Han stood before the massive boulder, its surface jagged and unyielding, a final obstacle that separated him from true freedom. His hands curled into fists, raw from the battles he had endured within the cave. Every fiber of his being, every muscle hohrough eight years of relentless bat, burned with a singur purpose.

  He closed his eyes.

  He could still feel the weight of those years—the Shadow Panthers lunging from the darkness, the Blood Wolves tearing at his flesh, the Stone Apes raining down blows heavy enough to crush bone. He had fought, survived, and risen above them all.

  Now, there was only one oppo left.

  Han exhaled, grounding himself. His energy surged, coiling like a raging storm within his core. He bent his knees, fiightening into a stahat had bee sed nature. This was not just a strike. This was everything he had bee.

  With a roar that shook the air, Han unched forward.

  His foot smmed against the earth, propelling him like a spear. The power of his moveme a shockwave through the ground as he twisted his body, every ounce of his strength verging into a single, devastating blow.

  His fist met the boulder.

  A deafening crack split the air as the force of his strike rippled through the stohe impact wasn’t just physical—it carried the weight of his battles, his pain, his unyielding will. The boulder trembled, fissures spiderwebbing across its surface.

  Then—BOOM!

  The entire rock shattered, fragments exploding in all dires, reduced to nothing but dust and rubble. The cave echoed with the sound of destru, the final remnants of his final trial crumbling before him.

  Han straightened, his chest rising and falling with trolled breaths. He stared at the empty space where the boulder oood, then at his own hands, fingers still tingling with the remnants of his unleashed power.

  He had do.

  He hadn’t just shattered a rock.

  He had shattered the limits of the man he once was.

  His body ached with a deep, bone-deep exhaustion, but beh that, a newfound power surged through his veins. Every muscle felt honed, every movement instinctive—he had trained, fought, and survived what seemed like long drawn grueling years within that dark abyss.

  As Han stepped out of the cave, the blinding sunlight forced him to squint. His surroundings shifted and he seemed to have been transported to where he was before ending up ihe cave.

  Something seemed off.

  The world outside hadn’t ged. The trees still swayed gently in the same positions as when he had first ehe cave. The air smelled the same, crisp and unbothered by the passage of time. Even the embers of the small fire he had left nearby still smoldered, barely burned down.

  His hands trembled as he picked up a branch, feeling the familiar roughness of the bark. When he had ehe cave, it had been m. Now, the sun hovered just past midday. He sed the sky, his breath hitg.

  His horag instincts firmed that a mere eight hours had epsed.

  Disbelief ched in his chest, a pressure that refused to ease. His fingers found the jade pendaing against his skin, its cool surface a sharp trast to the heat surging through him.

  He had stumbled upon it while fing for food in the forest, its faint glow catg his eye as it y half-buried in a tangle of long grass. It had looked valuable, so Han had slipped it around his ne a whim, intending to sell it once he returo town.

  But nohat kind of power did this pendant hold?

  He had lived through tless battles, fought, bled, and ehe trials of the cave. He had hunted, subdued, and survived against beasts beyond imagination. His body bore the scars—etched reminders of every battle, every wound. His mind, orained, now carried the instincts of a seasoned warrior, sharpened like a bde hoo perfe.

  Aime itself had betrayed him.

  His gaze flickered to his refle in a nearby pool of water. The boy who had ehe cave—a wiry, unseasoned fighter was gone.

  What stared back at him was a man.

  His face was different—hardened, battle-worn. The once-youthful sharpness of his features had been chiseled into something fiercer, a face sculpted by hardship and survival. His jaw was more defined, his cheekbones promi, his skin darkened ahered, eight years of battle that had only take hours outside. He had not aged but the signs of the training made their marks on his appearance.

  His hair, which had been short a, was now wild, u, streaked with dirt and dried blood. Strands g to his forehead, damp with sweat. His once-lean frame had transformed—his shoulders broader, his arms corded with muscle, every inch of his body honed for bat. Scars, fresh and old, ced his forearms, eae a testament to the beasts he had subdued.

  His eyes, once burning with youthful defianow held the gaze of a warrior—sharp and unyielding. The innoce of inexperience was gone. What remained was the hardeeel of a man who had endured hardship and survived.

  The realizatio a chill down his spine. Whatever force had goverhat pce… it had tempered him, refed him.

  A sharp paihrough Han’s chest, sudden and unnatural. His breath hitched, and his hand shot up to his colrbone, fingers grazing his skin.

  A thin, purplish-bck line ran along his veins, barely visible beh his flesh. It pulsed faintly, snaking down from his o his arms, spreading through his body like ink seeping into water.

  The same cold haunting voice from the figure in the cave echoed within him.

  “A reminder of your purpose. You have been administered the Shadow Venom Curse. It will remain within you, invading your arteries with each passing day. Should you fail your mission, it will e you.”

  Han’s fists ched. The weight of the statement pressed down on him, cold and suffog. He had survived that hellish cave—only to emerge shackled by death once more.

  He lifted his sleeve, watg as the ominous bck veins traced faint pathways beh his skin. They were slow-moving now, fio his upper body. But he uood the implication—they would spread.

  He exhaled sharply, steeling himself.

  The voice returned, its tone unyielding.

  “Go forth and fulfill your first quest. Succeed… or die.”

  His jaw tightened. He had no choice. Either he pleted the mission, or the poison would cim him.

  Han exhaled, steadying his pulse. He had faced death before. He had quered beasts, ehe abyss, shattered his limits.

  This would be no different.

  His path was clear.

  With one final g the purplish-bck veins threading through his skin, Han took his first step forward.