"Where am I? Why is it so dark?"
That was the first thought that came to my mind as I woke up inside endless darkness. I tried to move, but I could feel a strong wall surrounding me from all sides.
I tried to move again and then I felt it.
My body tilted sideways, and suddenly I was rolling.
"Ehh! What's happening? Where am I going?" I shouted as I kept rolling at extreme speed.
But the movement didn't stop.
Then I bumped into something, the rolling halted and immediately after, I felt myself falling endlessly downward.
"EHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
A huge impact shook my body to its core inside the darkness, followed by a single roll forward.
I lay there, tilted on my side. My body trembled uncontrollably, and then-
A bright crack appeared in front of my eyes, cutting through the darkness.
The darkness shattered like an eggshell being broken apart, the crack widening as the world slowly revealed itself to me.
A dense jungle stretched out at the foot of a towering mountain, thick trees packed tightly together as vines hung from their branches. Everything was green, tangled and suffocating.
The sun didn't just filter down; it pierced through the leaves like blinding white needles that made my new eyes sting.
I sat up and looked around.
Broken pieces of a green, polka-dotted eggshell lay scattered around me. My gaze slowly moved downward.
"Whattttt? Was I inside an egg?"
The greater half of the shell was still there, and I was sitting inside it.
"Wait, wait, wait! Did I just hatch from an egg? But-"
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a voice.
[Title Acquired: Newborn Helion]
"Newborn Helion? A title? What's going on? Who is talkingggg?!"
My shouting did nothing as the voice continued.
[Status]
Level: 1
Experience: 0/20
HP: 20/20
MP: 15/15
[Skills]
Rolling Dash – Lv. 1
Scratch – Lv. 1
Helion Breath – Lv. 1
Blink – Lv. 1
"Status? Skills? Is this one of those RPG games?"
[Sorry. The Voice of the World cannot answer that question at Level 1.]
"How did I end up here? The last thing I remember, wait… why can't I remember anything?"
[Sorry. The Voice of the World cannot answer that question at Level 1.]
"Hey! Answer something at least!"
Frustration clenched in my chest as my fists tightened. My eyes widened.
"What? This feeling… these aren't human arms."
I stared at them slowly.
"I have four fingers?"
I lifted my small hands closer to my face.
"What are these arms? Am I a monster? Wait…if I hatched from an egg, then obviously I'm not human!"
[You are a Helion — the hatchling form of a Heliox, an apex predator of catastrophic class.]
"Uooooh! So I'm some kind of crazy strong monster!"
I pulled myself out of the remaining eggshell and tried to stand.
My legs immediately gave up.
Whoop!
I fell flat on my face.
"Damn it!"
I tried again.
Whoop.
Whoop.
After several falls, I finally managed to stand, though my tiny legs barely supported my body. Walking was even harder.
I shuffled around weakly, glancing at my surroundings.
"Phew…"
My stamina gave out, and I fell onto my back, completely exhausted. I stared up at the tall mountain above me, then at the wide blue sky where white clouds drifted lazily under the bright sun.
"This is so tiring… ahhh…"
As I lay there, something clicked.
"So I was on top of that mountain. When I rolled, that means the egg fell down the slope, right?"
I rested my hands on my cheeks, thinking like I was a genius.
Then realization humbled my soaring trumpets.
"Eh?! If the egg had broken during the fall, then I would have…"
Fear jolted through me.
I sat up instantly, my heart pounding loudly in my ears.
And then-
Grrrl!
The sound came from a bush to my right, hidden behind a thick tree. My gaze instinctively snapped toward the noise.
The moment I fixed my eyes on the rustling leaves, a four-legged beast leaped out, momentarily blinded by the sunlight.
Then my vision cleared.
A wolf.
But not a normal wolf.
Its fur blazed with scorching flames as its eyes glowed a burning red, tongue hanging out as saliva dripped while it locked onto me.
[Baby Fire Wolf encountered.]
[Status]
Level: 10
HP: 68/80
MP: 40/55
The wolf was bleeding slightly from above its left eye.
"But! But! That's a baby wolf!!! What???"
The shout escaped my mouth in pure fear. The beast was more than four times my size, its level and HP far beyond mine.
And I could barely even stand properly.
My chest pounded violently as my soul screamed inside.
"I am dead."
The system responded to my terror.
[Helion's meat is tender and addictive with a special property that can raise hunger to the extreme for animals]
"So I am a walking barbecue for him???????"
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the beast lunged.
Sharp claws slashed toward me at terrifying speed.
I rolled on the ground, barely dodging in time to save my life. I tried to run, but my body betrayed me, and the movement sent me tumbling forward instead.
[Skill: Rolling Dash — Initiated]
My eyes widened in relief as a small spark of hope lit up inside me.
"Oh! So I can roll away even if I can't run properly yet! Hehe…"
And thus, my rolling escape from death began.
The jungle rushed backward as I moved at terrifying speed, barely dodging trees in my path. But the fire wolf was not ready to give up.
It chased after me relentlessly.
Suddenly, the ground ahead vanished, revealing a massive cliff. I tried to slow my forward motion, and my speed dropped sharply.
Just at the edge, I managed to force my body into a sharp turn to the right. Small rocks crumbled and fell into the endless void below.
The wolf did not miss my slowdown.
It leaped.
Its fangs burned with vibrant red flames as it slashed toward me.
Swiff!
The strike came from my right side. I tried to dodge mid-roll as best as I could but I was clumsy, and…
Scratch!
A violent jolt of pain tore across my back. My rolling collapsed. My chest slammed into the ground, my body flipping before my back struck hard against the earth.
The collision left me dizzy. The edges of my vision blurred as my body skidded across the ground, sliding away from the cliff.
The wolf, however, could not stop its momentum.
Through my fading vision, I saw it slide toward the edge, claws scraping desperately as it hung from the cliff, struggling to pull itself back up.
I knew one thing.
If it climbed back up, I was dead.
With the last of my strength, I gathered what little courage I had left.
"It's a matter of survival, damn it!"
I rolled with everything I had, forcing my body into a wide, circular motion. I crashed into the wolf's face, the impact swinging like a bat striking a ball.
Thud!
Its grip broke.
The wolf was thrown off the cliff as my body slid sideways, barely stopping at the edge.
I lay on my back, gasping for air as exhaustion crushed me. The sky above spun slowly as my vision struggled to steady.
Then a terrified death cry echoed through the canyon as the wolf disappeared into the bottomless abyss.
"AUUUUUUU!"
[Status]
Level: 1
Experience: 0/20
HP: 10/20
MP: 15/15
My breathing slowly began to steady, and the world in front of my eyes stopped spinning as my heart returned to a normal rhythm.
"This is crazy… I could die anytime."
Grrrrrrl!
My instincts sharpened instantly.
"Again…?"
I looked around in panic, but there was no sign of danger. Only silence, broken by the rustling of leaves as the wind passed through the trees.
GRRRRLLLL!
That was when I realized it. It was my stomach.
"I'm… hungry."
I looked around again, but there was nothing edible within sight.
My body was exhausted, but I needed to eat to survive.
Dragging my legs, I started moving back toward the jungle from where I had come. My body felt heavy, exhaustion clinging to me like shackles pulling me toward the ground.
But the most exhausting part wasn't physical.
"After all that trouble, I didn't even get any EXP? Does that mean the wolf survived the fall?"
Without realizing it, I punched a tree along the path.
"Damn it! If these are regular encounters, then I need to get stronger to survive here!"
The sun dipped lower, dusk creeping in as long shadows stretched across the ground. The path ahead felt lonely and oppressive, weighed down by fatigue.
Still, my will to survive pushed me forward.
Alone and trembling but determined.
Then-
[Congratulations! You have slain a Baby Fire Wolf.]
[EXP Earned: 120]
[Level Up]
[Status]
Level: 4
Experience: 20/120
HP: 80/80
MP: 60/60
[Stats]
STR: 10 + 2 + 3 + 4
AGI: 10 + 2 + 3 + 4
INT: 10 + 5 + 7 + 9
SPD: 10 + 2 + 3 + 4
My eyes widened.
"So that means… it was still alive until now?"
I stared back toward the cliff with disbelief mixing with respect.
"You were one hell of an opponent."
The words slipped out, followed by a long, tired sigh.
GRRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLL!
The hunger did not fade. It grew heavier, sharper, clawing at my thoughts until the forest around me felt different.
The air smelled wrong. Every sound felt closer. My body shifted on its own, senses stretching toward the jungle, toward movement, and toward life. I swallowed hard, fear tightening in my chest.
I was alive. I had survived. My wound healed as I levelled up, but as my stomach twisted painfully, one thought refused to leave my mind.
If I did not find food soon, I was not sure what part of me would decide what that food would be.