Shooting Star

Kaden opened and closed his mouth several times as he went over the details of all the quests. Basically, every single one of them was asking him to face a D-rank enemy.

And he was barely an E-rank newbie.

"Well," Kaden exhaled, rubbing his forehead, "this is a load of bullshit."

It wasn't that he lacked confidence. He knew he was strong. Far stronger than any normal E-ranker should be. But D-rank was an entirely different realm.

A jump from F-rank to E-rank was about personal enhancement. A boost in raw stats, better abilities, heightened endurance. But E to D?

That was an evolution in power.

D-rank beings didn't just have better numbers. They had something more terrifying—the ability to warp reality to their advantage. Whether through mana manipulation, territory control, or unique class skills, they didn't fight fair.

And yet, here he was, surrounded by quests demanding he throw himself straight into the lion's den. Kaden sighed and shook his head, a crooked smirk forming. "Guess there's no avoiding it, huh?"

If he was going to break through his limits, he had to be willing to step into a fight he wasn't supposed to win.

That meant he needed to be smart.

He couldn't just rush into battle like a mindless brute. He had to hunt carefully, pick fights on his terms, and push himself step by step instead of diving headfirst into something suicidal.

And to do that? He first needed to make some preparations. He decided to start with the fifty kills he needed without using any active skills. This was pretty straight forward and he could do that right here in these forests. He knew the perfect place for it.

Kaden opened the system interface again and scanned the map. His target should be approximately one day's travel from his current location. He would be putting more distance between that broken egg sac and himself and at the same time he would reach his training destination.

"Alright. Let's go." He took another look at his surroundings before exhaling sharply and starting his run again. 

He moved swiftly, his body slicing through the dense foliage of the forest like a blade through water. His new strength, his enhanced speed—it all felt unreal. Every step was lighter, every breath more controlled. 

In the blink of an eye another day passed by.

Kaden ran for hours, only stopping briefly to drink from a freshwater stream and eat some beast meat he shoddily cooked using mana. His metabolism was burning through energy faster than before, and he could feel the gnawing hunger creeping in quicker than it used to.

Another side effect of his evolution. He did not feel it much at first but now that he did not have any more embryonic liquid to keep him full and satiated all of his other needs were increasing. He was hungrier than he had ever been and also thirstier than he had ever been.

Thankfully, there was no shortage of beasts to hunt in the forest. Wild beasts and quasi-core beasts kept popping up one after the other and he took care of them just as fast as the pack of wolves.

The only problem was he kept forgetting the requirements and using Thorn Whip right from the get go. In the end, he only managed to kill five beasts without using any skills. Apparently, Healing Touch was also a skill and if he used it either after a kill or before a kill, that kill would not be considered for the quest completion.

An annoying little detail. Nothing that he couldn't handle.

As for the new skill selection, he decided to save it for the time being. He did not need a new skill at the moment and if he saved the skill selection after the class upgrade then he could potentially get another skill option, something that could be a lot more overpowered than the current options.

Of course, he wasn't too strict about this. If he really needed it, Kaden was prepared to go with any of the two active skills depending on what his situation called for. Survival came first after all.

By the time night fell again, the air had turned bitterly cold, and the world was bathed in the glow of the moon. He stopped at the edge of a steep ridge, overlooking the valley he had been searching for.

There it was.

A sprawling, isolated expanse, thick with trees, jagged rock formations, and a winding river that cut through the terrain like a gleaming silver scar. There, on the bank of the river, was the thing that he was looking for.

A swirling mess of mana seeped in spatial affinity.

A portal to a dungeon.

Kaden clenched his fists in determination. He did not aim for this to be his goal so early but what the heck. With his insane raw stats, it would be foolish not to try for this achievement.

As he thought about this, he suddenly remembered something he had completely forgotten. His first goal in the new world! The big achievement that he wanted!

Did he actually make it? Did he get the title?

He hurriedly opened his status screen and there it was.

[Shooting Star]