Ethan couldn't stop himself.
Even with only the first stage unlocked, Beast Assimilation was a D Rank skill. It would be his first real taste of being Titled and his first real weapon in this nightmare of a forest.
He wanted to use it right away.
The problem was… he had no idea how.
There was no tutorial, instruction manual, or helpful pop-up explaining how to activate it; all the available details were limited to what the skill itself was.
Standing there, soaked in a mix of his own blood and that of the Ulfen, he felt exposed and vulnerable. Every second he stayed there felt like an invitation for something worse to find him.
That was without even accounting for his condition, which, though subtly improved by the MP he now had, was still horrible.
'I need to move,' he thought. 'But before that… I need to understand this.'
If Beast Assimilation was going to be his lifeline, the only skill he could rely on, he couldn't afford to fumble it in a real fight.
As such, he closed his eyes.
Instead of focusing outward or seeking external guidance, he turned his attention inward.
Immediately, he felt it.
His mana.
It flowed through him like blood - warm, steady, everywhere at once. But just like blood, he couldn't consciously control it, no matter how hard he tried. It didn't respond to thought or will in any precise way.
'So this isn't one of those stories where I wield it with my mind,' he realised.
This energy wasn't something he commanded directly. It was something his body used, the same way it used oxygen, muscle memory, and reflexes.
An instinctive system.
With that in mind, he stopped trying to force it.
Instead, he recalled what the woman with antennae had said during his Titled Assessment, which didn't exactly go as he had expected.
'Focus on your title. Your ability should manifest naturally.'
So that's what he did.
He latched onto the words now ingrained into his very soul.
'Lord Of Beasts.'
At first, there was nothing; he felt like he was grasping at the wind, then...
Something responded: a rush surged through him, sudden and overwhelming, as if a hidden circuit had snapped closed. His connection to something deep inside him sharpened and locked into place.
He then continued, guided by instinct.
'Beast Assimilation.'
The swirling energy then spread around him, diminishing slightly, but he barely noticed.
Because in that moment, everything else changed.
His body felt lighter, stronger, and filled with unfamiliar vitality. It was like every muscle in his body was tautened and coiled, ready to burst.
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
The world exploded into sensation.
Scents flooded his nose all at once - he could smell it all. From the trees to crushed leaves to the damp soil, the stimuli overwhelmed him all at once. Then there was blood. The thick metallic stench was the thickest and most disturbing.
But incredibly, his nose was now so sharp he could tell his own apart from that of the beast he killed.
Unknowingly, his knees were bent as he hunched slightly. He wasn't transforming or mutating. There were no claws or fur, like a grotesque werewolf.
This was only Stage 1 of the skill, Minor Assimilation, so the physical changes were limited.
But the biggest change that couldn't be seen externally was in his psyche.
His thoughts sharpened, instincts rising to the surface. His blood felt hotter. The space around him felt tighter, more defined, like the forest wasn't just scenery anymore - it was territory.
The world as a whole felt... different.
As for his piercing blue eyes, they flared into beastly yellow.
He was still Ethan, still conscious, still himself.
But layered over that was something else - a beast-like awareness that overcame his innate intuition.
It was to the extent that he had to consciously resist the urge to drop onto all fours.
'So this is what it feels like,' he thought, breath slow and controlled. 'To be closer to a beast.'
He pulled up his status instinctively.
{Current Status}
{Name: Ethan Crowe
Title: Lord of Beasts
Titled Rank: E
Strength: 8.5 +2.5
Speed: 11 +2.5
Stamina: 8 +2.5
MP: 10 +0
Beasts: 1/2
Skills: Beast Assimilation (D)}
It was just as described - exactly 25% of Wolfy's stats layered onto his own.
'So if my beast has MP,' he realised, 'I'd gain that too.'
A chill ran through him.
'That's broken.'
If he could use a beast's MP to sustain assimilation, he could offset one of the skill's biggest costs alongside the drain on his stamina.
Unfortunately, Wolfy had zero MP.
For now, at least.
Still, his fascination was quickly overshadowed by unease.
'This blood,' he thought. 'Any nearby beast can smell it.'
And now, so could he.
His senses were doing most of the work for him - far more than his eyes. In this dense forest, sight was unreliable when trees blocked most of his line of sight. Smell and hearing told the real story.
As such, he closed his eyes and focused on digesting the streams of sensory information.
Every movement stood out.
Leaves shifting, insects skittering, wings beating somewhere overhead, and...
There was something he felt faintly in the distance.
'That way.'
He moved immediately.
His body obeyed without hesitation, lighter on his feet, faster than before. It wasn't overwhelmingly so, nor did he suddenly feel like an overpowered Titled.
The changes, though noticeable, were totally manageable - especially in his condition, which didn't even allow him to experience the full extent of his improved stats.
As he ran, he listened cautiously and remained alert, making sure there were no other beasts in his vicinity. So far, there didn't seem to be anything, which was odd, but he wasn't complaining.
The closer he got, the more certain he was that he was right about what he had heard.
'That's definitely water, flowing water at that. Probably some sort of river.'
He pushed himself harder, covering a mile in a couple of minutes and making the most of his enhanced stats.
Only when the river came into view did he cancel Beast Assimilation.
Instantly, the newfound energy in his body drained away, leaving his limbs heavy again. That had cost him half his MP, not that he had much to begin with.
'Yeah… can't keep that up long.'
He then took a moment to appreciate his somewhat serene surroundings, with the large river that wove through the forest that seemed to span infinitely.
'If I weren't surrounded by beasts in some fucked-up trial, this place would be pretty nice.'
Snapping out of it, Ethan returned his focus to what he intended to come here for.
After checking for movement beneath the surface of the clear water and finding none, he stripped off his bloodied rags.
'Time to get cleaned up.'
It was risky, but what was much more risky was running around like a walking beacon with all that blood on him.
That was practically asking for beasts to come for him.
And so, without overthinking it, he jumped in, but as soon as his feet hit the water, he immediately regretted it. The cold hit like knives as every wound around his body screamed, but it washed off the blood that was already hardening.
By the time he finished and climbed out, shivering, he checked the timer that ominously ticked away on his System Interface.
'Less than half an hour has passed - time must flow slower in this hellhole.'
Ethan stared at the forest around him as he laughed quietly.
'Yeah,' he thought. 'I'm probably fucked.'