The spring forest breathed with quiet life beneath the twin moons. It almost looked peaceful—almost. After spending days crossing the Frost Expanse, even the veterans admitted this side of the frontier was considerably kinder. Kinder, but not safe.
"This will be the last patrol before we head back," one of the veteran Feather soldiers announced as they followed a narrow game trail through the forest. "We've already gathered four compatible essences today. Don't grow careless because you're tired."
Everyone nodded. The day's hunts had gone surprisingly well; each successful kill had refined their teamwork, and more importantly, every recruit now possessed five essences counting the gifted Sleep-Weaver Larva resting inside their developing Spirit Blood Seeds. One more compatible beast would complete the day's objective.
Davis stretched his shoulders. "I can't believe I'm saying this..."
"What?" Maya asked.
"...I'm actually getting used to hunting monsters."
"You aren't."
"I feel like I am."
"You've simply accepted that this is your job now."
"..."
"...Fair."
A few meters ahead, Lyra quietly slowed until she walked beside Adrian. "You know..." She waited through the heavy silence, but nothing came. "You really don't talk much."
"I do."
"I've heard statues say more."
"I speak when necessary."
"And when is it necessary?"
"When silence stops being efficient."
Lyra blinked. "So conversations are... inefficient?"
"Usually."
"You must be fun at parties."
"I've never attended one."
"...Seriously?"
"I preferred reading."
She stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head. "I genuinely can't tell if you're joking."
"I don't know either."
That answer caught her completely off guard, and a laugh escaped before she could stop it. "There," she pointed at him, "you almost smiled."
"...Impossible."
"I saw it."
"You imagined it."
"It happened."
"It was internal."
Lyra sighed dramatically. "...You're hopeless."
"I've heard worse."
Behind them, Maya quietly leaned toward Leon. "I think she's actually into him."
Leon glanced forward. "You don't say. She's been talking for two hours to someone who doesn't talk. The conversation has been going at a ratio of one hundred to one."
"You make romance sound like a math problem."
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"It usually is."
"Am I speaking to a robot? You really are hopeless."
"I've heard that too."
Ethan chuckled. "I'm starting to notice a pattern."
Leon nodded. "So am I."
The relaxed atmosphere continued for another minute before Leon's attention drifted toward the surrounding Qi. The gentle current flowing through the forest suddenly distorted, not dramatically, but subtly—like smooth water disturbed by several stones thrown at once. Five fast disturbances were approaching from the eastern sector.
"Eastern sector," Leon's calm voice immediately erased every trace of casual conversation.
Everyone stopped as the veterans instinctively raised their weapons. Half a heartbeat later, the lead scout cursed. "Contact!"
Five dark figures burst from the undergrowth. "Viper-Hounds!"
The reptilian predators darted between tree trunks with frightening agility, their charcoal-colored scales allowing them to disappear whenever they crossed patches of shadow. Long strands of glowing green saliva stretched between rows of needle-like teeth.
"Formation!" General Kaelen's command echoed through the forest.
Veterans immediately formed the front line, but exactly as expected, the hounds ignored them. Instead, they split apart and charged the recruits. "They've identified the inexperienced fighters!" Lyra shouted.
Leon focused inward, and his Spirit Blood Seed stirred for the briefest moment before everything became quiet again. There was no attraction, no resonance, and no desire; the answer was immediate. It was incompatible.
Beside him, Ethan frowned almost simultaneously. "...Nothing."
Leon looked sideways. "The same?"
Ethan nodded once. "The same."
Five hunts, five identical reactions. Leon quietly filed the observation away as another data point. "Davis, right flank. Adrian, support Lyra. Maya, stay behind Ethan."
Nobody questioned him, and the formation shifted smoothly. The first hound collided against Davis' shield with enough force to push him back half a step. Instead of retreating, Davis twisted his hips and slammed the shield's rim into the creature's jaw.
"Now!"
Adrian moved first, his spear piercing toward the exposed shoulder at the exact same moment Lyra's blade flashed across the beast's neck. They paused for a split second.
"...Nice timing," Lyra admitted.
"You too."
"That almost sounded like a compliment."
"It was."
"...I'll treasure the occasion."
Nearby, Ethan intercepted another beast before it reached Maya. The creature lunged, but Ethan deliberately stepped aside rather than backward, and the slight angle disrupted its balance. Maya drove her spear forward, burying the point beneath the beast's ribs.
"I got it!"
"You did," Ethan smiled. "Good thrust."
A third hound slipped past Miller, whose face paled. He reacted just in time to redirect its jaws with the shaft of his weapon before one of the veterans finished it with a clean thrust through the eye. The remaining beasts quickly found themselves surrounded as the recruits, no longer panicking, fought as a unit.
Then, a desperate shout echoed across the clearing: "Help!"
Rowan, the young Feather recruit, had chased an injured hound a single step too far. His boot landed on wet moss and he slipped, causing the wounded beast to instantly turn around. At the same time, another hidden Viper-Hound exploded from the bushes beside it in a coordinated ambush. Rowan never even had time to raise his spear.
General Kaelen disappeared. There was no flourish or visible technique; one blink he was twenty meters away, and the next he stood directly before Rowan. His fist struck the first beast, folding its skull inward with a sickening crack. The second hound barely touched the ground before Kaelen seized its tail, swung the entire creature overhead, and smashed it into a nearby boulder, shattering the stone. The beast didn't move again.
Silence spread through the clearing as Kaelen calmly looked down at Rowan. "Rule one."
The young recruit immediately straightened.
"Never chase wounded prey. They know they're dying, and they become willing to trade their lives for yours."
"...Yes, General."
Kaelen extended a hand, and Rowan accepted it with an embarrassed expression. "Again."
"...Yes, General."
The remaining cleanup lasted less than a minute. Soon, five fresh carcasses lay before the hunting party. "Extract the essences."
One after another, the Spirit Blood Seeds responded. Davis absorbed his fifth compatible essence, realizing what true resonance felt like. Miller's followed, then Maya's, and then Adrian's. Lyra smiled as her own accepted another fragment.
Finally, Ethan stepped forward, but nothing happened. The blood essence hovered quietly before dispersing back into the surrounding Qi. One of the veterans nodded knowingly. "Incompatible."
Leon stepped beside him, and his result proved identical. The veteran smiled. "Looks like your blood has become picky."
Leon looked toward the dispersing essence. "Selective."
"Exactly," the veteran crouched beside the corpse. "Spirit Blood isn't a container; it's alive. The more compatible essences it absorbs, the more individuality it develops. It begins choosing what it considers worthy. So two cultivators can kill the exact same beast; one sees treasure, while the other sees worthless blood."
Leon nodded slowly. "And those preferences continue changing."
"They never stop," the veteran chuckled. "Good eye. By the time great cultivators are born, entire battlefields may contain nothing their Spirit Blood is willing to accept."
Leon glanced toward Ethan. Their seeds had reacted the same way to every beast so far; either they both accepted it or they both rejected it.
As the hunting party began its journey back toward the frontier fortress, Leon silently reviewed the day's discoveries. Five hunts, and five compatible essences for most. The Spirit Blood wasn't merely growing stronger; it was growing a personality. Blood called to blood.