I wasn't fully healed.
The burns from the fireball still throbbed beneath the skin, and the raw patches across my arm and chest tightened every time I moved. Lesser Regeneration was slow, but it worked. It kept me walking.
So I hunted.
I stalked the forest with a limp, chasing weaker prey—Needle Rabbits, Feathered Moles, and once, a half-blind Sticky Frog that had wandered too close to the edge of its territory. They weren't difficult kills. They barely reacted at all.
That was when I noticed it.
The creatures looked at me and froze. Their limbs slowed, their bodies trembled, but not out of instinct or fear. It felt like something was pressing down on them. Like they were being held still by force.
It wasn't magic. Not any I had cast.
There was only one explanation: Domination.
I still didn't know how to activate it. No command. No screen. But now, when I approached weaker beings, they hesitated. They stumbled. Their eyes glazed over as if something inside them had already given up.
Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was my magicule aura. Or maybe the skill had simply awakened on its own, triggered by my growth. I didn't know. And it didn't matter.
They couldn't run.
For the next week, I hunted every day. I ate well. I trained with what remained of my weapons. The fire had cost me my spear, so I practiced with sharpened branches and stones. It wasn't enough. But my body moved cleaner now. Faster. Stronger.
I killed until I couldn't remember how many had fallen. Each fight added weight to the power building in my chest.
And then, on the seventh day, it happened.
As I drove a crude spear through the skull of a venom-fanged hare, the warmth surged. The System spoke.
Level Up!You have reached Level 24.Intelligence +2Strength +1
Level Up!You have reached Level 25.Intelligence +2Endurance +1
The forest around me grew silent.
No more System messages. No more prey nearby. Only the final screen lingered before me, glowing with soft, golden light.
Race Evolution Available
My body was still recovering. The burns were nearly gone, though the pain returned when I pushed too hard. But I could move. I could kill. I had survived the snake. I had reached the threshold.
And now, the next door had opened.
The weak goblin who once crawled out of a crumbling village was gone.
What came next was up to me.