Morning light filtered through the canopy as John stretched his wings, muscles rippling beneath obsidian-black scales. Another day. Another hunt. Another step toward Tier 6.
His fire burned hotter than before. His instincts were sharper. Every movement felt smoother—almost effortless. But despite the confidence filling his body, something else gnawed quietly at the edges of his awareness.
A faint unease.
A whisper in the back of his mind telling him something was wrong.
He scanned the forest below. The wind carried scents of damp soil, rotting leaves, and faint traces of distant prey—but nothing out of the ordinary.
No danger. No predators.
Yet the feeling would not leave him.
"Something's off… but what?" he muttered.
He shook the thought aside. If danger existed, he would face it. His fire had been forged in constant combat; fear was a stranger to him now.
Hunting Through the Quiet
John glided through the forest, searching for monsters strong enough to feed his growing hunger for power.
He found a Tier 4 rockfang boar.
It died instantly.
[EXP Gained: 1,300]
A Tier 3 wolf pack lunged from the bushes.
He swatted them aside with a single wingbeat.
[EXP Gained: 200]
[EXP Gained: 240]
[EXP Gained: 150]
Pathetic.
His claws dripped with their blood, but his expression didn't change. These creatures barely qualified as training material now. Their experience rewards were so minuscule he could practically feel the waste of time.
"Useless," he growled. "I'll need Tier 5s at least… preferably Tier 6s."
But those were becoming rare.
Too rare.
Over the past week, Tier 5 monsters had avoided him altogether or fled into deeper regions. Tier 6 monsters, usually territorial and aggressive, now seemed strangely absent.
As if something was pushing them away.
Or hunting them.
The unease in his chest tightened again—but John forced himself to ignore it.
"It doesn't matter. If they're hiding, I'll drag them out."
Dragon arrogance?
Pride?
The natural dominance of his species?
Maybe. He didn't deny it.
But caution still lingered in his mind. Pride alone didn't win fights—strategy did.
The Forest Feels Different
By mid-day, John had killed four more monsters—none worth mentioning.
Not a single Tier 5 appeared.
Not a single roar echoed in the distance.
The forest wasn't just quiet…
It was empty.
Halfway through devouring a stone-horn deer, he stopped. The meat hung from his jaws as his eyes narrowed.
His Predator's Instinct pulsed.
Not a warning.
Not danger.
Something else.
A shift.
A disturbance.
A presence so distant his senses couldn't grasp it.
"Again…" John muttered. "What is it I'm feeling?"
He searched the trees, the winds, the sounds of the forest—but there was nothing. No scent, no movement, no aura.
Just that unnerving sense of wrongness, lurking beyond the horizon of his perception.
The system remained silent as well.
No alerts.
No warnings.
No notifications.
Which only made it more unsettling.
Planning the Next Step
John took off again, soaring over the treetops. The wind felt colder than usual, brushing against his scales like thin needles.
He looked south.
Beyond his current territory lay deeper, darker parts of the forest. Places untouched by sunlight. Regions rumored to hold ancient beasts and intelligent monsters.
He had avoided that direction for a reason.
Strong monsters lived there. Monsters that had seen centuries pass. Monsters that could, potentially, kill him.
John flexed his claws.
"Tier 3 monsters give me barely anything. Tier 4s might as well be insects. Tier 5s are scarce. And Tier 6s…" He scowled. "Where did they go?"
Was something forcing them to move?
Were they migrating out of fear?
Or were they being hunted—by something stronger than all of them?
He gritted his teeth.
He needed EXP.
He needed stronger opponents.
He needed Tier 6 monsters to push past his current limit.
And the only place left…
Was the south.
The deeper forest.
"Dangerous or not," John growled, "I won't stagnate."
The decision was made.
But a cold thought whispered in his mind:
What if something else already claimed that region?
His dragon pride hissed at the idea.
But the part of him that survived by intelligence, not instinct, remained wary.
He wasn't remotely afraid.
But he wasn't reckless.
If something stronger lurked in the darkness, challenging it blindly would be suicide.
So he would approach carefully—strike with precision, not arrogance.
Still… that uneasy feeling crawled along his spine again.
A presence.
A distant tremor in the world.
Something was moving.
Something big.
Something powerful.
He just couldn't sense it fully yet.
John snarled. "Whatever it is, it won't stop me."
His wings beat once, loud and firm, shaking loose leaves from the branches. He rose into the sky, circling his domain one more time before heading toward the southern horizon.
But even as he flew…
The forest remained unnaturally quiet.
The air felt heavy.
The faint tremors beneath the ground grew a little stronger.
Far to the west, an ancient titan continued walking—unseen, unknown, but drawing ever closer.
And John, proud and determined, still had no idea.
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