It had been a month since my transmigration.
No voices.
No people.
Sometimes, when the jungle went quiet, the silence pressed in so hard it felt like my mind was folding in on itself. I didn't let it linger. If I stopped moving, stopped thinking, that was when things would break.
So I trained.
I built.
I survived.
Over time, my system panel changed—quietly, steadily, reflecting the months of blood, sweat, and near-death lessons.
Climbing – Lv 4
Hand-to-Hand Combat – Lv 4
Movement for basic combat scenarios
Spearmanship – Lv 5
Anatomy – Lv 3
Internal structure comprehension
Craftsmanship – Lv 3
Engineering – Lv 2
Mechanics and construction
Acrobatics – Lv 4
Flexibility and controlled body movement
Exercise – Lv 4
My body changed.
Cold didn't bite as hard. Heat no longer drained me the way it once had. Muscle layered over bone, tendons hardened, and every movement became deliberate.
Within a hundred-meter radius, I had expanded my territory. I hunted beasts, drove off predators, and learned the rhythms of the jungle. I improved my living conditions—first crude shelters, then kilns, then finally a wooden house reinforced with hardened supports.
Rain transformed the forest. The jungle breathed, grew louder, more dangerous.
I searched for metal.
When I found deposits, I experimented—smelting, shaping, refining. My first iron tools were ugly, uneven, but sharp enough to matter.
I was improving.
Not without cost.
Some encounters nearly ended me. Once, a massive lizard hunted me for hours. I couldn't fight it. I survived only by hiding in a burrow I'd dug days earlier, barely breathing as it passed overhead.
After that, I reinforced my defenses.
Traps.
Bows and arrows.
Basic medicine.
Medicine – Lv 3
I learned to clean wounds, set bones, and slow bleeding. Pain became familiar. Fear became manageable.
More than anything, I realized something critical.
"This panel doesn't just increase strength," I muttered one night. "It increases potential."
Memory sharpened.
Calculations came faster.
My body and mind were becoming a single, efficient system.
That was when I started underwater training.
Weighted stone tied to my waist. Spear in hand. Breath held.
I thrust.
Again.
Again.
"Come on… sweep… straight… side… spine…"
Breathing – Lv 4
Pressure crushed my lungs. My heartbeat slowed. Everything narrowed.
Then—
Something clicked.
My strike stopped being just motion.
Energy flowed.
I didn't understand it. I couldn't name it. But the moment the spear moved—
BOOM.
The river exploded upward, water surging more than a meter high.
I burst to the surface, gasping, heart hammering.
"What… what was that?"
The system answered.
Spearmanship Skill Evolved
Art of the Spear: Explosive Thrust
Classification: Extraordinary Class
A refined method that transmits shockwaves through the spear, causing internal damage beyond physical penetration.
I stared at the panel, hands trembling.
"…So this is the next level."
Not strength.
Not speed.
But how energy moved through my body.
The unfamiliar sensations lingered—new pathways, new instincts.
Exercise – Lv 4 (Stabilized)
I exhaled slowly.
"Let's stop here for today."
I dragged myself back to shore, exhaustion finally catching up.
This wasn't an ending.
It wasn't even a milestone.
As I lay back, staring at the canopy above, one thought settled clearly in my mind.
"This is just the beginning."