1 Hour Earlier

The sky was grey as the clouds lightly drizzled rain upon the now slick and muddy earth.

The pouring rain had come and gone some hours ago. The temperture was near freezing in this small corner of the forest.

Elder Oak and Pine trees stood tall and proud having weathered the course of time.

In a moment the world shifted as if a filter had suddenly been removed, or added.

The world was brought into focus and the unseen was made seen.

The sky burned with briliant lights of every color. The manasphere was forming upon the earth.

From the trees thin bands of soft light flowed upward into the sky like inversed waterfalls. Each slowly disapating into the atmosphere as they ascended.

Save for two trees on the outscurts of a small clearing.

This Elder Pine and Oak stood side by side giving no mana back to the world.

Their leaves were a withered brown. Even the normally vibrant green of the Evergreen Pine seemed to have been sucked away.

From the cold, muddy earth something shifted as light and dark mingled.

Slowly the earth raised at the place between the two tree's bases. A hand pushed up from the ground. Then another.

Then a head.

The figure pulled himself from the earth, shaking from the near freezing temperatures and the light rain.

A crack of lightning startled him as the shock of what was going on hit him.

"That son of a bitch shot me!" he exclaimed, As he franticly felt about his muddy and_ragged clothes?

He pondered for a moment why his clothes were but rags before dropping the matter and moving to more important things.

"Hello there." A voice spoke in his mind causing him to jump in surprise.

"AAAAHHHHH!" He yelled as he looked around for the source of the voice.

All seemed normal save for the singular pillar in the middle of the clearing, upon which an orb floated.

The orb, no larger than a grapefruit, gave no indication to its nature or that it had been the source of the voice from just a moment ago.

He slowly began to approach the pillar, using the rain to rinse a bit of the mud from his form.

"What the hell is this?" he asked as he waved his hand between the large floating orb and the pillar above which it hovered.

"I am your salvation." The voice spoke again in his mind causing him to leap back from the pillar.

"Is this how you show gratitude to your savior?" The voice asked incredulously.

"Are you..." he was about to ask a question but was cut off.

"Let's skip the chit chat and skip straight to the point of this conversation." the core spoke this time to the open air.

"O...k...?" The man replied hesitantly.

"I raised you so that I could have a master. Now may I have your name?"

'Master?' He thought confused for a moment before he responded.

"Its Nathan..." He said but paused as words began to fill his vision.

You are risen...

Though the cold embrace of death held you tight, here you are...

The man read the strange words in his vision before looking down to the a small puddle by the pillars base. There in his reflection he could see that something had changed.

'My eyes aren't green...'

Two elder trees have been sacrificed to affect your resurection...

Though their bodies have perished, their life now resides within you!...

Many Roads are now open to you!...

The world seemed to shift as he felt himself standing at the beginning of something great.

"Now then Nathan please touch me. Otherwise you will freeze to death." The core said blankly.

Wearily, but having little real choice he did so.

His eyes widened as another message arrived.

Welcome to the Upward Bound System!...

Congratulations! You have obtained the Rare Semi-Passive Skill, Eyes of Nature Lvl. 1...

Eyes of Nature- Your eye color changes with your mood. You are better able to identify natural things...

Congratulations! You have obtained the Rare class, Dungeon Master!...