I woke up to the sound of wind brushing against stone.
For a moment, I didn't move.
My body felt heavy and sore in places I didn't remember injuring. When I finally opened my eyes, the silver moon was gone, replaced by pale morning light seeping into the cave.
The chill of dawn clung to my fur. The dead wolf lay beside me.
The smell hit me, raw and unbearably appetizing.
My stomach tightened with a sharp reflex clawing upward… but this time, I didn't lose control. I forced myself to look at it properly.
Torn flesh. Burn marks. Clean claw wounds.
I swallowed hard.
"Yes… I did that. To prevent losing control like last night."
The realization sat heavy in my chest. This wasn't instinct anymore. This was memory.
After eating, I knew what my body wanted next. Water. And more than that, I wanted to understand myself better.
I glanced down from the cliff toward the direction of the watering hole.
"I also need to learn my skills properly," I muttered.
Instinct Mode had been violent and efficient but also terrifying.
But it had shown me something important.
"Though instinct mode was brutal… it showed me my potential." My fist clenched automatically.
"If I can reach that state without losing control… then maybe I don't have to kill against my will."
Of all my skills, one stood out the most.
Blink.
Blink was different. When I used it, it felt like this world itself bent around me. Not strength. Not speed. Something deeper.
"If I want to get stronger… I need to learn how to wield that."
I focused on the memory from last night.
The sensation.
Energy was flowing through nature.
Slow, endless streams of energy were coursing through the world itself. They moved through the wind brushing my fur, the ground beneath my feet, even through me.
I remembered how that flow gathered and passed through my veins, into my heart, and then surged outward again… releasing through every pore, merging me with everything around myself.
I closed my eyes.
For the first time, there was no hunger frenzy clouding my mind. And I saw it clearly.
Infinite particles, everywhere.
They weren't just floating. They existed inside everything. The air. The stone. My own body.
When I grasped that sensation, I wished to move forward.
BLINK.
The world twisted. Suddenly, I was in mid-air about a hundred meters from the cliff.
And there was no ground beneath me.
Gravity took over as the ground far below came rushing at me with extreme velocity.
"AAAHHHHHHHH!"
I was falling freely as terror flooded my chest.
"If I fall like this from this height… I'll die!"
Panic surged but then something clicked.
Last night, when my body climbed the mountain… it had used Blink twice.
That realization made a surge of determination flare inside me.
As I continued to fall, I focused on the flowing particles around me. One of them, just one, passed close.
I tried to step on it for a split second and it worked.
That particle held my weight for an instant.
I didn't hesitate.
BLINK.
Swoosh!
The world snapped again and before my thoughts could even catch up, I was standing safely on the ground.
No injury. No pain.
I stared at my paws, then burst out laughing.
"Uoohh!"
My heart pounded, not from fear this time, from excitement.
"Lv 5 Blink carries me around a hundred meters per use…" a slow breath of realization escaped me.
"And since I'm merging with the natural flow itself… I can change direction freely, even mid-air!"
This wasn't just teleportation. It was movement through the world.
Excitement bubbled up inside me as the realization settled.
I wasn't just surviving anymore.
I was learning how to live in this world.
I kept moving toward the watering hole, not walking or using Rolling Dash, but blinking forward instead.
The difference was obvious.
Compared to what Instinct Mode had shown me, this movement was clumsy. Each Blink landed slightly off, my balance uneven, my timing imperfect. I could feel it clearly now.
"I'm far behind my true potential," I muttered.
When I finally reached the watering hole, I drank deeply. Cold, clear water filled my mouth as I drank until my chest eased and my body felt lighter.
As I lifted my head, I noticed my reflection again.
Shiny blue fur. Clean white paws. Calm blue eyes.
It looked… elegant. Almost royal.
"Ain't I cute?" I said, letting out a soft giggle.
Then it clicked.
"Blue eyes? But…"
The thought cracked open something I didn't want to see.
For a fraction of a second, the reflection changed.
Ruby red eyes stared back at me. Bloodlust burned inside them.
My whole body trembled.
Fear and disgust surged together, twisting my gut. My heart thundered violently in my ears, and my breath hitched as nausea rolled through me.
I shook my head hard, side to side, forcing the image away.
Slowly, my breathing steadied. My heartbeat calmed. The world stopped spinning.
When I looked again, the reflection was normal.
Blue eyes. No bloodlust. Only quiet stillness.
"That skill…" I whispered.
Predator's Eyes.
"Is that why my eyes turned red last night?"
The realization sent a chill through me. My human instincts recoiled violently at the thought of entering that state again.
I stood up and turned away from the water.
And that's when it happened.
Something struck me from the left.
A sharp impact slammed into my face, throwing my body sideways. I skidded across the ground, dirt and gravel tearing beneath me.
Thud!
I pushed myself back to my feet.
That was when I saw it.
A monkey.
Almost the same size as me, standing a short distance away. Its fur was a smooth, cream-white color, clean and bright under the sunlight. Its face was twisted into a wide grin, eyes sharp and openly mocking.
It threw a few punches into the air.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
A clean one-two combo, sharp and fast.
Then it raised one hand and curled its fingers inward in a clear come at me gesture.
[Baby Ape encountered.]
[Status]
Level: 20
Experience: 180/1500
HP: 400/400
MP: 340/340
[Stats]
STR: 50
AGI: 50
INT: 80
SPD: 50
"…Are you challenging me?" I shouted.
The monkey responded by grinning wider.
Then it flexed one arm exaggeratedly, showing off its bicep.
"So it's like that!" A grin spread across my face.
I was planning to test my skills anyway.
Sure, its level was double mine, but when I looked at the stats, we weren't that far apart. And more importantly, this didn't feel like survival.
It felt like rivalry.
No hunger. No panic.
Just two young predators sizing each other up.
I took a step forward, moving slowly, deliberately.
"Alright," I said, eyes locked onto it.
"Let's see who's stronger."
The moment I stepped closer, a sharp left jab came flying at my face with tremendous speed.
I swayed to the right, narrowly avoiding the blow, and swung my right paw in a fast, clean horizontal scratch toward its chest.
But the monkey ducked under it smoothly and swept its leg.
The ground vanished from under my footing. My body flipped sideways in the air.
It did not hesitate.
A sharp right hook came charging toward me mid-air.
BLINK.
Just like I had seen my body move in Instinct Mode, though less smooth, the world still snapped.
The ground rushing toward my face disappeared, and suddenly I was above the monkey's head.
I twisted my body mid-air and brought my claws down in a vertical scratch.
The hit connected.
The monkey was thrown forward, skidding across the ground.
I landed smoothly behind it.
The monkey stood back up. A long scratch mark ran across its back, blood seeping through its cream-colored fur. Its eyes widened as it turned toward me, disbelief replacing the earlier mockery.
"Not so provocative anymore, huh?"
I didn't give it time to recover.
I rushed in.
A clean step forward, my left foot landing close to its chest.
It responded instantly with a right hook.
I ducked under the punch, placing my full weight on my left foot.
BLINK.
I reappeared behind it and slashed downward again in a vertical strike.
The monkey hit the ground hard.
But it sprang back up with a kip-up, landing on its feet in one smooth motion.
Its eyes stayed locked on me now. Observant, confused, but not defeated.
This time, I opened with Blink.
The monkey startled as the distance vanished in an instant and I appeared right in front of it, claws already swinging in a sharp horizontal slash.
It ducked, but its footing slipped.
It fell onto its hip and immediately rolled backward, creating distance between us.
My eyes narrowed.
"Oh. You don't have eighty intelligence for nothing, right?"
Unable to read my attack patterns, it chose caution over aggression.
Distance.
And honestly, I was enjoying it.
The surprise punch it landed earlier still burned faintly on my cheek.
Returning that surprise through Blink felt far too satisfying.
I pressed forward again.
I stepped in and activated Blink.
This time, the monkey reacted instantly. It twisted its body, clearly expecting me to reappear behind it, with an uppercut.
But even if I was a monster now, my mind was still human.
Instead of reappearing behind it, I blinked to the exact spot I had started from.
For a split second, the monkey froze. Its back was wide open, completely defenseless. Its eyes widened in shock.
I was already mid-swing.
My left paw cut through the air in a clean horizontal scratch.
The monkey tried to flip away and brace itself, but it was too late.
The strike landed squarely on its chest.
SHHK!
Its body was thrown backward again, skidding across the ground.
And then-
The earth shook.
The jungle vibrated violently as a monstrous roar tore through the air.
RWARRRRRRRR!
The sound was deep. Heavy. Powerful enough to rattle my bones.
The roar hadn't even finished echoing before a second sound sliced through it.
A female scream, human, sharp with panic and raw fear.
Both of us froze.
The fight vanished from our minds at the same instant as we snapped our heads to the right, toward the source of the sound.