I lunged forward.
Using the sword I had just obtained, I aimed at one of the wolves and attacked.
But the other wolf didn’t give me the chance.
It suddenly jumped toward me in midair.
My body moved before I could even think.
My hand raised instinctively, and the wolf’s attack collided with my sword.
The force pushed me backward.
I quickly took several steps back and steadied myself.
I tightened my grip on the sword.
I had strength now.
I had speed.
But I didn’t know how to properly fight.
I didn’t even know how to perform a proper slash.
One mistake could cost me my life.
So I had to be careful.
I lowered my stance and waited.
The two wolves stared at me.
For some reason, they looked almost...
Confused.
As if they were looking at an idiot.
Are you seriously challenging us, human?
Why would we be the ones to attack first?
I gritted my teeth.
They were smarter than I expected.
I needed to find a way to deal with them.
I thought.
And thought.
Then...
I got an idea.
A second later, I realized I didn’t actually have one.
I’m finished.
Those two monsters had surrounded me and were waiting for me to make the first move.
Meanwhile, my stomach continued screaming for food.
Great.
I finally become an Awakener, and my biggest enemy is still hunger.
In the end, I decided to take the risk.
I charged toward one of the wolves.
With my newly enhanced agility, my body moved much faster than before.
The wolf reacted immediately.
And so did the other.
Both of them moved toward me, planning to kill me together.
But at the last moment...
I changed direction.
The wolf had already committed to its attack.
It was too late.
I waited for the perfect moment and thrust my sword forward.
The blade pierced into its body.
The wolf collapsed.
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 7 Wolf.]
[You have gained 100 EXP.]
Only one remained.
The final wolf lost all hesitation.
It charged at me with everything it had.
I tried to block.
But this time, I wasn’t fast enough.
Its claws tore into my arm.
Blood flowed down my skin.
Pain spread through my body.
I gritted my teeth.
It hurt.
Of course it hurt.
But compared to the suffering I had endured in the slums...
This was something I could endure.
I had survived worse.
I tightened my grip around the sword and moved forward.
Before the wolf could attack again, I drove the blade into its head.
The wolf struggled for a moment...
Then stopped moving.
[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 6 Wolf.]
[You have gained 80 EXP.]
I pulled out my sword and let out a long breath.
Finally...
It was over.
I lowered myself to the ground and took a moment to rest.
And most importantly...
I needed food.
So I left the wolves behind and walked over to the dead Awakeners.
The first thing I did was search their bodies for food and supplies.
While searching the leader, I found a space ring on his finger.
Without hesitation, I took it.
"I avenged you."
"In this day and age, there’s no such thing as a free lunch."
"So I’ll be taking all your loot as payment."
I nodded to myself.
"This is a pretty good deal."
"I avenged all of you and helped your souls rest in peace."
"They’re probably thanking me in the afterlife right now."
"What a kind young man."
"Please, take all our belongings. We insist."
Thinking that, I didn’t hold back.
I looted every single one of them.
I even left their clothes behind.
After all...
I wasn’t a complete monster.
I slipped the space ring onto my finger and checked what was inside.
There were quite a few valuables.
Weapons.
Monster materials.
Potions.
Money.
But none of that mattered right now.
Food.
That was all I cared about.
I immediately took out the food and began eating without a second thought.
After stuffing myself until I was finally full, I patted my stomach in satisfaction.
Then I looked back at the corpses one last time.
"Thanks for everything."
"If it weren’t for you, I’d still be starving."
"And I wouldn’t have had the chance to kill those two wolves."
"You guys were surprisingly generous."
With that, I walked over to the wolves.
I placed my hand on one of them and activated my skill.
Devour.
Two notifications appeared before me.
[Absorbed 1 Agility.]
[Absorbed 0.5 Strength.]
After that, I found a hunting knife among the adventurers’ belongings.
Another gift from those kind strangers.
Using the knife, I cut the wolves apart and stored the meat inside the space ring.
Nothing useful should go to waste.
Once I finished collecting everything I needed, I took one last look around.
There was nothing left worth taking.
So I turned around...
And headed back toward the city.
But then, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
If I return to the city like this... I’m done for.
I’d attract far too much attention.
And I hated attention.
So I wandered through the forest until I finally managed to find a river.
I washed away as much of the blood as I could and took out a few sets of clothes from the space ring.
Unfortunately...
None of them fit me.
They were all too big.
In the end, I could only wash off the blood and continue wearing my old clothes.
As I looked into the river, my reflection caught my attention.
"...Who’s that?"
For a moment, I couldn’t even recognize myself.
If I hadn’t known it was my own reflection, I would have thought it was someone else.
My appearance had improved by an entire level.
The skinny body that had been weakened by years of starvation had become well-proportioned.
My face had become sharper, and even my features looked much more refined than before.
I stared at my reflection for a while before nodding in satisfaction.
"Not bad."
After memorizing my new appearance, I returned to the city.
Fortunately, no one paid any attention to me.
To everyone else, I was just another hunter returning from the Monster Forest after trying his luck.
I headed straight to a clothing shop and bought several sets of clothes.
Naturally...
Money for these clothes funded by those kind strangers.
I was making excellent use of their money.
If they were watching me from the afterlife, they were probably feeling proud.
After changing into clean clothes, I began asking around about the academy entrance examination.
It turned out there were only four days left before the test.
Four days.
That wasn’t much time.
I needed to become stronger.
If I entered the academy with my current strength...
I knew I would fail.
So I decided to spend the remaining four days training my new abilities and hunting monsters.
It was the only way I could improve before the entrance examination.