Traise moved quickly through the trees while the last traces of smoke faded behind him.
The fire had already been buried beneath dirt and scattered leaves, but that did little to calm the tension still gripping his chest.
The glowing blue eyes from earlier lingered constantly in the back of his mind while he pushed deeper into the forest searching for somewhere concealed enough to rest.
He finally stopped after climbing into the lower branches of a massive tree with plenty of overlapping leaves to hide among.
The elevated position gave him a clear view of the forest floor below while keeping most of his body hidden beneath the canopy.
Then he waited.
Minutes stretched into hours while darkness slowly thinned around the forest.
Every distant sound made his muscles tense instinctively, but nothing approached the tree.
No movement appeared between the shadows below.
No glowing blue eyes returned.
Eventually, exhaustion dragged him into a shallow sleep.
When Traise opened his eyes again, faint morning light filtered softly through the leaves overhead.
Smaller creatures moved cautiously through the undergrowth while distant bird calls echoed somewhere deeper within the forest.
For several seconds, he remained completely still before carefully opening the quest window again.
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[Quest: Forest Adaptation]
Description:
The Upgrade System recognizes prolonged survival required.
Objectives:
Survive 7 consecutive days within predator territory
Avoid unnecessary combat
Remain undetected by hostile creatures
Establish reliable survival methods
Study the surrounding ecosystem
Consecutive Days: (1/7)
Rewards:
Skill: Shadows (Initiate Mid)
Shop Function Unlocked
+10 Experience
+1 to all stats
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Traise stared quietly at the screen.
The counter had increased.
Not reset.
Yet the quest still continued normally.
His eyes slowly narrowed toward one specific line.
[Remain undetected by hostile creatures.]
“…So dangerous doesn’t necessarily mean hostile?”
Or maybe the system’s definition of hostility was more complicated than he originally thought.
Either way, the realization changed something important.
Not every powerful creature in the forest attacked immediately, and that thought lingered quietly in the back of his mind long after the quest window disappeared.
The following days passed cautiously.
Traise stopped making fires entirely after that first encounter.
Even sleeping became more difficult now that he understood stronger creatures could silently observe him without ever revealing themselves.
Instead, he focused almost entirely on movement, stealth, and learning the behavior of the forest itself.
The deeper he explored, the more patterns he began noticing throughout the ecosystem around him.
Certain regions remained unnaturally quiet for long stretches of time, while others were constantly filled with movement from smaller wildlife.
Some trails showed repeated animal movement while others looked completely abandoned despite appearing safer at first glance.
The forest slowly stopped feeling random.
Predator territories became easier to identify once he started paying attention to the behavior of the creatures around him instead of simply reacting to danger whenever it appeared.
Several days into the quest, Observation identified another unfamiliar creature grazing near a muddy clearing.
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[Irontusk Boar]
Threat: Moderate
Observed Traits:
Heavy muscle density.
Reinforced tusks with toughness equivalent to basic metals.
Aggressive territorial instincts.
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Traise watched quietly from the trees while the massive boar ripped through thick roots beneath the ground with frightening ease.
The creature looked far heavier than the one he had encountered before, yet it still moved fast enough that he immediately lost interest in testing himself against it after the quest period ended.
“…Absolutely not. Not yet, at least.”
Avoiding combat honestly felt harder than fighting sometimes.
Another discovery came two days later when a blur of black movement suddenly dropped from the canopy overhead and tore a Silverhorn Hare apart before disappearing back into the trees almost instantly.
Traise froze behind a nearby trunk while Observation activated automatically. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
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[Black-Tailed Cloudstrider]
Threat: Dangerous
Observed Traits:
Extreme agility.
Enhanced balance.
Predatory ambush instincts.
Detected Behavior:
Prefers attacking smaller prey from elevated positions.
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Traise stared upward long after the creature vanished from sight.
The forest wasn’t only dangerous on the ground.
That realization alone probably saved his life.
Over time, the forest itself slowly started feeling more familiar.
Traise began recognizing safer movement routes, predator territories, feeding areas, and regions where stronger creatures clearly traveled regularly.
The constant panic from his first few days inside the forest gradually faded into something calmer.
Not confidence.
More like understanding.
That understanding brought unexpected growth with it.
[Wisdom increased to 11]
The notification appeared after Traise successfully avoided a group of Irontusk Boars by circling nearly half a kilometer around their feeding territory instead of risking moving through it directly.
Several days later, another notification appeared after he identified a Cloudstrider hunting zone before entering it.
[Wisdom increased to 12]
Traise stared thoughtfully at the message afterward.
Wisdom seemed less connected to intelligence and more connected to judgment.
Awareness.
Instinct.
Understanding danger before it happened.
Honestly… he never considered that in normal games, but it made sense.
The constant climbing throughout the forest slowly became another part of his routine as well.
Traise found himself spending more time moving through elevated branches whenever possible instead of remaining exposed on the ground.
At first, the movement felt awkward and exhausting, especially while carrying supplies between trees.
But over time, his body slowly adjusted.
He began noticing stronger footholds more naturally.
Certain bark patterns provided better grip, while thicker branches supported his weight more reliably during movement.
Even climbing rocky slopes gradually became easier once he started paying closer attention to natural handholds and weight distribution.
The system even responded during one particularly difficult climb across a steep section of stone near the deeper forest.
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[Skill Acquired]
Advanced Climbing
Class: Initiate Low
Type: Passive / Survival
Repeated practice has allowed you to become more familiar with finding natural foot and hand holds.
Increased climbing proficiency for trees and stone surfaces.
Has no effect on slippery surfaces.
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Traise blinked in surprise before reopening the skill window again several seconds later.
A survival skill instead of combat?
Nice.
That honestly felt more useful right now.
The Intelligence increase came later while building traps.
Traise stood knee-deep inside a partially finished pit while wiping sweat from his forehead.
Sharpened wooden stakes lined the bottom while interlocking branches covered the top beneath scattered leaves and dirt.
Most of the design came from survival shows he vaguely remembered watching back on Earth years ago, but the logic behind it seemed reasonable enough.
If something heavy stepped through the covering, hopefully, it either died or slowed down enough for him to escape.
[Intelligence increased to 12]
“…I’ll take it.”
The traps slowly became another part of his growing routine afterward.
Some collapsed too early, while others caught nothing except insects and small rodents that easily climbed out.
One time, he nearly fell beneath his own trap after he forgot where he had placed it earlier that morning.
Still, they were improving.
And so did he.
Traise also began dedicating time each day toward physical training after realizing Strength had increased far slower than his other attributes.
Combat avoidance meant fewer opportunities for direct physical growth, but he couldn’t afford to neglect it entirely.
One afternoon, he hung from a thick branch high above the forest floor while forcing himself through another painful set of pull-ups. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Thirty-Five.
Thirty-Six.
Thirty-Seven—
His arms nearly gave out before he finally dropped back onto the ground with a heavy breath.
Even with fifteen Strength, the exercise still burned far harder than he expected.
But he knew he had to continue anyway.
Every advantage mattered now.
Observation also continued to improve through repeated use.
Over the next several days, Traise gathered a large supply of Glowleaf Ferns and Rotveil Mushrooms while expanding his understanding of the forest’s edible resources.
The most valuable discovery came near the deeper parts of the forest, where clusters of dark blue berries grew beneath thick thorn-covered vines.
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[Duskbloom Berries]
Observed Properties:
Highly nutritious.
Safe for regular consumption.
Naturally restores minor stamina over time.
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Traise immediately collected as many as he could carry.
The berries tasted surprisingly sweet, and unlike the meat he constantly relied on, they appeared throughout large sections of the deeper forest.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he had found a food source that actually felt sustainable.
The deeper forest itself felt different as he continued to explore.
It felt more dangerous for some reason.
Several trees showed massive claw marks carved deep into the bark, nearly three meters above the ground.
Four distinct grooves stretched across the trunks, each one large enough that Traise could fit multiple fingers inside them.
Bear-like.
But wrong somehow.
Nothing he remembered from Earth looked quite like them.
The unknown presence from the first night never appeared again, however.
At least not directly.
Still, sometimes Traise caught himself feeling watched while traveling through certain sections of the forest.
Occasionally, he found disturbed leaves where nothing should have passed recently, or movement in the distance that vanished the moment he focused on it.
Each time, the feeling disappeared before Observation could detect anything.
Several more days passed carefully.
[Consecutive Days: (5/7)]
By the end of the fifth day, one thing had become increasingly obvious.
He needed a proper shelter.
Sleeping in trees worked temporarily, but only barely.
Rain would eventually become a problem, and constantly relocating every night made storing resources difficult.
That was why the cave caught his attention.
For the last two days, Traise had quietly observed the rocky opening from concealed positions deeper within the forest.
Nothing entered.
Nothing exited either.
No strange sounds came from within.
Empty.
Or abandoned.
Hopefully…
As darkness gradually settled across the forest once again, Traise carefully approached the entrance while carrying several pieces of Dry Resin Bark beneath one arm, his dagger in the other.
The cave stretched deeper underground than he had originally expected.
Cool air drifted slowly from the darkness beyond while uneven stone walls narrowed farther inside.
After moving deep enough that firelight would remain hidden from outside, he finally stopped.
Then he lit the fire.
Warm orange light flickered softly across the cave walls while shadows danced across the surrounding stone.
For the first time in days, the enclosed space actually felt somewhat safe.
Protected.
He was already having thought about how nice it was going to be to sleep on a flat surface again, but first he needed to eat.
Traise slowly exhaled while cooking another portion of Silverhorn meat above the flames.
Then suddenly—
[Unknown Presence Detected]
Traise froze instantly.
A cold feeling crawled slowly down his spine.
At the entrance of the cave, barely visible beyond the edge of the firelight, two glowing blue eyes stared silently toward him from the darkness outside.
For several long seconds, neither of them moved.
Then Traise slowly realized something far worse.
The creature had followed him here.