While Sven was asleep the strange man layed him down on the bed in the middle of the cave and watched over him untill he had started to wake.
"Where am I? How did I get back here?" Sven asked himself as he woke up still a little confused and bewildered. Looking around he could see the figure of a man walking away into the dark.
"Who are you why didnyou save me?" Sven called out to the man talking a step off the bed. He could see the man hesitate for a second as he slightly turned his head to look at Sven revealing a slight glint of purple as his eye reflected the torch light.
"Sven I'm sorry I know you have a lot of questions but I can't answer them right now, we can get in trouble just by me being here. We can't talk now but survive and get stronger and who knows I might see you again 2 years when we go for the enslaved test" after speaking his peace the man in black clothing disappeared into the shadows of the cave.
Looking at where the man was Sven sat staring as he felt a tear roll down the side of his face "Damon was that you was it really you? I know it can't be your dead right? She said you were killed did she lie? But she had no reason to. Bit bow that I think about it she had no reason to tell the truth either"
"AAHHHH FUCKIT!!!" He screamed "what good is sitting around here going to do, if I can't trust her all I have to do is be strong enough to not have to worry about her but for that I actually need to be able to use my new ability and level up"
After steeling his resolve Sven got back to training focusing mana to his leg allowing it to once again transform into an armoured exoskeleton. He sat there trying to manipulate it and change the shape during this time days and weeks went by of Sven doing nothing but eating sleeping and draining his mana when finally after almost 2 months he was able to form the exoskeleton into the shape of a human leg matching his other leg in size so that when its transformed the only noticed difference is one was slightly rough and bumlly.
This allowed for for quick and nimble movement while retaining the same strength with twice the defence due to the shell becoming more compact. Over the months Sven had increased his mana capacity to allow him to keep the leg transformed for almost 4 hours if he is not using any other mana related skills.
After finishing his solo training Sven decided it was time to head back to the forest to get more combat experience using only his leg and using his original ability as support and healing only when necessary.
While on his way to the forest entrance he noticed a small black shadow dart across his peripheral vision but when trying to follow it and locate where it went he could see nothing. "I guess its just my imagination, I am nervous after what happend last time but I didn't think it was that bad haha, suck it up you need to do this Sven you have to do this to make it back alive to your family"
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While Sven was psyching himself up before heading into the woods a small figure lurched at the top of a tall rock shrouded in shadows watching and waiting.
The figure would dart around the tops of trees and cliffs following Sven wherever he went its mannerism never changed acting more like a monkey than a human. That was untill Sven had defeated a fire attribute feral beast. Where after extraction of the mana Stone he had stumbled and dropped it into his foot. Afterwards a large flash filled the dark wooded area blinding the monkey that was watching from the tree tops
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After fighting like crazy for almost 10 minutes Sven had finally defeated the feral beast with the flame attribute. Exhausted but not wanting to take any chances Sven decided to go straight to the extraction of the stone.
After pulling it from the beasts heart Sven was looking at it and could feel a strange energy somehow compelling him to ingest and fuze with it but before he could under stand what was going on a strong breeze blew past filling svens nose with dust causing him to sneeze and drop the mana Stone. Upon hitting his exoskeleton leg the stone released a blinding light that caused anyone looking at it to become disorientated.
As Sven was slowly recovering from his disorientation he heard the squeal of a monkey followed a loud crash like it had fallen from a great height. Sven almost felt sad for it until he looked down and noticed that his leg was now on fire it was glowing a bright orange and radiated an emense heat it was then that Sven decided to try and heal to minimise any damage done.
It wasn't until the healing wasn't working that he noticed he wasn't getting hurt infact his leg wasn't even on fire but it was made of fire. The muscle and tendons where made of a dark red flame the skin was a bright orange and where the bones should be was a radiant blue that seemed solid even though it was made of fire.
Looking at it Sven was astounded and confused he was unaware of what caused the change but as he was curious he reached his hand out to touch it but it didn't burn him in fact he wasn't able to touch his leg his hand passed through like air but when standing the leg worked like normal. This got him thinking what else could he do with his leg.
Could he absorb other elements, was the change perminant and could he switch between the fire and exoskeleton. With so many questions on his mind and noone to answer him. Sven decided to hunt a few more feral beasts of different elements to run tests with back at his cave home.