The morning mist curled around Qin Hong's ankles as he knelt by the riverbank, scrubbing three days' worth of grime from his skin. The cold mountain water sent shivers up his spine, but the discomfort was a small price to pay for feeling human again. His discarded clothes y in a heap nearby, the fabric stiff with dried blood and sweat from yesterday's battle with the titanopithecus.
"Ahhh! Now this is living!" Qin Hong whooped as he plunged into a deeper pool, the water washing away both filth and fatigue. For the first time since arriving on Hedel Isle, he allowed himself a moment of pure, uncomplicated joy. The river's current massaged sore muscles as schools of iridescent fish darted between his legs—their scales fshing like submerged jewels in the dawn light.
Emerging refreshed, Qin Hong returned to his makeshift camp where the giant egg he'd found earlier sat nestled in the embers. The shell—now charred bck—cracked open to reveal albumen that shimmered with an almost unnatural pearlescence. The first bite sent an explosion of fvor across his tongue—richer than chicken, creamier than duck, with an earthy undertone that spoke of the isnd's strange ecology.
"Damn, what id this thing?" he muttered between ravenous mouthfuls. Halfway through his feast, a disturbing thought surfaced. The egg was nearly the size of a beach ball—what kind of creature would produce such an egg? His chewing slowed as he scanned the surrounding canopy for any signs of enormous wings or cws.
Shaking off the unease, Qin Hong turned his attention to more pressing matters. Wiping yolk from his chin, he mentally cataloged his progress:
1. **Close-quarters combat proficiency** - Adequate against rge, slow targets 2. **Spatial severance precision** - Improved but still inconsistent 3. **Absolute Domain development** - Nonexistent 4. **Survival skills** - Passable if one ignored the dinosaur fiasco
The gring weakness remained his attack range. Against the titanopithecus, he'd needed to get dangerously close to nd decisive blows. Against something like the Tyrannosaurus...
A distant tremor interrupted his thoughts. The rhythmic thumping grew louder—something massive moving through the undergrowth. Qin Hong dove behind a moss-covered boulder just as the forest erupted.
Five meters of bristled fury burst into the clearing. The creature resembled a wild boar only in the loosest sense—its armored hide was closer to a rhinoceros's, and the curved tusks protruding from its snout could have skewered a compact car. Nostrils fred as it sniffed the air, beady eyes scanning for the source of the egg theft.
*That's no boar,* Qin Hong thought, pressing himself ftter against the stone. *That's a goddamn siege engine.*
The beast's head snapped toward his hiding pce. With a sound like shattering timber, it charged.
---
What followed was less a battle and more a demolition derby. The boar demolished everything in its path—centuries-old trees toppled like dominos, boulders shattered into shrapnel. Qin Hong's lungs burned as he zigzagged through the destruction, relying on his newfound agility to stay one step ahead.
An idea crystallized during a desperate leap over a fallen log. If spatial severance could bisect objects... why not create portals?
The next charge came with terrifying inevitability. Instead of dodging, Qin Hong stood his ground. At the st possible second, he summoned Voidbde and sshed vertically—not at the boar, but at the air before it. Reality split like a curtain, revealing swirling chromatic energies. The boar had no time to stop.
Its front half vanished into the rift.
Qin Hong pivoted and cut horizontally—a second portal yawned open twenty meters to the left. The boar's hindquarters tumbled out mid-stride, momentum carrying it into a tree with enough force to crack the trunk.
"Gotcha!" Qin Hong crowed—then froze. His communicator buzzed violently.
Guann's holographic projection appeared, shirtless and seething. Behind him, the cabin y in ruins—and impaled on the wreckage was the boar's front half, still twitching.
"Care to expin?!" Guann's voice could have fsh-frozen va.
Qin Hong's grin turned sheepish. "Uh... surprise delivery?"
The connection terminated with a sizzle.
---
Three hours and one rebuilt cabin ter, Qin Hong perched atop a giant sequoia, observing the reconstruction efforts through a spygss fashioned from hollowed bone. Guann moved with supernatural efficiency—felled trees levitated into pce, joints fused by precise lightning strikes. Even at this distance, the scowl was visible.
*Time for phase two.*
Another spatial rift opened. Another boar charged through.
This one took out the newly erected support beams in a shower of splinters. Somewhere in the forest shadows, feminine ughter echoed—cut short by the sound of grinding teeth and shattering porcein.
---
By dusk, Qin Hong had perfected the technique. His "Spatial Leap" allowed near-instantaneous travel across the isnd—though the disorientation upon arrival remained problematic, as evidenced by his still-throbbing nose from face-pnting into a log earlier.
More importantly, he'd discovered the key to controlling destinations: mental focus. Visualizing a location with absolute crity determined the exit point. The implications were staggering—with enough practice, he might traverse continents in a single step.
A crackling firelight danced across his face as he roasted boar haunch on a spit. The meat sizzled, fat dripping into fmes that momentarily fred blue—some quirk of the isnd's chemistry. Overhead, unfamiliar consteltions wheeled in a sky untouched by light pollution.
Far away, Guann y on his rebuilt porch, staring at those same stars. The night's quiet brought unwelcome memories—of another prodigy who'd mastered spatial manipution, of promises made and broken. The breeze carried the faintest hint of jasmine, gone before he could be certain it wasn't imagination.
Both men, separated by miles of primordial wilderness, found their thoughts drifting to futures yet unwritten—one with anticipation, the other with quiet dread.
