Farn walked into the forest, putting his guard up. Unfortunately, being inexperienced, his guard was still wide-open to the cold shadow up in the trees. But it didn’t strike just yet, watching as he walked in deeper.

Occasionally, Farn would look up and scan the trees, but no matter how many times he did this, he could never make out the human hidden deep within the darkness.

Finally, when Farn reached a spot he thought he would use as a base camp, the figure struck.

All Farn saw was a flash of fiery red hair, emotionlessly dark blue eyes, and a slashing motion across his throat.

And then it all went blissfully black…

~~~~~~~

Aurelie barely glanced at the corpse next to her, spending more time inspecting her blood-covered clothes. Though she had moved at the last minute, the only true difference that the motion had made was to move her face out of the way. Neck-down, she was drenched. Looking down at herself, she sighed. It was really hard to avoid an arterial spray of blood…

Shrugging, she looked towards the direction Planos had moved towards, and a smile tugged at her lips. Cheerfully, she bounced off in that direction…

~~~~~~~

Planos looked at the spring he had found with pride, standing above it with his legs shoulder-width apart and his hands on his hips. He had made it a priority to find a source of water when he first entered the forest. It meant that he didn't have to keep going back to Mrs. Dreslin’s camp, which saved him a lot of time. Well, he figured it would. He had yet to check whether or not that was true, as they had only been in the forest for two hours.

A rustle from behind him had him pulling out his preferred weapon, the staff, and then falling into an offensive stance, ready to attack at the slightest indication of ill-will.

But, before he could do it, a figure came out of the thicket, holding their hands up. “I come in peace!” Aurelie solemnly announced, but then let out a blinding smile, her eyes twinkling in mischief.

Planos smiled back at her, rather quizzically. But the grin faded when he took in the rest of her. She and her clothes were dyed in blood.

“What happened?” Planos asked in shock, stepping up to observe her and make sure she was uninjured.

But Aurelie waved him off. “It isn’t my own blood. This is the blood of a… Spirit Beast that I met on my way here.” During the slight pause before she said ‘Spirit Beast’, an almost imperceptible cold glint passed across her eyes. Somehow, though, Planos noticed this, and he frowned.

“A Spirit Beast.” He stated, doubt clear in his tone. If nothing else, Aurelie was suspected to have killed an Elemental Apprentice there was no way that a mere Spirit Beast would inconvenience her to this extent.

“It put up quite a struggle.” Aurelie said, with a strained smile that clearly asked him not to ask anymore.

An understanding look plastered on his face Planos nodded, and then he turned to wet a cloth in the stream behind him so Aurelie could wipe off the blood that coated her, giving an off-hand suggestion that she change into another set of clothes.

As soon as his back was to her, though, a small, smug smile found it’s way onto his lips. And, at almost the same exact time, the same smile tugged Aurelie’s lips upwards…

~~~~~~~

Cailysi sat before a crackling fire, looking gleefully at the mercenaries that surrounded her. While she was the strongest in the group, it couldn’t be considered weak, as all of them had at least passed through the 7th-stage bottleneck in the Master Realm.

‘Better than that piece of trash I’ve been forced to pace myself with…’ She seethed, thinking of Gallo (not that she had ever bothered to remembered the other boy’s name). She calmed herself immediately, though, by looking around her. This was the mercenary group with the highest chance of finding the Spirit Fruits. If she travelled with them, then she would naturally get a cut.

Looking at the starry night sky, Cailysi couldn’t help but giggle maliciously when she thought of that stupid red-head’s face when Cailysi one-upped her…

~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Gallo was trembling from a combination of cold and fear. He wanted to light a fire, but some Spirit Beasts, generally the stronger ones, were attracted by light. So he decided to endure…

~~~~~~~

Mrs. Dreslin lifted her head, staring at the clear sky. The forest was lively, with many sweetly chirruping birds and other animals roaming. The leaves rustled in the slight breeze.

Carefully, she spread her senses. She was able to easily find Planos and Cailysi as they were not only her students, but also one of the few powerful people who stood out. Cailysi was surrounded by other people. It would appear she allied herself with a mercenary group. Dreslin frowned. It wasn’t against the rules, but it was slightly counter-intuitive to the goal of the hunt this time around…

Shifting her focus to Planos, she found he had a fourth stage Master with him. Not knowing of Aurelie’s breakthrough due to the fact she hadn’t probed the girl this morning, Dreslin thought it was Farn who was with her male student. She spread out her senses further, but there were too many people at third stage Master Realm for her to say who was who. This was even more true for Gallo. The number of Spirit Apprentices on the mountain at the moment was impressive. It was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Having done all she could to check on her charges, Dreslin then inspected the Spirit Fruit within the forest. She was indeed strong enough to do so, but as the fruit would hardly affect her own cultivation, she allowed them to go after it.

Suddenly, her head snapped up, and she stared at the trees before her. They were still, and their inhabitants quiet.

There was a storm coming, and it was a big one…