Becoming A Copper

After collecting what he was going to take, he went to meet up with his group. He arrived at where the group agreed to meet when they were all done. Most of the hunters were already there.

The group was made up of mostly null ranked with a few coppers in the mix. Most of the catches the group got were normal creatures. Three guys were bragging about killing a copper-ranked deer.

When the three of them were done, Ian pulled out the head of the boar he just killed. Two of the coppers in the group looked at it and could tell that it too was a copper-ranked creature.

The other three guys didn't feel as special as they did before. They were now mad at Ian since he stole their thunder.

Ian went on to explain how he managed to slay the beast. He left out the part where the boar was middle leveling up while telling the story. 

This only angered the other three guys but they relaxed a bit when Ian said that he wanted to cook the boar and share it.

Ian wasn't the best at cooking yet so he asked one of the coppers if he could cook it. He also said that he could have first dibs on the food if he did cook it. 

The copper guy agreed and began to cook the boar.

The reason the copper-ranked agreed and the other three relaxed was that they all had a chance to take the lifeforce point from it.

In this world, people can become strong in two ways. They can train and become stronger naturally, or they can eat the flesh of creatures to become stronger.

The creature had to have a rank for the person to yield anything. If the creature was a null one then there was nothing to gain. Null creatures were hunted for food. 

Copper creatures only gave one point and higher ranked creatures gave more.

People want to have a high base lifeforce score before leveling up so when they do they would have a higher score as a copper. When someone becomes a copper, their base power will no longer increase by eating creatures. Instead, they'll have to do physical training to increase it.

However, when they do become copper, they will gain the ability to manipulate their energy. Once they can control their energy they can then use it to double the base power when they first level up. After becoming a copper, if someone eats a creature their lifeforce will become stronger.

Since most of the people that went hunting were still null ranked they were hoping to gain as many points as they can before leveling up. Even if it is just one.

The copper ranked started a fire at the center of their area and placed a steel mesh over it. The mesh was held up by a couple of rocks so it is far enough from the fire. 

Ian passed him a few pieces of meat, one for everyone. 

Ian may have not been a good cook but he knew how to season his meals. He pulled out a few spices from a pouch he had and added them to his piece.

A few others asked for some and he happily gave them some.

Ian was in a good mood after getting this kill so he didn't care if he got the point or not. At this point, he had gotten five points thanks to his parents. This meant that his base power had to be between 10 and 15 or so he believed.

It took a while for the meat to cook. Everyone was waiting patiently for them to finish. 

The one who was cooking them grabbed a large piece that was almost well done and began eating it. He told everyone that he likes a little bit of pink on his meat.

A few others grabbed some too since they didn't care if it had a bit of pink on it. Everyone else waited a few more minutes before grabbing theirs. 

After he saw that his was well done, Ian grabbed his piece which was decently sized, and began to eat it as well.

He had eaten different types of meat before and found out that the meat tastes better if the creature is of a higher rank and is well seasoned.

Everyone was munching on their slice, waiting for some to feel some energy flow into them. This would indicate that they had gained the point.

A few minutes had passed and yet no one had said that they gained the point. Most people had finished eating their portions quickly. Others were still eating their pieces, Ian being one of them.

Ian was peacefully enjoying his food, thinking about how he defeated the boar. Right as he ate his final piece, he felt something. A bit of energy started to flow from his stomach and into his core. He knew what this meant thanks to previous experience. He had gained the point.

Now, Ian had gained six points, which was a good amount to try and level up, but most would try to go for ten. He didn't put too much thought into it and was just glad that he got the kill and the point.

Once everyone had returned to their meeting area they all decided to go home. It would take them a few hours to make it back since they have to go deep into the forest to hunt.

When Ian made it home that day he went straight to his room to sleep. While he was sleeping, Ian had a dream. It was odd for him to have a dream that he could remember.

In the dream, he was floating in an endless void. He could not feel or see anything besides himself. He stayed in this void for what felt like days until he finally saw a dot of light in the distance. When he saw it he began to float toward it. 

The dot had a faint glow. The light it gave off was soothing and reassuring.

The time he had spent in this dream, had him feeling no emotion. He felt no fear, no loneliness, no pain, and no happiness. But now with this light, he felt a warmth that he hadn't felt in a long time.

All of a sudden, Ian's lifeless eyes were now teeming with life. He started to swim quickly towards the light. As he swam in its direction he could feel his body fill with energy.

It took him a while but he eventually made it to the orb of light. Now in front of it, Ian could get a close look at it. The orb was the size of a golf ball and it shined with nothing but the light of life.

Ian reached out his hand to grab it but when he tried to, the orb went flying into his chest. His chest was glowing with the same light which then expanded outwards to the rest of his body.

A cool sensation filled him. Every cell in his body was filled with this feeling. He felt reenergized once it filled every inch of his body, but then he noticed something wrong.

Once his body was full, the sensation did not stop. It kept filling him up even more. The cool feeling started to sting and then it felt like a burn. Soon his entire body felt like it was on fire.

He looked down at his arms and saw his veins bulging. His muscles had also grown in size. But what had him worried the most was that his skin started to crack.

The sensation was so intense and the sight was so terrifying that it jolted him awake.

Ian jump out of his bed and landed on the floor. He took another look at himself to see what was wrong with him. He turned to look at the mirror that was in his room and was surprised.

He was in the middle of leveling up. He could see the energy flowing out from his core.

He was told by many about how it would feel when you level up but this was not what he was expecting. Everyone had said that when someone became copper they would feel a cool sensation come out from their core. The sensation would flow to every inch of your body before returning to their core. Many also said that people could see the energy flow from the outside.

However, this was not the same for Ian. instead of a cool feeling, he felt a raging burn fill him up. The pain was unlike anything he had felt before. He could not scream or even move. He also had a hard time breathing without feeling any pain

He lay on the floor all night long as the burning feeling ravaged his entire body. He didn't try to fight back the pain but instead, let the pain take over.

It took many hours for the pain to reach its peak and when it did the energy started to flow back into his core. By this point, the sun had started to rise and everyone in the house was waking up. 

He could hear voices calling out for him but he could still not move. Eventually, Ellie burst into his room to wake him up.

When she saw Ian on the ground she thought that he fell off the bed and stayed asleep down there. Soon after though, she saw that he was in the middle of becoming a copper. She rush out of the room and went straight to their parents. 

Both parents ran into his room alongside Ellie and Emmett. Their parents went to pick up Ian but when they touched him he groaned in pain. His parents quickly lifted him onto his bed and laid him down on it. 

Ian's dad watched over him while everyone else continued with their day. Ian's mom would come and check on him every once in a while. Ellie and Emmett went out with their friends but they were still worried.

It took Ian half a day to finish leveling up. When he was finally done he still could not move. His whole body was weak and sore from the process.

It would take a whole week for him to recover, but after that, he tried to limit the use of his power.