"Vitality Collapse."

The spell didn't explode outward, it went inward, forced directly into the lion's system through physical contact. It went deep, straight into it's core...

The lion froze.

Its eyes widened with something it had never felt before, fear.

Its heart pulsed once, violently. The mana core that surrounded it, five radiant rings of compressed power, trembled, flickered… and cracked.

[The Golden Mane Lion Has Lost Connection to Its Core!]

[Its Pride Is Collapsing!]

[Its Instinct Detects Death!]

The beast knew.

Something had gone horribly wrong. There would be no second rebirth. No regaining strength.

For a brief, horrifying instant, its entire body swelled with uncontrolled energy, like a sun trying to fit inside a cage of flesh.

Then...

BOOM!!!!!

The lion detonated.

Not just its body, its vitality, its core, its very existence ruptured outward like a nuclear blast of life force and golden flame.

The explosion this time was far greater than before. Wider. Deeper. Hotter.

A colossal mushroom cloud erupted into the sky, golden fire curling into the heavens like a divine pillar. Shockwaves cracked the earth, tearing open fault lines. The world itself trembled.

The forest didn't burn. It ceased. Everything within range was vaporized. The atmosphere shook under the weight of unleashed energy.

And Bruce stood less than a meter away, unmoving.

The blast washed over him like wind through fabric, coat fluttering, hair shifting, expression calm. His eyes reflected the inferno without urgency, without awe, just quiet acknowledgement.

He exhaled.

'While I could've ignored the core and let it cycle through the remaining rings… why waste time, when I can end it now?'

The lion had been a challenge, but nothing more than one.

With everything he had access to, there was hardly anything in this VR capable of killing him.

'In the end, while S-Ranks are troublesome opponents… they still stand no chance against me.'

Bruce exhaled slowly, letting the last traces of battle tension fade. This beast was different from the weakened S-Ranked he'd fought before, this one had possessed true S-Rank strength. And the fact that he could match that level while still being classified as an A-Rank awakened…

Yeah. That only made him more confident about this entire trial.

Then the notifications arrived, one after another.

[You've killed a true S-Ranked beast!]

[Congratulations. You've gained the title: The Anomaly.]

[You've gained 100,000 points!]

[Your total points: 114,678.]

Bruce blinked, then smiled. 'This night is a great night…'

The flames from the explosion finally died down. Smoke drifted away, and the shattered savannah slowly revealed itself again.

As Bruce looked across the devastated clearing, he noticed something else, the moon was retreating behind the horizon… and the sun was beginning to rise.

He paused, watching it in silence.

The end of destruction. The beginning of a new day.

Beautiful, in its own violent way.

Soon, the moon had fully vanished and the morning sun replaced it, washing the land in bright heat.

'My fight against the lion really lasted that long, huh…' Bruce sighed as he walked back through the broken terrain toward where the cave used to be. The explosion had reduced it to rubble.

He kicked away a few loose boulders and finally uncovered the thing he actually cared about: his hyena-skin mattress.

He picked it up, dusted it off, and muttered, annoyed:

'Sigh… that Golden Mane pelt would've made a perfect upgrade. Especially the mane. That would've been the ideal pillow…'

For the first time during the entire fight, Bruce looked genuinely regretful, not about danger, not about effort, about losing a luxury mattress he could've crafted.

He low-key regretted blowing the lion to bits. Maybe letting it use the other mana rings and get stronger before killing it would've been the better option. At least then he could've harvested the fur intact.

But it was too late now.

So Bruce walked away from the ruined battlefield, searching for a place to sleep. The lion had interrupted his night, and even though it was now daybreak, his body still felt the pull of drowsiness.

Eventually, he found a giant baobab tree, one large enough to form a natural sleeping space between its branches. Not the comfiest bed in the world, but good enough.

He laid out the mattress, got comfortable, and within seconds… he was out.

Hours later, Bruce woke up refreshed, fully recovered, physically and mentally. He rolled up the mattress, strapped his daggers onto his waist, and started hunting again.

And now, with the strength he'd gained from adapting to the Golden Mane Lion…

He was stronger. Faster. Sharper.

He covered more territory than before, hunted even stronger beasts, and by the end of the day, he'd earned over 30,000 additional points.

While Bruce moved like a silent predator across the savannah, the outside world was reacting to the number that appeared on the leaderboard,

100,000 points.

It sent shockwaves through the recruits.

Nobody understood it. Nobody believed it.

Some called it a glitch. Others said the system bugged. But everyone grew terrified.

Even Jean.

She'd been trying her hardest, pushing herself to the limit. She was at 25,000 points now, far more than most recruits. But the difference between her and Bruce… was a canyon.

She had already begun to realize something: Bruce didn't just kill Ozai. He surpassed him so casually that she didn't know how to feel anymore.

As these thoughts churned through her mind, most recruits made the same decision:

They would not go near Bruce. Not now. Not ever.

Meanwhile, Bruce continued hunting until midnight, then settled down for one last night of rest.

His heart thumped with quiet excitement.

Because tomorrow…

It wouldn't be beasts he was hunting.

It would be the recruits.

Every single one of them now held at least 10,000 points. Three days in, they'd all become fat, stocked-up targets.

Tomorrow, the real farming would begin.

As for Jean… she was doing her best. But 25,000 points was nothing compared to what Bruce had become.

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