Overcome The Darkness; Grand Engraving?

As the sun middled the sky in its white glare, Yin lit a fire using flint and stone below a thin flat stone. A grill of some kind.

He sliced the snake meat up into multiple rectangular pieces using a sharp stone knife and laid them down onto the flat stone. The immediate sizzle of the meat caused a mouth-salivating aroma that quickly filled the air.

Once cooked, he picked a piece of meat up; salted it; and took a bite.

The meat was delicious, the best he had ever tasted. The feeling was enhanced by his hunger, as it felt like the meat simply melted in his mouth; and rejuvenated his entire body as it slid down his throat.

Without waiting for even a second, he started to chow down on the rest of the meat. By the time he was done, he was completely stuffed. So much meat that was densely packed with rich nutrients could satiate anyone's hunger almost instantly.

After eating, he laid down on the slightly wet, mossy ground inside of the giant tree. He looked up towards the pitch black ceiling of the tree hole and thought of what to do next.

'Stronger.' He thought to himself. It was the first word that came to his head.

He needed to become stronger. Right now, his main goal was to ensure survival. He nearly died today simply fighting a pure beast, and although he struggled mostly because of his dire state; it was also because he wasn't strong enough yet. Survival wasn't stable yet. One slip up, and he could easily meet his end.

He thought of the most simple and straightforward ways of getting stronger. The first was to strengthen his body. To get more muscles and to condition his body for adversities. The second way was to gain more fighting experience.

He knew that experience was more important than anything. He was now only a weakling, one that was still facing major adversities; but he knew that the more he fought with different beasts; the more he would start to adapt and overcome said adversities.

Using this information, he decided to create a routine plan. Every morning, he would gather salt crystals and grind them into dust. Next, he would place the salt near nests and wait for his prey to approach the water. While he waited, he would train his body using strength training. A variety of push-ups, pull-ups, and many other strength exercises.

To train his skill, he decided that fighting the pure beasts he hunted was optimal for actual experience. Overall, it was a fully-fledged routine that visited all necessities to ensure survival. With this plan in mind, Yin grabbed his spear and left the tree with a smile on his unwavering face.

***

Three months later...

A brave-looking young man with a determined expression on his face could be seen running at full speed, jumping over bushes, sliding under vines, and dodging around trees that dominated the thick; verdant jungle. He wielded a poison-tipped spear and a handle tied with hiding; and wore a thin, black cloak that fluttered in the wind as he ran.

His stature was quite short, but his frame looked very conditioned. A decent layer of muscle could be seen covering his entire body.

Right now, Yin was chasing after a Red-Bellied Monkey. A pure-rank monkey beast that was as large as a normal gorilla. Its fangs were long and sharp, and its muscles were vascular and triumphant, yet, it was still running from only a little boy.

Most primate beasts were smart. This poor monkey had already tasted defeat in a one-on-one battle against Yin, and so, it was running for its life knowing that it had no chance of winning.

As Yin sprinted, making sure to stare at the monkey's behind at all times, he noticed it beginning to take a turn.

'Hmm? What's it doing?'

Out of nowhere, the monkey quickly leaped onto a familiar-looking cave entrance and ran straight into it.

'What!? That's... my salt cave!'

Yin didn't slow down for even a second; following the monkey as close as he could inside of the cave. However, by the time he arrived at the large opening that led to the colossal cavern room, the monkey was nowhere to be seen.

'Damn! It must have already run deep into the cave. I haven't explored anywhere past the first several salt pockets yet. Well, I guess now's a good a time as any.' He thought to himself as he started to run straight into the abyss.

Yin could barely see anything, but he thanked the salt rocks for giving him the little vision he did have.

After about two miles of running, Yin found himself at a dead end. He still hadn't seen the monkey, and he didn't expect the cave to end so suddenly.

'Was the cave just a large open hallway that lead to nothing?' Yin thought to himself slightly in disappointment as placed his hand on the cold and rigid stone wall at the end of the cave.

'This means I must have missed the bastard on my way here. It probably ran to the side and not straightforward.' As he thought to himself, he noticed something off about the stone wall he was touching. At first, his vision was almost pitch black, but now that it had gotten a little more accustomed to the dark; Yin could see that the wall in front of him, on which he was laying his hand; had some sort of unnatural carving in it.

Noticing this, Yin took a few steps backward; and as he did, he saw how ginormous of a carving it was, filled with numerous patterns and several words that were written in his foreign tongue as well.

"What the..."

The carving was a circle inside of another circle, and inside of those circles were eight different squares that made a star-like pattern. At for edges of the circle, east, west, north, and south; there existed four separate smaller circles that copied the design of the big ones.

In the middle was a text.

It read "The world offers you weakness, addiction, slavery, comfort, decay, lust. Reject weakness, embrace freedom! Strength, wisdom, courage, ambition!"

"How could something like this be here..." Yin thought to himself in utter disarray, trying to make sense of the situation. These random, powerful, and emotion-filled words; haphazardly carved on the wall of a seemingly uninhabited cavern in such a grand engraving. It was full of mystery.

As he tried to discern what this meant, he felt a weird rumble journey throughout the cave. Its origin was unknown, but it was clearly powerful. Dust and rocks started to fall from the ceiling of the cave down by Yin as the rumble continued to shake the cave slightly.

Yin took a couple more steps backward without thinking and suddenly heard footsteps approaching from behind him rapidly.

He quickly turned around and readied his battle stance, holding his spear in front of him; when he saw the Red-Bellied monkey charging toward him.

Yin's serious expression turned slightly sarcastic. "I guess beasts will never be as smart as humans after all." He said, running toward the monkey.

"Have you come to meet your end friend!?" He yelled, jumping into the air as he drove his spear down towards the monkey's head.

The monkey quickly dashed to the side, dodging Yin's spear as it desperately swiped its arm towards Yin.

Using his spear, Yin simply blocked the blow from ever coming near him.

"I've already fought many of your kind. You should have just run while you had the chance. Did you think darkness was your ally?" Yin said as he unleashed a flurry of powerful, quick thrusts at the beast.

It yelled it as backed up, trying its best to dodge Yin's barrage. However, it wasn't fully successful, having multiple small scrapes on the sides of its body.

Yin smiled as he spun his spear, now dripping with blood.

"You have merely touched the darkness. I have overcome it."

Yin stopped spinning his spear and aimed it directly toward the monkey. By this point, the beast had lost all the hope it had regained in the cave.

With a powerful thrust, he drove his spear through the monkey and arrived at the other side in one swift movement.

"Thank you for the meal." He said as the deceased body of the monkey fell to the ground.