The grim work afterward didn't take long. Seth dragged all four bodies into the dark recesses of a nearby narrow alley and quickly looted them of their Protecting Belts, coins, and any other obvious valuables. Then, he had Nightmare use Shadow Bite to corrode the nobles’ faces until they were entirely unrecognizable masses of ruined flesh and bone, making sure they couldn’t be Identified anymore, while Colossus dug a quick hole to hide them.

  Once the task was done, Seth slipped out of the alley and melded back into the shadowed streets, moving swiftly toward the city gates without looking back, just in case guards had been alerted by the noise. The moment he cleared Trogan’s walls, he broke into a steady run, leaving the city behind and heading back out into the vast, open plains that stretched north.

  'You really did great, Colossus,' Seth said through Link. 'You saved me back there.'

  The scorpion wiggled inside the teardrop's domain, joy beaming through their bond. 'Yes, I did!'

  The tall grasses swayed around him in the cool evening breeze, the sky above a canvas of deepening twilight hues as stars beginning to prick the darkness. The earlier tension of the ambush began to bleed away, replaced by the churning of his empty stomach and the thud of his boots on the earth.

  'Are you alright?' Nightmare asked from within the teardrop necklace.

  'Yeah.' Seth kept running. With that, he had forgotten to grab something to eat from Trogan’s central market later and would have to run on the jerk beef in his Endless Pouch for now. 'Even if they didn't do anything as bad as the Black Hounds, they tried to kill us, so it was us or them. They deserved what they got.'

  A few moments of silence passed, then Nightmare spoke again, 'I agree, but this… ruthless composure, it’s getting more intense every week. Is it caused by that Legacy thing?'

  'No,' Seth answered firmly, shaking his head. 'That’s just me. I’m done with all the nobles’ bullshit. I’m tired of being hunted, tired of their games.'

  'If you say so,' Nightmare replied, though Seth could sense the direwolf wasn’t convinced.

  The moment he was far enough from the city that its light was just a faint smear on the southern horizon, Seth slowed to a walk and summoned Colossus and Nightmare from the necklace. The massive scorpion clicked his mandibles contentedly, seeming to revel in the open space, while the direwolf stretched.

  "Alright, time for Colossus to get another Rank or two," Seth said, turning to Nightmare. "Find us an Ironhide Warthog. Rank 25 to 30."

  As the direwolf nodded and dashed away, Seth turned to the scorpion and cast Intermediate Identify.

  Seth scanned all the stats. The scorpion had gained seven attributes from the fight—on top of a new spell.

  Seth grinned. Just like Nightmare, Colossus had instinctively learned a new spell simply by channeling aether to accomplish what he'd needed in the heat of battle.

  That's going to be incredibly helpful in the future, Seth thought, already envisioning the tactical possibilities. The scorpion could now draw their enemies’ attention while he and Nightmare took them down one by one.

  Seth reached into his Endless Pouch and pulled out his dark combat gauntlets before retrieving a plain silver band—the leader of the Black Hounds’ Fine Storing Ring—and sliding it onto his right index finger.

  I really should wear this all the time, he thought, scolding himself as he slipped his gauntlets on. If I’d had it on during that ambush, I could’ve used Phantom Punch at least three more—

  'Found one,' Nightmare’s voice broke through Seth’s thoughts via Link. ' Grazing near that cluster of rocks to the east.'

  Seth turned to Colossus, who was already vibrating with excitement. 'Ready?'

  Colossus’s joy beamed through their bond, and the massive scorpion nodded. 'Yeah!'

  The next four weeks passed in a blur with days lost in academy classes and evenings spent hunting across the Savage Grasslands. In the end, no one had discovered his involvement regarding the death of the four nobles. Seth had told both Orwen and Professor Reat about the ambush, and from a comment Toren had let slip at the Champions of Chaos’ headquarters, it was clear the two men had made sure the incident died out.

  Aside from a few rumors at the academy about the nobles' disappearance, the whole thing had also been completely overshadowed by the looming war—which was all anyone seemed to talk about. To be ready when the time came, Seth kept pushing himself, Nightmare, and Colossus, to their limits.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Especially on the weekend like today.

  Nightmare tore through the carcass of their third Ironhide Warthog of the morning, ripped off a sizable chunk of tough, sinewy flesh, and tossed it to Colossus. The young scorpion, already noticeably larger—now nearly three and a half feet tall at the shoulder and almost seven feet long—eagerly crunched down on the offering with its mandibles. Seth sat on a sun-warmed rock nearby, Eldric’s heavy tome open on his lap, his focus shifting from the pages’ words to the grooves of Fog Shroud within his Well.

  Over the past weeks, the spell he'd acquired from the Fishlord Aquamancer had caused him a persistent frustration. Despite frequent use and all his efforts, its quality had remained Decent. He had two main hypotheses for that: either, it simply wasn’t aligned with his own Path and his way of fighting, or it was because of his lack of Water attunement.

  Thanks to Nightmare and Colossus, he held potent Darkness and Earth affinity, but that was the extent of his current elemental connections. He knew that bonding with a Water beast in the future could potentially grant him that affinity, but it seemed like Link wouldn't allow a third bond for now. And that meant Fog Shroud was very likely destined to remain Decent until then.

  However, this had changed when he’d stumbled upon a specific chapter in Eldric’s book: one about modifying existing spells.

  During his free time at the academy over the past weeks, Seth had delved deep into the Scholar’s theories on spell modification. Eldric detailed numerous methods to achieve such a goal: by painstakingly crafting new sub-grooves following known evolution-paths, by utilizing rare upgrading spell-scrolls, or by… altering the spell’s fundamental affinity.

  According to the man, that last approach was extremely difficult yet could significantly affect the current spell’s quality. It demanded a profound, almost intuitive understanding of both the existing groove structure and the precise function of each channel—a level of knowledge Seth didn’t possess.

  But, on the other hand, he had two unique advantages: Feral Instinct and his deep, almost symbiotic bond with Nightmare.

  By relying on his core’s guidance and leveraging the direwolf’s innate and powerful connection with the Darkness element, Seth felt he’d been getting tantalizingly close to achieving the impossible: re-weaving Fog Shroud from a Water spell into a Darkness one.

  As Nightmare and Colossus kept devouring the carcass of the Ironhide Warthog, Seth closed his eyes and surrendered himself to his inner beast, the familiar thrum of his core intensifying in his chest. Then, he projected his consciousness further inward, plunging into the swirling depths of his Well. He reached for his aether and grasped a portion of it—the part which was cold, weighty, and devoid of any light or emotions.

  Carefully, he guided that concentrated Darkness toward the faint grooves of Fog Shroud, letting it seep in. Following his core’s primal instinct, he discarded Eldric’s complex theories and instead felt his way along them, ramming the focused streams of shadow energy against the existing trenches of the Water spell.

  He wasn’t trying to meticulously reshape—he was trying to overwrite, to forge new channels where his instinct told him they should be while he obliterated or bypassed the old ones that felt discordant with the Darkness element.

  He continued the process for what felt like an hour, pouring his will and the unique aether into the complex structure. A faint vibration began to emanate from Fog Shroud's grooves. Slowly, a mist began to coalesce around him, swirling at his feet before expanding outward. It was darker than the translucent, watery mist the spell usually produced, now tinged with faint, dancing shadows.

  Yet it wasn’t quite right.

  It felt… thinner, less opaque, and paradoxically, less obscuring than the original version.

  'You’re getting better,' Nightmare said beside him. 'But that’s still just a pale imitation of true Darkness.'

  Seth rolled his eyes, letting the shadowy mist dissipate before casting Intermediate Identify on himself.

  Seth’s shoulders slumped as his eyes landed on Fog Shroud—the spell’s name hadn’t changed, and on top of that, its quality had fallen from Decent down to Crude.

  Expected, I guess, he thought with a sigh. I’m essentially rebuilding it from the ground up.

  He then quickly scanned the rest of his attributes. The relentless hunting had paid off in one regard: he’d finally broken through the Rank 30 half a dozen days ago. But the pre-war skirmishes against the Bridan Empire were only two weeks away, and he was still just Rank 32. It wasn’t enough.

  Rubbing his face, he also went through the stats of Nightmare and Colossus.

  Nightmare’s progress was slow and steady, but for Colossus, it was a completely different story: the scorpion had gained four Ranks and reached the very peak of the Copper Tier three days ago. He had blown past the pace Nightmare had set, accomplishing in four weeks what had taken the direwolf nearly three months.

  Seth had no doubt that both Colossus’s Gold-Tier potential and the Earth-attuned Essence in the scorpion’s teardrop played a major role—but their constant battles against Iron beasts had also certainly helped.

  If I can get him to break through into Iron, it'd be a significant boost to my own attributes, Seth mused. The hundred raw attribute points the scorpion would gain upon hitting the next Tier would give Seth ten bonus attributes through Link. Another free Rank on top of the six it currently gives me.

  'We should hunt something stronger,' Nightmare said, reading Seth’s thoughts. 'Something that will truly push me and Small Bite to our limits. Like that Night Beetle when we were both Coppers.'

  Colossus, overhearing the direwolf through their shared bond, almost bounced on his eight legs, his three tails lashing with excitement. 'Yeah! Something strong! So I get stronger! And can protect you two even more!'

  Seth rolled his eyes, then shot a glare to Nightmare.

  For a week now, the direwolf had been pestering him daily to hunt High-Iron beasts, but Seth had consistently refused. Despite Colossus’s incredible Toughness and powerful spells, Seth didn’t think the young scorpion could endure the focused assault of such a foe. The young beast's fighting style was to take hits. Not dodge them.

  'We could go after one of those big insects you were reading about last night,' Nightmare suggested. 'The ones that live in the forest east of here. If things get too dangerous, you can step in… or we can use the trees as cover to escape.'

  Seth paused, considering. A Thorn-Legged Mantis. Iron-Tiered beasts who were lightning fast and fought with scythe-like limbs sharp enough to cleave through stone. Taking one down would be a serious challenge. But they were also fragile—classic glass cannons with high Agility and low Toughness. If Colossus couldn’t handle its attacks, Phantom Punch would likely be more than enough to kill it before it managed any life-threatening injuries to the scorpion.

  'We should go for it,' Nightmare urged. 'It will definitely help me—uh, us progress!'

  'Yes!' Colossus chimed in, claws snapping repeatedly. 'I want to fight it!'

  Seth rubbed his temple. "Fine," he finally muttered. "Let’s go."

  (updated):

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  Thank you so much for reading!

  Probably something along the lines of the aether having already left the corpses, so the artifact don't recognizes them as “resources.” I’ll think it through and add a sentence or two to clarify it.

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  22 advanced chapters on !