Jin prepared to tell his grandfather everything that had happened the night before, from his intention to kill him to his eventual escape.
"You bastard, what do you think you've done?"
*SLAPPPP*
The silence in the room was thick. Jin was unable to process what had just happened. He hadn't seen his grandfather's movement. Just a second before, he had been standing there with the same calm expression, his hands relaxed at his sides. But now, the echo of the slap reverberated in the air, resounding like thunder after a sudden storm.
Jin's cheeks burned bright red, a clear mark of the blow imprinted in the shape of five well-defined fingers. The surprise on his face was almost comical, his eyes wide open and his mouth twisted in a look of disbelief and shame. The slap had been precise and calculated, without hesitation.
"But, but Grandfather, he's just a mere bastard, with no profound energy, a dead mother, and a missing brother and father," Jin muttered angrily.
"DEAD mother?! What could you possibly know, you fool! Who gave you the power to act like this…if they come for us…we're, we're dead," Jin's grandfather started to sweat.
He felt a chill running down his spine, freezing every fiber of his being. His hands, which usually held any weapon with firmness, were now trembling uncontrollably. His breath felt heavy, and his lungs seemed to constrict, as if fear itself denied him the air.
The sound of his own heartbeat drowned out his thoughts, each thump in his chest a reminder of his vulnerability.
Clenching his fists, he shouted, "Get out! I don't want to see you here again!"
Jin fled before his grandfather, Shen, had time to say anything more, or worse, to give him another slap.
When Shen saw his grandson disappear from sight, he looked up at the vast, starry sky and sighed. He had aged twenty years in a couple of minutes. Something was happening.
"Let whatever will happen, happen," he murmured.
---
*Lin's Dungeon Perspective*
In an unknown dungeon somewhere in the universe, the scene of a slightly thin young man with black hair and dark eyes, emanating a faintly sacred aura, could be seen fighting three human-sized gray wolves.
The wolves watched the human warily; after all, he had been lurking around and killing members of their pack for the last day. Even with their limited intelligence, they knew he was dangerous.
Young Lin was also on high alert with the wolves. To improve his sword mastery, he had become active in hunting and had encountered many gray wolves, which he then killed. However, according to the system, he was one step away from a class change and needed a much greater amount of experience than ever before.
The three wolves surrounded him, but Lin didn't give them time to prepare. He immediately lunged at the first wolf, smashing it with one of his swords while simultaneously throwing his second sword at the wolf behind him.
As the wolves attempted to dodge, Lin used his telekinesis to keep the first one in place while manipulating the direction of his other sword to pierce the second wolf's flesh.
Suddenly, he vanished, narrowly avoiding the claws of the third wolf, only to reappear on its back, cutting deeply along its spine.
With the third wolf paralyzed, he disappeared once again, reappearing while holding the hilt of his second sword and pulling it down with all his strength, slicing into the wolf's chest.
He continued to dance around the wolves, mostly choosing to dodge with his body but teleporting when things got dangerous. After five long minutes, the first two wolves had fallen.
[You killed 2 level 9 gray wolves and gained 100 exp.]
Walking over to the third wolf, which had been paralyzed at the beginning, Lin could see the look of hatred in its eyes. However, he felt no remorse. In the dungeon, it was kill or be killed, and he wouldn't choose the latter. He raised his short sword and swiftly decapitated the wolf.
[You killed a level 9 gray wolf and gained 50 exp.]
As he caught his breath and cleaned the blood from his swords, Lin realized he was smiling. Recently, he had started to think he might be a battle maniac, given the undeniable thrill he felt in this life-or-death environment.
Lin walked back to his small cave, silently admiring the dungeon's scenery. The area he was in now had much more flora than any other he had seen before.
Countless plants of various fantastic colors bloomed everywhere; however, he had almost learned the hard way that they were poisonous. Fortunately, he had decided to feed one to a dying wolf first, which ended up killing it.
Upon reaching his base, Lin sat down to rest. "It seems these wolf lackeys won't be enough to take me to my first class. Each of them only gives me 50 experience points now, while the first one only gave me around 200."
"If I kill more, I'll gain nothing. My next big fight will be against their leader, who's probably much stronger. Judging by how easy level 9 beasts have become, it's still feasible to go up against the leader."
Lin rested for 4 hours before getting up again. It was his fifth day in the dungeon, and he had an inexplicable feeling that something important would happen today.
Remembering his life over the past five days, he shuddered. He hadn't eaten even once and spent day after day killing, running, and training.
Was it mana that provided the nutrients he needed, was it just a constant adrenaline rush due to the situation, or was it a combination of both? He didn't know, but he knew he'd soon run out of energy.
Calming his mind, he extended his hands while his short swords flew toward him.
"Well," he laughed to himself, "I wonder what kind of fun my shitty luck will bring me today."
The hunt resumed once more, only this time, without him knowing, Lin would be the prey.
[15 DAYS REMAINING]