The Blackwood did not recognize the concept of morning. As Grey moved deeper into the heart of the forest, the only indication of time was the steady, rhythmic pulse of his Second Spirit Node—The Gate Of Flow.
The darkness-aspected energy was no longer a static weight in his chest. It circulated through his limbs like a heavy, cold liquid, heightening his reflexes and sharpening the silver-grey clarity of his vision.
Every few seconds, a low-frequency hum vibrated through his marrow, a sensation born of his bond with Kaz. It was a sensory feedback loop that allowed his Echo-Sight to map the gnarled geometry of the world in crystalline, wireframe detail.
But beneath the newfound power, Grey was struggling. Each step through the thick, light-eating moss felt like wading through waist-deep water. The atmospheric mana of the Blackwood was a physical pressure, a stagnant weight that tried to seep into his pores and choke his internal circulation.
Inside the front of his tunic, the infant Lunar Fox was a small, shivering weight of warmth. Its tiny heart hammered against Grey's chest, a frantic, uneven rhythm that signaled its fading life.
[Status: Lunar Fox (Infant)]
[Condition: Severe Malnutrition / Spirit Depletion]
[Warning: Resonator Death Imminent Without Neutral Spirit Supplement]
Grey stopped, his boots sinking into the spongy black ground. He leaned against the charcoal-colored bark of a massive tree, his breath coming in shallow gasps.
He pulled the cub out, cradling it in his palms. Its brilliant white fur was dull and matted with forest grit, and its orange eyes were half-closed, glazed with a sickly film.
The Kamaitachi hadn't just been hunting it for meat; it had been terrorizing the creature, slowly draining its spirit-essence through the raw, primal fear it projected.
"It won't last another hour," Kaz's voice was a low, resonant hum in his mind. The Titan seemed more solid now that the second gate was open, though his voice still carried a weary, hollow edge.
"The cub is a Truebeast of a Royal line, Grey. It cannot eat the tainted meat of Aberrants, and it cannot consume the raw, bitter mana of this forest. It needs something pure, something untouched by the rot festering this world."
"Where?" Grey asked, his eyes scanning the wireframe map. He didn't have much energy left. The fight with the weasel and the constant use of Echo-Sight had whittled his 150 units of spirit energy down significantly.
"East," Kaz whispered, a phantom sensation of a finger pointing toward a break in the dark canopy. "I can feel a pocket of stillness. A place where the madness has been held back by a physical boundary. It smells of... gold and ancient sunlight."
Grey didn't hesitate. He tucked the fox back into his tunic and pivoted, his Abyssal Essence Wraps dampening the sound of his movement as he vaulted over a massive, coiled root.
He didn't use any flashy techniques—not like he knew any; he relied on the raw, reinforced density of his muscles. He ran with a low, efficient stride, his silver-grey eyes darting between the black pillars of the trees.
After several kilometers of sprinting through the silent gloom, the environment began to shift. The dull-black trees, which usually crowded together like a wall of stone, began to thin.
They were replaced by a grove of silver-barked saplings that seemed to shiver with their own internal light. At the center of this strange clearing stood a single, massive tree with leaves that looked like hammered gold.
[Identification: The Gilded Orchard (Minor)]
[Resource: Sun-Drop Pears (Neutral Spirit Fruit)]
[Security: Guardian Detected]
Grey skidded to a halt at the edge of the silver grove. The air here was different, crisp, clean, and smelling faintly of honey. But in the center, coiled around the base of the golden tree, was a creature that made Grey's blood run cold.
It was a Leshy-Blight, but the corruption of the Blackwood had turned it into a nightmare. It was a towering mass of woven briars and petrified wood, standing nearly four meters tall.
Instead of a face, it had a mask of bleached animal skulls, with a single, glowing red eye situated in the center of its wooden forehead.
[Identification: Leshy-Blight (Aberrant)]
[Rank: D-Rank Elite Beast (Guardian)]
[Trait: Thorns Of Malice / Root-Binding]
[Threat: High]
The Leshy wasn't hunting. It was standing perfectly still, its wooden limbs blending with the silver saplings. It was a Guardian, bound to the golden tree by an ancient, instinctual command. It didn't care about Grey as long as he stayed outside the silver moss.
Grey looked at the fox cub. It let out a tiny, weak yip, its spirit-signature flickering like a candle in a gale.
"I have to go in," Grey whispered.
"You are a Beast Tamer with two nodes, and that is an Elite Beast Guardian," Kaz warned, his voice sharp with concern. "Its skin is petrified oak. Your bone-dagger will snap like a toothpick against it. If it catches you with its roots, it will crush the life out of you before you can even scream."
"I'm not going to fight it," Grey said. He didn't have the Void-Pulse or any powerful darkness-skills ready as they consumed a lot of spirit energy. And right now, his spirit energy was too low for a sustained combat encounter. He had to use his head.
He knelt at the edge of the grove and looked at the ground. The silver moss was delicate, reacting to the slightest pressure. To his Echo-Sight, the Leshy-Blight was connected to the entire grove through a network of underground roots. Any vibration would alert it instantly.
He reached into his pouch and pulled out a handful of the obsidian shards he'd been keeping with him. He didn't imbue them with energy. Instead, he looked for a different tool. He found a cluster of heavy, metallic-looking nuts falling from a nearby black tree.
He threw one nut far to the west, aiming for a pile of dry, brittle leaves outside the grove.
The Leshy-Blight's head snapped toward the sound. Its red eye flared, but it didn't move. It was too smart to leave its post for a single noise.
Grey frowned. 'It needs a bigger distraction.'
He took three nuts and tied them together with a strip of the Mist-Hound's hide. He threw the bundle high into the canopy of a silver sapling on the opposite side of the grove.
As the bundle tumbled through the branches, Grey didn't wait to see the Leshy's reaction. He dropped to all fours and began to crawl into the grove. He didn't move toward the tree immediately; he moved toward a large, protruding root that offered a sliver of cover.
The Leshy-Blight let out a creaking, wooden groan. It uncoiled one of its massive, root-like legs and lashed out at the silver sapling where the noise had come from, the thorns on its limb shredding the bark.
Grey used that second of movement to lunged forward. He was moving with a desperate, calculated speed, scrambling up the trunk of the golden tree. His fingers bled as the rough bark tore at his skin.
He reached a low-hanging branch and grabbed a single, glowing Sun-Drop Pear. It felt warm in his hand, radiating a soft, golden light that seemed to push back the heaviness of the Blackwood.
[Item Harvested: Sun-Drop Pear (D-Rank Spirit Resource)]
As he plucked the fruit, the golden tree let out a faint, melodic chime.
The Leshy-Blight froze. Its red eye locked onto the branch where Grey was perched.
"Run, Grey!" Kaz roared.
The Leshy didn't roar at him; it simply collapsed its form into the ground. A split second later, three massive, thorn-covered roots erupted from the soil beneath the golden tree. Grey leapt from the branch, the Sun-Drop Pear tucked against his chest. He hit the silver moss hard, rolling as he went.
A root slammed into the ground inches from his head, the impact sending a shower of dirt and silver moss into the air.
Grey scrambled to his feet, his heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. He didn't look back and quickly sprinted for the edge of the grove, his lungs burning.
He felt a sharp, stinging pain in his calf as a stray thorn grazed him, but he didn't stop. He dove over the boundary of the silver grove and tumbled into the dark moss of the main forest just as a massive wooden fist smashed into the ground where he had been standing.
The Leshy-Blight stood at the edge of its grove, its single red eye staring at Grey with a cold, unblinking malice. It couldn't leave its post.
It let out one final, grinding creak before settling back into its coiled, stone-like form.
Grey didn't stop running until he was sure that the Guardian couldn't reach him. He finally collapsed in the hollow of a lightning-scarred tree, his chest heaving, his body trembling with the after-effects of the adrenaline.
He pulled the fox cub from his tunic. It was barely breathing now. Grey took the Midnight Stinger and sliced a small piece of the golden pear, pressing the juice against the cub's lips.
The effect was instantaneous. As the neutral spirit juice touched its tongue, the cub's eyes flew open. It began to eat with a desperate hunger, its tiny teeth sinking into the soft fruit.
A brilliant, silver light began to radiate from its fur, pulsing in time with the Gate Of Flow in Grey's chest.
[Objective Complete: Save The Lunar Fox]
[Status: Lunar Fox (Infant) — Stabilized]
[Reward: Spirit Resonance Established (5%)]
Grey watched as the cub's spirit-signature strengthened, turning from a flickering spark into a steady, silver flame.
The fox looked up at him, its orange eyes wide and clear. It let out a soft, melodic purr and licked the blood from Grey's scraped knuckles.
[Resonance Indicator: Sharing Sensory Information (Sight) Within 5 Meters]
Grey leaned his head back against the black wood, a sense of profound relief washing over him. He was covered in scratches, his spirit energy was nearly empty, and he was lost in a forest of madness—but he wasn't alone.
"We did it," Grey whispered, his voice cracking.
"You did it," Kaz corrected, his voice sounding warmer, more human. "You've just begun your journey Grey. But the Blackwood is vast, and the Leshy-Blight is not the only thing that saw that golden light."
Grey looked at the white fox cub sleeping in his lap, its tail draped over his hand. He looked at the status screen, where the path to his Third Spirit Node was now glowing with a faint, expectant light.
He was just a boy with a bone knife and a silver fox, but for the first time, he felt like he belonged in the dark.
The path to ultimate strength might be achievable after all.