“You have consumed a Graynemouse poison plant. The venom inside you is fighting the Graynemouse poison. In the fight between the poisons, you are healing.” Hearing this, Evan simply sat there, completely dumbfounded. His eyes slowly moved toward the gray-colored fruit in his hand. He stared at it as if the fruit itself had personally betrayed him. For a few seconds, he couldn't understand what he had just heard. Then, without saying a word, Evan threw the remaining fruit away. It landed several feet away and rolled across the ground before finally coming to a stop. Evan stared at it. His mind was still struggling to process everything. He had eaten that fruit because he thought it might kill him. He had been perfectly willing to take the risk because, according to the System, he was already dying anyway. But instead of killing him, the fruit was healing him. Before Evan could make sense of it, the familiar voice sounded again. “Life Force: Six out of Ten.” Evan's eyes widened. “Six?” He looked down at his body. Another notification appeared. “Life Force: Seven out of Ten.” “Seven?” His expression became even more confused. He could actually feel something changing inside him. The horrible pain that had been tearing through his body was slowly becoming weaker. His breathing was becoming easier, and the unbearable weakness in his limbs was gradually disappearing. Then the System spoke again. “The venoms inside your body are dying while fighting each other. Your body is now in a stable condition.” Evan stared blankly into the air. “Life Force: Nine out of Ten.” Silence. Evan didn't know how he was supposed to feel. Should he be happy? Should he be angry? Should he laugh? Or should he simply accept that his life had become too ridiculous to make sense anymore? He had been trying to die. That was the entire point. He had eaten that strange gray fruit because he thought there was a chance it would finish what the poison in his body had started. Instead, the poisonous fruit had somehow become the thing that saved him. Evan slowly looked toward the fruit lying on the ground. He rubbed his forehead. “I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel right now.” He had spent an entire lifetime wanting peace. Then, on the day he finally died, he had woken up in another world. Before he could even understand where he was, some strange voice had informed him that he was dying. He had accepted it. He had even welcomed it. And then, somehow, a poisonous fruit had entered the equation and ruined his attempt to die. Evan was still trying to process all of this when suddenly... A tremendous roar echoed through the forest. Evan froze. For several seconds, he couldn't move a single muscle. The roar was terrifying. It wasn't merely loud. There was an overwhelming force hidden inside that sound, something that seemed to shake his very soul. It felt as though the roar had passed through his skin, entered his body, and rattled his bones from the inside. Evan sat there trembling. His eyes were wide. His body had gone completely rigid. Whatever had made that sound was not something he wanted to meet. Not here. Not now. Not ever. He remained frozen in place, barely even remembering to breathe. Then the familiar System voice sounded again. “You are fully healed now.” Evan blinked. The notification finally broke through his fear and brought him back to his senses. “What?” He immediately looked around. His eyes darted from one enormous tree to another. The forest suddenly seemed much darker than before. That roar had come from somewhere nearby. Something was out there. Something powerful enough to make the entire forest tremble. Evan quickly searched for somewhere to hide. Then he noticed something. Near the roots of a huge tree in front of him, there was a small empty space between the thick roots. The roots were large enough to form a natural hiding place, almost like a wooden shelter carved into the ground. Evan didn't waste another second. He got up and ran toward it. He quickly squeezed himself into the empty space between the roots and crouched down. His body was trembling. He pressed himself against the tree and tried to make himself as small and silent as possible. Even after hiding, Evan was still struggling to process everything that had happened. He had been nothing more than a half-dead beggar from another world. He had lived a miserable life. He had been starving, sick, broken, and alone. Then he had died. So where had he actually died? How had his eyes opened in this strange place? And before he could understand anything, that terrifying voice had informed him that he was going to die again. Evan had thought that perhaps dying quickly would be the easiest thing he could do. Then he had eaten a gray-colored fruit. The fruit had turned out to be poisonous. But instead of killing him, its poison had fought the poison already inside his body. And somehow... He had survived. He had gone from nearly dying to being completely healed. And now, after all of that, there was something terrifying somewhere outside his hiding place. Evan slowly clenched his teeth. “Oh, God.” He whispered the words through gritted teeth. “What else am I going to have to see in one single day?” He shook his head bitterly. “Seriously. What else?” He had already died once. He had been reborn in another world. He had discovered a strange System. He had nearly died from poison. He had accidentally healed himself with another poison. And now some horrifying creature was roaring somewhere in the forest. “One day.” Evan's face twitched. “It's been one day.” He ground his teeth in frustration. “Just one damn day.” Then the ground beneath him suddenly shook. Evan's expression changed instantly. The earth moved as though someone had struck it with an enormous hammer. Boom. The vibration travelled through the roots and into his body. Evan's heart jumped. He immediately leaned forward and carefully tried to look outside through the small gap between the roots. His entire body was tense. He held his breath. If he could somehow stop his heartbeat too, he probably would have done that as well. Because there was something outside. Something that Evan had never seen in his entire life. Something he had never even imagined could exist. He slowly peeked through the gap. And his mind simply stopped working for a moment. What he saw standing outside was something beyond anything he could comprehend. His eyes couldn't even understand what they were looking at. The creature was enormous. It stood somewhere around twelve feet tall, perhaps even a little more. Its body was a strange mixture of pale gray and green, as though someone had taken the colors of rotten stone and deep forest vegetation and somehow created a living creature from them. But its size wasn't what terrified Evan the most. It was the eyes. There were so many of them. Evan couldn't tell how many. He wasn't even sure whether every strange shape across the creature's body was actually an eye. There seemed to be eyes scattered all over it. Its entire body was covered with them. Some were large. Some were smaller. Some seemed to move independently. Others remained completely still. Evan stared at the creature in disbelief. “What...?” He swallowed. “Are those all eyes?” He didn't know. He couldn't even begin to understand what kind of creature he was looking at. The creature slowly moved its head. A long tongue slipped out of its mouth. It moved from side to side as the creature looked around the forest. Evan couldn't even tell whether that was actually its tongue or whether its tongue was simply shaped that way. Perhaps that was just how its mouth naturally looked. He had no idea. But then the creature made a sound. Evan's blood ran cold. The sound was horrifying. It almost sounded like a human being. Almost. But something was deeply wrong with it. It sounded as though a human being had been taken over by some kind of demon or ancient evil and was now wandering through the forest while starving to death. The creature made another distorted, horrifying noise. Evan immediately covered his mouth. He didn't dare make a sound. The creature raised one of its enormous paws. Then it slammed it against a nearby tree. Boom! The tree shook violently. Leaves fell from above. Pieces of bark broke away from the trunk. The creature moved again. It struck another tree. Then another. It used its two enormous paws to hit the surrounding trees and plants with tremendous force. It was searching for something. Evan watched in silence. The creature behaved almost as if it were trying to flush a hidden rat out from its hiding place. Its massive body moved through the vegetation, crushing plants beneath its weight. Every step destroyed whatever was beneath its feet. Every strike sent pieces of leaves and branches flying. The creature continued its search. Slowly... Very slowly... It began moving closer to Evan's tree. Evan's heart started pounding. The creature came closer. Closer. And closer. Evan pressed himself even harder against the roots. The creature finally reached the enormous tree where Evan was hiding. It stopped. Evan's entire body became rigid. The creature raised one of its huge paws. Evan held his breath. Then— Boom! The creature struck the tree with tremendous force. The entire tree shook. Evan's body trembled with it. Tiny pieces of bark and dust fell around him. But Evan didn't move. He didn't breathe. He didn't even dare blink. The creature remained there. Evan could hear its terrible breathing. He could hear the strange sounds coming from its throat. He could feel his own heart pounding inside his chest. Don't move. Evan silently begged his body. Don't make a sound. The creature seemed to sense something. It raised its head. Then it screamed. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. Five times. Each scream was terrifying. The sound echoed through the forest, and every part of Evan's body seemed to tremble with it. The creature also moved its enormous paws, making threatening clawing motions around the tree. But there was no movement. No sound. Nothing. After a few moments, the creature seemed to lose interest. It slowly turned toward another tree. Then it walked away. Evan remained frozen. His breath was still trapped inside his lungs. He watched the creature carefully as it moved toward the next tree and began searching again. Only after he was certain it had moved away did Evan finally allow himself to breathe. He inhaled slowly. Then he exhaled. His whole body felt exhausted. He tried to relax his muscles, but they were still trembling uncontrollably. Even then, he didn't take his eyes off the creature. He continued watching it from beneath the roots. The creature kept moving through the forest. It struck trees. It crushed plants. It searched. Then, after some time, it began moving farther away. Its enormous body gradually disappeared between the trees. The sounds of its footsteps became quieter. Eventually, the creature was gone. Or perhaps it had only pretended to leave. Evan didn't know. He couldn't know. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was extremely tired. His body had been through too much. His eyes were becoming heavy. He blinked slowly. Then again. He tried to stay awake. Maybe the creature was still nearby. Maybe it was waiting for him to come out. Maybe it hadn't actually left at all. Evan didn't know. He couldn't even think properly anymore. His eyelids continued to grow heavier. For one brief moment, a thought crossed his mind. Maybe I'm dying again. He almost laughed at the absurdity of it. But then another thought came. Or maybe I'm just tired. He didn't know which one was true. And at that moment, he no longer had enough strength to care. Evan remained hidden between the roots of the enormous tree. He slowly closed his eyes. The forest became quiet around him. And without knowing whether he was about to die again or simply fall asleep, Evan finally stopped trying to understand anything. He remained there in silence, hidden beneath the tree, his eyes closed and his exhausted body completely still.
