After finishing my meal and filling my stomach, I fed the fire with more wood to keep the heat. Sparks spat from the flames and vanished into the cave mouth; the warmth reached my face and for a moment I could forget the biting cold outside.
Images of the fight with those rabbits kept replaying in my head. No matter how I looked at it, it was strange: animals weren't supposed to have intelligence… at least not on Earth.
But this isn't Earth. It's another world with different rules, and if I apply my world's logic here I'll end up dead. I had to learn to expect the unexpected, to forge a flexible mind that could adapt. If I managed that, maybe I'd live long enough to reach the mountains. I was in the forest, and I knew there were creatures more dangerous than a bunch of rabbits.
Still, I felt a mix of impotence and shame for running away. I didn't possess that pride in combat or a code of honor — those principles only get you killed in a place like this. Yet the mere fact that I'd fled to survive lit something in my chest: anger at not finishing what I'd started. I wanted to kill that rabbit; I was sure it was now hunting me to eat me. I would hunt it down too. But not yet. First I needed strength. I needed to get stronger.
"How do I get stronger?" I asked aloud.
I remembered webtoons and manhwas I used to read about hunters, awakeners, or reincarnated heroes: most trained their mana or had some kind of cheat system that increased their level by killing monsters and granted them abilities. I had none of that. The runes only showed my name and terms I still didn't understand: rank, title, invocation… what was a rank? Did it relate to the beasts? Was there a classification for humans and monsters?
That voice mentioning "dormant beast" and "awake" when I killed the bear made me think my guesses were partially right. But too many questions remained unanswered. My head began to throb from so many unanswered questions — like trying to solve a murder with vague clues and no context.
First, let's organize the information by events.
First: the voice in my head after killing the bear said: [You killed an Awake Beast: Winter Bear].
Then: when I killed the rabbit a couple of days earlier, it said something similar but labeled it an inactive or dormant beast, implying it was weaker.
Then: the fragments. Some awake monsters contain fragments that, when broken, release an energy that enters the body of whoever breaks them.
Then: ranks. Obviously there's a classification system, but I don't know what it's based on.
And finally: the difference between dormant and awake.
Assuming the last two are related, awake beasts must possess a trait that dormant ones lack. Will the same apply to humans? What crucial difference identifies one from the other? Is it tied to rank? For now I'll leave it as a hypothesis.
I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out the fragment I'd been carrying: small, fragile, circular, a faint glow inside. With a little force it would break. I closed my eyes for a moment, exhaled, and made a decision. I clenched my fist and shattered the fragment. The instant it broke, a warm, luminous energy shot through me.
The feeling was strange. The energy coursed through my body and then settled in my chest, as if filling an invisible hollow. I couldn't perceive it with ordinary senses, but I felt it: a new weight, a vibration beneath the skin. I looked at my hands; where the fragment had been there was now a small fading mark of light, and for the first time in days I felt a little stronger.
"Do I get stronger by consuming these monster fragments?" I murmured, puzzled.
I summoned the runes again.
---
Name: Abel
Rank: Dormant
Title: —
Invocation: —
Memories: [Armor of Darkness]
Skills: [Fire]
Innate Skill: [Flame Control]
---
Nothing visible had changed; the information was the same as before. But the rank confirmed my theory that there's a classification: Dormant suggests inactivity. Does that mean I can "awaken"? What would being awake imply? Would I gain greater power or access to other fragments?
Too many questions. The headache persisted and night wore on. From the cave entrance I could hear distant howls and an occasional roar — proof that life, and death, continued out in the forest.
I decided to set priorities. I took a twig and began to write in the snow before the fire; the writing chilled quickly, but at least I had a mental map.
Priority List
1. Discover the difference between a dormant beast and an awake beast.
2. Understand the purpose of the fragments.
3. Strengthen myself and learn to survive here.
4. Kill the white rabbit that attacked me (and its leader).
5. Travel to the mountains.
I nodded in satisfaction. The first and second were related; the third and fifth could be achieved along the way; the fourth would be a separate mission that required preparation.
I stood up and prepared my knives. I'd rested enough; it was time to start pursuing my objectives. I also had to improve my survival techniques for an environment where a single mistake meant death.
I marked the cave as a temporary base — a place to return, heal, and plan. I packed the remaining meat into an improvised bundle, covered the entrance with a few branches to conceal it, and banked the fire until the embers glowed steadily.
As the fire crackled, I looked toward what should have been the stars — or whatever passed for them here — and thought about the fragments: pieces of a puzzle that, if I understood them, could tip the scales in my favor. I leaned against the cold wall and, before sleep took me, repeated my priorities aloud to imprint them in my mind.
If I wanted to survive in this world, fleeing wasn't enough. I had to learn, adapt, and strike when necessary. And that started now