Vedant lay on the ground, defeated. His legs felt almost broken, and he had lost his katana, his last hope for survival. He was on the brink of being killed by the giant tapir. A self-proclaimed lonely genius his entire life, he was now crying. "I wanted a friend," he sobbed. "I don't want to die yet."
He watched in awe and terror as the tapir slowly stalked toward him, a sight he could do nothing but witness. His eyes began to close, and his ears were bleeding from the blast. With all his remaining strength, he screamed, "Somebody, save me!"
The tapir had already died, but Vedant was on the verge of death himself. Just as his consciousness was fading, he saw someone walking toward him. The person said, "You are under arrest," and Vedant fainted.
When Vedant woke, he found himself in a dim cell made of rusted iron sheets. A young man, about seventeen years old with white hair and a fair complexion, stood in front of him. "Hi, I'm Ron," the man said. "You've been arrested for illegal human trafficking and mass murder against the human race."
Vedant was in shock. "Wait, what? No, no, you've got it all wrong. I'm the victim!"
Ron replied, "Then how do you explain being the only survivor?"
Vedant, a skilled negotiator, explained everything that had happened, managing to convince Ron he was the victim. "Now, would you mind explaining yourself and this place?" Vedant asked.
"My apologies for the inconvenience," Ron said. "This is G4 base of the Crystalline Research Bureau. We're an organization that researches this forest and the exotic crystalline."
Vedant thought the name was boring. "Can I go back now?"
Ron interrupted him. "Do you really think so? Do you know what you've done? What you've killed? How deep you are in the forest?"
Vedant, no longer shocked by the weird events of the day, simply said, "Explain."
Ron led him out of the cell and into a small, crystal-white laboratory equipped with advanced research tools. A woman was there and said to Vedant, "You're still injured. Rest and don't go out."
"I'm just showing him the place," Ron replied.
"Fine," the woman conceded.
Ron showed Vedant a crystal that flashed with every color of the rainbow. It was so beautiful and delicate that Vedant thought he wouldn't mind spending his life savings on a single piece.
"This is a crystalline," Ron explained. "We work to research this forest, the crystalline, and also to suppress the beasts you know as 'tapirs.' These crystallines have incredible properties. Just one gram could power a house for a hundred years or even cure cancer. It's more expensive than diamonds, but it also influences the organisms around it in ways we haven't yet discovered. These tapirs are probably a result of this crystalline."
"So, what does this have to do with me?" Vedant asked, surprised by the revelation.
Ron's tone became calm. "The dynamite you used to kill that monster was made from crystalline, and it cost over a million dollars."
Even though Vedant was rich, the amount was staggering. "I had no idea..."
"Leave that aside for a moment," Ron continued. "The thing you killed was a Named Beast, 'Ek Tapir.'"
"A Named Beast, what?" Vedant interrupted.
"Let me explain," Ron said patiently. "There are beasts in this forest, some strong and some weak, ranging from C to S rank, depending on the scale of destruction they can cause. Outside of this scale are the Named Beasts, which are named in ancient ruins as rulers of the Crystalline Forest. You killed 'Ek Tapir,' the Tapir Lord. He was the strongest. It is written in the ruins that whoever kills a lord gains its ability and attracts the hostility of all the other beasts."
Vedant finally understood the magnitude of his predicament. He had made an enemy of every beast in the forest, who would now sniff him out and try to kill him. He had also inherited the power of the Tapir Lord.
"You have two options," Ron said. "Either you walk yourself back to your home, or you join us."