It took Kaito three hours to find his way back to his cave.
The sun had fully set by the time he stumbled through the entrance, exhausted and shivering despite his improved Constitution. His clothes were still damp from the river, and his body ached from the battering he'd taken in the current.
He collapsed against the cave wall and closed his eyes, just for a moment.
When he opened them again, dawn was breaking.
**[Day 6 of Trial Ascension]**
**[Days Remaining: 1]**
One more day. Just one more day and the trial would be over.
Kaito dragged himself outside and went through his morning routine mechanically—drink from the stream, eat mistberries, check his equipment. His stone blade had survived yesterday's chaos, though it showed new chips and cracks.
**[Weathered Stone Blade - Durability: 22/50]**
He'd need to find a replacement soon, but for now it would hold.
As Kaito was preparing to head out for the day's hunting, he heard voices again. Different voices this time, coming from downstream.
"—telling you, he went this way!"
"Yumi, we've been searching for hours. Maybe he didn't make it."
"He saved our lives, Takeshi! We can't just abandon him!"
Kaito recognized those voices. The three people from yesterday. They were looking for him.
He could hide. Let them pass. They'd eventually give up and he could avoid the complication of dealing with other survivors.
But they'd come looking for him. They hadn't just run and forgotten about him.
'When did I become so cynical?' Kaito thought. Five days in this forest had changed him more than he'd realized.
He stepped out into the open. "I'm here."
The three people spun around. Yumi's face broke into a relieved smile. "You're alive! We thought—when that creature didn't follow us, we thought it had caught you."
"It didn't," Kaito said simply. "I lost it in the river."
Takeshi looked him up and down, reassessing. "That was either very brave or very stupid."
"The system says both," Kaito replied, earning confused looks. He waved it off. "Never mind. How's your friend?"
Hiroshi was still pale but looked slightly better than yesterday. His injured leg was rewrapped with cleaner bandages—they must have found supplies somewhere.
"He'll live," Yumi said. "Thanks to you." She bowed deeply. "I'm Sasaki Yumi. This is Nakamura Takeshi and Watanabe Hiroshi. We're... we were office workers at the same company in Tokyo before..."
"Before we got pulled into this nightmare," Takeshi finished. "You?"
"Hayashi Kaito. University student. Chemistry major." He paused. "I guess that doesn't matter much here."
"Nothing from before matters here," Takeshi said bitterly. "Just survival."
An awkward silence fell. Kaito wasn't sure what to do. He'd been alone for so long that the social dynamics felt foreign.
"Where are you staying?" Yumi asked. "We've been trying to find shelter but everything in this forest wants to kill us."
"I have a cave," Kaito said slowly. "It's small, but it's safe. Relatively."
"Could we..." Yumi hesitated. "Could we stay with you? Just until the trial ends. It's only one more day."
Kaito's instinct was to say no. More people meant more complications, more mouths to feed, more variables he couldn't control.
But looking at them—Hiroshi barely able to stand, Yumi exhausted from supporting him, Takeshi holding that pathetic metal pipe like it would actually protect them—he couldn't bring himself to refuse.
"Fine," he said. "But there are rules. No fires at night—the smoke attracts creatures. Stay quiet. And if something attacks, you follow my lead without question."
"Deal," Yumi said immediately.
Takeshi looked less certain but nodded. "Alright. You've survived this long alone, so you must know what you're doing."
If only they knew how many times he'd nearly died.
Leading three people back to his cave made Kaito realize how much his awareness had developed. He automatically checked sight lines, listened for movement, adjusted their path to avoid areas where he'd encountered dangerous creatures. His companions stumbled and crashed through the undergrowth like they were trying to announce their presence to every predator in the forest.
"Quietly," he hissed for the third time as Takeshi stepped on a branch.
"Easy for you to say," Takeshi muttered. "Some of us haven't turned into forest ninjas."
Kaito opened his mouth to retort, then paused. Was that what had happened? He thought about his stats—Dexterity 12, Speed 12. He'd absorbed so many Genes that his body had fundamentally changed. He wasn't the same clumsy student who'd arrived six days ago.
They reached the cave without incident. Yumi helped Hiroshi settle against the back wall while Takeshi examined the space.
"It's not much," Takeshi observed.
"It's safe," Kaito countered. "That's all that matters."
He noticed they were staring at him with something like awe mixed with confusion.
"What?" he asked.
"Your shoulder," Yumi said quietly. "When we saw you yesterday, you were bleeding. A lot. But now..."
Kaito had forgotten about that. The wound from the Alpha Wolf had fully healed, leaving only a faint scar. "Gene absorption," he said. "It accelerates healing. You haven't been collecting Genes?"
The three of them exchanged glances.
"We... we don't know how," Hiroshi admitted weakly. "When we kill creatures, they just disappear. We see the crystals but when we try to touch them, nothing happens."
Kaito frowned. That didn't match his experience at all. For him, the system automatically offered absorption.
Unless...
"What choice did you make at the beginning?" he asked. "The system gave three options."
"We all picked weapons," Takeshi said, holding up his metal pipe. "Well, Hiroshi picked this pipe. Yumi got a knife. I got this." He showed a short wooden club, better than Kaito's first weapon but not by much.
"I picked the Gene State modifier," Kaito said slowly. "It changed my state from Rigid to Soft for a week. It's supposed to increase Gene absorption rate by 50%."
Understanding dawned on their faces.
"So we can't absorb Genes at all?" Yumi asked, horrified.
"Maybe you can, but at a much lower rate. Or maybe not until your Gene State changes naturally." Kaito was hypothesizing now, but it fit the pattern. "The choice wasn't just about starting advantages. It was about growth potential."
"So you've been getting stronger this whole time while we've stayed the same," Takeshi said, and there was an edge to his voice that Kaito didn't like.
"I've been surviving," Kaito said carefully. "Same as you."
"Alone," Takeshi pointed out. "You said you've been alone this whole time. While we've been protecting each other, sharing resources."
"Takeshi," Yumi said warningly.
"I'm just saying, it's easy to survive when you only have to worry about yourself."
Kaito felt anger flare but tamped it down. Takeshi was scared and lashing out. They all were.
"You're right," he said instead. "It is easier alone. No one to slow you down, no one to protect. Just you and the creatures. Every fight a one-on-one with death."
The cave fell silent.
"I didn't mean—" Takeshi started.
"It's fine," Kaito cut him off. "You're here now. We'll survive the last day together. Then we'll figure out what comes next."
But even as he said it, Kaito wondered if that was true. The message in the ruins haunted him: *The real test comes after.*
What if Integration separated them? What if having others with him when it happened was a disadvantage?
He pushed the thoughts aside. One day at a time. That's how he'd survived this long.
The rest of the day passed tensely. Kaito went hunting alone—he moved faster and quieter without the others—and brought back enough mistberries for everyone. The food helped ease the tension somewhat.
That evening, as they sat in the cave watching the sun set, Yumi spoke up quietly.
"Do you think we'll make it? Really?"
"We've made it this far," Kaito said, though he wasn't sure he believed it.
"And then what?" Takeshi asked. "What happens after the seven days?"
"Integration," Hiroshi said weakly. "That's what the system said. But it never explained what that means."
Kaito thought about the ruins, the warning carved in stone. But he didn't share it. These people were already terrified enough.
"I guess we'll find out tomorrow," he said instead.
That night, Kaito took first watch while the others slept. He sat at the cave entrance, stone blade across his knees, watching the dark forest.
His stat screen glowed softly in the darkness:
**[Physical: 11]**
- Strength: 8
- Constitution: 10
- Dexterity: 12
- Speed: 12
**[Mental: 8]**
- Intelligence: 9
- Wisdom: 7
- Charisma: 4
**[Will: 10]**
**[Luck: 2]**
He'd grown so much in six days. From a clumsy chemistry student to someone who could survive encounters with creatures that should have killed him.
But was it enough?
Tomorrow would bring answers. Tomorrow the trial would end and Integration would begin.
Kaito tightened his grip on his weapon and kept watch.
Whatever came next, he would face it.
He'd come too far to give up now.