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Chapter 10: The First Week Is Not Kind
The forest did not feel like an arena.
That was Ren's first realization.
There were no walls, no visible barriers, no sense of confinement. The towering trees stretched endlessly in every direction, their roots breaking the earth like the backs of buried beasts. Sunlight filtered through the canopy in fractured beams, painting the forest floor in shifting patches of gold and shadow.
Yet Ren knew better.
This place was a killing ground.
Somewhere far above, beyond the sky he could barely see through the leaves, an entire city watched. A massive screen displayed four separate environments—forest, desert, ruins, and ocean—broadcasting the fates of hundreds of children.
But the participants didn't know that.
They had been deliberately kept ignorant.
Because people fought differently when they thought no one was watching.
Ren steadied his breathing and activated Appraisal.
> Environment: Verdant Forest Arena
Threat Density: High
Monster Activity: Active
Survival Recommendation: Constant movement
"Figures," Ren muttered.
He adjusted the crude leather straps of his small pack. No real weapon. No armor worth mentioning. Only a few supplies, his magic, and the discipline he'd forced into himself over months of preparation.
This is the first test, he reminded himself.
A week of survival. Points decide everything.
The qualifying threshold was 5,000 points.
Anything less, and you were out.
Ren moved.
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Day One
The first monsters were small.
Forest rats the size of dogs. Venomous insects hiding beneath fallen logs. A pair of sharp-beaked lizards that ambushed from the underbrush.
Ren handled them efficiently.
Fire Spears pierced. Wind bursts staggered. His mana control remained tight, conservative. He refused to overspend. Each kill rewarded him with a faintly glowing orb—condensed mana, restoring roughly half of what he used.
By midday, he had accumulated over 1,200 points.
Not bad.
Not safe either.
That was when the forest went quiet.
Ren stopped instantly.
No insects.
No birds.
No distant howls.
Only his own breathing.
He slowly turned.
Something large moved between the trees.
Green skin.
Broad shoulders.
A blade of crude iron scraped against bark.
Ren's heartbeat quickened.
"...A Hobgoblin."
He swallowed.
This wasn't his first.
He had fought one before—earlier in his journey, on the road with his father. That Hobgoblin had been newly evolved, unstable, reckless.
This one was different.
Ren activated Appraisal.
> Hobgoblin (Evolving Variant)
Growth Stage: Incomplete
Combat Intelligence: High
Weapon Proficiency: Basic
Threat Level: Dangerous
Notes: Actively adapting
Ren's eyes narrowed.
Still growing… but smarter.
The Hobgoblin stepped forward slowly, posture low, blade angled defensively. Its eyes followed Ren's hands, his feet, his breathing.
It wasn't charging.
It was analyzing.
Ren struck first.
"Fire Spear!"
A compressed lance of flame shot forward. The Hobgoblin twisted aside with surprising speed, the spear grazing its shoulder and leaving a scorched wound.
It snarled—but didn't retreat.
Instead, it rushed.
Ren barely dodged, wind flaring beneath his feet as the blade sliced through where his head had been a second earlier. He countered with another Fire Spear, then another.
Three casts.
That was his limit.
The Hobgoblin was burned, bleeding—but still standing.
Then it adapted.
It closed the distance aggressively, forcing Ren into close quarters. The forest floor betrayed him—roots, uneven ground, fallen branches.
A kick sent him flying.
Ren slammed into a tree root, pain exploding across his ribs as the air left his lungs. His vision blurred.
The Hobgoblin advanced.
Relentless.
Ren tried to rise.
Failed.
No mana for another spear…
His fingers brushed against broken branches.
Sticks.
Dry. Jagged. Crude.
An idea formed.
A desperate one.
Ren forced himself upright, hands shaking as he gathered the sticks together.
"Fire—Bind."
Flames wrapped the wood, charring but reinforcing it.
The Hobgoblin lunged.
Ren poured everything into Wind.
"Tornado—Compress!"
The air screamed.
Fire twisted violently, forming a spiraling blade of burning wind around the makeshift weapon. It was unstable, dangerous—far beyond what a five-year-old body should attempt.
Ren screamed as mana tore through him.
He swung.
The fire tornado exploded forward.
The Hobgoblin barely had time to react before it was engulfed. Flames and wind ripped into its body, shredding flesh, halting its evolution permanently.
The explosion shook the forest.
Silence followed.
Ren collapsed.
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Ten Minutes
He didn't move.
His body lay face-down in the dirt, limbs numb, breath shallow. Mana exhaustion clawed at him viciously, his soul screaming for rest.
Ten minutes passed.
Only then did Ren manage to roll onto his back.
His chest rose and fell painfully.
He laughed weakly.
"I really… shouldn't do that again…"
A glowing orb drifted toward him.
Mana restoration.
Ren took it slowly, carefully.
As the energy flowed back into him, an idea sparked—born from desperation, movement, and instinct.
Fire… Wind… Movement…
Something clicked.
Ren focused.
A new Personal Magic formed.
He named it instinctively.
Burst Step.
A short, explosive movement technique using fire as propulsion and wind as stabilization.
Not flight.
Not teleportation.
A launch.
Ren smiled tiredly.
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Day Two – Escape
Night fell quickly.
The forest changed.
Sounds returned—but wrong ones. Skittering. Chittering. Hissing.
Ren activated Appraisal again.
> Environment Shift Detected
Monster Type Increase: Scorpions
Venom Lethality: High
Desert-adapted monsters…?
He didn't wait.
Ren gathered vines using Wind, binding them together. He focused fire beneath his feet.
"Burst Step."
Flames erupted.
Wind screamed.
Ren launched into the air, vines snapping loose as he propelled himself forward like a living projectile. He stabilized midair, adjusting trajectory with Wind, fire roaring behind him like a crude rocket.
He flew.
Not gracefully.
But fast.
Below him, the terrain shifted—forest thinning, soil drying, scorpions swarming across the ground in massive numbers.
A five-hour walk.
Cleared in minutes.
Ren landed hard, rolling, coughing—but alive.
He lay there, staring at the stars.
Mana low.
Body broken.
Points steadily climbing.
Somewhere above, the audience roared.
Ren didn't hear them.
He closed his eyes.
The first week had only just begun.
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