Thick smoke spread across the clearing, swallowing a pack of Cinder Rats, the uneven sound of skittering claws echoing from within.
A figure moved through the haze, appearing only for an instant before vanishing back into the smoke.
His blade flashed again and again, each strike followed by the dull thud of another body hitting the ground.
The Cinder Rats tried to fight back against this unknown foe, but they couldn’t see him.
One by one, they fell, and in a matter of moments, only two Cinder Rats remained.
The figure stepped forward, emerging from the smoke in a faint surge of heat.
His outfit clung close to his body, dark and built to withstand the environment, with faint ember-like lines pulsing subtly beneath the fabric.
A tattered cloak hung from his shoulders, its frayed edges catching a dim orange glow whenever the surrounding heat intensified, while pieces of charred Cinder Rat fur had been worked into parts of the outfit, reinforcing it where needed.
His gloves were worn and slightly blackened from repeated use, marked by both blade work and flame, and his boots were thick and durable, made for the cracked, unforgiving terrain beneath him.
The two Cinder Rats screeched at his presence, their bodies tensing.
Despite seeing so many of their kind fall, the Cinder Rats never seemed to retreat. They continued throwing themselves at Cain, and he welcomed every one of them.
The more he killed, the stronger he became.
One lunged at him.
In a blur, Cain moved, using a movement skill called [Scorch Dash].
He shot forward, his body cutting through the space between them in an instant.
His blade sliced cleanly through the Cinder Rat mid-motion as he passed.
A second later, the Cinder Rat hit the ground with a heavy thud.
"One more."
Cain said, his gaze settling on the last one.
The last one hesitated, its body twitching as it gauged the distance before committing to the attack.
It charged, but before it could reach him, the ground beneath it suddenly erupted in flames, as if it had triggered a landmine.
The explosion threw it off balance.
When the flames settled, the Cinder Rat lay on the ground, its body scorched but still alive.
Cain approached the Cinder Rat.
It had fallen into a trap he had set using his newly awakened skill, [Ignition Zone].
He ended the Cinder Rat with a single, decisive strike, driving his blade into its skull.
A screen flashed in front of him.
[You have levelled up]
[Attribute points automatically distributed]
That brought his level to 24.
[You have received a basic item: Bottled Water]
"Water is always appreciated," Cain muttered as he collected it the moment it appeared.
He opened the bottle and drank half of it in one go before lowering it, letting out a quiet, satisfied breath.
It had been three months.
Three months in this place, hunting Cinder Rats, the only creatures he had encountered so far, and pushing himself forward through constant fights and steady progression.
Once he reached level 10, the system had started providing basic items with each level-up, mostly water, occasionally clothing, which explained the outfit he now wore.
Food, however, was never included.
So Cain had adapted.
He crouched beside the corpse, using his blade to cut through the Cinder Rat flesh, stripping away what he needed. With [Ember Touch], he set the chunk of meat alight in his hand, holding it over the controlled flame until it was thoroughly cooked, then took a bite.
The texture was dry and dense, the surface overcooked, and beneath it lingered a bitter, mineral taste, likely from the char.
It wasn’t good, but Cain’s taste buds had gotten used to it.
He finished eating without complaint, then rose to his feet, his gaze shifting toward the distance, toward the heart of the crater.
That was where his final target waited.
He had encountered it before, back when he was still exploring this place: a massive Cinder Rat that leaked flames, the final boss of this scorching wasteland.
He had tried to fight it then, but quickly realized it was nothing like the others. The creature had nearly torn him apart, leaving a deep scar across his back and almost taking a chunk of his stomach in the process.
Since then, he had avoided that area.
But now... now he was stronger.
And more importantly, that creature was the last one left on this island.
The system had made it clear. He had to purge all hostile entities to qualify as a hero, which meant defeating it wasn’t just about settling a score. It was the final step.
Cain pulled up his stats.
Name: Cain
Race: Human
Level: 27
Role: Hero Candidate
Attribute: Unavailable
Skills:[Heat Resistance] [Smoke Puff] [Heat Sense] [Night Vision] [Cold Resistance] [Dash] [Drying Heat] [Heat Slash] [Keen Smell] [Ignition Zone] [Ember Mark] [Kindle] [Ember Touch] [Iron Stomach] [Minor Regeneration] [Pain Resistance] [Enhanced Hearing] [Heat Grip] [Burning Blood] [Bleed Control] [Poison Resistance]
His attribute still hadn’t revealed itself.
He had expected it to unlock at certain milestones, level five, ten, maybe even twenty, but nothing had changed. For now, the system continued to handle everything on its own, distributing any stat gains without his input and shaping his growth in ways he couldn’t fully track.
Still, the results were undeniable.
With each level, his body grew stronger, his movements sharper, and the force behind his strikes far greater than it had been when he first arrived.
So he didn’t dwell on it.
There was nothing to complain about.
As for skills, the pattern had shifted.
Before level 20, he had been gaining one every level, but after crossing that threshold, it slowed down to every five levels. The next time he would be getting a skill would be at level 30.
It was a bit frustrating to have to work even harder to earn skills, especially after getting used to gaining a skill per level, but still, it was far better than anything he’d ever heard of.
Hunters didn’t gain new skills. They awakened with what they had, and that was it.
Skill books existed, but they were rare, and even then, they couldn’t be used freely. The ability inside had to match the user’s natural affinity, or it simply wouldn’t work.
And yet here he was.
An E-rank with twenty-one skills.
If something like this were known back home, it would attract attention, dangerous attention.
But that didn’t matter here.
This wasn’t his world.
Right now, only one thing mattered. And that was getting out.
Cain exhaled slowly and adjusted his grip on his blade before turning toward the crater’s center, where the final Cinder Rat resided.
Defeat it, and he would complete the trial.
Defeat it... and he would become whatever the system meant by a hero.
As for what came after that... he did not know.