'My mother is going to die and it's my fault.'
The nobleman in front of me kept staring at me even after death, his lifeless eyes weighing heavily on my conscience.
I was frozen on the outside, but inside my emotions were in turmoil.
As if responding to my feelings, the wind suddenly struck my face with force, bringing with it black clouds that smelled of death.
Black lightning fell onto the earth, roaring like a beast.
Their wrath was palpable.
That caught my attention. Suddenly, I made a connection.
That noble… I stared at the blood-stained emblem on his chest, a tiger amidst a storm.
A sudden chill ran through me; it felt as though I had been struck by those deadly bolts.
Against my will, my head turned toward the clouds, dreading what I would see.
More and more lightning fell, setting the forest ablaze.
The radiant light cast a deep shadow within the clouds, forming the shape of a furious tiger.
The clouds approached faster and faster.
Forget dying to humans.
Once those clouds reached us, we would die to the lightning of death.
If not that, we would burn alive in a forest fire.
Or drown in a flood.
Fear seized my heart, making me regret approaching the noble even more.
I didn't know this was a world of magic.
It's exactly the kind of world where someone can kill you with the wave of a hand.
A world where offending the wrong person leads to death.
And I had offended someone.
My shadow felt heavier and denser with each heartbeat.
At that moment, for some reason, the clouds stopped moving forward.
The tiger within the clouds seemed to be watching something.
Again, a chill crawled up my spine.
On the opposite side of the clouds, there should have been a bright round sun.
But instead, a beast was devouring it.
A creature was eating the sun!
The world's light was retreating, and all shadows deepened.
Before I realized it, my mother grabbed me by the neck and dragged me away with my siblings.
The two beasts in the sky glared at each other, preparing for the chaos that would follow.
Before I could notice, the sunlight had been completely devoured, and only the flashes of lightning allowed me to see.
Intense earthquakes shook the earth while hundreds of bolts of lightning struck the sky and land across the territory.
The sight was too absurd for my mind to comprehend.
The following minutes were filled with shockwaves that swept through the forest.
Tornadoes began forming, dragging away large chunks of land and animals.
Countless desperate screams echoed through the forest as drops of blood fell like rain.
And I was the cause of all of it.
When the chaos ended, the forest had been ruined.
And the result was clear.
In the end, both beasts retreated with a huff, ignoring the disaster they had caused.
The sun returned to the sky, and white clouds drifted across the blue.
The heavens were indifferent to the suffering of the earth.
When the strong fight, the weak can only pray for luck to avoid calamity.
This day would be engraved in my heart as the day I realized my weakness before the heavens.
A few days passed…
No one had shown up yet, but I was certain humans would eventually come.
I felt like a thief who knew the police would eventually arrive but didn't know when exactly.
The mere thought gave me nightmares.
But it also gave me time to reflect on what I knew.
First, this is a world of magic and supernatural powers.
Second, humans somehow—either through worship or domestication—control magical beasts or at least influence them.
Third, the calamity was avoided for a simple reason: the lightning tiger had invaded the eclipse tiger's territory, triggering the conflict.
After considering the second and third points, I also concluded that tigers must be common here—especially at dangerous levels of power.
But more importantly, their battle didn't start because one wanted to kill us and the other wanted to protect us, but because one tiger tried to invade the territory of another.
Therefore, if humans were to invade, they wouldn't care.
Not only that, I was in the territory of a male tiger. I was a male.
He might tolerate females and cubs, but what about when I grew up?
If I stayed here, I would die sooner or later!
Thus, despite my worries, the first thing I did was begin my journey to power.
I needed to become stronger!
Once again, I separated from my family and ventured deep into the forest. The scenery was apocalyptic, but despite that, there were more than a few survivors.
And they would become my prey!
I spent the following day hunting small rodents and fish while trying to master the essence of the hunt.
I needed to integrate it into myself. I needed to master the essence of a hunter in body and soul.
The next day, I repeated the process, and the day after that as well.
For an entire week, I hunted relentlessly.
Until that moment.
In the middle of the woods, I saw a fox stalking a rabbit.
It approached with slow, silent steps until the moment of the pounce, when it swiftly executed the rabbit.
It then tasted its meat calmly in the forest, unaware that just as it hunted its prey, someone was hunting it.
With my body low and silent, I approached and attempted to strike.
The fox's eyes widened as it sensed the attack, and it quickly dodged to the side with agility.
My attack had failed.
However, I immediately advanced with my paws, which were even more dangerous and heavy.
My strike hit the fox's head, knocking it aside and making it roll across the ground.
I quickly lunged again, leaping on it and sinking my claws into its small body.
Then I bit and shook its neck quickly, causing a high-pitched whine as life rapidly escaped through its vital blood.
Gathering its strength, it pushed me with its paws, throwing me aside and making me roll several meters as it tried to flee.
I soon caught up, bit its tail, and pulled it back, then grabbed its thighs with my claws before knocking it down once again.
I climbed over its body with my claws, scratching it deeply in the process, and went for the neck again—this time hearing a deep crack marking the end of the hunt.
I had hunted a hunter.
Pride filled my chest.
[ Aura 0 → 20 ]
[ Mutation available ]
[ Proceed? ]
'What?'
I heard a strange voice for the first time in my life—it sounded like the voice of a goddess.
Soft and sweet.
[ You killed a rabbit ]
[ You killed a squirrel ]
[ You killed a fish ]
[ You killed a …]
…
[ You killed a rabbit ]
[ You killed a Fox ]
[ Exp 0 → 3000 ]
[ Level up: 1 → 2 ]
[ Level up: 2 → 3 ]
[ Level up: 3 → 4 ]
[ Level up: 4 → 5 ]
[ Level up: 5 → 6 ]
She kept speaking nonstop, leaving me even more shocked.
However, what surprised me even more was the silence that followed.
She spoke nonstop and suddenly went quiet.
"What am I supposed to do?"
[ Your feats have been recognized. You gained the skill: Stealth (Lv.1) ]
[ Your feats have been recognized. You gained the skill: Bite (Lv.1) ]
[ Your feats have been recognized. You gained the skill: Strike (Lv.1) ]
[ Your feats have been recognized. You gained the skill: Tracking (Lv.1) ]
'Is this… a system?'
Again, she went silent.
'If that's the case… Status!'
Level: 6
Rank: Wild
Exp: 250/1800
Aura: 20/100
Domain: —
Skills: Stealth (Lv.1), Bite (Lv.1), Strike (Lv.1), Tracking (Lv.1)
Mutations: 0/5
Available Mutations: Organs, Skin, Muscles, Claws, Fangs
[ You may perform a mutation. Proceed? ]
'I don't know… I guess so?'
[ Select a mutation: Organs, Skin, Muscles, Claws, Fangs ]
'The foundation of the entire body is the organs that nourish it. So, organs!'
[ Consume Aura (20 → 0) to evolve your organs from [Wild] to [Ferocious(Uncommon)]? ]
[ Remember: this is a single, irreversible action. ]
'Wait a moment… Uncommon? Why use that adjective?'
I suspected it had to do with the amount of aura, so I requested it to use only 10 aura.
[ Consume Aura (10 → 0) to evolve your organs from [Wild] to [Ferocious(Common)]? ]
'As expected… If I used aura now, I could evolve at least two of the five, but the evolution would be weak. In comparison, I could use a hundred aura on a single option and do it five times, achieving perfect evolution. Also, once all aspects are evolved, I might be able to rise in rank.'
For a moment, I pondered my decision. Should I evolve something immediately?
'No… Aura is a suggestive name. It probably implies difficult feats. If I hunt dangerous prey and expose myself to increasingly greater risks and still emerge victorious, I should gain more points.'
In that case, I must hunt—more and more.
And not just rabbits, of course.
Foxes were now on the menu.
For the first time since I reincarnated, I felt I had a goal ahead of me.
I don't want to die.
To avoid death, I need to be strong.
If they are strong enough to destroy the earth, then I must be strong enough to shatter the heavens!
I must become the Heaven Breaker!