After what felt like days of walking through the cold, unfamiliar forest, Shad Darc finally decided to rest.
He was approaching his limit, and managing his remaining energy had become necessary. After all, he had been in this world for approximately five days without food or water.
Fortunately, he had found a suitable resting spot beneath a massive tree. Its broad canopy provided enough shade to shield him from the sunlight, though the forest was hardly as warm as it should have been.
Shad stepped beneath the tree and considered taking a short nap.
The thought lasted only a moment.
He quickly dismissed it.
Sleeping in an unfamiliar environment, while still unable to comprehend the full extent of his situation, would be foolish. He had no idea what kind of creatures inhabited the forest. Something could attack him—or worse, devour him—while he slept.
"What the hell? Who even put that thought in my head?"
He said it aloud, then inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, forcing himself to relax.
Once he had settled beneath the tree, his eyes began to wander across the surroundings without focusing on anything in particular.
Then he noticed something strange.
Shad's gaze moved from one tree to another.
Almost every tree in the forest was abnormally large. Their trunks were enormous, their branches stretched far above him, and their leaves were far bigger than anything he had encountered on Earth.
Yet, until now, his mind had treated them as ordinary.
It wasn't that the trees had changed. His perception of them had.
His brain had apparently struggled to register the true scale of his surroundings, forcing him to unconsciously interpret the abnormal as normal. Now that the realization had finally settled in, his entire perspective shifted.
The trees no longer looked like the familiar vegetation he had grown accustomed to.
They looked monstrous.
Even the flowers and leaves were unnaturally large.
For a moment, Shad wondered whether he had been hallucinating since arriving in this world and had only just regained his senses.
"Damn."
He rubbed his face.
"Was I under some kind of mental manipulation this entire time, or is it something else?"
'Probably the latter.'
One of his identities finally responded.
"Hmm. Is that so?"
No one answered.
Shad waited for a moment, but the others remained silent.
"Well, there's no point worrying about it now. I'll find the answer eventually."
He leaned his head against the tree.
"That is, assuming I survive long enough."
A mocking laugh escaped his lips.
After a brief pause, Shad shifted his attention to a more pressing matter.
His battles.
Since killing the bear-like creature and the giant snake, he hadn't properly reflected on either encounter. He had focused on survival, recovery, and understanding Energy Flow, leaving little time to examine the decisions he had made—or the way his opponents had fought.
Now, he replayed both battles in his mind.
The bear-like creature had been abnormally fast for its massive size, even if that speed had lasted only for brief moments. The giant snake, on the other hand, had moved with an unnatural silence despite its enormous body.
Shad frowned.
"Now that I think about it..."
His gaze shifted toward the surrounding trees.
"Only after seeing the true size of these trees and plants have I been able to understand the actual scale of the creatures I fought."
The realization struck him with enough force to make him flinch.
He fell silent.
The creatures had been far larger than he initially believed. Their true sizes were difficult to estimate, especially now that he understood how severely his perception had distorted his surroundings.
A faint chill ran through him.
He had been lucky.
Shad didn't particularly believe in luck. He preferred preparation, observation, and decisive action. But this time, he couldn't deny the truth.
He had survived those encounters by a narrow margin.
If he had been even slightly more careless, he would have died.
"Damn. Talk about luck."
He shook his head.
"What would have happened if I'd seen them for what they truly were from the beginning?"
His thoughts began to wander, but he quickly forced them back into order.
"Forget it. What matters is that I'm alive..."
His eyes narrowed.
"...and they're not."
Shad took several slow breaths until his mind settled.
"Now, where was I?"
He paused.
"Oh, right."
He returned to the battles.
Although his memories weren't perfectly accurate, replaying the encounters still allowed him to extract useful information. Even incomplete observations could become valuable if he analyzed them carefully.
The first thing he considered was the creatures' movements.
He couldn't determine whether either creature had instinctively used Energy Flow. He didn't even know if they possessed any understanding of it.
But that wasn't his primary concern.
What mattered was how they moved and fought.
If he could understand the principles behind their movements, he might be able to apply them to his own Energy Flow training.
Another task had already been added to his growing list.
For the bear-like creature, his goal would be to temporarily increase his speed and physical power.
Until now, Shad had mainly considered using Energy Flow actively during combat—reinforcing his body when he needed greater strength or durability.
But the creature had shown him another possibility.
Instead of constantly maintaining reinforcement, he could learn to trigger it passively and momentarily.
A sudden increase in speed.
A brief surge of power.
A movement that appeared ordinary until the instant it became lethal.
Such applications could improve his efficiency and create opportunities for surprise attacks.
'As for the giant snake...'
Shad's expression became more serious.
'Stealth and movement proficiency.'
The snake had moved far too quietly for its size. If he could reproduce even a fraction of that ability through Energy Flow, he could approach enemies without being detected and launch attacks before they had time to react.
But that would be considerably more difficult than increasing his speed or power.
Shad released a mental sigh.
"One problem at a time."
He pushed himself to his feet and adjusted the weapons attached to his body.
"Well, let's keep moving. I can't afford to waste any more time."
With that, Shad left the shade of the enormous tree and continued deeper into the strange forest.