After more than a week, I had more or less gotten used to all the changes that had happened. Even though there were still unanswered questions, the only thing I could do was keep moving forward.
In any case, I had improved in many ways. Too bad about one small, insignificant problem... bad luck.
Since day one, I had understood it would be a problem, but guys... I had really underestimated it.
I'd lost count of how many times I'd nearly died: monsters popping out of the ground like mushrooms, boulders falling on me out of nowhere... but today the situation seemed to break every record.
GRROOAAR!
"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
I ran with all my strength, not even daring to look back, while I felt the ground shaking more and more under my feet.
Behind me, a huge monster covered by a metallic carapace was charging at me furiously.
If only it had been possible, I would've fought it. But considering it was an armored rhino, a Grade 2 monster, it was, in short, certain death for me.
I cursed, glaring at the Golden Rule rune that glowed with an intermittent black light.
I was minding my own business, hunting, when that damned rune activated, and from afar, I saw that beast running straight at me. The thing that freaked me out was that I wasn't even close to the area where monsters like that could appear!
Clutching the handle of my only dagger, I turned abruptly, trying to find shelter among the rocks. But I knew well that monster would sweep them away in an instant, and the cracks I found were too narrow even for me.
The idea of climbing one of the stone walls crossed my mind, but if that thing started hammering the rock, I'd never hold on.
"Oh, shit!"
I stopped dead in my tracks, just in time not to fall into a crevasse blocking my way. It should have been my end, but I had a crazy idea.
I crouched down, plunged a hand into the red sand, and, while the monster charged just a few meters away, instead of staying still, I ran towards it.
I saw it approaching, while the ground trembled under its heavy steps, so much that if I hadn't been careful, I could've tripped.
I waited for the right moment. Then I dodged to the side, throwing a handful of red sand straight into the monster's eyes. It wouldn't be enough to stop a predator like that, but at least it blinded it for a moment.
The beast tried to brake, but its weight betrayed it. It slipped, carving furrows in the ground, until it fell halfway into the crevasse. It was still clinging on, growling stubbornly, so I stepped closer to finish it off.
"Bye-bye, bastard."
I kicked it on the snout. I knew it wouldn't hurt it, but the push was enough. With a final growl, the monster fell into the void.
I wiped my forehead, trying to steady my breathing. When I saw the Golden Rule rune fade out, I sighed with relief — I'd be safe for a while.
"I say that, but this bad luck is becoming unbearable. Not only does it make me waste so much time, but every time I risk my life. I need to find a way to limit its effects or at least extend the intervals."
The only solution, though, was to repay those whose fate I had stolen, like my sister, but I still didn't understand exactly what that meant, and in the information given by the Will of the World, there was no mention of this detail.
"Anyway, let's move on."
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Name: Adel
Age: 16
Race: Human...?
Grade: 0
Core: Lizard Heart (15 → 99%)
Physical: 0.15 → 0.4
Mind: ???
Mana: 0.05 → 0.12
Vitality: 0.13 → 0.35
Skills: Shadow Mantle (Lv 2 → 3), Predation
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After more than a week, my stats had improved a lot, also thanks to the fact that I had hunted as many monsters as possible.
I would have liked to grow them even more, but for a couple of days now, the shadow lizards had stopped contributing, only feeding the core, which was now almost full. I would have completed it already if that monster hadn't dropped on me.
"Haaah... let's wrap this up and see what happens."
It didn't take me long to find one, and with the strength I had reached, I killed it before it could even react.
I looked at the corpse for a moment before placing my hand on it.
[Predation activated]
[Core: Lizard Heart (99 → 100%)]
[The core has been fully saturated, initiating the evolution phase.]
"The what—HAH!"
Pain exploded in my chest like a violent flame, burning everything it touched along the way.
Clutching my chest, I fell to my knees. My bones seemed to vibrate, my muscles tensed and contracted out of control, as if they wanted to tear through my skin.
I could feel every part of my body being reshaped.
Gritting my teeth, I looked down at my chest, where I felt something crawling under my skin. To my shock, one of the spiral rays tattooed there detached itself, diving into my heart. When the last mark vanished, a new message appeared:
[The new will refuses to obey.]
A moment later, I found myself in a completely white space. All the pain had vanished, as if it had never existed.
I didn't even have time to understand what was happening before something even stranger took shape in front of me.
Hundreds of tiny lights began to gather, merging until they formed an increasingly defined shape. Shimmering scales appeared, slender legs ending in sharp claws, a body larger than that of a common shadow lizard, and a reptilian head crowned with small horns.
A dracoline?
They were rather rare Grade 1 monsters, said to be a subspecies of drakes.
Yeah, but what is it doing here?
Actually, I had no idea where "here" even was. And the weirdest thing was that, no matter how hard I tried to speak, no sound came out of my lips — the words just echoed directly in my mind.
For an instant, the creature and I stared at each other. Those reptilian eyes, streaked with light, seemed to peer right through my bones. Then, without warning, the dracoline opened its jaws, showing sharp fangs, and lunged at me.
Instinctively, I raised an arm to block the blow, but I was thrown backwards like a rag doll. I felt no pain; it was as if my nerves no longer existed, but the impact made me roll across that white space.
I tried to stand up, ready to counterattack. I had no weapons, no familiar powers to rely on, but I certainly had no intention of dying.
There was still the problem that this was a Grade 1 monster, and I wasn't even halfway through Grade 0.
The dracoline growled and lunged again. I managed to dodge to the side, but its claws brushed against my skin... or rather, what was supposed to be skin. For a moment, I froze. The surface of my arm twisted like a black, slimy mass, from which tiny trembling filaments sprouted, like tentacles.
What the hell have I become…?
The beast didn't give me time to think and threw itself at me with a low roar, determined to tear me apart.
This time, though, something changed. The black tentacles responded to my instinct and shot out towards the dracoline's jaws, wrapping around its muzzle and pushing it away. I felt the force of the impact through them, as if they were an extension of my nerves.
The dracoline struggled with a growl, shaking off my tentacles like they were just annoying weeds and attacked with its scaly tail, which sliced through the air with a hiss.
I didn't have time to dodge and braced myself to block. The impact slammed through me like a hammer, making me bounce across the ground.
The black mass of my body flattened and reformed, trembling. An arm — if it could still be called that — had broken into a shapeless sludge, then stitched itself back together, pulsing with dark veins, but it looked thinner.
The dracoline didn't give me a break.
It leapt forward with a swipe of its claws. This time, I intercepted it, but its scaly paw ripped through my tentacles like wet paper. I felt a wave of cold, but no pain, like before, and even though my body was regenerating itself, it seemed to get thinner each time, as if it had a limit.
The dracoline opened its jaws, ready to tear my head apart. An instant before its teeth sank in, I moved on instinct, and my form collapsed, scattering into dozens of black filaments. The beast bit into nothing, while I reformed behind it.
I didn't have a technique or a plan—only the instinct to survive. I stretched out the tentacles like blades, searching for the joints between its scales. Some struck true, ripping a growl of rage from it.
The dracoline rolled onto its side, trying to crush me with its weight. I didn't have time to pull back, and its body hit me, scattering shreds of my dark mass over that unreal surface. A moment later, I found myself reassembling, panting — if you could call it that. I didn't breathe, but I felt my body on the verge of collapse, even the regeneration had only half-worked.
The monster charged at me again, and I did the same, wielding those tentacles like whips.
Some snapped against the scales, others managed to grasp the creature's throat.
The dracoline shook its neck, partially breaking free. It dug its claws into my shapeless chest, tearing through folds of black slime as if looking for a heart to rip out. But there was nothing inside.
DIE!
With the few tentacles I had left, I shoved them into the monster's still-open jaws, shredding the soft flesh inside.
The monster tried to break free, but I held it close, continuing to rip it apart from the inside, and after more than a minute of fighting, the beast collapsed to the ground.
My entire body trembled, as if it were about to fall apart, then the monster's body turned into lights that rushed into me, and then there was only darkness.