Assimilating...

                 ~Zephyr's POV~

ROAR!

A loud roar was heard, with its source being a beast whose eyes were glowing within the pitch black cave. 

Ah,fuck…!

As I said this, a voice rang in my head uttering not more than a word;

[Run]

It didn't need to tell me as that was exactly what I did, I had not learned how to use my skills and even if I had, they would not be useful in my situation.

After all, I had yet to grasp mastery of skills at all, so trying to use my skills on impulse would be me courting death, nothing else.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

We both picked it up at full speed right from the start, running through the forest at breakneck speed while being pursued by an animal hell-bent on killing me.

How do I know? The fact that it was relentlessly chasing me was enough for confirmation.

RUFFLE RUFFLE

We ran through trees, scattering leaves and breaking branches everywhere we passed through, as I turned at abstruse angles trying to lose the animal, but to no avail.

Despair was beginning to set in, but I quickly shook it off. 

Yet the next moment;

CREAK!

My leg hit an outstretching tree root, with the built-up momentum causing me to tumble forward at a rapid pace while hitting my body on various tree branches along the way.

THUUD!

I smashed into the ground causing a crater to form, as a wave of pain assaulted my whole body, my head aching, my arm and ankle had dislocated, and multiple fractures on my chest cavity.

Nevertheless, my passive skills were doing their job as many began to heal at a fast pace.

Alas, things were never that easy, because a moment later;

ROAR!

My pursuer had caught up, but another sound rang not a second later;

Sssss!

I grew apprehensive, the fact that the pursuer couldn't catch me mostly meant that he wasn't that powerful than me, so I had been formulating a plan on how to run away, but with another monster coming into play, nothing about my calculations could be guaranteed.

Especially since I was lying face-flat on the ground with my body still recovering.

Fortunately, it seemed these two thought I was dead, or maybe they just didn't think of me as a threat, because tremors resounded in the area as the pursuer roared and stomped his feet while the hissing became louder, before everything abruptly became as silent as a graveyard.

The atmosphere became tense with everything coming to a standstill.

Then, all hell broke loose;

ROAR!

Sssss!

A loud roar along with an ear piercing hiss rang out simultaneously as the ground shook and vibrations were felt as two beasts faced off in the middle of the forest.

CRACK!

Yet at this moment, a sound came from the side as the two beasts glanced at a being they thought of as a bug standing at the side.

My body was healing faster than I thought it would. 

Initially, I was going to play dead till an opportunity of escaping showed itself, but that wasn't possible anymore, the sounds of my dislocated ankles healing had attracted their attention.

It was at this point that I finally saw what exactly was chasing me.

It was a white-furred leopard with green-colored eyes with the second contender being a two meter long pitch black snake that was also looking my way.

Seeing this was the case, I didn't bother trying to play dead any longer, I promptly got up and...ran away as fast as I could.

SWOOSH!

ROAR!

My pursuer was angry that it's meal was getting away, but he couldn't do anything because he was locked in combat with someone else at the moment.

An expert fighter might be able to take them on but I'm no fighter.

I had been able to defeat monsters with my disintegrating body during the invasion, and it worked because those beasts were dumb.

I don't even know if I can still cause things to disintegrate, but it seems unlikely.

THUUD!

BAAM!

Tremors resounded throughout the forest as the two beasts faced off, I could see trees falling in the distance while I was still running away.

Yet just as I was about to start rejoicing, a lot of beasts came into view with all of them having one thing in common.

They were running away.

They were running with so much fear that they didn't take note of my existence.

I could see brown-colored monkeys jumping from tree to tree, foxes with red-colored skin and white-furred rabbits.

It seemed those two were the heavyweights of this forest if the others were scared of them to this extent.

I sped up trying to move away from the pack of beasts, but I forgot one little detail and then;

THUUD! CREAK! CRASH!

I bumped into another tree causing it to crack and fall over while I also accumulated fractures…again…"

RUFFLE RUFFLE

Yet with all this happening, the fleeing beasts didn't even blink an eye and continued forward. 

Not long after, everything became silent, all the beasts had run away.

CRACK!

"Ouch!" I said as I quickly got back on my feet while it was still being healed and attempted to continue running before a voice rang out

[Wait]

"Huh, why?" I asked, feeling startled.

[Where's the ring that Gaia gave you]

"Right here" I said as I pulled out a silver colored ring from my pockets, that was when I noticed my torn clothes.

The edges of my shirt's sleeve had torn off with my trousers slightly torn at the kneecap, but I couldn't worry about that right now.

[Eat it]

"Say what now"

[Eat it, trust me]

"O-okay" I said as I threw it into my mouth while expecting my teeth to crack, yet surprisingly... nothing happened.

"Hmm, Xenon, is that it?" Yet the answer came in form of a notification;

[Structural Evolution is in effect]

[Rare-rank Space ring detected]

[Beginning assimilation…]

[Common-rank Dagger detected]

[Assimilating…]

[Information Cube detected]

[Assimilating…]

"AHH!" I shouted while clutching my head as a wave of pain assaulted my brain while it received information.

"Haaah...Haaah...Haaah" I kept gasping for air .

My skin had gotten sweaty as my brain re-calibrated the info I just received.

"Tutorial..." I murmured as I went through the info. 

Gaia had sent me to the tutorial, a place filled with monsters and treasures saying we should treat it as Pseudo-Equilibrium.

We are to stay here for five months, and each month a new task would be given to us to complete, but she didn't specify the "us" she was talking about.

Only after passing these tests, can one be allowed into equilibrium.

A dagger was also given to me as an initial weapon for hunting, nothing else.

I was to survive on my own, kill monsters and become stronger.

There was information about rewards the more beats we could kill, while a timer also appeared at the edge of my retina;

[4M:29D:21H:27M]

"This ain't gonna be easy" I said as I reminisced on how many times I thought I was gonna die.

"Speaking of which" I said as I tilted my head towards the sounds of fighting in the distance, the leopard and snake were still fighting.

It was then another notification hit me;

[Assimilation complete]

[You have gained "Space affinity"]

[You have gained "Storage space"]

[You have comprehended a small amount in "Space Law"]

[Due to low tier "Space Law" has been sealed]

[You have gained the skill "Mental Fortitude"]

[You have gained the skill "Pain resistance"]

[You have gained "knowledge on daggers"]

"Woah," I said as I felt changes in the things around me, no rather I felt myself changing.

[Looks like it worked]

"What do you mean?"

[After looking through your memories, I found out that most of your abilities stem from the void]

[So I began to study it while continuously going through your memories till the incident of closing the scorpion gate]

[I determined that the void attribute had effect or should I say influence the space attribute]

[So I had you try eating an item that holds literal space in it to see the effects]

"So you used me as a guinea pig without my permission?!" I didn't know why, but I was infuriated.

[Dude, we're one and the same and besides it couldn't actually hurt you]

"Still, you coul-" I didn't get to finish because a loud boom came from the area where the two monsters were fighting.

"Let's get away from here first." I said with the intention to run, before I abruptly stopped when a voice rang out in my mind"

[Wait]

"What is it this time?" I asked 

[They might be a way for us to capitalize on this opportunity]

"I'm listening..."