Chapter 14 — The Paradise *
Arin stood before the barrier.
Up close, it was even harder to see. There was no glowing wall. No visible surface. Nothing that looked like a normal barrier.
Yet when Arin slowly extended his hand— His fingers stopped. An invisible force blocked him.
Arin frowned. He pressed harder. Nothing. The barrier didn't move.
He withdrew his hand and stared ahead. "So I really can't pass normally."
He took a few steps to the side. The invisible boundary continued. It stretched farther than he could see.
Arin looked behind him. The wilderness he had spent three weeks surviving in stretched endlessly into the distance.
Then he looked forward. The strange region beyond the barrier seemed almost unreal. Greenery. Soft light. And that strange energy that had been drawing him forward.
Vitality Qi. It was much denser beyond the barrier.
Arin's eyes narrowed. Whatever was beyond this boundary clearly wasn't part of the ordinary wilderness.
He placed his palm against the invisible barrier again. This time, instead of pushing against it, he simply waited. Nothing happened.
Then— A faint sensation passed through his body. The barrier wasn't rejecting him. It was allowing him through.
Arin hesitated. "One way?" The thought made him cautious. He didn't know what waited on the other side. But staying here wouldn't help him either.
Arin took a breath. Then stepped forward. His body passed through the barrier.
---
For a moment, everything became silent. Then Arin opened his eyes. He froze.
The wilderness was gone. Not completely. There were still trees. Still grass. Still mountains in the distance. But the atmosphere was completely different.
The air was fresh. The grass was softer. The sky seemed brighter. A gentle breeze passed through the trees, carrying a faint fragrance that Arin couldn't identify.
More importantly— Vitality Qi. It was everywhere. Not a faint trace. Not something he had to search for. It filled the entire region.
Arin inhaled. The energy entered his body naturally. His tired muscles relaxed. The fatigue that had accumulated over weeks of fighting seemed to loosen.
He looked around in disbelief. "This place..." He had only one word for it. "Paradise."
The name came naturally. Paradise Realm. It felt fitting.
But Arin didn't let the beauty lower his guard. His hand remained close to his blood sword. A beautiful environment didn't mean a safe one. He had learned that lesson too many times.
---
As Arin walked deeper into the Paradise Realm, another fragment of history surfaced in his mind.
The history books had taught that humanity's first response to the Grand Calamity wasn't surrender. It was awakening. When the world was being destroyed and ordinary weapons became useless, some humans began awakening strange powers.
Fire. Ice. Lightning. And countless other abilities. They became humanity's first real resistance against the Aberrations. They were called the blessed sons and daughters of god.
The war that followed lasted five years. Five years of blood. Five years of cities being rebuilt only to be destroyed again. Five years of humanity fighting for the right to continue existing.
Eventually, the surviving humans began gathering together. The World Government was formed. The remaining population was divided among seven continents, with the Central Continent serving as the meeting place of the world's government.
Those names had been written countless times in the history books. Veraks. Golden. Kerdas. Vishtall. Silver. White. Red.
But the names meant something different now. They weren't simply geographical divisions. They were the remnants of a civilization that had nearly disappeared.
Arin slowly exhaled. The previous him had studied those events in school. Back then, they had felt distant. Ancient. Almost unreal. Now he understood the weight behind them.
_Humanity hadn't survived because the Grand Calamity had been merciful. It survived because people fought._
Arin continued walking. The historical fragment faded. His attention returned to Paradise.
---
The further he went, the more unusual the vegetation became.
Then Arin noticed something. Trees. Several of them. They weren't clustered together. Each tree stood with considerable space between it and the next, almost as though someone had deliberately planted them that way.
Arin stared. Their leaves were unnaturally green. The branches were thick. And each tree carried strange fruit.
Arin's eyes narrowed. He approached the nearest one. The fruit was pinkish in color. Elongated. Its shape reminded him slightly of a strawberry stretched into a strange, narrow form. Almost like a mixture between a strawberry and a carrot.
Arin didn't touch it. Not yet. He crouched and examined the ground around the tree. Nothing.
He released Blood Qi Sense. A faint ripple passed through the area. No nearby beast. Arin relaxed slightly.
He reached toward the fruit. Then stopped. Something was wrong. Not with the fruit. With the silence.
Paradise was too quiet. There were no birds nearby. No insects. No distant beast calls.
Arin slowly straightened. His Blood Qi Sense remained active. Nothing. He couldn't detect anything. That didn't mean there was nothing there. He had already learned that lesson.
Arin's eyes scanned the trees. Nothing. He looked at the fruit again. His stomach growled. He sighed. "Of course."
After three weeks of eating whatever he could find, seeing an unfamiliar fruit in a peaceful environment was almost torture. But unfamiliar didn't mean safe.
Arin picked one. He smelled it. Sweet. Fresh. No obvious poison. He didn't eat it yet. Instead, he moved away from the tree. He wanted to inspect the surroundings first.
---
A faint movement suddenly came from behind him. Arin's body reacted instantly. He turned.
Nothing. His eyes narrowed. Then— A white blur exploded from behind a tree.
Arin's pupils contracted. He twisted his body. Something sharp tore across his shoulder. Blood sprayed.
Arin staggered backward. He looked at the wound. A claw. His expression became serious.
The creature stepped out from behind the tree. A tiger. White fur. Yellow stripes. Its body was not enormous. It was roughly the size a tiger should be.
But its presence was completely different from any tiger Arin had ever seen. Its muscles were dense. Its eyes were intelligent. And its body carried an oppressive physical aura that made Arin's instincts scream.
Arin tightened his grip on his blood sword. The tiger stared at him. It didn't immediately attack. It watched. Calculated.
Arin's eyes narrowed. "This isn't like the beasts outside."
The tiger lowered its body. Its tail moved slightly. Its gaze remained fixed on Arin. It was hunting. Not charging blindly. Hunting.
Arin's heartbeat quickened. His Blood Qi Sense brushed against the tiger. The result made his expression change.
Its blood qi was dense. Far denser than anything he had encountered recently. Its physical body was terrifying. And its agility—
Arin's instincts warned him immediately. _Faster than him. Much faster._
The tiger vanished. Arin's eyes widened. He barely raised his sword.
Clang! A tremendous force struck him. His body flew backward. He crashed into the trunk of a tree. Pain exploded through his back.
Before he could recover— The tiger was already there. Arin rolled sideways. Claws tore through the bark where his head had been. He kicked the tiger's chest. The force pushed it back only slightly.
Arin landed several meters away. Blood ran down his shoulder. He wiped it with his fingers. His eyes became cold.
The tiger stared at him. Then its fur suddenly began crackling. Yellow light flashed between its stripes.
Electricity.
Arin's expression hardened. "A trait..." The tiger's body disappeared again. This time, lightning exploded beneath its feet. Its speed increased.
Arin barely had time to react. He activated— Bloodthirsty.
Crimson energy surged through his body. His muscles tightened. His heartbeat thundered. And something inside his mind snapped awake.
Bloodlust flooded his thoughts. _Kill. Destroy. Tear it apart._ The instinct came so violently that Arin nearly lost himself.
His pupils trembled. He forced himself to breathe. "Calm down..."
The tiger charged. Arin raised his sword. The collision came. Blood and lightning exploded across Paradise.
Arin was thrown backward again. His feet dragged across the ground. His shoulder burned. His ribs screamed. But he remained standing.
The tiger crouched several meters away. Neither side moved.
For the first time since entering Paradise— Arin realized something. The beasts here were different. They weren't merely stronger. They were smarter. They observed. They calculated. They waited for mistakes.
And this tiger... Wasn't going to give him many chances.
Arin tightened his grip on the blood sword. The crimson blade trembled in his hand. His mind was still fighting the effects of Bloodthirsty. The tiger's body crackled with yellow lightning.
Then both of them moved. At the same time