Chapter 3: To the Great Star Dou Forest
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The fire was weak — just enough to dry his soaked boots and warm the bitter root he'd found near the river. Tian sat against a crooked rock in the shallow cave, sharpening a stick into a crude spear. Not that he expected to kill anything with it, but the motion kept his hands busy while his mind processed what came next.
The gun was complete now. Assembled. Ready. His martial soul had taken form as a fully operational SIG MCX Spear (M7). No bullets yet — not until a spirit ring was attached — but it hummed within him like a sleeping beast, waiting to be unleashed.
His spirit power sat at Rank 10. He was officially a Spirit Master. The real journey could now begin.
The path forward was clear, dangerous, and unavoidable: he needed a spirit ring. And not just any ring — a ring with the right kind of effect. Curse. Corrupt. Catastrophe.
His body alone could do nothing against the monstrous spirit beasts that roamed the world. But with a gun whose power scaled by spirit beast ages, he had a different strategy. He didn't want to fight head-on. He wanted to ambush. Snipe. Destroy.
He had reviewed every bit of lore he remembered from Soul Land 1–5. Spirit rings weren't chosen randomly — they were hunted. Earned. The stronger the beast, the better the effect, but also the higher the risk. Normally, Rank 10 spirit masters absorbed beasts below 423 years old to avoid soul rebound or overload. But his martial soul didn't pour that power into his body.
It poured it into the gun.
That meant he could push the limit.
Hard.
And there was only one place where beasts of that age and power lived in consistent numbers.
The Great Star Dou Forest.
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The morning after full assembly, Tian left the cave with everything he had scavenged: dried roots, three hand-woven cloth pouches, one dagger looted from a failed thief, and a map copied from a merchant's cart.
The map was crude, but it showed key points: river routes, minor towns, beast zones, and most importantly, a jagged inked sprawl labeled "Star Dou" deep in the continent's interior. According to the map, if he took the southern route through Red Willow Town, he could skirt the edge of an older beast migration trail, then pivot westward into the Outer Zone of the forest.
It would take at least two weeks on foot.
Maybe longer if weather or beasts slowed him down.
He didn't care.
The longer the walk, the more time to think.
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Travel was brutal. He couldn't travel openly — too many bounty hunters, spirit hall scouts, and worse, wild spirit beasts that had no interest in letting a six-year-old pass through their territory unchallenged.
So he traveled by night.
Hid during day.
Avoided roads.
Stole food when necessary. Bartered when it was possible. Killed once — a starving boy who tried to steal his satchel. It wasn't personal. It was necessity. The boy was younger, faster, more desperate. Tian was colder. More methodical.
He camped beneath roots, beneath fallen wagons, inside abandoned farms. Rain soaked him twice. Once, he nearly froze. Once, he was chased by a wild boar for twenty minutes before slipping down a gorge and spraining his ankle.
But he kept moving.
Every step forward was a step closer to power.
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Around the tenth day, he met travelers.
Spirit Masters.
A small group, five in number, no older than mid-teens. Clearly students from some academy. They wore matching emblems and traveled with pride — loud, confident, careless. Tian watched from the trees as they fought a 500-year spirit beast — a vine-wrapped serpent with paralyzing venom. The group took losses. One girl was nearly killed, but they won. They celebrated like idiots.
They didn't even realize they were being watched by a predator far worse than the serpent.
Tian didn't attack. He wasn't strong enough — not yet. But he followed them for three days, studying their formations, how they spoke, how they activated their spirit rings. He learned.
He stole herbs from their camp one night and left no tracks.
On the third day, he heard their squad leader mumble about "avoiding the Star Dou Inner Zone unless we want to get eaten."
Useful.
Tian marked it on his map.
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The border to the Great Star Dou Forest was less a gate and more a change in atmosphere.
The trees grew denser, their bark darker, the air thicker. Everything smelled like moss, blood, and iron. Insects buzzed with unnatural rhythms. The wind no longer moved in patterns. It whispered — as if the forest itself were alive, watching every footstep.
Tian stood at the treeline and felt a chill deeper than any cold he'd felt in his cave.
This was a land of monsters.
Not just spirit beasts, but plants. Terrain. Fog. Sounds that didn't belong to any animal he knew.
The weak avoided this place for good reason.
But Tian?
He walked forward.
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The Outer Zone was vast — a stretch of layered ecosystems filled with thousands of beasts ranging from 100 to 5,000 years old. It was considered "safer" by spirit master standards, but still far more dangerous than any human-controlled area.
Tian set up a temporary hideout under a half-hollow tree. He laid his map flat, checked his inventory, and reviewed his next objectives.
He now had his target zone.
What he needed next was a method to identify spirit beast effects before fighting them.
Blindly attacking beasts and hoping they had curse, corruption, or catastrophe-based abilities was stupid.
So he focused on the scope.
It was currently Tier 1. According to the martial soul info, it could detect and analyze spirit beasts under 3000 years of age, or spirit masters below Rank 40.
He summoned the gun.
The cold hum of spirit power surged through him. The gun shimmered into form, sleek and perfect. When he activated the scope, a reticle flickered into existence — not a crosshair, but an information interface.
He aimed it at a passing two-headed lizard.
> [Target Acquired: Dual-Spine Basilisk]
[Estimated Age: 1,850 Years]
[Threat Level: Moderate]
[Detected Affinities: Paralysis / Acid / Berserk]
[Status Effect Potential: Yes]
[Compatible with Martial Soul Absorption: 78%]
[Primary Ability: Glandular Neurotoxin (Contact + AOE Cloud)]
Too unfocused.
He wanted something tactical. Status-inflicting. Hex-based. Clean damage over time or enemy disruption.
He let the basilisk go.
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For days, Tian continued this hunt by vision.
He logged over 43 different beasts.
He categorized them: toxin-type, venom-type, berserker, defensive, explosive, regenerative, illusion-type.
The curse-type and corrupt-type ones were rare — usually hidden, stealthy, or aggressive beyond reason.
Finally, on the sixth day, he saw one.
> [Target Acquired: Gravemaw Lynx]
[Estimated Age: 2,380 Years]
[Affinities: Shadow / Decay / Curse]
[Primary Ability: "Soul Rot" — Gradual Spirit Power Decomposition]
[Compatibility: 93%]
[Threat Level: High]
Bingo.
Tian grinned.
It was a lithe beast — feline in form, jet-black with glowing blue eyes and decaying fur. Its presence alone made nearby insects die.
But it was fast.
Too fast for him to fight fairly — even with the gun.
So he set a trap.
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That night, he prepared an ambush zone. He laid rotting meat across a patch of unstable vines he'd found earlier, ones known to tangle prey and collapse under pressure. Then, he positioned himself 80 meters away in a tree hollow, prone position, gun steady.
He had 55 bullets.
One of them would be enough.
Hours passed.
Then it came.
The Gravemaw Lynx approached, slinking through the mist like a ghost. It sniffed the meat once — and pounced.
Too predictable.
BANG.
The shot echoed like fate.
The bullet flew — silent, sharp, accurate.
It pierced the lynx's hindquarters, causing it to shriek. The scope tracked its movement in real-time. Tian didn't hesitate.
BANG. BANG.
Three more shots. One tore into the ribs. One hit the shoulder. The final hit the eye.
The lynx screamed, then collapsed, twitching.
Tian sprinted forward.
He arrived just as the beast died.
The spirit ring formed — a thick, ominous black-purple circle glowing above the body.
He knelt, panting, trembling from the adrenaline. Then extended his hand.
The gun floated beside him.
> [Initiate Spirit Ring Absorption?]
[Target Age: 2,380 Years]
[Primary Effect: "Soul Rot" — Curse/Decay Ammo Type Unlocked]
[Confirm?]
Tian smiled.
> "Confirm."
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The ring fused into the gun.
It groaned with energy, then clicked — like a chamber locked into place.
> [1st Spirit Ring Attached]
[Ammo Capacity: 55 – Curse Bullets Active]
[Effect: Soul Rot – Targets lose 2% spirit power per second for 5 seconds]
[Stackable. Weakens regeneration. Bypasses basic shields.]
He exhaled slowly.
The damage wasn't explosive — but it lingered.
It drained.
It punished arrogance.
He liked it.
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As the lynx's corpse turned to ash, Tian stood in silence.
His first ring.
His first real kill.
And the first step in a long, bloody war.
Tang San might've had blue silver grass.
But Tian had a bullet that would rot your soul.
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[To Be Continued in Chapter 4: "Soul Rot"]