The pale light of morning filtered through the canopy, casting long shadows across the forest floor. He had grown used to the silence, but it still unnerved him. It was as if the forest itself was making up for the night's chaos and noise, by being extra quiet.

  Kael decided today was the day.

  He started moving with deliberate precision as he climbed down from the treehouse, his senses sharp and alert. The forest might be quiet, but that didn’t mean it was safe. His first destination was the river. After the energy he’d expended yesterday, hydration was vital.

  The walk was uneventful, the crisp morning air cool against his skin. The clearing was as still as the rest of the forest, the water’s surface smooth and reflective, mirroring the golden hues of the rising sun. Kael crouched low, scanning his surroundings before dipping his hands into the water. He drank deeply, the liquid washing away the last vestiges of sleep.

  He refilled his waterskin, splashing water over his face before settling back onto his heels, and making the journey back to the treehouse. His mind was already shifting to his next task, although he was hungry, and needed to find food again. He first wanted to attempt to control Essence again. See if he could enhance his body more, making it stronger. Instead of just emitting a simple glow, from his hands.

  Once back in the tree house, Kael turned his focus inward, to the presence he had felt within himself before. That deep well of energy, the core that pulsed at the center of his being. He had barely scratched the surface of what it could do, but he had felt it more when he was practicing last time—his body subtly strengthened itself when he directed its flow through it, nothing much just a byproduct of it going to his hand.

  Closing his eyes, he took a slow breath, searching for that familiar flow. It wasn’t immediate, but with patience, he found himself in that place of emptiness, where that burning star of essence lay. Not wasting time, he mentally grabbed one of the tiny tendrils again and directed it out of this place and into his body. From there the blue energy flowed into his body like a current, humming beneath his skin, mirroring heat coursing through his veins.

  He focused on his right arm, willing that energy to move and flow into his muscles. This time, he wanted to try one hand, but instead of just the hand, he wanted to go for the entire arm. He tried imagining the essence seeping into his muscles to reinforce what was there, to work with the muscles, and not against them. At first, nothing happened.

  Kael furrowed his brows, concentrating harder. The sensation was strange, almost sluggish, like trying to push water through a narrow pipe. Then something shifted. A faint warmth spread through his forearm, then his whole arm. The muscles tighten with a subtle but noticeable strength. His eyes snapped open.

  It worked.

  He flexed his fingers, testing the newfound sensation. His arm felt… denser. Stronger. Not by much, but enough that he could tell the difference. It wasn’t just a passive boost—this was something he was actively controlling.

  Excitement flared in his chest, but it was short-lived.

  A sharp ache bloomed in his forearm, spreading up to his elbow, up his whole arm. His concentration faltered, and in an instant, the energy vanished, but this time seeping out of him instead of returning back to what he now called his core. The strength in his arm faded, leaving behind a lingering soreness, and pain as if he had trained to failure and beyond, injuring himself.

  Kael hissed through clenched teeth, rubbing the muscles to ease the discomfort. That hadn’t been pleasant. “Too much, too fast,” he muttered.

  It was clear now—this wasn’t something he could sustain for long. The flow of Essence drained from his core, and the moment he lost focus, it slipped away. He needed to refine his control, to find a way to make the energy flow more naturally without overwhelming his body.

  He took a deep breath, centering himself again. This time, he let the energy trickle in, slow and steady. Instead of forcing it, he allowed it to seep into his arm, spreading evenly. The warmth returned, lighter than before, but without the same immediate strain.

  He clenched his fist. There it was. The power was weaker but more stable. This he could maintain—at least, for a short while.

  A few seconds later, that short while ended and the strain returned. His mind wavered, and the flow collapsed again. He gritted his teeth as the strength faded. The process repeated for nearly an hour. Trial and error, pushing the limits of how much he could handle. Each attempt drained a portion of his core, and though the exertion wasn’t physically exhausting, the mental strain was something else entirely. Maintaining the flow required an intense level of focus—one that he struggled to hold onto for more than a few moments at a time.

  It was progress. Slow, frustrating progress, but progress nonetheless.

  As he rested, rubbing the tension from his arm, a thought surfaced. His Essence Shaper skill.

  Until now, he had barely considered it beyond what the System had told him. He had assumed it was just a classification, something vague that he would uncover as he grew stronger. But if the System had granted him the skill, there had to be a way to use it.

  He brought up his Status page, his gaze locking onto the skill entry.

  Essence Shaper – Rank 1

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  (Allows the user to shape, reinforce, and manifest Essence-based constructs. Current efficiency: 10%)

  Reinforce. That part he understood. It was what he had been attempting with his muscles. But the other words—shape, and manifest—those were still beyond him.

  How did one manifest something that had no physical form?

  Kael frowned, rolling the thought around in his mind. If shaping was a part of the skill, then there had to be a way to control Essence outside his body. Maybe… just like how he directed the energy into his muscles, he could try guiding it outward.

  The idea sent a thrill through him, but also apprehension. He had barely managed to control the flow within his body. But he had to try.

  Taking a steadying breath, he lifted his palm, facing it upwards. He focused, reaching for that internal pulse once more. Instead of sending it into his arm, he willed it to leave his body, to gather into a ball in front of him.

  It was like trying to push against an invisible wall. The energy resisted, clinging stubbornly to him. He furrowed his brows, pushing harder, forcing the Essence outward.

  For a fleeting second, nothing happened.

  Then, the smallest flicker of blue light appeared above his palm.

  Kael’s breath hitched.

  It was tiny—no bigger than a pea, an ephemeral sphere of energy hovering just above his skin. It flickered unsteadily as if any stray thought could make it disappear.

  His heart pounded. He had done it. But as he marveled at his achievement, a sharp, searing pain erupted through his arm again.

  His concentration snapped.

  The small sphere of Essence collapsed, falling toward the wooden plank beneath him. He barely had time to react as it made contact with the floor.

  For an instant, the wood glowed faintly—pulsing with soft blue light—before the glow faded, disappearing completely.

  Kael stared, his arm still trembling from the pain.

  The energy… had been absorbed?

  Kael sat motionless, staring at the faint blue glow that had just vanished into the wooden plank beneath his feet. His heart still pounded from the pain that had shot through his arm moments ago. What just happened?

  The energy had left him, manifesting for the first time outside his body. It had been unstable, weak, and barely the size of a pebble, but it had appeared. Yet instead of dissipating like mist or vanishing into thin air, it had been absorbed into the wood. Did Essence interact with matter? Or had it simply been lost?

  His mind raced through possibilities, but he had no concrete answers. The only thing he knew for certain was that controlling Essence outside his body was an entirely different challenge from reinforcing his muscles.

  Kael flexed his fingers, still feeling the dull ache that spread through his forearm. The pain had been expected and unexpected—almost like the Essence had fought against his control. It wasn’t just about forcing the energy out; it was about shaping it, directing it with purpose. And without that focus, the power had simply leaked away. But he didn’t know how to shape. And that was the problem. The feeling he got when focusing on the skill with his mind, only returned a general impression of the energy leaving his body.

  Despite the failure, a small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He had done it. The first, wobbly step toward something greater. But he wasn’t satisfied yet.

  Taking a deep breath, Kael shook the tension from his hands and straightened his back. If he wanted to improve, he needed to go at it again. This time, with more care, more precision.

  He focused once more, reaching inward toward his Essence core. He found it, the familiar pulse, steady yet brimming with untapped potential. He pulled at a thread of it, guiding it outward—not to his muscles, but to the open air above his palm. This time, instead of forcing it out in one rush, he let it trickle, slowly, steadily.

  The blue flicker returned, hovering just above his hand. It wavered slightly but held its shape longer than before. He concentrated on keeping it stable, shaping it into a perfect sphere rather than letting it spread uncontrolled. His brow furrowed with effort. Every second felt like an eternity as he fought to maintain the delicate balance between too much and too little.

  Sweat beaded along his temple. His breathing grew heavier.

  Then, just as he started to get used to the feeling, the pain surged back into his arm—this time sharper, more immediate and intense. The sphere quivered and collapsed again.

  Kael bit back a curse as the remaining Essence leaked from his palm, dropping onto the wooden plank. The result was the same: a brief glow, then nothing. He clenched his jaw, rolling his shoulder to ease the discomfort. This was going to take time—more than he had anticipated. He had figured that if he could reinforce his body, pushing Essence outward wouldn’t be too different. But it was. It required an entirely new level of control, and more importantly, endurance.

  He needed to pace himself.

  Kael sat back, taking a break to regain his strength. His Essence core wasn’t infinite—he could feel the gradual drain with every attempt. But it was also refilling on its own, though with a very slow speed. He also felt that this wasn’t exhaustion like a physical workout, but more like the mental fatigue of focusing on a complex task for too long.

  As he rested, he tried to process what he had learned. Essence could be shaped outside of his body, but only with extreme concentration. Without a solid form or direction, it dispersed easily or was absorbed by materials. The pain wasn’t just in his muscles—it was in deeper, meaning he was overexerting something deeper than just flesh.

  If this were a video game, he would have assumed he was leveling up his magic proficiency by doing this. But this wasn’t just a game—it was reality, and real progress came in inches, not leaps. He could just focus on leveling up, but Kael knew that the problem wasn't only the amount of essence he had, even though the glow of his core was much dimmer now. He knew it was the lack of control and his proficiency with what he had that was the issue.

  Kael flexed his fingers again and let out a slow breath. "Alright. one more time."

  He repeated the process, refining his control. Each time, the sphere lasted longer. The size didn’t increase much, but its stability improved. Instead of lasting a mere second, it lingered for three, then five, then almost ten before collapsing.

  Progress.

  Close to mid-day, Kael had reached a new milestone. The pain hadn’t disappeared, but he had found a way to dull it slightly by easing the flow rather than forcing it. He had also discovered another strange detail—when he shaped the Essence outside his body, even though he could control it. It didn’t feel like a part of him anymore. Unlike reinforcing his muscles, which gave a feedback sensation, this energy felt disconnected, like an extension that lacked direct feedback. It was almost like holding something weightless in the air but knowing it could vanish at any moment.

  Kael exhaled, leaning back. He wiped the sweat from his brow, letting himself recover from his mental fatigue before he could push further. He needed to figure out what this Essence could actually do once outside his body. Simply making floating orbs wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He needed something practical—something he could apply in combat, survival, or even hunting.

  His gaze flicked to the plank where the Essence had been absorbed. He hadn’t thought much about it before, but what if that had been more than just a random occurrence?

  Kael reached out and ran his fingers over the spot where the glow had been. The wood felt the same—rough, dry, worn with age—but something was different. There was a faint sensation, an almost imperceptible resistance when he touched it. Like static electricity tingling beneath his fingertips.

  His heart sped up. Had the Essence… infused into the wood?

  That opened an entirely new door of possibilities.

  If Essence could bond with objects, then could he strengthen things the same way he reinforced his own body? Could he make his weapons sharper? More durable? Could he leave lasting imprints of his power?

  Kael’s mind buzzed with ideas. He wanted to test it immediately, but his core was running low, and his arms still ached from overuse. He sighed, rubbing his temples. He needed to take this one step at a time. Pushing himself to the point of collapse wasn’t going to help him in the long run.

  For now, the morning’s training had given him enough to think about. He had made progress—real, tangible progress.

  Tomorrow, he would continue refining his technique. He would keep testing, keep failing, and keep learning. Because he had a feeling that mastering Essence was the key to his survival in this new world.

  Kael stood, rolling his shoulders. His stomach growled, reminding him that he still hadn’t eaten since yesterday. He chuckled to himself. "Guess I should deal with that before I pass out."

  He grabbed his hunting knife, as well as the antler blade, and prepared for the next task of the day. Training was important, but survival came first. He could practice more after securing food.

  As he descended the treehouse and set out toward the Gloomkind area of the forest, the weight of his discoveries settled in his chest. The world he had been thrown into was dangerous, unpredictable, and filled with threats far greater than he had yet encountered.

  But now, for the first time since arriving here, he felt like he had an edge.

  And he wasn’t going to waste it.