Morning came with a sharp chill in the wind.
Riven sat at the back of the cave, placing the scorpions wind-aligned beast core in his palm. ts faint glow pulsed softly against his skin.
He drew a needle.
One precise motion — a clean pierce.
The core resisted for the briefest instant before cracking, fine fractures racing across its surface as pale wind essence leaked out in a thin, spiraling mist.
Riven raised his hand.
Focused.
The essence responded immediately, lifting like a breath caught in an updraft. It slid into his palm and vanished beneath his skin.
Cold — sharp and fleeting — rushed through his veins.
Blood vision flared to life.
The familiar red haze unfolded, silver gold flecks drifting within it. The wind essence entered without force, threading itself between a handful of cells.
Then it was gone.
Riven exhaled slowly.
It was another very small increase.
His specks covered roughly 5.3% now.
He really hoped he could get his hands on stronger beast cores soon, so that it might improve in bigger steps than now.
He really hoped he could get his hands on stronger beast cores soon — something that could move the needle more than a fraction of a percent at a time.
But for now… he got up.
Even small progress was progress.
It was time to hunt scorpions.
>>>
Riven and Yue Lin got in place — crouched low behind the familiar ridge overlooking the scorpion nest.
As the sun slowly rose, the lair seemed to wake up.
Eventually a pair of shapes slipped out from the crevice.
Two Gale Scorpions — gray and low to the ground, their shells catching the faint light like moving stone. They skittered out in tandem, claws clacking softly against the ridge floor before slipping off into the rocks to the west.
Neither Riven nor Yue Lin moved.
They were waiting for solo Gale Scorpions.
As they kept waiting, more scorpions left.
A group of three.
Then another pair.
Followed by another group of three.
Yue Lin's brow furrowed slightly. "They're all in groups."
Riven exhaled through his nose. "That's not coincidence."
He glanced toward the crevice again, a faint tightness forming in his chest.
Did they notice what we did?
He didn't like this.
They weren't supposed to be so smart.
He tapped two fingers against stone. "I don't think there will be a solo scorpion today."
"Agreed." Yue Lin said softly.
They waited a little longer — just in case.
But nothing changed.
Every scorpion that emerged came out in pairs or trios. Never alone.
Finally, Riven shifted his weight slightly and nodded toward a duo skittering southwest along a narrow stone shelf. "Let's follow those."
They trailed the pair from a greater distance than usual, careful not to draw attention. The scorpions were faster in open terrain, their claws clicking with unsettling rhythm over stone. Occasionally, one paused, antennae twitching in the air — and each time, Riven and Yue Lin dropped low behind outcroppings or ducked beneath ridges until they moved on.
The trail curved downward into a dried ravine — steep-walled and cracked. Old water channels spidered across the stone, long since dried. The perfect place for an ambush.
Yue Lin signaled with her hand. Riven nodded. They moved in.
The scorpions reacted instantly — one whirling to intercept, the other darting wide to circle around. Clearly ready for an ambush.
Riven lunged left to intercept the flanker, needle already between his fingers. He flicked it mid-dash, aiming for the joint behind the claw. Hit — but not enough to stop the creature completely. It spun toward him, tail raised, poison shimmering faintly at the tip.
A burst of qi flew into his legs and a pivoting strike sent his foot crashing into the side of the creature — Falconburst Kick. The scorpion crumpled sideways, legs twitching.
At the same time, Yue Lin's blade clashed with the other scorpion, her movements sharp and efficient. Her blade flashed once with a gray colour, slicing through — and the second scorpion went still.
Riven straightened slowly, eyes narrowing at the corpses. "They really are acting different."
Yue Lin crouched, wiping blood off her knife. "Let's not go back to their nest anymore for today. We can't count on solo ones."
Riven didn't argue.
They stuck together after that — moving carefully, scouting ridges and plateaus, never straying too far from each other. The Galecrag Hills felt… tenser. Quieter. Even more so than usual.
By dusk, they had only taken down one more pair.
Four scorpions total.
Not bad. But not easy either.
But at the least they hadn't chanced upon the Greater Feral.
They made their way back toward the cave as shadows stretched across the cliffs once again — and the low sounds of night began to rise from the forest floor.
They returned to the cave just as the last light vanished behind the cliffs.
Neither of them spoke much. The quiet wasn't uncomfortable — just heavy, like the day itself had pressed down on them harder than expected.
Inside, Yue Lin crouched and began laying out their haul on the smoothed surface. Two poison sacs and no beast cores.
Not a great haul.
The scorpions today had instantly tried to use their poisonous tail strikes, albeit neither of them had hit.
So they'd lost out on half the rewards.
At the same time, none of todays beasts had had beast cores either much to Riven's dismay.
"They're not stupid," Riven muttered.
A silence settled again.
Then Yue Lin stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned back on her palms. "We can't keep doing this the same way. Waiting at the nest won't be efficient anymore. The pairs were already hard enough — if they start coming out in bigger groups…"
Riven frowned. "We'll have to come up with something else."
She didn't answer — just nodded once, thoughtful. Her white hair shimmered faintly as she tilted her head back to look at the cave ceiling.
Riven watched her for a moment, the faint silver of her hair catching the dim cave light as it spilled over her shoulder.
A quiet unease stirred in his chest.
Something about all of this — the nest's changes, the coordination, the mounting pressure — it didn't sit right with him.
He couldn't shake the feeling that this was building toward something.
That if they stayed too long, pushed too far, they'd end up on the wrong side of a situation they couldn't control.
"…Let's try again tomorrow," he said, voice low. "One more day. If we can't come up with something new by then—"
He hesitated. Then met her eyes.
"—we head back."
Yue Lin didn't argue.
She just held his gaze for a moment. Then gave a single, quiet nod.
>>>
The next morning came with a thin veil of mist clinging to the ridges.
Riven and Yue Lin were already in position before the sun fully crested the cliffs, crouched behind the familiar outcrop overlooking the scorpion nest. The wind was calm, the stone still cold beneath their palms.
They waited.
Minutes passed.
Then—movement.
Two shapes slipped out from the crevice.
Just two.
They moved together, close but not crowded, claws clicking softly as they headed downslope.
Riven felt a tight knot in his chest loosen—just a little.
"…Only two," Yue Lin murmured.
"At least it's not worse," Riven replied. "Yet."
They didn't wait this time.
The moment the pair disappeared behind a jutting ridge, they moved—keeping low, following at a distance, careful not to let loose stone betray them.
After a while they realized that they were moving toward a familiar terrain.
They were getting closer to the bone forest.
And neither of them was particularily fond of going to that creepy place again.
Just as they were hesitating on whether to keep following or not, the scorpions stopped in a shallow ravine, walls rising on either side like broken teeth.
It seemed like the direction was just a coincidence afterall.
Riven and Yue Lin exchanged a glance.
This was the perfect ambush terrain. Walls on both sides.
Just as they were about to move into position, the two Gale Scorpions below suddenly turned.
Not in the lazy, meandering way they sometimes did when adjusting course.
They turned directly toward Riven and Yue Lin's position.
Frozen, half-crouched behind the ridgeline, Riven's breath caught.
No. That shouldn't be possible.
They hadn't made a sound. No loose stone. No reflection. They'd done this exact maneuver the last two days without fail.
So why—
Maybe just a coincidence?
Crunch.
A soft sound came from behind them.
Dry. Sharp.
Like something stepping on a brittle leaf.
Riven turned. Slowly. Dread already pooling in his gut.
Less than twenty meters away, half-shrouded in shadow, a massive figure stood.
A hulking shape, twice the size of the others.
Obsidian shell, jagged and heavy. Eyes like molten slits, locked straight onto them.
The Greater Feral.
And behind it—
The rocks moved.
A dozen. Two dozen. More.
A tide of gray and shifting carapace, skittering claws and gleaming tails, fanned out behind the Greater Scorpion like a crawling storm.
Yue Lin inhaled sharply, color draining from her face.
"…Shit."
It wasn't a coincidence.
It was a trap.