Chapter 5: The Woods Don't Care
It's been five days since he started waking up before the sun.
No more shack.No more distractions.Just Aki… and the woods.
The forest outside Capstone wasn't a death zone, but it damn sure wasn't friendly either.
Mud squished under his boots as he crouched low behind a moss-covered log.His breath slow.Eyes locked on the jelly-like creature oozing between two roots.
"Slime. Type 1. Not lethal. But acidic."
He'd been reading books. Practicing throws. Watching how they moved.
He picked up a rock — threw it.
SPLAT.
The slime split in two.
Aki cursed under his breath.
"Damn it. Hit the core, idiot."
He rushed forward anyway, swinging a dull rusted short blade he found in a ruined smithy two nights ago.
One slash — miss.Second slash — CLANG.The blade bounced off a rock inside the slime.
Then — sizzle.
"GAAH!"
The slime spit a glob of acid that grazed his arm. Smoke hissed from his sleeve as the fabric started to burn.
Aki backed off, breathing hard, eyes wide — but smiling.
"Okay… okay, that one was smarter."
He readjusted his grip and lunged — stabbing straight through the center.
POP.
The slime let out a wet squish and collapsed, melting into nothing.
Aki dropped to his knees, panting.
His arm stung, but he didn't care.
By midday, he had a line of dead slimes, three scratched-up beast pelts, and a satchel full of low-rank monster cores.
But his body? Wrecked.
Sweat poured.Clothes were torn.The blade had cracked down the middle.
He sat on a rock, chugging water like it owed him money.
"Still alive… barely."
He looked at his hand. Shaky. Bruised.
"What the hell am I doing…?"
The trees didn't answer. They never do.
He looked up at the canopy, sunlight breaking through the leaves like golden threads.
"I don't need a sword master. I don't need a core. I don't need anything."
He stood, weak but locked in.
"If I keep surviving… eventually, I'll be strong enough to live. That's enough."
As he turned to leave, something shifted.
Not a slime.
Not a beast.
Something… watching.
The kind of silence that makes your spine crawl.
He gripped the cracked blade tighter, heart racing.
But nothing came out.
End of Chapter 5