The Forgotten Shore was beautiful. It felt wrong to admit, but from Juno's vantage, he saw both the Ashen Barrow and the Crimson Labyrinth.
Shaking himself out from his musings, Juno carefully inspected the piece of land he was on. Based on where he was, the sights, and the material of the structure, Juno could easily guess his location.
'I'm at Bone Ridge.'
There was no doubt. He'd imagined it before, but reality overwhelmed him. The scale of the skeleton pressed on him—heavy and oppressive. Whatever this creature had been, it dwarfed anything he'd seen.
He exhaled softly.
'It's a good starting point. Better than most, at least. Though I am on top of the spine, not in it. Hm… what to do?
The question lingered in his mind for a moment before he dismissed it. He had gotten his answer. Standing still, Juno closed his eyes and let his senses expand.
The world sharpened.
He leaned into it instinctively now, slipping into the familiar clarity of his Innate Ability. It had taken an obscenely long amount of time to understand the nature of [Piercing Mind], far longer than he would have liked. At first, he had assumed it worked like Broken Sword's ability, which allowed its user to gain deep structural understanding of concepts.
He had been wrong.
Learning the truth had been needlessly convoluted.
Juno hadn't even remembered what Broken Sword's Aspect Ability actually did, since that part of the novel had never interested him much. Fixing that knowledge gap had taken effort. Jet didn't know, which meant calling in a favor to ask someone who did. That someone turned out to be Saint Cor, Wake of Ruin—who, of course, had asked for something in return. The whole process had taken days and more trouble than it should have.
Still, the answer was worth the trouble.
Broken Sword's ability revolved around understanding—true understanding. With it, he could perceive the underlying structure of concepts, link them, and fully comprehend them as a whole. In contrast, [Piercing Mind] provided a different set of strengths.
Juno couldn't do that.
At least, not yet.
[Piercing Mind] was different. Compared to Broken Sword, whose ability centered on understanding, and June, the Shadow Clan operative who specialized in perception, it felt like a blend that offered unique mental advantages rather than conceptual mastery.
His Innate Ability did three main things.
First, it allowed him to manipulate his senses to an extreme degree. He could amplify any of them—or all of them—pushing them far beyond their natural limits, or dull them to the point of near absence. Right now, he had heightened everything except taste. Sound, vibration, scent—nothing escaped him. If he opened his eyes, he would even be able to faintly perceive heat radiating from living beings and see far beyond his normal range. That alone made the ability incredibly useful.
Second, his mind itself became sharper. It wasn't true understanding like Broken Sword's, but it was close enough to matter. His memory improved, his perception refined, and his processing speed increased. He could analyze, optimize, and adapt at a level far beyond what should have been possible. It wasn't magic—it was just… better thinking. This was what had allowed him to perform so well in Wilderness Survival, and what had let him refine his strike against the punching machine. Every improvement came from his own mind.
Finally, there was intuition.
The least reliable, but sometimes certainty struck for no clear reason. Like the chilling knowledge: tampering with his Dormant Ability meant death. He hadn't reasoned it out—he simply knew.
It reminded him of something primal. Almost like instinct.
It felt primal—something wordless nudging him away from disaster. [Piercing Mind] had depths he hadn't grasped, secrets waiting in the Dream Realm.
Juno exhaled quietly.
He wasn't particularly excited to find out what those were.
But it didn't really matter.
Focusing back on the task at hand, Juno carefully evaluated all his senses. It was still slightly overwhelming, but also incredibly manageable. Very contradictory, but it was fine.
For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. Juno didn't feel, hear, or see anything. It was as if he were completely alone on top of Bone Ridge, but that feeling only lasted for a couple of seconds. Then –
A faint sound reached him.
Juno's brow furrowed slightly.
It was subtle. Almost nothing. A soft, irregular scrape, like something dragging across a hard surface. With normal senses, he'd have missed it.
He didn't move.
Instead, he focused.
The sound came again—clearer, slow, uneven. It brought a faint vibration traveling through the bone beneath his feet.
Heavy.
Juno's expression shifted as idle thoughts faded.
"…Not alone, then."
His gaze lowered slightly, as though he could see through the layers of bone beneath him. He couldn't, of course—but he didn't need to.
The pattern was enough.
Something large. It was moving from within the spine. It was taking shelter in this corner of the Forgotten Shore, away from anything or anyone else. This meant the creature was either in its own territory or had run away. Based on the things Juno knew, he had a guess.
'It's injured. Definitely injured. Based on the vibrations I can feel, it's incredibly large too. So… a Scavenger. Oh great…'
Juno remained still for a moment longer, letting his senses stretch to their limit. The smell reached him next—faint, but distinct.
Rot.
Salt.
And fresh blood.
A slow smile crept onto his face.
'Hehehe, bastard. So you are injured,' Juno thought savagely, his face contorting into a wide smile. Not every day did one meet an injured Awakened Beast, so this was a huge stroke of luck.
Juno tilted his head slightly.
He could technically leave. The day was fresh, and nothing stopped him from heading to another safe spot. But…
'Where is the fun in that?'
The warmth in his chest returned, subtle at first, then growing. It wasn't fear. Not quite excitement, either.
It was something sharper.
Desire.
His Flaw stirred quietly, feeding on the thought of it.
First kill.
First real fight.
First real step forward.
He exhaled slowly. Not to calm—just to intensify focus.
"Let's see how this goes."
Suddenly, a faint shower of white sparks danced around Juno's face, forcing his eyes shut for a brief moment. When they faded, a green half-mask had already settled over his features.
A Snake's Mask.
It was the only piece of armor he had—and the most important part of his plan to kill the scavenger.
Another cluster of pale sparks gathered around his hand, swirling before condensing into solid form. A moment later, a short kakao rested in his grip, its dark blade catching the dim light.
King's Execution.
The Ascended Memory felt reassuring in his hand. It was the weapon he had earned from his first kill—and, for now, the only one he could rely on.
Without any more preamble, Juno started to move.