After Marcus figured out how to use his float ability, he began his trek back to the surface. Though he had figured out how the ability worked in general putting it into practice was another story. At first Marcus was able to ascend without too much difficulty but he soon found that keeping his emotions in check and the precise control of his float ability to be difficult to master.
At one point he could only go directly to his left not ascending or descending and then after that he found himself doing circles for awhile unable to tell up from down. After days of practice and passing through the center of Mirrion multiple times in order to get his bearings Marcus finally had perfect control over his float ability.
Weeks after Marcus had mastered the use of his float ability, he once again emerged unto the surface of Mirrion.
'At long last I have made it back to the surface, I nearly lost my sanity trying to get back here but it is done my journey can finally begin.'
Marcus then looks around at the scenery before him which is full of rolling hills coated by a dense forest that went in every direction for as far as he could see. He then floated above the canopy of the forest to get a better look around him.
'Well, I am definitely not where I was before, for all I know I could be on the other side of the world from where I started. I do not see any signs of civilization this time around, just a bunch of trees and hills. Also, these trees are huge, some of them seem to be as tall as 500 feet. I am definitely not in Kansas anymore.'
'The first thing I need to do is figure up how I am going to level up. When I was trying to find away out of my sinking predicament and skimmed through newbie's guide, I was given I read the section on leveling up to hopefully find a way to level up and get some skill points but stuck underground I had no means to level up.'
During his reading Marcus learned that there are multiple ways to level up such as training, using special treasures, completing a quest or objective that the system considerers to be difficult, or by fighting and killing other creatures. The most time efficient method that is easily accessible but also deadliest is of course to fight and kill other creatures. This is because you not only get experience for fighting but also when you kill another creature you absorb some of the exp they had as your own.
'The problem is that I have almost no way to interact with other creatures because I am a ghost. I guess I could try and freeze something to death with my chill aura, but I highly doubt that's possible especially because this area looks naturally cold to begin with. I guess the only way is for me to try and possess some sort of creature. It is a good thing that exp is absorbed by the soul and not the body otherwise I would be screwed.'
After searching around the forest for a suitable body to possess Marcus at last finds some sort of bearlike creature that instead of fur has scales that looks kind of like what a pangolin has.
'Welp, it looks a little weird, but it seems like it would be pretty strong, let's see if I can not use it to grind out a few levels.'
Marcus floats towards the scaled bear ever so slowly mostly because he can not move all that fast and when he got with in just a few inched of the bear he tried to jump into its body and possess it. However, as he tries to possess the bear, he is very violently ejected from its body unable to take control for even a second.
'Ah shit that hurt what the hell I could not even possess it for an instance and why do I feel pain all of a sudden.'
Marcus then checked his status and noticed that he had lost 10 HP and his personal log said that his possession had failed.
'It did not say anywhere in the skills description that failed possessions can hurt me and this means that this stupid scaled bear has a higher spirit stat than me. Being level 1 sucks, I am only going to be able to possess things that are significantly weaker than me and have a low spirit stat.'
After searching around for a while more and quite a few more failed possessions Marcus eventually found a creature that he believed that he could take control.
'Finally, something that looks like I can possess that is not an insect, you will be mine winged carnivorous squirrel thing.'
After fighting for control from the winged carnivorous squirrel for about a minute Marcus was able to wrestle control over the body away from the soul of the squirrel. He then promptly examined his new status after possessing his first creature.
Name: Marcus Ferrous
Age: 28
Race: Unbound Ghost (Winged Carnivorous Squirrel Level 1 Possessed)
Level: 1
HP: 132/150-60/60
MP: 140/140
STR: 3(+1)
AGL: 12
VIT: 5(+1)
INT: 14
SPR: 15
Stat Points: 0
Skill Points: 0
Unique Skills: Personal Status
Skills: Small Item Box
Blessing of Iron
Race Abilities: Invisible, Ethereal, Chill Zone, Float, Possession, Undying
Possessed Race abilities: Claw, bite, flight (poor)
Specter Powers: Ghost Sounds Level 1
After checking his status Marcus then did a little dance in the squirrel's body and made a v pose with his little clawed fingers to show off his first victory on Mirrion.
'Ha-ha yes I have done it my start has finally arrived I now have a physical form to use, the world will one day tremble before my power.'
After indulging in a few more delusions and a bit of celebrating on his successful possession Marcus calmed down and went over his status in detail.
'Okay looks like while I am possessing another creature, I lose access to all of my race abilities and gain the abilities of the creature I am possessing. I also have now gained a strength and vitality score and for some reason they have plus one. Let's see here ah its because of my Blessing of Iron, I guess that blessing is not completely useless after all. Sorry for cursing you out Blessing of Iron I now know that you are an impressive ability and I will be relying on you from now on. I also seem to have some extra HP which I guess is how much this squirrel normally has. Very well then let's go find some other creatures to fight so I can finally level up.'
Marcus began to search around for some other creatures to fight but finding creatures in his weight class was easier said then done. It took him about two hours before he eventually caved on trying to find something around his strength level and decided to kill a small insect, he found just to see how much exp he could get.
'You seem to be some type of beetle and while you have not done anything to me, I need to fight and kill to gain exp so you're going to have to die to make me stronger.'
Marcus the raised his paw extended his claws and swiped down toward the beetle. His claws sunk into the beetle's carapace taking a large chunk out of it. The beetle tried to scurry away, but Marcus then used his bite to finish the beetle off.
'Pfft pfft, that beetle was disgusting I need to remember not to use my bite on them. Now how much exp did I get from that.'
Marcus checked his status to see how much exp he had attained from his first kill only to see the scant amount that the beetle had given.
'Great these beetles barely give any exp at all I will need to kill like 5000 more of them just to level up once. That could take months to accomplish, I need to find something else to fight that gives me more exp. I may have to fight something in a higher weight class and hope I come out on top.'
Marcus then went off in search of more powerful foes to fight so that he could gain exp and hopefully level up.