I lay there on the unforgiving ground, sunlight slipping away with each passing minute. Only three hours of daylight remained a thin, precious window between survival and the terrors of the coming night. Panic clawed at the edges of my mind, desperate to take hold, but the battle focus skill held it at bay, a fragile yet unyielding shield against the chaos. I forced myself to concentrate on the small golden box in the corner of my vision, willing it to reveal something— anything —that could help me turn the tide.

  ?

  Congratulations, you have killed a high goblin. Consume to gain EP [Y/N]?

  ?

  I stared at the message and tried selecting [Y], but was greeted with another message, which made me roll my eyes in frustration.

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  You are too far from your prey. You are unable to consume; please return to the body before attempting to consume.

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  Arrrrgh! Fuck this shitty system, I thought as I violently willed the message away. Quickly, I turned to the rest; hopefully, there was something I could use there.

  ?

  Solar Rejuvenation has been activated. Your body has started regeneration.

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  Warning:- This skill is only active when sunlight is available.

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  Oh, that was something I could work with. I tried to focus, attempting to feel the regeneration process. At first, my battle focus skill blocked the sensation—a faint, tingling warmth spreading beneath my skin. Carefully, I tuned into the feeling, gradually becoming aware of how the warmth pooled and throbbed near my wounds. It was as if light itself filled my body with a golden, pulsing energy, threading through my veins with one intent: to heal. I realized I wouldn’t fully recover before nightfall, but by concentrating intensely, I discovered I could direct the energy to a specific limb. I visualized the energy in my body as luminous wires, gathering them and pushing them toward my damaged leg. Immediately, searing heat blasted through the limb, so intense that my focus almost faltered. The pain grew unbearable as the energy forced tissues to knit and bone to mend, until I finally passed out, unable to endure it any longer.

  ?

  The issue was which limb to pick. I could work on my missing arm and try to use it to help rip apart the vines that were holding me. I thought about it for a while, but then I realised that even if I could get the vines off with another hand, I’d be hopping around the jungle, unable to run from whatever threats existed out there. I decided to put my all into getting my leg back. In my mind, I imagined the energy that flowed through me as wires that were all spread everywhere. I imagined grabbing them into a bundle and placing them into my damaged limb. The effect was immediate; I felt a rush of heat coursing through every vein in my body. It was so painful that my battle focus wobbled under the onslaught. I don’t know how long I lay there, unable to scream due to the vines cutting open my face as they held me down in the leaf litter, before I passed out.

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  I woke in the jungle, surrounded by the dim glow of the vegetation in a world dominated by darkness. I looked down and saw that my leg was whole again and the vine was free. My body was wracked with pain from my hundred lacerations. I needed to get out of these vines. My bloody mess of a body was going to attract every predator and scavenger for miles. I grit my teeth and attempt to pull my legs underneath me. I managed to get into a prostate position, then I took a deep breath and pushed off the ground using my legs. I had to dip into my battle focus to stop me from screaming out in pain as the vines dug deeper into my back, shattering my scales and burying themselves in my flesh. I heard tearing and had no idea if it was my muscles or the vines. After a titanic effort, I heard a satisfying set of snaps, and the pressure the vines had been putting on me was lifted.

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  I stood there for a moment, staring at the bloody mess of vines on the ground before me. A grin crossed my face as I thought that prick would think I had been eaten when he saw this in the morning. I would lie low, build my strength, and I would come for him, not just for him but for all those high goblins. I was done trying to make friends; I’d been stupid to think everyone was going to be welcoming at the end of the world. It wasn’t my fault his son died. They attacked me first! That was what I told myself, at least it was easier to blame them than to deal with the guilt. I took that and did what I’d always done and buried it deep. I couldn’t think like I had before. I was a monster, and it was time I acted like one.

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  I hobbled away from the sight of my imprisonment. Not really knowing where I was going but not caring either, I just made sure to burn this location into my mind. The jungle at night was a different place completely. During the day, the bioluminescence was noticeable, but now it was as though every living thing had built-in neon lights. It was a marvel, and were I not delirious from loss of blood and missing an arm, I might have stopped to appreciate it. As it were, I was struggling to keep standing, and I was so hungry. The hunger grew with every step. It had started as a slight thought like ‘Oh, I could really eat something right now, and now it was all-consuming.

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  That was when I met the first of the creatures that called the night home. I was stumbling through some trees, not taking the care to avoid them as I had during the day, when I heard it. Coming from behind, there was a low hissing sound like a damaged pressure cooker valve. The sound was so piercing that it cut through my delirium.

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  I turned around, stumbling over a tree root to see a pair of the weirdest-looking critters. They looked like someone had gotten a toad and a big cat and smooshed them together. The things' mouths were way too wide and they had these ridges along their backs but the wierds part of them is the way their skin reacted to the biolumnecent light. The lights seemed to seep into the skin and were captured in it, swirling around in weird patterns. The two creatures were releasing that hissing sound from vents in their sides.

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  I stared at them, their noise bring me some much needed lucidity. I wondered why these monsters weren’t coming closer to me. I was clearly injured, and there were two of them. That’s when I noticed that the hissing was getting louder and the colours in their skin began to swirl more aggressively. Even in my damaged state, my body reacted to the danger. Using my powerful tail, I pushed off the ground and into the canopy, and not a second too soon, those things opened their mouths, and an invisible force ripped through the space where I had been. The sound was so high-pitched it was almost beyond my hearing. The damage the projectiles had done to the jungle was no joke. Where I’d been standing, there were two overlapping craters.

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  The creatures were still not moving from their spot, and from my spot in the trees, I noticed they were protecting a clutch of four blue speckled eggs as big as my head. Now my conscious told me that I should leave. The creatures weren’t going to come after me, and did I want to be that guy who orphaned some alien babies? But that’s when the hunger kicked in, and this time it was all-consuming. The loving parent beasts that could have posed a threat to my safety became…well, they were just two juicy steaks protecting a basket of lovely eggs. Before my consciousness could kick back in and bring me back to sense my hunger drove my body forward.

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  I jumped down almost silently, landing on one of the beasts. I shoved my good arm into one of the creature's vents, and it immediately started to buck and stomp. Its partner also bellowed at me, but it just huddled over those tasty eggs. My hand rummaged around in the vent, causing the creature to below in pain every time I tore through muscle tissue. I was grinning manically as my arm dipped in and out, covered in red blood, clutching gill-like structures. The creature underneath me began to panic and attempted to roll over to squash me, but I was ahead of it. As soon as I felt its body begin to shift, I leapt from its back, swinging my tail with full force and smashing it into the other creature's face. It had stood over the eggs, but the force of my tail strike caused it to step backwards and crush one of the eggs. Before collapsing on its side, its lower jaw hung uselessly. My tail was a lot more powerful than I realised. I needed to incorporate it into my fighting style more, but that was a thought for later. For now, it was time to feed.

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  I jumped back onto the first creature, which was now lying on its back. I landed on its soft underbelly and just started wailing on the thing. My hunger driving me, I tore open this creature's stomach and plunged my arm. The creature howled, now panic evident in its voice. But that just drove me harder. I didn’t want anything else to arrive. I didn’t want to share my meal! After a bit of searching my efforts were rewarded I felt something warm and solid once I had my hand wrapped around it, I pulled it out. It was beautiful, a gem large enough to fit in the palm of my hand and ruby red with small flecks of green throughout. Without realising what I was doing, I shoved the thing into my mouth and swallowed it. Relishing the feeling of soft warmth it released on the way down. It was such a euphoric feeling I needed more!

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  That’s when I turned my attention to the second one. It was struggling to stand back up, dazed from my earlier blow, but it was making its way back to its eggs. I didn’t give it a chance. I leapt at it, unleashing another tail strike aimed at its leg. There was a sickening crunch as I made impact. The creature crashed forward face first into the leaf litter. I was much quicker with this one as I knew where to target to get to the juicy part. With it grounded, I ripped off the mangled remains of its jaw and shoved my hand into the cavity. A moment later, I pulled out another beautiful gem, which I quickly swallowed, cherishing the sensation. With both adults dead, my hunger brought me to the eggs. I didn’t even hesitate; I cracked them open with my hands and slurped up the insides. It wasn’t until I had finished the last of the eggs that I felt the hunger disappear and my mind return to normal. I stared in horror at what I had just done. What the fuck had happened to me? How did I go from on the verge of death to a reaper?