Jin walked between the trees with the stubborn confidence of someone who believes he's following the same path he used earlier… even though he had actually been walking in circles for almost ten minutes without realizing it.
"This should look familiar…" he muttered, frowning as he stared at a crooked trunk he definitely didn't remember.
He tried to orient himself using the sunlight… but the Misty Forest had the annoying habit of blurring everything. The fog suspended between the branches distorted shadows, and every path looked exactly like the last. Even so, Jin kept going, convinced that "just a bit further" he would find the stream he came from.
Except that stream never appeared.
After a while, the ground beneath his feet began to change. The fog, previously light as a veil, now felt colder, heavier… thicker. Jin stopped and tilted his head. Even for someone without experience, it was impossible to ignore the obvious.
"Was it always this dense…?" he asked the air, pressing his lips together.
But there was no sign of immediate danger: no strange sounds, no hidden presence—just a deep, heavy stillness that made the entire forest feel as if it were holding its breath.
Cautiously, he stepped forward. The shapes of the trees became blurry in the distance; the leaves seemed to swallow the light. And then, after passing between two particularly thick trunks, he heard it.
Cshh… cshh…
Water.
A stream, finally.
Jin let out a sigh of relief—longer than he'd ever admit—and hurried toward the sound. The small flow of water moved peacefully between moss-covered rocks, a clear line amid the forest's confusion.
"Good," he exhaled. "I just have to follow it and—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Something—a faint, nearly imperceptible glimmer—interrupted his thoughts. Higher up, where the terrain sloped upward, something hung from the low branches. It was small… but it shone softly, like a jewel caught in the strands of the mist.
Jin narrowed his eyes.
It was a fruit. Or at least, it looked like one.
Its surface was smooth, almost translucent, with a shade between amber-red and gold that pulsed gently, as if light were breathing inside it. The mist around it swirled subtly, forcing him to blink twice to make out its outline. It hung from a branch so discreetly that, had the setting sun not reflected perfectly on its skin, Jin would have never noticed it.
"What… is that?" he whispered, feeling curiosity push him forward.
A glowing fruit, hidden along a raised path, in a denser part of the forest.
And completely off the route he thought he was following.
Jin swallowed, his eyes fixed on the soft glow.
"…Yeah, I'm definitely lost."
But his feet were already moving up the slope.
It hung about three or four meters above the ground. Not impossible… but not sensible either.
Jin exhaled slowly.
"Of course… because this can't just be a normal fruit, right?" he muttered, placing a hand on the slope. "In every novel, when something like this appears, it's either a hidden treasure… or disguised poison… or a deadly trap. But usually"—he tapped the ground with his foot—"it's worth trying."
His body protested immediately as he began to climb. His muscles, still aching from training and internal injuries, tightened like poorly tuned strings.
The first section of the ascent was relatively easy: thick roots, gaps between rocks, enough space for footholds. But as he moved higher, the terrain grew treacherous. The moisture from the fog made the stones slick, and Jin almost lost his footing more than once.
"Why the hell am I doing this…?" he groaned through clenched teeth as he clung to a damp root. "Ah, right… because I'm an idiot. An idiot and broke."
But the thought didn't stop him.
The fruit glowed again with that soft radiance, and that was enough to harden his resolve. He continued climbing, shifting his weight onto trembling arms and legs—not just from effort, but from the accumulated pain of the day.
"Just a bit more…"
When his hand finally brushed the thin branch holding the fruit, a tired but genuine smile appeared on his face. He stretched further, fingers grazing the fruit's warm surface.
"Ha! I knew—"
The sentence cut off.
A sharp crack, too clear to mistake.
Jin opened his eyes just in time to see the branch snap—not slowly, not giving warning, but instantly, as if the forest itself were mocking him.
"…you've gotta be kidding."
And then he fell.
Not a dramatic, heroic fall—just pure, chaotic tumbling, his body flipping as the world blurred into fog, rocks, and leaves.
"AAAH—!"
The scream ended abruptly when his back hit the slope, bouncing twice before gravity hurled him straight into the stream.
With a violent splash, Jin disappeared beneath the cold water.
The small fruit—still intact—fell beside him, floating calmly.
As if laughing at him.
Jin didn't know the exact moment he lost consciousness. There was only the fall, the snap of a branch… and then nothing.
The world returned roughly an hour later.
A faint splash, water brushing against stones, and a throbbing ache throughout his body made him open his eyes. Jin lay on his back on the stream bank, soaked, hair plastered to his forehead, dried mud on his hands. The sky, painted with the final colors of sunset, stared down at him indifferently.
He blinked several times.
"Where…?" he murmured, barely able to lift his head.
The stream flowed peacefully beside him, as if it hadn't just dragged him down half a mountainside. Jin frowned, still dazed. Little by little, the memories returned: the slippery slope, the fruit hidden on a branch, his sudden impulse to climb like a madman, the brief moment of triumph… and the inevitable fall.
"I'm a genius…" he groaned, covering his face with one hand while wincing. "A real genius. This is exactly what happens when I follow novel logic…"
He tried to sit up; every muscle protested violently.
That was when he saw it.
Just a few centimeters from his hand, resting on the damp grass, was the fruit. Round, smooth, about the size of a closed fist, with a deep reddish hue streaked with faint golden veins pulsing weakly in the sunset light. It looked completely out of place, as if the forest had placed it there intentionally.
Jin stared at it in silence for a long second.
"Seriously…?" he sighed, unsure whether to laugh or cry. "I fall off a cliff, almost drown, get dragged who knows how far… and you just decide to come with me."
He picked it up carefully. The fruit's skin was cool to the touch, perfectly unscathed, as if the fall hadn't affected it at all.
Jin tilted his head, exhausted and frustrated… but with that very human spark of satisfaction.
"Well… at least it wasn't for nothing."
Pain shot through his back again, reminding him of his immediate priority.
"And now… how the hell do I get back without getting lost again…?"
The fruit glimmered faintly between his fingers.
And Jin, soaked, bruised, and completely drained, could only sigh.
"Five days in the sect… and I'm already living premium tragedies."
But even so, he stood up.
His body protested the moment he tried. A dull ache spread through his back, as if his entire skeleton had been struck with a water-soaked hammer. Even so, he clenched his teeth and pushed himself upright, swaying slightly.
"Perfect… five days in the sect and look at the state I'm in," he muttered with sarcasm.
He took a second to breathe deeply, then extended his hand and gathered what little Qi he could muster. Just a thread—weak and trembling—moved through his meridians. It was pathetic, but he guided it through his body, letting it touch the most strained areas: shoulders, ribs, the thigh that slammed into the stream's edge.
The relief was faint, almost symbolic, but enough to keep him from feeling like he'd die after the next step.
"This… will do… for now," he said, though he didn't sound convinced.
He slipped a hand into his robe and took out the small ceramic bottle. The seal had already been broken from the previous pill; four remained.
He shook it for a moment, hesitating. Then he clicked his tongue.
"To hell with pride."
He swallowed another Minor Soothing Pill. The effect came quickly and, though subtle, felt much more reliable than his Qi circulation. A gentle warmth spread from his throat, radiating in soft waves through the swollen muscles and irritated nerves. The pain didn't vanish, but became manageable—like a thin veil of calm placed over the injuries.
"Much better…" he sighed.
Then he noticed the small fruit, still the size of a fist, resting beside him as if it had always been there. It was unbelievable that it hadn't been lost during the fall.
Jin picked it up carefully. Its surface was firm, with an amber-red tone like a wild plum touched by mist. It still glistened with drops from the stream.
"At least it wasn't for nothing… I guess."
He opened his robe and stored it in an inner pocket, securing it so it wouldn't fall again.
Then he checked—almost fearfully—the bag of herbs tied to his belt. It was soaked, but intact. When he opened it a little, he saw the bluish, silver, and green tones of his gathered plants.
"Good… if I'd lost this I'd have to go cry at the contribution hall."
He tightened the bag at his waist and began to walk.
The forest looked different now: the sun was setting, tinting the mist with orange hues. After wandering for a while, following his intuition and trying not to think too hard about how close he'd been to… well, not finding his way back, he finally saw a familiar silhouette.
A stone arch wrapped in soft mist.
"Thank you… thank you, sect… or fate… or whatever," he muttered, raising his hands to the sky.
He crossed the arch with a tired gait, almost dragging his feet, but at least out of the Misty Forest. The rest of the path he walked soaked, sore, and covered in leaves—but alive.
And with the mission complete.
"Contributions, here I come…" he said, letting out a bitter laugh. "I just hope they don't ask why I look like this."