It began with a headache.
Not the kind that throbbed like drums, but a soft pressure, like someone pressing a warm hand against the inside of his skull. Kraven had just finished a morning of rough play with Bran and Tavi, his fur dusty, his muscles sore from tumbling and wrestling. The sun beat down on the pride's resting ground as the cubs lay panting in the shade.
But Kraven wasn't resting. Something pulsed in the back of his mind—foreign, intrusive, yet... oddly familiar.
Then he heard it.
Not with his ears, but with something deeper.
[System Awakening Detected… Establishing User Profile…]
His eyes snapped open. The world seemed to shift around him—not in appearance, but in awareness. He suddenly knew things, though no words were spoken. It was like opening a door to a room he never realized existed inside his mind.
A soft hum of information trickled in.
Name: [—]
Age: 0 (CUB)
Group: Dawn Pride
Tier: —
His breath caught.
What… is this? he thought. A system? Like in a game? In a novel?
In his past life, he had devoured fantasy stories—many with systems, stats, and magical progression. But this… this wasn't fiction anymore.
It was real.
System Feature: Passive Observation Activated.
As if prompted by his curiosity, a new window formed before him—not visual, but understood. He looked at Bran, who was currently gnawing on Tavi's ear.
Name: Bran
Age: 0 (CUB)
Group: Dawn Pride
Tier: 1 (Awakened)
Kraven blinked.
Bran has a tier… but I don't?
He turned his gaze toward one of the adult lionesses—the golden-eyed one who had swatted Finn for biting her tail.
Name: Lira
Age: 5 (ADULT)
Group: Dawn Pride
Tier: 2
Then he looked toward the towering figure in the shade—the lion, his father.
Name: Vardus
Age: 8 (ALPHA)
Group: Dawn Pride (Leader)
Tier: 3
His heart pounded.
Tier 3… that must mean power. Strength.
Kraven glanced around, studying the other cubs and lionesses. Most adults were Tier 2. Cubs ranged from Tier 0 to Tier 1.
He checked himself again.
Name: [—]
Age: 0 (CUB)
Group: Dawn Pride
Tier: —
It stung more than he wanted to admit.
No name. No tier. Was he… nothing?
Was he broken?
He stared at the blank name field. It pulsed faintly, almost expectantly.
A thought whispered through him.
Would you like to assign a name?
He didn't hesitate.
Kraven.
He claimed it—not the name he was born with, but the one he chose. The one that still carried his identity through death and rebirth.
The moment he did, the system pulsed again.
Name set: Kraven
Tier: 1 (Awakened)
His body shivered.
Not from cold, but from power.
It was subtle—a tingling in his muscles, a sharpness behind his eyes. His claws flexed reflexively, and he realized he could feel the weight of his own bones, the tension in his back legs, the rhythm of his breath.
He wasn't imagining it.
Naming himself had made him stronger.
Kraven rose to his feet and glanced around. Nothing had changed for the others. Bran was still wrestling, Tavi was yowling for milk, and their mother lay dozing peacefully.
But he had changed.
And with that change came questions.
What is this world? he wondered. Am I truly in the wild… or something more?
This didn't feel like Earth—not the Earth he knew. Real animals didn't have tiers or stats. Real cubs didn't awaken systems. This was something else. A new world. A fantasy world.
That idea thrilled and terrified him.
He looked once more to his father—Vardus, the Tier 3 lion whose very presence commanded the pride.
If Kraven wanted to rise…
If he wanted to survive…
He would have to climb.
And now, he finally had a way to start.