A boy could be seen appearing out of a white vortex-like portal.
His face inside the mask was tense, but immediately after the teleportation, he took in a deep breath of relief.
"Phew! That could have been way worse!" Leon shuddered as he remembered his previous ordeal.
Thank whatever God was watching that those guys did not remove his mask.
They had wanted to talk, so he played along with them… talking without restraint, casually and freely, like he was chatting with a younger brother or an old friend. But the whole time, his mind was on overdrive—probing, learning, observing, peeling off layers of information from their words.
His plan was foolproof. Genius, even.
They didn't suspect a thing. Or maybe they did, but their pride made them laugh it off. After all, in the face of overwhelming power, what use were clever words?
But what did he do just now?
He proved that statement wrong!
However, before he could savor his little victory, a strange, sharp sense of foreboding overwhelmed him—and in the very next second—
WHACK!
A beast—no, a chicken—struck him from behind.
Not just any chicken.
A mutated one, its thick feathers shining with a subtle bronze glint. It was about the same height as him.
One vicious peck tore out a palm-sized chunk of flesh from Leon's back, and blood gushed like water from a broken pipe.
The pain was instant, hot, and savage—but before he could even react, the meat was already on its way down the beast's throat.
"What in the hell!" Leon blurted, instinctively spinning to face the attacker, ignoring the searing pain screaming down his spine.
Well… compared to the pain he felt during his System Awakening—and when he merged with the crystal—this was nothing. A mild sting.
He blinked.
What he saw was… a massive chicken. Over one and a half meters tall. Just a few inches taller than him. Its feathers were a blend of light red and brown patches, oddly sleek and intimidating.
Intimidating and breathtaking at the same time.
"Kuo! Kpuuuuuooo!" The chicken crowed in savage pride.
In the mortal world—or even the cultivation world—it had always been at the bottom of the food chain. So finding someone weaker than it was a moment of glory.
Leon had not tempered his body nor was he a Cultivator. It was child's play for the beast to rip off his flesh.
The chicken puffed its chest, flaring its wings wide as if to appear bigger and scarier. But Leon… didn't even flinch.
He wasn't paying attention to its posture. What held his gaze was the floating stat window above its head.
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
MUTATED CHICKEN (RED)
•─────⋅☾ Stats ☽⋅─────•
LVL: 1
HP: 100
Strength: 20
Stamina: 20
Agility: 20
Defense: 10
Intelligence: —
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
"What the fuck—a chicken!?" Leon exclaimed. "This is crazy…"
'Welcome to the Supreme Thief Dungeon, Master.'
"Fuck! This is how you welcome me?! So ungrateful!" Leon gritted his teeth.
"How am I supposed to kill that thing!?"
[Master, calm down.]
[Master, if you want to survive in this world, you must be strong. This system is your talent. Greater than anything this world has ever seen. If you want to grow, you must level up. And to level up… you must kill beasts. And many more. Don't let the mentality of a child slow you down. Also, note this—you will not leave this dungeon until you're Level 30.. without some base strength, stealing is impossible]
A familiar, monotonous voice rang in his mind.
Hearing that, Leon shook his head, lips twitching into a bitter smile. He had to survive.
'Sometimes I wonder… am I the Master here, or are you?'
'Forgive me Master.'
Sighing, Leon pulled out his father's dagger. It was the weapon he was most familiar with—short, balanced, and forged for speed. It had been his companion during his earliest training years.
His father taught him dagger combat when he was just eight. That was one year after the Qi Sensing Era had begun.
But ever since his father disappeared, all training had stopped. Even so… the knowledge hadn't left him.
He took a quick look at his surroundings.
Flat terrain. No place to hide.
The wind was light, but the open field gave no cover—only clear danger.
Then he noticed them.
Dozens of other mutated chickens rushing at him, feet clawing into the dry soil.
'Does the system really expect me to kill those!?'
Before he could even settle into his stance, the first chicken lunged again. Its attacks were relentless, brutal, and faster than he expected from something labeled Level 1.
Leon twisted, dodging left, then ducking—barely managing to avoid its beak.
All the teachings of his father were now being tested.
But the sound of the struggle—the flapping wings, screeches, and kicks—had begun to draw more attention.
Other beasts. All birds. Some walked, some flew. All hungry.
Leon's peripheral vision caught flashes of movement—more trouble was coming.
'This is still better than dealing with Cultivators. These birds might be strong, maybe around the level of a Body Tempering Stage 1 human.'
Seeing an opening, Leon struck—
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
MUTATED CHICKEN (RED)
HP: 99 (-1)
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
"Fuck! One strike removed only one percent? I'll have to hit it ninety-nine times! And it only needs to peck me nine to kill me! Not to mention the other chickens waiting to pounce!"
Leon clenched his jaw. 'This world is too unfair. But… I have to face it. I can't let it hit me again.'
This time, he focused fully. His survival depended on it.
Every time he saw an opening, he stabbed.
Each strike landed.
And every time he did, the chicken grew more furious.
The angrier it got, the more reckless it became—its movements predictable.
That gave Leon more opportunities to land hits. His dagger sliced across feathers, skin, and sinew. The blood sprayed and painted his arm crimson, but he didn't stop.
He watched the health bar tick down.
Again.
Again.
Until finally… it hit 1.
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
MUTATED CHICKEN (RED)
HP: 1
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
Leon grinned. 'Time to finish this.'
---
Author's Note:
I know it's ridiculous for the MC to be fighting a chicken, but that's how the dungeon ranks work.
Dungeon Ranking:
LVL 7 – Birds
LVL 15 – Wolves
LVL 20 – Green Goblins
LVL 30 – Orcs
etc.
The Dungeon level is the level of the strongest being in each zone.
Please don't take it to heart. 😅