*Chapter 11 — Three Weeks in Hell*
Morning came without sunlight.
At least, not the kind Arin was used to. A pale glow seeped through the mouth of the cave, barely strong enough to distinguish the trees from the shadows between them.
Arin opened his eyes. For a moment, he forgot where he was. Then his body reminded him. Everywhere hurt.
His ribs ached. His abdomen still throbbed from the hawk's talon. His shoulder burned where the wolf had torn it. His palms were covered in half-healed cuts.
Arin slowly sat up. He looked down at himself. "Still alive."
That was becoming his morning greeting.
He checked his status.
*Rank:* Awakened
*Strength:* 28
*Vitality:* 30
*Agility:* 18
*Spirit:* 17
*Spiritual Trait:* Unique — Sanguine Emperor
*Soul Trait:* Null
Arin stared at the numbers. He had grown stronger. But he didn't feel strong. He felt tired. Hungry. And increasingly aware that the forest was full of things capable of killing him.
He looked toward the cave entrance. The mysterious mamba still bothered him. One clean wound. No struggle. No blood trail. Whatever had killed it was strong enough to kill an Awakened beast without giving it an opportunity to fight back.
Arin decided immediately. He wouldn't investigate. Curiosity was a luxury for people who weren't trying to survive.
He stood and walked outside. The forest greeted him with silence. Then— A bird screamed.
Arin's body immediately tensed. His hand moved instinctively toward his side. Nothing. No weapon. He almost laughed. He still had no weapon worth carrying.
Everything he had was his body. His blood. His mind. That was all.
Arin started walking. He didn't travel far before Sanguine Sense detected something. Blood qi. Weak. Then stronger. Then— Gone.
Arin stopped. He scanned the trees. Nothing. _It noticed me._ He waited. Still nothing.
Arin continued walking. He had learned something during the previous battles. The moment he became careless, the forest punished him.
So he stopped moving like a human exploring a forest. He began moving like prey that knew it was being hunted.
He avoided open spaces. He checked trees before passing them. He listened to the wind. He smelled the air. He watched birds. He even paid attention to insects. Anything that suddenly became silent could mean danger.
By midday, he had traveled several kilometers. His stomach growled. Arin sighed. "Again?" He hadn't been eating enough. He needed to hunt. That meant another fight. He hated that realization. But there was no other choice.
Sanguine Sense spread outward. Nothing. Arin waited. Still nothing. He expanded it. Then— A faint pulse. Blood qi. Ahead.
Arin moved toward it carefully. He found a small clearing. A creature stood in the center. A goat-sized hawk.
Arin froze. Not the same one. Another. Its feathers were dark blue, and thin arcs of pale electricity occasionally jumped across its wings. Its spiritual aura was only Awakened. But its blood qi... Dense. Very dense.
Arin watched it from behind a tree. The hawk was eating a small animal. Arin's stomach growled. The hawk's head snapped toward him.
Arin froze. Its eyes met his. For several seconds, neither moved. Then the hawk spread its wings. Lightning crawled across its feathers.
Arin's expression changed. "Lightning?" The hawk vanished. Arin threw himself sideways.
BOOM! Lightning struck the tree beside him. The trunk exploded. Arin rolled across the ground. _So that's its trait._
He didn't wait. He ran. The hawk pursued him. Lightning flashed behind him again and again. Arin jumped over a fallen tree. A bolt struck the ground behind him. The shockwave threw him forward.
He landed hard. Before he could stand— The hawk's talons descended. Arin rolled. The talons tore into the ground.
He grabbed the creature's leg. The hawk beat its wings. Electricity surged through its body. Arin screamed. His muscles locked. The shock ran through his entire body.
The hawk pulled upward. Arin was lifted from the ground. His fingers slipped. He fell.
CRACK! His shoulder hit a stone. Pain exploded through him. The hawk circled overhead.
Arin stared upward. His body was numb. _This is bad._
The hawk descended again. Arin forced himself onto one knee. Bloodthirsty stirred inside him. He hesitated. He knew what would happen. The power would help. But so would the rage.
He couldn't afford to lose himself. The hawk came closer. Arin clenched his teeth. "Fine."
Crimson energy erupted through his blood. Bloodthirsty. His muscles surged. His numbness disappeared. For a moment, everything became clear. The hawk's trajectory. Its wings. Its talons. Its heartbeat.
Arin jumped. He caught the hawk's leg. The creature screeched. Lightning exploded across its body. Arin's muscles spasmed. But he didn't let go.
He pulled the beast downward. Both crashed into the ground. Arin immediately climbed onto its back. The hawk twisted violently. Its wings struck his ribs. Once. Twice.
Arin coughed blood. The third strike nearly threw him off. He grabbed its neck. The hawk released another burst of electricity. Arin screamed. His grip loosened.
The beast turned its head. Its beak came toward his eye. Arin moved his head. The beak tore across his cheek instead. Blood poured down his face.
The sight of it triggered something inside him. The bloodlust surged. _Kill._
Arin's breathing became rough. _Kill it._ His fingers tightened around the hawk's throat. The beast struggled. Arin's vision began turning red. He raised his fist.
Then stopped. He remembered the wolf. The feeling of losing himself. He couldn't repeat it.
Arin forced his breathing slower. "I'm not your prey." His fist struck the hawk's neck. Bang! The beast screamed.
Again. Bang! Its movements weakened. Again. The hawk finally collapsed.
Arin fell beside it. He lay there for several minutes. His body smoked faintly from the electricity. He stared at the sky. "Why does everything here want to kill me?"
No answer. He laughed weakly. "Right. Because I'm food."
Arin activated Blood Devour. The hawk's blood qi flowed into him. His injuries began to stabilize. His muscles regained some strength. But he didn't immediately check his status.
He already knew something. The growth was slowing. Every new beast gave him less than the last. That meant one thing. Soon, these beasts wouldn't be enough. And if stronger beasts were waiting deeper inside... Arin wasn't ready. Yet.
He ate the hawk's meat. It was tough. Chewy. Almost impossible to swallow. But he didn't care. Food was food.
That night, he slept in a tree. The next day, he fought again. Then again. And again.
Sometimes he won. Sometimes he barely escaped. Once, a beast nearly tore his arm off. Another time, a venomous insect entered a wound and sent him into a fever. He spent an entire night trembling beneath a tree, using his blood control to keep the poison from reaching his heart.
Another beast chased him for nearly an hour before he escaped by jumping into a river. He nearly drowned.
He learned which plants were poisonous. Which sounds belonged to harmless animals. Which sounds meant death was approaching.
He stopped counting how many times he bled. He stopped counting how many times he slept hungry. He stopped asking when he would escape. He only asked one question. _How do I survive today?_
The forest answered every day with another battle.
Three weeks passed.
Arin changed.
The boy who had entered the forest was gone. His body had become leaner. His muscles were more defined. His face sharper. His hair had grown longer, falling messily around his face. There was a faint crimson tint in his pupils now.
His clothes were no longer worth calling clothes. He had replaced them with pieces of beast hide. His body was covered in scars. Some were thin. Some were deep. A few were still healing.
But his eyes were different. They no longer carried the confusion of someone who had just entered another world. They carried experience.
Arin stood on a massive tree branch. Below him stretched an endless sea of green.
Three weeks. That was how long he had survived.
He closed his eyes. Sanguine Sense spread outward. Blood qi. Dozens of distant pulses. Some weak. Some strong.
He had learned to distinguish them. He could feel how creatures moved through the forest without seeing them. He could tell when a beast was injured. He could tell when one was hunting. And sometimes... he could tell when something was hunting him.
Arin opened his eyes. His hand tightened around the branch. He checked his status.
*Rank:* Awakened
*Strength:* 36
*Vitality:* 40
*Agility:* 35
*Spirit:* 25
*Spiritual Trait:* Unique — Sanguine Emperor
*Subskills:* Bloodthirsty, Sanguine Sense, Blood Devour
*Soul Trait:* Null
Arin stared at the numbers. Thirty-six. Forty. Thirty-five. Twenty-five. He had come a long way.
But his growth had slowed dramatically. The beasts around him were no longer enough. He needed stronger prey. Stronger opponents. Something capable of pushing him beyond his current limits.
Arin looked toward the deeper wilderness. Then he felt it. A strange presence. Not the dense blood qi of an ordinary beast. Something different. Something he had never sensed before.
It was faint. Almost hidden beneath the forest's countless pulses.
Arin's expression became serious. "What are you?" The presence disappeared.
Arin remained silent. Then— His stomach growled. He sighed. "Forget it."
He jumped from the branch. Whatever waited deeper in the forest could wait. For now, he needed food. Because in the Mysterious Realm... even hunger could become a death sentence.