After shutting the door behind him he closed his eyes and concentrated, calling upon the power inside of him…calling upon Predation.
like ink bleeding into water, darkness started to seep out of his body, a tangible shadow that devoured light itself, covering him from head to toe.
The world went silent.
In that moment, Orion's presence vanished. No sound. No aura. Not even the faint ripple of breath. all eaten by his power, making it so even the strongest person wouldn't be able to detect him.
He opened his eyes.
"cool" an exited voice came from the black shadow.
Everything around him was still visible—sharp, in fact. He could hear every creak of the building, every rustle of cloth. Predation didn't blind him—it enhanced him. He was perfectly hidden, yet perfectly aware.
Predation was preying on his presence and sound leaving nothing to be detected and thus others couldn't detect him unless he allowed them to
Next, The shadows receded as he willed them away, slithering away from his body like smoke returning to the void. With a thought, he called them to gather at his hand. The blackness twisted and morphed until it took the shape of a standard longsword.. He swung it around a few times getting use to it and the effect was extraordinary. Anything in the path of the sword simply vanished, completely erasing from existence, once it touched the shadow sword.
"Huff…huff…its extremely powerful and easy to use...huff" Orion murmured between breaths, sweat already forming on his brow "but the energy intake is also extreme. Efficiency huff… I need efficiency"
Predation was a special power, it was born from Orion and was there since his birth in the form of devourer, even before the awakening of mana. As such it didn't require mana to exist , mana along with everything else was just prey to it.
Instead it consumed Orion's stamina to function, the larger and further the manifestation the more it consumed, so even though it was over powered, he would collapse from exhaustion if he over used it.
Still So far, through observation, he had found three ways to extend it's duration;
First, the obvious method: increasing his Stamina and Endurance stats. The higher they climbed, the more his body could endure Predation's drain.
The second way was to increase his control and efficiency of its use, like when he used it as a thin sword it consumed way less energy then when he covered himself with it. He could find a real weapon and just apply predation it on its edge and it would use a lot less energy. But for that he would need practice.
He would work on that later after finding an actual weapon.
And lastly the third way he found to extend his usage duration was to kill a lot of enemies with it and fast.
When he was swinging that sword around cutting things, he discovered that the things he sliced – the things that were eaten by predation were turning into pure energy and feeding back to him, recovering him. But the energy he got from the thin strips of inorganic things he cut were nowhere enough to compensate for predation's usage, he needed to eat a lot and fast to balance out the output with the input.
After thinking about it a bit and resting for some time Orion got to the second phase of testing predation, preying on just specific things or properties and not just devourer everything.
Predation was a special power that could prey on absolutely anything, even things like pain, wounds, memories, time, fate, etc. but to be able to do that it would need control and practice.
Orion sat by a wooden chair, extended his hand and covered it with the power of predation.
"Okay let's just eat the durability of the wood and leave everything else the same" he closed his eyes and focused intensely, but pretty soon sweat covered his forehead, his eyes trembled and his breathing became labored.
"Gasp!"
He snapped open his eyes retracting his power, panting on the floor. He saw most of the chair had vanished and only a few centimeters of it had turned to dust after losing its durability. After a few moments of catching his breath, he uttered in disbelief and regret.
"Its way more difficult than I imagined, and the energy cost is no joke… looks like I won't be able to do it anytime soon"
He looked dejected,
"Too much for a level 0 weakling," he said with a dry chuckle. "Still... someday."
After resting for another half hour, letting his breathing normalize, he got back to his feet and did a few last experiments before heading off to fight mutants. He used all his skills one or two time to get a feel for them
First, he activated Rush.As Mana moved towards his legs a tingle ran up his spine. He shot forward in a blur, traveling several meters in an instant before the skill wore off.
"Effective," he muttered, nodding to himself. "Good for dodging or ambushing."
Next, he summoned Stone Skin. His arms took on a faint grey sheen, like marble mixed with flesh. A few careful punches against the wall proved its utility—solid, durable, and reactive.
"Could definitely save my life."
Then came Appraisal.
He turned to the broken chair nearby and activated it.
> [Object: Wooden Chair]
Durability: 5%
Description: Hastily crafted from pinewood. Recently damaged.
Value: None
He apprised a few other things around the room, and got the same basic information on them, name, durability etc. etc.
finally, he summoned the chains of greed. Well, they were called chains but as he was right now Orion was only able to muster a single chain and wasn't able to handle any more.
The golden chain burst from his wrist, writhing like a living limb. It hovered in the air, pulsing faintly with hunger.
"this things awesome" he said observing it closely.
The chain was fast. Sharp. Flexible. It followed his thoughts like an extension of his body, dancing around him like a serpent. It could whip, constrict, stab, or grab—and it consumed far less stamina than his other Predation forms.
Most importantly, it had abilities of its own.
Corruption. Theft. Claiming. He tested the corrupt function on a piece of loose metal. The chain flicked out, touched it briefly—and the metal started rusting rapidly, decaying into flakes within seconds.
"Amazing…" he breathed. "It's like a skill tree inside a skill."
Of course, activating those special effects increased stamina consumption. But even so, the chain was manageable even for his current level—his most efficient weapon so far.
Orion found it very useful and fun, he continued to play with it, commanding it around doing different things.
His instincts guiding him, helping him adapt faster.
After using the chain some more he discovered something else: its strength—speed, length, sharpness, and ability potency—all scaled directly with his stats. The stronger he became, the more terrifying the chains would grow.
He retracted it with a flick of his wrist.
"Definitely a keeper."
---
After finishing his tests, Orion walked over to a small mirror hanging lopsided on the wall. He stared at himself.
The boy from two days ago—the fat kid who had no power to over his destiny—was already gone. Now Infront of him stood a 6 foot tall handsome young man with a slim and muscular body, his purple eyes sharp and filled with hope.
Most importantly he now had power, the power to change…
Change what?
Whatever he goddam pleased.
"I'm getting close," he muttered. "Just a little more... and I'll hit Level 1… soon."