The wind tore past Fad Xu's face as he sprinted forward, his hair trailing like a streak of black fire behind him. His muscles burned, the ache of training fresh and sharp, yet Qi raced through his body like liquid flame, refreshing him with every breath.
Fatigue should've stopped him.
It didn't.
The Qi energy didn't just numb the pain, it amplified him. His speed surged. His stride lengthened. The forest blurred around him, green streaks parting as if fearing to stand in his way.
He wasn't running.
He was zapping through the trees like lightning crashing through stormclouds, and the system screen didn't hesitate to remind him the ground he had covered, and how far he needed to go.
[Quest progress.]
[A path to strength quest (daily)]
{1. Push-ups: 100/100}
{2. Squats: 100/100}
{3. Curl-ups: 100/100}
{4. Run: 230M/10KM}
But Fad didn't read it.
He couldn't.
His mind echoed with a single thought, looping like war drums behind his eyes:
'Get there! Receive the prize! Get there! Receive the prize!'
Branches snapped ahead.
"Help! Somebody! Please!" The scream called again.
It was closer, not as distant as before, making Fad's heart to pound even more louder as he dash forward at a more terrifying speed, using the Qi to power his legs.
'is this it? Is this really the power of Qi?' Fad's lips curved to a smile as he zapped through the forest, amazed by the capabilities of Qi.
It was amazing, making him to feel stronger at least once in his life.
[Quest progress.]
[A path to strength quest (daily)]
{1. Push-ups: 100/100}
{2. Squats: 100/100}
{3. Curl-ups: 100/100}
{4. Run: 300M/10KM}
Fad Skidded to a halt the moment the text displayed. Not far from him stood a girl, injured, weak and surrounded by seven lust spiders.
She had a beautiful golden spear weakly gripped in her hand, ancient and powerful in nature, but she wasn't able to utilize it to defend herself after being struck by the lust spider, on the side of her leg.
She looked weak, desperate for help, but the moment Fad's eyes landed on her, his heart skipped a beat.
"She is a true beauty! More beautiful than Meng." Fad muttered, dazed by the girl's beauty.
She was a seventeen year old young girl with a beauty that could provoke wars between empires. Her skin was pale white, flawless, and seemed to glow gently in the light; luminescent against the shadow of battle.
Long, jet-black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall in moonlight, swaying with every trembling breath.
Her eyes were a haunting crimson, sharp and brilliant like twin rubies caught in flame. They held strength, fear, and something else, something untamed.
A light green hanfu dress clung delicately to her figure, flowing like mist over moonlight. Though modest in design, it moved with a sculpted grace, silk brushing against skin, whispering along her curves with the elegance of a blade hidden in beauty. It revealed only what it must: two slender arms trembling with effort, and two long, graceful legs, shaking, dusted with dirt and blood, yet so arresting in poise that even a saint would falter.
"Help!" the girl screamed again, snapping Fad Xu out of his daze like a whip cracking through fog.
His eyes sharpened.
No hesitation.
He shot forward, kicking off the forest floor, his Qi-imbued legs launching him into a leap that cleared the nearest spider in an arc of silent precision.
It wasn't small, this thing was massive, nearly the size of a wild dog with glistening black limbs and a bloated scarlet abdomen that pulsed like something alive and angry. Its fangs dripped a thread of luminous venom, hissing as it scuttled toward the wounded girl.
Fad's hand reached out mid-air. She still gripped the golden spear; but barely. Her fingers trembled, blood trickling from the gash in her leg, and with a swift motion, he slid the weapon from her grasp the moment it touched his fingers
Suddenly, something ignited within him.
A pulse.
A bond.
His feet landed hard. He spun, spear low, then thrust it upward, slicing through the spider's bloated chest with a single, clean strike.
The creature let out a choked screech before collapsing.
Lifeless!
[A novice rank Lust Spider defeated]
[+5 EXP]
Crimson letters flashed across his mind, but he barely registered them.
The next spider lunged from behind—a blur of twitching legs. Fad pivoted, ducking low as a web whipped over his head like a snare. Without thinking, his body rolled beneath the creature and jabbed upward into its belly.
Spear met flesh. The spider screamed.
[A novice rank Lust Spider defeated]
[+5 EXP]
Another came from the trees, leaping down in a frenzy. Fad side-stepped with inhuman precision, the spear twirling in his hand as if it had trained with him for years. He drove it through the spider's head just as it tried to pounce.
Flesh crunched. Legs thrashed.
Gone.
[A novice rank Lust Spider defeated]
[+5 EXP]
Three down.
The fourth hissed, spitting a wide fan of sticky silk toward his chest. Fad rotated the spear, using its flat edge to swipe the web aside. His feet danced—left, back, then forward again. A blur. A slash.
Dead.
[A novice rank Lust Spider defeated]
[+5 EXP]
Two more scuttled at him together.
He didn't flinch.
His legs shifted, one bent low, the other stretched behind as his body twisted in mid-turn. The spear glinted—then shot out in two precise arcs, piercing the first spider's face, then swinging into the side of the second.
Both collapsed.
No mercy.
No waste.
[2 novice rank Lust Spiders defeated]
[+10 EXP]
Only one remained.
It stood taller than the rest, venom dripping from its claws, eyes narrowed with a predator's hunger. It fired a burst of web toward Fad's legs.
He flipped over it.
Mid-air, spear behind him, eyes wide as his body twisted around for the strike—
"What... am I even doing?" he whispered to himself, confused.
"I've never trained with a spear—how is this even possible?"
His body responded, not him.
The moment he landed, his feet slid into stance, his palm adjusted grip, and his arm drove the weapon forward with the force of a thunderclap.
The final spider didn't get to scream.
It crumpled—shuddering once—and then went still.
[A novice rank Lust Spider defeated]
[+5 EXP]
`[Exp:40/50]
The text displayed.
Fad staggered back, his chest rising and falling. The system flashed:
[Combat instincts synced]
[Latency: 0.3%]
[Adaptability: High]
He stared at his hands, still gripping the golden spear. They trembled—not with fear, but with awe.
The girl, breathing hard, looked up at him through strands of wind-swept hair, half unconscious, half conscious.
Fad didn't speak.
He simply turned toward her—and for the first time, felt what it meant to rise. But... Suddenly...
The forest went silent.
Not peaceful—hollow. Like something ancient had stepped into the clearing, and even the wind refused to whisper in its presence.
Fad Xu had barely taken two steps toward the girl when his skin prickled. Not from cold, but pressure. Crushing, oppressive pressure. His Qi flared instinctively, tightening in his veins like a shield ready to break.
A tree branch cracked behind him.
He turned slowly, every instinct screaming.
[Alert! Intermediate-tier Beast detected]
[Additional Quest: Survive]
{Reward: ???}
[Impossible Quest: Defeat the Beast]
{Reward: !?!?!?]
His heart sank.
There—emerging through the twisted underbrush—was a spider unlike the ones he'd just slain. Towering, grotesque, and silent.
It wasn't a predator. It was a terror.
Its limbs were twice the length of Fad's own body, serrated with jagged edges that cut the ground as it moved. Each step left a shallow crater in the soil, and the forest beneath it decayed—roots withering under its touch.
Its body wasn't bloated like the novice spiders. It was lean. Armored. The deep purple exoskeleton shimmered in jagged plates, glowing faintly with runic pulses. Scars ran down its abdomen, branded with markings that hinted at battles survived, enemies vanquished.
And its eyes…
Six of them. Black voids—no reflection, no emotion. Just hunger. Quiet, calculating hunger.
From its mandibles hung strands of thick violet webbing, dripping with toxic heat. The air around it warped slightly, like Qi itself was bending to avoid contact. Every breath Fad took felt heavier, like the creature was siphoning courage directly from his lungs.
Even the girl behind him, still too injured to stand, recoiled slightly. Her golden spear trembled in Fad's grip—not from weakness, but from recognition.
This wasn't a fight. This was a warning.
The spider didn't lunge. It just stared, its body curled slightly like a bow drawn but not yet released.
Fad didn't speak. He didn't blink.
He simply stepped back slowly, instincts pulsing behind his eyes like sirens. But suddenly, while stepping back, his legs stepping on a dry brunch, breaking it, and making the spider produce a chilling sound as it thew a web towards Fad.