It had been a restless few hours for Max, each time he dozed off, a screech or howl would startle him awake. On the other hand, next to him, Ma Erk was blissfully unaware of the screams and seemed to even be snoring away.

‘How does this little guy sleep through all of that? How did he survive with such little situational awareness? Ah, whatever.’

Checking his Greater Enhance Regeneration, he had only been dozing in and out of sleep for about three hours. By no means did he feel rested, he was planning on going back to sleep when a sudden curiously overtook him. He hadn’t had the chance to see the new world at night. He’s only been briefly outside the cave at night during the fight with Rik-re and his lackeys. While there was undoubtedly fighting going on in the forest, they were all far from the cave and Max didn’t think any of them were in the immediate vicinity.

Slowly getting up from his lying position, he exited the cave as quietly as possible so as not to wake up the young wolf.

On the ledge outside the cave, a light breeze blew past him. If he wasn’t wearing the clothes that he got from the chest and only the poncho, he would probably let out a little shiver. To him, it felt as if it had gotten colder over the past couple of days.

He took in a rejuvenating deep breath of the crisp night air. It was a cloudy night with the stars nowhere to be seen and the moon just peeking through one of the clouds. But even with the low light, his visibility wasn’t as hampered as he thought. His Perception stat had improved significantly since his first night here. In fact, all his stats had.

Sitting on the edge that led down to the clearing, Max reminisced about his life back on earth. His father had been a second-generation immigrant and his mother was a native New Yorker. His parents had met in college, but it wasn’t until after college when his dad found himself in New York, did the two of them start dating. One thing led to another and his elder sister was born and then four years later he popped out. By this time, both his parents were established in their careers. His mom was one of the few female surgeons at her hospital and his dad was the youngest senior vice president of his company.

Given how busy his parents were, his sister and he didn’t see much of them. The two of them were practically raised by his maternal grandparents who had lived down the street from them. He hadn’t been a troublemaker nor a smarty pants, he had always thought of himself as the middle of the pack, maybe slightly better in math and science, which his classmates let him know was a result of his Asian heritage. During the summers, his sister and he would spend a couple of days in Jersey with his paternal grandparents. They had gone back to their roots and started a small farm in their old age.

Max had appreciated the lifestyle change when they stayed on his grandparents’ farm. Not that there was another wrong with the city life, he had just preferred the fresh air and open space that was available on a farm. The one thing that he despised was how early in the day farmwork started. But being the only grandson, he had gotten a free pass on most mornings.

Fast forward a couple of years, he had gotten into his parents’ alma mater. There, he had studied business and intended to follow in his father’s footsteps. It was also there he thought he had found his soulmate. They had dated throughout college and had lived together in the city for two years before disaster struck.

He had been diagnosed with IDK-25 at age 23 and that same week the girl whom he thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with left him. No explanation, no final goodbye, just gone. He didn’t want to assume, but over the two years that he had been in the hospital not once did he receive a message from her. To his dying moments, he had always wondered why she left him. He was never able to get any answers.

Although it had only been a little more than a week since he had come to this world, his old life felt so far away now. Looking up at the moon, he couldn’t even comfort himself by saying his family and friends were under the same sky.

While he still misses his old life, he was given a second chance, which likely not many people could claim. He was in a magical world and from what he knew, it seemed like anything was possible. There was nowhere to go except forward.

Reaching up with one hand, he said to no one in particular “Wait for me.”

Reliving his time on Earth no longer made him sad, if anything it fueled him in walking further on the path he was currently on. As long as he was alive, he had a chance to see his loved ones again.

While Max had been thinking about the past, the fighting had intensified and the sounds of battle had gotten louder and closer. He saw a tree move near the clearing. It could be just the wind, but he wasn’t going to take the chance. He promptly got up from where he had been sitting and went back into the cave.

At the entrance of the cave, Max made sure to leap to clear his spiked pit. Once inside, he saw Ma Erk still sound asleep snoring away. Setting back down next to the young wolf, he made sure that his claw dagger was within reach before he tried to get some more shut-eye before the sunrise.

…

…

…

As soon as Max woke up, he could tell there was something wrong. There was a thick scent of blood that pervaded the air. Quickly sitting up, he grabbed the dagger that was close by.

“Ma Erk, wake up” he whispered.

As soon as he saw the little wolf stir from his sleep, he followed up with “Shhh. Be quiet, something is not right.”

As soon as his pack leader’s words registered, the young wolf instantly was on high alert. Eyes darting around, Ma Erk didn’t see any enemies, but at the same moment, the unmistakable scent of blood filled his nostrils.

Seeing that the young wolf had also identified the issue, Max asked in a quiet voice, “Do you know what type of spirit beast is that?”

Without any hesitation, Ma Erk answered “Hawk. Close, very close boss.”

Hearing that, Max had him elaborate “How close?”

Giving the air another sniff, “On ledge.”

Hearing that Max’s heart sank. ‘Shit.’

There was no way for him to run. The only way down to the clearing was likely blocked off to him. He wanted to panic, but he forcibly calmed himself down, just like all the times he had done when he was bedridden. He wanted to take a deep breath to smooth his nerves, but all he got was a noseful of blood-scented air.

‘What are my options?’

‘Run? No way, I could make it, especially if it was a hawk. I already know how fast they could go.’

‘Hide in here?’ That was a possibility. He had enough water to last him a long time, not to mention the water he still had in the spatial bottle. If he and Ma Erk rationed the food, it potentially could last them weeks. That would give him enough time to advance his cultivation in a few stages.

‘That’s not a bad idea…’

But after thinking about it for a bit, there was one major flaw in this plan. The scent of blood was bound to attract more spirit beasts and he couldn’t have that. If anything, he should act immediately to reduce the chances of any other beast finding the cave.

Just then, Max noticed how there was a lack of howls, screeches, and any other sound of fighting. It almost felt unnervingly quiet. For how close the hawk was supposed to the entrance of the cave, it was surprisingly silent. There was no shuffling or even the sound of heavy breathing.

‘Maybe it is unconscious or something?’

There was a long internal debate, he had listed all the pros and cons he could think of in his mind before ultimately deciding to check the ledge. The main reason for this decision came back to the scent of blood. Regardless of which beasts ended up controlling the forest the scent of this blood would lead them here and that would likely be a death sentence for him.

‘Better go out fighting than waiting to die.’

Max double-checked the bracers on each arm, he made sure they were on tight underneath his sleeve and would not fall off if a fight were to break out. Next, he looked over his dagger, it was still in good condition. The edge hadn't dulled and the point was still extremely sharp. The last thing he did was pick up the trap covering. It might come in handy as a makeshift shield. He contemplated if he should take one of the spears from the pit. In the end, he thought it was too inconvenient for him to carry, his hands were full with the makeshift shield and the dagger. On top of that, the spear had two sharp ends, he could accidentally stab himself with one end if he wasn’t careful.

‘Fuck, I shouldn’t have used up all the spears for the pit.’

“Hey, little guy. Stay here, I’ll call you if I need anything.”

With a small jump, he was over the spiked pit and landed on the other side of the formation. It was early morning and the sun was shining directly into his eyes, blinding him. Lifting the makeshift shield, Max shaded his face. The air was dense with moisture like it had just rained. The scent of the blood was even stronger here. Surveying his surroundings, he instantly locked on to the source of the smell. To his surprise, the hawk was a lot smaller than what he had expected. The first hawk was about the size of a car, but this one was not much bigger than himself.

There was so much blood to the point Max had to wonder how a human-size hawk held all this blood. Aside from the blood, there were clear bite marks all over the hawk, similar to the one that Max had received from Rik-re. Its feathers were soaked in blood and grime. There were even large areas where the oversize bird was missing feathers.

It was injured and Max couldn’t even see the rise and fall of its chest. Which led him to think it might have already died. However, there was something more to the hawk than meets the eye. It had a presence to it that Max couldn’t identify. Even in such a sorry sight, he had an instinctive feeling that told him not to approach the downed beast. Each time Max wanted to get closer to it, a heavy feeling would form in his gut that rooted him in place.

After a minute of this self-inflicted mental pressure, Max decided to go back into the cave to grab one of the spears from his pit. He would throw at the hawk to see its reaction. Just as he was about to make his move, the hawk’s head slowly lifted and turned in his direction.

Max locked eyes with the terrifying beast. It was clearly in pain, he could see this seemingly insignificant movement demanded great effort from the hawk. For a moment, nothing happened. The hawk stared at the human and the human with trepidation looked back.

Suddenly, the hawk opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing scream. Max covered his ears with his hands, but the scream did not dim, even anything it got louder. In the next second, a translucent, fist-size hawk flew out of its mouth and dove straight for Max’s forehead.