For a moment after the Alpha Rockhide Bear fell, the clearing was silent.
The massive body lay sprawled across the rocky slope, dust slowly settling around it.
Even the other bears had stopped moving.
Then—
Zael's system activated.
EXP Gained: 6,000
Participants: 1
You gained 6,000 EXP
Current EXP: 9,720 / 6,000
Level Up
A surge of energy spread through Zael's body.
His muscles tightened.
His breathing steadied.
His senses sharpened slightly as the system completed the process.
Level Up Complete
Level: 21
Current EXP: 3,720 / 8,000
Zael exhaled slowly.
The feeling of leveling never lasted long.
But the increase in strength was real.
Across the clearing, Zane walked over and kicked the Alpha's massive paw.
"Boss…"
He looked up at the enormous corpse.
"You just solo'd the big one."
Karl approached as well, studying the clean cut across the monster's throat.
"That was precise."
Not flashy.
Not explosive.
Just a perfectly placed strike at the perfect moment.
Karl chuckled lightly.
"Well."
"Looks like the competition just got harder."
Behind them, the remaining bears had already been finished by the two teams.
The battlefield now contained several large corpses.
Zane clapped his hands.
"Alright!"
"Let's grab those cores before someone else shows up."
---
Harvesting began quickly.
Rockhide Bear cores were buried deep within the chest cavity beneath layers of bone and armor-like hide.
Zane pried open the first one with effort.
"Core number one!"
Lily extracted the second with careful precision.
Karl's team retrieved another core from the bear they had defeated.
Soon the ground was scattered with harvested materials.
Massive claws.
Stone-like hide plates.
Heavy bones.
All of them valuable once sold back at camp.
Karl held up one of the glowing cores.
"Well."
"That makes three for us."
Zane immediately pointed at the Alpha.
"HEY."
"That big guy counts double."
Karl raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Zane crossed his arms confidently.
"House rule."
Karl laughed.
"You just invented that."
Lily shook her head slightly.
"The agreement was simply three cores."
She gestured toward the Alpha's body.
"The Alpha's core alone would exceed that value."
Karl looked at the massive creature.
Then shrugged.
"Fair enough."
He glanced toward Zael.
"You killed it."
"Take it."
Zael stepped toward the Alpha's corpse.
The monster's body still radiated faint warmth.
Its armor-like hide was cracked where his strikes had landed.
Without speaking—
Zael placed his hand on the corpse.
The Devouring trait activated.
Dark strands of energy spread across the Alpha's massive body.
The corpse trembled slightly.
Then slowly began dissolving into streams of energy.
The energy flowed into Zael.
Dense.
Heavy.
Powerful.
A notification appeared in his mind.
Devouring Successful
Stat Gains:
Strength +4
Vitality +3
Perception +2
New Skill Acquired
Zael's eyes narrowed slightly.
He opened his panel internally.
---
Name: Zael
Profession: Combat Scholar
Level: 21
EXP: 3,720 / 8,000
---
Attributes
Strength: 96
Agility: 88
Vitality: 93
Intelligence: 94
Perception: 91
---
Talents
Supreme Blessing (Mythical)
Ascendant Echo (Mythical)
Adaptive Evolution (Mythical)
---
Professional Traits
Devouring
Origin
Balance
Limit Break
Evolution
---
Skills
Blade Domain
Void Step
Resonance Strike
Night Sever
Phantom Split
Predator Instinct
Titan Core (New)
---
Titan Core
Category: Passive
Type: Passive Skill
Effect:
By devouring powerful beasts, your body develops a core-like structure that enhances durability and stabilizes energy flow.
Effects:
• Physical Defense +30%
• Incoming Impact Damage Reduced by 20%
• Stabilizes energy flow during high-output combat
---
Zael closed the panel.
Nearby, Karl was watching the spot where the Alpha's body had vanished.
The corpse was simply gone.
No remains.
No bones.
Nothing.
Karl's brows lifted slightly.
"…Interesting."
But he didn't ask.
Everyone had secrets.
Especially awakeners.
Karl tossed one of the bear cores into the air and caught it again.
"Well."
He glanced toward Zane.
"Looks like both sides ended up with three cores."
Zane grinned.
"So it's a tie."
Karl shrugged.
"Which means nobody buys dinner."
Zane groaned.
"Lame."
Karl laughed and turned away.
"We'll settle it next time."
His teammates followed him as they began walking back toward the forest path.
Karl raised a hand without turning around.
"See you at camp."
Within moments, his group disappeared between the trees.
Zane stretched his arms.
"Well."
He looked at the materials they had gathered.
"Not bad for our first hunt."
Lily nodded.
"The hides alone will sell for a decent number of points."
Zael finished packing the remaining materials.
But just as they prepared to leave—
His Predator Instinct suddenly activated.
A faint sensation brushed against his mind.
Someone was watching.
Not close enough to attack.
But close enough to observe.
Zael's gaze slowly shifted toward a distant line of trees.
The forest looked normal.
Quiet.
Still.
Nothing moved.
But far above them—
Hidden among the branches of a tall tree—
A pair of silver eyes observed the clearing.
Aurelia tilted her head slightly.
"…So that's how he fights."
Her calm expression barely changed.
But a quiet thought passed through her mind.
The future just shifted again.
Her gaze remained fixed on Zael.
"And it shifted because of him."
---------
Chapter: Blessings of Power
The forest slowly settled after the battle.
Broken stone and claw marks still scarred the clearing where the Alpha Rockhide Bear had fallen. The giant corpse had long since vanished after Zael devoured it, leaving only disturbed earth behind.
Zane stretched his arms.
"That was a good warm-up."
He cracked his neck and glanced deeper into the forest with bright, eager eyes.
"So… round two?"
Lily secured the harvested materials into her storage pack.
"We should continue."
She glanced toward the sun filtering through the trees.
"We still have several hours before we need to return to camp."
Zane grinned.
"And the sooner we get stronger, the less annoying everyone else becomes."
Zael nodded once.
They began moving deeper into the wilderness.
The forest grew denser.
Tracks of beasts appeared more frequently along the ground.
Distant growls echoed occasionally from deeper regions of the mountain.
Zael walked calmly at the front.
Inside his mind, he opened the system panel.
Two new skills had appeared earlier from devouring the Alpha Rockhide Bear.
Predator Instinct.
Titan Core.
Both passive skills.
Both useful.
But Zael had something others didn't.
Supreme Blessing.
He focused on the first skill.
---
Predator Instinct
Category: Support
Type: Passive
Effects:
• Detect hostile intent within 20 meters
• Reaction Speed +20% during combat
• Perception +15% when facing hostile creatures
---
Zael activated Supreme Blessing.
Golden light erupted across the skill interface.
The entire description began to distort as the blessing modified its structure.
The golden glow intensified.
The skill evolved.
---
Primal Predator Instinct
Category: Support
Type: Passive
Effects:
• Detect hostile intent within 200 meters
• Reaction Speed +120% during combat
• Perception +100% when facing hostile creatures
• Instantly analyze enemy attack patterns after three exchanges
• Predict hostile movement trajectories before they occur
• Automatically highlight fatal weaknesses of beasts and humanoid opponents
---
Zael's eyes sharpened slightly.
The world around him suddenly felt… clearer.
Subtle sounds became sharper.
Air movement.
Heartbeats.
Even the faint vibrations of insects within the soil.
Everything inside a large radius now registered in his awareness.
But he wasn't done.
Zael focused on the second skill.
---
Once again—
Supreme Blessing activated.
Golden light engulfed the skill.
The energy pulsed stronger this time.
As if the blessing had found something deeper to transform.
---
Titan Core
Category: Defense
Type: Passive
Effects:
• Physical Defense +30%
• Incoming Impact Damage Reduced by 20%
• Stabilizes energy flow during high-output combat
---
Then the evolution completed.
---
Titan Sovereign Core
Category: Defense
Type: Passive
Effects:
• Physical Defense +150%
• Incoming Impact Damage Reduced by 60%
• Converts 50% of absorbed impact energy into stamina regeneration
• Generates a passive Titan Barrier that reduces all physical damage by an additional 25%
• Dramatically stabilizes internal energy allowing prolonged combat without fatigue
---
Zael closed the panel.
The new power settled quietly inside his body.
His muscles felt heavier.
Denser.
Like compressed steel.
Each breath felt deeper and more stable.
He could already tell—
A direct blow from something like the Alpha Bear would barely move him now.
Meanwhile—
Zane suddenly stopped walking.
"…Wait."
He pointed toward a rocky ridge ahead.
"Tell me I'm not the only one seeing that."
Lily followed his gaze.
Her eyes narrowed.
Several large shapes moved slowly across the ridge.
Not one.
Not two.
But an entire group.
Massive reptilian beasts with thick armored bodies and jagged tails.
Lily spoke quietly.
"Stone Drakes."
Zane's grin slowly spread.
"…Jackpot."
There were at least six of them.
Their scales glinted like stone armor under the sunlight.
But as the group finished counting—
One of the drakes lifted its head.
Its glowing yellow eyes locked directly onto Zael.
Then it opened its mouth.
And released a deep, thunderous roar that echoed through the valley.
The other drakes immediately turned.
Six pairs of glowing eyes fixed on the three students.
Zane cracked his knuckles.
"Oh this is happening."
But then—
The ground suddenly trembled.
A much heavier sound echoed behind the ridge.
Something large moved.
Very large.
The drakes suddenly stepped aside.
And a massive shadow slowly rose behind them.
Zane's grin slowly faded.
"…Boss."
"That one sounded bigger."
A gigantic wing slowly lifted into the sky beyond the ridge.
The shadow it cast swallowed the entire valley.
And when the creature finally raised its head—
Its roar shook the mountain itself.
To be continued…