The gentle rustling of branches overhead, quiet chirping of birds and the cries of small animals was peaceful, relaxing. Except for the large pack of wolves that were stalking Jake as he wandered through the woods, smoking a cigarette.

He took a drag, and exhaled slowly. “Alright, let’s try this out.” He flicked the butt into the grass, and concentrated. Purple flames began surrounding his hands, growing slowly at first before raging into a controlled inferno. He focused on the part of his mind attuned to the Dark, finding the small feeling of death coming from the beasts. He had found that if something had killed a being within the day, he could sense the Death rolling off of it. He spun around to the wolf that was just starting to rush out of the underbrush, and thrust his left hand forward. Flames that seemed to absorb the light around them roared forward, slamming into the wolf as it leaped and throwing it back out of sight. Smoke began wafting upward, along with the smell of blackened meat.

He twisted his hand, coiling the torrent of flames into a ball in his hands. Nonchalantly, he threw the ball towards the largest group of wolves. The wolf dodged, but Jake clenched his fist as the orb passed next to it. The fireball collapsed within itself, then violently bursting outwards. The sounds of the forest had died down since the first attack, and all that Jake heard was the sound of burning trees, grass and wolves.

Jake could sense the wolves retreating, except for one wolf, larger than the others, that stared at him with cold and calculating eyes. Eyes that reflected intelligence instead of the constant hunger of a beast. The wolf blinked, then began walking away without turning back.

Jake sighed, grabbing another smoke to help regenerate his mana. “Well, that went a little better than expected. Those fucking puppers have been following me for a while now.” He extinguished the flames licking around his hands, and went to see if any of the meat would be salvageable. It was, if you enjoyed eating charred steak. Jake, sadly, did not.

Shrugging, Jake continued his walk, going over the notifications from his most recent scuffle.

You have slain Lvl 3 Savage Wolf. Experience added You have slain Lvl 3 Savage Wolf. Experience added You have slain Lvl 5 Savage Wolf. Experience added Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 2. Int +1, Wis +1. 1 Attribute point ready for distribution You have slain Lvl 3 Savage Wolf. Experience added.

Not bad. I should add that to either End or Vit, since I’m getting free points for my main attributes anyways. He threw the point into Vit, increasing his health by 10. Giggles really boosted me up with this blessing. If you only get one point per level, then as a level one I had the stats of a level 20. And each level would be the equivalent of 3 levels due to the bonuses. He took another drag, getting lost in the feeling. After he finished, he browsed through the spells that he had created.

New Spell Created: Scent of Death You can now 'smell' death on things now. If you're into Necrophilia, this would be perfect for you Mana Use: N/A (Passive) New Spell Created: Flame Surge You’re now a living flamethrower. Don’t you just love the smell of napalm in the morning? Mana Use: 10 m/s New Spell Created: Fire Ball You now have the generic fantasy magical spell. Good for you. Mana Use: 25 m/s of charge

“What’s up with these sarcastic as fuck descriptions? It’s almost as if some loli-goddess is in charge of these, and gets really bored.”

Hey! I work hard on getting the right amount of sass per message! And all you’ve done is run around and play with fire. Why don’t you use your different affinities?

“I’m working on it. I might have a few ideas, but I wanted to work on Fire at first. The pyromaniac in me was just a little excited at the chance to be, as you call it, a ‘living flame-thrower’.” He waved away the message and began to wander again, focusing on that small part of his brain that the [Scent of Death] spell was running from.

After about an hour, he ran across a deer in a glade. The deer was staring in his direction, the small antlers on its head showing it was still young. As it saw him through the brush, it burst into motion, bounding away from Jake. He quickly grabbed onto the shadows around him, and thrust his right hand towards the deer, bringing forth an image from one of his favorite authors. Tendrils of shadow burst from around the glade, converging on the dear like some fucked up Japanese porn video. The deer was ‘penetrated’ from all sides, the shadows not making a single mark on its flank, and also wrapped around the squirming beast. He gestured upwards, and the buck was dragged into the air, unable to move. It’s screams were quickly cut off as Jake sent a blade of air through its neck, decapitating the poor beast. “So, Dark is mostly based around control, and Air is just highly pressurized air. I can work with that.” He pulled the deer carcass towards him, and flipped it in the air, allowing the blood to drain from the body. “I guess I can set up here for the night. It’s getting a little dark, and night falls quickly in forests… At least that’s what I think happens.”

Jake walked around the glade, gathering dropped twigs and branches, and occasionally cutting larger branches off of trees with his new spell. Speaking of…

New Spell Created: Grasping Shadows I was thinking of calling this one [Grasp of the Void], but I think it’s a little too early to bring in the title. Anyways, enjoy your fetishes! Mana Use: 1 m/s (per tendril) New Spell Created: Air Blade You have brought forth one of the most overused spells for an Air mage. I hope you're proud of yourself for this huge achievement. Mana Usage: 15 m/s of charge

Jake shrugs, not paying attention to the descriptions this time. He began building a small fire, laying the larger logs aside for now. He checked his inventory, going through what Lilith had given him, besides the things he needed to function such as his cigarettes. Thinking this, he grabbed another smoke and lit up, then grabbed the basic knife that was added in, more than likely as an afterthought.

Basic Iron Skinning Knife A knife for skinning.

He snorted at the small description, and took a quick look at himself in the reflection. Hazel eyes stared back, but he knew that they can change color depending on what he wears, to either a very light green or light blue. Medium length blonde hair, dark enough to be considered brown in the right lighting. A five o’clock shadow was just peaking out of his cheekbones, leading to a pronounced chin. “Well, at least she didn’t change my appearance.” He looked down at his body. “Possibly made me more fit. I was a little bit thicker, I think.” He poked his stomach, feeling hard muscles underneath his shirt. Frowning, he lifted it up and saw a decently defined six-pack. “Yea, definitely didn’t have that before.” He shrugged, and went back to skinning the deer.

A few hours later, Jake sat in front of a small camp fire, roasting a piece of venison. He maneuvered it slowly above the fire with his [Grasping Shadows], becoming more familiar with his magic. A slight rustle alerted him to something approaching the clearing. Alert, Jake attempted to sense anything with [Scent of Death]. Instead of finding the source of the sound, his senses are assaulted by the scent of the buck he had just butchered, and he was unable to sense anything else. “Fuck.” He threw the cooking meat on a spit next to the fire, grabbing a cigarette from his inventory and quickly lit up, attempting to regain as much mana as possible. Standing, he began to scan around the clearing, looking for reflecting eyes or anything else to help him pinpoint whatever is stalking him.

He slowly spun around, trying to keep his back to the fire in an attempt to regain his night vision. A twig snaps somewhere to his right, followed by some more rustling. He raises his hand in the direction, still checking for other sounds around him. Out of the corner of his eye to his left, he notices a creature slink into the clearing, aiming for the deer. He grabs onto the darkness, but before he can act something slams into his back.

Unable to stop himself, he fell to the ground while something tore into his right shoulder with either teeth or claws. Jake screamed, unable to think straight to fight off the attacker. White light appeared to his left, and a bolt of cold passed over him. The pain left his back with a yelp, and Jake scrambled quickly to his feet, holding his wounded arm. He turns around, and sees the large wolf from before, chasing after some small creature around the clearing. A small shard of ice is lodged into it’s flank, barely slowing the large predator. The wolf lunged, grabbing onto the small beast and beginning to shake it violently. Shadows erupted from underneath the wolf, locking its muscles up and thrusting it into the air. The small creature fell limply from the wolfs jaws, and didn’t move.

But Jake didn’t care. He was furious. “I let you walk away once. I thought you were smarter than some average beast. But I guess your greed got the better of you.” Black flames lapping up his arms, streams of shadow circling around his body, writhing like snakes. He looks at the wolf with cold eyes, eyes without any emotion besides rage reflecting in them. “Die.” More tendrils burst from the shadows, black flames racing along them. They slammed into the wolf, burning through the body and cauterizing the wounds instantly. Jake thrust his hand down, slamming the wolf into the ground. He conjured a large fire ball, and slowly walked up to the stunned wolf, pouring more and more mana into the spell. Stopping in front of the wolf, he stared into its eyes. The intelligence was gone, replaced by fear, pain and hunger. Jake said nothing, contorting the fire ball into a lance of black flame, only small amounts of purple could be seen around the outside. He slammed the lance into the wolf. Its insides turned into ashes instantly, and soon all that was left of the alpha wolf was a pile of blackened and cracked bones.

Jake winced at the pain in his arm, and grabbed a new cigarette from his case. “Fucking pooch made me drop my smoke.”