"Watch out!"
The warning rang in Rin's ears, but his body locked.
The goblin lunged, red eyes blazing with hatred, mouth frothing with black blood.
His hands trembled — just for a second.
Then everything slowed.
The world dulled, like someone dipped it in cold water. The rat on his shoulder growled — a tiny, strange sound — and Rin snapped back.
SLASH!
He stepped forward, blade dragging across the goblin's throat in a clean, desperate motion.
The monster gurgled, blood spraying his face, and fell limp at his feet.
Silence followed.
Then someone whistled.
"Well damn, kid," said one of the men.
The scarred woman smirked. "Cold move for your first time."
The group leader approached, arms folded across his chest.
"Congrats," he said, nodding once. "That's your first kill. Clean and fast."
Rin didn't respond right away. He just looked at the blood on his hands, then the worn dagger, and finally at the goblin's face — frozen in rage.
"You've got potential," the leader continued, "but fate dealt you the F-rank card. Can't fix that."
He knelt beside the corpse, gesturing.
"Still, you earned that core. It's yours."
Rin gave a silent nod, reached in, and began to carve the beast's chest with practiced hesitation. He cut through rough skin and splintered ribs until his fingers touched something warm.
The core pulsed faintly — a deep, dull green.
The moment he touched it—
Chime!
A soft, metallic sound echoed in his head.
A glowing screen flickered into view before him, floating in midair.
[ SYSTEM UNLOCKED ]Beast Space & Evolution Interface Activated
You may now upgrade your Beast Space using Beast Cores.Current Requirement: 1 Core for First Expansion
Rin froze.
His breath caught.
A strange warmth rushed through his chest. It was as if the words were burned into his vision, hovering just in front of him.
"Wh-What…?"
He stood up suddenly, blinking.
"Do… do you guys see this?"
The others looked at him in confusion.
"See what?" the young hunter asked, raising a brow.
"This—this floating screen. Some kind of… system!"
The entire group burst out laughing.
"Oh," the woman said, slapping her thigh. "You opened your status window for the first time, didn't you?"
The one with the crooked grin snorted. "Every awakener gets that eventually. Late bloomer, huh?"
Rin blinked again. "Status window…?"
But no. This wasn't that.
He never got a status window during his awakening. Nothing appeared back then. No stat sheet. No attributes. No skills. Just the cold announcement of an F-Class Beast Space, the smallest possible.
But this…
This was different.
This wasn't just a profile. This was a system — something no one else was seeing.
He looked down at the beast core in his hand, then back at the screen now pulsing gently before him.
Would you like to use 1 Beast Core to expand Beast Space?
His heart pounded.
Was this real?
Why now, after all this time?
And if this was real… what would happen if he said yes?