The day passed in the blink of an eye, and soon evening arrived.
As expected, Evan didn't receive dinner, something he was already getting used to far more easily than he had anticipated.
It was clear that his awakened body wouldn't let him starve so easily.
The reason awakened individuals were held in such high regard everywhere was because the stronger they became, the further they drifted away from being ordinary humans and the closer they came to something… superior.
The further one walked down the path of evolution, the less the body's basic needs mattered.
At some point, normal food would no longer be necessary, as mana itself would nourish the body. The only foods capable of providing real benefits would be things like mana infused fruits, the meat of awakened beasts, and similar resources.
Even sleep could eventually be skipped, days, weeks, or even years without it, with little consequence.
Evan was now an E-Rank. Although he was still far from the point where he could ignore his basic needs, he at least had a certain level of resistance, more than enough to keep him alive for quite a while.
With night having fallen and everyone asleep, it was, as usual, the perfect time for him to train.
Until recently, he had done so by mentally observing the battles of his clone, or by sparring with it inside his Soul Sea.
But today would be different.
He lay down on his bed and, without wasting time, closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, his vision now showed the outer edge of the Graystone Forest.
'This really does feel different,' he thought with quiet excitement as he took in everything around him, every sensation, every feeling the clone's body was experiencing.
He had taken control of it.
Among the many things that had changed with the increase in synchronization, one was the ability to transfer his own consciousness into the clone's body and actually control it directly. Not just giving commands, but truly inhabiting it, though only for a limited period, one that depended directly on his mental strength. Right now, that limit was only a few hours at a stretch.
But for him, even that was enough.
With his enhanced senses, Evan could feel the forest around him and even detect a few weak beasts in the distance.
His sight worked. His sense of touch did too. His hearing as well.
But not his voice.
He tried to speak, anything at all, but nothing came out.
It was as if he knew what to do, but his body didn't.
'Tch… looks like I won't be able to talk for now.'
Though a bit disappointing, it was to be expected. After all, his synchronization was only at ten percent. The fact that he could already possess the body and use it to this extent was impressive enough.
Speaking would inevitably come later.
Not that it mattered much right now. His only goal was to hunt and grow more familiar with his combat techniques and his new ability.
'Alright… where should I start?'
While Evan was moving around the outskirts of the forest, slightly deeper inside, hurried footsteps echoed through the trees.
A small group of people was fleeing the area, all of them battered and exhausted, clear signs that things had gone terribly wrong.
"Fuck! Where the hell did that gorilla come from? This was supposed to be a low-risk area. Why was there an E-Rank beast here?" one of them shouted in frustration.
He was a thin man of average height, with short brown hair and almond colored eyes that now reflected nothing but panic and exhaustion.
He was the leader of the group, Nicolas.
"I don't know, alright? This area barely has awakened beasts,
let alone an E-Rank, even finding an F-Rank here would be rare," snapped a girl slightly shorter than him, short blonde hair, green eyes, her expression caught somewhere between exasperation and the effort of not screaming directly at her squad leader.
She and the other two had joined Nicolas for a simple hunting commission near the forest.
All of them were F-Rank, and the pay had been decent.
And yet here they were now, running for their lives from a beast that could easily tear them all apart.
The other two were roughly the same age as the girl. They weren't exactly friends, but they'd hunted together enough times to know each other reasonably well, and right now, picking up on the edge in her voice, both of them could tell she was close to saying something she shouldn't.
Normally that wouldn't be a problem.
But Nicolas was not someone they could afford to offend.
And right now, the last thing they wanted was to end up on his bad side.
So one of them quickly spoke up.
"Come on, there's no point getting angry now, right? That girl stayed behind. The gorilla shouldn't catch up to us anytime soon. Who knows, by the time it's done with her, it'll probably be too late to chase us," he said casually, without a trace of guilt.
After all, they had deliberately left the fifth member of their team behind to slow the beast down.
"That useless bitch couldn't even stop a normal beast, let alone an E-Rank. I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you," the short-haired girl said coldly, making no effort to soften her words.
It was obvious she didnt liked the girl they had left behind, and judging by the others' reactions, they felt the same.
"Tch… what a waste of beauty. If she'd just kept her mouth shut and played along, I wouldn't have minded adding her to my collection. But instead she dragged us into this mess," Nicolas muttered in frustration, not bothering to lower his voice.
And if they heard him?
What were they going to do about it? Complain?
He had never worried about such things.
After all, who in Lirath could touch him?
'Tch… useless bastards. Once we get back, I'll make all of you pay,' he thought coldly, with no intention of letting the other three off the hook either.
***
While this group of four fled through the forest, the fifth member they had abandoned lay on the ground not far behind them.
One of her legs was twisted in an unnatural angle.
Her wide eyes, filled with fear and rage, were fixed on the figure standing before her.
It was nearly three meters tall.
Its massive body was covered in thick white fur, and its enormous arms looked capable of crushing entire boulders with a single blow.
A White Ape.
An E-Rank beast well known among adventurers for its brute strength and the brutal way it killed its prey.
It was a monster that should have been much deeper inside the forest.
And yet here it was, towering over her as its scarlet eyes locked onto her.
She could feel death closing in. And though she fought it, a trace of resignation was beginning to show in her eyes — tangled with something else. Something quieter.
Not grief for herself. Not even anger at the betrayal.
She was sad because she wouldn't be there to protect her little sister anymore.
Her sister was the last family she had left. The moment she'd understood that, she had taken it upon herself to provide for her, to keep her safe in a world that offered very little safety. But she wouldn't be able to do that anymore.
The thought of her sister left alone, with no one to look after her, that was what filled her with a grief deeper than the fear of dying.
'I'm sorry, Emily. Your sister wasn't strong enough.'
She closed her eyes, preparing herself for the inevitable.
The strength had left her body long ago, and with the wounds scattered across her, even the faintest hope of walking away from this had faded. She could sense the gorilla's massive fist descending with full force, a blow that would have left no chance of survival for even an Advanced-Stage F-Rank, let alone her.
She braced herself for the impact.
Any second now, the massive fist of the White Ape would crash down and reduce her to nothing but shattered bones and torn flesh.
But the blow never came.
Instead...
Thud.
Something heavy slammed into the ground.
The sound was so sudden and unexpected that her brows furrowed in confusion. For a moment, she wondered if death had already taken her and her senses were failing.
Slowly, hesitantly, she opened her eyes.
And froze.
The massive body of the White Ape lay on the ground in front of her, motionless. The enormous frame that moments ago had towered over her like an unstoppable wall of muscle and fur was now nothing more than a lifeless carcass.
Its head was gone.
A clean, brutal cut ran through its neck, and dark blood spread slowly across the forest floor.
Standing beside the corpse was a lone figure.
A tall silhouette wrapped in a dark cloak, one hand holding a strange black blade, its edge still dripping with fresh crimson.
For a brief moment, the forest fell completely silent.
Then the figure turned and looked at her.
Two deep violet eyes met hers, calm, cold, and impossibly sharp.
The cloaked figure looked less like a person, and more like a grim reaper.