The morning light in The Grey Woods brought no warmth. No golden sunlight pierced through the foliage. Instead, the forest was illuminated by a gloomy silver refraction filtering through the eternal thick layer of mist above the tree canopy.
Vaelen opened his eyes. His first reaction wasn't to stretch comfortably, but to jerk his hand to the sword hilt at his waist.
Silence.
There was only the sound of water dripping from the tree roots above him.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He was still alive. His heart beat with an unnaturally slow rhythm—a side effect of the Abyssal Root beginning to alter his physiology.
Vaelen crawled out of his hiding hollow. The morning air smelled like wet grave soil and mushrooms. As he stood, his stomach growled loudly, a twisting pain gnawing at his gut.
He winced. "System, I thought absorbing that dog's life energy would be filling."
[System Notification]
[Energy Check: Abyssal Qi (Sufficient).]
[Physical Sustenance: Critical.]
[Logic Hint: Qi fuels the soul and power. Calories fuel the muscles and brain. You still possess a mortal vessel. Eat matter, or starve.]
Vaelen snorted cynically. "So I'm a demigod, half-starving human. Great."
The first problem of the day wasn't monsters, but breakfast.
He began walking through the forest, moving upwind so his scent wouldn't be picked up by prey—or predators. The Grey Woods had a strange ecosystem. Vaelen noticed that the plants here lacked green chlorophyll. The bushes were deep purple, the ferns grey, and the trees secreted a thick black sap like asphalt.
It was an ecosystem built on rot. The trees didn't feed on the sun; they fed on the corpses decomposing at their roots.
An hour of walking later, Vaelen found a small stream. The water wasn't clear, but murky brown with oily scum on the edges.
Vaelen crouched, activating his analytical eyes.
[Analysis: Stream of Weeping Rock]
[Contamination: Moderate (Heavy Metals & Necrotic Runoff).]
[Toxicity Level: Fatal for normal humans over time.]
[For Host (Entropy Metabolism): Hydration source. Metallic aftertaste.]
"Cheers," Vaelen muttered. He cupped the water in his hands and drank it.
It tasted like licking rusty coins. His throat itched for a moment, but then a warm sensation spread through his stomach as his passive Entropy Metabolism broke down the toxins into micronutrients.
As he was wiping his mouth, Vaelen heard a rough scraping sound.
Krrek... sraak... krrek...
The sound was heavy. Something massive was rubbing its body against a tree trunk.
Vaelen went prone behind a giant mushroom bush. He peeked.
About twenty meters in front of him, a beast was marking its territory. It was a wild boar, but the size of a mature bull. Its coat wasn't hair, but stiff black iron spikes sticking out. The most terrifying part was its head: parts of the facial skin had peeled away, revealing a white exoskeleton with four small red eyes.
[Target: Iron-Hide Boar (Corrupted Variant)]
[Rank: 9 (Peak Stage)][State: Aggressive / Feeding]
[Note: Its hide deflects normal steel. Weak point: Underbelly & Eyes.]
Vaelen held his breath. Rank 9 Peak. That was one sub-tier above Gareth, and far above Vaelen who had just reached the Middle Stage. Physically, this monster could pulp Vaelen into meat paste with a single charge.
But Vaelen stared at the boar not with fear, but with saliva nearly dripping.
Meat. Qi. Loot.
Vaelen glanced at the short sword in his hand. Standard guard steel. It wouldn't penetrate that iron hide. He needed a plan.
His eyes swept the surroundings. The forest was full of strong hanging roots and quicksand near the river.
Adrian's brain—the brain of a cunning former CEO—began drafting scenarios. He wouldn't fight like a noble knight. He would hunt.
Vaelen moved back slowly, silently, away from the monster. He found the perfect spot ten meters from the river: a patch of ground covered in thick green moss, but underneath was deep liquid mud.
He took the remains of the mutant dog meat from the system storage (a beginner Item Box that only fit 1x1 meter), then placed it in the center of that quicksand. The smell was pungently fishy.
Then Vaelen climbed a large tree nearby. He perched on a low branch, about three meters above the ground, holding his sword in a reverse grip.
He waited.
The smell of dog blood soon reached the Iron Boar's sensitive nose. Snorting sounds got closer. Bushes were crushed by its massive body.
The monster appeared. Its red eyes stared at the chunk of meat in the middle of the moss. Its intelligence was low, dominated by ravenous appetite. It stepped forward confidently.
Schlop. Blup.
Its front legs sank through the layer of moss.
GROOOK!
The boar was startled. It tried to pull its legs out, but the quicksand in this forest had the viscosity of glue. The more it struggled, the deeper its front legs locked in.
"Now."
Vaelen didn't just jump down. He leaped and swung his body using a hanging root, utilizing gravity's momentum and the swing speed for one lethal strike.
His target wasn't the thick neck, but the eye.
WHOOSH!
Vaelen's body glided through the air. The Boar looked up, realizing the threat a second too late.
CRASH!
Vaelen's short sword struck true into one of the four red eyes. Vitreous fluid sprayed. The boar shrieked shrilly, a sound that sounded like grinding metal.
"Die!" Vaelen shouted, twisting his sword inside the eye socket to damage the brain.
However, the vitality of a Rank 9 Peak monster was no joke.
THWACK!
The monster jerked its head sideways with insane force.
Vaelen was flung away. His grip on the sword slipped. His body was thrown against a tree trunk.
"Cough!" Vaelen spat blood. His spine felt like it was about to snap. HP -25%.
The boar went on a rampage, managing to pull one leg out of the mud due to the adrenaline of pain. Vaelen's sword was still stuck in its eye. It was partially blind, but now it knew where its enemy was. It lowered its head, ready to charge Vaelen who was still sprawled out.
"Shit," Vaelen cursed. He had no weapon. He couldn't outrun that charge.
So, he chose madness.
As the boar charged like a spiked locomotive, Vaelen didn't dodge to the side. He dropped flat on his back, letting the boar's massive body rush over him—in the gap between the monster's front legs.
Vaelen reached both hands upward. Right toward the boar's soft underbelly, devoid of iron fur.
His hands didn't hold a knife. His hands were the knife.
[Skill Activated: Prototype Siphon (Max Output)]
Vaelen gripped the boar's stomach as the monster passed over him. His nails dug in.
The System roared.
The energy of a Rank 9 Peak monster flowed violently—too violently.
Vaelen was dragged on the ground for five meters because the boar kept running, but Vaelen didn't let go. He was dragged through mud and sharp roots, his back severely scratched, but he laughed wildly.
"FOOD!"
The monster slowed down. Its legs trembled. Its angry roar turned into a weak moan.
The veins on Vaelen's face bulged black. He drank it all. Vitality, Qi, and... Madness.
Suddenly, Vaelen no longer saw the forest. He saw a red world. He felt the boar's desire to kill, rape, and destroy. Ancient animal instincts flooded Adrian's human mind.
[WARNING: Madness Influx High!][Sanity Check: 88... 85... 80/100][Mental Shield is buckling!]
KILL. RIP. EAT THE HEART.
The voice in his head screamed. Vaelen's hands unconsciously moved to tear the boar's intestines with his bare hands, wanting to bathe in blood.
"SHUT UP!" Vaelen slammed his own head against the ground to stop the impulse. "I AM THE ONE EATING! NOT YOU EATING ME!"
With the remnants of his iron will, he absorbed the last drop.
The giant wild boar collapsed to the side, drained dry. Its massive body now looked like wrinkled skin thrown over bones.
Vaelen lay beside the carcass, his breath gasping. His eyes bulged, staring at the forest canopy. His pupils were unnaturally dilated.
It took two full minutes for him to calm his heartbeat. The urge to rampage slowly receded, locked back behind the iron door of his rationality.
[Prey Hunted: Iron-Hide Boar]
[Reward: Rank 9 Peak Essence obtained.]
[Rank Progression: Rank 9 (Middle) -> Rank 9 (High Stage) 30%]
[Status Condition: Satiated.]
[Warning: Accumulated Corruption requires venting or meditation.]
Vaelen sat up slowly. His whole body hurt, his shirt was torn at the back, but the scratches were closing at a visible speed.
He walked over to the boar's head, pulling out his sword covered in blood and brain slime.
"Don't be greedy," he muttered to himself, rubbing his throbbing temples. "Eating monsters gives me power, but also gives... their mental filth."
This was the limit of his system. He could level up quickly, but if he ate too much in a short time without purifying the 'soul' of his prey, he would end up a mindless monster like Elara.
But that cultivation problem was for later.
Vaelen used his sword to slit the boar's stomach (the part where the skin wasn't as hard as iron). He cut the inner thigh meat which was least affected by mutation, looked for the monster core near its heart, and skinned it a bit to take some iron spikes that could serve as throwing knives.
While he was busy 'shopping' from the corpse, he saw something odd.
On the boar's tusk, a shred of cloth was snagged. Dark red cloth with a faint symbol.
Vaelen pulled the cloth. Rough wool. Not material worn by animals. And the smell... the smell of humans.
This boar had just attacked someone before meeting Vaelen.
Vaelen traced the boar's tracks upstream. About fifty meters from the fight scene, he found the source of the cloth.
There was a small destroyed camp. Torn tents, an extinguished campfire, and three human corpses scattered pitifully.
They weren't Eisenwald knights. Their clothes were mismatched—a mix of leather and ill-fitting stolen armor. Their faces were rough, tattooed, and covered in old scars.
"Bandits," Vaelen concluded flatly. "A scouting party."
The boar had killed them. Their bodies were torn apart, partially eaten.
Vaelen felt no sympathy. He approached the corpses. In Vaelen's eyes, they were treasure chests.
He began to loot.
[Loot Obtained:]
1. Light Leather Armor (Slightly Damaged) - Better than his noble clothes which were now rags.
2. Leather Waterskin (Still half full).
3. Dry Bread (Hard as rock, but edible).
4. Rough Forest Map.
5. Ring with a cracked wolf emblem (Possibly a faction symbol).
When examining the rough map, Vaelen's eyebrows raised. There was a large red cross about two days' travel to the East.
Next to the cross, chicken-scratch writing read: "Black Wolf Base. Loot ready for delivery."
And below it, there was another note that made Vaelen's blood sizzle slightly—not from fear, but from opportunity.
"Eisenwald Military Academy Kidnapping Target will pass through Rat Path next week."
Vaelen folded the map and stuffed it into the pocket of his new clothes.
A thin smile formed on his face, dirty with dried blood.
"Looks like I found a ticket out of this forest," he muttered. "Or at least... a more varied food source."
He stared to the East. The Grey Woods was still vast and deadly, but now Vaelen had a direction. And Vaelen Blackwood never missed an opportunity for profit, no matter how small.