At first, it was subtle.
A rustle in the leaves. A chirp.
Then — all at once — sound flooded in.
Birdcalls rang out from the cliffs. Insects began their low, rhythmic hum. Tiny claws scraped over bark, and distant fluttering wings stirred the air.
The hills had woken up.
Riven blinked, instinctively glancing around. He hadn't realized just how unnatural the stillness had been until it broke. The sudden presence of life, of motion, made the silence they'd endured all day feel wrong in retrospect.
Even Yue Lin paused at the cave's mouth.
"…That's a lot of noise," she murmured.
Riven slowly nodded, still listening. "It's like the oppressive atmosphere is suddenly gone."
He turned his head, scanning the ridge line.
Birds flitted from branch to branch. Insects clicked in layered rhythm. Somewhere nearby, something small rustled through dry brush.
That's when it clicked.
The oppressive atmosphere really was gone.
Not because the forest had changed — but because its hunters had gone to sleep.
Nothing else dared stir while the Gale Scorpions hunted.
It just made sense.
And now they're back in their nest, so everyone else was coming out.
For a few moments, they both stood in silence, listening — not to the danger, but to its absence.
Then Yue Lin stretched her arms slightly, the tension in her shoulders easing for the first time in hours. "We should rest too. Tomorrow's going to be full."
Riven agreed.
They gathered some fallen leaves and dry moss from the trees nearby — thankfully more normal-looking this time, not made from what looked like bones. They spread the softest parts across the cave floor, forming rough makeshift bedding.
It wouldn't be comfortable, but it was better than stone.
Riven settled against the wall, as Yue Lin sat nearby, tucking her knees up and pulling her dress slightly tighter around her legs.
"Should we risk a fire?" she asked.
Riven shook his head.
She nodded. "Didn't think so."
It wasn't a problem anyway. As cultivators, the flow of qi in their bodies kept their cores warm and regulated — enough to get through.
It wouldn't be perfect, but it should be fine, even if it was a bit chilly in the cave.
Then they started discussing how to deal with the scorpions the most efficiently — until they finally cycled watch and sleep.
>>>
They woke just before dawn.
The sky beyond the cave's mouth was still a pale slate gray, shadows clinging to the ridgelines like thin smoke. Cold air brushed against their skin as they stepped outside, but both ignored it.
They returned to the same high outcrop overlooking the scorpion lair — crouched low behind the rocks, waiting.
It didn't take long.
As the first faint light of morning spilled over the peaks, a movement stirred near the crevice below.
A Gale Scorpion.
Its shell gleamed dully in the half-light as it slipped out from the nest and began skittering across the stone, heading north — alone.
Yue Lin rose to her feet.
"I'll take this one," she said. "I'll draw it farther out, make sure it doesn't double back. Meet you here."
Riven gave a short nod. "Be careful."
She vanished into the brush with barely a whisper, tracking it at a distance.
It was a simple strategy, but that's what they'd had come up with yesterday.
They'd just wait at the scorpions lair and follow Gale Scorpions that went out alone.
Then everyone would just come back to the starting spot and repeat.
Riven stayed behind, waiting.
About ten minutes later, another one emerged — this one slower, taking a different path.
Riven's fingers flexed, then he moved to follow.
The hunt was clean.
He caught up with the creature near a split in the ridge, where the rock narrowed into a natural chute. Using the elevation to his advantage, he lined up a perfect strike — a needle to the spine, followed by a Falconburst Kick that quite literally caved the creature in.
He landed lightly on the stone, exhaling through his nose.
Not bad.
The accuracy of his throw was improving — the movement felt smoother, faster. Maybe this hunt could double as practice. Actual life-and-death target practice.
Riven crouched beside the body, drawing his knife. He always hid it somewhere in his robes since forgetting about it once during the Newbie's Trial.
The blade slipped under the creature's carapace with ease, cutting along the familiar groove at the base of the tail.
He extracted the poison sac — full and intact. A clean pull.
No core, though.
Again.
He wiped the blade clean and stood, before pocketing it again.
Then he awkwardly held the sac as moved back to their gathering spot, glad that all the poison was almost magically concentrated in there and wouldn't infect him by touching the outside.
He could also just put in his pouch, but he didn't feel comfortable putting a poisonous item as such next to his rations.
With everything sorted, kinda, he quickly headed back toward the outcrop.
Just as he crested the slope, he spotted Yue Lin again — already leaving, following another scorpion that had just emerged from the lair.
He didn't call out.
Just waited.
A while later, another scorpion came scuttling out from the crevice. Riven didn't hesitate. He dropped the poison sac softly on the ground before tailing the scorpion.
Once they had made some distance, he quickly dispatched — a two-needle combo this time, one to the joint and one to the neck — efficient, quiet, deadly.
At least that's what he'd aimed for.
In truth, he only hit the one on the joint, the beast reacted after getting out of the way and dodging the needle to the neck, causing him to have to follow up with a strong kick.
After confirming the kill, he quickly looted this one.
It had a usable poison sac but still no core.
Unlucky.
When he returned to the outcrop, Yue Lin was already there, waiting this time.
They crouched together, silent and still, eyes locked on the crevice below.
No more scorpions emerged.
One hour passed. Then another.
They glanced at each other — the unspoken conclusion settling in: they must have missed the rest while they were out hunting. Most of the scorpions that wanted to leave had likely left early in the morning.
"Let's scout the surrounding ridges together," Riven said quietly.
Splitting up again was risky without knowing how many scorpions they'd meet.
Also neither of them wanted to face the greater feral alone.
And entering the lair without being aware if there were scorpions staying back wasn't too smart either.
Yue Lin nodded. "Safer that way."
They moved in a loose formation — wide enough to cover ground, close enough to assist each other. Their movements were quieter now, smoother, more attuned.
By the time the sun dipped toward the western peaks, they had taken down three more scorpions — one ambushed along a shadowed incline, another crouched near a dried-out streambed, and a third that had tried to retreat when it saw them coming.
Of the three, only two had intact poison sacs.
One had already used its venom — the telltale deflation under the tail made it obvious.
Still, not a bad haul.
They returned to their cave as the wind began to pick up, and the first distant rustles and chirps began echoing across the ridge.
The night had begun.
Riven sat near the entrance while Yue Lin laid out their loot on the stone.
"Seven today," she said, holding up the sacs. "Five full, two used."
One of the two scorpions she'd hunted on her own had a wasted poison sac.
"Add yesterday's two complete ones — that makes seven total."
She held up a small, glowing crystal, smiling slightly. "And one beast core."
Riven blinked, then leaned forward, a bit excited. "You got a beast core?"
Yue Lin nodded.
He stretched out his hand, before recalling it quickly.
"…Can I have it?" he asked after a second. "I'll give you a larger share of the reward cut."
She stared at him for a second — then handed it over.
"Fine," she said. "I have no real use for this and don't want to carry it around anyway."
"Thanks." Riven said quickly, already pocketing the core.
They didn't say much else after that.
The wind outside rose slightly, whispering through the rocks.
They both sat back, letting the last warmth of the day fade from the air. The familiar calls of nocturnal life — birds, insects, small beasts — echoed softly through the mountains.
Tomorrow, they'd hunt even more scorpions.
>>>
Deep within the Galecrag Hills, at the scorpion nest.
Usually all the scorpions would have returned by now, the nest filling with sounds shortly before everyone would go to sleep.
But this time something was different.
In the largest of the central chambers, the Greater Gale Scorpion waited, its shell of almost obsidian colour shifting. Its carapace flexed subtly as it turned, eyes narrowing. There was the light of intelligence in them.
Yesterday, three of its kin hadn't returned.
That was unusual. But not unheard of. The younger ones often fought amongst themselves, over food or space or sheer aggression.
But today… seven more had not come back.
The greater feral raised its head slightly, the dim bioluminescent glow from a nearby moss patch casting a faint gleam across the sharp curve of its tail.
Seven.
That was not normal.
It crouched lower, feeling the air stir with the return of the last of today's hunters — but even as they skittered back into the tunnel, the gaps in their numbers were obvious.
It clicked its mandibles once.
Then again.
Sharp. Loud.
A single sound echoed through the chamber.
Skirrr.
One by one, the scorpions began to move.