I!?"

Alex's mind was confused beyond belief. He knew that something had happened to him. He felt like he had been dreaming, and just now woke up.

However, he had no idea where he was.

Alex only knew that he was currently standing in the most imposing hall he had ever seen in his entire life. Just the sheer size of this place struck him dumb. Alex suspected that this hall was over a kilometer wide! It was probably even a hundred meters tall!

Who would build such a thing!?

The entire place was colored in black and red, evoking a kind of evil feeling.

'Did they hire some teenager to design this place? Who colors such a grand hall in black and red?' Alex thought as his brows furrowed. 'Even more, why is everything empty? Sure, there are some things at the walls, but there is nothing in between them except for this big, dark carpet.'

Alex looked at the carpet and noticed that something was embroidered on it.

It was a white jester's mask. Basically, it was a white mask with the face of a laughing person.

'Creepy.'

Alex looked to the front, and his eyes widened.

About a hundred meters to Alex's front was a vast and tall throne. The throne was probably over ten meters wide and reached the ceiling of this gigantic hall.

Alex also noticed that someone was sitting on the throne.

It was a young man, probably in his early twenties, just like Alex. He had long black and red hair, but Alex couldn't see how long his hair was exactly since this man was currently facing Alex, looking at him with a smirk.

Another interesting aspect of the man's appearance was his red eyes, but Alex didn't notice them from such a distance.

Although, he also looked a bit ridiculous since he was far too small for such a wide throne.

'Is that a goth kid?' Alex thought. 'Wait, as far as I know, goths are more black and grey. I think emos are more black and red. Did he design this place? Probably, judging by his get-up.'

Alex continued staring at the young man while the young man only smirked back.

Seconds passed.

Alex was looking awkwardly from side to side. The other party wasn't initiating a conversation and only stared at him.

Should he initiate a conversation?

Well, he had enough questions, so why not?

"Excuse me!" Alex shouted loudly, his voice echoing in the vast, empty hall. After all, the man was around 100 meters away from him.

No reaction.

'Maybe he didn't hear me?' Alex thought, unsure.

Alex took a step forward.

Thump!

Alex fell forward and barely caught himself with his hands.

'What? Where's my cane?!' Alex thought in panic as he searched around for his cane. Sadly, he couldn't find it.

'I mean, I can kind of walk without a cane, but it's awkward as fuck,' Alex thought as he stood up.

His balance was rather stable, which surprised him. Usually, due to the nerve damage in his ankle, his right foot always awkwardly flopped around. Alex could only stand on that foot by perfectly balancing his bodyweight along his entire leg.

Alex took one step forward, and he took a deep breath in shock as he realized that he could use his right foot!

How?!

Alex balanced on his left leg as he moved his right foot in the air.

Full mobility!

No awkwardness!

Whoooosh!

Alex performed a roundhouse kick, and his mind was going wild.

This was just like back when he had been fighting!

'What the hell?!'

Alex tried out his right leg some more as he jumped and kicked a couple of times.

However, after some seconds, Alex deflated with a sigh. 'There's no way my foot is actually healed. Even if it had been healed, there should be some minor awkwardness in my movement, and some of the muscles in my foot should have atrophied.'

'This is obviously a dream.'

BOOOOM!

The sound of an explosion rang throughout the hall, coming from Alex's front! The sound was so loud that Alex's ears started ringing as he was thrown back by a shockwave.

Luckily, the shockwave didn't injure him.

"Every damn time!" an angry voice shouted.

Alex shook his head to regain his calm.

"Every damn time!" the voice repeated, obviously working itself into a rage. "Every time I get a soul from your world, they always think that it's a dream!"

Alex lifted his head and looked towards the throne.

Was the young man speaking?

It was hard to see from such a distance.

'Wait, then how can I hear him? It sounds like he's just beside me.'

"This is getting boring!" the voice said with annoyance. "How about, one time, one of you guys just walks forward? How about, one time, one of you guys just walks up to me?"

Alex looked around as he tried to find the origin of the voice, but there was nothing around him. On top of that, the voice was coming from the front.

Was it really that young man?

"Every damn time, I watch you guys, and every damn time, you do the same fucking thing!" the man shouted.

Alex saw that the man's body was slightly moving from side to side, but it was hard to judge from such a distance.

"Oh, what's this hall? Oh, what happened to my body?" the man shouted with a sarcastic tone.

'I think he lifted his right arm to imitate someone speaking,' Alex thought as he concentrated on the throne in the distance.

BANG!

Another explosion, but this time, Alex managed to barely remain upright.

However, this explosion was even more shocking than the first one.

Why?

Because Alex had seen what had caused the explosion.

The young man had lifted his right arm and then slammed down.

And then, something shocking happened.

The armrest of the throne moved inward and stopped below the young man's fist!

A ten-meter-wide throne had shrunken to just a bit more than five meters!

And the explosion?

That was the young man's fist!

Just the mere act of slamming one's fist down on an armrest had thrown Alex to the ground from a distance of over a hundred meters.

That was insane!

All of this took some time to describe, but barely any time had passed in reality. The young man was still ranting.

"And then. And then! And then you always say the same fucking words! You always say 'excuse me'! Can't you say something else for a change?! Can't at least one of you guys say 'hello' or 'good morning' or 'fuck you' or just ANYTHING else?!"

Alex still couldn't deal with the situation.

'Okay, that's impossible. This must be a dream!' he thought.

Whoooop!

Suddenly, the distance between Alex and the man shrank. In less than a second, Alex stood barely half a meter in front of the man.

"What did you just fucking think?!" the young man growled with narrowed eyes. "I dare you! Think that one more time! See what happens!"

For some reason, Alex felt terrified right now.

Usually, he wouldn't be afraid of a young man sitting on a throne, but for some reason, Alex felt like he had to be very careful right now. Otherwise, he might make a mistake he would regret!

Alex looked nervously into the eyes of the young man while the young man glared back.

"Then, how about I say it instead?" Alex asked.

The young man blinked a couple of times in surprise.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Oh, that's a new one," he said, all his rage gone. "Do go on ahead. I want to see how this plays out."

Alex gulped.

"This is obviously a dream," Alex said.

"What makes you think so?" the young man asked as he leaned back. The distant back of the throne moved forward of its own volition.

"That," Alex said as he pointed at the back of the throne. "Thrones don't do that."

"Mine does," the man said with a smirk.

"How?" Alex asked. He wanted to know how the guy could rationalize something like that.

"Like this."

Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

Suddenly, the entire hall became wavy. Walls were shooting at Alex and then going far into the distance. The throne was even waving around like one of these wacky inflatable arm tube men on the streets.

Surprisingly, Alex stayed calm.

"See?" Alex said calmly. "Obviously a dream."

The hall stopped, and the young man wrinkled his nose.

"Alright, this is getting boring."

SHING!

And Alex's right foot was cut off at his ankle, just like that.

The young man didn't even move.

Alex fell to the ground in surprise and looked at his bleeding stump of a foot. His face turned into horror, but after two seconds, it surprisingly went back to a calm expression.

"See? I don't feel any pain," Alex said. "Therefore, this is a dream."

The young man chuckled.

"You're under shock. Give it some seconds," the young man said with a smirk.

Alex only looked with skepticism at the young man and then back at his right foot. He moved his right leg around a bit in morbid curiosity.

Some seconds passed.

Alex's face turned into a slight grimace. "Okay, maybe it stings a little."

"Give it time," the young man said.

Alex started sweating as his breathing quickened.

"Okay, maybe it stings a lot."

"Give it time," the young man repeated with a smirk.

"Maybe… maybe… argh!"

Alex's voice stopped as his hand went to his right leg. His entire body was straining itself as it became harder for him to breathe.

And then, Alex lost it.

However, he couldn't be blamed for his poor reaction. Take a normal person from a street and cut their leg off. See how they react.

"There we go," the young man said with a smirk. "Now, do you-"

"Aaaargh!"

The young man's brows furrowed. "Okay, now do-"

"Aaaargh!"

"Shut up!"

Whooop!

Suddenly, all the pain disappeared.

Alex's mind was shocked.

Wait, what?

Alex looked down and saw that his right foot was back.

'What?'

"You done?!" the young man asked with an annoyed tone. "You got that outta your system, yes, or do you want to shout some more?"

Alex couldn't comprehend the situation as he tried to make sense of everything.

"Alright, this is taking too long!" the young man said as he stood up.

BANG!

And then he kicked Alex into the side, throwing him two meters into the distance.

"Alright, so," the man began as he continued walking to Alex. "You died. You are dead. This is not a dream."

BANG!

Another kick.

Alex coughed several times. These kicks were no joke!

The man continued walking to Alex. "You were just on your way to the afterlife, and that's when I grabbed your soul."

Alex started to get up, but before he could straighten himself, he got hit by another kick that threw him into the distance.

"I've transported you to my Realm," the young man said with a smirk as his hands gestured to the hall around him. "This is my personal palace."

Alex quickly got up as the young man reached him again.

Whoosh!

The young man's kick missed as Alex turned his upper body sideways.

BANG!

And then, Alex punched the young man in the face!

Chapter 4 - Death

Time seemingly froze as Alex's fist hit the young man's nose.

"Argh, fuck!" Alex suddenly shouted as he shook his fist. He looked at it and saw that his index and middle finger were broken.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex had just punched the nose of the young man, but it felt like he had punched a nail made of steel!

The young man only smirked viciously. "And that's exactly why I chose you!" he said. By now, his voice sounded calm but arrogant.

Alex looked with shock at the young man.

What the hell was going on?!

"Any normal person," the young man said as he gestured grandly to his hall, "who saw what you have seen would cower before me in fear. Everything I have shown up to now, my power over space, my ability to cut off your leg in an instant, even this very hall would have sent awe, fear, terror, and respect into anyone's heart."

"However!" the man shouted, his voice sounding pleased. "You are not like a normal person. No, you are different."

The man took a step forward as Alex began sweating. His fight or flight instincts kicked in. Usually, he always chose fight, but in this instant, he felt like flight was a better alternative.

"Everyone else would have thrown themselves at my knees, begging me to not play with their lives any longer."

Another step.

"That's so boring," the man said with a neutral expression. "I want excitement, fighting, someone that doesn't take shit from anyone."

"I want chaos!" the man said with a smirk as he looked deeply into Alex's eyes.

Alex gulped.

"Chosen for what?" Alex asked, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Chosen to change the world!" the man said with a smirk. Then, he chuckled a bit, turned around, and walked back to his throne, which had just appeared behind him. He sat down and looked at Alex again with a smirk, just like back when Alex had first arrived here.

Alex remained silent for a couple of seconds as he calmed down, trying to analyze the situation.

'Obviously, this isn't a dream. The pain is too real, and now that I take the possibility that this is real into account, I also notice that my thoughts are too orderly. Usually, in a dream, I never notice that it's a dream since a big part of my brain is asleep.'

'I have to throw these preconceived notions of what counts as reality out of my mind and learn to accept that this is all real.'

Alex looked at the man sitting in front of him.

'And that means that he's also real. What is he? He can't be a normal human.'

"Finally, you are actually thinking about your current situation," the man said. "Took you long enough."

Now that Alex was calming down, he also noticed that this man had reacted to his thoughts several times.

'Does this mean that he can read my mind?'

"Yes, I can," the man said. "A mortal human life might be beyond complex for you, but for me, it's not very complicated. Your mind and soul follow rules, and when something follows rules, you can extrapolate what this something does at any given time, assuming you have the processing power to take everything into account."

Alex took a deep breath.

Too many strange things had happened in these past minutes, and he couldn't be sure about anything except that his life was probably about to change severely.

"What happened?" Alex asked, calmer than before. By now, he had realized that this young man didn't want to kill or torture him. Otherwise, the young man wouldn't have spent so much time trying to demonstrate that Alex was actually here, in reality.

"Look at you," the young man said with a smirk. "You know that this is reality, and you know that my power far eclipses your own. You know that I could kill you like a fly if I so wanted to."

"Yet, you are not bowing down or licking my boots," the young man said with a chuckle. "Instead, you are still talking to me like we are equals."

The smirk of the young man widened. "I really made a good catch today."

Alex furrowed his brows. "Okay, but what happened?" Alex asked again.

The young man chuckled and leaned back on his throne. "Death," he said.

Whoom!

Suddenly, the hall vanished as Alex appeared in a dark alleyway.

For a second, Alex thought that he had just dreamed all of this, but that thought quickly died when he noticed the gigantic throne in the alleyway with the man sitting on it.

"This is where you died," the man said as he gestured to the ground.

Alex took a deep breath and looked down.

What he saw made his insides shudder.

In front of him, in the dark alleyway, were two corpses.

All of Alex's memories of his death immediately returned.

One corpse was of the man he had accidentally killed, while the other corpse belonged to Alex. Currently, only these two corpses lay in the alleyway. The injured dog had either fallen asleep, had died, or had lost consciousness. Alex wasn't sure.

"How did I die?" Alex asked. He couldn't remember what had killed him but judging by the appearance of the back of his own head, he could make a guess.

"Your victim had a friend for insurance in case something went wrong," the young man explained. "When he saw you kill his friend, he charged over with a crowbar, and well, you can imagine the rest."

Alex looked at the two corpses with a complex expression.

"Ironic, isn't it?" the young man asked. "Your opponent died from a hit to the head, while you also died from a hit to the head. You died the same way as the person you've killed."

"I didn't want this," Alex said slowly. "I didn't want to kill him. I only wanted to incapacitate him."

The young man chuckled. "And that's exactly why this situation is so entertaining. There are so many people willing to kill someone, and such a thing is simple. However, when you accidentally kill someone, the entire situation has a different taste."

"Now, there is complexity. Now, there is no one you can truly blame. A tragedy has happened, but no one is at fault, no one to get angry at."

"What will the family of this young man do? Will they blame you? However, you have also died, and you also were in a dangerous situation. They can't blame you. Will they blame the young man for his actions? A little, but does something like this warrant an immediate death?"

The young man chuckled again. "There's no easy way out of this situation. That's what makes this so interesting."

"What will happen now?" Alex asked.

"Well, your corpses will remain there for the entire night since not many people pass through here during the night," the young man explained. "A middle-aged woman on the phone will notice your corpses in the morning and will call the police."

At that point, the young man furrowed his brows and moved his fingers a little bit. This gesture reminded Alex of someone that was calculating something in their head.

"Your killer will flee into a different city, relatively far from here," the young man said absentmindedly. "However, he will be caught in about four weeks. Then, he will stand trial for first-degree murder, but he will only be convicted of second-degree murder since he killed you out of revenge."

"He will get a sentence of 25 years."

At that point, the young man's speech became slower as he concentrated more.

"After he finished his sentence, he will get back to the street and will eventually die of an overdose."

The young man relaxed again as he leaned back.

Meanwhile, Alex took a deep breath.

Obviously, the young man didn't know the future. Otherwise, he could have said everything in an instant. If one were able to see the future, one wouldn't have to think so hard.

This meant that the young man had simply calculated everything.

However, that was even more terrifying.

Whoop!

Reality changed again as they returned to the grand hall.

"Anyway, back to the topic," the young man said. "While you were busy killing and getting killed, I was searching for a suitable candidate. I found about 2,000 fitting people on earth, and I chose you because you were simply the first one that would kick the bucket. If you had died just a couple days later, you wouldn't have arrived here."

"Isn't that lucky?" the young man asked with a smirk.

Alex took another deep breath. He had to adapt to his new situation.

Yes, he had died, and he was supposed to enter the afterlife. However, this "person" had brought him here.

Alex had to look forward now instead of backward.

"Candidate for what?" Alex asked.

"As I've said, changing the world," the young man repeated.

Alex's eyes narrowed.

"Which world?" he asked.

The smirk of the young man widened. "Aren't you a smart one?" he asked. "I'm a bit surprised that you caught on this quickly."

"Don't you have the ability to calculate everything?" Alex asked. "Why would you be surprised about my actions then?"

The young man chuckled. "Yes, I do have that ability, but I slightly bent the rules for you," he said. "I put a small layer of protection on you that makes it impossible for me to calculate your future. I can still see what you are currently thinking, but I can't see what you will think or do next."

The young man leaned back again. "Of course, I can destroy that layer of protection whenever I want, but where's the fun in that?"

"I don't want to immediately know what you will do. I want to see it and get surprised," the young man said.

Alex nodded. "I can understand that," he said. "So, which world?"

"My world," the young man said. "My main world, I mean, not earth."

Alex looked at the young man for some seconds.

"Your world?" he asked. "I assume that means that you are some sort of God, right?"

"Exactly," the young man said as he leaned his head on his right hand. "I created a world where everyone can reach supreme power. I added a peculiar type of energy into the make-up of the world that can be absorbed by living beings, severely increasing their power."

"In theory, you could even reach my level in that world," the young man said.

Alex immediately made several connections in his head.

'Sounds like some kind of fantasy world, like in an anime or a game,' he thought.

The young man chuckled. "Yes, you could look at it like that," he said.

"And how am I supposed to change this world?" Alex asked. "I'm only a normal man, not a God, like you."

"Now, we're getting to the interesting part," the young man said.

 

Chapter 5 - Mages

Alex looked with a complex expression at the young man.

Changing a world filled with people that could become as powerful as this God right before him?

How?

He was only a mortal.

"Now, don't be hasty," the young man said with a smirk as he read Alex's mind again. "Right now, you are like a child hearing that they have to lead their father's company in the future. Of course everything will appear like it's too much."

"In fact, you don't have to do much at all."

"You only have to become stronger."

"That's it."

Alex furrowed his brows. "That's it? But you said I'm supposed to change the world."

"Correct," the young man said as he leaned back again. "However, you becoming powerful is exactly what will change the world."

"Could you stop talking in riddles and just directly tell me what you want me to do?" Alex asked.

The young man snickered. "Sure."

"I already told you a little bit about my main world," the young man said. "To repeat, my world allows someone to reach supreme power by increasing the power of your body and mind."

"There are innumerable ways to supreme power. You can use the inherent energy in the air to increase the power of your mind. This strengthens your soul, and the more powerful your soul gets, the more powerful your mental abilities become. You can crush elephants with just your mind or move the energy of the world in such a way that it creates powerful destructive forces."

"However, you can also focus on strengthening your body. By absorbing the energy in the atmosphere and fusing it with your body, you can become so fast and so powerful that the other person that trains their mind wouldn't even be able to react to an attack of yours."

"You can also fuse with some ethereal concepts and summon them."

"You can also concentrate on weapons, which allows you to sunder reality with a move of your weapon."

"You can also comprehend the concepts of how the world works and manipulate the energy in such a way that it imitates these concepts. You would gain control over fire, gravity, time, space, water, metal, life, and so on."

"You can even just purely absorb Energy without end, becoming a walking bomb that could unleash many years of accumulated power in a single strike."

Alex listened intently.

All of this sounded too magical.

In fact, it sounded more like a game with different classes. All the classes could become about equally powerful near the end of a game via their own ways.

The young man laughed. "Yes, you could also view it as a game. However, remember, this is reality, not a game."

Alex nodded.

"So, in short, there are innumerable ways to power," the young man said.

Then, he paused.

Alex looked at the young man as his brows furrowed.

After that, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Anyway," the young man said as he looked at Alex again, not as chipper as before. "I have implemented all these different paths to power. Over time, humanity slowly began to discover all these different paths, and the peak powers of humanity became more and more powerful."

"Everything was going well, and I had a hell of a time watching the different paths of power fight each other."

Then, the young man gritted his teeth.

"And that's when he showed up," the young man said with disgust.

"Who?" Alex asked.

SHING! Thump!

A bright light shone for a short moment in front of Alex, and he heard the sound of something hitting the floor.

Alex looked over, and he took a deep breath.

It was the naked corpse of a young man!

"This guy," the young man repeated with hatred. "The so-called Mage Emperor!"

'Mage Emperor?' Alex thought as he looked at the naked corpse.

"One of the paths to power I created was the path of magic," the young man explained. "This was also the first example I gave you when I described some paths to power in my world."

Alex felt a bit awkward talking with the young man while a naked corpse was lying beside them. "You mean the ones that use the energy to increase the power of their mind and soul?" Alex asked as he looked at the corpse with discomfort.

"Yes," the young man answered neutrally. "Just like everyone else, the Mages sought supremacy over everyone, but they weren't really any more powerful than the others."

"That was until the Mage Emperor appeared," the young man spat in disgust while giving the corpse a side-eye. "He became the most powerful person in the world, but instead of furthering his own power even more, he concentrated on making the path of Magic supreme."

"So, he killed all the most powerful people of the other paths of power," the young man said with some anger. "Even more, after he killed the most powerful people, he ordered the other mages to kill everyone else that has reached a sufficient standard of power without practicing Magic!"

"In just some few short years, this fucking guy ruined thousands of years of progress!" the young man shouted as he glared at the corpse of burning eyes.

The young man stood up as he paced around in anger.

Alex kept to himself, not saying or thinking anything.

By now, Alex had realized that this God was very easy to anger.

"Do you know how fucking boring the world has been ever since then?!" the young man shouted as he glared at Alex.

Alex quickly shook his head.

"Only Mages are left, and the path of Magic is the only known path to true power," the young man said with frustration. "If anyone wants power, they simply join the mages. Path of least resistance, you know?"

"Why try anything new when you already know of a way to get what you want?" the young man parroted with anger and annoyance. "Why go through that hassle, huh?"

"Even people that try to make the other paths to power work will eventually give up and join the Mages after realizing that their progress isn't fast enough. No shit your progress isn't fast! You are blazing a brand-new path on your own!"

"And the worst thing is that the Mages aren't even suppressing the other paths to power!" the young man shouted. "They don't even need to! Everyone joins them eventually! Well, no shit! You have thousands of years of refined Spells, Techniques, and Crafts while everyone else has fuck-all due to your purge in the past. Of course they're running towards you in droves!"

"My entire fucking world is filled with nothing but Mages, and battles amongst Mages are one of the most boring ones in existence!" the young man shouted. "You ever seen people just flinging stuff at each other from a distance for hours on end? Shit's boring as fuck!"

The young man's pacing accelerated.

"I'm bored as shit watching my own fucking world when it's supposed to bring me entertainment!"

"And it's all this asshole's fault!"

BANG! BOOOM!

The young man kicked the corpse in rage, and the corpse flew with insane speeds at the wall, which promptly exploded.

Alex took a deep breath.

After kicking the corpse, the young man seemed to feel better, and an evil smirk appeared on his face.

"You should've seen him when he came into my palace like he owned the place," the young man said.

"Back then, I was looking rather favorably upon him since he managed to become quite powerful. I assumed that the other paths to power would recover with time."

"Yet, that idiot just had to act like he owned the place and told me to make space for him."

SHING!

The naked corpse appeared in front of the young man again, uninjured.

BANG!

Another kick, another explosion at the wall.

"Just like right now, I kicked him around the room until he eventually died," the young man said with a genuinely malicious grin. "It took hours, but he still eventually succumbed to his ever-increasing count and severity of injuries."

Alex remained completely silent.

This guy was dangerous!

The young man took a deep breath and looked at Alex again.

"Anyway, that's where you come into play," he said, "someone that has the guts and drive to become truly powerful."

"I will send you into my world with a body that is unable to practice Magic. However, you are a person that wants to become more powerful, someone that chases power. If Magic doesn't work for you, you will find another way."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "And that's your entire job," the young man said with a smirk as he sat down on his throne again.

"Simply be yourself in my world. Do whatever the fuck you want. It doesn't matter because, in the end, you will chase power no matter what, and you will have to do it with something that isn't Magic."

"That's all you have to do."

Alex thought about the young man's words as he furrowed his brows.

Becoming as powerful as this God in front of him?

That didn't sound bad.

A world where people actually truly fought each other?

That didn't sound bad.

Being able to feel himself becoming more powerful and being able to push himself to his limits yet again with a new body?

That didn't sound bad.

However, Alex still sighed.

'I want to actually go through with this, but it somehow feels weird since it feels like I didn't have a choice in the matter.'

"Pfft!" the young man spat with a short laugh. "No choice? That's your issue?"

"Alright, then let me give you a choice."

"Go back to your world and join the afterlife or come to my world. You can decide for yourself."

Alex thought about his old world and his family that he had left behind.

He missed them.

However, he had already died.

There was no way that this God would resurrect him.

He had lost them anyway.

Alex sighed again.

The God had given him a choice, but it wasn't truly a choice since Alex's decision had already been made before the choice had even existed.

"Finally done with those useless thoughts?" the young man asked with a smirk.

Alex looked at the naked corpse for a second.

Then, he turned to the young man and nodded.

A new life was about to begin for him.

"Not so fast!" the young man shouted. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Before you join my world, I need to give you a helping hand."

Alex's right eyebrow rose. "A helping hand?"

"Yes," the young man said with a satisfied smirk as he leaned back.

"I have three presents for you that will make your journey to power far easier."

 

Chapter 6 - Shang

"Three presents?" Alex asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, three presents," the young man answered as he leaned back on his throne with a smirk. "The strongest person that isn't following the path of magic has only barely reached the fourth Realm while there are many more Realms to go."

"You don't have any inheritance for techniques or any other person that can help you when you reach the third Realm. The first couple of Realms are still fine, but you will have to blaze your own path starting at the third Realm."

"So, you'll need some help. Otherwise, it would become impossible for you to reach any significant level of power."

Alex sighed.

'No help, huh?' Alex thought. 'I have to create my very own path to power.'

Alex looked at the young man for a couple of seconds as the young man only smirked back.

Alex's body shook slightly.

'Nothing to rely on. No person I can ask for pointers.'

'Everything is all on me.'

'That actually sounds exciting!'

Yes, Alex's body was not shaking out of fear or anxiety but out of excitement!

Alex hadn't played many games in the past, but just like many other people, Alex also wanted his life to be filled with a bit more excitement.

The mundane greyness and sterile systems in his old world were too boring.

Two fists couldn't beat four hands.

This was an old phrase that Alex had heard from one of his coaches in the past. It meant that numbers always beat individual strength.

A top-tier fighter might be able to win against two, three, or maybe even four people at once in a battle, but ten? A hundred? A thousand?

Impossible.

Just by piling onto the fighter with their bodyweight would allow the mass of enemies to make the fighter helpless since there was only so much muscle a man could have. One man couldn't resist hundreds of kilograms of weight pressing down on their body.

Alex looked at the young man.

'However, is that still true for him?' Alex thought. 'Would the numbers of normal humans even matter when they can't even get through his skin? Would the numbers matter when he can just kill everyone with a casual wave of his hand?'

'Fighting has always been a lifestyle of mine, but as long as I'm not in top form, and as long as I'm not in the top 1% of fighters, I can't make a living out of it.'

'Even more, a single slight injury might make it impossible for me to fight again in the future.'

'However, in this world, I can break these known conventions! I can achieve true power!'

"Tell me," Alex said with a seemingly calm voice. However, even he could hear the slight tremble in his own voice.

The young man only snickered a bit. However, he didn't comment on Alex's thoughts.

After all, he had told Alex more than once that he was perfectly suited for his world.

SHING!

A white light shone briefly, and a black cube appeared in front of Alex, floating in the air.

"This is your weapon," the young man explained.

Alex took ahold of the cube, and his body nearly fell over.

This cube was heavy!

"It doesn't look like a weapon," Alex said with furrowed brows.

"That's because it doesn't know what path you're choosing yet," the young man said. "Whenever you decide on your own path to power, tell the cube what it should become, and it will assume that form. Keep in mind that this form is permanent and that it can't be easily altered in the future."

"Why a weapon?" Alex asked as he looked at the cube.

"Because there are no smiths in the world that know how to make powerful weapons that are not Mage weapons. At some point, you would need to create your own weapon if you follow a path that requires one. If you had to do that, you would need to blaze two new paths instead of one. We can't make things too hard on you now, can we?" the young man explained with a grin.

Alex immediately noticed a problem. "So, I either can't use this weapon now, or it will also become useless in the future. After all, weapons are not created equal."

The young man chuckled a bit. "This one is," he said.

Alex blinked twice in confusion.

"It can grow by absorbing powerful metal," he explained. "In the beginning, it won't be much better than a regular sword or regular spear, but as long as you give it great materials, it will become more powerful."

"In short, this weapon will accompany you for the rest of your life, no matter how powerful you will become."

Alex looked at the cube with newfound appreciation.

'That really sounds magical. However, that's expected since I'm entering a world filled with Mages.'

The young man frowned when he read Alex's thoughts. The fact that his world was filled with nothing but Mages was a sore spot for him.

"Your next present is a separate space," he said. "This space acts as a world of its own, but a far smaller one. Don't bother looking for it since you can't use it yet. Wait until you reach the second Realm. Everything about this space will be explained to you then."

Alex nodded. Having some kind of extra dimension or something sounded quite useful. Additionally, Alex was sure that this separate space was not so simple. There were probably more things it could do.

"And as for your third and last present," the young man said as he leaned back on his throne again with a smirk.

"You get to ask me nine questions in total, and I will answer them honestly," he said.

Alex looked at the young man with surprise.

He could ask a God nine questions in total?

Did this mean that he could ask about the origins of the world?

Could he ask about some secret techniques only the God knew?

"Yes, you can," the young man answered.

"However!" he shouted. "You don't get to remember your questions and answers immediately."

Alex frowned. "What do you mean?"

The young man only grinned. "One question and one answer per major breakthrough," the young man said. "You get to ask nine questions since my world has nine Realms of power. You get to ask all these questions now, but the memories of them will only be unlocked as your strength increases."

Alex took a deep breath.

This revelation changed the entire meaning of these questions.

Initially, Alex had been interested in how the world worked to satiate his curiosity, but now, these questions could help his future self.

Alex knew that becoming truly powerful was nearly impossible. After all, how many supremely powerful people existed in that world? Alex wasn't so arrogant that he believed that he could easily achieve something that millions of people couldn't.

Alex remained silent for several minutes as he thought about what he should ask.

The young man didn't move during all of this time.

"Alright," Alex said after some minutes. "For my first question: What would be the optimal way to start my journey to power?"

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The question had been asked, and Alex had sacrificed this question for his future.

"That's a smart question," the young man said, pleased.

"First of all, you need the basics. You need sufficient physical strength, sufficient mental strength, sufficient Mana, and sufficient combat experience."

"In order to get sufficient physical strength, you need to follow a specific routine: Train your physical body until it's completely destroyed. After that, relax, close your eyes, and absorb the energy in the atmosphere. Due to your special constitution that makes practicing Magic impossible, the energy won't enter your soul but your body. Your body will be strengthened, and it will regenerate."

"This routine will also help you in achieving sufficient Mana and sufficient mental strength. By absorbing the energy in the atmosphere, the stuff that people in my world call Mana, your Mana storage will increase. At the same time, breaking your body more and more will increase your willpower while the absorption of Mana will have a nourishing effect on your mind."

"In order to gain sufficient combat experience, I would advise you to live in the wilderness close to the village I'm sending you. Try to survive there without any human help. If you feel like you are not in danger anymore, go further into the wild and survive there. Power is gained amongst danger."

"Follow these things for the next two years, and you should be ready to join human society again. When you've done all that, search for an academy in the nearby towns. Don't worry, there will be an academy that's just perfect for someone like you."

"And that's all," the young man said with a grin. "That should give you the optimal start in your journey."

Alex took all of this in.

"Alright, then for my second question…"

THWAP!

Alex's body suddenly jerked, and he felt like his mind had been hit with a hammer.

He looked around, and he saw that he was still standing in the hall. The young man was also in front of him.

However, the young man was laughing hysterically.

"What happened?" Alex asked in confusion.

The young man calmed down, but his face was filled with amusement.

"You've just asked your last question, and man, your last question was a doozy!" he said with a snicker.

For a second, Alex wanted to ask what he was talking about, but then he remembered that he would lose part of his memories.

Apparently, that had already happened.

"Because of your last question, I've changed a couple of things," the young man said as his grin widened in excitement. "Originally, I didn't want to give you an elemental affinity. After all, it would be a bit pointless since you can't practice Magic."

"However, your last question threw all of these plans out of the window," the young man shouted with excitement. "Now, I'm giving you a special affinity, and you might even be able to use it if you train hard enough. Who knows?"

Alex was still confused since he felt like he had been transported into the future.

"Additionally!" the young man shouted as he grinned widely. "You will get a new name!"

Alex blinked a couple of times. "New name? Why?"

"Because I say so!" the young man shouted with a laugh. "Parents have the right to give their children a name, and you will receive a brand-new body that I have given life to! In essence, I am somewhat your father. Therefore, I get to choose a new name for you!"

Alex really didn't like hearing that.

He had gone his entire life by Alex.

Suddenly changing it sounded… weird.

"I don't care!" the young man shouted. However, he didn't seem angry at all.

Instead, he actually appeared madly excited.

It was like he was about to see the greatest show of his life.

"You will use this name! You will be forced to use this name! Whenever you use your old name, you will feel pain!"

Alex really didn't want that.

Yet, the God didn't care.

"From today onward, your name is Shang!"

"Remember your name, Shang!"

'Shang?' Alex thought. 'That's a weird na-'

SHING!

And Alex was gone.

He had been teleported to his new world.

The young man leaned back with a snicker.

"Oh, this is going to be great," he said to himself with a smirk.

Chapter 7 - New Body And New Surroundings

Thunk!

Alex's mind was thrown into disarray suddenly. It was like he had just received a punch to the head.

Alex's hand went to his butt out of reflex since he felt some pain coming from it.

That's when he felt grass.

'Grass?' Alex thought.

Alex opened his eyes and looked around.

Forest.

This was the only word that appeared in his mind when he saw his new surroundings. Thick pine trees were all around Alex. Alex could hear some birds chirping, and he heard the buzzing of insects. The smell of nature also immediately assaulted him.

'Sure enough, I have been sent somewhere, probably that God's main world or something,' Alex thought as he looked around.

Alex stood up, and while doing so, immediately noticed something peculiar.

'Standing up is easier than before,' Alex thought.

Alex looked down at his body, and his brows furrowed.

'My big belly is gone,' Alex thought.

As Alex looked at his own body, he noticed that he had a slim build. On top of that, he wore different clothes now.

Right now, Alex wore black cloth pants and a black shirt.

Surprisingly, the fabric felt rather nice.

However, Alex noticed something else that he didn't like one bit.

'I'm smaller,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.

Previously, Alex had been 187 centimeters tall, but now, he barely reached 160 centimeters, according to his estimations.

Alex touched his face and noticed that it was also rather slim.

'I'm smaller, my unnecessary fat is gone, but my muscles are also gone,' Alex thought. 'This is either the body of someone that only does cardio, or I'm in the body of a teenager. I don't think that this God would send me into a grown body that's only 160 centimeters tall. After all, he wants me to become powerful, and height is an insane advantage in physical combat.'

'So, I'm probably in the body of a teenager. Assuming that I will reach a height of above 180 centimeters in my adulthood, my current height of 160 centimeters means that I still have quite some growing to do.'

'This means that I'm probably in the body of a 14-year-old,' Alex thought.

Something on Alex's head tickled him, and he moved it to the side.

It was hair, and when Alex noticed some strands of his hair, he also noticed a different change.

'Well, seems like my blonde hair is gone,' Alex lamented as he saw his new black hair.

After getting familiar with his new body, Alex looked around himself and noticed two things.

One was a bulging sack, and the other was the black cube the God had given him.

Alex opened the bag and looked inside. These were probably some basic things that the God had prepared for him.

'Clothes, three red flasks, a survival knife, shoes, and some meat jerky,' Alex thought as he looked at the sack. 'Basically, the bare necessities to survive in the wilderness.'

Alex took out one of the three red flasks and looked at it. The color of the liquid in the flask was a vibrant red, and the liquid was rather viscous. 'Could these be health potions? I mean, I kind of am in a fantasy world.'

Alex wasn't sure, but he assumed that he was right.

After checking his inventory, Alex picked up the black cube and put it in the bag.

However, his hand halted as he realized something else.

'Did the black cube become lighter?' he thought as he moved the black cube around a bit. 'Probably not, but it does feel lighter.'

Alex frowned as his mind tried to find the reason. 'My old body was out of shape, but I still had quite some muscle. Yet, this untrained teenage body can easily carry the cube.'

Alex scratched his chin in thought. 'Is this normal? Is this the effect of being in a world that's bathed in this mysterious energy that's all around me in the air? The guy said that most people call it Mana, so I should probably also get used to calling it Mana. I don't want to appear out of place.'

'Possible,' Alex thought. 'I should test that. The guy said that I can't push Mana into my soul, which means that something in my body is different from a normal human body. The inability to do something that everyone else can do basically means that I'm disabled in a certain sense.'

'However, the God wouldn't send me into a body that can't become more powerful. He also said that most of my Mana will end up in my body.'

Alex quickly shook his head. 'Now's not the time to think about these things, Alex! First, you need-'

Alex stopped thinking as his head was suddenly droning. It felt like he had gotten a migraine.

'What's going on now!? Can't you give me a break!?'

However, the headache only increased, and Alex fell to his knees as he breathed heavily.

His mind was going through everything that the God had told him, and Alex quickly found the answer.

'Really?' Alex thought with frustration and anger. 'You won't even allow me to think of my true name?!'

No answer.

'Fine, fine. I'm Shang!'

And just like that, the headache had vanished.

'So, it really is like this,' Alex thought with a bitter expression. 'Fuck, this is so annoying! Can't even retain my own name!'

However, there was nothing that Alex or Shang could do.

'Anyway, I should first look around for a safe spot. I don't know where I am, and if I start training now, unwelcome visitors might suddenly appear.'

Alex looked around. 'There are no leaf trees and only pine trees. Does this mean that I'm in a colder climate? Now that I think about it, the sun is high in the sky, but it's a bit chilly. I can still deal with this temperature, but it will probably drop significantly in the evening and night.'

'I have food for about a day in my sack, and I can use my spare clothes for bedding and a blanket. However, I should still find a safe place where I can sleep.'

'Let's check from above,' Alex thought as he looked at a tall tree beside him. 'With this body, I should be able to climb this tree.'

Alex put his sack down and went to the tree, but he quickly stopped.

Then, he slung the sack over his back.

'Animals might smell the jerky in there,' he thought.

After that, Alex went to the tree and slung his arms and legs around it.

'Sure enough, I can easily support my own weight. This body is quite powerful and still pretty light. I don't want to admit it, but this body is probably even better suited for survival and combat than my old one.'

The first couple of meters were a bit difficult, but after Alex reached the height of the branches, it became far easier. The needles of the pine tree were a bit annoying, but they didn't injure him.

Around two minutes later, Alex was relatively high up and could see around him.

'Fuck!' Alex thought with gritted teeth. 'Forest everywhere!'

Alex was on top of a sea of green.

'Well, at least I can somewhat make out the terrain.'

Alex noticed several mountains on the horizon, probably 20 kilometers away or so. According to his estimations, the mountains were probably about a kilometer tall on average.

Alex turned his head and noticed that the mountains were encircling him from quite a distance.

'Is this a basin?' Alex thought. 'I can't see anything higher behind the mountains, which probably means that I'm probably not below sea level. I'm probably just surrounded by mountains. Quite an interesting starting location.'

Alex got an idea, and a skeptical expression appeared on his face.

'Is this supposed to be some kind of tutorial area or starter location?' Alex thought.

Alex scratched the back of his head awkwardly when he had that thought.

This wasn't a game, but the God sure as hell structured it like one. Alex even got three healing potions.

'I mean, at least this makes things easier,' Alex thought. 'He told me that I should try surviving in the wilderness, and when I no longer feel any danger, I should go further in. I guess he meant this basin.'

Then, Alex noticed something.

'Smoke!'

There was smoke coming from behind one of the mountains! It was hard to notice, but if one looked hard enough, one would see it.

'That's probably a village, and they're living just beyond that mountain!'

This did a lot for calming Alex's anxiety.

At least he knew where he could find humans.

Rustle, rustle.

Alex heard the sound of rustling coming from a distance, and he looked over.

Alex blinked a couple of times in confusion as he tried to process what he was seeing.

Were these trees… moving?

Yes, sure enough, about a hundred meters away, about twenty pine trees were moving from left to right.

One peculiar thing was that these trees were all very close to each other, even closer than the other trees. On top of that, some of them were slanted at an angle.

Alex squinted his eyes as he tried to see what was going on over there.

Trees couldn't just move like that.

'Wait, are these actually trees?' Alex thought.

After a closer inspection, Alex noticed that these "trees" only resembled trees. They weren't actually trees.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ They looked more like green spires with some green spikes coming out from their side.

This picture reminded him of something.

If these spires were straight, had no spikes, and were black…

Alex took a deep breath in shock.

'Is that a green hedgehog!?'

Sure enough, the moving mass of green looked like the back of a hedgehog.

However, just how big was this thing!?

'If that's a hedgehog, it means that it's so big that its needles are nearly as tall as pine trees!'

Alex remained quiet as he watched the mass of green spires moving past the trees. Sometimes, they were caught on a tree and bent backward, but after a while, they simply bounced back to their original location.

If this was a hedgehog, it was probably just as big as an elephant without its needles!

BANG!

Suddenly, Alex heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground, and it sounded like it came from a long distance away.

Alex looked towards the direction the sound came from and noticed a dust cloud at the bottom of one of the mountains in the distance.

There, Alex noticed a brown lizard biting down on some large, brown animal. Alex wasn't sure since it was too far away to see it clearly.

However, Alex did notice one thing.

'I can see that lizard from here!' he thought with a deep breath. 'Then, how big is that lizard!?'

For a while, Alex only remained silent as he tried to come to terms with the things he had witnessed.

'Are you sure this is a tutorial area!?'

 

Chapter 8 - Watching

Alex remained on top of the pine tree for quite a while as he simply looked at his surroundings in shock.

'These beasts are gigantic!' Alex thought. 'How am I supposed to survive here? If I accidentally get close to any of them, I won't even have a fighting chance!'

'Although, the God said nothing about killing everything. He simply said that I should remain here until I can survive without feeling much danger.'

'Is this what he meant with sufficient combat experience? I mean, I guess being able to survive in the wilderness could have its own perks. For example, if I ever get chased by anything or anyone, I would be able to survive.'

'These aren't the orchestrated fights I'm used to. These are real life-and-death battles, which means that fleeing is a viable strategy. I guess being able to flee is a valuable skill.'

Alex released a sigh.

'So, should I search for a cave for the night?' Alex asked himself. 'However, these mountains are around 20 kilometers away from here. If it's a straight and safe street, I could probably get there in half a day with the current fitness of my body. However, my journey there won't be safe, and I definitely need to make several turns.'

'Yeah, that doesn't work. So, I need an alternative.'

'Digging is a no-go. After all, I only have a knife. Additionally, the climate is rather cold, which makes the ground harder. On top of that, the ground should be filled with roots.'

Alex scratched the back of his head.

'I think that only leaves two things. I either need to find some humongous tree that has a big hole inside it, or I need to sleep on top of trees. Camping outside should be the last option.'

Alex sighed.

'Anyway, if I have to sleep on a tree anyway, I don't really have to look for one. These trees are all pretty big, and basically any one of them would do. I only need to cut off the needles and annoying branches.'

Alex looked up.

'It should be early afternoon, which means I still have some hours to kill. I should keep watch over my surroundings to see what kind of wildlife I can find. Knowing your enemy is already half the battle.'

Alex started climbing down the tree but didn't leave it completely.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Instead, Alex waited about five meters above the ground on a thick branch. He shaved off some of the needles of the tree to make himself comfortable.

But wait, didn't Alex say that he would look at the wildlife?

Yes, he did, but only an idiot would blindly walk through an unknown forest.

This was not earth.

Dangerous animals existed on earth, but they were not everywhere. Additionally, even if one were in an area known to have dangerous animals, these animals wouldn't be everywhere at once. These powerful animals had territories, and they needed a ton of food.

However, here, things could be different. Alex wasn't certain how many dangerous animals there were in this basin, but there probably were a few.

So, Alex simply remained on the tree as he looked down. At the same time, Alex tried to be as silent as possible.

Half an hour passed, and Alex's ass had already started hurting from sitting like this.

However, waiting like this had paid off.

Right now, Alex was so relieved that he hadn't left the tree.

Why?

Wolf pack.

There were four light-grey wolves walking around the tree Alex was currently on.

They had obviously smelled him, and they very quickly found Alex as his scent led them to the tree.

The wolves looked up at Alex, who was looking down nervously.

'These wolves are normal sized, but still, they're massive!' Alex thought.

These wolves weren't really bigger than their counterparts from earth, but even the wolves on earth could weigh up to 90 to 100 kilograms.

In comparison, a german shepherd was only around 30 to 40 kilograms.

The wolves started circling the tree, and some of them started clawing at the tree with their paws, but the tree was just too massive.

Surprisingly, the wolves didn't bark, growl, or howl.

Except for the scraping sound of their claws on the tree, they made no other sound.

Alex's heart was beating quickly, but his head remained calm.

He knew that they couldn't get him up here.

'Light grey, what an interesting color,' Alex thought. 'Wolves are normally brown or dark grey. I think wolves with these lighter colors are mainly in colder environments since their color makes it easier to go unnoticed in the snow.'

'This confirms it. This is probably a colder region.'

After some minutes, the wolves left again. There was no point in remaining here. It was easier to find a different prey.

Alex watched the wolves leave with interest. 'They were suspiciously quiet. If they were the rulers of this place, they wouldn't need to be so quiet. This means that there are probably more terrifying beasts lurking around.'

Alex got reminded of the gigantic green hedgehog and the brown lizard.

'Obviously,' he added in his thoughts.

Alex remained on the tree.

Half an hour later, Alex saw another animal, and he certainly didn't like seeing that one.

A hog.

Alex could only describe the hog's appearance with the word fat.

It was nearly as tall as Alex, and it seemed just as wide.

'Great, a hog,' Alex thought sarcastically with an uncomfortable expression. 'Hogs are fiercely territorial and make a ton of noise when they get angry.'

The hog also smelled something when it arrived below Alex's tree, but instead of looking up, it was rummaging through the dirt.

Surprisingly and contrary to expectation, the hog was quite silent while digging.

Luckily, the hog didn't notice Alex and quickly left after a bit of searching around.

Ten minutes later, the next animal arrived, and this was an animal that Alex hadn't seen before.

It was a sizable green lizard. It was probably nearly a meter high, and it had quite some long legs. Additionally, there were long claws coming out of its long legs.

'Why are there so many animals here?!' Alex thought. 'Isn't it normal to only see one big animal every couple of hours? Yet, I'm seeing one every ten minutes!'

The green lizard seemingly smelled something of interest, and Alex became more nervous.

This thing looked like it could climb trees!

The lizard smelled the ground with interest, and after a couple seconds, it walked over to a tree and climbed it.

Luckily, it wasn't Alex's tree.

When Alex saw that, he silently released a sigh of relief.

'It probably didn't smell me. Otherwise, it would have climbed my tree. It probably smelled the hog.'

Alex looked at the tree where the lizard was with interest. While climbing it, Alex could still hear it, but after some rustling, everything became silent again.

'Its legs don't fit an arboreal animal,' Alex thought. 'It probably walks on the ground normally.'

Alex had a complex expression on his face.

'So, it's probably on the tree to hunt, right?' Alex thought.

The tree was still silent, but Alex couldn't see the lizard through all the green needles blocking his sight.

'I'm so happy that I didn't walk around aimlessly. Even if I managed to evade all the animals on the ground, I might walk by a tree with exactly such a lizard in it,' Alex thought.

Alex looked over at the tree as he lay down on the branch. He wanted to remain as hidden as possible.

Usually, Alex might try to kill it.

After all, he was supposed to grow stronger and gain combat experience.

This was a perfect opponent.

It wasn't too big, and it was alone.

However, Alex decided against it.

Why?

Because, after smelling the hog, the lizard waited here in an ambush instead of going someplace else!

That hog had been huge!

It probably weighed over 300 kilograms!

How was a lizard that barely weighed maybe 50 kilograms supposed to kill that thing alone?

Alex decided that the risk was too high.

Alex continued waiting, but waiting was much more stressful than before. After all, the lizard was still there.

Even worse, Alex had heard nothing from the tree for the past twenty minutes. It was almost like the lizard wasn't there anymore.

Another twenty minutes later, something walked past Alex's tree again.

Alex glanced down, and his heart sank.

It wasn't the hog.

The four wolves were back!

 

Chapter 9 - First Kill

Alex became nervous when he saw that the wolves had come back.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ These wolves knew where Alex was, and if that weird lizard saw how these wolves acted up, it might decide to also attack Alex.

The wolves walked around, sniffing the ground.

Then, they turned their attention to the tree Alex was on and walked over.

Alex's heart beat ferociously as he tried to think of something.

He wasn't scared of the wolves. After all, these wolves couldn't climb trees.

However, he was scared of the lizard.

Alex still tried to hide as well as possible. Doing something stupid now might spell his doom.

BANG!

Alex's eyes widened in horror.

What had he just seen?!

The wolves immediately released short shouts as they jumped away.

However, only three wolves were left.

Why?

A fireball had flown over to one of the wolves and had exploded!

The wolf's body was partially torn apart, and the explosion of the fireball had thrown it against the tree.

Where had the fireball come from?

It came from the tree where the lizard was supposed to be!

The remaining three wolves immediately scattered into all directions, fearful of whatever it was that had killed one of their companions.

The last wolf was barely clinging to life, but to no avail. Even if nothing else attacked it anymore, it would still die.

Alex still could barely believe what he had just seen.

Had the lizard fired a fireball?

Was that why it was so confident in taking on the hog?!

Then, Alex saw the lizard slithering down from its tree as it walked over to the half-dead wolf with its long legs.

SNAP!

The lizard bit down on the wolf's neck, suffocating it slowly.

Silence.

Alex saw how the lizard was dealing with the wolf just beside his tree, and Alex became a bit agitated.

If he jumped down now, he could take out the lizard and claim both corpses for himself!

Alex had enough food for a day, but he would need to survive for longer.

Food was a pressing issue for him right now.

Alex readied his survival knife as he debated if he should jump down or not.

By now, the wolf was no longer moving, but the lizard wanted to make sure that the wolf was dead. Because of that, the lizard continued strangling the wolf.

Alex continued hesitating.

Alex readied his knife.

And then, he put it away.

The lizard was too dangerous.

If the lizard had the ability to shoot fireballs, it might have different abilities as well.

Maybe its scales were incredibly powerful?

Maybe its body was far more powerful than it appeared?

There were too many unknowns about this lizard.

CRASH!

Suddenly, Alex heard something crash through a bush, and he looked over.

One of the wolves was back, and it was charging directly at the lizard!

Alex also quickly noticed that the two other wolves were also charging at the lizard from different sides.

'They've assessed the danger from a distance and decided that they should try to kill the lizard,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.

'This might be my chance to get some food!'

The first wolf directly charged at the lizard with its full speed, which was quite impressive.

The lizard suddenly hissed loudly as it showed its fangs to the approaching wolf.

Alex noticed this and quickly made several deductions in his head. If the lizard could quickly kill the approaching wolf, there would be no point in threatening it. This meant that the lizard might have been weakened by the attack it had unleashed previously.

Maybe the lizard's fireball was similar to a snake's bite? Snakes used their venom only sparingly since it took a lot of energy to create more of it.

BANG!

However, the wolf received another fireball to the face.

This time, Alex had seen the fireball clearly.

The fireball had only been about five centimeters across, but it had shot at the wolf with quite some speed. When the fireball hit the wolf, it exploded ferociously.

Half of the wolf's head was destroyed, making it fall to the ground, convulsing.

However, something surprising happened.

The other two wolves didn't let up!

This shocked Alex.

Two of their comrades had already died! So, why were they so adamant about taking down the lizard? This wasn't how normal wild animals behaved!

The other two wolves reached the lizard, and it sprang back with a violent and shrill hiss.

Then, chaos broke out.

The two wolves violently attacked the lizard as it tried to defend itself with its long claws, tail, and teeth.

'It can't unleash fireballs anymore,' Alex noticed.

The lizard was quite powerful. Every single bite from it echoed throughout the clearing. Its scales also gave it a considerable defense against any attacks. Whenever a wolf bit it, their teeth only barely managed to penetrate the scales.

Yet, the two wolves were faster and more agile. They simply placed themselves at opposite sides of the lizard. Whenever the lizard turned to one wolf, the other one would bite its tail.

Alex readied himself.

Alex's heartbeat climbed to ferocious heights.

Alex had been in a ton of fights in his life, but no fight had been a genuine life-and-death battle until the very last moment of his previous life.

Alex knew that he was about to risk his life to take another.

Creeaaak!

The branch Alex was currently on creaked as Alex stood up. Yet, the sound of the branch went unheard due to the commotion going on below him.

Then, Alex jumped.

Time seemingly stopped for Alex as he fell down.

Nothing below him moved anymore as seconds seemed to take forever to pass.

CRACK!

Alex landed on top of the wolf with his knees, and he immediately heard and felt a brutal crack.

Luckily, this crack didn't come from his own body.

The wolf quickly fell to the side due to the force of Alex's fall, and Alex's knee traveled to the wolf's ribcage due to the new angle.

CRACK!

The ribcage gave way beneath Alex's knee, and Alex felt the force of the fall hit his own body.

Luckily, his body was fit enough to resist a fall from just a couple meters.

Alex's body was filled with adrenaline, and he immediately grabbed his survival knife and rammed it into the wolf's neck.

The knife went into the wolf's neck like it didn't even exist.

Obviously, the knife was not of inferior quality.

CRSH!

Alex immediately pulled the knife out from the side, severing the front of the wolf's neck.

While all of this was happening, Alex was keeping tabs on the other two living beings in the area.

The other wolf had immediately run away as soon as it saw that it was alone.

The lizard chased it for a couple of meters, hissing the entire time.

While Alex was still dealing with the wolf under him, the lizard turned back and looked at him, hissing.

Alex looked into the lizard's eyes as the wolf died beneath his feet.

Then, they only stared at each other for five seconds.

By now, the wolf's body only convulsed weakly, not being able to do anything else.

Alex slowly stood up and grabbed the wolf's legs.

CRRRRRR!

The sound of something scraping across the ground was heard as Alex pulled the wolf towards his tree.

The lizard continued hissing at Alex while he was doing that.

Then, the lizard charged at Alex!

Thunk!

Alex dropped the wolf and charged at the lizard.

CRK! HISSSSSS!

The lizard suddenly stopped its charge as it resumed its hissing.

When Alex saw that the lizard had stopped its charge, Alex also stopped.

They stared at each other for several more seconds.

The lizard had tried to frighten Alex into running away, and Alex had called that bluff.

Alex slowly walked back to his prey, looking at the lizard.

The lizard continued hissing, but after a couple of seconds, it seemed to calm down.

It slowly walked over to its most recent kill and bit down on one of the corpse's legs, looking at Alex the entire time.

Then, the lizard pulled the corpse away.

Alex only continued looking at the lizard.

A couple seconds later, the lizard suddenly changed its hold, bit on the wolf's neck, heaved it up in one motion, and ran away with impressive speed.

'Sure enough, this lizard isn't simple,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes. 'It should only weigh about 50 kilograms, but it straight-up lifted the about 80 kilograms wolf and ran off with it.'

Surprisingly, it left behind the other corpse.

Silence returned to the clearing.

Alex was slowly calming down as the thick scent of blood appeared in his nose, making him wrinkle his nose.

Then, Alex started feeling pain coming from his right knee.

He moved his leg around a bit, and it felt like his knee was burning.

Luckily, no bones were loose, and Alex could still move it without problems.

It simply hurt a lot.

'This means my knee isn't broken. Lucky.'

Alex looked at the darkening sky with narrowed eyes.

'No time to think about my first kill. I need to bring the corpse to a safe place.'

Alex looked at his tree.

'Up the tree would be best.'

Then, Alex looked at the bleeding corpse.

'Yet, how do I get it up there?'

 

Chapter 10 - Mana

Alex glanced at the horizon and noted that the sun was barely visible.

'It's already sundown. I'm not sure what manner of creatures travel around at night in this forest, but I don't want to be on the ground while night's out.'

Alex grabbed the wolf's corpse and lifted it. It was really heavy, but he barely managed to lift it up to his chest. However, it was very exhausting.

Then, Alex looked at the branches above him.

The lowest branch that could support the weight of the wolf was a full meter above him.

'I might be able to lift the corpse over my head, but I sure as hell can't throw it up there. Jumping is also out of the question. It's simply too heavy.'

'I need an alternative,' Alex thought as he put the corpse down again.

Alex paced around as he tried to think of a solution. The forest darkened more as time passed, and Alex became more nervous.

By now, the birds had become silent, making the forest appear deathly silent.

Even the constant buzzing of the insects became quieter until it eventually stopped.

Right now, the only noise in the forest was Alex's footsteps.

Then, Alex looked up at the bag in his tree.

'I have to try it! I can't waste this corpse!'

Alex quickly climbed up the tree and got his bag.

After opening it, Alex took out all his spare clothes and tied them together. Luckily, he had enough clothes to make quite a long line.

'If old-timey prisoners can use something like this to escape from prisons, I can use it to pull up a corpse!'

Alex tied his makeshift rope to the chest of the wolf.

Then, Alex climbed up to the first branch of the tree and let himself fall down at the other side, holding the rope.

CRRRR!

The rope became taught, and Alex feared that it might snap.

CRRR!

The wolf corpse slightly moved upward but stopped.

'I'm not heavy enough.'

Alex climbed up the rope, happy that his body was fit enough to do something like that.

Then, Alex tugged the rope under his arm and put his feet on the branch.

After that, Alex pushed himself off the branch.

CRRRR! THUNK!

The corpse moved upwards, but one of the knots loosened.

The wolf hit the ground, and Alex also fell down.

Luckily, he managed to protect his head with his arms. He only received a couple of bruises.

The falling corpse echoed throughout the forest, making Alex even more nervous.

With the current silence of the forest, that sound should have traveled for over a hundred meters!

However, Alex didn't want to give up on the corpse. Food was a necessity!

Alex repaired the rope and tried again, and this time, no knots loosened. Alex made sure of that!

After the corpse was lifted to a good height, Alex climbed up the branch and pulled up the remaining part. His arms hurt and burned, but he didn't have to pull much since the corpse was already pretty high up.

Just when he thought that he had to drop the corpse, he managed to grab it with his arms and finished the last pull upward.

The branch was creaking under the combined weight of Alex and the corpse, and Alex decided to quickly switch branches. If that branch broke, all his work would have been for nothing!

Then, Alex sat down at a different branch and breathed heavily as he moved his cramped fingers.

Parts of the skin on his fingers had been nearly shorn off, making them bleed a little bit. However, such an injury would heal very quickly.

'I hope this was worth it,' Alex thought.

As Alex relaxed, he felt his body starting to shiver.

'It's cold,' he thought. 'It might even reach below freezing later in the night.'

Alex narrowed his eyes as he looked at the corpse and the makeshift rope.

Then, he climbed to the other branch, being careful to not break it.

After getting the rope, Alex released the knots and put parts of his clothes on a higher branch, making a makeshift mattress.

Alex put the other half of the clothes to the side for now. He would make them into a blanket later.

When everything was done, Alex simply sat on his branch, thinking.

'The issue of food has been solved for now. The issue of warmth should be solved until the weather becomes even colder, which it surely will. What about water?'

Alex looked at the corpse of the wolf that was bleeding onto the ground.

Alex's body shivered. 'I'm not so desperate yet. I can think about drinking blood when I'm about to die of thirst.'

Then, Alex released a sigh.

'This should be enough for the day,' he thought. 'I should start my expedition tomorrow. Right now, I only need to rest.'

Alex grabbed the remainder of his now-dirty clothes and wrapped them around himself as he lay down on the branch.

It certainly wasn't comfortable.

'I need to sleep,' he thought, closing his eyes.

Minutes passed as the events of the day shot through his head. In just a single day, he had died, met a God, went to a new world with a new body, and killed an animal.

For the first time, the reality that he would never see his family again hit home.

'Have you already heard of my death, mom, dad?' Alex thought with pain. 'Do you think I'm in some kind of paradise now?'

Time passed as Alex's thoughts wandered.

An hour later, no light of the sun reached this place anymore.

However, it wasn't as dark as one thought.

Why?

Because the moon was close to becoming a full moon. The moon cycle wasn't completely there yet, but it was close.

The moon illuminated the dark forest, creating foreboding shadows.

When a cold wind blew, these shadows moved in an ominous dance in accordance with the cold whistle of the wind.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The only sounds besides the rustling of the leaves and the whistle of the wind were the drops of blood from the corpse hitting the ground.

Then, another sound joined in.

It was Alex, sitting up on the branch with furrowed brows.

'I'm not tired,' he thought. 'So much stuff has happened that my mind just can't calm down. I need to do something to distract myself.'

Alex sat on his makeshift mattress while his body was wrapped in clothing, looking at the ground. The grass had a silver sheen to it as it was illuminated by the moonlight.

Alex just sat there.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The conversation with the God rang through Alex's mind.

Then, he narrowed his eyes.

'He said that absorbing the Mana in the air can strengthen me and heal my injuries. I can't train my body right now, but I should be able to do that, at least.'

Then, Alex closed his eyes as he sat on the branch.

'There has to be some way to feel the Mana in the air, and there also has to be a way to absorb it.'

As Alex sat on the branch with closed eyes, he concentrated on the wind.

Was there something in the atmosphere?

If there was, Alex should be able to feel it in the wind.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The sounds of dripping blood, the whistling wind, and rustling leaves were the only things that could be heard in the forest.

Other than that, there was no sound.

The rhythmic sounds slowly put Alex in some kind of trance as he felt his mind drifting.

He felt like he was touching something fundamental.

After a while, his skin started tickling as Alex felt some of his hairs stand up.

Yes, there was something else in the air!

It was hard to describe, but there was something new in the air.

Earth didn't have anything like this, which made this force that much more pronounced.

As Alex connected with the force, he felt it slowly enter his body.

It felt… warm.

It was like Alex was taking a relaxing bath.

Alex slowly touched his skin, but it was still cold.

The feeling of warmth was apparently only spiritual, not physical.

Slowly, Alex's mind started to vanish as he fell into a kind of half-sleep.

However, the Mana in the air still entered his body.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Drrrr!

Alex woke up with a start as an unknown sound joined the sounds of the forest.

Alex looked over at the origin of the sound and realized that his backpack was shaking slightly.

He moved over and opened the backpack as silently as possible to investigate the sound.

After some seconds, he found it.

It was the black cube, the thing that was supposed to be his future weapon.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Alex looked at the slightly vibrating cube with interest.

'Why is it shaking?'

Drrr! Drrr!

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex furrowed his eyebrows.

The shaking kind of sounded… urgent.

Drip. Drip. Splat.

Alex's eyes widened, and he looked towards the ground.

The forest grew darker as it seemingly transformed into a land of death.

The moonlight vanished from Alex's eyes as he beheld the thing standing below the corpse of the wolf.

It was a being that looked like some sort of panther. However, it had incredibly long forelegs that ended in long claws. This build made it appear more like the thing was pulling itself forward with its forelegs instead of pushing itself with its hindlegs.

It was black as the night, and it had white eyes.

The most recent drop of blood from the wolf's corpse hadn't hit the ground but the creature's head.

All of these things were already terrifying, but there were three more aspects about it that were even more terrifying.

One aspect was its sheer size.

It was nearly two meters high and probably over four meters long.

It was bigger than a tiger!

Another aspect was that it had appeared down there without a sound. If it hadn't been hit by the last drop of blood, Alex wouldn't have noticed this gigantic thing below his tree.

It was as silent as the night.

And the last aspect?

The last aspect was the most terrifying of all.

The last aspect was that the creature was facing Alex.

Looking into his eyes.