Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke sprinted through the forest, chased by a group of Thai hunters. Arrows hissed past him, forcing him to abandon his pack. All he had left was a single dagger.

“Get that bastard! He killed Kiet while running!”

He dove into the river, staying submerged with the blade ready.

“He crossed the river!”

The moment one of them jumped in after him, Luke surged up from the water behind the man and struck. The body fell limp, drifting with the current.

[You have slain a human…]

Footsteps pounded behind him. Luke turned just as more arrows flew his way. He hauled the corpse in front of him, letting it absorb the shots. When the archer’s quiver ran dry, Luke hurled his dagger. It hit the man’s leg, dropping him with a cry. He closed the distance, grabbed one of the fallen arrows, and drove it into him. A brief struggle, then silence. He retrieved his knife.

[You have slain a human…]

He picked up the man’s bow. “Now we’re talking.”

“Where is he? I heard someone scream!”

Luke grabbed the archer’s quiver, pulled the arrows free from the floating body, and slipped into the treeline. When he heard movement deeper in the woods, he climbed a tree, dagger between his teeth.

He drew the bow and took aim.

“Damn it… the bastard killed two more,” one of them said while checking the bodies. A companion stepped beside him.

“Yut’s gonna lose it when he hears about this,” the other muttered. ℴ

Luke released the string. The first man collapsed with an arrow in his back. The second barely had time to register it before another arrow struck him.

[You have slain a human…]

The last man dove into the river, splashing wildly. Luke had already loosed another shot, catching him in the leg. He dropped from the tree and followed the trail of blood in the water, waiting until the man’s head broke the surface again.

“Move wrong and you die,” Luke warned, bow trained on him. “Now swim to the shore. Slowly.”

“You shouldn’t have messed with Yut,” the man stammered. “He’ll hunt you down.”

“I don’t care about the guy who sticks his balls in your— never mind.” Luke shot him in the arm, making him gasp. “Get to the damn shore before the next one goes between your eyes.”

The man obeyed, trembling and cursing under his breath. Luke took his gear, emptied the quiver, snapped the man’s bow in half, and made him retrieve the arrows from the bodies drifting nearby.

“Thanks for the bow and the arrows. I’ll take these over that crossbow any day.”

The man spat an insult.

Luke pressed his boot lightly on the arrow lodged in his leg, making him flinch. “Tell your boss Yut I’m coming for him… and anyone else who gets in my way.”

The man barely had time to glare before Luke knocked him out with a kick. High above, something glinted against the sky. Luke watched it fall, leaves rustling as it descended.

“So that’s how the chests drop in this place.”

***

As he approached the chest, a thin blue smoke curled up from its seams. After scouting the area one last time, Luke stepped closer.

[Skill Chest Found!]

[Three skills will be randomly selected from your skill history. You may choose one of the options shown.]

He tapped to continue.

[Skills selected! You may only hold two skills during this island zone. Choose wisely!]

[Three skills available. Select one.]

The options unfolded before him.

[Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)]: You have attained colossal knowledge of plants and herbs across the multiverse. Nature and the sentient life born from it are among the oldest manifestations of creation, and you are now one of the rare few who understand their deepest secrets. Your mastery over botanical properties transcends common knowledge, reaching an instinctive and intellectual precision so refined that you can identify species not yet cataloged. Your connection with flora is so intimate and rooted that it no longer depends on external tools. Your Identify skill reveals any plant at a single glance, regardless of origin, rarity, or complexity.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

[Twin Blade (Common)]: A skilled assassin never wastes a throw. When you hurl a knife, it splits mid-air, creating a duplicate that mirrors the original’s path, doubling your chances of landing a hit.

[Demonic Perception (Uncommon)]: Your demonic bloodline sharpens your senses, allowing you to excel in darkness. Perception is heightened, making ambushes in dark or concealed environments far less effective. At higher levels, you’ll be able to detect magical distortions and invisible presences.

He made his decision.

[You have unlocked the skill: Demonic Perception]

Darkness loosened its grip around him. Shapes in the shadows sharpened. Depth and detail returned where before there had only been black. Luke left the clearing and moved on.

[Skill limit for this Zone has been reached! Survive the upcoming challenges to unlock the next Island Zone.]

Maybe in the other zones I’ll be able to gather more skills.

Night had already fallen, and he had only a few hours left to find a yellow bracelet before the challenge came to an end.

***

Luke tore through the forest, lungs burning, vision sharper now than it had been minutes ago. He had less than an hour to get his hands on a yellow bracelet.

First Bracelet: Yellow Bracelet

Scattered throughout the island’s forest, there are 1500 yellow bracelets. Find yours… or take one from someone who already has it.

[Time Remaining: 0 Days : 0 Hours : 43 Minutes : 09 Seconds]

His back throbbed where the arrow had hit earlier, the hastily cauterized wound pulsing with heat. Up ahead, a faint golden shimmer flickered between the trees. He could hear others sprinting through the underbrush too. No one wanted to find out what happened when the timer hit zero and their arm was still bare.

Luke reached the light at the same moment two others did.

“No, no, no,” one man muttered, almost sobbing. “I can’t die. The bracelet has to be mine!”

He hurled something at Luke and the other guy. The bottle burst in midair, blossoming into fire. Luke dove aside, bracing himself behind a tree.

“None of us wants to see what happens when that countdown hits zero without a bracelet, right?” the second man said from somewhere close, hidden.

“Something like that,” Luke murmured, nocking an arrow.

He aimed toward the voice, but the man had vanished. Then the ground quivered under his feet. The attacker erupted from the soil with a knife in hand. Luke twisted away, but the blade tore across his stomach. The man spun toward him again. Luke leapt, grabbed a hanging vine, and swung wide. The moment he landed behind the attacker, he fired. The man gasped, sank into the earth, and disappeared.

“Damn it.” Luke pressed a hand to the fresh wound. His HP wasn’t regenerating here.

He climbed a tree for a better view.

Farther ahead, the bottle-thrower crept toward the yellow glow. The ground shuddered. The wounded man Luke had shot burst out of the soil behind him. They tumbled across the forest floor. The bottle-thrower exhaled a puff of green mist into his attacker’s face, who screamed and bolted into the darkness.

“I got it, I got it,” the man said breathlessly as he reached for the golden light. Something snorted. He froze. “Oh no.”

A heartbeat later, a massive bulk tore out of the dark. A huge rhinoceros slammed into him, killing him instantly. Impaled on its horn was the yellow bracelet.

Of course it wouldn’t be easy.

The creature bellowed, smashing through trees as it charged. The man who could burrow fled, vanishing underground again. Luke uncorked a flask he’d filled earlier with snake venom and coated the tips of his arrows. He sprang to another tree and started firing at the rhino. The creature went berserk, ramming the trunk he perched on. Bark exploded.

Luke jumped to the next tree, loosing arrows whenever he could. Some bounced off its hide. Others dug in. He grabbed a vine and swung, landing hard on a rock. The rhino thundered straight toward him. Luke fired again and again until the beast staggered, collapsed, and rolled. He drew one last arrow, aimed, and released.

[You have slain a Bracelet Guardian: Lvl 63]

His breath finally steadied. Luke pried the bracelet free from the dead rhino’s horn.

[User recognized!]

[Awakening Island Point System!]

What the hell?

[Each action you take on the island grants (IP) Island Points! You may exchange these points for something special at the end of the island challenge.]

***

[Time Remaining: 0 Days : 0 Hours : 00 Minutes : 01 Seconds]

[Time Remaining: 0 Days : 0 Hours : 00 Minutes : 00 Seconds]

[The Yellow Bracelet Challenge has ended! If you failed to obtain yours, don’t worry. You can always claim one from a participant who has it.]

“I’m alive… I can’t believe it. I didn’t die as punishment,” a man whispered, crouched behind a tree.

An arrow punched into his stomach.

“Shit! No!”

Another shot came from the brush, slamming into him. He toppled over, gasping, just in time for a third arrow to bury itself in his arm.

“You shouldn’t have tried to kill me,” Luke muttered, loosing the final shot.

[You have slain a human…]

He finally took down the bastard who had put a hole in his gut. Luke let himself collapse onto the wet ground. Exhaustion had won hours ago, but now it dragged him down completely. Rain pattered over the clearing, and thunder rolled like something alive across the sky.

“One week… it’s only been one damn week.”

[Health Points (HP): 1403/4240]

He was hurt, barely hanging on, and still nowhere close to reaching the three-month deadline of the island challenge. And this was only Stage 1 out of three stages for Event 51.

[The Green Bracelet Challenge is now available!]

Luke forced himself upright and pulled the arrows from the corpse, pocketing anything usable. Securing the yellow bracelet had shown him something else: the leaderboard was filled with people far more dangerous than he’d expected.

“I’m getting out of this place alive.”