Kyle stared at the creature, his mind turning with calculated precision as he watched it growl—a sound laced not with aggression alone, but pain. The noise was guttural, raw, emanating from something that had once been whole but was now twisted into this grotesque form.
His thoughts raced, analyzing.
'This is a zombie variant. It most likely came from an apocalypse-type world accessed through the Nexus. Probably one of the lowest-tier worlds.'
The Nexus. Two hundred years ago, it had appeared without warning—a phenomenon that shattered humanity's understanding of reality itself. Massive rifts had torn open across the globe, revealing gateways to countless other worlds. Some were peaceful, filled with nomadic civilizations that lived in harmony with nature. Others were hellscapes—raging infernos of volcanic fury, or desolate wastelands consumed by eternal winter.
Humanity had only scratched the surface in those two centuries. They had mapped perhaps a fraction of the accessible worlds, cataloged even fewer. What did the future hold? What horrors—or wonders—awaited in the unexplored depths of the Nexus?
Kyle's eyes narrowed as he continued his assessment.
'This zombie probably originated from a low-tier, infection-ravaged world. Some Astrals must have captured specimens and brought them here—cultivated them, even. Turned this forest into a controlled testing ground for newly awakened students like me.'
Astrals. The term for those who traveled between worlds, wielding powers that defied conventional understanding. They were also called Awakened, though Kyle preferred the former designation. It sounded more… accurate. More otherworldly.
The creature took another lurching step forward, claws dragging through the dirt, leaving trails of sizzling toxin in its wake. Its yellow eyes locked onto Kyle with singular, mindless hunger.
Kyle's grip shifted on his blade, and then—
He lunged.
His speed was incredible, a blur of motion that cut through the air with surgical precision. The creature barely registered his movement before Kyle was past it, blade singing as it carved a deep gash across the spawn's exposed flank.
Black blood spurted from the wound, thick and viscous, dripping onto the forest floor with soft pattering sounds.
The toxin variant roared—not in pain, but in fury—and swung one massive arm in a wide arc. The attack was telegraphed, clumsy, devastatingly slow. Kyle's eyes tracked the movement almost lazily.
'Nine speed. Pathetic.'
He sidestepped with minimal effort, the creature's claws passing mere inches from his face. The displaced air ruffled his dark hair, but his expression remained unchanged. Calm. Focused.
Kyle pivoted on his heel and drove his blade forward, stabbing deep into the creature's abdomen. The steel pierced corrupted flesh with a wet, squelching sound. More black blood poured out, steaming slightly as it met open air.
The spawn staggered but didn't fall. Its back began to bulge—skin stretching unnaturally as something moved beneath the surface. Pores widened grotesquely, and suddenly, with a sickening burst, the bulges ruptured.
Dozens of insect-like creatures exploded outward—each no larger than a fist, chitinous bodies glistening with the same yellow toxin. They buzzed through the air with erratic movements, mandibles clicking as they swarmed toward Kyle.
He didn't hesitate.
His blade became a silver arc, cutting through the swarm with practiced ease. One slash bisected three of the creatures mid-flight. A backhand swing caught another cluster, their bodies disintegrating into black ichor. His movements were efficient, economical—not a single motion wasted.
'Annoying, but hardly threatening.'
Within seconds, the swarm was decimated, their remains littering the ground around him. Kyle didn't even break a sweat.
The toxin variant roared again and charged, its lumbering gait shaking the earth with each step. Kyle waited, watching its approach with clinical detachment.
At the last moment, he moved.
A sharp dodge to the right brought him alongside the creature's flank. Before it could react, Kyle drove his knee upward into its exposed ribcage. Bone cracked audibly beneath the impact, and the spawn stumbled, wheezing.
Kyle followed through with a spinning elbow strike to its jaw, snapping the creature's head sideways. Its balance faltered further.
He didn't relent.
A low sweep of his leg hooked behind the spawn's knee, and with a sharp pull, he sent the creature crashing onto its back. Dirt and leaves exploded outward from the impact. The toxin variant flailed, trying to rise, but Kyle was already moving.
He leapt onto its chest, blade raised high, and drove the weapon downward with both hands. The steel punched through the creature's sternum, sinking deep into whatever passed for its heart.
The spawn convulsed once, twice—then went still.
Black blood pooled beneath its corpse, soaking into the earth. The yellow toxin stopped seeping from its pores, the chemical reaction fading as life left the twisted body.
Kyle withdrew his blade with a sharp tug, flicking the ichor from the steel with a practiced motion. He stepped back, breathing evenly, and regarded the corpse with a neutral expression.
'It posed some threat with those parasites, but the speed was its downfall. Too slow. Too predictable.'
The fight had been almost disappointingly easy.
A translucent panel materialized before his eyes, glowing softly in the dimming forest light.
-----
**| TOXIN VARIANT ELIMINATED |**
**| +2 POINTS ACQUIRED |**
-----
Kyle stared at the notification, his face calm, unreadable. Two points. A modest start, but a start nonetheless.
Then, without warning, a brilliant flash of light erupted before him—brighter than the system panels, more intense, almost blinding in its radiance. Kyle's eyes widened fractionally as new text appeared, burning itself into his vision.
-----
**| CONGRATULATIONS |**
**| HOST HAS ELIMINATED FIRST SPAWN |**
**| INITIATING FULL AWAKENING PROTOCOL |**
**| THOUGHT POWER ACTIVATION: COMMENCING |**
-----
Kyle's breath caught.
The world seemed to slow around him. The forest sounds faded into a distant murmur. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, each pulse resonating through his entire body like a drum.
Something stirred within him—deep, primal, vast.
Energy flooded through his veins, foreign yet intimately familiar, as though it had always been there, dormant, waiting for this precise moment to awaken. His mind sharpened, thoughts accelerating beyond normal human capacity. Connections formed instantaneously, patterns revealed themselves in crystalline clarity.
This was it.
The true awakening.
His ability—Thought—was finally unveiling itself in full.
Kyle's lips parted slightly as the sensation washed over him, overwhelming in its intensity yet strangely controlled. He felt… more. More aware. More capable. More alive.
The light gradually faded, leaving him standing alone in the forest clearing, the corpse of the toxin variant cooling at his feet.
His eyes, once ordinary brown, now held a faint glimmer—something deeper lurking beneath the surface.
Kyle exhaled slowly, testing the new weight of power settling within him.
"So this is what it means to be truly awakened," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
The forest remained silent around him, as if holding its breath.
The trial had only just begun, but Kyle could feel it—something fundamental had changed. He was no longer merely a student being tested.
He was becoming something more.