Shouren stayed like that for a while. Nothing on the outside had changed, but the boy could feel something inside had undergone a metamorphosis. He’d shed a burden he didn’t know he’d been carrying.

  “Awooo!”

  Out of nowhere, a howl pierced the silent night, breaking Shouren out of his reverie. Soon, other howls joined the first one in bestial harmony.

  Shouren wiped away the blood from his face and stood up with the black fox’s leg.

  “Time to leave.”

  Giving the remaining carcass one final glimpse, the boy searched for another path to escape. The bear’s residual scent was almost gone, and in a short while, the lingering scavengers would rush to this area.

  “I don’t have much time, damned hells.”

  The howls were getting closer and closer. It sounded like a wolf pack, but Shouren didn’t want to wait to find out. The boy surveyed the area and rather than take an open trail, he decided to use his old strategy of traveling in the thick of the trees and shrubbery.

  The black fox’s blood was still coated over his skin, so it was better to use the woodland to obscure his traces. Only question was where should he go?

  “Wait, I’m drenched in the fox’s blood. Why not just use it? The best place to hide is… right here.”

  Shouren threw away his stick and placed the fox’s leg between his teeth, freeing up both his hands. The young boy promptly bolted to the nearest tree and started climbing it. It was a big risk, and Shouren hoped the incoming monsters wouldn’t try to decipher why the same smell of blood was coming from two different places, but this was his best chance of survival.

  He wasn’t skilled enough to hide his tracks, meaning the monsters would have eventually tracked him down. He could use the fox’s blood to muddle their senses.

  Grunting through his muffled mouth, Shouren slowly scaled up the tree. The bark was thick enough to hold his weight and had plenty of grooves to make his climb workable. The boy didn’t stop at the first layer of branches and inched higher. His back strained with effort, as the muscles hadn’t been abused to this extent ever.

  The howls were almost upon him. The air vibrated with intensity at the pack’s approach.

  “I can’t climb more.”

  Shouren wheezed out of breath and scuttled to the extending branch. His thigh were beginning to chaff as well. He wasn’t at the tallest point of the tree, but nor was he at the lowest layer. This should be high enough for the monsters to not detect him.

  “AWOOO!”

  This time, Shouren could hear the monster howling right below him. Peeking down, the boy saw a group of four canine beasts surrounding fox carcass. They looked like wolves, but slightly smaller and with a wiry frame. One of them was larger and packed a bit more dense muscle, leading Shouren to believe it was the alpha.

  There were lowly Tier 0 dog-like monsters, but each of them could tear apart Shouren in a matter of seconds.

  The boy calmly watched the pack chew through the leftover flesh. The alpha gnawed on the remaining fore leg and cracked the bone, lapping up the marrow. There wasn’t much meat left on the carcass, but the pack gorged on it regardless.

  Shouren continued to watch them, hoping he’d managed to evade their senses. Judging by their appearance, the dog-like monsters didn’t seem to be as sharp as normal wolves.

  “Brr..”

  The alpha abruptly raised its snout to the air and sniffed sharply. The 3 other pack monsters eyed their leader in excitement. Is there another hunt?

  Shouren’s heart palpitated. He gripped the tree trunk tightly with one hand and the other held on to the fox’s leg. Did the alpha smell me?

  On the ground, the alpha let out a victorious howl and dashed in the original direction Shouren had come from. The pack yipped in elation and trailed behind their leader, letting out battle howls. The hunt continued.

  “Did they smell my old tracks, or was there another bloody fight between monsters nearby?”

  Shouren waited for a few minutes to check the pack wasn’t returning and let out a sigh of relief. Whatever drew their attention, he was glad that he escaped from their clutches. Leaning against the trunk, Shouren relaxed his aching and weary body.

  He was starving and thirsty.

  Now that the immediate danger was gone, his body screamed to sleep and recover. However, he needed to do one task before he shut his eyes.

  Bringing the fox’s leg closer to his face, Shouren smiled in triumph. With this monster leg, he could use the bone to actually hurt a Tier 0 monster. He finally had a weapon and answer to how he would get out of this dungeon alive.

  The leg wasn’t sharp enough to impale, but Shouren could use it as a club to batter unsuspecting monsters in ambush. He could bite through the flesh with his teeth, but the Tier 0 bone was another level of hardness. His strength was lacking to break the bone apart and sharpen its edges.

  “No, this is fine. Before I had nothing, but now I have a chance of winning.”

  Shouren raised the leg in the air, his face beaming with hope.

  “Still no blighted fruits in the dungeon.”

  His victory was interrupted by his stomach growling in desperation. Even from this vantage point, Shouren couldn’t see any trees with fruit. What was he supposed to eat?

  His eyes shifted over the raised fox’s leg.

  There was still some flesh around it. Well, he only needed the bone to fight.

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  “I can’t believe I’m going to do this, ugh.”

  Bile threatened to rise in his throat, but Shouren suppressed it down. His hazel eyes stood unwavered on the fox’s leg. He’d already been baptized by the monster’s blood, eating its raw flesh shouldn’t be too bad.

  He couldn’t risk lighting a fire to cook the flesh, let alone the fact that Shouren didn’t even know how to start a fire.

  Before his stomach could change its mind, Shouren latched on to the leg with his jaws and tore out the stringy flesh.

  “Grah! It tastes like vile leathery jerky.”

  The boy forcefully gulped the bite down, ingesting part of the hide as well. The meat was gamey and the texture akin to moist leather. Shouren doubted if the meat would even taste edible after roasting. It was that revolting.

  Yet the boy took his second bite.

  And third.

  He needed the energy if he was going to survive tomorrow. However, this time, Shouren would bring the fight to the monsters.

  Something splattered on his face.

  The young boy grumbled in annoyance.

  It splattered again. And also on his shoulder.

  Shouren sleepily opened his hazel eyes to leer at whatever was causing the disturbance. His grandma probably had a chore for him.

  “Huh?”

  The boy swiftly got up in shock. He wasn’t home with his grandma, but inside the Akarsha Dungeon. Moreover, it was starting to rain. It was the pattering of the raindrops that had woken him up. Shouren was just relieved that he didn’t fall down the tree during the night.

  “Thank you, dungeon! I won’t curse at you anymore.”

  Shouren joyfully opened his parched mouth and waited for the raindrops to coalesce enough for a small gulp. After a few minutes, Shouren accumulated enough for a mouthful and quickly swallowed it down.

  It was heavenly sweet.

  Just as he was about to open his mouth again for a second gulp, Shouren heard something shuffling below him.

  “Is that a cat?”

  A small and lithe gray monster was bent over the carcass, scraping away the tiny bits of flesh left on the bone. The fox’s remains were now mostly a skeleton. While Shouren was asleep, a multitude of scavengers must have come to partake on the free meal.

  He was glad it was raining, as the torrent of water had likely extinguished all of Shouren’s earlier tracks.

  “Should I sneak behind it?”

  Shouren calculated the risks. He had a weapon now, the fox’s bone, and the gray cat was small enough that Shouren thought he had a shot at defeating it.

  In the end, Shouren shook his head. Cat-like monsters would generally be agile, and it could toy with him using its speed. He needed a slow monster that he could get one powerful blow on.

  Patiently waiting for the cat to have his fill, Shouren started to climb down the tree. The rain shower would dampen the sound, and if a weaker Tier 0 monster did show up, Shouren wanted to be low enough to the ground to ambush it.

  Whether or not the gray cat heard Shouren climbing down, in the next second, it bolted away from the pile of bones and left the area.

  Shouren eventually made to the first layer of the branches was low enough to quickly climb down the tree. Now, he had to wait for another scavenger.

  Nothing showed up for a few minutes.

  The unceasing rain poured through the forest, eliciting a musty and earthy aroma.

  Deciding not to waste the precious time, Shouren opened his mouth and waited for it to fill with rainwater. It only took a few seconds to gather a mouthful this time. Repeating this for a few times, the boy was no longer thirsty.

  “Hmm?”

  Shouren sensed movement below. There was nothing there. His eyes darted around in confusion until he sensed it again. It was coming directly under him.

  “It’s coming from underneath the soil.”

  The boy watched in amazement as a dull pink bulbous head poked out of the soil and laid still in motion.

  It doesn’t have any eyes.

  Shouren noticed in fascination at the disgusting creature. It was a worm-based monster. The boy shuffled to the next branch until he was directly above the worm and the fox skeleton.

  After confirming that no other predators were coming, the dull pink worm crawled the rest of its body out of the soil and latched its creepy jaw onto the fox’s spine. The worm didn’t seem to have a tough flesh, its body gelatinous and half the size of Shouren.

  This was definitely a Tier 0 monster. A normal worm wouldn’t be this large.

  The worm was making quick work of the fox’s spine and moving up to the skull. Shouren didn’t have enough time. He underestimated how quickly this worm was going to devour the bones.

  A dangerous plan began to take root inside the boy’s mind.

  “I’m sorry, grandma.”

  The plan was perilous enough that Shouren didn’t think he’d make it unscathed. But the boy was willing to risk it. If the worm finished all the bones, there would be no more bait for Shouren’s ambush. He needed to kill the worm now.

  Gripping the fox bone with both hands, Shouren aimed the end at the worm’s head. He had a clear trajectory down. The fall wouldn’t be too bad if he softened the landing with a tumble.

  The worm was eating the skull now.

  The veins on Shouren’s hand bulged as he tightened his grip on the bone.

  This isn’t such a bad way to die.

  The boy flashed a morbid grin and then leaped off the branch.

  His messy dark hair fluttered in the wet wind, as the boy’s hazel eyes glowed under the stormy rain.

  “ARGHHH!”

  As he was almost upon the worm, Shouren roared with all the bloodlust pent up inside him. In that fraction of a second, the worm suddenly twisted its head above, its multiple rows of sharp teeth unfurling at Shouren.

  Crap! It’s blind, not deaf!

  Shouren cursed. The plan was to use the momentum of the fall to land the strongest blow on the back of the worm’s head. But now the worm’s razor teeth were aimed at Shouren.

  Despite the worm detecting Shouren, it still couldn’t evade the attack.

  The fox bone drilled through the worm’s mouth, the sheer gravity pulverizing the soft brain on contact. Something flashed in the corner of his vision, but the boy didn’t notice it.

  With the bone lodged in the mouth, Shouren didn’t have leeway for a safe landing, and felt the worm’s teeth scrape his hand and wrist.

  Crack.

  Something broke.

  Unbearable pain drowned Shouren’s senses. His vision got bleary and it wasn’t due to the rain. He couldn’t move.

  I can’t feel my legs.

  The boy realized in horror. He tried to turn his head, but it wouldn’t respond. He could still move his right arm though. It was only that Shouren had an inkling of what cracked in his body.

  It was his spine.

  It was the crack he heard.

  If only he didn’t alert the worm in the end, he could have controlled his fall. But it was too late now. With his spine shattered, he couldn’t move his legs and would soon succumb to his injuries. At least he’d taken down the monster with him. Who’d believe him? A tierless killing a Tier 0 monster.

  “Haha..ghuk…”

  Shouren chuckled dryly, but was interrupted with an agonizing cough. He spat out the blood. His head was frozen in place, but then he saw the worm’s body glow with lumen.

  Two gray cards hovered over the dead worm. One of them pulsated with denser lumen than the other one.

  One of them was a class card! It was only a common class card, but still a class card.

  Shouren couldn’t read the card with his failing vision. He shook his working arm which was still wedged inside the monster’s mouth, and reached for the class card. He wanted to bring it closer so he could read what class it was.

  He’d always dreamed of owning an Epic class, but he’d take whatever chance he could get to fight. Even if it was a lowly common class card.

  His fingers grasped the gray card, but Shouren struggled to bring it closer. His tendons were severed from the elbow.

  How am I even alive?

  Shouren mocked himself. His vision was now gone as well and only pitch darkness surrounded him. His only blessing was that the adrenaline was numbing all his pain.

  His fingers were still touching the class card.

  What do I have to lose? I’m dead either way.

  Shouren smiled with his eyes closed, and willed the card inside his heart.

  And the world turned black.

  [Awakening initiated… error… target pathways broken… connection to soul fragmented…]

  […]

  [Detected traces of Heritage… re-establishing connection to soul… Success]

  [Common class card detected: Cardsmith… connecting class to soul… error]

  [/.zb,mzg\;ljasd]

  […]

  [System command overridden… Forced Awakening initiated]

  [Attributes Unlocked… Trait Unlocked… error]

  [xsdg-81-4;\:ga;xs]

  […]

  [System command overridden… Awakening Complete]

  [Successful Tier 0 Evolution]