Hunt

Marcus walked for hours, the forest seemed endless with trees in all directions, but with the help of Es, he learned many things. From how to recognize North, East, South, and West, what plants he could eat and which to avoid.

When the sunset was near, Marcus started looking for a tree with strong branches. It was one of the advice's Es give him. Instead of sleeping on the ground, he would climb up and tie himself to a tree and sleep there, making him much harder to find and less accessible for any beasts on the ground. After eating his rations, Marcus climbed up the tree and secured himself with a rope from his self-made bag. Closing his eyes, he started to practice the basic energy gathering. Slowly he saw progress, and after a few hours, he checked his energy value.

Name: Marcus

Age:15

Health: Good

Aptitude: MAX

Muscle strength: 1.2

Flexibility: 1.4

Speed: 1.3

Energy: 2.3

In few hours he was able to increase his core energy by 1.3. For Marcus it was very important to gather strength, so buying anything for the shop was out of the question. What he needed to train is control over his power, and learn how to release it so he can bring down stronger enemies. For now, he could barely fight normal animals; his current power would do nothing to spiritual beasts. Tomorrow morning he would start learning the energy wave scanner because the further he will go to the forest the more danger will he met.

Finally closing his eyes Marcus fell asleep, but this time there were no pleasant dreams. He constantly dreamed about his meeting with Long Li, Marcus wasn't even able to tell when or where from did he come, in his dream Long Li become a ghost that haunted him.

Waking up from his nightmares, Marcus stayed motionless, after having a glimpse of Long Li's power, he wasn't sure if he could ever beat him. At least not soon. He had to improve. Going down the tree, he packed his things and started to walk. Trying to slowly learn energy wave scanner, he made his way through the forest.

Three days later Marcus was halfway through learning energy wave scanner, and he already could scan area of 20-30 meters around him. His energy also reached 5.4. Es explained to him that energy of 5 is a bare minimum to compete with rank one spiritual beasts.

The forest was quiet and calm; the sun was shining from in between the branches with a small breeze blowing from the north. Realising his energy wave scanner from time to time, Marcus finally detected something. Because it was so sudden, Marcus first hid his body and observed. In a few breaths time, a deer came into Marcus's view. Stabilizing his breath, he gathered energy inside of his palm, making sure it wouldn't leave his body and make a sound he gathered more and more, when he was ready he pointed his hand at the deer and released it all at once. A huge boom sounded out as the huge blue lightning bolt struck the deer. With smoke coming off the deer and ozone in the air filling Marcus's lungs he approached already dead body and started to skin it. A day before Es told him how to make a blade from a stone and, with a bit of wood and cloth, he made a knife.

With Es explaining to him how to, Marcus quickly skinned the deer and started to take some meat off; he wouldn't be able to take all of it with him as it was too heavy.

Taking everything he could, Marcus quickly left, as blood would attract other animals and possibly, spiritual beasts. Moving west again, Marcus walked until evening, finding a good spot he started a fire and roasted the deer meat. Filling his belly full he walked away to find a tree to sleep on.

In the middle of the night, a roar woke him up.

It was loud and terrifying, like if coming from the depths of hell. It came from the site he roasted the deer. Something must've smelled it and when it found nothing it got angry. Because he was expecting something like that would occur Marcus left the area and found another place to sleep. Observing for a while and scanning the surrounding multiple times Marcus finally relaxed.

It the morning Marcus went back to the site where he made a fire and saw it destroyed, the trees had claw marks on them, the fireplace was smashed to pieces. Quickly leaving the place, Marcus continued his journey and headed west.

He continued his daily routine of practicing energy wave scanner, and since he could walk while doing so, it was more convenient. Other than that he also talked with Es who was teaching him everything that he needed to know about surviving in the forest. It was only thanks to his help he was able to survive up to this point. Taking a break at noon, he ate some leftover meat from yesterday and started to practice Basic energy gathering.

It didn't take long before Marcus heard a low growl. Rolling to the side, he was barely able to evade an attack. It was a spiritual beast!

"What is it Es?"

"It's a rank one spirit wolf, be careful of its burst speed, try to evade and make distance while shooting at it."

The strategy was simple enough. Looking at the spirit wolf in the eyes, he fully focused on its movements. This was his first real fight; previously he could only try to defend himself and take a beating. But now he has to attack!

Gathering and releasing energy from his hands a lightning bolt and struck the spirit wolf. It was a very unexpected thing for the spirit wolf, as it was him that always attacked first, and because of that, he was hit. But the damage was not too threatening, and he could take dozens more, and with that knowledge, he went on the offensive.

Seeing spirit wolf attack, he dogged to the side and started to prepare a stronger attack gathering more and more. In a matter of seconds, he had to dodge multiple times. But his attack was ready; now he just had to hit the spirit wolf. But it wouldn't be as easy as the first time; he needed a perfect moment. So he waited and soon a moment to strike appeared. The spirit wolf leaped into the air wanting to bite into Marcus's neck, and at this moment Marcus released his attack and lighting as thick as a baby's hand hit the wolf in the chest, the falling wolf hit Marcus, and under the wolf's weight, Marcus fell to the ground.