On the second day, he went deeper, deliberately hunting the apex predators of Layer 2 to synthesize specific elemental affinities for his phantoms.
He spent six hours tracking a Venom-Weaver… a massive, terrestrial arachnid the size of a transport carriage, known for spinning webs of hyper-dense, razor-sharp essence threads that could slice a Vanguard warrior to ribbons. He found it nesting in a cavernous hollow formed by the roots of a dead Heartwood tree.
The battle was grueling, pushing his combat reflexes to their absolute breaking point. The Venom-Weaver moved with erratic, terrifying speed, spitting globes of concentrated neurotoxin that melted the solid stone around him. Sol had to rely entirely on the Dreadwing's passive neural acceleration just to track the beast's movements.
