The silence of the ravine was deafening. The only sound Leo could hear was the frantic, thumping rhythm of his own heart, beating against his ribs like a trapped bird desperate to escape.
He sat in the dirt, the cold dampness of the mud seeping into his naked skin, staring at the translucent blue screen floating in the air before him. It cast a ghostly pallor over his bruised and bloodied body.
"A System..." Leo muttered, his voice raspy and dry. "I actually have a System."
He reached out, his trembling fingers passing right through the holographic light. It wasn't a hallucination induced by blood loss. It was real. And judging by the lingering ache in his bones—a deep, marrow-thumping soreness that felt like he had been stretched on a rack—the transformation he had just undergone was real too.
He focused on the screen, trying to make sense of the rows of text.
[Status Report] [Name: Leo Thorne] [Race: Human (Shifter Host)] [Class: F (Civilian)] [Level: 1] [Exp: 10/100]
[Attributes] [Strength: 5] [Agility: 6] [Endurance: 4] [Vitality: 5] [Willpower: 7]
[System Status] [Beast Points (BP): 0/50 (CRITICAL)] [Rage Meter: 45% (Aggressive)] [Dominant Form: Wolf (Class F)] [Form Lock Duration: 6 Days, 23 Hours, 55 Minutes]
Leo's eyes lingered on the 'BP' gauge. It was flashing red. A dull, throbbing headache pulsed behind his eyes, syncing with the flashing warning.
[Alert: BP Depleted. Host body is currently fueling basic metabolic functions. Immediate caloric intake required to restore BP regeneration.]
"Hungry," Leo whispered, clutching his stomach. It wasn't just a rumble; it was a void. A gnawing, clawing emptiness that felt less like the need for food and more like the need for fuel.
He looked around the ravine floor. The Razor-Claw Bear was gone, chased off by the distant hunters, but the signs of their struggle remained. Deep furrows were dug into the earth where Leo—no, where the Wolf—had launched itself.
Leo shivered. He needed clothes. He needed food. And he needed to get out of this hole before whatever scavengers lived in the Grey Zone came to investigate the scent of his blood.
He dragged himself upright, his legs shaking like newborn colts. The surge of power he had felt during the fight was completely gone, leaving him feeling lighter, hollowed out. This must be the cost, he realized. The System mentioned a 'Power Normalization Law' and 'BP Cost'. He had borrowed power he didn't own, and now his body was paying the interest.
He stumbled toward the bushes where he had crashed earlier. Miraculously, his rucksack was snagged on a thorny branch a few meters up the slope. It was torn, and the contents were spilling out, but it was there.
Leo scrambled up the loose scree, his fingers digging into the dirt. He reached the bag and ripped it open. His spare shirt was shredded, but his canvas pants were intact. He pulled them on quickly, wincing as the fabric brushed against the phantom scars on his chest.
He dug deeper into the bag. A water canteen—dented but full. Two compressed protein bars.
He tore the wrapper off the first bar with his teeth and shoved the entire thing into his mouth. It tasted like dry sawdust and fake chocolate, but he swallowed it in two gulps. He ate the second one just as fast.
[System Notification: Caloric intake detected.] [BP Regeneration initiated: +1 BP.] [Current BP: 1/50]
"One point?" Leo stared at the screen in disbelief. "Two bars for one point? And I need fifty to be full? Are you kidding me?"
The hunger barely subsided. If anything, the small taste of food had woken his stomach up, making the growling louder.
[Tip: High-density meat or raw biological essence provides efficient BP conversion. Processed human food is inefficient.]
Leo looked at the wrapper in his hand, then at the dark woods surrounding him. "You want me to eat raw meat? I'm not an animal."
[Correction: You are a Shifter. You are the apex of adaptation. Do not cling to limitations.]
The voice in his head was cold, logical, and terrifyingly pragmatic. Leo shook his head to clear it. He couldn't deal with the existential dread right now. He had a quest.
[Quest: The Payback] [Objective: Humiliate those who left you for dead.] [Time Limit: 24 Hours]
Brock. Sarah. Tom.
The names ignited a spark in his chest. He looked at his Rage Meter. It sat at 45%, labeled 'Aggressive'. He felt it. It was a low simmer of irritability, a hair-trigger temper that made his fists clench involuntarily.
"I'm coming for you," Leo growled.
He slung the torn rucksack over one shoulder and began the climb.
The ascent out of the ravine took an hour. By the time Leo crested the ridge, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of bruised purple and blood orange. The Grey Zone forest was transforming, shifting from the dangerous playground of student hunters into the lethal domain of nocturnal predators.
Leo stuck to the treeline, moving with a caution he had never possessed before. He wasn't sure if it was the System's influence or just the trauma of the bear attack, but his senses felt dialed up. The rustle of leaves sounded like thunder. The smell of pine and damp earth was overwhelming.
He was about a mile from the extraction point—a cleared landing zone where the academy transports would pick up the students.
Snap.
A twig broke to his left.
Leo froze. He didn't think; he just reacted. He dropped into a crouch, pressing his back against the rough bark of an oak tree.
From the undergrowth, a creature emerged. It was small, roughly the size of a badger, but covered in mange-ridden grey fur. It had oversized incisors that jutted out over its lower lip and red, beady eyes.
A Corpse-Rat. Class F.
They were scavengers, bottom-feeders that usually traveled in packs. This one was alone, sniffing the air. It smelled the dried blood on Leo's clothes.
The rat hissed, baring its yellow teeth, and crouched, ready to spring.
Leo's heart hammered. "System, shift! Wolf form!"
[Error: Insufficient BP.] [Current BP: 2/50.] [Required BP for Partial Shift (Claws): 10 BP.] [Required BP for Full Shift (Wolf - Class F): 40 BP.]
"Damn it!"
The rat lunged.
Leo threw himself to the side, rolling over his shoulder. The rat's teeth snapped shut on empty air, clicking loudly.
Leo scrambled to his feet, looking for a weapon. He had lost his knife in the fall. He was unarmed.
The rat turned faster than a natural animal should, hissing again. It leaped, aiming for Leo's throat.
Leo didn't have the speed of the Wolf anymore. He was just Leo, the Class F Civilian. He threw his arm up instinctively to block.
Chomp.
The rat's teeth sank into his forearm.
"Ahhh!" Leo screamed, pain flaring hot and white.
[Rage: 55%]
The pain didn't make him cower. It made him furious. The red haze in his vision thickened.
He didn't try to shake the rat off. Instead, he reached down with his free hand, his fingers curling into a claw-like grip, and grabbed the rat by the throat.
He squeezed. He squeezed with every ounce of strength he had, channeling all his frustration, all his hatred for Brock, all his fear of the bear into his grip.
The rat squealed, scrabbling at his arm with its claws, tearing his skin, but Leo didn't let go. He slammed the creature against the tree trunk. Once. Twice.
Crunch.
The rat went limp in his hand.
Leo stood there, panting, his chest heaving. Blood—his and the rat's—dripped from his arm.
[Enemy Defeated: Corpse-Rat (Class F)] [Experience Gained: 5] [Current Exp: 15/100]
He looked at the dead creature in his hand. It was repulsive. A bag of disease and vermin.
But his stomach roared. It was a sound so loud it seemed to shake the trees. The smell of the rat's blood hit his nose, and for a second, it didn't smell like copper and filth. It smelled... sweet.
[BP Critical. Essence source available.] [Consume to restore BP?]
Leo's hand trembled. He brought the carcass closer to his face. His mouth watered. The Wolf inside him was scratching at the door, whining, pleading. Eat. Eat and grow strong.
"No," Leo gasped, dropping the rat as if it were burning hot. He stumbled back, gagging. "I'm not... I'm not a monster."
[System Note: Morality is a luxury of the well-fed. Survival requires fuel.]
"Shut up," Leo hissed. He grabbed a handful of leaves and wiped the blood off his arm, wrapping the bite wound with a strip of cloth from his ruined shirt. "I'll find another way."
He turned his back on the kill and started walking again, faster this time. The hunger was a physical weight, dragging him down, but the fear of what he might become if he gave in pushed him forward.
The extraction point was a wide clearing of flattened grass near the edge of the forest. Portable floodlights had been set up, cutting through the twilight gloom. A sleek, metallic transport ship hovered silently a few feet off the ground, its engines humming.
Students were milling about, laughing, comparing loot, and boasting about their kills. It was a scene of casual privilege that made Leo's blood boil.
He stayed in the shadows of the treeline, watching.
He saw them.
Brock was sitting on a crate near the ramp of the ship, holding a bottle of water. Sarah was next to him, laughing at something on her datapad. Tom was cleaning a knife. They looked perfectly fine. Not a scratch on them. They looked happy.
Leo stepped out of the shadows.
He looked like a revenant. His clothes were torn and stained with mud and dried blood. His arm was wrapped in bloody rags. His face was pale, gaunt, and smeared with dirt. But his eyes... his eyes were burning with a strange, predatory intensity.
The chatter nearest to him died down. One by one, students turned to look.
"Is that... is that the porter?" someone whispered.
"I thought he died."
"Look at him. He looks like a zombie."
Brock looked up at the commotion. His smile froze when he saw Leo. For a second, genuine shock flickered across his face, followed immediately by a mask of annoyance.
"Well, look who crawled out of the grave," Brock called out, standing up. He didn't look guilty. He looked disappointed. "We were just about to file the paperwork for a missing person. You would have saved us a lot of trouble if you'd just stayed lost, Leo."
Sarah wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, look at him. He's covered in filth. Don't let him near the ship, Brock. He'll smell up the cabin."
Leo didn't stop walking. He marched straight toward them, his boots thudding heavily on the grass. The crowd parted for him, sensing the tension.
"My pay," Leo said. His voice was quiet, but it carried.
Brock laughed, looking around at his friends for support. "Pay? You abandoned your post, Leo. You ran away when the bear showed up. You breached the contract."
"I was bait," Leo said, stepping closer. He was five feet away now. "You threw me to a Razor-Claw Bear and ran the other way."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Brock said, stepping forward to tower over Leo. He was a head taller and twice as wide. "You panicked. You tripped. We tried to help you, but you fell into the ravine. Isn't that right, Sarah?"
"Absolutely," Sarah said, smirking. "A tragic accident caused by incompetence."
[Rage: 65% (Unstable)] [Warning: Host judgment compromised. Impulses amplified.]
The red haze flared. Leo could hear Brock's heart beating. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. It was a slow, arrogant rhythm. Leo wanted to speed it up. He wanted to stop it.
"You're lying," Leo said. The air around him seemed to drop a few degrees.
Brock's eyes narrowed. He lit his hand up, a small fireball dancing in his palm. It was a threat. A reminder of the hierarchy. "Watch your tone, Zero. You're lucky to be alive. Now get out of my face before I finish what the bear started."
The fire reflected in Leo's eyes.
Instinct took over.
Leo didn't have the BP to shift. He didn't have the claws or the fangs. But he had the instincts of the Wolf dominant form leaking through his psyche.
He moved before Brock could throw the fire.
Leo stepped inside Brock's guard. He didn't punch; he didn't have the strength to win a fistfight against a Level 3 User. Instead, he slammed his boot down onto Brock's instep, crushing the small bones there.
"Argh!" Brock shouted, his concentration breaking. The fireball fizzled out.
Simultaneously, Leo grabbed Brock's wrist—the one with the fire—and twisted it violently, using the boy's own momentum to spin him around. Leo kicked out the back of Brock's knee.
Brock crumpled to one knee, shocked.
Leo stood behind him, his arm wrapped around Brock's neck in a chokehold. It wasn't a clean technique taught in the academy. It was messy, brutal, and tight.
"Get off him!" Sarah shrieked, raising her hands to cast a wind blade.
"Do it!" Leo roared, tightening his grip. "Cast it! I'll snap his neck before it hits me!"
Sarah froze. The other students gasped. A Zero was holding a Level 3 hostage. It was impossible.
"You..." Brock wheezed, clawing at Leo's arm. "You're dead... my father will..."
Leo leaned down, his lips brushing Brock's ear. He lowered his voice so only Brock could hear. It was a growl, deep and vibrating, sounding almost inhuman.
"I survived a bear today, Brock. Do you really think I'm scared of a rich kid with a lighter?"
[Rage: 70%] [Intimidation Check: Success.]
Brock stopped struggling. He felt it. The killer intent radiating off Leo. It wasn't the desperation of a victim; it was the hunger of a predator. Brock, for the first time in his life, felt true fear.
"Pay me," Leo whispered. "Double."
"Okay," Brock choked out. "Okay! Sarah, pay him! Give him the credits!"
Sarah scrambled to pull out her datapad, her hands shaking. She transferred the credits to Leo's ID chip.
Leo's wristband beeped.
[Credits Received: 500.]
Leo held the choke for one second longer, just to let the fear settle into Brock's bones. Then he shoved Brock forward, sending him sprawling into the dirt.
Leo stepped back, his chest heaving, his eyes scanning the circle of stunned students. No one moved to stop him.
[Quest Complete: The Payback (Part 1)] [Objective: Humiliate those who left you for dead.] [Reward: Max Exp] [Level Up!] [Current Level: 2] [Attribute Point Received: 1]
The notification flashed, but Leo ignored it. He stared at Brock, who was coughing and rubbing his neck, looking up at Leo with a mixture of hatred and terror.
"This isn't over, Thorne!" Brock screamed, his voice cracking. "You hear me? You're a dead man walking!"
Leo didn't answer. He turned and walked toward the transport ship's cargo hold, the only place a porter was allowed to sit.
As he walked into the darkness of the ship, away from the prying eyes, Leo clutched his stomach again. The adrenaline was fading, and the hunger was returning with a vengeance, sharper than before.
[BP Critical: 1/55] [Warning: Rage lingering at 60%.] [System Advice: You made enemies today. You need strength. You need to Feed.]
Leo sat on a cold metal crate in the back of the ship, alone in the dark. He looked at his trembling hands.
"I know," Leo whispered to the darkness. "I know."
He closed his eyes, but all he could see was the red text of the System, and behind that, the yellow eyes of a wolf, staring back at him from the mirror of his soul.