"Aaaahhh... I’m actually falling to my death this time..."

  Just as the aberrant's claws grazed the air behind me, I stumbled—my foot catching between two unstable rocks. The ground betrayed me, crumbling beneath my weight as gravity gleefully yanked me down the cliffside. My arms flailed uselessly. There was no grace in the way I plummeted—just pure, flailing, wide-eyed panic.

  Head-first into death.

  Again.

  After all that agony—after getting ripped apart and somehow surviving—this is how it ends? Like a bad slapstick sketch gone wrong?

  No.

  Regret slammed harder than the wind in my ears. Dying here, faceplanting into the abyss, would be the most pathetic ending possible.

  Think, think, THINK!

  "Wait—my stat points! I still had unspent stat points!"

  Boom!!!

  The impact rattled my soul.

  The earth cracked open beneath me as I crashed into the ground like a dropped meteor. A shallow crater formed around my broken body as dust clouds erupted, swirling like ghosts over my twitching limbs.

  When the dust settled, I was sprawled awkwardly on my back, my spine arched like a bowstring from skull to butt, every inch of me screaming in pain.

  "AHHHHHHHHH!!!"

  I slapped my hand over my mouth, stifling the scream that clawed its way out of my throat.

  But I was alive.

  Barely.

  Right before I hit the ground, I dumped every remaining point into Vitality—thirty points total. My health cap shot up, saving me from being flattened like roadkill. I took 15 fall damage. That left me with a ragged 20 HP out of 80.

  “Dear GOD—why couldn’t they just remove the pain receptors if we’re going with an RPG system?! Who designed this masochistic nightmare?!”

  Still groaning, I peeled myself off the crater floor. My clothes were in tatters, stained with dust and blood and my own exhausted tears. As I tumbled through tree branches during the fall, I hadn’t even noticed how violently my arm had changed.

  Now, I raised my right hand—my new right hand.

  It had hardened.

  The black goo that once flopped limply had morphed into a fully formed, solid arm. Strong. Alien. But... mine.

  A ping of notification echoed softly in my head.

  Both innate traits gained points.

  "...So that hellish agony wasn’t completely for nothing," I whispered tearfully, my voice cracking under the weight of what I’d endured.

  AaaaaAArghhhrrraaaAAWWWLLLLL!!!!

  The roar ripped through the forest like a blade, shattering the eerie silence. It was primal. Broken. Human. Not human.

  I looked up—and there it was.

  That thing.

  Its piercing blue eyes stared down from the cliff’s edge, glowing like vengeful flames. I could feel its hatred wrap around my bones like ice.

  Then, a chorus of howls answered from deep within the valley—echoing, shrieking, gathering.

  The hunt wasn’t over.

  I bolted.

  My feet pounded the earth as I sprinted through the brush, my heart racing like a war drum.

  "Weapon—I need something. Anything!" I hissed between gasps, eyes darting around.

  Twigs, stones—useless. Completely useless. Nothing here could scratch that monster.

  I opened my skill screen, desperate for an answer.

  Nothing offensive. Just passives.

  I could throw them all into the Void and hope it swallowed them—but I wasn’t sure I’d survive while trying to shove them all.

  And to make matters worse, my stomach growled.

  Loudly.

  I blinked. "...Is it lunchtime already?"

  I shook the thought out of my head.

  "Priorities!"

  "I just need to survive two more hours... then I can open another portal..." I mumbled, cradling my gut as it rumbled with neglect.

  The deeper I ventured, the murkier the terrain became. Before me lay a swamp—vast, dark, and cloaked in mist. Visibility was terrible. Thick fog rolled in like a slow, choking wave. Only small patches of ground appeared through the grey, like fleeting islands in a drowning world.

  "...Going straight through that would be suicide. Better to circle around."

  I veered left, feet sinking into the soggy earth. Thorns tore at my bare soles, and sharp sticks stabbed at my heels. Every step was a pulse of fresh pain.

  Thanks to [Ungodly], infection and poison weren’t issues—but the sheer torment was relentless. A rhythm of agony. Twitch. Step. Twitch again.

  Rustle.

  I froze.

  Rustle... rustle...

  My head turned, stiff and slow. Something was moving behind me. Close. Watching.

  Three shadows stepped into view—low to the ground, black as tar, sniffing at the air.

  Then I saw their eyes.

  Blue. Faintly glowing.

  Like him.

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  Their bodies were mangled—flesh rotting and crawling with maggots. Broken bones jutted from their sides, ribs punctured and twisted. Yet they moved with vicious intent.

  The one closest to me barked—a dry, echoing sound that scraped at my nerves—and lunged.

  [Accursed Tiny Terror – Level 1]

  Pawn Rank Aberrant

  HP: 10 | MP: 5

  STR: 1 | INT: 0

  AGI: 3 | VIT: 2

  DEF: 0 | MOR: -35

  It came at me, snarling through rotted teeth, its face half-torn and its bones clicking with every mad dash.

  And just like that, the chase began anew.

  “…They’re just level 1, barely above vermin with low stats,” I whispered to myself, trying to drown out the primal fear clawing at my spine. “But if they swarm me all at once, I’m done for. I’ll need to take them out one by one…”

  Clenching my fists and grinding my teeth, I squared my stance, planting my bare feet against the mushy, root-ridden ground. The first mutt lunged, jaws wide and fangs dripping, aiming straight for my jugular like a heat-seeking missile.

  “Hrmph!!”

  I waited until the last heartbeat—until I could feel its rotten breath across my cheek—and then launched an uppercut with every ounce of raw adrenaline I had left.

  My knuckles crashed into its decaying snout with a sickening squelch.

  Bone shattered. Flesh rippled.

  The dog's upper body burst open mid-air like a meat balloon, chunks of gore painting the tree trunks behind it.

  The other two didn't flinch. No pause. No hesitation. They sprinted toward me, utterly indifferent to the grotesque explosion of their packmate.

  [Ting!]

  [You earned 5 experience]

  "...Only 5?!" I muttered, baffled. "That mess was worth five points?"

  No time to dwell.

  The remaining mutts lunged together, tongues flailing like grotesque lances, eyes glowing with undead hunger. Their movements were synced—practiced.

  Feral.

  “Not today, freaks!” I snarled, springing upward. My body twisted in the air as I caught both of them mid-pounce, wrapping each hand around their throats.

  Their necks felt like warm, wet sponges—soft and slimy with rot. My fingers pushed in deeper, sinking past skin and into cartilage. With a feral roar of my own, I squeezed.

  Crack.

  Snap.

  Their skulls caved in like damp clay, and their limp corpses dropped beside me with a dull, wet thud.

  [Ting!]

  [You earned 5 experience]

  [Ting!]

  [You earned 5 experience]

  “Hooooo…” I exhaled, trembling. My pulse throbbed in my ears, and I felt like I could finally breathe for a moment.

  Then reality kicked me in the face again.

  “Wait... 1000 experience to level up? At five points per kill? I gotta take down two hundred of these things just to hit level 2?!”

  I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. The system designer must’ve been a sadistic freak, the kind who thought Dark Souls was too forgiving.

  “F*cking hell…”

  Just the thought of that soul-crushing grind made me want to scream.

  But there was no time to pout. I still had to make use of the corpses—my [Devourer of the Sun] trait demanded it.

  With the flair of a knight pledging allegiance, I knelt beside one of the twitching bodies and raised my arm dramatically, pressing my palm gently against the exposed hindquarters.

  Immediately, the foulest stench imaginable slapped me across the nose. My stomach did somersaults.

  “UGH—disgusting! It smells like death marinated in sewage!”

  Still, with all the dignity I could muster, I summoned the skill with theatrical might:

  “[Devourer of the Sun]!!”

  …

  …….

  ……….

  Nothing.

  “…Ehehe… Maybe I didn’t say it clearly,” I murmured.

  I tried again.

  Louder. Deeper. Faster. With a weird accent. Even doing a spin mid-cast.

  Nothing.

  The corpses just sat there. Festering.

  Mocking me.

  Frustrated beyond belief, I crouched again and hesitantly pinched a tiny piece of the mutt’s rear. I sniffed it. It reeked, of course. And still—I tossed it into my mouth like a cursed snack.

  Crunch.

  The texture was indescribable.

  [TING~!!!]

  A thunderous chime rang through my skull like a sacred gong, confirming the act.

  My eyes welled up—not from joy, but pure trauma.

  Slowly, I looked back at the mountain of rotting flesh still waiting to be “consumed.”

  “…I hate this system.”

  [You earned 1 point for: Devourer of the Sun.]

  [You recovered 1 HP]

  [A new Taboo Trait has been acquired—

  Bio-Forge]

  [Bio-Forge]

  By consuming a creature born of the Void, the user unlocks the power to transmute the soul core into tangible equipment. The attributes and effects of the item scale with the quality of the core consumed. The appearance of each piece of gear adapts to the user’s deepest desires. Rare minerals and precious gems may be added as reagents to further amplify the equipment’s power.

  [The Forge menu is now accessible via the Status Window's upper-right tab.]

  I stared blankly at the notification, my dirt-caked face stretching into a manic grin.

  “This… This is it! A divine cheat code disguised as a skill—I can abuse this!”

  Despite my near-constant cycle of gagging and swallowing half-rotted meat, I managed to spot something tucked inside the mutilated ribcage of the mutt I just devoured. A black, faintly pulsing orb nestled between decaying organs—glowing with the same icy blue light as its soulless eyes.

  With a bit of hesitation, I reached in and yanked the object out. Slick and warm with residual slime, the orb radiated a low hum. I focused my interwave toward it.

  [Soul Core (Tiny Terror)]

  Quality: Low

  Quantity: 1

  Consuming this item grants: +10 EXP, +5 Trait Points for corresponding skills, and restores +20 HP. Alternatively, it can be forged into a weapon or item.

  “Heck yeah.” I whispered with a feral excitement.

  A quick search through the other carcass yielded another intact core lodged in the same area. The one I obliterated earlier was far too gone—likely vaporized along with its core.

  One core in each hand. I tucked one away carefully. The other?

  Down the hatch.

  To my surprise, it glided down with surprising smoothness—cool and slick like swallowing a gel capsule. There was even a subtle minty aftertaste…

  Or maybe that was just brain fluid.

  Either way—

  [Ting!]

  A surge of energy coursed through me like liquid lightning. Wounds sealed. Muscles twitched. I felt alive again.

  “All right—full health, 25 EXP richer, and 5 trait points to boot. Let’s see the haul."

  [Innate Traits]

  Devourer of the Sun (Passive): 7 / 100,000 pts

  Truthseeker (Passive): 20 / 5,000 pts

  Transcended One (Passive): 50 / 1,000 pts

  Ungodly (Passive): 37 / 50,000 pts

  Vorpal Hex (Passive): 1 / 10,000 pts

  My soul just detached from my body.

  Those numbers were obscene. I needed tens of thousands of points just to evolve a trait. And if the gains were this minuscule, I’d have to eat a whole army’s worth of aberrants just to scratch the surface.

  That meant one thing: I needed to plunge headfirst into danger if I wanted any shot at survival.

  A sudden tremor rolled through the ground behind me, followed by the heavy, synchronized thumping of many limbs. The horde was getting closer—relentless in their pursuit.

  “This might actually work in my favor,” I muttered, slinging the remaining carcasses over my shoulder like sacks of fetid meat. “Let ‘em chase. I’ll just keep collecting cores and leveling my traits while I run.”

  But if I really wanted to stand a chance against the stronger monsters waiting in the shadows, I needed a weapon. Now that Bio-Forge was unlocked, I could start crafting, but there were two problems—no forge and no cover.

  “Creating something out in the open is just asking to get gutted. I need to find a sheltered spot, someplace quiet… defensible.”

  I cast a wary glance around the area. The night was thick with fog and tension. Every shadow twitched like it was ready to pounce.

  “Can’t stay here... I need to disappear into the woods.”

  With a final glance behind me at the looming black figures in the distance, I turned and made my way toward the nearest forested slope, where twisted trees and moon-drenched undergrowth beckoned like ancient sentinels.

  Darkness awaited. But maybe—just maybe—so did salvation.

  Chaos exploded the moment I stepped into that cursed forest—so much for the safety I desperately sought.

  My hopes were shredded as aberrants emerged from the shadows like phantoms from a twisted dream. First came a faceless humanoid with a grotesque mouth split from its chest down to its gut, teeth jagged like shattered glass. I barely escaped, but not without paying a steep price—my left arm was torn clean off.

  Then came the blade-limbed, headless freak who intercepted my frantic sprint, cleaving my left leg like it was paper. And just when I thought I'd get a breather, a hulking, three-headed brute crashed into me with the force of a collapsing mountain, hurling my broken body into the dark maw of a hidden cave.

  Now I lie here—crumpled, bleeding, barely breathing—inside this damp hole like discarded meat. My rib bones protrude through torn flesh beneath my chest, their stabbing pain searing with every breath. My neck had snapped like a twig upon impact with the cold, unwelcoming stone.

  The only silver lining? The cave’s tight walls were too narrow for that gym-freak abomination to follow me.

  Eventually, my body stirred. My trait kicked in—blessing or curse, it began to reknit shattered bone and sinew. Agony clawed through every nerve, unrelenting and cruel.

  My HP, once full, now hovered precariously at 30.

  I glanced at the bloody, rotting meat wrapped in the remains of my shirt—my makeshift bag. My stomach turned violently.

  Do I eat it?

  Again?

  “Going out there with this little health left is suicide… But I need a weapon. I need something to fight back.”

  I swallowed dryly, haunted by the memory of gagging and dry-heaving my guts out last time.

  Still… I reached for the soul core and the foul meat, hands trembling, and opened the Status Window. My finger hovered over the new tab—[Bio-Forge].

  The interface was eerily similar to the Status menu. Simple, clean... almost sterile. A panel displayed the crafting prompt: place required materials nearby, and if eligible, the “Confirm” button would light up. If not—it’d remain greyed out.

  I placed everything beside me and stretched my hand toward the prompt.

  [Ting!]

  [Minimum materials met. Proceed with forging?]

  [Confirm / Cancel]

  “Confirm!!!” I blurted in a panic.

  Shreeeeeerwk!

  "AHHHHHHHH!!! F-F*!!! NOT AGAIN!!"

  An awful crunch echoed around the cave. I hadn't expected my own arms to be the sacrifice.

  Black, sinewy tendrils burst from my wrists, writhing with malicious purpose. They enveloped my arms, sinking in like worms burrowing into muscle and bone. I screamed, tears streaming uncontrollably, as my flesh twisted and cracked under the transformation. I bit down hard on my lip—hard enough to draw blood—fighting the urge to bash my skull against the floor just to end it.

  The trait description failed to mention it would steal a third of my remaining health. My bar plunged from 30 to 20.

  Then, stillness.

  [Forge Completed]

  The tentacles withdrew, vanishing back into my flesh. In their place, a pair of obsidian gauntlets pulsed faintly against my fists—alive, and grotesquely beautiful.

  [Tiny Terror Pads - Level 1]

  Pawn-rank Bio-Gauntlets

  Common Quality

  ATK: +20 | VIT: +2

  Forged from the soul and flesh of a Tiny Terror. The weapon retains no sentience, becoming a lifeless tool of violence.

  “Not bad… No passive effects, but it boosts my vitality and attack just fine.”

  I flexed my fingers, inspecting the smooth, slick interior of the gauntlets. Despite their hideous appearance, they were surprisingly supple inside—warm, even. Like I was slipping my hands into—

  Lei’s arm.

  My cheeks burned.

  I quickly shook the memory of childhood days when I’d casually poke and pinch her arms during play. Those soft, warm moments now felt worlds away.

  “Ahem… Anyway. These feel like rubber gloves—light, flexible, but deadly.”

  To test them, I jabbed at the cave’s stone wall. The moment my fist connected, cracks spiderwebbed outward, the stone splitting with ease. Satisfying.

  Unfortunately, climbing out wasn’t an option. The path I fell from was far too steep, and I could still hear the frustrated growls of the aberrant pacing outside.

  No other exits. I was boxed in.

  A subtle breeze whispered through the hole I’d tumbled into, rustling my tangled hair like a ghost’s caress. I clenched my fist, feeling the faint thrum of life pulsing in my gauntlets.

  I wasn’t safe. Not yet.

  But I was armed.

  And that meant I was ready to walk straight into the nightmare.

  Outer Celestials,

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  [Ting!]

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