Chapter 1: The unfortunate meeting

The wind breezes through the open window. Karl wakes up to the sound of his alarm. He glances at the empty side of his bed, then grabs the mouse and boots up his computer. There, he plays soft-toned music and heads toward the washroom to take a shower.

As the music comes to an end, the doorbell rings. Karl walks out naked and slightly opens the door. On the other side stands a boy with nerdy glasses.

"Jake, what do you want?" Karl asks with a smirk.

"Y-You slept with Mora," Jake stammers.

"Who?" Karl asks, maintaining a poker face.

"MY GIRLFRIEND, MORA!" Jake almost cries. Tears begin to swell up in his eyes. Noticing this, Karl grabs Jake's collar and shoves him back, unintentionally exposing him in the process.

A girl walking down the corridor witnesses the scene coincidentally. But instead of interfering to save Jake, she gets mesmerized by Karl's body. Her eyes wander all over his lean, muscular frame, taking in his six-pack abs and his straight, wet hair. The scent of his shampoo fills the air, clouding her senses. Not to mention, Karl's manhood makes her stomach ache with butterflies.

Karl leans in closer to Jake. "Listen here, your girl means nothing to me. I only slept with her to make you feel miserable," he says in one breath.

Seeing Karl towering over him, Jake's heart drops. The height difference between them is vast. "W-Why me?" Jake asks, snot dripping from his nose.

"Because I felt like it," Karl replies with his widest, creepiest smile.

"HEL—" Just as Jake is about to scream, Karl clamps a hand over his mouth. He looks around to check if anybody is there, and that's when he notices the girl standing nearby, her face completely red.

Karl quickly yanks Jake inside like a sack of grain and dashes in himself. "Sheesh, you almost got me into trouble just now," Karl sneers as he closes the door behind him.

Jake gets to his feet. "Well, how about this, midget? You'll tell that girl this was all a misunderstanding, and I won't leak your chick's video on campus."

Jake's body starts to visibly shake. He grabs a pillow like a shield.

"Seriously, dude?" Karl says with a grin.

Without warning, Karl throws a straight punch at Jake, hitting him square in the jaw.

Jake stumbles back a few steps, his cheek swelling into a deep blue color. He grits his teeth as hard as he can and tries to throw a clumsy punch.

Karl effortlessly slaps Jake away. "Come on! That's your only girl. Try a bit harder," he says with a vicious smile.

Jake, now desperate, dashes toward the table, grabbing the monitor and throwing it at Karl, which causes the music to stop.

The monitor smashes against Karl's shoulder. Veins bulge on Karl's forehead. His expression darkens. "You're dead now."

Jake scrambles to grab the CPU, intending to throw it as well, but the cable is too short. He yanks it again and fails, ripping the cable off instead.

Karl kicks Jake hard in the gut.

Jake crashes to the ground. Karl continues to stomp on him for a whole minute.

"DO. NOT. TOUCH. MY. THINGS. EVER. AGAIN."

The floor turns bloody. Broken teeth are scattered beside Jake's barely conscious body. Karl wipes his forehead.

"You alive?"

Karl waits for a response, but none comes. His face turns grave. He lightly lifts Jake's head, which is barely recognizable. His front teeth are missing, ribs broken, spine twisted, and his hand fractured.

Karl smiles, but it quickly fades into a frown. He turns to grab his phone.

Just as he turns, Jake, using all his remaining strength, flings the ripped cable at Karl.

The exposed wire zaps Karl's back on impact.

Karl screams at the top of his lungs. "JAKEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He stumbles forward, trying to reach Jake-But his vision blacks out.

Jake kills Karl.

"Leonard Avaritia."

"Here," Leonard answers.

"Here are your mission details," says a woman with a pretty face, handing him a folder. Leonard takes the papers and walks toward the door, reading through them. He stashes the papers into his backpack, then taps on his watch, attempting to call an air cab.

A message pops up: [NOT ENOUGH PHOTONS]

Seeing this, Leonard's expression turns grim, but he continues walking in a specific direction.

After three hours of walking, Leonard finds himself in a tropical forest. But instead of green, the foliage is purple. Leonard shows no reaction, as if this is completely normal to him. After scanning his surroundings for a few seconds, he senses a killing intent and quickly jumps onto a nearby tree.

Leonard holds his breath.

A few seconds pass.

The ground begins to shake.

Leonard remains calm.

The trembling intensifies.

In the distance, a massive shadow appears, staring in his direction.

"SHIT! When did he appear?" Leonard curses under his breath.

A towering, purple-colored gorilla—standing around 12 feet tall and as large as a school bus—locks eyes with Leonard. A sharp sword materializes in Leonard's right hand.

The two stare at each other for a solid ten seconds.

Then, the gorilla turns its gaze elsewhere.

"Am I that small of a threat?" Leonard sighs in relief and continues his journey.

After an unknown number of hours, Leonard comes across an abnormally large purple tree.

"Found it! At last, the Fruit of Velora will be mine!" Leonard exclaims in joy, then climbs the tree. At the top, he cuts a hole into the trunk.

Inside, there is a hollow space where a dry branch cradles a small, dark purple fruit. Leonard grips the fruit and pulls with all his strength.

After some struggle, the fruit finally comes loose—

And suddenly, the entire tree begins to collapse.

Leonard quickly leaps into the forest. He calls his sword out and makes a massive vertical slash along the falling tree. Thanks to this maneuver, the speed of his fall is significantly reduced, allowing him to land safely.

"Whew! Thank the Horizon that this tree was small, or else the landing wouldn't have been so smooth," Leonard mutters as he prepares to head back to the city.

Just as he takes his first step, a rock comes flying toward him, grazing his cheek.

Leonard instantly shifts into a battle stance. In the distance, a monkey with purple fur sits atop a nearby tree, staring at him.

The monkey throws another rock.

Leonard slices it in half.

The monkey throws a bigger rock.

Leonard cuts through it, but a crack appears on his sword.

Seeing this, the monkey lets out a loud, mocking laugh.

Leonard's blood begins to boil. He throws his sword at the monkey only to miss by a huge margin.

At that very second, numerous red eyes appear from within the tree branches.

"Fuck! It's an entire troop," Leonard curses under his breath.

Numerous monkeys jump from tree to tree in various directions, trying to circle Leonard in. Leonard keeps a calm mind and counts the monkeys.

"1, 2, 3, 4… 13. Damn, looks like this will be my last adventure."

Leonard's legs tense up as he pumps all of his mana into them and dashes ahead. A purple flashes on his hand and the sword which threw reappears in his hand. He pierces the head of one monkey with his sword and punches another in the gut.

A monkey from the sidelines jumps onto Leonard. Instinctively, Leonard raises his arm to protect his head. The monkey bites off a huge chunk of Leonard's forearm, exposing his radius bone.

A burning sensation shoots through Leonard's arm, but it quickly disperses as adrenaline kicks in. Without a second thought, Leonard smashes his injured arm into the ground, killing the monkey.

The sound of bones cracking echoes through the forest. But Leonard doesn't stop. He jumps toward the nearest monkey, startling the others, and slashes one's head off. Then, he pumps a dangerous amount of mana into his arms.

The muscles in his arms swell abnormally, veins bulging under his skin. Blood erupts from his injured arm, staining the ground. Seeing his monstrous transformation and complete lack of fear, the monkeys grow anxious.

Without wasting time, Leonard swings his healthy arm like a slingshot and hurls his sword at a tree. The blade pierces through with ease, and the massive tree crashes down, shaking the forest.

A large shadow shifts in the distance, its gaze locking onto Leonard.

Oblivious to this, Leonard grabs two distracted monkeys by the head and crushes them. Blood splatters all over his face and chest.

"Seven left. My mana reserves are empty. I'm bleeding heavily. Even if I survive here, I won't make it to the city. I'm dead."

Leonard smiles as he looks at the ground.

All seven monkeys leap at him at once.

"So, let's die… HAPPILY!"

Leonard jumps toward them, meeting their attack head-on. The monkeys' sharp teeth sink deep into his back. He roars in pain but retaliates, punching one monkey square in the face.

A monkey climbs up Leonard's arm and aims for his neck. But before it can bite—Leonard bites first, tearing the monkey's face clean off.

He thrashes wildly, throwing punches in every direction, hitting every moving creature near him. Grabbing two monkeys by their heads, he slams them into the ground, killing them instantly.

"I AM HAPPY. I AM HAPPY. YES, I FUCKING AM!"

Leonard continues pummeling them, even after they're long dead. The remaining three monkeys fall back, fear overtaking them.

After a few seconds, Leonard finally calms down. He takes a deep breath, gathers what little mana he has left, and recalls his sword. Stumbling toward a nearby corpse, he leans in—

Suddenly, a fierce killing intent floods the air. Every strand of hair on Leonard's body stands on end.

The tall gorilla from earlier growls from a nearby tree. Leonard's blood runs cold.

Unconsciously, his feet start moving backward on their own.

The gorilla lets out a deafening roar and charges at Leonard in a frenzy.

The three remaining monkeys, frozen in fear, don't even move—and get trampled to death under the gorilla's massive feet.

Without a second thought, Leonard pumps all of his mana into his legs and runs with everything he has. The gorilla closes in.

Leonard calls his sword and slices through every tree he passes, trying to obstruct the rampaging beast.

"Shit! My mana reserves are almost empty!"

His entire body is drenched in dried blood. His arm is bleeding profusely. His back is half-eaten. His legs are barely holding together from mana overuse. Still—he has one last method to escape.

He can sacrifice his life force.

By doing so, he'll lose at least a year of his lifespan.

Even knowing this, Leonard doesn't hesitate. He burns his life force, and the desperate chase continues for two more hours.

By the end, every muscle in Leonard's body has wasted away. His skin clings to his bones. He resembles a skeleton more than a human.

But he's still running.

And then—he finally sees it.

The end of the forest. A cliff.

Leonard pushes his body one last time and leaps off. He crashes into the sand below. The scorching heat of the grains soothes his battered body.

Above him, the gorilla stands at the edge of the cliff, looking down. It sees Leonard—but then, it simply turns and walks away.

Leonard finds this strange.

"Three-horned apes aren't easy to escape from. Is the Horizon smiling on me?"

He tries to stand.

But he can't.

His body sinks.

"It's quicksand!" He realizes in horror.

Leonard struggles again.

And again.

And again.

No matter how many times he tries—he fails.

"S-Sorry, Lock… Layla… It looks like the Horizon wants me dead."

His breath grows weak. His body is slowly swallowed by the earth.

"Sorry I couldn't be a great brother to you both… I'll be waiting in the Solstice. May the Horizon bless you…"

With those final words, Leonard stretches his hand toward the sun and disappears into the ground.

Karl opens his eyes in a hospital bed.

Panic floods his mind as he looks around and tries to sit up.

At that moment, the door swings open.

"Looks like you're awake, Mr. Leonard Avaritia," the doctor states, reading from a file.

Karl blinks in confusion.

"Leonard? Who's that?"