Hajin ducked beneath a tangled bough while wide antlers scraped his collar, tearing another ragged strip away from his worn shirt.
'Two days without food... and the first thing I find tries to eat me instead.'
He hooked one scraped hand around a trunk and swung behind it, dragging his feet through damp forest moss.
Two glowing purple Shards circled the beast's wide crown, spilling venomous light across the ferns while foul drool dripped steadily.
"You took a wrong turn from your mountain, pal," he muttered through gritted teeth, wiping sweat and pine sap from his brow. "Wander off... before you ruin my morning."
The horned predator dug sharp hooves into the soft hillside, reversing its momentum to face him among the tall timber.
Its armored skull struck the pine below his heels, rattling the wood while dry bark broke loose under his fingers.
'One Shard against two. Empty stomach, cheap sword... perfect.'
"Fresh grass everywhere, you stubborn bastard," he panted with a strained grimace as his feet scrambled for purchase on the damp moss. "Yet you insist on chewing on my tree."
The second impact jarred his grip loose, forcing him to seize another branch before the main limb snapped cleanly.
He dropped before the third strike landed, catching the earth on one shoulder and rolling through the jagged brush.
The beast tore through splintered wood behind him while he staggered downhill, clamping a hand against his aching left ribs.
'If my summoning actually worked for once... I could drop an iron wall behind me instead of running.'
At sixteen, the awakening crystal declared him a summoner, bringing greedy family tutors to the courtyard with long contract scrolls.
Every single attempt ended with his palms empty, until the elders bound him inside padded straps for punitive testing.
He still despised the scrape of those leather restraints, remembering the cellar where silver needles probed his channels.
His mother worked as a kitchen servant in that house, leaving behind only a copper pendant and a soft tune.
He pushed mana toward his right palm while sprinting, gritting his teeth as familiar pressure gathered behind his eyes.
"Give me anything with sharp teeth!" Hajin snarled at his open, empty palm, veins bulging in his neck from the strain. "Just enough to bite that bastard while I climb!"
Nothing answered except the pounding headache, and he closed his empty fist before the strain drained his trembling legs.
'Three years of lectures about wasted potential... and my own mana still ignores me.'
The noble elders cast him out into the rain, stripping his father's name before carriage guards dumped him outside.
He survived among the southern slums by trading scraps, dodging debt collectors, and learning how to take a proper beating.
He caught a low limb and hauled himself upward, using his heels to shove his weight against rough bark.
'Keep moving to the next trunk. Drop again if it follows... nobody is coming to save you.'
The animal stopped beneath his perch and raised its broad snout, drawing deep breath as its throat began swelling.
The sonic shockwave tore the bough apart, dropping him through the empty air before his feet found any solid footing.
He struck a jagged root, losing his breath as brutal antlers slammed hard against his exposed left side.
The impact launched him into a boulder, driving sharp pain through his chest while hot blood filled his mouth.
"Give me a second to stand up," Hajin rasped, coughing up dark phlegm into the dirt with a ragged smirk. "You overgrown sack of walking stew meat."
He spat dark crimson onto the leaves and pressed his elbow tight, testing whether his legs still obeyed commands.
'Two cracked ribs... maybe three. No coin for a healer unless I drag this core to town.'
The beast approached with lowered antlers, raking the forest floor while he dragged his right knee beneath his body.
His fingers trembled against his sword hilt, but the blade came free smoothly once he shifted his bruised hip.
Three years of striking wooden posts left small notches along the edge, though practice posts never tried eating him.
'First real monster kill... and the guild clerk will probably find three reasons to dock the bounty.'
"Never slaughtered one of your kind before," he warned with a grim smile, his fingers tightening against the notched hilt. "Don't worry, though... I learn fast."
He backed toward a fallen log while the animal pawed earth, keeping splintered wood between himself and its hooves.
Its front leg caught on a jagged knot, and he lunged forward before his trembling knees found another excuse.
He slipped beneath the sweeping horns, dragging his blade across the tendon behind the beast's rear left knee.
The edge bit through muscle and scraped bone, forcing him to twist the hilt free as the animal kicked.
A hard hoof clipped his bruised shoulder, throwing him backward across the moss with his teeth clamped shut.
'Don't trade blows with a mountain beast, idiot. You only get one ribcage.'
He scrambled behind the log while the animal spun around, dragging its ruined leg through the scattered pine needles.
"Come on, ugly!" he shouted, slapping the rough wood of the log to draw its furious gaze. "Swing that skull again and let's see who breaks first!"
Its damaged limb buckled upon landing, giving him two precious seconds of air while it shifted its balance.
'Keep the wounded leg trapped against the slope... running won't save you if those fangs catch up.'
He tucked his elbow against his side and gripped the notched hilt with both hands, steadying his breathing.
The beast stepped around the broken log, drawing its head back while its thick throat swelled for another roar.
He spotted its gray tongue pulling back, exposing the soft roof of its mouth behind two rows of fangs.
'It has to hold still before firing that blast... and that throat has zero armor.'
He launched himself from the fallen log before the jaw opened, closing the distance across the churned forest dirt.
"Open wide, bastard!" Hajin roared, tucking his chin as he launched his entire weight off the trunk.
The sonic blast struck him mid-air, but he tucked his chin and drove both heels into its lower jaw.
His upward momentum forced the beast's head back, and he thrust his blade straight through its soft palate.
The notched weapon punched through the braincase, grinding against bone until the crossguard slammed flush against its front teeth.
The beast convulsed violently before dying, tossing him sideways across the loam as its limbs collapsed in the dirt.
He landed on his bruised shoulder and stayed flat, waiting for another charge while the gray world spun overhead.
Instead, the limp carcass slid down the slope, leaving its shattered neck bent awkwardly against the mossy forest floor.
He watched the two purple Shards dissolve into gray mist, holding his breath until the final twitch ended.
"Two Shards," Hajin wheezed, his lips curling into a triumphant, bloody grin as the beast went limp. "And you still let a starving rookie shove a sword down your throat."
A ragged laugh escaped his lips, pulling at his cracked ribs until tears cut thin tracks through the soot.
"Right... stop laughing," he muttered to himself, clutching his throbbing ribs with a sharp wince. "Dying from your own joke is a pretty pathetic way to go."
He crawled toward the nearest tree trunk and sat against it, clutching his ribs while counting shallow, careful breaths.
'Harvest the core, start a fire, roast the meat... and try not to pass out.'
The remembered melody returned between his painful breaths, giving him a steady rhythm to hold against the darkness.
He tore a strip from his shirt hem with trembling fingers, attempting to bind the bloody wound upon his shoulder.
"Just keep the blood inside for five minutes," he whispered, tying the ragged knot with his teeth while a cold sweat broke across his neck. "I don't have spare pints to leak into the moss."
The dead forest fell silent again, leaving only the sound of his ragged panting beneath the tall pines.
He rested his head against the damp trunk, wondering how many copper coins the local butcher offered for venison.
'Six coppers for the pelt, twelve for meat... maybe two silver if the core stays intact.'
"That barely covers three weeks of rent," he calculated with a dry, self-deprecating chuckle. "Assuming the landlord forgets about the broken door."
He closed his eyes against the stinging sweat, trying to ignore the sharp throbbing in his bruised collarbone.
The memory of his mother's gentle humming filled his thoughts, keeping his mind tethered to the waking world.
'She always said stubborn boys outlive clever lords... doubt she pictured me bleeding in a ditch.'
"Still breathing, mother," Hajin murmured, resting his temple against the damp bark with a tired smile. "Your terrible advice kept me moving through one more morning."
He forced his tired eyelids open, staring at the motionless carcass that lay twenty paces down the slope.
The beast looked far smaller in death, stripped of the purple aura that once magnified its menacing horns.
'Two Shards of raw mana... wasted on an animal that lacked the sense to run.'
"If only my own body had half that juice," he muttered with an envious shake of his head. "The guild master might actually remember my name."
He wiped a smear of dirt from his chin, gathering the willpower required to stand on trembling legs.
Every muscle in his back protested the motion, but staying in the mud guaranteed a slow death.
"Up we go," he grunted, shoving himself off the tree with locked jaws. "Unless you want wolves finishing what this overgrown goat started."
He dragged himself upright along the trunk, locking his bruised knees until his balance returned to normal again.
He stumbled down the slippery needle slope toward the dead beast, placing each step with agonizing care to spare his cracked ribs.
The notched sword remained lodged deep inside the monster's skull, its plain hilt stained with dark crimson bile.
He planted his worn heel against the creature's armored forehead, gritting his teeth as he wrenched the blade free with a wet scrape.
'Edge is ruined along the upper third... but the temper held without snapping off inside the bone.'
He wiped the dark grease from the flat of the blade against a mossy root, then knelt beside the massive ribcage.
His knife hand worked through the tough hide behind the shoulder, peeling back thick muscle until the glowing monster core emerged.
The two-Shard crystal pulsed with dim violet heat, warm enough to thaw his numb fingers as he severed the connective sinew.
He rolled the sticky stone across a handful of dry pine needles, cleaning away the fluids before tucking it into his belt pouch.
'Two Shards of crystallized mana... enough to buy three sacks of grain or pay off the guild's late registration tax.'
"One decent score after three weeks of eating boiled roots," he said with genuine satisfaction, weighing the warm core in his palm. "Maybe today won't end in an unmarked ditch after all."
He sheathed the notched blade across his back, turning to gather dry kindling before the smell of blood drew rival predators.
A bright interface expanded before his face, and he flinched against the bark while the letters stabilized.
He closed his eyes, rubbed them with soot-stained knuckles, and opened them to find the glowing text still waiting.
"Am I losing my mind from blood loss," he blurted out, blinking rapidly against the sudden amber glow. "Or did this kill come with a manual?"
[ Conditions Met ]
[ System Activating... ]
He reached out with bruised fingers, but his hand passed through the warm light without feeling any physical resistance.
"Conditions met for what?" he asked, waving his bruised hand through the light with an incredulous frown. "Does this floating screen know how to patch a punctured shoulder?"
[ Soul Energy: 0 ]
[ Scanning Host Structure... ]
[ Host Identified: Hajin ]
[ Lineage Mark Detected ]
[ Bond Initiating... ]
The bright letters flared with gentle warmth, sending a strange hum through the dormant pathways inside his right wrist.
'After three years of silence... something in this world finally answers when I call.'
"Take your time with the scan," Hajin sighed with an exhausted smirk, slumping his back against the pine. "I'm not walking anywhere until my ribs stop burning anyway."
He leaned his head back against the tree, watching the radiant light dance across the dark forest canopy.
The mysterious interface pulsed with steady beats, mirroring the quiet pulse of his own battered, surviving heart.