“Who!” Davis instantly jumped to his feet, holding the now dimmed blade, vigilant for any sign of movement. Dawn had not yet arrived, so much of his surroundings were covered with long shadows.

“Feed me…” The voice came again. This time, it was clearer, and it originated in front of him. Davis looked down, perplexed.

“...Oh.” He sighed. It was the Soulcraft. That was what the Scrolls meant by ‘A shred of consciousness’.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” He asked.

“More…” The same response came back to him.

“...” Davis reached into his bag and pulled out another Aetherite crystal. He sat back down and placed the blade laterally on his legs before dropping the crystal onto the blade. It sizzled as if on a hot pan, before liquifying and disappearing.

“...better…” With that, the voice disappeared. Davis couldn’t help but draw comparisons to his young niece, whose head was only filled with food, and occasionally where the food was coming from. The Scrolls were really serious when it meant that only a shred has appeared.

Seeing how no further reaction came from her, Davis resheathed the blade, as he prepared himself to leave. He’ll feed her more some other time, first, he had to check his Silver Core Advancement quest.

The sun had just peaked above the horizon, flooding the shadowy jungle with its brilliant light.

‘Scrolls, show me my Silver Core Advancement’

If it was Davis from before he met the Soulcraft, he would’ve cursed aloud and pledged to stay a Red Core forever. Lord-ranked monsters are something people never trifle with, even as a joke. The White/Black ranked monsters are doable if he put several more years in with his friends, but the second requirement was suicide.

Now, however, with a sword that could cut through basically everything, he wasn’t scared anymore. He had a fully saturated core as well, alongside a class upgrade Red scroll.

“What was the saying? Power comes from dangerous encounters?” Davis murmured as he began walking West, his eyes scanning the underbrush for any signs of movement.

This was his chance to be someone to be looked up to. He was going to survive, and this accursed forest will not stop him. He will carve his name upon the world, and become something of a legend. Because he made a drunken promise to Lewis and his friends.

And promises were taken very seriously in this world.

…

Sometime later, Davis was using the sheathed Soulcraft to wack away the brush and ferns as he carefully moved through the humid Jungle. The greenery was everywhere, and the temperature was soaring with the noon sun high in the sky.

Davis had long gone halfway naked, exposing his tanned chest. There was simply no use in wearing a stuffy shirt in hundred-degree weather.

Through his trek, he had killed several more White Ranked monsters and gathered their cores, now sitting at a hefty 35 cores. The Scroll also informed him that he was on 40 Liters of blood now.

He had yet to test what the Blood could do, but everything, for now, was simply cleaved through with his [Master Footwork] and the Soulcraft’s unparalleled sharpness.

Taking another swig of his waterskin, which he obtained as a low-tiered Artifact from slaying a Black-ranked [2-Headed Water Serpent] near a pond, he sighed. He wasn’t meeting anything so far… very unlike the Devil’s valley, where White/Blank-ranked monsters are as common as pebbles on a gravel road.

Unless of course, a powerful monster resided nearby, marking its territory. He would rather not meet them, but even just running away would count towards his Advancement quest, so he was testing his luck.

Pushing aside some more shrubbery, his eyes spotted a weird, oddly shaped boulder. There weren’t many rocks here in the Devil’s valley, and almost all of them were exclusively near the shearing mountainous regions to the North and South.

Vine and moss crept around the boulder, and with a closer inspection, strange lettering was carved into the boulder with such precision and accuracy that it almost felt… natural.

He couldn’t make out the words, as the Scroll was refusing to translate this language at all. All the Scroll said was simply ‘Error’.

Not far away, he spotted another similarly shaped boulder. Davis narrowed his eyes and cautiously walked towards the next boulder. Seeing how it was identical to the last one except for some minor changes to the writing, there was definitely human activity here.

Spotting another boulder, Davis began following the breadcrumb track of rocks, each one leading him further and further away from his path. The sun, even shrouded by the thick Jungle canopy, beat down mercilessly on his exposed back.

On the third boulder, Davis finally realized something was wrong. The vines grew on the exact same spot, and so was the moss. The cracks were the exact same as the previous one, and the wording has not changed this time.

In front of him, was yet another boulder. Behind him was another boulder.

“Shit…” He cursed. Without realizing it, he had walked into a trap. The sun was still in the exact same spot in the sky, even though he had spent half an hour going from boulder to boulder.

Davis tried to remember the Monster rankings, and what types of special skills they could use.

‘Green… Red… White or Black… Lord… Emperor-’ Davis gripped the scabbard of the Soulcraft tighter. He was within a domain of an Emperor, 2 ranks above a White beast, and 1 rank above a Lord. A monster that could rival the armies of an Empire at its weakest, and destroy Empires at its peak.

Fighting it was suicide. No, he had a better chance of surviving if he jumped off a high cliff.

‘Stay calm Davis!’ He forced himself to calm down. Panicking would do him no good. A calm mind analyzes the situation best.

He carefully scanned his eyes against every possible detail. Anything that would indicate the hiding place of a predator, lying in wait for its prey.

But there was nothing. The jungle around him was natural, with no hints of disruption. He glanced back at the stones, trying to deduce any hidden detail.

Suddenly, up ahead, he heard a loud scream. As if on instinct, he instantly ran toward the sound. He was not the only survivor of the ambush, in fact, he had seen many others desert before him, running away in the dark of the night, pursued by the hideous Lilliacs.

So was the source of the scream a survivor, or was it the Emperor ranked monster?

The scream came again, this time much closer ahead. It sounded familiar…

His eyes shot open. “Johnathan!” He ran even faster now that he was sure of the source of the scream. Jonathan has been a good friend of his, even if they weren't in the same squad. He still hadn’t forgotten his kindness in buying him a drink when he was low on funds.

Infusing his legs with more mana, he shot forward, zooming by multiple more rocks, each similar to the last. Finally, he burst through another thicket of jungle plants, to find a terror-stricken Johnathan on the ground.

“JOHN!” His head spun backward to find the source of the noise. Relief replaced fear as he found that it was not a monster, but rather, Davis.

“Davis?! You’re still alive?!” He scrambled to his feet and ran to hug him. “Of course!” He forced a smile. “Nothing can keep me down.”

Jonathan’s face fell as panic appeared on his face. “Davis, we’ve got to get out-” He did not even have the time to finish his sentence before the jungle exploded around them, shards of splintered wood, rock, and dirt erupted into the air. The sickening sound of tens of trees being torn from their roots filled the air.

Whatever it was, it was fucking massive.

“RUN!” Jonathan yelled, scrambling to his feet. Davis was not far behind him, the sound of 8 legs tearing into the flesh of the earth hot at his heels. He didn’t even want to see who it belonged to.

“DAVIS! EMPEROR!” The words struck terror into his heart as he realized the full implications of his words. He flushed his legs with even more mana, as he caught up to Johnathan.

“Hand!” Davis grabbed Johnathan's hand as he dumped more mana into his muscles, pulling the tired Johnathan forward. His instincts flared up, as he instinctively unsheathed his sword and swung. A thick ball of razor-sharp web was sliced in half, the halves flying dangerously close past the two. In the corner of his eye, he also noticed that he had sliced through one of the rocks

A mad screech came from the forest, as the creature came into view. A gargantuan arachnid, nearly 10 meters in length and 5 meters in height, with 12 white legs and a hideously disturbing face, a cross between a man and spider, mandibles coming out from where its teeth should’ve been. Four of its legs were of human nature, a pair of muscular arms covered in spider fur and spines, and a pair of shriveled-up legs, all of them dangling near its head, not even close to touching the ground.

Its 10 red eyes glared at Davis with hate, staring between him and the stone. Davis’s mind instantly connected the dots.

‘The stones!’ Davis thought. With another swing at the stone’s base, the entire thing came crashing down, and with it, the runes carved on its surface vanished into thin air.

The monstrosity screeched in hate and brought one of its gigantic spider legs down, aiming to crush the puny humans under its weight.

Suddenly, their entire reality warped, as instead of in a lush green jungle of the Devil’s valley, they were now in a dark room lit by ghostly blue flames. Shadows danced between the corners, and uncountable amounts of runes were carved into the materials that were composed of their new environment.

A ghostly aura encompassed the entire area. Davis did not feel good about this…

“Where-”

No sooner had Davis finished reading the words on the Scrolls, his entire body exploded in a wildfire of pure, unadulterated pain.

“Davis?”

“DAVIS?!”

…