The unknown forest was filled with a chilling gloom. Brian Carter had temporarily lost the ability to use his divine artifact, and his physical agility had dropped to an unprecedented low.

Faced with the fear of the unknown, Brian Carter moved more cautiously than ever before.

After just a couple of steps, a rabbit suddenly darted out from the grass ahead. Brian Carter was startled by the rabbit, and before he could fully react, a gray wolf over a meter long leapt out from the undergrowth.

The gray wolf, which had been chasing the rabbit, immediately stopped its pursuit when it saw Brian Carter. Between a rabbit and a human, it could easily tell which would fill its belly better.

Brian Carter instinctively swallowed. He had killed wolves like this as NPCs in games before, but seeing a wolf in real life was a completely different matter.

On Earth, even the wolves locked in zoo cages weren’t as terrifying as the one before him—especially those wild, primal eyes. That was a look no wolf, after generations in captivity, could ever possess.

A series of low growls rumbled from the gray wolf’s throat. Its wild eyes warily watched the stone Brian Carter had just picked up from the ground. The beast’s instincts told it that the object posed some danger.

Brian Carter wasn’t a newbie player who would foolishly charge at a monster with a knife to see whose health bar lasted longer. As a representative of the technical playstyle, he preferred to strike at a monster’s vital point with a single blow, paying the smallest price for the greatest reward. Unfortunately, he didn’t even have the most basic steel knife right now—just a pitch-black stone in his hand.

The gray wolf stared at its prey for a long time, gradually losing patience. In this forest, it was far from the top of the food chain; in fact, its position was very low. It didn’t have much time to waste here—every extra second increased its chances of becoming food for another monster.

Without any warning, the gray wolf’s hind legs, like springs, launched its body at him in an instant.

Brian Carter was startled by its speed—it was even faster than the wolves he’d seen hunting on TV.

In a rush, Brian Carter barely dodged the wolf’s pounce, but still felt a burning pain in his chest. His evasive move hadn’t completely avoided the attack, and the cloth armor the system had initially provided was torn open by the wolf’s hind claws.

Brian Carter glanced down at the wound on his chest. White fat globules were exposed, quickly covered by oozing blood. Waves of burning pain shot through him, making him want to cry out.

Seeing the blood, the gray wolf’s eyes grew even fiercer, drool dripping from its mouth in greedy anticipation.

“Damn it! Don’t think you’re the only one with tricks!” Brian Carter raised his right index finger, the one with the ring, and smiled. “Now, I sentence you to death by fire.”

The fiery red gem on the ring flashed with a strange red light. As terror flashed in the gray wolf’s eyes and it tried to flee, a fist-sized fireball shot from Brian Carter’s index finger.

After a miserable howl from the gray wolf, Brian Carter felt a faint warmth circulate within his body, and the scent of roasted meat drifted through the forest.

“Oh? Not bad, cooked just right.”

Brian Carter grinned mischievously, slipping the ring from his index finger onto his middle finger. Before he could study the wolf’s corpse, the burning pain in his chest reminded him he had something more urgent to do.

Transmigration... Ethan Carter frowned. In novels, transmigration always seemed exhilarating, but now that it had happened to him, Brian Carter felt an indescribable emotion.

In just an instant, years of hard work had turned to ashes, all his loved ones had vanished, and everything he’d ever owned in life was basically wiped clean.

Gazing into the pitch-black depths of the forest, facing endless mountains and miles of woods, a wave of anxious fear swept over Brian Carter. The burning pain in his chest flared up again, momentarily distracting him.

The white fat globules had long since been stained red by the flowing blood. Brian Carter looked around but couldn’t find any suitable material to stop the bleeding, when he suddenly remembered the items in his spatial bracelet.

“Since I can use equipment, then the hemostatic medicine should work too…”

Brian Carter opened the bracelet and took out a small jar of wound ointment, quickly unscrewing the lid. A faint fragrance wafted out.

The burning pain in his chest left him no time to savor the scent. He quickly scooped out some of the ointment, and a cool sensation spread from his fingers throughout his body.

As soon as the white ointment touched the wound on his chest, the burning pain was greatly reduced, and a refreshing coolness spread through him. The blood that had been gushing out stopped flowing instantly.

Brian Carter marveled at the effect on his chest. In a magical world, even an ordinary jar of wound ointment could be so miraculous—what kind of effect would the highest-grade heavenly healing potion have?