Cold wind swept across the wilderness as Kaelen moved swiftly through the forest.
The black sword hung at his waist while his backpack carried priceless ancient knowledge stolen from the forgotten vault beneath the ruins.
His mind still reeled from everything he had discovered.
One hundred thousand years.
Ancient magic.
Dragon eggs.
Kraken eggs.
Lost civilizations.
The deeper he thought about it— the more absurd Kaelrith became.
Even after four years on the continent, Kaelen realized he had barely scratched the surface of its secrets.
“This world is insane…” he muttered quietly while stepping across fallen branches.
The afternoon sky had begun turning gray.
Dark clouds gathered overhead while distant thunder echoed faintly across the mountains.
Kaelen wanted to return home before nightfall.
The deeper forests became extremely dangerous after sunset.
Especially near beast territories.
Then— a scream echoed through the forest.
Kaelen stopped instantly.
Another scream followed.
Children.
His expression sharpened immediately.
Without hesitation, Kaelen sprinted toward the sound.
Branches blurred past him as he moved rapidly through the trees.
Then the smell reached him first.
Blood.
Fresh blood.
Kaelen burst through dense bushes— and froze briefly at the scene before him.
A small primitive tribe stood within a ruined clearing surrounded by broken wooden huts and torn animal-hide tents.
Bodies littered the ground.
Men.
Women.
Warriors.
Blood stained the muddy earth everywhere.
And in the center of the village— three gigantic beasts rampaged wildly.
Kaelen’s eyes narrowed sharply.
The creatures resembled massive bears.
But horribly mutated.
Their bodies were covered in dark gray fur thicker than armor while twisted muscles bulged beneath their skin.
Most terrifying of all— each beast possessed four glowing red eyes.
One of the beasts crushed a tribal warrior beneath its claws like paper.
Another tore through a wooden hut violently.
The remaining survivors huddled together in terror near the center of the village.
Kaelen instantly counted them.
Thirty-five people originally.
Maybe less now.
And they were losing badly.
Without hesitation—
Kaelen drew the black sword.
SHING!
The blade gleamed beneath the dark sky.
Then he moved.
Fast.
Extremely fast.
Years of survival and constant combat training had transformed Kaelen into something far beyond ordinary humans.
The nearest beast barely noticed him before—
SLASH!
The black sword sliced deep across its shoulder.
Blood exploded outward.
The creature roared furiously.
Kaelen didn’t stop.
He stepped forward again with incredible agility.
Another slash.
Then another.
Every movement flowed naturally.
Efficient.
Deadly.
Peak Talent amplified every instinct.
The beast swung massive claws toward him.
Kaelen dodged smoothly beneath the attack before driving the sword directly into its neck.
ROAR!
The mutated bear thrashed violently.
Kaelen twisted the blade sharply.
Blood sprayed across his clothes.
Then the creature collapsed heavily onto the ground.
Silence lasted only a second.
The remaining two beasts immediately turned toward him.
Their four glowing eyes locked onto Kaelen with murderous fury.
Kaelen slowly exhaled.
Then smiled slightly.
“Come.”
Massive claws tore through the earth while its enormous body barreled toward him like a monster from nightmares.
Kaelen sprinted forward instead of retreating.
At the last moment— he leaped sideways.
The beast crashed past him.
Kaelen landed smoothly before spinning instantly.
SLASH!
The black sword carved deeply across the creature’s back.
The beast roared painfully and turned again.
But Kaelen was faster.
Years of fighting predators throughout Kaelrith had sharpened his combat instincts beyond normal humans.
Every movement felt natural now.
Like breathing.
The beast attacked wildly.
Kaelen dodged repeatedly while cutting deeper and deeper into its body.
Finally— he stepped inside its reach.
And drove the blade straight through its skull.
CRACK.
The massive creature collapsed instantly.
Only one remained.
The final beast hesitated slightly now.
Its glowing eyes studied Kaelen warily.
For the first time— fear appeared within the monster.
Kaelen’s clothes were stained red with blood.
Blood dripped slowly from the black sword.
His breathing remained steady despite the brutal battle.
Then suddenly— the beast roared and charged desperately.
Kaelen lowered his stance calmly.
The world seemed to slow.
Muscles tightened.
Wind shifted.
Then— he moved.
One perfect step.
One perfect swing.
The black sword flashed through the air.
A clean line appeared across the beast’s neck.
For several seconds— nothing happened.
Then the creature’s head slowly slid from its body.
THUD.
Silence returned to the ruined village.
Kaelen stood motionless while blood dripped from the sword tip.
The storm clouds above rumbled softly.
His chest rose and fell steadily.
Even after years of training— fighting three monsters alone was exhausting.
Especially creatures this powerful.
Slowly, Kaelen wiped blood from his face and looked toward the survivors.
Then he froze slightly.
Only twelve remained alive.
The rest…
were dead.
Bodies of tribal warriors lay scattered across the village.
Most had clearly died protecting the survivors.
Kaelen’s expression softened slightly.
They fought until the end.
Among the survivors— nine were children.
Tiny.
Terrified.
Most looked around eight to ten years old.
Seven boys.
Two girls.
The remaining survivors were three middle-aged women covered in dirt and tears.
The children clung tightly to them while crying uncontrollably.
And all of them— stared at Kaelen with fear.
Kaelen sighed quietly.
Of course they were terrified.
A blood-covered man had just slaughtered three giant monsters alone.
To them, he probably looked even scarier than the beasts.
Slowly, Kaelen sheathed his sword and stepped backward slightly to appear less threatening.
“It’s over,” he said calmly.
The survivors froze.
Then one of the women looked at him in shock.
“You… speak our language?”
Kaelen blinked.
He understood them perfectly.
How?
He frowned slightly.
“System,” he muttered internally.
“How can I understand their language?”
The system responded immediately.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
As the recognized ruler of Kaelrith, Host automatically understands all native languages connected to the continent.
Did Host not notice that he could already read ancient texts within the ruins?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kaelen froze briefly.
Then embarrassment hit him.
“…Oh.”
Now that he thought about it— the ancient books had indeed felt strangely readable.
He simply assumed the system translated them automatically.
Kaelen rubbed his forehead awkwardly.
“How did I not notice that…”
The system remained silent.
Meanwhile, the survivors still stared at him nervously.
Kaelen decided not to approach immediately.
Instead, he quietly sat near the edge of the ruined village and waited.
The children slowly stopped crying over time.
The women whispered among themselves while occasionally glancing toward him.
An hour passed.
Eventually, one of the older women cautiously approached.
Her hands trembled slightly.
“You… saved us.”
Kaelen nodded quietly.
The woman hesitated before lowering her head deeply.
The children followed her example immediately.
Kaelen felt uncomfortable seeing it.
He wasn’t some hero.
He simply couldn’t ignore dying people.
The woman looked up carefully.
“Who are you?”
Kaelen thought briefly before answering.
“My name is Kaelen.”
The survivors repeated the name quietly among themselves.
Fear still remained in their eyes.
But now— hope existed too.
Kaelen looked around the destroyed village.
Burned huts.
Blood.
Corpses.
Nothing remained here anymore.
These people would die if left alone.
Finally, Kaelen stood.
“You can come with me,” he said calmly.
The survivors stared at him silently.
“My home is far from here.
It’s safe enough.”
One of the boys asked nervously,
“You’ll protect us?”
Kaelen looked toward the dark forest surrounding the ruined village.
Then nodded once.
“Yes.”
The children’s fearful expressions softened slightly.
Eventually, the survivors agreed.
They gathered what little remained from their destroyed village before following Kaelen through the wilderness.
The journey home took several days.
Along the way, Kaelen hunted food while protecting the exhausted survivors from danger.
And during the journey— they encountered more starving wanderers.
Five men barely surviving near a riverbank.
Thin.
Weak.
Half-dead from hunger.
Kaelen gave them food and invited them to join as well.
Naturally, they accepted immediately.
By the time Kaelen finally returned to his fenced settlement— he was no longer alone.
As the survivors stared in amazement at the wooden home surrounded by farms and defenses— a blue screen suddenly appeared before Kaelen.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
FIRST CITIZENS ACQUIRED
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Population:
17
Civilization Rank:
Primitive Settlement
Author’s note: