Alex woke with the rising sun. Suprisingly he slept through most of the night. Still he didn't feel rested. An inner tension kept him from a deep sleep.

His subconcious mind was wide awake, listening to every sound, always ready to bolt up and defend itself.

But Alex had no choice. It was time to get up, train, hunt for food '...and earn levels to become stronger, ' the youth thought.

He climbed down the tree and streched the kinks from his back. 'I am not even that old yet,' he whined. But one night in a tree and not on his comfortable foam matress did that to ones body.

After a refreshing stop at the little brook, Alex rebuild his training contraption, keeping to his strange workout.

He switched between stabbing with his spear to acrobatic dances with the dagger. Letting it drop from one hand, summoning the shadow weapon with the other.

Alex even tried throwing both weapons, but the real one never landed the way it should and his shadow dagger dematerialized when it was about half a meter away.

Then the teenager had an idea. He couldn't change the balance point of his real knife. But if he could train the distance of dematerialization, he would possibly gain a valuable tool.

The shadowdagger still wasn't a throwing knife, but as it was more or less weightless, it couldn't pivot about, messing up his throw.

'Of course I need to first test it's penetration when thrown. It would be useless if I can't put enough strength behind it.' So Alex positioned himself in front of a tree and tried different throwing techniques.

Sometimes its butt hit the trunk, and others, if he was lucky, the tip. Soon the teenager concluded his test. It was successful. And on particular good throws, it nearly went full in.

'Now I need to find out if I can train the dematerialization...' Alex picked up a small branch, measured how far the dagger could get and tried to increase the distance with each throw.

On the second to last, he thought he was succesful, but the teenager wasn't sure and he didn't want to waste more Magicka. He still had to check the tree from last night.

So, after a quick wash up, Alex left for the burned tree. That early, the forest was quite picturesque. A few tendrils of mist were questing around the forest floor and the morning sun lanced through the trees enligthening their beauty.

But the teenager couldn't forget that beauty often walked hand in hand with danger. Especially in this new world.

Not always was he the one in danger, as two tired birds and a huge mouse, at least as big as his foot, donated their essence to his cause.

'I wonder how animals gain their essence. Do they also get it through hunting? Do they even get essence?' But idle thoughts, at least here in the wilderness were dangerous and he quickly forgot them and concentrated on his earnings.

By 250 unrefined essence and a couple of coins richer, Alex tried to increase his skills in preparing the kills.

He didn't touch the mouse as it didn't look edible and was probably even less useful for crafting. But he emptied the birds of their innards and bled them dry.

'Should I try to roast them later? I still have to get the feathers out, but if I clean them, they should be good for supper.'

They may have looked a bit rough, but food was food. And with that thought, the boy put them on the next tree, so they weren't that easy to steal, noted the spot and marched on.

Soon Alex found the place where lightning had hit the tree. It was shattered and burned. The trunk nearly completely gone, with only a small stump left.

The crown, if you could still call the lose assortium of broken branches and burned leaves that, lay dozens of meters away. Alex was awed by the power of nature.

'Just one bolt did that. Could I one day be that powerful? Shatter trees with one blow?'

Alex dreamt about that and nearly missed the flashing light hidden underneath the biggest root. He knelt beside it and dug with his dagger around.

A minute later he had freed the small twinkling pebble. Carefully, Alex picked it up and a messaged popped into view.

Congratulation, you have found: Seed of Lightning (E).

Error: Seed of Lightning (E) is incompatible. Seed of Shadow (M) already in use. No catalyst found.

'Oh damn...a new, and epic seed! I need to hide it, Jones mustn't ever find it.'

Alex cursed his good luck. Of course he'd find a seed for Lin or Janina as soon as he couldn't easily get it to them. He erstwhile put it in his pocket, determined to find the ideal hiding place.

Soon he left the field of destruction, sure he wouldn't find anything better than an epic seed. The youth thought about finding more prey. The 250 essence probably wouldn't give him enough for a new level and refining tidbits was growing tedious.

Alex crept through the forest. His [Muffled] steps letting him get to the ideal distance for an ambush. The small mountain Lion, or maybe a really big cat, felt safe in their power. While the teenager sneaked ever closer.

Suddenly the cat raised their head. Alex immediately stood still and cast [Shadowcloak]. The wavering shadows embraced him, hopefully keeping him from watchful eyes.

The cat, none the wiser, laid back down. The sun shining down its pelt, just to sweet to get up and have a look around. It couldn't know that that moment of laziness would become its undoing.

Alex jumped out of the shadows, spear held high and cast [Eviscerate], just as its tip penetrated the snoozing cat. Roughly awakened, the big animal yowled and tried to turn to its attacker. But either through luck or a critical hit with his Skill, Alex had severed the spine of his foe.

The cat tried to fend off its attacker, but its grace, speed and power was robbed by one lucky hit. Alex easily whittled down the poor animal, as it continued to yowl and cry, and soon a new message informed him of his victory.

You have slain: Puma (Lvl 7).

You have earned: 700 unrefined essence.

You have earned: 14 coins.

Alex pumped his fist in elation. 'Jackpot! A few more of them and I'll quickly get to Jones' level.'

But then he saw the cats level and blanched. If he hadn't gotten its spine, it could have made minced meat out of him. And the youth wasn't sure he could run away from the swift puma. 'It wasn't that big, how could it be level 7!?'

Alex cursed the systems arbitrarity. It shouldn't switch from gigantic rats to small mountain lions double their level. Was that why he hadn't seen enormous beetles or ants yet? Was there not some power and size correlation? But Gatex wasn't anywhere near to pester with those questions and Alex had to remember them for the next time he'd see the faun.

Loud cracking jolted the youth up. He had examined the cat, trying to find the best way to get its pelt. Something was coming. Something big and heavy. Alex looked around and found his target.

A tree with branches low enough to quickly climb it. The teenager jumped and was, seconds later, looking out from high up. He watched from where the sounds were coming from, but couldn't make out anything through the dense foliage.

A short time later, he could see the origin of the loud cracking. A gigantic bear was trundling through the forest. Small trees were bending, bigger trees breaking, to make way for this king of the forest.

Alex' face fell. The bear was just a dozen meters away. He couldn't get down and away in time. The animal would see him and that would be it. A swipe from those enormous paws would spell a quick but painful end.

Soon enough it was sniffling the pumas corpse. Its huge tongue was licking the blood and its claws dismantling the body. The bear was feasting on Alex' prey, but as long as it was distracted, the youth could sneak away.

He shifted his weight, preparing to climb down the tree, but the branch creaked and while the bear wasn't eating silently, the sound was enough to make it stop. And while [Muffled] should have worked, the tree was probably too big for the Skill.

Alex stood still. His shadow already cloaking him. 'It was just the wind...continue your meal.' The teenager sang in his mind. But he had no Skill to influence the bear. But his hopes where smashed. The bear was curious, it had heard something that shouldn't be in its forest.

Slowly it rose its head and sniffed the air. A smell it couldn't identify. So it followed the smell. His previous meal entirely forgotten, but why should it care. Nothing would dare to steal from it. Suddenly it got a scent.

Alex couldn't move. The bear was tasting the air, probably searching for him. In a hunch, he jumped down the tree. It hurt. A lot. A human definetly wasn't build for those heights, but needs must. As soon as he hit the ground, he cast his [shadowclone]s.

The bear fixated its gaze on him, but the clones sucessfully distracted it. Alex commandeered one clone to rush the bear and one to rush right the other way. The teenager dodged to the side and tried to lose the animal in the undergrowth.

A huge swipe wiped out the first clone. It may have bought just mere seconds. Then the other one got the bears attention. Alex couldn't see it, but he was sure to have felt the animals charge. He grinned in victory. He could get away.

But the teenager severly misjudged the animals power. It overran the second clone and suddenly Alex stood alone against that monster. His [shadowcloak] worked overtime and he ducked down into the shrubbery. With every fiber of his being he hoped to evade the beasts lethal attention, but the teenager was out of luck.

The monster couldn't see its prey, but he had its scent and after some confusing moments and some shadowy distraction, it found it again and followed it keenly.

Alex ran through the forest, the hot breath of his foe always at his neck. He didn't dare to turn around. Those seconds could spell his end. But he heard it snuffling and Alex' fears and fantasy ran amok. Every moment of that chase were horror for the teenager. His enhanced Dexterity helped him through the bushes, but it didn't make him impervious against the brambles and thorns.

His clothes were torn to bits, his arms, legs and torso punctured and more than one thorn played for keeps and stayed in the youths flesh. The bears job was made easy. The scent from earlier switched from somewhat faint to a deep irony one of blood.

Alex was nearly at the forests outskirts, a few miles east of the orphans camp. He may not like Jones and his goons, but still, his two best and only friends were also living there and they wouldn't live through the beasts rampage.

So, against better judgement, Alex led the animal away from the safety of the camp.