"Hm...where am I?", Max mumbled as he woke up.

It took him a while to realise everything that had occurred. He didn't feel any difference with his body though.

Max stood up and stretched his body. There wasn't any pain or aching which he expected.

Max released a deep breath as he looked at the white fog behind before moving towards the entrance of the cave.

As Max dashed, he realised that he was slower. His speed had dropped to the peak stage of low level Mage.

"Agility was one of my strong points. If it has dropped till this level, the rest of my stats should have dropped lower than this.", Max murmured.

'So this what I am without the system. If I activate my element, I could possibly fight a Mid level Mage with my heightened senses and flying ability.'

When Max got out of the cave, it was already noon. The sun was over his head.

Max tested his strength and all the skills.

"My guess was correct. My physical ability had dropped to Low level Mage. But the enhancement from my element let's me go beyond my limit by one or two minor stages. I will have to fight to confirm it myself. As for my skills, the one which I used a lot can be imitated more perfectly. While the one used less….I can't remember them. The last, my gene abilities. My hearing is still enhanced as for my elemental abilities. They seemed to be a bit too dependent on the system. I can't control them well."

This was Max's current situation and in reality, it would have been a lot worse if Max didn't form the spirit bond and also have the breakthrough last night by absorbing the beast cores.

Max closed his eyes and entered his spirit world. He really wanted to see it for himself. Until now, he had just been following the system's lead to absorb the flow energy.

Max moved towards the pile of stuff which he had stored in the inventory. It has all been dumped around here. There wasn't much except for food, clothing and some basic survival stuff like ropes, a simple first aid box, etc. which he had prepared for his trip.

Max pulled his sleeves and segregated all the items and while doing so, he found out what he was looking for.

Beside all the items, there was a thick earth tablet connected to the ground. There were some words written on the tablet.

"Ancient Manual"

"First Layer: Refining the will"

" I have suffered a thousand defeats. But it isn't the end. I am weak but it isn't the end. Nothing is decided, I will change everything with my will. Even if it's fate.

— Arkansas, the First Human God "

Max read the lines and could feel a terrifying determination and might from it.

Max touched the tablet and felt a weak stream of Flow energy flowing in his body through the tablet.

The energy didn't dissipate but completed a circle around Max's body. Max was familiar with this circulation process, he had been doing this the entire time with the system's help. But now, it felt different. It was hard to describe but it felt more lifelike.

Max got up from his spot and saw Sera standing in front of him. He just smiled and asked her to play around before getting out.

" I have got an idea. Let's see if it works or not.", Max murmured to himself.

He knew that he couldn't sense the Flow energy for too long. It was maybe due to his mental strength which wasn't strong enough. But if he wasn't wrong, there should be another way.

'Will...battles...fate....those words should have much more meaning…'

Max took out the corpse of one of the Skull spiders which he had stored for food. There weren't many consumable parts on the body of this beast. But it had one striking feature.

Sharp leg bones….

Max tore its leg and took it out. He didn't have any weapon. If he wanted to make one, he would need to gather some materials first.

…..

"Eastern part is too dangerous….west has beasts with stronger outer shells. I can only go in the north."

Max moved and very soon, he saw a group of a Zapped Hyenas, a bunch of low level ferocious beasts. But, there were more than 12 of them. It could be dangerous.

But Max transformed with his wings out and just dove in without a care.

The first hyena didn't even know how it died. Max just flew straight into the group and pierced its head with the bone of the skull spider.

" Awooo!!"

The rests of the beasts were alerted and the one nearby immediately lunged towards Max.

Max tried to pull the bone out. But it was stuck. With his senses heightened Max could clearly tell that if he insisted on pulling the thing out, he would probably die here. He immediately let go of the bone and flapped his wings once, using that momentum to do a summersault and get out of the encasement.

The beasts snarled before pouncing towards Max.

Max looked at the incoming beasts and took a step forward before smashing his fist straight into the beast's jaw with all his force.

"Bang!"

The beast howled as blood flew out of its mouth. But before it could do anything, Max held its mouth and forcefully split it apart.

"Splash!"

Max felt the warm blood of the beast onto his body. It was heating his body too. Max seemed to remember the feeling he had during the «Bloodlust».

'It's similar to it. But this time, I am not under influence. It's my own will.'

The moment Max realised it, he felt it. He for sure felt it. It was only for a second but he was sure.

"Flow energy….Flow refers to fate..that's what the system once told...if I refuse to comply with my fate* and carve a path with my own will. I can resonate with this energy even without any help….that's the essence of the first layer."

_____

* Fate here means the fate of the primal humans to be the lowest in food chain in this dimension. That is what I am using in this novel....I wrote it here so no one gets confused.