Chapter 12 — Growth*
Three weeks. Three weeks since Arin had been dragged into the Mysterious Realm. Three weeks of fighting. Three weeks of bleeding. Three weeks of surviving by a thread.
---
As Arin gazed into the endless wilderness, a lesson from the history books surfaced in his mind. The history books called that age the Pre-Awakening Era.
An age before cultivation. An age before Spiritual Traits. An age before Beast Tamers. Back then, this world was ordinary. Humans built kingdoms, raised families, and fought wars among themselves, never knowing that something beyond their world had already fixed its gaze upon them.
Then... it happened. Without warning, the sky split apart. A gigantic Eyeball pierced through the fabric of the world and looked down upon the entire planet. It was so enormous that every continent could see it. Its gaze covered heaven and earth.
The moment it appeared, the world changed. Its mere presence released an immeasurable amount of mutation energy and radiation energy that flooded every corner of the world.
The oceans boiled. Mountains trembled. The air itself became polluted by that terrifying energy. Every animal—domestic or wild—was driven completely insane. Dogs, cattle, birds, wolves, snakes... every living beast began mutating into grotesque creatures with twisted flesh, monstrous bodies, and endless madness.
Humanity gave them one name. Aberrations. They were the first nightmare of mankind. And that... was how the Grand Calamity began.
He pushed the thought aside.
---
He stood silently on the thick branch of a gigantic tree, overlooking the endless sea of green beneath him.
A dull crimson sword rested across his back, tied there with strips of beast hide. It no longer looked like flowing blood. Weeks of battles had compressed countless drops of beast blood into a stone-like blade the color of dried ruby.
His appearance had changed as well. The frail seventeen-year-old orphan from Vermont Village was gone. His shoulders had broadened. Lean muscles wrapped around his arms and torso, carved by constant battles and starvation. His skin carried scars left behind by claws, fangs, poison, and lightning. His messy black hair had grown longer, brushing against his neck, while a faint crimson tint had settled into his pupils.
He no longer looked like prey. He looked like someone the wilderness had forged.
The past three weeks flashed through his mind. A giant scorpion whose venom burned through his body until he thought dying would be mercy. A night spent shivering beneath a tree while beasts prowled only meters away. A river he nearly drowned in while escaping a horned boar. A venomous insect that crawled into an open wound and forced him to spend an entire night using Sanguine Emperor just to keep the poison from reaching his heart.
He had danced with death so many times that fear no longer came easily. Every scar on his body reminded him of one truth. He was still alive.
Arin slowly closed his eyes. He released Blood Qi Sense. A faint ripple spread quietly from his body into the nearby forest. It wasn't just Blood Qi. It was instinct born from the Sanguine Emperor trait that allowed him to detect the vitality of nearby living creatures.
Several weak life signatures appeared within its range. A few stronger ones lingered farther away. Nothing more. Its range was limited, and powerful beasts or creatures hiding their presence could easily escape his detection.
Arin opened his eyes again. He had already learned something important. _Just because Blood Qi Sense found nothing... didn't mean nothing was there._ The wilderness loved teaching that lesson with blood.
---
He summoned the crimson panel.
*Status Panel*
*Name:* Arin
*Rank:* Awakened
*Strength:* 36
*Vitality:* 40
*Agility:* 35
*Spirit:* 25
*Spiritual Trait:* Unique — Sanguine Emperor
_You wield immense power over your blood and the blood of creatures according to your cultivation rank._
*Sub Skills:* Bloodthirsty, Sanguine Sense, Blood Devour
*Soul Trait:* Null
*Skill:* Beast Spirit — Low Level
*Artifact:* Damaged — Repair Progress: 0.056%
A faint smile appeared on his face. Every number had been bought with blood.
His gaze stopped on one line. Beast Spirit. Even now, it still confused him. The history books never mentioned humans awakening skills alongside Spiritual Traits. Old Arin's memories contained nothing like it. The only explanation was the mysterious necklace.
He remembered the battle that unlocked it. A dark-furred bear. Larger than the first bear he fought. Its claws tore through the air with dark qi, forcing Arin into a desperate battle where every mistake nearly cost him his life.
Cornered between death and exhaustion... The crimson panel appeared. _Skill Unlocked — Beast Spirit._
It hadn't increased his strength. Instead, it changed how he fought. He could read the slightest twitch of muscle before an attack. A shift of weight. A tightening shoulder. The direction of a killing blow.
It wasn't foresight. It was instinct sharpened through battle. More than once, Beast Spirit had saved his life.
---
Arin jumped down from the tree. His feet landed softly on the ground. Weeks ago, a fall from this height would've broken both legs. Now it barely made him bend his knees.
He began walking. The beasts in this region were no longer enough. He had hunted wolves, bears, hawks, venomous reptiles, horned boars, and creatures he didn't even know the names of.
Blood Devour still strengthened him. But the increase had become painfully slow. Sometimes several beasts only raised a single stat by one point. His growth had reached a bottleneck.
Arin looked at his Spirit stat again. 25. For some reason... He knew thirty meant something. His body knew. Just like it had warned him about Bloodthirsty's side effects before he understood them himself.
"Five more points." He clenched his fist. "I'll reach them."
---
His stomach growled loudly. Arin sighed. "Hunger again." He hadn't eaten anything decent for days. The wilderness gave him meat. Nothing else.
He tightened the leather strap holding his sword and continued forward.
Hours passed. The forest changed little. Towering trees blocked most of the sunlight. The ground remained damp beneath layers of leaves. The smell of earth and moss filled the air.
Then Blood Qi Sense stirred. A faint life signature. Small. Fast. Arin stopped behind a tree.
A rabbit-sized beast with long ears emerged from the bushes. Its body was covered in green scales instead of fur. It sniffed the ground before lowering its head to eat strange blue flowers.
Arin moved silently. One step. Another. The beast suddenly raised its head. It sensed something.
Arin didn't hesitate. He burst forward. The scaled rabbit tried to flee. Too late. His hand grabbed its neck. A quick twist. Crack. The beast died instantly.
Arin activated Blood Devour. Warm blood qi flowed into him. The corpse dried rapidly until only a brittle husk remained. He waited. Nothing changed. His panel didn't even appear.
"So weak..." He tossed the husk aside. Even Blood Devour had limits now.
---
By afternoon, he encountered another beast. This one resembled a wild dog with bone-like spikes growing from its back. It attacked immediately. The battle lasted less than a minute.
Arin dodged its first bite. One punch shattered its jaw. A second crushed its throat. Blood Devour activated. Warm energy entered his body.
Still... Almost no improvement. Frustration slowly crept into his chest. "I'm wasting time." He needed stronger prey.
---
The deeper he walked, the stranger the forest became. The trees grew taller. The leaves became greener. Even the air felt richer. It was easier to breathe. His exhausted body recovered stamina faster than before.
Arin frowned. Something was different. He stopped walking. Closed his eyes again. Blood Qi Sense spread outward.
No nearby beasts. No hunting intent. Only silence. A strange silence. One that made his instincts uneasy.
Minutes passed. Still nothing. Arin slowly continued.
Another hour later... The silence remained. No birds. No insects. No growls. Nothing.
His grip tightened around the blood sword. The wilderness had never been this quiet.
Then... He felt it. A presence. Faint. It wasn't blood qi. It wasn't a beast. It felt completely different. Gentle. Pure.
It drifted through the forest like an invisible current, barely noticeable.
Arin's eyes snapped open. "What was that?" The feeling vanished almost immediately.
He stood frozen beneath the giant trees. His instincts warned him not to follow it. His curiosity told him otherwise.
After several seconds of silence... Arin took one careful step toward the direction where the strange presence had disappeared.
He had no idea that single step was leading him toward the greatest opportunity—and the greatest danger—he had encountered since entering the Mysterious Realm.