《Gene Thief》


 1 Chapter 1

    "Hey brat come back here!" someone in a large crowd shouted as he attempted to run through it. In front of him was a small figure who nimbly navigated his way through the crowd, weaving past the people in front of him.


    "Ha ha! Pay more attention to your surroundings old man!" Shouted back the kid who had now made it to the corner of an alley. He quickly turned into it and ran as fast as he could to get away.


    Making it out of the dark alley he ended up back on the main road, but a block down from where the man was. ''This one was too easy'' thought Marcellus as he fingered the coppers in the bag he had taken from the man.


    10 years he had fought constantly for his life.


    10 years he had spent stealing from people just to barely get by.


    ''I''m so sick of this'' he thought, but there was nothing he could do but hope that the future would be better. There was no sign of change so all he could do was hope, but even that was slowly diminishing. He sighed as he walked through the streets looking around him. He was disgusted at how inhumane the world was.


    Everything was based on cultivation. If you were not a cultivator you stood no chance in this world. Unfortunately for him Marcellus had not ever been lucky enough to get his hands on a beast core in his life as they were for the normal and the wealthy, not the poor.


    Level one beast cores went for one gold minimum and a level ten beast core had an unimaginable cost because even if someone managed to kill a rank ten beast, why would they sell it? If someone at the ninth or tenth stage managed to kill such a beast they would need it to further their own cultivation.


    After level ten it was said that people transcended and went to the heavenly realm to cultivate but no one was really sure what happened.


    Marcellus looked at the 20 coppers he had obtained. He wasn''t particularly happy with the amount. He had just enough for a meal and some leftover to put into his savings which were necessary if he was going to get out of a life of poverty. As he walked further along the street in a pensive state something grabbed his attention. It was an old man. He looked to be about 80 to 90 years old with grey hair and a grey beard.


    What grabbed his attention was not that the man was old, but that he looked extremely wealthy. ''What would a wealthy man be doing in the commoners section of town?'' Marcellus asked himself. He slowly snuck closer and closer to the old man.


    He reached out and into the man''s pocket and pulled out an orb which was shining ever so slightly and was covered in magician runes. He didn''t have time to waste and quickly attempted to bolt in the other direction but the old man grabbed his collar and said, "What do you think you are doing young man?" Stunned at the old man''s reaction time Marcellus froze. Quickly regaining his wits he tried to run but the old man''s grip was stronger than steel.


    "I''m sorry sir, I will return it to you. I don''t want any trouble." Marcellus quickly said. The man let go of his arm, turned around, and continued walking. This time it took Marcellus longer to recover from what had happened. ''Why would the old man leave the orb with me without even knowing who I am? Not to mention I stole it.'' He thought.


    He turned back around to get a closer look at the orb but it was gone. It had simply vanished. Marcellus could have sworn that it was in his hand, how had it suddenly disappeared? He looked around him for any possible thieves or pickpockets that might have taken it from him, but found none.


    He thought that the orb might have been something extremely precious from the way it looked but considering that the old man had simply left it to him it must not have been that valuable. Having lost one of his winnings today he went home in a slightly sad slouch. He walked around all the people in the streat until he reached the edge of the commoners section and headed towards the slums.


    His house wasn''t particularly terrible for the slums as he had enough room to sleep and to fit one more person. It was a small run down shack made of loose looking stones that could collapse at any minute. That didn''t bother Marcellus as he had been living there for two years.


    He left the coppers in a chest which he had found thrown away in an alley in the commoners section. The chest was then buried underground, beneath his house, so that no one could find it.


    Because Marcellus was out of the water that he had stored for the week, he needed to get more. He started walking away from his house with a relatively large bucket heading to the well. The wells that were in the slums did not consist of clean water but instead dirty and unpurified water. After a 20 minute walk, he finally reached his destination.


    Marcellus looked into the well to draw water from it but then he noticed that there was something wrong with his reflection in the water. ''Since when did I have white hair?'' He was terrified because even though magic was not rare, it was strange to him as he had never seen it before. His mind drifted back to the old man that had simply let him go. ''Crap, he put a curse on me.'' Marcellus thought.


    His hair was normally black and his eyes brown but now his eyes had turned light amber and his hair white. He wasn''t very strong as he never cultivated his mana or his body so it was that of a normal human. Because of this, even if he wanted to he could not sense magic and although Marcelllus never went to school he was not stupid. It was the opposite in fact, he read every book he could get his hands on and whenever he was outside his house, he paid attention to everything around him so that he could learn. He did not read because he enjoyed it but because if he was not smarter then other people who were stronger would have an advantage over him.


    Quickly analyzing the situation, Marcellus realized there was nothing he could do. Even if he was cursed what could he do to stop it? He wasn''t a cultivator and knew nothing about mana so how could he stop a curse?


    Sighing and chuckling sadly to himself, he gathered the water he needed and began his walk home. After about ten minutes, he heard someone shout his name. "Marcellus! Get over here! You owe me today''s pay!" shouted Acrisius as soon as his eyes landed on him. "What is wrong with you today? Did you get cursed? How shitty your luck must be!" he laughed with his friends.


    "Acrisius, hey look I didn''t go stealing today so I don''t have your ten coppers." Quickly replied Marcellus. Visibly getting angry that Marcellus was lying to him, Acrisius punched him in the nose.


    "I don''t have time for your stupid games today! Boss wants you to pay up so you have to pay. If not with coppers then with blood." He hit Marcellus again in the face knocking him down. Marcellus'' nose started to bleed. "Tell your boss that I don''t have today''s pay. What do you want me to do? Make magic money?"


    Acrisius was furious now "You didn''t have your pay for the last month! What have you been doing all this time? Sleeping on your ass!" Acrisius and his gang kicked him until Marcellus was bleeding all over. After Acrisius was satisfied, he decided to search him for the coppers. Finding nothing, Acrisius'' anger turned to annoyance. "You better have the payment tomorrow or you will regret it," he said as he led his goons away.


    "Damn it." Marcellus muttered to himself as he tried to get off the ground. Unfortunately he did not have enough strength to get up. It was clear to him that he needed to get stronger and only when he got stronger would he be respected.


    He lay down in the dirt surrounded by broken stone shaks with narrow streets and dry dusty climate. It was not a dessert but just a filthy place. The slums were not outside the city as they were in fact part of the commoners section before they were forced out of the everyday workings of society.


    After feeling that he regained a sliver of his strength, he pushed as hard as he could to get up. He could not afford to just sit on the ground doing nothing. He had to find a way to get stronger so that he could escape from the slums and his father''s debt. Finally pushing himself up to a standing position he stumbled forward limping in the direction of his house.


    He walked the rest of the way until he reached the door and stumbled forward opening it. He then realized that he had left his water bucket back at the well where he was beaten up. He let out a long sigh. ''This is ridiculous, why do I always have such shitty luck?'' he thought. He sat in the middle of the room, taking a moment to organize his thoughts before walking back out the door and to the well.


    He was in no condition to be walking but still he managed to reach the point where he had left the bucket. He picked it up and put it behind his back resting the back of his hand on his shoulder while he held it. Then he started the trip back to his house for the second time that day.


    He managed to make it pretty far before he heard a scream in the distance. The scream was bone chilling. After he heard that it came from the direction of his house he quickened his pace ever so slightly because he was still injured after all.


    Reaching his house he looked around but saw nothing. ''It must have come from somewhere nearby he thought. He didn''t have the resources or the energy to care about others. He went into his house and laid down in the middle of the room and shut his eyes.


    He fell asleep pretty quickly.


    "Son, I have to go on a trip to pay back a friend. I''ll be back soon, don''t worry about it." He waved to his father as he walked out of the house into the busy commoners section''s main road.


    "Ahhhh!" Marcellus heard while he was upstairs in his room. "Mom!" He yelled as he opened the door knob with his small hands. He rushed down the stairs as fast as his small feet could carry him. He arrived at the first floor which had turned quiet.


    Turning into the kitchen he saw his mother''s dead and bloody body laying on the floor at the feet of a man who was holding a dagger. He was wearing a black cloak and a mask. It was hard to see who he was but anyone who looked at him could tell he was a cultivator. He was tall and muscular but other than that nothing could be seen behind his disguise. "What did you do to my mom!" Shouted an angry Marcellus at the man.


    "Your father should have paid off his debt boy. He made some really powerful people mad so he had to pay for it." He said as he vanished. Marcellus looked everywhere but could not find the man.


    It was then that he woke up from the dream. His father was unable to pay his debt so his family paid for it. Marcellus considered himself lucky to be alive. On the other hand, his story was common in the slums. "I need to get stronger,'''' he said as he walked towards the door to get to the mercenary association.

 2 Chapter 2

    Two beady red eyes stared directly at him. He couldn''t move. This was the first time Marcellus had ever seen a ranked beast so he did not know it''s rank but he knew that he should be scared. No matter how powerful a normal lion was, it could not compare to the Ironhide Lion that was now in front of him.


    The time that it took for him to turn around and run was far more than the time the Ironhide Lion needed to jump on him. Marcellus was easily pinned down by the claw of the beast which was made of pure iron along with the rest of its fur.


    Although the lion had extremely strong fur, the skin underneath was not very hard. Under the iron, even a simple dagger could kill it. However, to kill such a beast one would need an enchanted weapon to penetrate the iron. Marcellus could not dream of such a weapon as some were even more valuable than beast cores depending on the attributes that the weapon possessed.


    As Marcellus could do nothing under the pressure of the lion, he simply laid there as a single iron nail from the beast''s claw went through his abdomen slicing his organs inside. He felt serious pain but then it started to get cold, very cold. He was struggling to keep his consciousness from fading.


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    10 Hours Earlier


    Marcellus closed the door behind him looking up towards the midday sun which was too bright to look at directly. ''It''s around one'' he thought ''I have quite a bit of time to finish what I need to do.'' A few moments ago he had decided to go to the Mercenary association to get stronger and learn how to fight. He needed to get stronger in order to protect himself and earn the respect of others.


    Although his injuries hurt slightly that was only because he was sore and not because he was severely injured. He walked to the commoner''s section of the city and headed right towards the association. He walked into the tall stone building with a sign outside that read "Mercenary Association."


    He walked quickly to the reception desk to which there was a long line. The line was extremely slow and only inched its way forward. Marcellus found himself getting more and more impatient. In order to ease his nerves he went and picked up a book that was on a bookshelf next to the reception desk.


    "Brief Explanation of Beasts and Cultivation" was scrawled hastily on the front cover of the book. He began reading


    "Cultivation is the increase of mana inside a person''s body. Mana is a magical force that is in all things which can be broken down into auras. The auras are "Earth, Wood, Fire, Lightning, Water, Healing, Wind, Mind, Time and Space ." Although mana is a magical force, how it is cultivated depends on the user.


    If the auras are refined to improve the body one could become stronger. On the other hand, if mana is used to refine one''s magic circuit then their magical control over an aura would increase. The body and magical circuits can both be refined but that would take a great deal of time so usually, a person chooses one or the other.


    There are major differences between cultivating the body and the soul. If someone cultivated earth in the body then they would gain stronger defensive abilities and with water, it would boost their energy and strength. However, specifics are unknown as each one grants a different gift to every person.


    On the other hand, if someone chose to cultivate the soul they would use Ice as an external force that is expelled from their body. These cultivators can create ice walls or earth spikes. The more complicated auras such as Mind, time, and space are unpredictable and no one that we know of has cultivated these auras to level 10.


    If one wants to improve the speed of the cultivation of auras then they need a higher understanding of them. The higher the understanding the faster one can cultivate. Unfortunately, it is very hard to increase one''s understanding of an aura. The most efficient is with the core of an elemental. The core would not increase your cultivation but instead your understanding of an aura.


    Elementals are extremely dangerous and live in places with dense mana flowing through the terrain. Due to the fact that such dense mana of a certain type is needed for them to generate, it is extremely difficult to come across one of them."


    Marcellus read as he went closer and closer to the desk. "How can I help you sir?" she said but looking down at him her smiling expression changed to one of boredom. She immediately followed up with "The fee for registering as a mercenary is 10 silvers, and you must be older than 12 to register as a gatherer and 14 to register as a hunter. Do you have that type of money kid? I bet you''re not even 12 yet."


    Marcellus frowned at the woman''s attitude towards him, but he had no choice but to accept it. "I have 10 silvers prepared and I am 13 years old, please register me as a gatherer." He said, handing her the coins. She picked them up and handed him a sheet of parchment.


    "Name


    Date of birth


    Date of registration


    Current occupation


    Hunter or gatherer"


    He quickly filled out the information on the parchment and handed it back to the lady. He had just wasted 10 silvers and his entire life he had gathered one gold coin''s worth of silvers with a bit more. Leaving him with 97 silvers, he was not happy with the price but it was acceptable, he still had to buy proper gear so the money would soon be gone.


    He left the counter and placed the book back on the shelf. He walked up to the second desk right next to the one he registered at. He walked up to the lady and asked, "Excuse me I would like to complete a quest." The lady in front of him smiled kindly and replied, "Just pick up that book there and then write your name next to the quest you are taking."


    He picked up the book and looked at the blank cover. He flipped open the first page and it read, "Gatherer''s basic quests." Other than that the rest of the page had no words written on it. The lady let out a gentle laugh and asked him, "This your first time choosing a quest?" "Yes," he replied timidly. "Look, the book works like this," she explained, "You have to tell it what you want." "Herb gathering," she spoke into the book. With a slight glow, words filled the page in.


    Marcellus looked at the page again and this time there was a list of quests, in fact, the whole book was filled with quests. He noticed that many of them had names written next to them so he tried something. "Show only available quests," he said to the book. Once again the page changed and this time not even half the book was filled. Marcellus was amazed at how useful magic could be.


    He chose a basic quest to pick three flowers known as the "Shattered Song." The quest seemed easy enough to only pick three flowers wasn''t that hard and it was just a basic quest so ''it should be a good choice'' he thought. He wrote his name next to the quest with his basic writing skill. He wasn''t happy with how terrible his writing was but it was the least of his problems.


    He walked towards the doors pushing one open and exiting the building. Leaving the Association behind, he walked in the street looking around him at the stone buildings and wooden homes. He was used to them as he came here every day to make a living, but this time it was different almost like he belonged somewhat.


    He reached his destination in about 10 minutes and walked inside looking around. The shop was neatly organized with swords, knives, daggers, bows, shields, maces, staffs and a lot more items to the left and on the right were armor, rings, necklaces. Marcellus assumed that all of these had to be enchanted items and incredibly expensive. In the front was a large assortment of cores and fangs along with other monster parts that were well cleaned.


    "Excuse me, sir, I would like to buy a cheap set of armor my size." Said Marcellus looking at the man sitting at the desk behind the cores. The man looked up slightly and then back down at the parchment he was writing on before scribbling a few more words down. Without speaking he went and got another parchment from the shelf behind him. "Would you like to become a member of our establishment the "Golden Forger"?


    The man asked without looking up from the parchment. His voice was hoarse and deep, he sounded like an experienced man. "In order to become a member there is a one gold fee and then you can gain rewards depending on how much you spend."


    Marcellus thought that the man was either crazy or blind. ''Do I look like I can afford that?'' Marcellus thought to himself and sighed. "No that''s alright, I just want the armor, sir." "Alright go down into the basement and you will find what you need." Replied the man pointing and the stairs to his right.


    Marcellus walked down the stairs, and when he reached the bottom he noticed that it was exactly like the shop upstairs but with less expensive-looking items. At the other end of the room was another man at a desk. The man immediately got up and said, "Follow me." Marcellus did as he was told. He was taken to a room to the side and was thrown inside with a suit of leather armor, a shortsword, and a small knife.


    He put them on over his old clothes and walked back out of the room. They fit him surprisingly well and the material was breathable with high mobility. He was happy with the armor the man picked for him. He grabbed the sword on his waist and swung it a few times. It had a nice balance and was slightly heavy but not too much.


    "How much will this cost me?" Asked Marcellus after realizing he didn''t have a chance to check the prices before the man threw him inside the dressing room. The man replied "97 silvers." Marcellus was shocked as that was the exact amount he had leftover from the Mercenary Association. He didn''t question the man and just handed him the silvers.


    He stared at the man for a moment after handing them to him. "Well you can be on your way then," he said. Marcellus turned around and walked up the stairs. "That was really weird," he muttered to himself. The man at the more elaborate counter chuckled as Marcellus muttered.


    Having bought all that he needed he was ready to complete the quest he had picked up earlier. He wanted the armor just in case he encountered any low ranked beasts along the way. He walked to the city wall which was extremely tall. It was about 15 meters tall and had sentry guards posted every few meters along the wall''s top.


    He stood in front of one of the four guards guarding the giant iron door which led to the outside world. The guards looked at him before the one standing in front asked, "What do you want?" "I want to exit the city to complete a quest I received from the Mercenary Association," Marcellus told him with a stern look. "Alright," he said then shouted "Let him through," to his fellow guards.


    Marcellus looked up at the sun which was previously halfway in the sky and noticed it had moved significantly. "It looks like it''s been three hours or maybe four so that leaves me about four to five hours before sunset, it should be enough time to pick some flowers and come back. I think it will take about an hour to get to the section of the forest the flowers grow in and then another hour to find the flowers," he said to himself. His face harshened and he looked seriously into the forest thinking ''This is the best way to get stronger, I have to succeed.''

 3 Chapter 3

    Two hours passed slowly as Marcellus was looking for the flowers. Frustrated he sat down on a rock ''Where have all the stupid flowers gone,'' he screamed at himself mentally. He let out a long sigh before observing where exactly in the forest he was. It was not humid but hot and the sun had now reached the west side of the sky. Seeing that even more time had passed he sighed again.


    He pushed himself off of the rock he was resting on and continued looking for the flowers in the dense green forest that surrounded him. When entering the forest he had decided to go forward and then to the right, keeping a straight line so he could easily find his way out. He suddenly tripped on a fallen log that was hidden by fallen leaves.


    He looked next to him to see how he had fallen and he was shocked, there was a low ranked earth elemental eating the flowers he was looking for. The elemental looked like a bunch of rocks made into the shape of a monkey with quartz where its eyes, feet, and hands should have been. Its eyes had many different types of valuable rocks inside making them look like an extremely real pair of blue eyes.


    The elemental, intrigued by the sudden noise looked up to inspect what had happened. He noticed Marcellus and stared at him. Having just fallen down and being defenseless he was reaching for his sword on his hilt while staring. When he got hold of his sword he slowly stood up and inched backward.


    Marcellus looked at the small looking elemental. He had never fought anything before, all he could do was run. Suddenly the monkey jumped on his back and wrapped its hands around his neck. Marcellus prepared himself for the pain but it never came. He opened one eye and checked his back to see the monkey sleeping on his shoulder.


    It was holding five of the flowers he needed for the quest so he slowly reached for its hand but when he tried to pull the flowers away he couldn''t. He accidentally touched the monkey''s hand but it was surprisingly soft. Looking closer he noticed small moss-like fur growing out of the smooth stones. Touching it felt like he was petting the stray dogs he met in the allies sometimes.


    He looked at the monkey''s face and it was awake and staring at his face with wide eyes. Marcellus froze ''Oh, crap. Did I piss it off.'' The monkey then grabbed the hand that was petting it and placed it in its head. The plants on the monkey''s head were even softer than those on its hand.


    It continued staring at Marcellus but this time expectantly and then he realized it wanted him to pet its head. He slowly moved his hand stroking its head. It relaxed again and slowly drifted off to sleep. Now he didn''t know what to do. The monkey had the flowers he needed and had probably eaten the rest, so how was he supposed to complete the quest.


    He began his hour trip back to the city. He walked and walked with a small break halfway but overall things went smoothly. The monkey shifted on his back and jolted awake. It made a small clicking sound with its stone teeth and jumped off his back. It grabbed his hand and pulled him in the opposite direction of the city. He didn''t trust the monkey he had only known for an hour and now with the sun setting and a high chance of him getting lost he didn''t want to follow it.


    It stopped pulling and started tugging repeatedly looking slightly mad. Not wanting to face an elemental he had no knowledge of, he decided to just follow along. The monkey pulled him in the direction of a mountain. He reluctantly followed. So far the monkey had done him no harm so he was pretty sure that it was not it''s intention.


    After a short walk, they reached the foot of the mountain. Marcellus looked up at the giant mountain and thought, ''If the monkey is planning to take me to the top of this thing I might just pass out.''


    The monkey seemed to roll its eyes and pulled him around the mountain to a small cave to the side of it. It pulled him inside and finally let him go and climbed back onto his shoulder. He patted its head and it seemed to appreciate the praise. Marcellus, finally given a chance to rest, sat down on the floor of the cave. He suddenly heard some shuffling and clinking deeper inside the cave.


    He stood up and pulled out his sword ready just in case something attacked him. "There is no need for weapons, human." A deep voice said echoing all around the entire cave. A figure of a massive gorilla appeared from the shadows of the cave. It was similar to the monkey that was attached to his shoulder so he guessed that this was the father.


    ''Did the monkey bring me here to die?'' he asked himself looking at the monkey innocently sleeping on his shoulder. Finally acknowledging the words of the gorilla he sheathed the sword but still kept himself ready to run for his life. The tree and the rocks around the gorilla fell to the ground and turned to dust. When they reorganized themselves it was into a more humanoid version of the elemental he had just seen.


    So much had happened to Marcellus just on the first day of him leaving the city that he didn''t know what to say. He just kept staring at the elemental who was starting to get a little nervous with Marcellus staring at him. "Would you like something to eat or drink?" asked the elemental. "What?" asked Marcellus, looking confused. The elemental waved it off and sat down at the wall of the cave.


    "We don''t get a lot of visitors here, it''s nice to have some company that I don''t have to kill," the elemental without thinking about it too much. ''I''m going to die here, nobody will find my body and I will never be remembered.'' Seeing the expression on Marcellus'' face the elemental let out a laugh saying, "Don''t worry I won''t attack you, my daughter has taken a liking to you.


    Marcellus chuckled back nervously, secretly thanking the monkey on his shoulder for letting him live. Then he turned to the elemental and sat down next to it. "What are you guys exactly?" Marcellus questioned the elemental. Looking a bit surprised he laughed and slapped Marcellus on the back. "You are one funny kid," he said, still laughing. "You aren''t here to kill us or steal our treasure?" he said after another second. Marcellus couldn''t help it and once again said "What?"


    The elemental picked up the monkey off his shoulder and into his hands stroking her head. "Does she have a name?" Marcellus asked with curiosity. Continuing to stroke her head he replied, "No, we are elementals we don''t have names. I suppose that I could let you give her one as she will probably stay around you for a long time." Marcellus asked, "What do you mean?"


    "She seems very attached to you for some reason. You seem very naive and while that is dangerous it makes me trust you more" he responded simply.


    "Although I would like for her to stay in this cave and grow strong in the presence of our treasure. I cannot force her to stay and she wants to go with you on an adventure. She was always a troublemaker." He said sadly. The monkey wrapped her arms around her father gently pulling him closer. "How about, Alyssa?" whispered Marcellus looking at the cute moment.


    They both turned to look at him when he said that. "Or maybe not," he said. "She likes it" quickly said the father putting Alyssa back onto Marcellus'' lap. He then stood up and walked deeper into the cave saying, "I''ll be back soon, wait here." Marcellus leaned farther back onto the wall getting into a comfortable position. He fell asleep patting Alyssa''s head.


    He felt a tug on his arm and he woke up slowly blinking his eyes. He noticed that the humanoid elemental was walking back towards them from the back of the cave and stood up. When the elemental reached him it handed him a small rock that strangely multicolored. "This is a gift to you so that you can better protect my daughter. It''s an elemental treasure with a 70% understanding of the earth element. It''s a high grade aura treasure."


    Marcellus took it and placed it into his pocket not sure what that meant exactly but based on what the book said earlier this should help him cultivate faster because of it''s high understanding. Marcellus having accepted the gift looked at Alyssa hanging on his shoulder nibbling on her nails sharpening them. For some reason, he found it cute. Looking at her, he noticed that the sun was much farther down than it was before his arrival.


    "Sorry sir but I must be going, if the sun sets before I get back to the city a beast could attack me," he scrambled to say goodbye as he left for the city leaving the cave behind. He shouted, "Thank''s a lot. I hope we meet again sometime." as the scene of the cave faded behind him.


    Alyssa was already asleep on his shoulder two minutes after he left. Then thirty minutes later the sun was gone and the forest was pitch black. ''Luckily I only have 20 minutes left before the city I should be fine,'' he reasoned.


    The fresh leaves softened the crunch that the dry ones under them made. The forest was bathed in sounds of crickets and birds and leaves that Marcellus wasn''t sure that he could even hear a beast coming to attack him. Marcellus was usually right but this time it seemed that he was lucky and that nothing was going to happen to him. Unfortunately, he was right. A small lion with silver fur jumped at him out of the bushes and bit his arm. However, because it jumped and Marcellus moved sideways to dodge following the momentum of the lion so it didn''t do much damage.


    Looking at the small scratch on his left arm Marcellus clenched his sword, waiting for the beast to attack again. Not knowing his intentions the beast lunged at him again, Marcellus not being able to keep up with the speed of the beast blindly spun to the right while swinging his sword, slashing its stomach with a shallow cut.


    This time Marcellus didn''t want to give it a chance to recover and dashed at it. The lion swung its claws at the incoming Marcellus who was taken by surprise, lifting his left arm to block the claws. Since it was young it was not strong enough to cut off his arm but it did expose his bone.


    Marcellus fell down breathing harder and harder. He was losing blood and time. He needed to get out of the forest before he died of blood loss. He plunged his sword into the already open gut of the lion which was above him, having knocked him down. The lion wailed in pain for a second before it collapsed.


    Marcellus threw up immediately, even though it was an animal he had never taken a life before and he considered animal lives as important too. He started crying while vomiting, after a few more moments he stood up and sheathed his sword barely staying conscious from the physical and mental pain.


    He stayed over the lion crying and patting it for a few more seconds before checking his shoulder and saw that the monkey was no longer there but a second later reappeared from a bush. As he was about to leave with Alyssa he heard an angry low growl behind him and he turned to see what seemed to be a larger version of the lion he just killed. His body was screaming for him to run but he couldn''t move.

 4 Chapter 4

    Holding his bloody left arm with his right he stared into its eyes. A slight shiver went down his spine as he stared and stared. He waited and he saw the beast''s eyes slightly deter from him so he turned as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, that was not enough, the beast''s claw pierced all the way through his stomach and to the other side. His vision was going black but the beast defenses were now lowered so Marcellus had a chance to attack. He quickly unsheathed the sword and stabbed the beast right in the jaw. Underneath the beasts jaw, there was no silver fur and so the beast was then easily killed. The second Marcellus saw the beast collapse his eyes closed.


    His back hurt, his stomach hurt, his arm hurt, his head hurt. He was in terrible pain but still managed to wake up. He was laying on the forest floor facing the blue sky. Remembering that when he had encountered the beast it was still late he assumed that he fell asleep in order to recover.


    Looking at his wounds he noticed that they had been wrapped up and cleaned by his ripped up shirt. Next to him was a small stone bowl filled with water, he was surprised that Alyssa was sitting next to him waiting for him to wake up. He patted her on the head and said, "Thank you." He lay there with Alyssa sitting next to him thinking how lucky he was. He coughed suddenly disrupting the peace, he reached for the bowl and drank it down.


    Sitting peacefully for a while longer watching the clouds he then thought to himself ''What happened to the beasts?'' He slowly got up thinking that it would hurt a lot as it did before but it didn''t. His stomach still hurt but his arm felt perfectly fine. He quickly unwrapped the makeshift bandages from his arm and saw the little pieces of dust from the ground were curling up towards his arm stopping the blood from exiting and allowing him to move without irritating his wounds but he was not getting healed.


    The dust was acting more like a pain killer than anything else. Alyssa came over to him and pushed him back down to rest while the dust-covered his wounds. After the dust finished its job he got up painfully and looked around him. He was neer the cave where Alyssa was from. Inside the cave were resting the bodies of the two beasts.


    Seeing that both the mother and son were lying dead side by side made him extremely sad knowing that it was his fault. He limped towards them and cried once again apologizing for taking their lives to prolong his own. He then thanked him for allowing him to get stronger at their expense, taking their beast cores knowing that he needed them if he was going to get stronger.


    He was guessing that the cub was a level one ranked beast whereas the mother was probably a level two. Their cores would definitely help with his cultivation. Now that he was relaxing and not pressed for time he decided to look and see what exactly this treasure that the elemental had given him was. He pulled out the rock and played with it but it looked just like a normal rock. To any cultivator on the other, the aura coming off the rock could clearly be seen.


    He put the rock back in his pocket and wondered what exactly he had to do in order to cultivate the cores. He had never cultivated before and had no idea how to. When he got back to the city he realized that he needed to return to the mercenary association to read up on treasures and cultivation.


    He placed the cores and the treasure next to him and lay down on a comfortable patch of moss growing in a small spot in the cave. It was soft and Alyssa lay down next to him. He was tired from the fighting and the loss of blood so he fell asleep very quickly.


    Another day passed very quickly and when Marcellus woke up it was the morning of the next day. He checked his wounds to see if there was any improvement in his condition but he was surprised to see that they were completely gone. He patted himself down but felt no pain then he noticed a small image on the left side of his chest that resembled the earth treasure he had been given. He looked behind him and noticed that both cores along with the treasure were gone.


    ''What is going on?'' he asked himself. He heard a voice from a shadowed part of the cave. "Usually the treasure allows for someone to gain a higher understanding of an aura from cultivating close to it but I''ve never seen one get absorbed before," said the elemental. He then realized the energy in the air surrounding him and inside him, it was like a sixth sense. "Is this energy I feel mana?" he asked the elemental.


    "I assume it is," he replied bluntly. Marcellus felt that the mana in the cave was very dense and that further in it was even more so. "Was the treasure not supposed to be absorbed?" he asked the elemental curiously. "As I said, I have given treasures to humans before but none of them have been absorbed before as yours was," he replied thinking to himself.


    "Do you know what stage of cultivation I am in?" Marcellus asked, looking at him. "You seem to be an early second level cultivator but your aura feels like that of an earth elementals," he said a little more agitated like he couldn''t figure something out. "Take the mana inside your body and make it flow through you reinforcing your body and then push it out of your magic circuits, I would like to see the result," he said to Marcellus.


    Doing as he was told he let it circulate around his body and he felt a sudden boost of power, he felt stronger. The elemental stood up and shot a piece of rock at him from the ground which hit him in the chest. He tried to dodge but was not prepared as he had almost zero combat experience. Where he expected blood to flow was only a small scratch on his chest that seemed to be made of stone.


    Quickly he let his mana leave outside his body, controlling it into the surrounding earth. He found it was surprisingly easy to control the earth around him and change it. The more earth he tried to move and the more the change in shape the harder it was to control. For now, he could make a wall and a few spikes nothing much.


    Suddenly the elemental spoke up, "When humans cultivate their body, it reinforces what is already there but yours change elements. Not only that but mana that exits the body can be used to control the elements like you just did, however, please try to create your own earth based on your understanding."


    Marcellus tried and found that he could but it took a lot more mana and he could only make a head-sized rock. "You are an elemental but that is impossible because you are a human so that is impossible, our life is generated from pure elements whereas you are organic beings that can live without magic," he shook his head.


    Marcellus thought back to the time when he stole the orb from the old man in the street and how it disappeared. He quickly checked the spot on his chest where the rock image was. Sure enough, there was an infinite loop signaling infinity so Marcellus guessed it was the time symbol but the rock was gone. He tried using the earth mana again and it worked. ''Time,'' Marcellus thought, he let his mana flow through him again but this time there was no change to his body.


    It took him a moment to realize but his thought was accelerated and he could move faster. He ran back and forth twice before he had to stop to save a bit of mana for the next experiment. He pushed the time mana out of his body and into the surroundings.


    "Shoot another spike at me, but at my leg this time," Marcellus said to the elemental. A small spike flew at his leg and easily penetrated it, but before anyone could move time went back two seconds to right before the spike was thrown at Marcellus. The elemental didn''t know that anything happened but Marcellus still remembered. He tried to do it again but because of his low understanding, he couldn''t do it again. ''It must have been a low-level treasure,'' he thought.


    "Wait, stop!" he tried to say before the spike left the elemental but he was too late and so he just turned his body to stone to deflect the spike and he did it quite easily. "What was that about?" questioned the elemental. "Nothing, just testing something," he replied. Then he realized that he had just manipulated time, but according to what the elemental had just said about making his own elements, theoretically, he could create his own time.


    He made his mana into time mana and tried to gather it to form the element but it was far too difficult and he couldn''t even gather even a bit of the mana. "How do I cultivate to improve my mana?" he asked the elemental. "Elementals don''t really cultivate, we just absorb the surrounding mana matching our element," he replied nonchalantly.


    Marcellus sat down and tried to bring the mana into his body. It flowed in steadily but suddenly he felt like he was going to be sick. He threw up as the mana he had gathered burst out of his body. He threw up again and this time there was blood in it. The elemental rushed over with the bowl of water and let him drink some. "Thanks," he said weakly, still feeling nauseous.


    He followed up by saying, "I don''t think that is how humans should cultivate." He and the elemental looked at each other for a second before chuckling. The elemental pulled him up off of the ground and patted his shoulder. At that moment Alyssa returned with another similar bowl filled with water. Marcellus took a few sips before placing it on the ground.


    "As I said I am very old and have met quite a few humans, would you like to learn some sword skills?" the elemental asked Marcellus proudly. "Of course," Marcellus enthusiastically replied. He rushed over to the beast that he killed before and pulled his sword out while the elemental made one of stone.


    The elemental then proceeded to teach him different kinds of footwork and sword techniques. Marcellus was a quick learner but not that quick. After about an hour he hadn''t even learned a single skill. "This is impossible," he shouted frustrated falling down for the one-hundredth time. "Get up and pay more attention, it''s like you aren''t even watching me!" roared back the elemental with even more irritation.


    For hours Marcellus fought with the elemental slowly getting better and better while Alyssa disappeared to absorb as much energy as possible before they would leave the caves. A week passed and while Marcellus could not master the skills he at least understood their basics so that he could fight and practice on his own time.


    The elemental went into the cave and came out with its daughter on his back. As soon as he got close to Marcellus Alyssa jumped onto his shoulder. Marcellus hugged the elemental goodbye and headed back to the town that he had left for over a week. He was ready to enter the city as a cultivator.


    They walked and walked without any problems and managed to reach the edge of the forest at midday. Alyssa was nervous about city life and was squirming on Marcellus'' shoulder. He pat her on the head and said "Let''s go."