Morning came without warmth.
Light spread across the ground, pale and thin, revealing more than the dark had hidden. The cracks ran deeper here. Not surface fractures—open splits, uneven, sharp-edged, cutting through the land like something had forced them apart.
The bodies from the night before remained.
Still.
Wrong.
Ryn stood over the larger one, blade resting on his shoulder.
"…Yeah, Still as ugly as before."
Mira didn't step closer.
She stayed a few steps back, watching.
Yuto moved first.
He approached the largest body.
Slow.
Not cautious, but observing
He crouched.
The structure was intact, but barely. The outer layer had hardened unevenly, as if it had adapted mid-growth but failed to stabilize. The inner tissue—denser than the smaller ones.
Not natural.
Again.
Yuto pressed lightly against it.
No response.
Dead.
Fully.
But—
He paused.
Focused.
The pressure inside him shifted.
Not outward.
Sensing.
There—
Deep.
Inside the body.
Something remained.
"…There is something inside it," Yuto said.
Ryn raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
Yuto didn't answer immediately.
He moved his hand.
Pressed deeper.
Then—
He drove his fingers in.
Clean.
No hesitation.
Mira flinched slightly.
Ryn didn't.
Yuto's arm shifted internally, structure tightening to maintain precision. He moved through the resistance, parting it cleanly, not tearing—separating.
Then—
He stopped.
"…Found it."
He pulled his hand out.
Something small came with it.
Dark.
Dense.
Roughly spherical.
It pulsed faintly.
Ryn stepped closer immediately.
"That's definitely a core."
Yuto looked at it.
"... Is this condensed mana?"
"Yeah."
Ryn crouched slightly, studying it. "It seems a bit weird though..."
Yuto rotated it slightly in his hand.
The structure wasn't stable.
The mana inside it—
Was uneven.
Compressed—but not cleanly.
"…it's corrupted," Mira said.
They both looked at her.
She hesitated a bit, then stepped closer.
"Monsters don't usually form cores like that."
She pointed at it.
"This one's unstable."
Ryn frowned. "You've seen this before?"
"…Not exactly one like this."
She looked at the body again.
"But they show up when something's wrong in the area."
Yuto processed that.
Wrong.
Not random.
Source.
Confirmed.
"…So something is causing this a reason for this?" Yuto said.
"Probably" Mira replied.
—
Ryn stood up again.
"…Great. So instead of just walking into danger, now we know we're walking into worse danger."
Yuto closed his hand slightly around the core.
The pressure inside him responded.
Reacted.
Not hunger.
Recognition.
"…This can be used," Yuto said.
Ryn looked at him. "Yeah. Normally, you either sell it or train with it."
Yuto tilted his head slightly.
"…Why?."
Ryn exhaled.
"Alright. Short version."
He pointed at Yuto's hand.
"That thing's packed with mana."
"You can absorb it—really slowly though—or use it to practice control."
"Most people can't just absorb it directly without messing themselves up, though."
Yuto looked at the core again.
"…Why?"
"Because it's not their mana."
Ryn tapped his chest.
"You've got your own flow, one that belongs to you."
"Trying to force something else in—especially something unstable—can break that."
Break.
Yuto considered it.
Then—
"…I see."
He closed his hand fully.
The pressure inside him shifted.
Not outward.
Not consuming.
Just touching.
The core responded.
Slightly.
Yuto held it there for a moment.
Then—
He stopped.
Not yet.
—
Ryn watched him carefully and said.
"Don't do anything stupid with that."
Yuto looked at him.
"…Define what you mean by stupid."
Ryn sighed.
"Anything that can hurt you"
"Understood."
Ryn narrowed his eyes slightly.
"That answer isn't reassuring at all."
—
They moved.
Not wandering anymore.
Not just forward.
East.
Toward the "source".
The ground worsened.
More uneven.
More unstable.
At times, they had to step around gaps wide enough that a fall would mean losing footing completely.
Yuto moved cleanly.
No hesitation.
Ryn followed.
Careful.
Measured.
Mira stayed behind them.
Watching and observing them.
—
"You've probably been out here longer than us" Ryn said after a while.
Mira didn't answer immediately.
"Yes."
"Then why were you running alone?"
A pause.
"…I wasn't alone before."
Ryn didn't press.
Yuto did.
"…What happened?"
Mira's jaw tightened slightly.
"…We came out here for the same reason we are going there."
"Something was wrong."
"We thought it would be simple problem."
She let out a slow breath.
"It wasn't even close to being simple..."
Yuto didn't respond.
He didn't need to.
The result was already clear.
—
The pressure inside him shifted again.
Faint, but there.
He stopped.
"…Something is near."
Ryn immediately tensed.
"How many?"
Yuto focused.
The feeling wasn't like before.
It wasn't scattered.
They weren't multiple
"…One."
Mira stepped back slightly.
"That's really bad..."
—
The ground ahead dipped slightly.
A shallow basin.
And at its center—
Something was moving.
Slow.
It wasn't large.
Like the ones from before.
But it wasn't unstable either.
Yuto could tell,
Its body was… complete.
It was Balanced.
Its limbs proportionate.
Its movement finely controlled.
That alone made it different.
—
It turned.
Looked directly at them.
—
Yuto didn't move.
The pressure inside him—
Tightened.
Not reacting.
Preparing.
—
"That one's normal," Mira said quietly.
"…No."
Yuto stepped forward.
"…It's not."
—
The creature moved.
Fast.
Faster than the others had been.
But not chaotic.
Controlled.
It closed the distance in a straight line.
No wasted motion.
—
Yuto stepped in.
Matched it.
Their movements aligned.
—
The creature struck.
Yuto met it.
Not dodging.
Not retreating.
He redirected.
Minimal movement.
His arm shifted—
Edge forming instantly.
The strike landed—
Clean.
But—
The creature twisted.
Avoided full penetration.
Its limb came back—
Fast.
Yuto blocked it.
Structure held.
But the force—
Was insane.
—
They separated.
A step.
—
Ryn moved in.
From behind.
His blade came down—
The creature turned—
It blocked the blade.
Ryn stepped back.
—
Yuto saw it.
It was adapting.
Not reacting blindly.
Processing.
—
"…It's learning," Yuto said.
Mira froze.
"…What?"
—
The creature moved again.
Not at Yuto this time—
At Ryn.
—
Yuto stepped in.
Faster.
Intercepted.
His arm shifted—
Not just edge—
Density increased.
He struck the creature—
Deeper.
It jerked—
But its movements didn't stop.
—
Yuto pushed further.
Strong.
Focused.
No instability.
No wasted energy.
—
The resistance broke.
—
The creature stilled.
—
Silence.
—
Yuto didn't move immediately.
He held.
Then—
Released.
—
Ryn exhaled slowly.
"…That one was different."
"...Yes."
Mira stepped closer.
Carefully.
"…That's not normal."
Yuto looked at the body.
Then—
At the ground ahead.
—
"We are definitely getting closer."
—
No one argued.
—
They moved again.
Not slower.
Not faster.
But—
More aware.
—
Whatever was ahead—
Was no longer just producing unstable things.
—
It was refining them.