“What the fuck? Demon? Abilities? Mana? And the other races see me as their enemy?”

Aren had too many questions, but no way to answer them. He could tell this wasn’t a dream, so all he could do was accept that this was really happening. Before he could start thinking about it, however, he finally noticed how the world had changed.

Standing up and looking around, he found that the hotel he was standing on was the only building as far as he could see. Massive trees surrounded it on all sides, their tops almost coming up to the roof. Thick vines grew all throughout the building, fully integrating it into nature.

All the colors seemed very vibrant compared to previously, and the air seemed to be the freshest that could possibly exist. Breathing the old air was like breathing thick dust compared to this.

Everything was covered in morning dew, and Aren estimated that he had been unconscious for about 12 hours as the sun was just coming up.

Then, he noticed his own body. Running over to an old mirror leaned against a wall, he saw his full transformation.

His skin was now a very light purple, and his hair had turned into a complete pitch black, reaching below the small of his back. Jutting out and curving up from the sides of his head were two horns. They were like black holes, seeming to completely absorb the light and reflecting zero percent of it.

Aren’s height had gone from 6’1 to now at least 6’5. His weight had also increased, but he was still slim and muscular. Although it didn’t seem as though he had gained any muscle mass, he felt many times more powerful.

Besides his height, skin tone, and horns, his appearance was the same as before. He would still be identifiable as the same person. 

Aren quickly adapted to and fully accepted his new situation, deciding to test these ‘abilities’ after he had explored his surroundings. However, just as he started walking through the door, a shadow consumed him. Snapping his head back to look behind him, he saw a terrifying sight.

A huge humanoid being made of what looked like roots was looking down on him!

Its enormous hand was level with the roof. It had 5 razor-sharp fingers, made up of roots twisting around each other. Its color was a dark gray, with strange red lines running all throughout it. It had no mouth or nose, just two glowing red orbs of mist giving it vision.

Looking into the monster’s eyes, Aren felt a paralyzing fear. He could not move or breathe, and it was like there was a mountain crashing down onto him, trying to make him crumple to the ground.

The being drew its arm back and swung forward in a sweeping motion as if to slap the building into oblivion. Only at the last moment did Aren raise and cross his arms, praying that the high defense attribute of the demon race would save him.

BOOOOM!

The swing annihilated the building, turning it to dust and rubble. Aren felt intense pain, his bones on the cusp of shattering. His body broke the sound barrier, traveling several miles before slamming into a tree.

“UGH!”

The impact tilted the tree, spraying bark out and partially uprooting it. He fell to the ground, rolling in pain. Thankfully, the strong body of a demon protected him and the extent of his injuries was a bloody nose and heavy bruising. Had it been Aren’s original body, there would be nothing but a red mist atop the hotel.

After laying on the ground for a while, the pain mostly subsided and Aren got to his feet, observing the surroundings. He was somewhere in a forest, each of the trees at least 50 feet tall. The forest floor was covered in tall grass that reached up to Aren’s waist.

With his heightened senses thanks to being a demon, he could faintly hear the sound of water. Walking for a couple of minutes, he was pleasantly surprised to come upon a small, slow-moving stream.

Having not bathed in years, Aren practically dove into the water, the coolness of it and the feeling of dirt being washed away was possibly the best feeling he had ever felt. Drinking the water seemed to be able to restore his energy fully. Like that, he spent a few more hours relaxing and washing in the water before climbing out.

After air-drying his body and pants, Aren decided to finally attempt these ‘abilities’ he supposedly had.

Deciding to first just see how his strength had improved, he walked over to a nearby tree and placed a palm on it. He assumed the ‘Pinnacle Strength’ attribute meant his strength would be the most powerful out of all his attributes. 

Moving his hand just a foot away from the tree trunk, Aren used about 30% of the strength he could to basically just shove the tree.

KRRR

BOOM!

A large hole suddenly appeared in the tree, nearly splitting it. The trunk could no longer hold the weight, and the entire tree collapsed, falling away from Aren.

He was shocked. If that was what a simple, not even full power push could do, then what destruction would be caused from a full power punch using Gravity and his Infernal Aura?