Inside a forest, a small boy no older than 5 years was chasing after a rabbit. The red colored rabbit had fierce glowing red eyes and strong limbs, running as fast as it could to escape the dark haired kid with blue eyes who was chasing it with a spear in hand.
It's paws were covered in flames, giving it a boost as it ran. The kid found it difficult to keep up.
This hunt was very important to the boy, the last time he had caught anything was 4 days ago. His strength had stagnated as he had not absorbed any elemental aura in these past 4 days.
'We are getting close to the location. Anytime now.' he thought. When the rabbit saw a hole in the ground a short distance away, it immediately ran faster, it could finally get away from this despicable human that has been chasing it for a long time now.
The kid did not panic on seeing the hole, instead he slowed down, his expression unreadable. It seemed he had given up on catching this rabbit.
The rabbit scurried into the hole, yet it quickly despaired. The hole was not deep, it wanted to climb out, but it was already too late.
Thwk!
In an accuratel and precise manner, the spear stabbed into the head of the rabbit, ending it's life. The kid had known beforehand about the hole and had deliberately led his prey here so he can trap and kill it.
After the rabbit died, red coloured aura left it's body and entered into the body of the kid. The body of the rabbit rapidly disintegrated. The kid immediately left the location, going in search of a safe haven.
He ran until he came across a tall tree with thick dense branches. He climbed the tree and sat on one of the branches.
"Status."he said in his mind. A virtual screen that only he could see appeared in front of his eyes.
[Name: Ryan Ashborn]
[Age: 5 years]
[Rank: Novice]
[Aura: 55; Fire: 40, Water: 0, Wind:0, Earth: 15]
[Lifespan: 100years]
Ryan has had to fend for himself after he was abandoned by his mother two months ago. Luckily Gaia is compassionate to little children, giving every little child a system to educate them about the world, when they are left to look after themselves.
In a world where people are able to attain power and possibly become immortal, reproduction becomes unnecessary. Yet sex is still pleasurable, a strong man can capture a woman and mate with her. After the deed, he leaves her and goes back to his daily life.
The woman might become pregnant, she is then forced to look after the child. She doesn't feel any attachment to the child though, so after the child grows up and is strong enough, she leaves it alone and focuses once again on her life.
This is exactly what happened to Ryan, he is grateful though, that his mother was willing to look after him for so long. After she left, his system awakened, given unto him by Gaia. He was then taught different subjects and various knowledge by Gaia(Mother Earth) herself.
Absorbing and comprehending that knowledge, he started to hone his survival skills and instincts.
"I didn't think that that rabbit will be this weak, giving me only 5 fire aura. Fire AE ratio is very low right now, if I had gotten a little more fire aura, then I would have the confidence to hunt that antelope."he muttered to himself.
"It seems I have to find another weak fire elemental like that rabbit to hunt. Of course, trading is an option, but who knows, the ratio might suddenly increase. It's too risky to even think of entering the market."
Ryan was lost in thought and failed to notice the large red python behind him. The python opened it's wide jaw and was about to swallow him whole.
AURA FLASH: FIRE BURST
Fire burst from the sole of his feet propelling him forward at a fast speed. He moved very fast, appearing on the end of the branch in the blink of an eye. His evasive battle art saved him from the python, whose head crashed against the branch. The thick branch shook violently, the python recovered quickly and immediately pursued after Ryan.
His battle art,which is one of the three he knows, had consumed 35 fire aura. He couldn't fight the snake even with full energy and especially not now that he is left with less than 50% , so without thinking he jumped off the branch towards the next tree.
He was not going to make it onto a branch though, instead he started falling towards the ground. He stabbed his spear into the tree bark, slowing his descent, still he crashed heavily into the ground.
Luckily for him, the snake gave up on pursuing him, it was too lazy to climb down the tree for such low energy small prey.
Injured, Ryan knew he had to find somewhere else to stay quickly, before another elemental found him. Luckily, he had Aura flash which he learned from the rabbits he had been hunting or he would have lost his life.
He didn't have to go far before he found a large tree with a cavity big enough for him to stay inside. He didn't enter immediately, instead scanning for any elemental that might be staying inside. He discovered a large glowing green spider. He prepared his spear and battle art for a sneak attack.
AURA INFUSION: EARTH HARDENING
He performed the second battle art in his possession, channeling earth aura this time. His spear immediately became like stone and hard. He threw it towards the spider's head aiming for a swift kill.
It was a success, the creature didn't even have enough time to shriek. Ryan absorbed the wind aura.
"No wonder it died so easily, it gave only 3 wind aura. It looked so menacing, yet it was so weak. I almost jumped in joy thinking I killed a strong creature by chance." He sulked.
Entering inside the tree after the spider had disintegrated, he sat down and immediately tried to recover his energy and heal his wounds.
"Survival is becoming more and more difficult. Death is almost certain if I keep on going like this, I can't keep on relying on hunting alone as I don't have the strength to hunt stronger creatures. Neither do I have the luxury of time to look for and kill weak elementals." His eyes glinted with a sharp light.
"It seems I have no other choice than to enter the market."