The forest no longer felt suffocating.
It still groaned with distant beasts and moaned with old wind, but the Spiral's presence had faded. The land beyond the Vale felt… uncertain, not cursed. And for now, that was enough.
Isaac stood beside Lira as they stared at a half-buried stone marker. Moss veiled most of the lettering, but part of a name peeked through in worn glyphs: "…Orwyn's Hollow – 4 leagues."
"A village?" Lira asked, adjusting the straps of her satchel.
"If it's still standing," Isaac said. "But we need supplies. And information."
Lira nodded. Her face was calm, but her fingers twitched with old tension.
Isaac gave her a small smile. "It's not like before. We're not alone anymore."
She looked at him, then exhaled. "Let's go."
The forest narrowed as they walked. The trees here were taller, their branches curved like old arms. Mist curled low around the roots.
Isaac kept his senses sharp. His new skills buzzed faintly under his skin—alive in a way they hadn't been before.
[Passive Skill Active: Soul Devourer Matrix – Rank EX+]
[Passive Skill Active: System Override – Rank EX+]
He was stronger now. Faster. More attuned to what hid between the shadows.
But not invincible.
Lira stopped abruptly. "Did you hear that?"
A low growl rippled from the mist ahead. Then another. And another.
Red eyes flickered between the trees.
"They're surrounding us," Isaac muttered, stepping in front of her.
Shapes emerged—four, maybe five—hunched, muscular creatures with patchy fur and cracked black bones jutting from their backs. Their breath steamed in the cold. Their eyes burned with hunger.
[Soulpiercer Sight – Activated]
Isaac narrowed his focus on the lead beast.
[Target Identified: Feraldog – Corrupted Beast]
Level: 8
Race: Beast (Mutated)
Class: None
Affiliation: Wild (Unaligned)
HP: 120 / 120
Strength: 14
Agility: 16
Endurance: 9
Intelligence: 2
Willpower: 5
Charisma: 0
Traits:
– Blood Howl (buffs pack when wounded)
– Night-Bone Hide (slightly resists physical damage)
– Savage Instinct (increases crit chance at low HP)
"Corrupted, but not Spiral," Isaac muttered. "Just wild."
[Soulpiercer Sight – Deactivated]
The lead beast lunged.
Isaac moved before he could think, slashing wide with his claws. [Clawing Swipe – Lv. 5] connected, tearing through hide—but not bone.
Another lunged at Lira. She yelped, stumbling back, but threw a rock directly at its eye. It recoiled.
Three more closed in.
Isaac snarled.
[Rot Pulse – Rank C – Lv. 3 – Activated]
A burst of decaying energy rippled outward, forcing the beasts to stagger. Their hides darkened, crusting over.
He darted through the opening and struck the wounded lead beast directly in the throat.
It collapsed.
[Soul Devourer Matrix – Triggered]
Absorbed: +1 STR, +1 AGI, +1 END
Minor Skill Extracted: [Keen Fang – Rank D]
Skill added to inventory.
Isaac grinned.
"Let's test this."
[Skill Fusion Protocol – Activated]
Decomposing [Keen Fang – Rank D]
+10 Agility permanently applied.
A tingling sensation surged through his legs.
The beasts hesitated, sensing a shift. One bolted. Another tried to circle behind.
Isaac didn't let them.
[Spiral Rend – Rank C – Lv. 2] fired—an arcing blade of will, severing its legs mid-leap. Blood hissed into the grass.
The last beast lunged at Lira again.
Isaac turned—but before he could react, a pulse of white-blue light shimmered around her. The creature froze mid-stride, as if caught in a net of memory.
It whimpered—and ran.
Isaac blinked. "What was that?"
Lira looked stunned. "I… I don't know. I just didn't want it to touch me."
He stared at her, the echo of that strange light still dancing in her irises.
"Yeah," he murmured. "Something's definitely waking up."
They stood in the silence that followed, the forest now still once more.
Isaac stepped toward one of the fresh corpses.
[Soul Devourer Matrix – Triggered]
Absorbed: +1 STR, +1 INT
No skill extracted.
The interface blinked away.
He stared at the numbers.
"…That's it?" he muttered.
It felt underwhelming—two stat points from a living, snarling beast? He expected more. It wasn't even one point from every category.
Then the realization clicked.
It wasn't 10% of the total stats. It was 10% of each stat individually.
And if a creature's stat was too low—say, 6 or 7—then 10% of that wouldn't round up high enough to extract anything.
'So that's the tradeoff,' he thought. 'It doesn't just reward killing. It rewards killing things that are stronger than you.'
The logic was brutal—but fair.
Weak enemies yielded weak returns.
Strong enemies offered true evolution.
He looked back at the lead Feraldog. Its highest stat had been Agility: 16—that had given him a full +1 point. Most others had hovered around 8 or 9… barely scraping enough to matter.
Which meant...
To really grow, he'd need to fight monsters with base stats in the dozens. Hundreds. Thousands.
Isaac exhaled slowly, the edges of his grin returning.
"This skill isn't for farming," he muttered. "It's for hunting."
Behind him, Lira remained silent, watching.