Thirty minutes later, Henry reached the eastern outskirts of Arcadia City.
As he entered the vast suburbs, the crystalline architectures thinned gradually as the residential and commercial districts gave way to wider, less decorated streets. The roads here were built for utility rather than aesthetics, lined with low industrial structures and maintenance facilities rather than the soaring frost-spire towers that defined the city's skyline. The bioluminescent pathways were faded, replaced by standard composite pavement, and the hover car traffic was reduced to a trickle.
Henry strolled along the empty road until he finally arrived at his destination. He stood before a massive, heavily fortified perimeter fence constructed from reinforced steel and energy barriers. And beyond the fence, a dense canopy of forest stretched out as far as the eye could see.
This was an Hunting Ground.
In this world, Hunting Grounds were highly regulated, cordoned-off forest sites designed to contain magical beasts and prevent them from spilling into civilian territory. They were a cornerstone of the global economy and a feature of every major city. Hunters ventured into these enclosed zones to hunt the beasts within… mostly F to B-rank monsters. The truly dangerous A-rank beasts were usually found much deeper in the uncharted, un-fenced jungles of the world, while the mythical S-rank creatures were anomalies that appeared only once every few decades.
The primary reason hunters risked their lives here wasn't for sport; it was for Mana Cores. Every magical beast possessed a crystallized core of pure energy within its body. These cores, alongside the beasts' hides and other specific parts, were the foundational materials used to forge weapons, armor, and the advanced technology that powered modern civilization. The sheer demand for mana cores made hunting one of the most profitable professions in existence. An hunter could earn more in a week of active work than most conventional occupations provided in a month.
But Henry wasn't here for profit. With five million credits sitting in his pocket, money was irrelevant. He was here to farm Exp.
During his late-night research, he had discovered three major Hunting Grounds bordering Arcadia City. One of them was currently closed for emergency maintenance. And out of the two remaining options, he chose this one simply because it was a thirty-minute walk from the Glacier Palace. If he had sprinted, it would have taken seconds, but he needed to conserve his Stamina.
Henry pushed open the glass doors of the small lobby building situated just outside the massive gates of the hunting ground. It served as a reception and assessment center where Hunters were required to verify their identities before entering the forest.
The lobby was empty, save for a rugged man in his mid-thirties sitting behind a reinforced counter. The guard was entirely absorbed in a glowing holographic screen projected from his wristband.
Henry walked right up to the counter and snapped his fingers sharply. "Hey," he called out.
The man sighed lazily, pulling his attention away from the screen. He looked down at the teenager standing before him, his expression instantly twisting into a dismissive frown.
"What do you want, kid?" he asked, sounding displeased to have been disturbed.
"I'm here to hunt," Henry said, his voice flat and steady.
The man scoffed, letting out a harsh, patronizing laugh. "Are you nuts? Does this look like a playground to you?" he snickered. "Where are your parents? Do they know you're here, trying to get yourself killed?"
"That is none of your concern," Henry replied flatly, his eyes locking onto the man's face. "Just open the gate and let me pass."
The guard's amusement vanished, replaced by a flash of anger at the kid's cocky attitude. He leaned over the counter, glaring down. "Listen to me, you little brat. If you're looking for where to commit suicide, it ain't here. Go die somewhere else," he spat. "Cause you ain't getting in there. Hell, do you even have an hunting license?"
"I don't." Henry said calmly.
The man chuckled. "Then that's too bad. I can't let you in unless you have a registered Hunter's License," stated, a victorious grin spread across his face. "That's the rules."
Henry already knew this. A Hunter's License was a strict, universal requirement every hunter needed to have before they could be allowed to hunt. But rules were meant for ordinary people, and Henry didn't care to follow them.
"I don't need a license," he said smoothly. "My mother owns this city."
The man stared at him for a second, then burst into laughter. "Right! And I'm the King of the Vulcan Nation," he snickered mockingly. "Get lost, kid. And don't ever come back here."
Henry frowned, feigning a hint of impatience. "My mother is Felicity Myers. And if she finds out you deprived her son of what he wants, you might face some serious consequences."
The man didn't buy a single word of it. He stood up from his chair, rolling back the sleeves of his uniform to reveal thick, scarred forearms. "I already told you; Get out. I won't ask again," he said sharply.
Henry sighed. He smiled, raising his hands in a gesture of mock defeat. "Okay. Fine. I'll go." He took a half-step back, his smile turning into something cold. "But remember... I tried being nice. You brought this upon yourself."
The man furrowed his brow in confusion. "What the hell are you—"
BOOM.
Henry suddenly shot forward with explosive speed. The guard didn't even see a blur. And before his brain could register movement, a hand clamped onto the back of his neck with the crushing force of a hydraulic press. And with a brutal, effortless yank, Henry slammed the man's face directly into the counter.
BAM!
A sickening crack echoed through the lobby. Pain exploded in the man's skull, he cried out in agony. But Henry wasn't done. He hoisted the man up by his collar and drove his face down into the counter again.
And again. And again.
He moved with terrifying, mechanical rhythm, giving the man absolutely zero time to react, counter, or even scream. Blood splattered across the pristine surface of the desk. And when Henry finally stopped, the man was a disfigured, whimpering mess, his nose shattered and his eyes rolling back, teetering on the very edge of consciousness.
Henry let the man's head slump sideways. Then he grabbed the man's wristband, activating the holographic screen and navigating to the search bar. He typed in three words: Henry Myers, Arcadia.
The system pinged, pulling up a global registry profile. A crisp, high-definition photograph appeared in the search results. And the face in the photo was recognizably the same face Henry currently occupied
Henry grabbed the bleeding man by his hair, yanking his head back so he was forced to look at the glowing hologram. "Do you believe me now?" he whispered coldly.
Through bloodshot, swelling eyes, the guard saw the striking resemblance of the photo and the boy standing in from of him. He forced his eyes down to the text beneath the photo: Henry Myers. Son of Felicity Myers, Leader of the Glacial Order and Matriarch of Arcadia City.
The man's eyes blew wide open in sheer, absolute horror. The kid wasn't lying. He really was the son of Felicity Myers.
Instantly, the guard's survival instincts overrode his agony. He began pleading, his voice a gargled, desperate mess. "I-I'm sorry! Please! Please don't be angry! I didn't know you were the young master!" he begged. He didn't care about his broken face. He didn't care about the fact that Henry assaulted him. His original thought of calling the authorities vanished entirely. If Felicity Myers found out a low-level gate guard had threatened and insulted her only son, he wouldn't just lose his job. He would lose his head. That was the terrifying weight of Felicity's name.
He begged, clumsily trying to bow his head while Henry held him by the hair. "Please, don't tell your mother! I beg you!"
Henry grinned mischievously, releasing the man's hair and stepping back. "If you don't want me to tell her... then open the fucking gates."
The man nodded frantically, blood dripping from his chin as he scrambled blindly for the control panel under his desk. He slammed his bloody palm against the master switch.
A heavy mechanical groan vibrated through the floorboards. Outside, the massive steel blast gates of the Hunting Ground parted, opening just enough for a single person to slip through.
"See?" Henry smiled, wiping a speck of blood from his jacket. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
He turned and walked casually toward the exit.
"W-wait!" the guard gasped from behind the counter, clutching his face. "There are dangerous beasts in there! Y-you could get seriously hurt or killed! Aren't you scared?"
Henry didn't stop, nor did he look back. He simply kept walking. "Thanks for the concern, but…" he said over his shoulder, a grin spreading across his face. "…It's the beasts that should be scared of me."
He stepped out of the lobby and slipped through the gates heavy steel threshold. The moment he crossed the barrier, the gates slammed shut behind him with a resonant boom, locking him inside.
Henry stood at the edge of the dense, overgrown forest. He slid his hands into his pockets and exhaled a long breath of crisp air.
"Okay," he murmured to the silent trees. "Let's get this over with."
Then he headed into the dense woods.
Henry trekked through the thick underbrush for twenty minutes without spotting a single target. The forest was eerily quiet, the canopy above blocking out most of the morning sun.
Eventually, he stepped into a wide, open clearing… and that's when he felt something.
Henry stopped dead in his tracks. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He recognized the feeling instantly.
He was being watched.
Just then, a low, guttural growl vibrated from the dense foliage to his left. And from the bushes, two beasts stepped out into the clearing simultaneously.
They resembled the wolves he had encountered back in the forest on his first day in this world, but these were leaner, their fur a matted black, and their eyes burning with a rabid crimson light. These stood roughly shoulder-height to him, their builds dense and powerful without being grotesque.
They stared at Henry, but didn't charge immediately. Instead, they fanned out, circling him slowly, one moving to his front and the other flanking to his rear, assessing their prey.
Henry remained perfectly still, assessing them in return. These beasts were called Bloodhounds. And based on their size and relatively cautious behavior, his tactical mind cataloged them instantly: they were either F or E-rank.
Piece of cake.
With a mental command, a flash of dark energy rippled in his hand, and the obsidian A-rank dagger materialized in his grip. He didn't take a standard fighting stance. Instead, he dropped into a low, sideways profile, turning his torso so his peripheral vision could simultaneously track the wolf in front and the wolf behind.
The beasts took the shifting of his stance as a sign of weakness. And they attacked.
They lunged simultaneously… a perfectly coordinated pincer strike aimed at his throat and his spine.
Henry took a deep breath. Then he activated Accelerated Perception.
[-3 EP]
The world around him dropped to a fraction of its normal speed. The leaping wolves hung in the air, their jaws snapping open in slow motion, strings of saliva suspended in the gap between their fangs.
Henry waited until they were inches away. Then, he simply pivoted.
He stepped out of the deadly intersection at the very last second, and the wolves flew past where he had just been standing.
Then, he struck.
As the first wolf sailed past him, Henry brought the dagger up in a clean, effortless arc, slicing directly across its exposed throat. The blade sheared through fur and flesh with zero resistance, killing the beast instantly.
Without pausing, he spun on his heel, using his momentum to track the second wolf as it landed. Before the beast could even turn around, Henry moved like a blur and closed the distance within microseconds, then drove his dagger cleanly into the base of its skull, severing its spinal cord and dealing a single, fatal blow.
Both beasts hit the forest floor with a heavy thud, dead before they even realized they had missed.
Henry stood over the corpse of the beast, feeling a pang of satisfaction. He let out a soft exhale and deactivated accelerated perception.
[Ep: 14/20]
Silence returned to the clearing. Then the system chimed, filling Henry's vision with several messages.
DING!
[You have defeated a F-Rank Bloodhound]
[+20 Exp]
[You have defeated a F-Rank Bloodhound]
[+20 Exp]
[Total Exp Gained: +40]
[Exp: 110/100]
[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]
Henry stared at the last line of information, his lips curling into a smile. He had finally leveled up. But the system finished yet. More notifications arrived in a sequence, each line resolving before the next appeared.
[Level 1 >> Level 2]
[+2 points have been added to all physical attributes]
[Hp: 100 >> 200]
[Stamina: 70 >> 80]
[Ep: 20 >> 40]
[You have received +5 Stat Points]
[Exp: 10/250]
And then, at the bottom of the cascade, a separate notification appeared:
[New Skill Unlocked: Health Regeneration]
Henry's eyes widened slightly as a surge of warm energy washed over his body, flushing the fatigue from his muscles. He quickly read through the skill description.
[Health Regeneration (Passive)
*Description:
Continuously restores health points at a base rate of 5 Hp per second at current level. Rate increases with level progression.
Skill is effective against minor to moderate injuries. Cannot restore severed limbs or irreversible structural damage at current level.
*Cost: 1 Ep per 5 Hp (i.e 1 Ep per second)]
Henry read through the information twice. He was absolutely elated. Between his speed and now a passive healing factor, his survivability had just skyrocketed.
He closed the notification window and stood in the clearing with the morning light coming down through the canopy overhead.
Meanwhile, in the back of his mind, Miley had watched the entire battle sequence in stunned silence earlier. She had expected him to rely entirely on his speed to blitz the monsters. But he hadn't. He had barely used any Stamina at all. He had simply outmaneuvered them with perfect spatial awareness and struck fatal, calculated blows. And he hadn't even flinched during the fight. There was zero hesitation, zero fear.
She remembered how he had fought the Steelwolf days ago, how he had manipulated the fight with Emily… a highly trained prodigy, and nearly killed her. That's when she realized with a chilling clarity that this alter ego didn't just fight with raw stats. He fought with cold, unfeeling tactics.
For the first time since she had awoken in this host, Miley felt a genuine spark of interest in the monster sharing Henry's mind.
Just then, the system produced another notification.
[Mana Cores Detected!]
[Would you like to acquire the Bloodhounds' Mana Cores?]
"Yes," Henry replied.
Almost instantly, two blue glowing marble-sized balls materialized from the beasts' chests and vanished into his inventory.
[2 F-Rank Mana Cores have been added to the inventory]
Henry had no immediate use for cores, but he could think of an application later. He glanced at the intact corpses but decided to leave them to rot. He didn't need the money from harvesting their pelts either; he was already a millionaire.
He wiped the blood from his dagger and advanced deeper into the forest, looking for more beasts to kill.
Five minutes later, Henry pushed through a thick cluster of ferns and paused. Resting in a rocky alcove ahead were Five Bloodhounds. Three of them were standard F-ranks, but two of them were noticeably larger, suggesting they were E-ranks. Which means they were more stronger and would put up more of a fight than F-ranks.
Henry studied the configuration thoroughly. Five targets, with two different capability tiers, operating in a loose pack structure, where the two E-rank beasts were clearly the pack's leadership duo. But that didn't matter to him… he was going to kill them all.
He stepped into the clearing with a casual and confident stride. All five beasts noticed him and instantly rose to their feet, growling and making hostile sounds in displeasure at the intruder who had just wandered into their territory.
The three F-ranks advanced first, moving with the straightforward, uncomplicated physicality of creatures without enhanced capability, their builds similar to the pair he had just killed earlier.
The two E-ranks remained at the treeline. They were hanging back… either holding position as the leaders while the lower ranks engaged first, or they were simply being held in reserve.
Either way, the three F-ranks currently approaching him were the first problem.
Henry furrowed his brows, ready to engage. But before he could make a single move, the system screen suddenly popped up with a notification.
DING!
[New Random Quest Available]
[Objective: Eliminate the entire Bloodhound Pack.
*Reward: +100 Exp, One Giftbox]
A dark, thrilled smirk spread across Henry's face. With a thought, he reached into his inventory and summoned his energy pistol. The gun materialized into his left hand instantly, while the dagger remained in his right. He rolled the wrist once, feeling the dagger's grip settle.
"Alright," Henry whispered, his eyes tracking the three advancing beasts. "Bring it on."