The forest closed around him like a living thing.
Evan moved slowly between the twisted trees of The Maw, his boots pressing softly against the damp soil. Above him, the canopy stretched thick and oppressive, swallowing most of the sunlight and leaving the world below trapped in a gray twilight.
The deeper he walked, the quieter everything became.
Not peaceful and quiet.
Predatory quiet.
Every instinct he had honed during twelve years of training whispered the same warning: this forest was watching him.
Evan adjusted his grip on the steel sword in his hand.
The blade felt heavier than the wooden practice weapons he had used for most of his life. Even though Lyra had allowed him to train with real steel during the last few years, the difference felt stark now that he carried it for a purpose beyond training.
This blade wasn't for practice.
It was for survival.
For a moment Evan slowed his pace and exhaled carefully.
Twelve years.
Twelve years of training under Lyra's relentless guidance had carved discipline into his bones. Endless mornings of sword forms, bruised ribs from sparring sessions, hours spent sitting in meditation while circulating Qi through pathways that once felt alien to his body.
At the time, it had often felt excessive.
Brutal, even.
Now, walking alone through a monster forest, he finally understood why.
Still…
A quiet thought lingered in the back of his mind.
Lyra was out there somewhere.
Watching.
A shadow guardian.
The knowledge should have been comforting, yet it wasn't entirely. She had made one thing painfully clear before disappearing into the forest canopy.
She would not intervene unless his death was seconds away.
Which meant every mistake before that moment belonged to him alone.
Evan exhaled slowly.
"Alright," he muttered to himself.
"Let's see if twelve years of suffering actually paid off."
He closed his eyes briefly.
Then he focused.
The Qi within his body stirred as he activated the technique Lyra had drilled into him countless times.
Essence Gathering.
The world shifted.
It wasn't something visible in the ordinary sense.
Rather, the forest gained a second layer of perception.
Faint threads of energy moved through the air like invisible currents. The ground carried subtle vibrations. Lifeforms radiated quiet pulses of Qi that rippled outward like tiny echoes.
Evan walked forward again, this time paying attention to those subtle fluctuations.
Leaves rustled somewhere to his right.
Small animals.
Nothing threatening.
A bird fluttered briefly in the branches above.
Still nothing.
Then—
Evan stopped.
A ripple moved through the undergrowth ahead.
Not loud.
Not careless.
But heavy.
Slowly, Evan crouched behind a crooked tree trunk and peered through the shadows.
There.
Something moved between the gnarled roots.
At first it looked like nothing more than a large wolf.
Then it stepped forward into the dim light.
Evan's breath slowed instinctively.
The creature was enormous.
Nearly as tall as his chest even while walking on four legs. Its fur was dark—so dark it seemed to absorb the faint light filtering through the trees.
But what truly revealed it wasn't its size.
It was the Qi.
The beast radiated a faint crimson aura that pulsed slowly beneath its skin.
A monster.
Just as Lyra had described.
The wolf lowered its head and sniffed the ground, its claws scraping softly against the roots.
For a moment, Evan simply watched it.
And then his hands began to shake.
Not violently.
Just enough for him to notice.
He stared at the creature.
This wasn't a training dummy.
This wasn't Lyra tapping him with a wooden sword when he made a mistake.
This was something alive.
Something that could kill him.
The steel blade in his hand suddenly felt colder.
His mind flickered briefly to his past life.
On Earth, violence had always felt distant.
Stories on screens.
News reports.
Fiction.
Even here in the Lower Realm, his childhood had been strangely peaceful despite Lyra's brutal training regimen.
Inside the training yard, mistakes meant bruises.
A sharp lecture.
Another round of sparring.
But here…
A mistake meant death.
Evan's fingers tightened around the sword hilt.
"What if I mess this up?" he murmured under his breath.
As if responding to the thought, a familiar voice appeared in his mind.
[Psychological hesitation detected.]
Evan grimaced.
"Not helpful, Echo."
The system continued in its usual neutral tone.
[Master, hesitation during live engagement increases the probability of failure by 63 percent.]
"Fantastic."
[Master i recommend you initiate combat or withdraw immediately.]
Evan exhaled slowly.
Withdraw?
No.
That option disappeared the moment Lyra dropped him in this forest.
This wasn't just a hunt.
It was a test.
If he turned back now, he would carry that hesitation forever.
Evan steadied his breathing.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Just like Lyra taught him.
When he opened his eyes again, the trembling in his hands had stopped.
Then the wolf's head snapped upward.
Its nose twitched.
Slowly, its glowing eyes locked onto Evan's position behind the tree.
Silence fell.
The beast stepped forward into the open clearing.
Its lips curled back, revealing rows of long ivory fangs.
A deep growl vibrated through the forest floor.
Not fear.
A warning.
Territory.
Evan stepped out from behind the tree.
The sword rose into position almost automatically.
Lyra's stance.
Feet balanced.
Blade angled slightly forward.
Breathing steady.
The wolf lowered its body.
Muscles tensed beneath dark fur.
For a brief moment, neither of them moved.
Predator and prey studying one another.
Evan felt the shift in the air just before it happened.
The wolf lunged.
It moved with terrifying speed.
One moment it stood several meters away.
The next it exploded forward like a shadow tearing through the forest.
Claws flashed.
Fangs snapped.
But Evan had spent years fighting something far more dangerous.
Lyra.
The moment the wolf pushed off the ground, Evan noticed the same subtle shift he had seen thousands of times during sparring.
Weight transfer.
Forward momentum.
The rhythm of an attack.
His body reacted automatically.
The sword moved in a clean horizontal arc.
Steel cut through the air.
The blade collided with the wolf's shoulder in a powerful sweep, forcing the beast slightly off balance.
But Evan didn't stop there.
Lyra's voice echoed in his memory.
Never pause after the first strike.
He pivoted.
The movement carried him just outside the path of the wolf's snapping jaws.
Then he struck again.
The second swing was faster.
Cleaner.
The blade cut across the creature's neck.
A sharp spray of crimson followed.
The wolf collapsed into the dirt with a heavy thud.
Silence returned to the forest.
Evan stood frozen.
His chest rose and fell rapidly as adrenaline surged through his body.
For several seconds he simply stared at the fallen creature.
His first monster.
His first kill in this world.
The sword in his hand trembled slightly again.
Not from fear this time.
From the strange weight settling in his chest.
The wolf lay motionless.
Its Qi slowly fading into the air.
Evan exhaled slowly.
"I actually did it…"
But the relief didn't last long.
Because something in the forest changed.
A branch snapped somewhere behind him.
Then another sound echoed to his left.
Evan's head turned slowly.
Two red lights glowed between the trees.
Eyes.
Then another pair appeared.
And another.
And another.
The shadows shifted as massive shapes stepped quietly from the darkness.
A low chorus of growls rolled through the forest.
Evan's stomach dropped.
Dread Maw Wolves.
Plural.
He had only killed one.
But these creatures did not hunt alone.
The pack surrounded him silently.
Red eyes gleamed from every direction.
Evan tightened his grip on the sword.
The forest floor trembled faintly as the wolves began to move closer.
Somewhere high in the canopy above, unseen dark eyes watched silently.
Below, Evan stood alone in a circle of predators.
And he finally understood something terrifying.
His first hunt had only just begun.