The forest didn't sleep.
At night, it whispered—groaned—howled. Beasts stirred in the darkness, and the trees swayed like they were breathing. The Shadowfang Wilds were no place for humans, let alone an untrained, wounded boy.
But Jinhyuk was no longer the same boy who got laughed off a sect gate.
He sat under a rock overhang, shirt torn and skin bruised, his back against cold stone. The corpse of the Fangclaw Hound lay nearby, its blood drained, its core long absorbed.
His chest rose and fell slowly as he meditated, feeling the new warmth in his dantian. Qi—for the first time in his life—flowed through him like a slow-burning fire.
> [Level 2 Achieved.
+1 Stat Point.
New Feature Unlocked: Passive Ability – Beast Insight
Description: Instinctively reads monster aggression levels and movement patterns.]
> [Available Ability Draw: 1]
> [Drawing random basic technique…
Congratulations. You've obtained: Ghost Shadow Steps (Grade: Rare)]
Jinhyuk opened his eyes, lips twitching slightly.
"Now we're talking."
The manual for Ghost Shadow Steps downloaded straight into his mind. He visualized the movement—short bursts, redirection of Qi flow, shifting momentum. It wasn't flashy. But it was fast. Unpredictable.
He stood and tried it.
His body flickered, just for a second, before reappearing a few steps to the side. His knees buckled from the strain.
Still weak—but potential was blooming.
---
Three days passed.
He didn't sleep much. Didn't eat unless he killed. Every fight was survival—raw, brutal, desperate. He hunted lower-ranked beasts: venom vipers, stoneback lizards, bone rats.
And he won. Every time.
But his body paid the price—cuts, bruises, a fractured wrist.
> [Beast killed. Core absorbed.]
[Level 2 → Level 3.]
[Level 3 → Level 4.]
[Stats increased. Physical transformation progressing.]
On the fourth night, he bathed in a shallow river, washing blood and mud from his body.
His reflection in the water made him pause.
He looked… different.
The fat had melted from his face, replaced by sharp cheekbones and a well-defined jawline. His frame, once soft, now had lean muscle forming beneath the skin. His eyes held a quiet storm behind them—silver flecks now danced in his irises.
He clenched his fist. Power surged—not enough to win a war, but enough to start one.
His hand rose to his face.
He smiled.
Not the smile of a boy.
The smile of a wolf.
---
By the end of the week, the forest began to avoid him.
Beasts that once hunted him now fled his scent.
He stood atop a jagged ridge, cloak fluttering behind him, eyes locked in the direction of Black Moon Sect.
> [Level 5 Achieved.]
[Qi Flow Stable.
Hidden Trait Awakened: Dual World Synchronicity (Rare)
Description: Enables passage between modern and cultivation worlds at will, depending on energy reserves.]
Jinhyuk stared at the message, then closed his eyes.
"Soon… I'll be back in Korea. And when I do…"
His thoughts drifted to his father's corpse.
To the burned note: "Found."
To the masked figures he glimpsed in the system's locked memory vaults.
And then—to the sect that spat on him when he was weak.
He took a step down the ridge, every footfall silent and controlled.
Jinhyuk was no longer prey.
He was the thing that hunted in the dark.
---