Ren heard the wolves before he saw them.
Low, vibrating growls slid through the twisted trees like knives scraping against cold stone. They were close—too close. His instincts, sharpened by three days of starvation and silence, screamed a warning even before his eyes caught the flicker of movement between the massive trunks.
Two shapes. Lean. Gray. Fast.
Wolves. But these weren't the majestic predators of the old world. These were monsters—their fur was matted with black bile, their ribs jutted out like jagged blades, and their eyes glowed with a sickly, famished red light.
Ren's breath hitched in his throat. His legs were still weak from the goblin ambush, his body a map of bruises and shallow cuts that throbbed with every heartbeat. He turned, searching for an escape route, but the forest seemed to conspire against him, the thorny brush closing in like the bars of a cage.
The first wolf burst from the undergrowth.
Ren barely had time to react. He threw himself sideways, the wind of the beast's passage chilling his skin. Jaws snapped shut where his neck had been a heartbeat earlier. He hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the remaining air from his lungs.
Pain flared, hot and blinding.
The second wolf came immediately. Ren rolled, the dirt stinging his raw palms, barely avoiding a set of claws that tore through the earth where his chest had been. He scrambled backward, his fingers clawing desperately at the soil until they wrapped around something solid.
A broken branch. Thick. Heavy. Crude.
It wasn't a sword. It wasn't a spear. It was a piece of dead wood.
Ren forced himself upright as the wolves circled him. They didn't rush in blindly. They watched. Their eyes were sharp—calculating. These weren't the mindless goblins he'd seen before. These were hunters who understood the concept of a cornered prey.
The first wolf lunged again. Ren swung the branch with every ounce of desperate strength he possessed.
CRACK!
The blow connected with the wolf's skull. The vibration reverberated through Ren's arms, numbing his hands. The wolf yelped and stumbled—but it didn't fall. The branch, however, split down the middle, leaving Ren with a jagged, useless stump.
The second wolf seized the opening. It slammed into Ren's side, its weight hitting him like a runaway car. Teeth sank into his thigh.
Ren screamed.
Agony exploded through his nervous system as the wolf shook its head violently, trying to tear the muscle from the bone. Flesh ripped. Warmth flooded down his leg.
Blood. His life, leaking into the dirt.
Ren swung the jagged stump blindly, striking the wolf's snout again and again until it finally released him. He collapsed onto one knee, gasping, his vision blurring at the edges. The wolves backed away, panting, their muzzles stained red.
They knew. They could smell the end.
Ren tried to stand. His leg buckled instantly, pain ripping through him like liquid fire. He hit the ground hard, the breath knocked from his lungs again. Cold began to creep into his fingers. His heartbeat thundered unevenly in his ears, a drum fading in the distance.
'Get up,' he told himself.
His body didn't listen.
The forest grew unnaturally quiet. Even the wind faded, as if the world itself were holding its breath to watch him die. The first wolf approached slowly, its jaws opening to reveal rows of yellowed, serrated teeth.
Ren's vision darkened.
Abandoned.
Mocked.
Left behind.
Dying alone in a forest that didn't care, while his classmates played hero in a village of stone.
Something inside him twisted—not fear, not anger.
Refusal.
Ren clenched his fists, his nails biting into his raw palms. He forced his arms to move, his muscles screaming as he pushed himself up inch by inch. He wouldn't die as "dead weight." He wouldn't die as a "freeloader."
The wolf lunged for his throat.
Ren didn't dodge. He met it.
He dropped the broken branch and threw himself forward, wrapping both arms around the wolf's neck in a desperate, suffocating embrace. Its weight crushed him to the ground, claws ripping into his chest, but Ren held on. They rolled violently in the dirt, a chaotic mess of fur, blood, and teeth.
The second wolf attacked, sinking its teeth into Ren's shoulder.
Pain vanished. Not because it stopped hurting, but because his body had reached its absolute limit. His brain simply stopped registering the damage. Ren's grip tightened reflexively around the first wolf's throat. He felt the windpipe snap.
His heartbeat stuttered. Then—everything went black.
For a moment that felt like an eternity, there was nothing. No sound. No pain. No thought.
Then, something pressed back. Hard.
Air slammed into his lungs as his body convulsed violently. His heart kicked back into rhythm with a brutal, mechanical force. Sensation flooded back all at once—burning, tearing, overwhelming.
Ren gasped, coughing up blood and dirt. He was alive. Barely.
And something had changed. Not outside. Inside.
The second wolf, still alive, hesitated. It looked at Ren with something that looked like animal fear.
Ren pushed himself upright. His legs were shaking, his clothes were soaked in blood, but he felt a strange, cold clarity. He felt the pain, but it no longer drowned him. It was just... data.
The wolf lunged. Ren sidestepped. Cleanly.
His hand shot out, gripping the wolf's lower jaw. He didn't think. He didn't use a skill. He just twisted.
CRACK.
The wolf collapsed, its neck broken.
Silence reclaimed the forest. Ren stood there, swaying, his breath ragged. Then his legs gave out. He collapsed against a massive oak, sliding down until he hit the ground.
Only then did it appear.
It wasn't a blue screen. It wasn't glowing with a heroic light. It was a jagged, flickering window of deep violet and blood red, pulsing like a heartbeat.
[Hidden Task Completed: Survival of the Unblessed.]
[Analyzing User Performance...]
[Combat Style: Brutal/Instinctive]
[Willpower: S-Rank]
[Rewards Granted:]
[Skill Unlocked: Martial Arts — Level 1]
[Skill Unlocked: Rapid Healing — Level 3]
Ren felt it immediately. Not knowledge, but alignment. His body remembered the fight—every movement, every mistake. It settled into him like muscle memory carved by agony. The heat spread through his torn muscles, the bleeding slowing to a crawl.
But the screen didn't vanish. It flickered again, a line of red static cutting through the center.
[CRITICAL ERROR: STANDARD EXPERIENCE PATH BLOCKED]
[REASON: USER LACKS SYSTEM INTERFACE PERMISSION]
Ren's heart sank. Even now, the world was trying to reject him.
[Searching for Alternative Progression Path...]
[Currency Data Detected in User's Possession.]
[Initializing: The Black Market Interface.]
Ren's breath hitched. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the two 100-yen coins. They were covered in his blood.
[System Alert: Currency Recognized.]
[Conversion Rate Established: 1,000 Yen = 1 Stat Point.]
A new menu materialized, looking like a corrupted bank statement.
[THE BLACK MARKET SHOP]
User: Ren
Balance: 200 Yen
[Available for Purchase:]
1 Strength Point: 1,000 Yen
1 Agility Point: 1,000 Yen
1 Intelligence Point: 1,000 Yen
Basic Iron Dagger (Rank F): 5,000 Yen
Ren stared at the numbers. He looked at his 200 yen. He was 800 yen short of a single point of strength. He was a beggar in a world where power was for sale.
But he wasn't a freeloader anymore.
He looked at the two dead wolves. For the first time, he didn't see monsters. He saw assets. He saw pelts, teeth, and mana shards. He saw money.
"No levels... no experience..." Ren whispered hoarsely, a cold, dark smile finally touching his lips. "Fine. I don't need them."
He gripped the bloody coins in his hand.
"If this world is a game, then I'm going to buy the whole damn thing."
The forest remained silent, but the "Glitch" had finally awakened. Ren was Level 0, but for the first time, he held the key to infinite power. He just needed to find the capital.