Level Up!

As Marcus readied his spear to strike the stormwolves, one of the wolves noticed him! "Shit!" He screamed as he began to run from the stormwolves. Stormwolves usually had the power of a level 10, but Marcus still viewed it as a huge threat since he barely reached level 1 after consuming so much mana. His plan was to sneak up on the wolves and then strike them down while they didn't notice him but it appeared that his plan was too naiive. As he ran, he began to attempt something that was on his mind for a while. Since he was already level 1, that meant that he could utilize mana and make a fireball, or strengthen his body with it. He wanted to try elemental magic and he decided if he could stun it for a while with a fireball it would sure be helpful. As he focused on the mana in the air, slowly he started to notice some fire mana. As he concentrated harder, he began to mold the fire mana into a ball. When he looked at his outstretched palm, slowly but surely a fireball began to form! Marcus was beyond excited when he made his first fireball, and shot it at the stormwolf that was slowly catching up to him. The wolf howled in annoyance as the fireball hit its face and became even more enraged, but when it opened its eyes, the human was no where to be seen. As the wolf cautiously walked around trying to sense the human, it suddenly felt searing pain through its chest. As it looked at the source of the pain, he saw the human, with a strange weapon, stabbing his chest. The wolf growled as it turned around aiming its anger at Marcus. But before it could summon its speciality, storm magic, Marcus once again sprinted into the bushes, utilizing the darkness and the shadows. He snuck up on the wolf again from behind and this time, struck the finishing blow to the head. "Huh, so those hunting shows weren't a complete waste of time I guess." Marcus chuckled as he dragged the corpse back to his shelter. He learnt how to set a fire from shows he watched as a child, but using a fireball was way more convenient. As he was roasting the wolf he just hunted, Marcus was meditating and gathering mana. Sure enough, he seemed to be leveling up way faster than normal humans as he was already nearing level 5. 'Level 5 in a day. Huh, past me would've brushed this off as a madman's rambling if someone were to tell him he would be capable of such a thing.' Marcus smiled as he realized that he could achieve his dream! He had no need to suicide anymore, and in fact planned on not dying for the foreseeable future. Once he started to smell the aroma of roast meat, his stomach started to growl and he simply couldn't wait anymore. As he dug in on the delicious meat of the stormwolf, he felt euphoric, as if he was feeling the best thing in the world. Once he was done with his meat, the euphoric feeling lasted until it turned into a pretty painful experience. He could feel his mana core breaking and reforming itself and his muscles constantly breaking and reforming itself as well. 'Damn, just how many levels am I getting from this one stormwolf? Just how much mana was in this thing?!' Once the pain lasted a good hour, he slowly felt better as the mana started entering his body again at an exceptional rate. 'Let me see what level I'm at now...' As he entered into a meditating state, his mind wandered into the soul realm. This was how one could check what level he/she was. As he wandered closer to his mana core, he nearly shit himself. 'HOLY SHIT! LEVEL 15?! JUST HOW POWERFUL WAS THAT STORMWOLF?!' Once he calmed down a bit, he slowly remembered the old man's words: "You will be able to level up 2x as fast as a normal person." At first Marcus was skeptical about it, but after seeing its miraculous effects, he felt all the more thankful to the old man. Once he dived into his soul realm again, he saw something else that both confused and shocked him.

Special Skill: Storm Sprint. When activated, your speed will increase by 5x and anybody nearby you will get stunned by the lightning effect. Mana cost: 100.

Marcus was beyond shocked. A skill? One could only obtain a skill by skill cores, a rare orb that resides inside mutated beasts. One skill core was incredibly rare, so much so that one could cost up to 100 million kubriks. And Marcus just obtained one. Just like that. 'Is this also a benefit from that power seed? Whatever animal I consume that has a special skill, will be automatically transferred to me? Isn't that a bit overpowered?' As Marcus mulled over these thoughts, he noticed something else.

Mana Manipulation: Elemental Magic/Flame Manipulation. Deviant Elemental Magic/Storm Manipulation.

'Whaaattt??? I also gained the ability that stormwolves were famous for, storm magic?! Does that mean I can summon lightning bolts and cause rain to happen? This is way too overwhelming,' As he came back to reality, he noticed that it was well past midnight judging by the darkness of the sky. 'Oh well, tomorrow I hope I run into more mutated beasts. For now I'll just sleep I guess.' As he slowly fell asleep, he didn't notice a creature completely shrouded in the darkness, watching him...

*flame manipulation: Controlling/Creating fire. Creating fire costs more mana while simply manipulating it costs close to zero mana depending on the scale of the attack. Useful for stunning the enemy and attacking the enemy too.

*storm manipulation: Controlling/Creating rain, lighting and wind. Controlling storms cost a bit more mana than fire manipulation and creating storms will cost significantly more mana as it utilizes multiple elements. Useful for growing plants and stunning enemies.