The Wilds breathed.

  Not wind—pressure.

  Ni-heavy air rolled through the ravine like a living thing, prickling Kaelen’s skin and humming against the spear in his hands.

  Three Tier-3 Ni beasts stood before him.

  Roric did not exaggerate.

  The first was a Gravehorn Ravager—a hulking quadruped plated in bone-white armor, its forward-curving horns etched with crimson Ni veins. Each breath it took cracked the ground beneath it.

  The second slithered along the rock wall—a Voidspine Lurker, all serrated limbs and shadow-folded joints, eyes blinking in and out of existence like dying stars.

  The third didn’t move at all.

  A Stormbound Matriarch—towering, bipedal, its body wreathed in faint arcs of contained lightning, eyes locked solely on Kaelen.

  Three apex predators.

  Kaelen swallowed once.

  Behind him, Roric folded his arms.

  Vex leaned casually against a stone, though his eyes were sharp.

  “Rules,” Roric reminded him calmly.

  “One weapon,” Vex added. “No Ni.”

  Kaelen tightened his grip on the Spear of the Sanguine.

  “Understood.”

  The Gravehorn charged first.

  No warning. No roar.

  Just annihilation.

  Kaelen barely leapt aside as the horn gouged through the stone where he’d stood. He landed hard, rolled, and snapped the spear out instinctively—

  Too short.

  The Ravager’s hide deflected the strike like steel.

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  Kaelen thought—

  Longer.

  The spear extended mid-thrust, surging from six feet to nearly twelve in a blink. The sudden reach pierced past the Ravager’s shoulder, drawing first blood.

  The beast screamed.

  The Voidspine vanished.

  Kaelen spun just as claws tore through the air where his neck had been. He ducked, pivoted, and felt something cold brush his back.

  Too slow.

  Watch them.

  Not just their attacks. Their intent.

  The Stormbound Matriarch finally moved.

  Not forward.

  Sideways.

  Positioning.

  Kaelen’s eyes narrowed.

  They’re hunting as a unit.

  The Ravager pressured him head-on.

  The Voidspine harassed his blind spots.

  The Matriarch controlled space.

  Kaelen retreated, breath sharp, mind racing—not panicked.

  Studying.

  The Ravager lowered its head before charging—always.

  The Voidspine’s reappearance lagged a fraction after displacement.

  The Matriarch’s lightning pulsed before movement.

  Patterns.

  Even beasts have habits.

  Kaelen shifted his stance.

  The spear shortened.

  The Ravager charged again.

  Kaelen stepped into it.

  Roric stiffened.

  Kaelen slid under the horns, twisted his hips, and extended the spear just enough to hook beneath the beast’s jaw—then used its own momentum to redirect it.

  Bone shattered.

  The Ravager slammed into the ravine wall, stunned.

  The Voidspine struck.

  Kaelen didn’t look.

  He felt it.

  He turned as the claws emerged and adjusted the spear’s length mid-spin—short, fast, precise—impaling the Lurker through the chest.

  The body spasmed.

  But it didn’t die.

  The Matriarch roared.

  Lightning crashed down.

  Kaelen leapt—too slow.

  The bolt caught his shoulder, slamming him into the ground. Pain exploded through his nerves. His grip nearly failed.

  “Get up,” Vex muttered. “Now.”

  Kaelen forced himself upright.

  Blood ran down his arm.

  The Matriarch advanced.

  Kaelen breathed.

  They’re not invincible.

  They’re just alive.

  The Voidspine lunged again.

  Kaelen thrust—

  And the spear passed through it.

  Not resistance.

  Not flesh.

  Nothing.

  The beast froze.

  So did Kaelen.

  The spear re-materialized inside the creature’s core.

  The Voidspine collapsed into ash.

  Roric’s eyes widened.

  “…Did you know it could do that?” Vex asked slowly.

  Kaelen stared at the spear.

  “No.”

  The Matriarch charged.

  Kaelen moved—not retreating.

  Phase. Extend. Anchor.

  The spear elongated, phased through the Matriarch’s lightning shield, and solidified inside its chest. Kaelen twisted, planted his foot, and ripped it free.

  The beast fell.

  The Ravager roared weakly and tried to rise.

  Kaelen walked toward it.

  No hesitation.

  He shortened the spear to two feet, stepped close, and drove it cleanly through the skull.

  Silence fell over the ravine.

  Kaelen stood alone among corpses, chest heaving, bloodied—but standing.

  Roric exhaled slowly.

  “He’s learning faster than he should.”

  Vex grinned.

  “He’s not just adapting to weapons. He’s adapting to existence.”

  Kaelen looked down at the spear, then at his shaking hands.

  Beasts… styles… weapons…

  I can learn anything that tries to kill me.

  He lifted his head.

  The Wilds waited.

  And for the first time—

  They seemed wary.