Ayren examined his characteristics but didn't notice any changes; almost nothing seemed different to him.

"What do these numbers mean?" Ayren wondered aloud, slightly surprised that he didn't see any visible changes but felt his power increase.

After some thought, Ayren concluded that the numbers appearing next to the "Characteristics" label provided a bonus equal to their value. After warming up, Ayren went outside.

[You have attracted the attention of the ruler of the Safe Zone.]

[Attention level towards you is currently at 1.]

[If the attention level reaches 10, you may be eliminated.]

"What the...?" Ayren was astonished to receive such a message immediately upon leaving.

"Is it because I've raised my cultivation level?" Ayren reasoned.

Confused, he pondered his next move: should he stop cultivating or go and try to find people, even though he didn't know where to go?

"I think I still have some time," Ayren decided to ignore the warning for now, as reaching a level of attention of 10 seemed distant.

Ayren decided to hunt near the border but not wait passively for prey; he chose to confront it directly.

Before long, he encountered a creature similar to the one that injured him when he first arrived. Instantly, a desire for revenge welled up within him, although he wasn't sure if it was the same individual.

With a swift throw, his spear hit the creature, though it didn't cause serious damage, it noticeably slowed the creature down.

The creature growled at Ayren, but he wasn't intimidated. On the contrary, he felt that one more accurate strike would be the end of it.

With another throw, Ayren struck the creature precisely, but to his surprise, he received no notification of its death.

"Not bad, you're resilient." Ayren remarked as he approached the creature and finished it off with one final blow.Начало формы

[The brown endro slain, earning 42 experiences.]

[Received 27 skill points in "Spear Mastery" and 2.7 experience.]

"That wasn't difficult," Ayren said as he placed the creature's body in his inventory.

Continuing his hunt, Ayren no longer needed to sit in the ambush and wait for passing prey. He could now confront creatures directly without any issues. He even considered venturing out of the safety zone to try hunting something stronger.

After a few days, while out hunting again, Ayren received an unexpected message:

[You have attracted the attention of the "Safe Zone" overseer.]

[Your current attention level is 2.]

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[If your attention level reaches 10, you may be eliminated.]

"What the hell?" Ayren was unpleasantly surprised.

"I haven't even reached the second stage of body tempering, and my attention level has already increased," Ayren remarked.

"Ace," Ayren attempted to minimize contact with Ace, but this situation forced him to reach out.

[How can I help?]

"Why is attention level increasing?" Ayren asked.

[You have already attracted sufficient attention to yourself; it will only continue to increase. I advise you to devote more effort to increasing your power to leave this territory and survive in the forest when your attention reaches critical levels.]

"You said before that the territory ruler knew about me from the beginning. What's changed now?" Ayren inquired.

[You've become too annoying and have started to irritate the territory's ruler, like a fly disturbing sleep.]

"All right, I guess I asked for it." Ayren didn't want to talk to Ace anymore.

Ayren realized that no matter what he did, his attention level would continue to rise, so there was no point in slowing down his progress. He immediately resumed hunting to increase his level quickly and leave the forest.

"Perhaps I should go beyond the border," Ayren decided to take the risk and leave the territory's border.

Having walked several kilometers, Ayren didn't encounter any new animals; all were familiar to some degree. He decided to continue further until he came across a clearing where he saw a creature resembling a mix of a boar and a wolf, about the size of a large dog.

"This is something," Ayren said to himself as he lay in the grass and slowly approached the creature, which was busy eating.

Swoosh!

The spear flew straight into the creature's head. Without hesitation, Ayren retrieved another spear and hurled it after the first. He had no illusions that one spear would kill the prey; he wasn't even sure if two would be enough, so he sent a third spear flying.

Swoosh!

All three hit their target, but Ayren received no notification. So, lifting himself up, he began running toward the creature, which was trying to recover after the surprise attack.

"Damn it," Ayren saw the beast react quickly to his approach and prepare for an attack.

Swoosh!

Ayren threw a spear and immediately grabbed another to deliver a finishing blow to the creature's head in one attack.

Thwack...

"What the hell," Ayren exclaimed as he smashed the spear into the creature's head, but it didn't die; instead, it struck back with its claws.

"Son of a..." Ayren recoiled and wanted to grab another spear, but he felt a strange sensation and looked at his hand, which lay a few steps away from him.

"Fuck," Ayren said in shock.

Without giving himself time to rest, the creature lunged at Ayren again, attempting to strike him with its claws. However, Ayren was no longer as fast as before; the wounds he had received earlier were taking their toll.

"You damn creature," Ayren snapped out of it and reached for another spear with his other hand, thrusting it forward.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

Ayren hurled spear after spear at the creature, aiming to keep it at a distance and prevent it from getting closer. After several throws, he finally received the notification he had been waiting for.

[Steppe anaba slain, gained 165 experiences.]

[Received 45 skill points in 'Spear Mastery' and 4.5 experience.]

[Received 20 skill points in 'Stealth' and 2.0 experience.]

"Damn," Ayren muttered, attempting to stem the bleeding from his hand.

"I need to get out of here," Ayren decided, retrieving his hand and the anaba carcass before immediately deciding to return to his world.

"Now what am I supposed to do without a hand?" Ayren sat, staring at his severed hand with a bewildered expression.

[If you reattach the hand to your body and spend some time in your world, it will regenerate. I estimate it will take about a week.]

Though Ayren wasn't fond of conversing with him, he was glad that Ace spoke up first and offered very helpful advice.

Quickly securing his hand to the place where it was severed, Ayren tied it to his body and even applied a healing salve he had concocted. After all these manipulations, he simply lay down and tried not to move, allowing his hand to heal properly.

"I made a big mistake today," Ayren thought about how he recklessly decided to fight directly with an unknown creature when he could have easily killed it from a distance. Instead, he exposed himself to unnecessary danger just to become stronger faster and leave this forest. And now, instead of that, he lost at least a week, and with these thoughts, he fell asleep.