A faint blue light had spread over the forest.
Morning here was absolutely nothing like Earth.
No sun was clearly visible, nor did the color of the sky ever fully open up.
That strange silver-like sky spread above just slowly began to lighten, and along with it, this terrifying forest also began to wake up from its sleep.
Reyansh was still sitting curled up between the roots of that massive tree.
He had not blinked an eye even for a single moment the entire night.
Terrifying sounds had kept coming from far and wide.
Sometimes the thud of a heavy animal walking.
Sometimes the rustling of something running fast on the branches of the trees.
And sometimes, certain sounds that just hearing them would freeze ice in his spine.
But right now, in this blue light of the morning, the forest was a little quiet.
Reyansh slowly raised his right hand.
He bent his fingers.
Then rotated the wrist slightly.
The pain was still there.
But not fatal like yesterday.
A faint astonishment emerged in his eyes.
"This thing is truly working," he muttered softly.
His hand was not completely healed.
The swelling was still there.
But at least now he was able to use it.
Until yesterday, just moving a finger made it feel as if the bone would tear through from inside and come out.
Reyansh looked at his hand for a few seconds.
Then he picked up a sharp stone from the ground.
"Let us test it one more time."
He made a light cut on his left thumb with the tip of the stone.
Pain rose immediately.
A thin red line formed, and droplets of blood began to come out.
Reyansh held his breath and carefully watched the wound.
Nothing happened for a few seconds.
Then—
A slight movement occurred in the skin around the wound.
As if tiny invisible threads were coming out from inside the skin and sewing the torn part together.
Right before his eyes, the bleeding stopped.
The size of the cut began to shrink.
Within a minute, only a faint red mark was left there.
Reyansh's breath became a bit heavy.
"This is... truly pure healing."
Just then, that same cold, mechanical voice echoed in his brain.
Cellular Healing consumed minor biological energy.
Reyansh's brows furrowed.
"Meaning..."
The very next moment, he gripped his stomach tightly.
He suddenly began to feel hunger many times more intense than before.
It felt as if a large crater had formed inside his stomach and his body was eating itself from the inside out.
"Oh shit."
Now he understood the whole game.
Healing was not free.
His body was burning the remaining energy inside him to fix itself.
And energy simply meant...
Food.
A lot of food.
He slowly rested his head back against the tree trunk and let out a tired laugh.
"Amazing. On Earth, people at the gym ate protein to build muscles. And here, to stay alive, I'll have to chew who knows what."
But this joke did not last long.
Because the hunger had now gone far beyond a joking matter.
His stomach was twisting from the inside.
In the past two days, he had only eaten that transparent fish, and even that not completely.
Reyansh stood up slowly.
Now his brain was much calmer than before.
Until yesterday, he was just a scared boy who was panicking.
But now, his brain was analyzing things in a different way.
In an absolutely cold and practical manner.
He set his priorities in his mind.
One. Water—that river was nearby.
Two. Shelter—he needed a place for the night.
Three. Weapon—anything to protect himself.
Four. Food—the most important.
He took a deep breath.
"Okay," he said to himself. "One by one."
Reyansh began to move forward cautiously along the edge of the river.
He noticed that in the light of day, this forest did not look as scary as it did at night.
But this did not mean at all that it was safe.
Strange blue-glowing vines were wrapped around many trees.
Some flowers were such that, just by sensing prey nearby, they would slowly begin to close.
Once, he saw with his own eyes that a large insect crawling on the ground was suddenly pulled beneath the soil.
As if there was an invisible mouth inside the ground that swallowed it alive.
Reyansh immediately stepped back two steps.
"Nice," he said with a dry laugh. "Here, even the damn soil eats people."
While walking, his gaze fell upon the trunk of an old black tree.
Small, strange green bugs were crawling across it.
Each bug was almost as big and thick as his finger.
At first, he felt disgusted just looking at them.
But the very next second, a very strange and terrifying thought crossed his mind.
Will eating them grant mutation points?
Reyansh stood like a statue for a few seconds.
Then he slowly closed his eyes.
"I am truly thinking this? I have gone mad."
But hunger...
Hunger forces a person to do a lot of things they would have never even dreamed of.
With trembling hands, he carefully caught a green bug.
It felt completely soft and slimy between his fingers.
"Oh God," he muttered, twisting his face.
Then, without thinking any further, he put it straight into his mouth and chewed it.
"Ugh... Fuck!"
The taste was so terrible and bitter that his entire face contorted.
The green liquid inside the bug hit his throat like acid.
For a few seconds, he felt that he would vomit everything right then and there.
But he somehow forced it down and swallowed it.
Immediately, the system's voice came.
Low-grade organism consumed.
Zero point one Adaptive Mutation Points gained.
Reyansh's eyes widened slightly.
"Adaptive point."
He immediately picked up a second bug.
This time, swallowing it was a bit easier.
Then a third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Every time one went down his throat, the system's voice echoed.
Zero point one Adaptive Mutation Points gained.
Slowly, his brain began to ignore that horrible taste.
Now he was only seeing points.
After a while, a slight burning sensation started in his stomach.
But the hunger still wasn't gone.
He chewed more bugs.
Ten.
Twelve.
Fifteen.
Then suddenly—
A terrifying, ripping pain erupted in his stomach.
"Aaaah!"
Reyansh collapsed onto his knees.
His stomach began to burn from the inside as if someone had set it on fire.
His breathing became rapid, and darkness began to cover his vision.
Warning: Unknown toxin detected in host body.
"What the—!"
He suddenly vomited violently.
A thick, green-colored liquid splattered onto the ground.
Tears filled his eyes, and his entire body shook uncontrollably.
For several minutes, he lay on the damp soil, gasping for breath.
Then the system's voice echoed again.
Cellular Healing activated.
Neutralizing toxin.
Slowly, that deadly burning sensation in his stomach began to lessen.
But not completely.
Reyansh grabbed a nearby tree with trembling hands and somehow pulled himself back to his feet.
Cold sweat covered his forehead.
"Meaning..." he spat onto the ground while breathing heavily. "Food here can kill you too."
He looked toward the remaining bugs crawling on the tree.
For a few seconds, he simply stared at them.
Then—
He reached out and picked up another bug.
"If I have to die in this hell," he let out a tired, almost crazy laugh, "then at least I'll die gaining points."
He started eating them again.
But this time, slowly.
After each bug, he paused and carefully observed his body's reaction.
After a while, he realized something strange.
Now there was no pain in his stomach like before.
His body was enduring those toxins a little better.
Time passed slowly.
He didn't stop until he had eaten almost twenty bugs.
Just then—
A sharp tingling sensation shot through his brain.
Repeated toxin exposure detected.
Adaptive response successful.
Passive Skill Acquired: Poison Tolerance Level One.
Reyansh stood silently in the deserted forest for several seconds.
Then his eyes slowly widened.
"Skill..."
He immediately picked up another green bug lying nearby.
He looked at it for a few seconds.
Then ate it without blinking.
The taste was still just as horrible.
But this time, no pain rose in his stomach.
Only a faint burning sensation appeared before disappearing almost immediately.
Reyansh's breathing finally calmed down.
He looked at his palm.
Then toward the terrifying forest around him.
And for the first time in his life, he truly felt—
This world changes humans.
Slowly.
From the inside.
While walking, he spotted some small red fruits growing in the bushes.
This time, he did not go near them immediately.
Now he wasn't a fool.
First, he picked up a stone from far away and threw it at the fruit.
Nothing happened.
Then he approached carefully and pressed one with a long stick.
Still nothing happened.
Finally, he broke off a tiny piece and smelled it.
The aroma was sweet and pleasant.
This time, he ate only a tiny bite and waited for fifteen minutes.
When nothing happened, only then did he eat the rest of the fruit.
Foreign plant matter consumed.
Zero point one Adaptive Mutation Points gained.
Reyansh immediately wanted to open the system screen.
By now, he had understood that the system was connected to his brain.
He simply thought about the screen, and a faint blue display appeared in the air before his eyes.
BODY MUTATION — One point four.
NEURAL MUTATION — Zero.
SENSORY MUTATION — Zero.
ADAPTIVE MUTATION — Two point one.
GENETIC MUTATION — Zero.
Reyansh looked at the screen for a few seconds.
Then he gave a command in his mind.
Hide.
The screen disappeared instantly.
His eyes widened slightly.
"Oh."
Meaning he could control the system with his thoughts.
He tried again.
Show.
The screen immediately returned.
Reyansh smiled faintly.
"Okay. Useful."
Now his brain was continuously observing everything like a machine.
Which plants looked safe.
Which part of the river was clearer.
Where animal footprints marked the soil.
Where the ground looked swampy.
He was noticing that his mind was catching far more details than before.
And what was the scariest part?
He was beginning to enjoy it.
Slowly, evening began to fall.
That faint blue sky slowly shifted back into its terrifying purple color.
Reyansh became alert immediately.
Night meant—
The danger of death.
He quickly found a massive tree whose roots rose above the ground, creating a small cave-like space beneath them.
"There we go. Today's home."
He quickly began collecting dry leaves and long branches from around the area.
Now his body was operating completely in survival mode.
He could hear every tiny sound in the forest.
Feel every slight movement.
Even the direction of the wind.
Suddenly—
While gathering dry wood, he noticed strange marks in the distant soil.
He slowly approached without making a sound.
Deep claw prints were stamped into the ground.
But they didn't belong to any normal animal.
Each claw mark was almost as large as Reyansh's chest.
He held his breath and stared at them for several seconds.
Then he quietly backed away.
"No," he muttered softly. "I do not want to meet its owner."
He hurried back to his shelter beneath the roots.
He picked up a long, sturdy stick and began sharpening one end by grinding it against a large stone.
His hands started aching from the constant rubbing.
But now he was learning to ignore pain.
Half an hour later, he had a crude wooden spear.
It wouldn't kill any large beast.
But it was a million times better than being empty-handed.
Reyansh sat hidden between the giant roots.
He gripped the spear tightly with both hands.
The forest was changing once again.
The quiet sounds of the day had disappeared.
Now the true rulers of the night were emerging from their dens.
Far away, a deep growl echoed.
Then something sprinted across the branches directly above him.
And then—
The entire forest suddenly fell silent.
Not a single sound.
Reyansh's body tensed on its own.
He held his breath.
And just then—
From the very heart of the dense forest, a horrifying scream echoed.
It belonged to an animal.
But there was so much terror and agony in that cry that an icy chill ran through Reyansh's spine.
Then, the scream was abruptly cut off.
As if... something enormous had caught it in a single instant and ended its life.
The forest became silent again.
But this silence was far more terrifying than before.
Reyansh stared into the pitch-black forest.
His grip on the wooden spear tightened until his knuckles turned white.
His palms were soaked with sweat.
And today, for the first time, he truly accepted one fact—
In this forest...
He was not the hunter.
He was still... just prey.