Henry completely abandoned the Lower Regium defensive stances. He wanted to test his raw, unrefined baseline.
Relying purely on his newly acquired F-Rank stats, he sped off to the side, easily sidestepping the lead wolf's snapping jaws. With no technique at all, he swung his arming sword in a wild, heavy horizontal arc. The beast reacted almost instantly, crossing its front paws to catch the descending strike against its claws.
The impact echoed like a hammer striking an anvil. But Henry's pure strength stat overwhelmed the monster. The force lifted the wolf off its paws, knocking it two full feet backward into the dirt.
'I guess beasts really do have an inherent physical advantage if it could still catch that block,' Henry analyzed.
Without hesitating, he stepped forward and drove his blade cleanly through the beast's ribs, killing it instantly.
Eager to push his new limits, Henry ripped his blade free and turned to find his next target. But the pack was already retreating. Seeing their vanguard slaughtered so effortlessly, the remaining wolves scrambled backward.
The two bigger wolves lingering in the shadows let out a sharp, commanding howl, and the entire pack decisively vanished into the black underbrush.
'Damn. These beasts are decisive as hell,' Henry thought, his adrenaline cooling.
He scanned the dark clearing. Recruit 1 stood casually over a single dead red wolf. To his left, Recruit 7 was kneeling over two fresh carcasses, one red and the white wolf.
A breathless, arrogant laugh echoed from Recruit 7 as he dug his knife into the wolves, looking for the mana cores.
"So, you guys rushed your system rank trials, and you're still slower than me in real combat."
Reminded of the objective, Henry walked over to his own kill and carved the red core from its chest. He completely ignored Recruit 7's boasting, turning his attention to Recruit 1.
"1. Do you have any idea how the beasts' inherent physical advantages actually work?"
"I do," Recruit 1 replied quietly, her eyes darting toward the area they had originally came from. "But let's not discuss it here. Grab one of these carcasses and let's put a little more distance between us and that cave."
"Agreed," Henry said.
"So you guys have nothing to say, huh?" Recruit 7 called out, cutting across Henry's agreement. "I guess I'm just better."
"Shut up, idiot," Recruit 1 snapped. "Can't you see we're talking?"
Recruit 7 grinned, standing up with his newly harvested mana cores.
"Ah, nice. So we're resorting to name-calling now. I must really be getting under your skin."
Recruit 1, who usually ignored his nonsense with icy detachment, was now paying the price for engaging.
Henry stayed completely quiet, knowing that getting involved in their bickering was an unnecessary headache. Instead, he grabbed the largest of the slain wolves, which happened to be the lone white wolf, by the hind legs, easily dragging the heavy beast as if it weighed nothing.
"Alright, guys. Let's go," Henry interrupted.
They hiked south along the foothill wall for another hour.
"I think this is far enough," Recruit 1 announced, calling a halt. "Let's settle down here and make a fire. We actually have the means to defend ourselves from predators now."
"That's an understatement," 7 scoffed, dropping his pack. "Did you see how easily I handled those two wolves at once? You guys, on the other hand, looked like you struggled a bit. Maybe you didn't pass your trials at all. Your fighting looked like some long-lost Foundation Establishment Level 11 instead of an actual F-Rank."
Henry and Recruit 1 briefly made eye contact in the dim light. A silent agreement was passed between them: 'Do not fall for the bait.'
"Let's get a fire going quickly," Recruit 1 ordered, ignoring his taunt entirely. "Since you're so energetic and chatty right now, 7, you prepare the fire."
Recruit 7 opened his mouth to refuse, but the murderous death glare Recruit 1 leveled at him instantly shut him up. Her stare just as potent as it had been before they had ranked up.
Grumbling, Recruit 7 turned his back and started gathering dry brush. Henry and Recruit 1 sat down on the cold dirt.
"To answer your earlier question," Recruit 1 began softly, keeping her voice low. "I'm sure you know that different species have different inherent abilities. But what you probably don't know is that beyond their species, beasts are classified into specific Tiers based on how strong they are compared to a human of the exact same Level or Rank."
She drew a line in the dirt with her scabbard. "Those wolves we just fought were Tier 3. A Tier 3 beast has, on average, twice the baseline stats of a human at the exact same level. That's why combat tactics and sword techniques are so vital in the trials we have to use skill to bridge the physical gap."
She drew two more lines. "Tier 3 is the lowest classification. It gets worse. Tier 2 beasts possess roughly 3x the stats of a human counterpart, while tier 1 beasts possess roughly 4x the stats of a human counterpart."
"My father told me there's a classification even higher than Tier 1," she added, her voice dropping to a whisper. "It's called Emperor Tier. He said Emperor beasts vary wildly among themselves, but absolutely none of them have less than a 5x stat multiplier."
Henry stared at her, genuinely shocked. His mind raced, calculating the terrifying math of fighting something with five times his current attributes.
"That's insane," Henry breathed, running a hand through his hair. "I wonder why the instructors never bothered to teach us about this before dropping us in here."
"They probably didn't want to paralyze us with fear before we even entered the forest," Recruit 1 guessed, staring into the dark treeline. "They're likely saving the real nightmares for after graduation... wherever we end up assigned."
The thick cuts of wolf meat sizzled over the open flames, the small amount of fat on its body dripping into the fire. Henry and Recruit 1 continued their quiet conversation as they ate, but the peace was inevitably broken.
Recruit 7, who had been aggressively tearing into a roasted hind leg, finally lost his patience. He tossed a cleaned bone into the dirt and wiped his greasy mouth.
"Alright, enough of this," Recruit 7 interrupted, leaning forward with a demanding glint in his eye. "Let's get to what we actually want to know. What are your stats?"
Recruit 1 didn't even look up from her meal. "System stats are deeply personal. There is absolutely no way I'm telling you."
"I figured you would say something like that, buzzkill," Recruit 7 rolled his eyes, turning his attention away from her. "How about you, 14? You gonna indulge me, or are you going to be boring too?"
Henry chewed on a tough piece of wolf meat, genuinely considering it. Knowing his squadmates' stats was a tactical advantage, but giving away his entire hand to someone as competitive as Recruit 7 was a mistake.
"How about we just pick one stat to share?" Henry suggested. "Just to satisfy a little curiosity. How about that?"
Recruit 7 thought it over for a few seconds, his competitive gears visibly turning. "Fine. But the stat has to be Speed."
"Fine with me," Henry agreed.
Recruit 7 puffed out his chest, a wildly proud grin spreading across his face. "Alright. My Speed is 38."
He leaned back, clearly expecting them to be deeply impressed by the number.
Henry just swallowed his food and replied casually, "My Speed is 42."
Recruit 7's arrogant grin was instantly obliterated. He blinked, leaning forward again. "Wait, what? Well... what about Agility, then? My Agility is a 39!"
"Nah," Henry said, holding up a finger to cut him off. "We agreed to only share one stat. I'm keeping the rest to myself."
Recruit 7 groaned, opening his mouth to argue, but Henry completely refused to budge. Realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere with Henry, 7 shifted gears, pointing an accusatory finger at Recruit 1.
"Alright, fine, I'll take the L on that this time," Recruit 7 conceded bitterly. "But 1, you still haven't said your Speed."
Recruit 1 took a slow, deliberate bite of her food. She looked Recruit 7 dead in the eye, fully aware of the ego blow she was about to deliver.
"Mine is a 40."
Recruit 7 slumped back against a rock, entirely deflated by the realization that he was statistically the slowest of the trio.
Despite 7's bruised ego, the rest of the night was surprisingly lively. The silence that had defined their last three weeks in Hope Forest was gone, replaced by heated arguments, tactical debates, and comfortable banter.
When it was time to rotate through their watch duties, they left the fire burning bright for warmth, no longer terrified of whatever predators the light might attract. They were no longer just prey.
Under the warm glow of the firelight and the safety of their newfound strength, the darkness eventually faded. The morning mist rolled in, and Day 29 officially began.