Ethan finished cleaning himself and finally accepted an uncomfortable truth.
Surviving twenty-four hours here was going to be difficult, to say the least.
So far, things hadn't gone completely sideways - no sudden death or impossible enemies falling from the sky - but that just made it worse. Places like this never start with the nightmare; they ease you in, give you false hope, then crush you.
All he could do was break down what he knew and take on what he could.
'I've heard that some gates are like entirely different worlds, while others are similar to Earth. Looking at the sky, Floor Zero of the so-called Tower Of Beasts seems to be like the latter.'
How it all actually works, only God knows.
But Ethan didn't dwell on it and had learnt that logic didn't apply when it came to Gates and everything Titled. There was also still so much about it all that wasn't understood, even by the Association, let alone by him.
It was a giant rabbit hole that would likely end up giving him an existential crisis, but it was something he could delve into another time.
In the meantime, what unsettled him most was this whole trial thing.
The game-like elements were obvious, but that seemed to extend beyond the System Interface. It was almost like he was in a VR MMORPG, and that Ulfen was the first obstacle that was designed to push him to his limits.
If that were the case, now that he had a skill and acquired a beast...
There would be even bigger obstacles.
'Oh well, if this is what it takes to become a Titled, then I'll just figure it out.'
His confidence came from a mix of courage and denial, but it was better than being shaken to his core and ending up like one of those skeletons from earlier.
Now he needed to figure out a plan of action.
-
As much as the sky was familiar, the forest was anything but that.
The trees towered high, packed so tightly together that the space between them felt claustrophobic despite the open sky. It stretched endlessly in every direction, as if it had no edge at all.
Finding somewhere truly safe to hide? Yeah. Good luck with that.
He crouched by the river, dunking his rags into the water and scrubbing at the dried blood. Red clouds bled out into the current, vanishing downstream. As he worked, he caught his reflection on the water's surface.
Matted hair, dirt-smeared skin, and claw marks crisscrossing his body.
He snorted, then laughed quietly.
'This shit is crazy.'
If someone had told him back before prison that the world would be crawling with people who had supernatural Titles, gates to monster-filled dimensions, and trials where failure meant death, he'd have assumed they were addicted to webnovels or off their meds.
And yet, here he was.
'Do all Titled go through this kind of bullshit?'
The hoarse voice that lived somewhere beyond him, above him, or maybe inside him, didn't bother answering.
It seemed to only respond when it felt like it.
Ethan sighed and finished rinsing the rags, then began tearing them into long strips. He wrapped them tightly around the deeper wounds, knotting them off as makeshift bandages. Most of the cuts were shallow, mere flesh wounds that were already healing faster than they had any right to.
Still, less bleeding meant less dying.
Thankfully, it wasn't cold.
The air was mild, almost comfortable, and the rags didn't do much for warmth anyway.
Whether it was mana, being an E Rank Titled, or the fact that he now had a beast, his body just… wasn't bleeding like it should have been. The wounds still hurt, and they'd slow him down, but they weren't going to kill him.
He looked like a lunatic, his bandages tied everywhere, barely holding together.
But there was one thing he was overwhelmingly grateful for.
Underwear.
Whoever designed this Tower Of Beasts had at least been considerate enough to spare him total humiliation. Even if the forest was full of beasts instead of people, running around completely naked still felt wrong.
An intrusive thought suddenly popped into his head.
'I wonder what happens to my friend down there if I unlock Stage 3 and get Complete Beast Assimilation. Like… say if it was with a horse beast I acquired. Would it-'
He shook his head hard.
Survival first, experimental questions about hybrid anatomy later.
'Alright. Twenty-three and a half hours left.'
He straightened, stretching slowly as his body protested.
'I'll be fine without sleep. I shouldn't really need food or water either, but honestly, I'm not even sure this body follows normal rules.'
The river flowed steadily beside him, clear and clean, so he wasn't worried about dying of thirst any time soon.
'I could stay here, but I can't be sure it's safe. And Beast Assimilation only lasts nine minutes once I activate it.'
His MP pool was laughably small, and its regeneration was painfully slow.
'Best move is to keep following the river. Away from the Ulfen corpse. If there are others, they'll find their fallen companion eventually and search the area.'
Sitting still would just rot his nerves. At least moving gave him something to focus on. The trees also thinned slightly along the riverbanks, giving him better visibility and guaranteed access to water if need be.
As such, he picked a direction at random and began walking, keeping his pace slow and steady. There was no need to rush or waste energy.
Ethan kept an eye on his MP as he did. Rough estimate? He seemed to regain one point every ten minutes, as long as he wasn't using any skills.
He could feel it returning too, a subtle warmth settling back into his body. Mana felt a lot like stamina, except deeper and stranger. And as it recovered, something unusual lurked behind it...
Hunger.
'I guess energy had to come from somewhere.'
If mana wasn't being absorbed from the environment as he'd hoped and theorised, at least not entirely, then his body was probably burning its own reserves to produce it. Even if it was only partially, it would still cost him fat, muscle, and whatever else it could get.
And his wiry body, well, it didn't exactly have much spare fuel.
'Great. Another thing to worry about later.' Though he couldn't help but laugh as he slapped his stomach, 'But this beer belly I started to put on is useful after all.'
For now, he put the creeping hunger to the side and remained alert, scanning his surroundings as he walked. Eventually, he spotted a smooth, heavy rock near the river's edge and picked it up, weighing it in his hand.
It wasn't sharp, but it was solid.
If he had to fight, a blunt weapon was better than nothing, and a hell of a lot less disturbing than swinging human bones. But in hindsight, he probably should have grabbed some of them.
Not that there was any point in heading back now, even if he could retrace his steps.
He kept walking.
And he almost began to enjoy it; his surroundings were quite scenic after all.
But very quickly, it became clear that his quiet stroll along the river wasn't going to stay peaceful for long...