The moment Aren crossed into the trial forest, everything changed.
The mist, the cold, the silence… none of it felt normal.
Then something inside him stirred—a pulse like a heartbeat echoing through space.
[Limitless Evolution activates.]
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Hunter's Instinct]
Aren blinked.
The world sharpened.
He felt movement behind a rock before he saw it.
He sensed breathing behind a tree trunk before the branches shook.
It was as if the forest whispered its secrets to him.
He stepped forward.
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A low growl trembled through the branches above.
Aren didn't look up.
His body simply moved.
A blur of black fur leapt down—a panther—but he was already rolling sideways.
The beast hit the ground hard, twisted sharply, and lunged again.
Aren fired mid-roll.
The void arrow didn't aim for the kill.
It grazed the panther's shoulder, spinning it mid-air.
The beast snarled—angry now, cautious.
It adapts.
It circled him, quicker now, muscles trembling.
Aren waited, bow half-drawn.
The moment the beast shifted weight onto its front paw, Aren fired.
The void arrow curved mid-flight—
a slight spatial bend—
and buried itself in the panther's ribs.
The beast fell.
No pop-up appeared.
No system message.
Only silence.
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His instincts flared again.
Left.
Fast.
Low to the ground.
A boar-beast charged out, tusks tearing stone.
Aren jumped onto a tree root as the boar slammed below, missing by a breath.
He fired a void arrow downward.
The arrow blinked beneath the boar's belly—
CRACK!
The creature crashed, skidding across the ground.
Aren didn't pause.
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He wasn't hunting.
The beasts were coming to him.
Three wolves appeared from the thick mist, spreading out to flank him.
Hunter's Instinct painted their paths in Aren's mind like faint lines of motion.
They leapt all at once.
Aren stepped forward—
into the gap between all three attacks.
The wolves collided.
Aren fired two arrows in rapid succession.
The first pierced a throat.
The second tore through a spine.
The last wolf snarled, gaining its footing—
Aren threw a kick that sent it tumbling backward.
He shot it before it hit the ground.
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The forest rumbled.
Heavy.
Slow.
Powerful.
A hulking beast emerged—a three-eyed ape, taller than Aren and twice as heavy.
This one mattered.
[Beast Detected: Three-Eyed Ape — D Rank — Level 14]
The ape roared, shaking the leaves loose.
Aren didn't run.
The ape swung a massive arm.
Aren ducked, felt wind scrape his hair, and slid behind a tree.
The ape grabbed the trunk and ripped it out of the ground.
Strong… but slow.
It hurled the tree like a spear.
Aren sprinted sideways, void energy gathering in his palm.
He fired.
The arrow hit the ape's knee—not enough to kill, but enough to stagger.
The beast bellowed, stomping forward.
Aren fired again, this time at the ape's glowing third eye.
BOOM—!
The arrow blasted through it.
The ape convulsed once, then crashed into the ground.
[EXP +25]
[EXP: 63 / 100]
He was close to leveling up—but not yet.
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More beasts came.
Lesser ones.
Easy ones.
A lizard-beast hiding behind a log.
A bird-beast swooping from above.
A fox-mutant dashing from the underbrush.
Each died with one or two perfectly placed shots.
Aren moved like a shadow through the forest—
silent, efficient, precise.
But even so, leveling became noticeably slower with each kill.
The System seemed to resist his pace.
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A rustle.
Something massive slithered across stone.
Then the System pulsed:
[Beast Detected: Twin-Fang Serpent — D Rank — Level 15]
This one was dangerous.
The serpent struck with a hiss, fangs glowing green.
Aren jumped, twisting mid-air as the jaws snapped shut beneath him.
He fired downward.
The serpent jerked, scales cracking.
It coiled around a boulder and flung it toward him.
Aren rolled aside as the boulder smashed into the ground, sending dirt flying.
He released another void arrow—
this one curving slightly as it flew.
It pierced the serpent's jaw.
The beast writhed, then collapsed.
[EXP +30]
[Level Up!]
[Level 1 → Level 2]
[Free Stat Points +5]
[EXP: 7 /120]
Aren didn't look at his status for long.
More beasts lurked ahead.
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He fought a few more.
A stone-coated rat that tried to bite his ankle.
A rapid hare-mutant that nearly cut his cheek.
A feathered beast that swooped down in a surprise attack.
He killed them all, fast and clean.
The EXP increased slowly:
[EXP: 7 → 19 → 31 → 49 / 120]
Still far from Level 3.
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Then came the final beast he would face today.
Massive.
Armored.
Slow, but nearly unbreakable.
A turtle-beast emerged from the mud, shell as thick as stone.
This one was worth a pop-up:
[Beast Detected: Earthshell Turtle — D Rank — Level 16]
Aren tried firing at the shell.
The arrow bounced off.
He circled, looking for an opening.
The turtle snapped its jaws, lumbered forward, and tried to crush him under its weight.
Aren leapt onto its back, ran across the shell, and fired down into its eye.
The turtle roared, stumbling.
Aren jumped off and fired again—
this time at the gap between head and shell.
The void arrow slipped through and pierced deep.
The beast collapsed with a heavy thud.
[EXP +30]
[EXP: 79 / 120]
Aren exhaled slowly.
He would reach Level 3 soon.
Maybe early Level 4 by the end of the trial.
But Level 5?
Not today.
And something told him he'd need Level 5 very, very soon.
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When he stepped out of the forest, whispers spread like wildfire.
"He's already Level 2?"
"He hunted the entire forest alone…"
"That's not normal."
"He's a monster."
Kale's eyes trembled with fear.
Talen looked pale.
And Kane…
Kane simply approached with a complicated expression.
"Aren," he said quietly.
"You're coming with me."
Aren nodded, sensing a tension in the air.
Something had gone wrong in the academy.
And deep beneath the ground, something ancient stirred—
"The child grows faster than the world can contain…"