Baam! chapter 7 here two day's early. :) rate & review please. oh yes also! some of you may think this charecter is op. i ask that you post your thoughts in the criticism thread so that i may put your worrys to rest :o keep in mind i plan to give a negative side to how he feed's. other then that enjoy ch 7!

:GG:

--------------

Avrin had spent a few hours practicing his so called magic. Over the course of time, he found little need to waste mana to manifest food, so he just devoured chunks of the nearby rock that he experimented on to quench his hunger and thirst. He didn’t know how it also quenched his thirst, but he theorized that objects alive and inanimate were made of particles that held them together and these particles were made up of a unique sort of mana that he could deconstruct and absorb into his body and somehow from there it would reconstruct into sustenance. It would just mean that he would never have to go hungry or thirsty again.

His progress had gone fairly well. He was practicing outside the shelter as proof of his training, though it had been short, he felt courageous enough to protect himself to some degree. He could now form void bolts in both his hands and fire them at will in quick succession or rapid fire. These bolts, though, were aimed towards the sky, as he did not want to leave Dark Waste, as he had dubbed it, around the area or on trees. He also managed to summon another void blade, although, when brought near each other they would meld together, as if trying to devour each other to become larger.

He figured that it would be possible to create a great sword and just pushed the thought of the combining weapons as something similar. His most significant progress that he focused towards was augmenting himself in his dark aura. He managed to engulf his entire hand in it and the difference was impressive. He was able to crush rocks with as much resistance as clasping his hand in water. The resistance was nearly non-existent. But engulfing his hand proved to show an interesting change.

The longer he let the aura cover his hand, the more it began to change into something non-humanoid. It didn’t hurt him at all, but he was cautious regarding the change. It seemed like it melded well with him and even enhanced him further the more it stayed on his hand, the stronger the augmentation became. But this wasn’t without negatives. He found his hand was subconsciously absorbing anything he touched, excluding himself. He figured that for it to hold its form it needed a great amount of dark matter.

He was currently allowing the two void blades to merge with each other, as he was now curious towards the result. unlike his first thoughts of it forming a two handed blade, they had formed a single long sword with two blades in a sort of two pronged fork that emitted black and purple electricity from between the two laser like blades. He figured it was a sort of enhancement in cutting power but was proven wrong.

When slashing to practice his new sword it released a wave of black lightning that scorched the ground while cutting across it. It seemed to continue on for a good 100 meters across the forest before stopping. This also left him panting and dizzy. It seemed he experienced his first case of backfire. He wasn’t used to the amount of dark matter the weapon consumed to use such an attack and it stung his body as if distorting it slightly. But he quickly began converting the ground for sustenance, which seemed to work like medicine.

"I’ll have to be careful. Although it will be good if I’m in a tight situation. It seems one shot is all I’m able to use. I wonder what else I’m capable of..."

Avrin finished speaking to himself and gazed around. Prior to his training, he had laid a new total of nine mines, all also marked. He was interested in the icicle rabbit that was still there, so he decided to try something different. He engulfed the ice spike in his aura and the blue ice began to turn purple, while the rabbit inside of it turned black. Before it began to disintegrate, the ash like energy was attracted towards Avrin's augmented hand like a sort of vacuum.

Avrin thought to himself, as he saw the difference in colour regarding the inanimate and organic object, but it was a thought that would be considered quite lucky to have come up with it. He headed over towards a large rose-like flower coming out of a bush and began to absorb it as well. It turned black too. He figured that the difference in colour for absorbing things was organic material would turn black and inorganic would be purple.

An hour later Avrin began to feel somewhat unbalanced until he realised. It seemed without even remembering it his augmented hand had grown three times in size and was somehow demonic as spikes came out from around it and his fingers were now razor sharp claws that appeared to be sharper then the void blades he had formed. He decided to cancel it out and his hand slowly began to disintegrate, as if using dark manifestation, until his normal hand was revealed underneath.

“I see. So its effects are indeed strengthened augmentation as well as changing the shape of the limb."

Avrin considered trialling a full body augmentation. He figured he spent six hours in total with a hand augmentation and he did not feel his body was exhausted. He also figured a full body augmentation would be significantly more beneficial, but for safety purposes, he headed towards his shelter and devoured the remaining boulder that was so unfortunate as to become his food.

He shut his eyes as he thought a sort of standing meditation-like pose would help him concentrate.

He pictured himself in a bubble that slowly began to grow smaller until it stuck to his body like glue. Every inch of his body in a weak augmentation, being sure not to make it as strong as what he used on his pinky. He was slowly but surely getting better with this ability what made him wonder even more so was that he had hardly failed when creating new abilities it seemed something was letting him adapt and quickly learn things he would have to find out later otherwise.

The black and purple aura slowly covered his body just like the ooze used to convert his human form to that of a spectral. It was transparent somewhat. It had taken a few seconds for it to completely engulf him and the effects were better than he had expected. He opened his eyes which now had a purple black glow and a purple smoke-like aura emitting from it. His skin was a sort of scaly metal black with a purple tint. His white clothing had become more of a purplish white. He clenched his hands feeling his grip much stronger then prior to the augmentation. He smirked.

"Enhanced strength..." he quickly dashed towards the exit and kicked up dust. The narrow entrance broke off easily as he stood outside and gazed back to see the rock crumbling slightly. “Enhanced speed.." he gazed around in the forest and at the sky he spotted two bird-like creatures deep in the night sky and in the forest he could see large and small creatures alike. Not only was his distance in field of vision increased, but he could see an aura emanating from these creatures. Some were green, some were red. The green ones were the small critters. The red ones seemed more hostile and predatorily.

He raised his hand and began to form a void blade. In a near instant, the weapon formed. It was much quicker than if he wasn’t in this aura engulfed state. It seemed the more he was attuned to it, the better he could manipulate it. The weapon also seemed to change. It had turned a deep black colour with purple edgings. He began slashing away. He wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship, any master would see he was an amateur, but to an untrained eye he was slashing in a near unseeable pace – like the wind.

When he was finished, the ground he practiced on was left with deep slashes across it – 26 in only a few seconds. Of course, he was careful to not hit the mines he had dug in.

"This will truly be something that will help." As he complimented himself, he turned and looked to the side to see a large, deep red aura a few meters away from him. This creature did well to make its presence unseen, but its blood lust was all but obvious to Avrin, who had felt it before, as well as the feeling of vengeance. But what caught Avrin's eye was the identical figures slowly appearing from behind the creature – a total of five.

The shape was obvious, the build even more so. It was the lion-like creature Avrin had been hunted by before. He had managed to wound it in the eye, but it seemed it went back to get help and return. Avrin was quite worried as he wasn’t sure how it would hold up against these creatures before he knew it as he took up a defensive stance. He noticed another blood lust and turned to his other side. This time it a foe who ran from him. It was the injured Hecate gorilla, but this time it seemed it had brought its whole group – a total of 15! They hung from the tree branches and made their way closer into view.

"Shit....just when I thought things couldn’t get worse." Avrin decided to conserve his energy and removed the aura from around his body. One might think it was a dangerous move, but instead of letting himself be hunted, he was hoping to make the best use out of his mines. He also didn’t want to have to rely on his augmentation ability. This body had potential to be godlike in his mind, so he wanted to work on his own physical prowess.

He gazed at both groups, who eyed him and even eyed each other, as some roared and some screeched trying to claim Avrin as their prey. "Caught between a rock and a hard place...but I’m sure I can manage." He gazed behind himself. He was three meters away from the shelter and nearly surrounded by mines. He grinned before bolting towards his shelter while the roars grew larger and the screeches came closer. The creatures of this forest had made their move...

---