On a small, isolated island far away from the main continent, where no humans live, a 13-year-old boy sporting dirty black hair filled with mud and wearing torn, dirty clothes laced with dust, dried blood clots, splinters, and unidentified particles was hiding behind a tree.

Around 30 meters from the tree, a snake-like creature slept while coiling around a boulder spanning 2 meters in diameter.

"I will kill you today," declared the boy with rage-filled eyes in a resolute voice.

He remembered the first time he saw the snake and how that had almost brought him into the jaws of death… or, in this case, the jaws of the snake.

The boy crept behind with small steps, calming his pounding heart and heavy breathing to prevent alerting the snake in any way.

But how could it work against an ectotherm?

When the boy reached roughly five meters from the snake, the snake immediately raised its head, 1.5 meters high and 2 meters wide. It used its forked tongue to sense the environment and its thermal vision, making it easy to locate the one who dared to disrupt its sleep.

*Hiss*

The towering snake hissed, evoking the boy's deep-rooted fear of their first encounter, causing him to clasp his fingers and clench his makeshift axe tightly to steady his racing heart.

He realized from the snake's contempt-filled gaze, void of any caution, that it had been aware of his presence since the beginning. Despite his toes curling in response to the primal fear, he was determined to give it his all and hunt the snake.

In all fairness, the boy could have easily ignored the snake and hunted some weaker beast, yet he was adamant about it. What may seem like petty revenge, but it wasn't...

He steeled his heart, threw three sharpened stones toward the snake's eyes, and dashed in an arc, running opposite the direction he came from.

The snake's tough exterior reflected the projectiles without as much as a scratch, missing its eyes by a large margin.

The snake, unperturbed by the futile attempts of its prey, continued to chase the boy and almost reached him before he could even leave its nest.

The boy felt his stomach churn as he felt the wind pressure from the snake's movement chasing him and almost catching him.

'Shit! Hell to my plan, I will die at this rate', the boy's complexion paled as his face contorted, seeing the snake tight on his tail.

Luckily, the snake liked to toy with its prey as it became excited and slowed itself to create some distance between them, giving slight hope to enjoy the despair later.

A sense of relief washed over the boy as he hastened his steps to get the snake to the area where he had made some gifts for the snake.

Yet, all the snake saw was a smirk of contempt on its 'prey' after a while, causing it to hiss in anger as it opened its mouth and rushed forward to swallow the human whole in just one bite using its wide-open jaws.

"Gotcha!" the boy exclaimed loudly as the snake reached one meter from him. The boy swung his makeshift axe on his right to cut off a thin thread hidden by the bushes.

*Rustle Rustle*

A sharp tree branch launched directly into the open jaws of the snake, making its jaw snap close. Yet another branch struck, and more followed.

*Hiss*

The snake jerked its head sideways after two branches struck it inside its mouth, hissing in response to the mild pain and umbrage it felt at getting hurt by the measly prey it believed it could swallow in one bite.

The sharp branches had struck the snake's head, coming opposite it with such momentum that the branches blasted off to shrapnel that got into its eyes, further fueling its rage.

At this very moment, the boy who had climbed the tree while the snake was distracted jumped straight onto the head of the snake, lodging his axe blade directly into the snake's eye.

*Gush*

Seeing the blood gush from the eye made the boy ecstatic, but the snake shook its head, throwing him off balance from a height of 1 meter.

The boy rolled on the ground, only to stop 3 meters away from the snake while grunting in pain, but the snake didn't give him any breaks as it approached him while hissing in anger.

*Hiss*

"Argh... This darned snake... I will kill you!" growled the boy through gritted teeth, all the while thanking his luck inwardly since the ground was soft, making him get only light bruises and injuries, nothing fatal.

But the boy knew for a fact that if his injuries kept accumulating like this, then he'd surely die—if not to the snake beast, then to some other beasts. Since they would surely be tempted by the smell of blood and the loud battle noises that were going on for a while.

'Gotta finish this quick,' concluded the boy, knowing his situation very well.

The boy barely rose to his feet when the snake arrived with its jaws wide open, where the branches that had struck were broken.

The boy kicked the stuck part of the branch to gain some distance but ended up cracking his shin bone because the momentum of the snake was too much for his weak body to absorb.

*Hiss*

*Arghh*

As the two hissed and grunted in pain, the boy used his other leg to kick away the ground to increase the distance from the snake in a last-ditch effort to survive for a second longer.

The snake looked at its prey in anger yet cautiousness, noticing that the boy kept increasing the distance before he felt the jagged rock on the ground and finally smirked as if victory were upon him.

"I wonder how snake meat tastes; guess I will just have to eat you to know," teased the boy proactively with a mocking smile to provoke the snake.

The snake couldn't comprehend what the boy was saying, but its instincts told it that its prey was making fun of it and that it should devour the prey to assert its dominance.

*Hiss*

The snake slithered at maximum speed, yet when it reached just 2 meters from the boy, it felt a looming threat of death, but it was too late to retreat, so it did the next best thing.

It increased its speed and opened its jaws wide to swallow the prey in one go.

The boy was a little startled, but he had already activated the last trap, and just then, the ground in front of him split open, swallowing the snake.

*Rumble*

*Rumble*

*Hiss*

*Peirce*

*Slice*

*Gush*

As the snake continued hissing in pain, the boy saw its body pierced and some parts sliced apart, but he waited for two entire minutes to make sure it was dead and not playing dead to ambush him.

"Phew... this was too much," cried out the boy in relaxation, sighing in relief at killing the snake. But he didn't forget to harvest the body and recover his tools, despite the pain and agony he was currently feeling.

"Tsk. Everything got destroyed. Hey, snakey, I hope your bones and body can be of some use," mocked the boy as he looked at his destroyed tools and the mutilated corpse of the snake.

After 10 minutes of quickly packing and tying whatever he could, he hurriedly left for the snake's nest, where it was sleeping before their scuffle.

His decision to leave the site of the remaining body was correct, as many beasts came there the next minute and fought each other for the food, becoming hunters one second and prey the next.

The boy arrived at the boulder, dragging his left leg where he felt his bones had cracked, all the while cursing and grunting in pain.

But he did not approach the boulder directly, as he was unsure if the snake had a mate or any kin around, even if he never saw anything of the sort.

After seeing no one near it and checking several times over the next five minutes, he crept slowly near the boulder as he came across some bones and carcasses of what he assumed to be a variety of beasts.

Except for that, he also found some torn clothes worn by humans, a few broken weapons, and only one rusted sword that seemed barely usable. He took everything he deemed usable while scouring around for anything else but found nothing else of value.

"Tsk. What a bummer! I had heard that in such places, heroes find legendary eggs of a dragon king or a hatchling that evolves to become legendary dragons or some sealed sword or some expert's soul remnant, yet all I found was this trash..." The boy kept grumbling till he reached his abode in a cave and hid the entrance with a boulder after entering.

"Sigh... How long has it been? Will I be able to go? No, no, I will go... definitely... Father promised me... Yes, he did..." blabbered the boy as he looked at the rusted sword, reminding him of his dream and why he was here.

"Wait. Could this be!?" exclaimed the boy, breaking out of his reverie and swinging the sword with all the strength his weak body could muster, which broke the sword into several pieces.

"Yeah, right. As if I would get something..." grumbled the boy, back to his disappointed self, and started separating and cooking the snake meat.

The boy had already washed his wounds in the only river nearby, tied a cloth around a wooden plank with his left leg to support his walking, and without fail, had washed the snake meat he believed to be edible. 

The boy reminisced about when he lived with his family while the meat soup was simmering.

'Well, calling it family would be a stretch, as I don't have any good memories of that place.' mused the boy in silence.

All he remembered was that he had been refused the right to attend the Arcane Academy and would have to go to some weaker sect.

But how could he, who grew up reading tales of heroes, be satisfied by such a mediocre arrangement?

He had gathered all his courage and requested that his father send him to the Arcane Academy. His stepmothers and half-siblings obviously didn't like that he refused to bend.

Unfortunately, his elder sister had run away from her arranged marriage, and his mother died after giving birth to his younger sister, so he grew up without any support.

This resulted in his timid personality at the time; he even got used to being bullied due to his low talent. Luckily, his younger sister had talent equivalent to his older sister, so their father decided to groom her personally, which estranged him even further from his direct family.

His only true-blood relatives were his younger sister and father. His father decided to send him to one of their family's islands, giving him a survival test as a condition to gain the chance to enter the Arcane Academy.

He has been here since he was only 10 years old, enough for him to gain confidence, break out of his previous shell, and drastically alter his personality. 

The Arcane Academy only accepted children in the 15–25 age group with immense talent after they proved themselves in the entrance test.

Even children of famous and prominent families like his don't get direct admission; they only get a direct chance to get admission without going through the tedious process that others would.

It is one of the worst admission tests in the Arcane Empire that he lived in, as it boasts a high death rate. The Arcane Academy is located near the capital of the Empire. It opened its gates only once every decade, hence the age group 15–25.

The academy also held enough power to wipe out his so-called 'powerful' family without suffering repercussions.

As he finished cooking and eating his meal, he slipped into the dream world of entering the Arcane Academy and fulfilling all his goals.

He slept blissfully, unaware of the cruel fate awaiting him.

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[A/N]

I just edited it, and I know the chapter is super long, so if you are reading it, thanks! I will also be editing the entire volume 1 slowly as I get time.

Also, any comments, reviews, power stones, golden tickets, and gifts are more than welcome.

Thanks!!