The forest was alive with sound—the snapping of branches, the hiss of insects, the guttural roar of beasts hunting one another. Amidst it all, he moved like a ghost.
Silent. Calculated. Patient.
The gauntlets shimmered faintly on his arms as he crouched low in the undergrowth. His target: a Silverfang Boar, level 26, its hide known to shrug off even steel-tipped arrows. Hunters usually brought five-man teams for such prey. He came alone.
"It's charging… again," the gauntlets whispered in his mind, voice dripping with mock amusement. "You really like getting trampled, don't you?"
He ignored it, shifting his weight as the massive beast thundered forward. Dust exploded beneath its hooves. At the last second, he twisted aside, his gauntlet morphing into a tonfa-like guard. The impact rattled through his bones, but he used the momentum to slide under its belly, slicing upward with a blade form coated briefly in flame.
The strike bit deep—only for the boar to bellow and slam its tusks down. He barely rolled away, dirt scraping his cheek.
Minutes passed. Then ten. His muscles screamed as he pushed himself harder, each exchange demanding everything from his reflexes. Finally, he drove the gauntlet into a gun form, filled it with compressed mana, and fired at its eye. The beast toppled with a roar, thrashing until silence claimed it.
He stood over the corpse, chest heaving. Blood trickled from a gash across his arm.
"Sloppy," the gauntlets muttered. "But effective. You're getting predictable, though. Monsters stronger than this will notice."
He knew it was right.
The fights were getting harder, his progress slower. Even against monsters above his level, the experience gained was shrinking.
Later that night, he sat beneath the pale moonlight, updating his status window.
---
Status Window
Name: ???
Level: 17 → 18
Strength: 62
Agility: 71
Vitality: 59
Intelligence: 66
Perception: 73
Skills: [Shadow Step II], [Ego Weapon Mastery II], [Silent Kill I], [Mana Control I]
Equipment: [Ego Gauntlets Lv.10 – Pair, Adaptive Form, Elemental Coating]
---
"…Still weak," he muttered, closing the glowing screen.
The world's highest level ever recorded was 100 and beyond. The legends of this age were monsters among men. Against them, he was barely a shadow flickering in the dark.
Then—his ears twitched.
A faint sound drifted on the night wind.
Not beast. Not natural.
Steel clashing against steel. Screams muffled quickly, violently.
He froze, every instinct on edge.
The gauntlets' voice grew quiet for once, almost serious.
"…That wasn't an accident. Someone's fighting out there. Strong ones."
He rose silently, eyes narrowing as he melted into the darkness, heading toward the source.