Carth trekked through the woods in frustration. He had been walking for hours without any sign of prey. Was he doing something wrong? Suddenly Carth heard a loud thud and he jumped in fright. When Carth calmed down, he realized it was the sound of a large rock falling. He walked towards the fallen rock and sat down on it to rest. While Carth rested on the rock for around half an hour, a rabbit entered his vision. Carth’s eyes lit up in surprise which soon turned into excitement. Carth slowly stood up and tiptoed towards the rabbit, but the moment his foot came down, the rustling of fallen leaves could be heard. The rabbit instantly bolted away, leaving a distraught Carth in its trail.
Carth was beyond frustrated. After hours of searching, prey finally appeared, but the prey disappeared like it never existed in the first place. Carth quickly calmed down and went back to his rock. When he was just about to sit on it again, a light bulb went off in his head. The falling of the rock scared him and made him alert, and in comparison to the rabbit, the rustling of the leaves scared the rabbit and made it escape. If Carth wanted to catch prey, he would have to not make any noise
Carth stood still for a few minutes and did his best to erase his existence. His efforts were soon rewarded when another rabbit appeared in his sight. Carth’s eyes lit up with excitement once again but soon disappointment followed. Carth could see the prey but he had no way of reaching it without making noise. Maybe if I threw something at it?
Carth quietly picked up a surrounding pebble and launched it at the rabbit. As Carth was only 6 years old and had no developed muscles, the throw was quite weak and landed meters away from the rabbit. After hearing the pebble land, the second rabbit bolted away like the first. Carth heaved a heavy sigh. However, he did not give up and continued for the entire day.
The walk back to the camp was a long one. Carth’s arm was sore and his legs were tired from standing and walking all day. He was anxious about how he would be treated by the wolves after he returned with nothing.
By the time Carth reached the camp, all the wolves were back and the prey from today was in a pile located at the center of the camp.
Jasmine stood in front of the pile and when she saw Carth, she took a large deer from the pile. After Jasmine took her prey, a 1 meter tall wolf had its pick. After that, a smaller wolf, but still large nonetheless, took its prey. This continued until almost all the wolves took their choice of prey. However, by that time, there was nothing left. They had completely ignored Carth’s existence.
Growl. Carth’s stomach rumbled in hunger. It looks like he would go to sleep hungry again. Although Carth was used to it, it wasn’t something he enjoyed at all.
It didn’t take long for Carth to fall asleep as he was exhausted from today’s attempt at hunting. He would do better tomorrow was the last thing he remembered before he fell asleep.
Contrary to expectations, when Carth woke up, it was still nighttime. It looked like it wasn’t long after he fell asleep. Carth looked around and saw Jasmine standing at the same spot she stood last night. Carth understood why he had awoken.
Wolf and boy arrived at the beautiful pond. A blinding light surrounded Jasmine and she turned into a beautiful woman. “It looks like your hunt was unsuccessful.”
As if supporting Jasmine’s statement, Carth’s stomach growled. Carth sheepishly agreed.
“Maybe this will help.” Jasmine placed her hand on Carth’s chest before Carth was able to react. Her palm emitted a warm light and Carth felt the warmth travel through his body. From his chest to his head, torso, limbs, until every part of his body was covered. “This is called mana, the foundation of the world. Take this mana and make it yours. Integrate your body with it.”
Carth heard Jasmine's voice and did what he was told. The light seemed to be sucked into Carth’s body as it disappeared. A trace of shock appeared in Jasmine’s eyes before it quickly disappeared.
“Wow,” Carth said in an excited voice. “My body, I feel amazing!”
“As you should,” Jasmine replied. “You just integrated your body with mana, thus strengthening every part of your body. Right now you should have the strength of a developed teenager, or 50 kilograms of force.”
Carth picked up a nearby pebble and threw it at a tree. If this was the Carth from a few hours ago, the pebble wouldn’t have reached the tree, but now the pebble accurately hit the tree. Carth was ecstatic! With this he could finally start hunting, or so he thought.
As if reading his mind, Jasmine spoke. “You got stronger, but the speed and power of your throw is nowhere strong enough to kill a rabbit let alone a deer.”
Carth’s shoulders deflated in disappointment.
“However, you can get stronger. What you have currently is called a mana body. If you take in the surrounding mana and refine your body with it, your mana body will grow stronger and consequently, so will you.”
Carth’s deflated shoulders inflated. In an expectant voice, Carth spoke. “So how do I do it? How do I take in the mana and refine my body?”
Jasmine smiled. “You already know how to do the second part. To do the first part, you must immerse yourself into the world. Erase your existence and feel the world. Feel your surroundings. Once you have done so, you will know what mana feels like, and then you can draw it towards you and into you.”
Carth nodded his head in acknowledgement and focused his mind and heart. He had spent hours trying to erase his existence so doing it again was natural for him. After several minutes, Carth could feel it. He could feel the mana. Specks of warm light could be felt everywhere. In the trees. In the Earth. In the sky. Everywhere. Carth imagined the mana coming towards him and the mana responded. Like a vortex, the surrounding mana entered Carth and the moment it did, Carth started refining it and integrating it into his body.
[Jasmines POV]
When Carth integrated the mana into his body in a matter of minutes and created a mana body, Jasmine was extremely shocked. It took her a month to create a mana body and she was hailed as a genius who would one day lead the White Wolf tribe. What Carth had wasn’t just talent. It was a monstrous talent. So monstrous that calling it talent would be a severe understatement.
Now, Jasmine was even more shocked. The rate at which Carth was absorbing the mana rivaled those with a third order mana body. One had to realize the higher order the mana body, the more mana that could be absorbed and integrated, but Carth only had an initial mana body that wasn’t even a first order body! Jasmine had to report this to her father.
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