[New quest: Your path begins!
Quest description: To face the challenges and enemies ahead, you must first build your strength.
Hunt 5 horned rabbits and 5 nature wolves.
Quest reward: +2 to each attribute (other than essence)]
'Hmm the reward isn't that enticing but the exp I will get from the creatures might be worth it.'
Cleve stretched his newly healed limbs, marveling at how the regeneration had worked.
The broken ribs that had made every breath agony were now whole.
His arm moved freely, without the grinding pain of fractured bone.
Even the bruises had faded to nothing more than faint yellow marks on his pale skin.
The rain had stopped, leaving the forest floor damp and glistening.
Droplets clung to leaves like tiny crystals, and the air smelled clean—earthy and fresh in a way that reminded him this wasn't the polluted world he'd left behind.
This was Trae, a world where magic flowed through the very ground beneath his feet, even if he couldn't access it yet.
He activated his claws again, watching as his fingernails extended into sharp, curved points.
They weren't particularly long—maybe an inch and a half—but they were solid and razor-sharp.
More importantly, they felt natural, as if they'd always been part of him.
"Alright," he muttered, scanning the treeline. "Five horned rabbits and five nature wolves. Let's see what this world has to offer."
The forest around Hora City was considered safe territory—a training ground for academy students and a place where merchants could travel without hiring expensive guards.
But safe was relative.
The creatures here might not be apex predators, but they could still kill an unprepared human.
Cleve moved deeper into the woods, his footsteps surprisingly quiet on the wet leaves.
The original Cleve's memories told him that nature wolves were pack hunters, roughly the size of large dogs but with intelligence that bordered on cunning.
They had thick, moss-colored fur that helped them blend with their surroundings, and their bite could crush bone.
Horned rabbits, on the other hand, were deceptively dangerous. Their regeneration made them difficult to kill quickly, and their horns could punch through leather armor with ease and put a good amount of force on bulletproof armor.
Most people underestimated them because they looked like oversized bunnies—right up until one gored them through the stomach.
A rustling in the underbrush caught his attention. Cleve froze, listening.
The sound came again, closer this time, accompanied by the soft thump of something hopping across the forest floor.
Another horned rabbit emerged from behind a fallen log, this one larger than the first.
Its horn was longer too, spiraling like a unicorn's but stained with what looked like dried blood.
The creature's red eyes fixed on Cleve with an intelligence that made his skin crawl.
This one didn't charge immediately.
Instead, it circled him, keeping its distance, studying him like a predator sizing up potential prey.
Cleve realized that the rabbit was hunting him, not the other way around.
The rabbit feinted left, then darted right, trying to get behind him.
Cleve spun to keep it in sight, his claws extended and ready.
The creature was faster than the first one, more experienced.
It had probably killed before.
Without warning, the rabbit launched itself at his legs, aiming to hamstring him.
Cleve jumped backward, but not quite fast enough.
The horn scraped along his thigh, tearing through the tattered fabric of his pants and drawing a line of blood.
The wound burned, but it wasn't deep.
More importantly, he could already feel the minor regeneration working, the bleeding slowing to a trickle.
The rabbit landed and immediately spun for another attack.
This time, Cleve was ready.
As it leaped toward his chest, he sidestepped and brought his claws down in a vicious arc.
The sharp points caught the creature across its flank, opening four parallel gashes that sprayed blood across the forest floor.
The rabbit squealed—a sound that was far too creepy for comfort—and stumbled.
But instead of falling, it began to glow with a faint green light.
The wounds on its side started to close, the torn flesh knitting itself back together.
"Of course," Cleve muttered. "You can regenerate too."
The rabbit's regeneration was faster than his own, but it wasn't instant.
He had maybe ten seconds before it would be back to full strength.
Cleve lunged forward, grabbing the creature by its horn before it could hop away.
The rabbit thrashed wildly, its claws raking across his arms, but he held on.
With his free hand, he drove his claws deep into the rabbit's throat, then twisted.
The creature's struggles grew weaker, then stopped entirely. Green light flickered and died.
[You have killed a horned rabbit. +20 exp]
Cleve released the corpse and stepped back, breathing hard. His arms were covered in scratches, but they were already beginning to heal.
The regeneration trait was proving more valuable than he'd initially thought.
He contemplated using assimilation on the horned rabbits again, wondering what he would gain by doing so, in the end he decided to do it.
"Assimilation," he said, placing his hand on the dead rabbit.
[You have successfully assimilated a physical trait (Enhanced Reflexes). Your reaction time has been permanently improved.]
Immediately, Cleve felt the change.
The world seemed to slow slightly, or rather, his perception of it sharpened.
He could track the movement of individual raindrops as they fell from the leaves above.
When a bird took flight from a nearby branch, he could follow its path with perfect clarity.
A howl echoed through the forest, long and mournful. Then another, from a different direction. And another.
Nature wolves.
Cleve's enhanced reflexes kicked in as he spun toward the sound.
Three pairs of glowing yellow eyes watched him from the shadows between the trees.
The wolves had been drawn by the scent of blood, and now they were deciding whether he was prey or predator.
The largest wolf stepped forward, its moss-green fur rippling with muscle.
It was easily twice the size of any wolf from Earth, with fangs that gleamed like ivory daggers.
The other two flanked it, moving with the coordinated precision of experienced pack hunters.
Cleve backed against a large oak tree, ensuring they couldn't surround him completely.
His claws extended to their full length, and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest.
Three wolves were a different challenge entirely from a single rabbit.
The alpha wolf tilted its head, studying him.
Then it did something that made Cleve's blood run cold—it smiled, lips pulling back to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth.
These weren't just animals.
They were intelligent, and they knew exactly what they were doing.
The attack came from three directions at once.
The alpha charged straight at him while the other two came from the sides, trying to flank him despite the tree at his back.
Cleve's enhanced reflexes saved his life—he could see the attack developing, could track all three wolves simultaneously.
He dropped to one knee as the alpha leaped over him, its claws raking the bark where his head had been.
At the same time, he lashed out with both hands, catching the left-side wolf across the muzzle with his claws.
The creature yelped and stumbled, blood streaming from four deep gashes across its snout.
The right-side wolf was too close to avoid.
Its jaws clamped down on his shoulder, fangs punching through skin and muscle.
Cleve screamed, but the pain also triggered something primal in him.
Instead of trying to pull away, he drove his claws deep into the wolf's ribs, feeling them slide between bones and into soft organs.
The wolf released him with a gurgling whine, stumbling backward with blood frothing from its mouth.
It took three shaky steps, then collapsed.
[You have killed a nature wolf. +35 exp]
The alpha had landed and spun around, fury blazing in its yellow eyes.
Its packmate was dead, and the human had proven more dangerous than expected.
But wolves didn't retreat from wounded prey.
The injured wolf with the slashed muzzle circled to Cleve's left, moving more cautiously now.
Blood dripped steadily from its wounds, but it was still very much a threat.
Cleve's shoulder throbbed where the fangs had punctured it, but he could feel the regeneration working.
The bleeding had already stopped, and the torn muscle was beginning to knit itself back together.
Still, his left arm was weaker now, and the wolves could sense it.
The alpha feinted right, then lunged left, trying to drive Cleve toward its injured packmate.
But Cleve's enhanced reflexes let him see the deception.
Instead of dodging away from the alpha, he stepped toward it, inside the arc of its leap.
His claws found the wolf's throat, but the angle was wrong.
Instead of a killing blow, he opened a shallow gash that sent blood spraying but didn't stop the creature's momentum.
The alpha's weight slammed into him, driving him backward into the tree trunk.
Stars exploded across his vision as his head struck the bark.
The alpha's jaws snapped at his face, missing by inches.
Cleve could smell its breath—rank with old meat and fresh blood.
The injured wolf chose that moment to attack, leaping at his exposed side.
But Cleve's enhanced reflexes kicked in again.
Time seemed to slow as he tracked both threats simultaneously.
He couldn't avoid both attacks, but he could choose which one to take.
He let the alpha's jaws close on his forearm—the thick bone there would protect him from the worst damage—while he drove his free hand's claws deep into the injured wolf's chest as it leaped toward him.
The wolf's momentum carried it onto his claws, driving them deeper. He felt ribs crack, felt his claws punch through into the creature's heart. The wolf's eyes went wide with shock, then glazed over.
[You have killed a nature wolf. +35 exp]
Ding! [You have leveled up! 3 free attribute points awarded]
But he didn't have time to focus on the level up as the alpha still had his arm in its jaws, and it was shaking its head like a dog with a rope toy.
Cleve could feel his bones grinding together, could feel his claws on that hand going numb as circulation was cut off.
With his free hand, he grabbed the wolf's ear and drove his thumb-claw deep into its eye socket.
The alpha released him with a howl of agony, pawing at its ruined eye.
Blood and clear fluid streamed down its muzzle.
Cleve didn't give it time to recover.
He lunged forward, tackling the wounded predator to the ground.
They rolled across the forest floor, a tangle of claws and fangs and desperate fury.
The wolf's remaining eye blazed with hatred, but it was weakening from blood loss.
Finally, Cleve managed to pin the creature's head to the ground with his good arm while he drove his claws into its throat with the other.
The alpha's struggles grew weaker, then stopped.
[You have killed a nature wolf. +35 exp]
Cleve rolled off the corpse and lay on his back, staring up at the canopy above.
His entire body ached, and his left arm felt like it had been put through a meat grinder.
But he was alive, and the wolves were dead.
More importantly, he was learning.
Each fight taught him something new about his abilities, about the way combat worked in this world.
He wasn't just getting stronger—he was getting smarter.
"Assimilation," he gasped, reaching toward the alpha's corpse.
[You have successfully assimilated a physical trait (Enhanced Hearing). Your auditory perception has been significantly improved.]
Immediately, the forest came alive with sounds he hadn't noticed before.
He could hear insects moving through the leaf litter, birds calling from trees hundreds of meters away, and the distant sound of running water.
More importantly, he could hear if anything else was approaching.
The enhanced hearing also revealed something else—voices, human voices, coming from the direction of the city.
They were still far away, but getting closer.
Cleve struggled to his feet, wincing as his injured arm protested.
The regeneration was working, but slowly.
The wolf's fangs had done serious damage, and it would take time to heal completely.
He needed to finish his quest and get out of here before whoever was coming arrived.
Three more horned rabbits and two more nature wolves.
The exp from the wolves had been substantial—35 points each compared to the rabbits' 20.
If he could find the creatures quickly, he might be able to complete the quest before the voices reached him.
His enhanced hearing picked up movement to the north—something large crashing through the underbrush.
Too big to be a rabbit, too clumsy to be a wolf.
Cleve frowned, trying to identify the sound.
Then he heard it clearly: human cursing.
"Damn it, Gerald, slow down! We don't even know if he's still alive."
"He better be alive. I'm not done with him yet."
Cleve's blood turned to ice.
That voice—he recognized it from the original Cleve's memories.
Gerald Kolm, the rich son who had orchestrated the murder of Cleve's family.
The one who had beaten him nearly to death and left him in the forest to die.
They were coming back to finish the job.
Cleve looked down at his tattered clothes, still stained with blood from his fights with the wolves.
His left arm was barely functional, and he was exhausted from the battles.
He wasn't ready to face Gerald and whatever friends he'd brought with him.
But he also couldn't run.
Not yet.
He was so close to completing his first quest, so close to gaining the attribute points that would make him stronger.
If he fled now, he might not get another chance.
His enhanced hearing tracked the approaching voices.
Three people, maybe four.
They were moving slowly, probably searching for his body.
He had maybe ten minutes before they reached this area.
Ten minutes to find and kill five more creatures.
Cleve gritted his teeth and started moving deeper into the forest, away from the voices.
His enhanced hearing picked up the sound of small creatures moving through the underbrush—rabbits, from the sound of their hopping gait.
He found the first one drinking from a small stream. This rabbit was smaller than the others, younger, with a horn that was barely more than a nub.
It looked up as he approached, water dripping from its whiskers.
For a moment, Cleve hesitated.
The creature looked so innocent, so harmless.
But then he remembered Gerald's voice, remembered the original Cleve's memories of his family's screams.
Innocence was a luxury he couldn't afford.
His claws found the rabbit's neck before it could react.
The kill was quick, clean.
[You have killed a horned rabbit. +20 exp]
Four more creatures to go, and the voices were getting closer.