The second day came with no sunrise.

  Only the same choking darkness that gnawed at Jin’s mind.

  His body ached from the countless scratches and bruises of yesterday’s survival. His stomach screamed in emptiness, his lips cracked from thirst. He couldn’t tell if hours or days had passed—only that the silence was eating him alive.

  The forest of forgetfulness wasn’t just silent; it was void. No smell, no taste, no sound—only that eerie sense of nothing. It was the kind of nothing that made you doubt if you even existed.

  Jin walked aimlessly, his bare feet cutting on roots and unseen rocks. His breathing grew heavy, his throat dry as sand.

  “No… I can’t feel… anything…”

  His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper that disappeared into the unseen.

  For the first time, Jin felt something he’d never known since entering the sect—fear. Not fear of death, but of fading.

  He stumbled forward, dragging his weak body, trying to remember where he came from. But there was no direction in this place. Only repetition and despair.

  Hours—or maybe minutes—later, the tremor came. A faint vibration beneath his soles. Something big was moving.

  Jin straightened his posture, sensing through the small ripples in the ground like faint waves in darkness. His heartbeat slowed.

  Then, in a blur of motion, something huge leapt from the void.

  A black panther, nearly twice his size, its presence like a shadow given flesh. Jin couldn’t see its eyes, but he felt them. Cold, sharp, merciless.

  The panther moved faster than wind, silent but violent. Jin barely twisted aside as claws grazed his shoulder, tearing flesh. Blood splattered across the ground, unseen but deeply felt.

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  He tried to retaliate—using his Vibrant Flow technique—but his movements were sluggish, his strength drained. The beast was too fast, too fluid. Every slash he threw met air.

  “Damn it… too slow—!”

  Another swipe caught his ribs, sending him crashing into a tree trunk.

  His breath hitched. Pain burned through his body like fire. The copper taste of blood filled his mouth. He coughed, and the sound echoed in the hollow dark.

  Hunger clawed at him. Thirst consumed his thoughts.

  He could feel his sanity cracking.

  “So this… is how it ends?”

  He laughed weakly, his voice half broken, half hysterical.

  “Devoured in the dark… by a beast I can’t even see.”

  The panther growled—low, guttural, like thunder wrapped in flesh—and pounced again. Jin tried to lift his arm but couldn’t. His vision blurred. His head spun.

  Then—

  A sharp chime resounded in his skull.

  [System Notice: Mental instability detected. Host is nearing critical collapse.]

  That voice…

  It cut through the haze like lightning.

  His gaze sharpened. The madness in his eyes steadied into something colder, deeper.

  “No…”

  “I won’t die here. Not like this.”

  He inhaled deeply, feeling the vibrations again. Not from the forest—but from within. His heartbeat. His hunger. His pain. All of it pulsed in rhythm, creating a strange resonance through his body.

  He remembered something—the hunger wasn’t his enemy. It was raw desire. It was life.

  So he embraced it.

  He gripped the branch he’d been using as a sword.

  “Let’s see if you can keep up with my hunger.”

  The panther lunged again. Jin sidestepped, his movements smoother now, every step echoing like a vibration through the ground. He wasn’t fighting to survive anymore—he was feeding on the struggle itself.

  When he swung his makeshift blade, the air trembled.

  The Vibrant Flow merged with something new—an intent born from starvation, from the ache of the body and the will to live.

  His strike wasn’t elegant. It was savage.

  And it landed.

  The panther screamed as his branch-sword cut across its flank, tearing deep into muscle. It staggered back, furious and wounded, before charging again.

  > “COME!” Jin roared, his voice no longer weak.

  They clashed again and again—claws versus branch, speed versus will. Blood sprayed, pain surged, and Jin could barely stand. But in that chaos, something awakened.

  He could see through vibration now—faint outlines of the beast, the pulse of life around him. His instincts danced with the forest.

  Finally, with one last breath, he struck.

  The branch shattered as it pierced through the panther’s neck.

  Both collapsed.

  Jin’s chest heaved violently, his entire body shaking. The monster’s body twitched before going still.

  The air smelled of blood—though he couldn’t smell it, he could feel its presence, heavy and thick.

  > “You’re… not the only one hungry,” he muttered weakly.

  But his victory was hollow. His body screamed for water, his tongue like sandpaper. He staggered forward, trying to breathe, but his vision darkened.

  He took one step—then another—and then stumbled.

  His foot slipped, and before he could react—he fell.

  The cold hit first.

  Then the realization.

  He had fallen into water.

  Pure, cold, living water.

  He gasped violently, gulping down mouthfuls without care, coughing and laughing between breaths.

  For the first time since entering the forest, he felt alive.

  “Heh… Guess even hell… has mercy once in a while…”

  And as he lay there, half-floating, half-broken, his eyes fluttered shut.

  The darkness of the forest didn’t feel so empty anymore.