The low growl reverberated through the darkness of the trees.
Kael stilled, breathing slowed as he listened—years of instinct kicking in, sharpening his awareness.
Something was watching him.
The underbrush rustled, heavy steps pressing into the dirt. Whatever was moving wasn’t small.
Kael shifted his stance, muscles tensed, fingers twitching toward the knife at his belt the only weapon he had left. His normal hunting gear the bow, arrows, everything else gone.
Another growl, closer this time.
A shape emerged from the trees.
Kael’s stomach dropped.
It was the buck.
The same one he had been tracking earlier that morning.
But it wasn’t the same anymore.
Its sleek brown hide had thickened, muscles bulging unnaturally beneath its fur. The creature was larger, its shoulders broader, its stance more aggressive. Its antlers—once normal bone—had sharpened into curved, jagged blades, reflecting the dim light that filtered through the canopy.
But its eyes were the worst part.
They weren’t glowing or burning like some demon. They were just… wrong. Too intelligent. Too focused. A predator’s eyes, locked onto prey.
Something flickered in Kael’s vision.
[ Wildhorn buck– Level 3]
Kael’s mind barely had time to register the words before the buck lunged.
He barely reacted.
Its massive body blurred forward, hooves thundering against the earth. Kael jerked back, his body trying to move on instinct but his heel caught on a tree root.
His balance shattered. He fell hard.
The buck’s bladed antlers whistled past his face by mere millimeters, missing only because of his stumble.
Kael hit the ground, rolling onto his side as the beast skidded to a halt, kicking up dirt as it turned.
fuck. That was close.
He scrambled up, hand darting to his belt, fingers wrapping around his knife’s handle. A well-worn hunting blade—nothing special, but solid. Reliable.
The buck snorted, its hooves pawing at the dirt. It was sizing him up, studying him.
Kael’s heart pounded, his mind racing.
I can’t fight this thing head-on.
His grip tightened on the knife. He needed a way out.
His eyes flicked around the terrain, searching for a escape route. I need
The buck lunged again.
This time Kael threw himself sideways, ducking behind the same tree whose roots had tripped him.
The beast didn’t stop.
It crashed into the tree with a thunderous crack, splintering bark as its full weight slammed into the trunk.
Kael used the chance to run.
His legs pushed off before he even had a plan…just run!, move! and keep moving!
For a second, he thought he had gotten away.
Then, the buck snorted behind him.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Kael didn’t have to look back to know. It was already chasing.
Branches tore at Kael’s arms as he pushed forward, sprinting through the thick dense unknown forest. The uneven terrain forced him to adjust with every step, keeping his balance as best he could. Luckly all those terrain training in the army wasn’t to total waste, some things still were helpful like now.
He also felt like there was something pumping tine bitt of energy to the muscles of his leges when he focused on running faster. giving them a tine boost, he tried to look more to it but the sound of hooves slamming into the earth grew louder.
Fuck! It’s so fast, those muscles aren’t just for show.
Another blur of movement, Kael felt the rush of wind behind him and ducked.
A flash of jagged antlers carved through the air where his head had been.
The buck had nearly clipped him.
Kael’s lungs burned as he pushed harder. He wasn’t even choosing a direction anymore. His body just moved, fear, panic and instincts driving him.
Then—he saw it.
A break in the forest floor, just ahead.
A drop.
Not a cliff, but a steep rocky slope, filled with boulder-sized stones jutting from the earth.
An idea sparked in Kael’s mind.
Kael didn’t slow down.
Come on. Chase me.
The Wildhorn was already locked onto him too focused to notice the terrain change.
Kael slowed down and turned around at the edge of the slope. One step away from tumbling down. And with it being a steep rocky slope, he didn’t see that going good for him, One more second.
Then—
He flung himself with all he had to the left.
The buck charged forward, unable to stop its momentum. Its hooves hit the edge and the ground beneath it vanished.
For a second, it was weightless.
Then—impact.
The beast crashed onto the rocks below, its massive body colliding with jagged stone. A sickening thud echoed through the trees as it came to an abrupt, painful stop.
Kael stopped at the ledge, panting, his pulse still hammering.
The buck didn’t move.
For the first time since the chase had started, Kael had a moment to breathe.
After several long, slow breaths, Kael finally approached the downed buck, or whatever it was now.
That blue screen had called it a Wildhorn buck, and it was still alive.
Its sides heaved, chest rising and falling in uneven bursts. Its front legs were pinned under its own weight, twisted awkwardly from the fall.
Kael took a slow step closer.
The buck’s eyes snapped to him.
There was no rage. No glowing fury.
Just… clarity.
Like the animal finally realized what it had become.
Kael swallowed, gripping his knife tighter.
This wasn’t a fight anymore. It was mercy.
With a final steady breath, he ended it.
Kael took a step back, wiping his blade on his pant leg, his hands still trembling.
The forest was silent again. Then, the chime came.
[You have slain Wildhorn buck – Level 3]
[Experience Gained: 30 EXP]
[Title Acquired: First Blood]
Awarded for delivering your first kill after System integration.
Effect: +3% increased damage against beasts.
[Essence Manipulation Achieved.]
[Unique Skill Acquired: Essence Shaper – Rank 1]
Allows the user to shape, reinforce, and manifest Essence-based constructs. Current efficiency: 10%.
Kael exhaled sharply. His body screamed in exhaustion, still he was alive.
Another chime interrupted his thoughts.
[Experience Threshold Reached.]
[You have leveled up!]
Status Update
Name: Kael
Level: 2
EXP: 30/50
Rank: Mortal (Rank 1)
Stats:
* Strength: 12 → 14 (+2)
* Agility: 14 → 16 (+2)
* Endurance: 11 → 13 (+2)
* Intelligence: 9 → 11 (+2)
* Wisdom: 10 → 12 (+2)
* Essence Control: 1 → 5 (+4)
Kael blinked at the glowing text, his mind struggling to process everything.
Stats. Levels. Experience. This was… structured. Like a game.
But it wasn’t a game.
His aching ribs, bleeding arm, and the still-warm corpse at his feet made that clear enough.
Finaly having a moment to calm down, Kael started letting all that contained panic leave him.
He barely had time to finish calming down, and as if waiting for this, his entire body tensed.
It wasn’t pain, Not like when the System brought him to that strange place for that Announcement, followed by it showing the world transforming, and flooding him with that strange energy. no, this was much less and more sudden.
A sharp, brief pulse of energy spread through him like an unseen force tightening around his muscles, wrapping around his bones. His breathing hitched as his limbs felt warmer, denser, just slightly more responsive.
His strength, agility, endurance everything had shifted. Not drastically, but noticeably.
He clenched his fingers experimentally. Slightly stronger grip.
His legs a fraction more balanced, more controlled.
His ribs still ached, but the pain felt duller, like his body was already adjusting, recovering just a little faster.
But the biggest change wasn’t physical.
His mind felt clearer, sharper.
Thoughts that had been sluggish from exhaustion were now more focused, more refined. His surroundings felt crisper, details more noticeable. And he could feel the presence of something all around, from outside and inside himself, as if it was all encompassing and present.
It wasn’t an overwhelming transformation. No sudden superhuman power, no miraculous healing, nothing that drastic, but it was the final nail in the coffin.
This wasn’t a dream. This wasn’t a hallucination. As much as he would have loved to tell himself that he would wake up in his home, and go about his usual rutin, this world, this so-called System was real.
And if this was how the world worked now...
Then he needed to understand it. Fast. And he needed to plan what he was going to do now, cause last time he checked he had no idea where he was…