The forest were very spooky. The wind in the trees sounded like people whispering. Zephyr moved very quietly. He was very fast, and his feet made no noise on the green moss. He walked far away from the village until everything became very quiet and scary.
At first, he was bored. Then, he heard a noise in the bushes. A Blood Rabbit jumped out. It was a big, bunny with red fur and white eyes. A Tier 1 peak monster It hissed at him and got ready to jump at his neck.
The rabbit jumped like a red flash. But to Zephyr, the rabbit looked like it was moving in slow motion.
He moved his hand very fast. His steel sword cut through the blood rabbit neck in clean cut. The rabbit's body fell to the ground in two pieces.
Everything was quiet. Zephyr looked down at the dead rabbit. It smelled like blood and the forest. He felt a little sick in his stomach.
This wasn't a wooden toy, it was a real living thing that he had killed. His hands shook a little as he reached in to find the mana core. It was a tiny, glowing stone near the rabbit's head, and his fingers got covered in red blood.
"Stay strong," he told himself. He wiped the blood off on the wet grass.
"This rabbit was easy. The real test is deeper in the woods. This blood rabbit is just a snack for the big monsters I want to find."
As Zephyr pushed deeper into the forest, the canopy grew thicker, blocking out the sun and plunging the forest into a perpetual twilight.
The "Novice" rank monster —the rabbits, the small horned cats—disappeared, replaced by an oppressive aura that made the hair on Zephyr's neck stand up
Zephyr stopped moving. He could not see anything yet, but he felt something scary nearby. A low growl came from the shadows of a giant, old tree. Two glowing yellow eyes opened in the dark, watching him breathe.
This was a Tier 2 Peak rank shadow panther.
The panther did not make a sound. It jumped at him as quietly as a falling leaf. Zephyr moved his sword just in time to block. When the panther hit his sword, it felt like being hit by a fast-moving wagon. The force shook his whole body.
"Gah!" Zephyr grunted. His arms hurt very badly. The only reason his bones did not snap like dry sticks was because his body had become very tough from all his hard training.
He was thrown backward, skidding through the dirt and rotting leaves. The panther landed gracefully, its black fur absorbing what little light remained. It began to circle him, a liquid shadow of death. It was faster than him, and its raw physical power was immense.
Zephyr realized with a jolt of adrenaline that his high stats wouldn't win this fight alone—he needed to use sword technique of war god.
God of War Heir... Zephyr thought, his Will sparking to life, a cold fire burning in his chest. I am the heir to the God of War. I don't retreat. I don't fear. I dominate.
The panther charged again, its maw open to crush his skull. This time, Zephyr didn't block. He waited until the last possible microsecond, his heart rate dropping as the senses kicked in. He stepped into the beast's guard, pivoting his hips
"First Form: Shadow Step! "Zephyr whispered"
In a sudden, violent burst of speed, Zephyr's body seemed to flicker. To the panther, it was as if its prey had turned into a ghost.
Zephyr didn't just move he vanished from the monster direct line of sight and reappeared directly beneath its underbelly as it soared through the air.
The sheer force of the movement made his muscles scream, but he was already moving into his next sequence.
As the panther twisted its massive body in mid-air to find him, Zephyr pointed his blade upward, channeling his mana into a disruptive wave.
A pulse of jagged, colorless energy erupted from the sword's tip. It didn't cut the flesh, but it did something far worse. It severed the panther's connection to the world around it.
The beast's amber eyes went dull; its whiskers, which usually felt the vibrations of the wind, went numb. For a crucial second the Tier 2 Peak predator was blind, deaf, and disconnected from the mana in the air. It was a falling weight of meat, no longer a hunter.
Zephyr didn't hesitate. He planted his feet, his cracked rib throbbing with a dull fire, and gripped his hilt so hard the steel groaned. He drew every drop of his 1500 Mana and concentrated it into the edge of his blade.
"Third Form: Lethality Strike!"
The sword didn't just swing; it roared. A vertical arc of pure, destructive power carved through the air.
The blade met the panther's chest and passed through it like a hot wire through wax.
The force of the blow was so immense that the ground beneath Zephyr cracked, and a shockwave cleared the falling leaves for ten meters in every direction.
The Shadow Panther hit the ground in two distinct halves. It didn't even have time to scream.
Zephyr looked at his blade. Sure enough, a web of cracks had spread across the metal. The Lethality Strike had been too much for a normal weapon to handle. He sighed, feeling the weight of the exhaustion finally hitting him.
"Tier 2 Peak... done," he whispered, his voice cracking.
He walked over to the panther's remains and carefully extracted the mana core. It was much larger than the rabbit's, glowing with a deep, pulsing violet light. This was the proof of his victory. This was the "fruit" Seres had demanded.
____________
As the sun began to set, casting long, orange shadows across the Stoneheaven village, Seres and Lina stood by the gate. Lina was pacing, her hands clenched. "It's getting late, Dad. He's been gone for hours. What if—"
"Quiet," Seres interrupted, his eyes fixed on the forest path. His heart was hammering against his ribs, but he refused to show it. If I go in now, I ruin him chance. I have to trust his him.
Zephyr walked with a slight limp, his clothes torn and stained with dark blood. His face was smudged with dirt, but his eyes... his eyes were different.
They held the cold, tempered steel of someone who had looked into the abyss and didn't blink.
He stopped in front of his father and held out his hand. In his palm sat the Tier 2 Peak mana core, its violet light reflecting in Seres' stunned eyes.
"I'm back, Dad," Zephyr said simply. "And I'm hungry."
Lina let out a sob of relief and rushed forward, hugging him so hard he winced. "You idiot! Look at you! You're covered in blood!"
Seres didn't move for a long moment. He looked at the core, then at the shattered sword at Zephyr's waist, and finally at his son. A slow, proud smile spread across his face—a smile that held a hint of fear for the world that would one day have to face this boy.
"The core is high quality," Seres said, his voice thick with emotion. "Go inside. Your mother is preparing a feast. Tomorrow... tomorrow we don't train. Tomorrow, we celebrate."
Zephyr nodded, allowing Lina to lead him toward the house. As he crossed the threshold, he looked back at the forest one last time. He knew this was only the beginning. The Tier 2 Peak was just a stepping stone.