This is the upgraded Chapter 4. I have expanded the word count (approx. 1,450 words), sharpened the "Economic/Investment" cruelty of the elites,
Ren noticed the silence first.
It was a heavy, suffocating blanket that settled over the forest as they marched. It crept in slowly, subtle enough that the others—distracted by the glowing icons in their peripheral vision—didn't even blink. The chirping of the strange insects faded. The rustle of small, multi-legged animals vanished. Even the wind, which had been threading through the leaves with a mournful whistle, seemed to hold its breath.
They were close to the village now.
Through the thick canopy, stone walls began to peek through the trees. They were moss-covered and uneven, unmistakably primitive. Wooden watchtowers leaned with age, and narrow dirt paths cut through the tall, yellow grass toward the main entrance.
Excitement rippled through the group like an electric current.
System windows flickered to life one after another. Ren watched the blue light reflect in his classmates' eyes as they checked their stamina bars, location hints, and skill cooldowns. They were playing a game. They were looking at the map, not the terrain.
Ren saw none of it. He walked near the back, his eyes scanning the shadows instead of invisible screens. And that was when he saw it.
Movement.
Far ahead, beyond the visible path, near a cluster of jagged rocks half-hidden by thick, thorny brush. At first, he thought it was just the play of light. Then it moved again. Low to the ground. Quick. Too coordinated to be a stray animal.
Ren slowed his pace, his heartbeat picking up a frantic rhythm. He focused, his pupils dilating as he strained to see into the gloom. More shapes appeared. One became three. Three became a dozen. They weren't wandering—they were circling, repositioning, vanishing and reappearing with a military precision that sent a chill down Ren's spine.
A nest. An ambush.
"Kaito, stop," Ren said, his voice cracking the cheerful chatter of the group.
Several students turned, their expressions shifting from excitement to annoyance at the sound of his voice. Kaito, a tall boy with a 'Scout' class who had been leading the way, paused. He was half-distracted, swiping through a menu that hovered near his nose.
"What is it, Ren?" Kaito asked, his tone laced with the impatient indulgence one might show a nagging child.
"There's something wrong ahead," Ren said, pointing toward the rocks. "Left side of the path. Past the jagged outcrop. Don't go that way."
A boy named Sato snorted, leaning on a crude spear. "What, your 'gut feeling' again, No-Rank?"
Ren ignored the jab. "There are goblins. A lot of them. This isn't a patrol—it's a coordinated nest. They're waiting for us to enter the bottleneck."
The air shifted. People checked their systems instinctively, their eyes glowing blue as they pinged the area.
"My 'Detection' skill says the path is clear," one girl said, frowning at her screen.
"Same here," another added. "The mini-map shows no hostile markers within fifty meters."
Kaito studied his own interface for a moment, then looked back at Ren. "My system shows a 'Safe Route' highlighted in green. If there was a nest, the Tutorial would have flagged it as a 'Danger Zone'."
Ren clenched his fists until his raw, blistered palms stung. "The System is only showing you what your Level 1 skills can perceive. They're farther out, masked by the rocks. They're watching us. If we keep going straight, we're walking into a slaughter. We need to go around."
"That'll waste three hours of stamina," Sato snapped. "And we're losing daylight. We need to reach the Safe Zone before the 'Night Cycle' starts."
"He's right, Kaito," another student added, looking at Ren with pure disdain. "We can't let a guy without a system dictate our strategy. He's a liability. He's just scared because he has no stats to protect him."
Kaito looked at the village, then back at Ren. The logic of the game won. "We move forward. Stay in formation. If anything pops up, the Warriors will handle it."
The group advanced. Ren stayed tense, every step feeling like he was walking onto a gallows. He reached into his pocket, his fingers brushing the two 100-yen coins. They were cold now.
The smell hit him first—the stench of rotting meat and damp, unwashed fur.
Then, the forest exploded.
A shrill, blood-curdling cry pierced the air, followed by a frantic chime that echoed in everyone's heads simultaneously.
[WARNING!]
[GOBLIN NEST DETECTED]
[AMBUSH INITIATED: MULTIPLE HOSTILE ENTITIES APPROACHING]
"Too late," Ren whispered.
Goblins surged from the rocks, from hidden holes in the earth, and from narrow trails masked by fallen leaves. There were dozens of them—small, hunched bodies with skin the color of a bruise, wielding rusted cleavers and jagged bone shivs.
"FORMATION!" Kaito screamed, but the green 'Safe Route' on his screen had already turned a violent, flashing red.
Chaos followed. Skills flared in desperate bursts of light. Fire erupted from a Mage's hand, singeing the grass. Steel clashed against rusted iron. Screams of pain rang out as the group struggled to keep their footing against the overwhelming numbers.
Ren backed away, his mind a cold engine of survival. He saw a goblin lunging from his blind spot. He didn't have a 'Dodge' skill, but he had the memory of the wolf attack. He twisted his body, the blade whistling past his ear, and grabbed a heavy, fallen branch from the dirt.
He swung with everything he had. The impact sent a jarring shock through his arms, but the goblin recoiled with a shriek, its jaw shattered. The wood cracked in Ren's hands.
Another goblin rushed him. Ren didn't fight. He turned and ran toward a cluster of trees, his lungs burning. He had no stamina bar to tell him when to stop, only the raw, screaming agony of his own body.
The fight ended as suddenly as it had begun. Once the students had killed enough of the swarm, the remaining goblins retreated back into their holes, screeching in a language of hate but unwilling to risk more losses.
The group staggered away from the path, battered, bleeding, and furious.
Fear, as it always does, turned into blame.
"You said you warned us?" Sato shouted, limping toward Ren with blood dripping from a cut on his arm. "Then why didn't you insist harder? Why didn't you stop us?!"
Ren stared at him, stunned by the sheer absurdity of the accusation. "I tried. You told me to shut up."
"If you knew they were there, you should have done something useful!" another girl snapped, clutching a broken staff. "You just stood there while we bled!"
Kaito stepped forward, his face pale. He looked at Ren, but his eyes were cold. "You don't fight, Ren. You don't level up. You don't even have an interface to share data with the party. In a world where every point of mana and stamina counts... you're just a Freeloader."
The word hit Ren harder than any goblin's blade.
Freeloader.
The murmurs spread through the group like a virus.
"He risks nothing."
"He consumes our resources."
"He's a bad investment. Dead weight."
Kaito raised a hand, silencing the group. He looked at the village, then at the darkening forest. "The Safe Zone is only for those who contribute to the System. We can't carry someone who doesn't exist in the eyes of the Game."
Elara, the Healer, stepped toward Ren. Her face was a mask of guilt and sorrow. "Ren... I'm sorry. But my mana is almost gone. I have to prioritize the ones who can protect the group. If I stay to help you..."
"You'll die," Ren said gently, saving her from the lie.
She bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"When you go," Ren said, his voice devoid of emotion, "don't run. Walk. Save your stamina for the gate. If something chases you, head for the rocks. Goblins hate the open light."
She nodded, unable to look him in the eye, and turned back to the group. One by one, his classmates turned their backs on him. No farewells. No apologies. They marched toward the stone walls of the village, their blue screens illuminating their path like a funeral procession.
Ren stood alone in the deepening purple twilight.
He turned and walked in the opposite direction, deeper into the black heart of the forest. The trees swallowed him quickly, their branches reaching down like claws. His body ached. His mind felt like a hollow shell.
That was when he heard it.
A low, guttural growl that vibrated in the very marrow of his bones.
Ren froze. From the tall, swaying grass ahead, two shapes emerged. They were wolves, but not like the ones from the clearing. These were lean, scarred, and their ribs pressed against their mangy fur. Their eyes locked onto Ren with a desperate, starving intensity.
Exiled, Ren realized. Driven out of the pack. The worst kind of hunters.
Ren's gaze dropped to the ground. His hand closed around a thick, fallen branch—heavy, splintered, and stained with his own dried blood.
A club. Not a weapon of the System, but a tool of the desperate.
The first wolf lunged.
Ren swung. The impact staggered the beast, but a white-hot flare of pain exploded through his arms. The second wolf struck immediately, its teeth tearing into his calf.
Ren shrieked and hit the dirt. He kicked, swung, and rolled—pure, frantic instinct. The club cracked against a skull. Blood soaked into the grass, turning the soil into a slick, red mire.
The wolves circled him, their breath huffing in the cold air. Ren dragged himself upright, his leg buckling, his vision blurring with the onset of shock.
I can't run, he thought, his fingers tightening around the wood.
The wolves knew it too. They crouched, their muscles coiling for the final kill.
Ren raised the club, his body screaming for the end, and the forest seemed to shrink until there was nothing left but him and the monsters. No system window appeared to save him. No warning flashed in red.
Only the cold, hard certainty that if he fell this time, the world would finally forget he ever existed.