After nearly three days, Shad Darc finally woke to the cold morning air of the strange forest.
"Damn. How many days was I unconscious?"
"Who knows? Two or three, perhaps," the Meditating Advisor replied.
"Is that so?" Shad answered sarcastically, without expecting a response.
He pushed himself upright and examined his body, checking for broken bones, damaged organs, or any lasting injuries. To his surprise, he found none. His wounds had completely healed, and he felt no pain or discomfort.
Shad stood and performed a series of light stretches, testing his joints and muscles. His body responded smoothly, almost effortlessly.
Something had changed.
His muscles felt looser, stronger, and more responsive than before. Every movement seemed to require less effort, as though the tension he had carried for years had been stripped away. Even his breathing felt easier.
"Wow."
The word escaped before he could stop it.
He could not fully explain what had happened to his body. He only knew that he felt better than he ever had.
Still, he did not dwell on it for long. He had already accepted that this world operated according to rules he did not understand. Supernatural phenomena were no longer theories to be debated. They were part of his reality.
His attention shifted toward the corpse of the bear-like creature.
The enormous body lay where it had fallen, its dark fur gradually losing its former vitality. Shad stared at it for a moment, wondering what death had felt like for the beast.
The thought of death itself did not disturb him.
Shad had considered his own death many times. He had wondered whether it would be painful or silent, whether it would come during a meaningful battle or end in some pointless, wasteful moment. Such thoughts had never frightened him much.
His fear of death was almost nonexistent. He had lived with few regrets, and there were not many things in his life he desperately wished to hold on to.
He pushed the thoughts aside and approached the corpse. Crouching beside it, he recalled the final moments before losing consciousness—the strange light, the dark particles, and the resonance he had felt when he touched the remnant.
"I wonder what that light was," he muttered. "And what caused that strange resonance?"
He pondered the memory for a while, but no explanation came to him.
Since forcing an answer would accomplish nothing, he turned his attention to something more practical.
His hand reached for his short dagger.
It was gone.
Shad glanced at the empty sheath and remembered what had happened during the battle. The dagger had been destroyed in the creature's final moments.
"Damn. Where am I supposed to get another weapon?"
His gaze moved across the surroundings until it settled on the creature's two enormous horns.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
He reached for one of them and tried to pull it free.
The horn did not move.
"You really are stupid if you think you can simply rip it out," the Pondering Fighter remarked. "What are you now? Some kind of monster capable of tearing anything apart?"
Shad ignored him and continued studying the horn.
He could probably cut it loose, but without a proper weapon, that would be difficult. Perhaps he could use the Flow to reinforce his hands or find a weak point in the base.
Before he could decide, a faint hissing sound drifted through the trees.
Shad stopped.
His eyes shifted toward the eastern side of the forest. The sound had come from somewhere roughly a hundred meters away, though its exact source was difficult to determine.
It had not been particularly loud, yet he had heard it clearly.
His first thought was a snake.
Then he reconsidered.
Could an ordinary snake produce such a sound from that distance? Probably not. It might be another crossbred creature, an abomination, or something entirely unrelated to any animal he knew.
What surprised him most was not the sound itself, but his reaction to it.
When he had first heard the roar of the bear-like creature, he had immediately felt the need to escape. Now, he remained calm and collected, observing the forest without allowing his thoughts to spiral.
"Looks like you have grown in just three days," the Lonely King said mockingly.
'Strange. I am mocking myself.'
"Is that so?" the Lonely King replied.
Shad ignored the comment.
"So, what are you going to do now?" the identity asked.
"Nothing."
He continued watching the trees.
"I will wait and see."
For several minutes, Shad remained still. The hissing did not return, and he saw no movement among the trees. Eventually, the forest fell silent, as though the sound had never occurred.
Shad turned back toward the creature's corpse and resumed examining its horns.
As he considered how to remove one, he began circulating the Flow within his body. This time, the energy moved more smoothly and rapidly than before.
Then he noticed something unusual.
He was no longer consciously absorbing the Flow.
Energy was entering his body on its own.
Shad's expression shifted slightly.
'So, once someone recognizes the sensation of Flow, they can begin absorbing and using it unconsciously.'
He paused, considering the implications.
'And it can heal the body as well.'
"Interesting."
This discovery changed his understanding of the Flow.
He had previously regarded it as little more than an energy reservoir or a means of strengthening his body. Now, he suspected it was something far more fundamental—perhaps a vital part of life in this world.
He did not know why the thought had come to him, but he could not ignore the pattern. His body had healed, his strength had increased, and his ability to absorb Flow had improved without deliberate effort.
He was adapting to this world far more easily than he should have been.
By design or by chance, he could not tell.
But nothing in Shad Darc's life had ever truly happened by chance.
'There is more to this place than what I can see.'
He was still lost in thought when the hissing returned.
This time, it came from directly above him.
Shad raised his head.
A massive black snake was coiled among the branches, its dark-yellow eyes fixed on him.
They were not ordinary reptilian eyes.
The sclera was a deep yellow, while the irises were black and the pupils were white. They resembled human eyes placed inside an entirely different creature.
The sight unsettled him.
Shad had encountered countless dangerous animals during his life, but he had never seen a snake with eyes like those.
He stared directly at it, studying its movements and trying to determine whether it possessed any form of intelligence beyond instinct.
The snake hissed again.
Perhaps it was confused by the sight of its seemingly helpless prey standing calmly beneath it.
Shad, meanwhile, felt a different kind of discomfort.
'How did it get there without me noticing?'
His gaze moved across the branches and surrounding trees. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had failed to detect the creature approaching.
That mistake irritated him.
The snake was enormous—roughly twice the length and width of a fully grown anaconda. Its thick body coiled around the branches, its muscles shifting beneath its dark scales.
Yet Shad felt no fear.
He had been caught off guard, and the situation was dangerous, but fear never arrived.
"Damn," he muttered. "That isn't a good sign."
The snake struck.
Its jaws opened as its massive body shot downward.
Shad moved on instinct.
He twisted to the right, narrowly avoiding the attack, and landed roughly twelve meters away.
The snake's head slammed into the ground where he had been standing.
Shad stared at it.
'That speed…'
He had dodged quickly, but the movement had felt different. His body had responded faster than he expected, with greater precision and less resistance.
He did not allow the surprise to distract him.
The giant snake pulled back and began coiling its body, preparing to strike again.
Shad lowered his stance and watched it with an expressionless face.
"So, you want to eat me too?"
His fingers flexed.
"Then I suppose I should thank you for giving me three days to recover."
His gaze sharpened.
"You can come and collect your reward now."
He did not know whether the snake had been nearby during his unconsciousness or had only arrived recently.
Either way, it no longer mattered.
The serpent had chosen its prey.
And Shad Darc had no intention of making the hunt easy.