Kaden only interrupted his cultivation by the time the rest were setting up fire. Small, yet, actual campfire. He gave a passing warning about that, but didn’t mind much. It would attract beasts. All that mattered was that he had said something about it. The leader would take the fault and that was Olren. Camp itself would attract things, but fire was basically a beacon.

They just told Kaden that he was surely exaggerating and that they were hiding the flame too. Also that it would be more dangerous to be in complete darkness. Kaden snorted and said something about relying on mana senses, if they didn’t have proper eyes like he did.

In fact, he was aware that rest of the team considered him a lunatic and tended to ignore his suggestions. Not just that time, but basically always. It was nothing new. Even so, they would attract beasts to kill and they would be able to show more ability to Walden once he returned. Kaden was fine with that prospect. Increasing his status was good.

All was basically fine.

It was getting dark and Olren was having the rest look at a rough map of the area for good place to hunt beasts. Kaden didn’t bother to tell them again that they likely did not need to go out search at all. Kaden himself was only barely listening as he was planning on another formation experiment.

He wanted to make more advanced formations that he could build out in the open. These had to be created by condensing mana into formation lines. He had already been using small and simple versions, but larger ones would require some extra work. Such formations, large or small, were very flexible where to build them, but they generally lasted only one use. Yet, just as he was thinking of how to connect a power source so that a formation would last longer, Kaden sensed something.

He didn’t really react any way and just stopped doing what he was doing. For a moment he thought to let everyone be surprised, but they would be able to figure out that he likely was able to detect incoming danger before anyone else.

“Something is coming”, Kaden said calmly. Others turned to look at him. He then looked deeper into the forest. “Multiple beasts. They sound weird… I see, they are rolling.”

Olren frowned at Kaden for a moment, but took out his weapons just like everyone else. Soon they could sense it too, but at this point Kaden could already look into the darkness and see things moving between the trees towards them.

Spiked Armadillos. Think of an armored ball of spikes and that is roughly what they were. They liked to move in groups. The higher cultivation, the more and larger spikes they had. These, four of them were at all at advanced stage.

Kaden had not seen them while he lived in the area previously. They must have moved in from somewhere else. Now they had detected prey, which even kindly marked their presence with light. They wouldn’t leave such chance behind.

“Well, even if they came at me at the same time, I should be fine”, Kaden mused to himself. “I am at initial High Beast stage, but it should be more than enough to handle a group of dire beasts.”

“There!” Sari shouted and pointed at the incoming beasts. She was completely prepared to fight.

Around at this time spinning balls of death rolled into the opening and each tried to collide with someone.

“Everyone take one!” Olren shouted as he dodged with an illusion. “Be careful! These seem defensive beasts. If you can, stop their movements and their rolling attack will become less effective!”

Kaden sneered. He had read a lot of information about beasts. These armadillos should be killed on the move. Olren just assumed that was their only attack, but their true weapons were enormous claws hidden inside their armored shell. They were mainly used to dig holes, but they served as weapons too, if their usual rolling attack failed. There was a weakpoint to their sides on the axis point around which they had rolled into a ball. This was where they should be attacked.

The others were trying to be smart and deal with their opponent like they would deal with a human, but that was a mistake. Those weak attacks merely bounced off doing very little to no damage, while the beasts kept rolling around. The entire camp was already wrecked. So much for the tents. One of the armadillos was either clever enough or just did it accidentally, but it put out the fire too making the entire area go dark.

This was not a problem for Kaden who could see in the dark, but the rest of the team was suddenly found themselves at diadvantage. He himself played around with the armadillo that was attacking him. Only reason it dared to even get close was that Kaden was suppressing his core. If it sensed a high beast, it would likely escape in terror. While all that Kaden was hoping Olren would die. He could at any point annihilate his opponent and resolve the situation, but it was advantageous to keep it going.

Kaden rejoiced for a moment when he saw Olren stop his opponent. The armadillo immediately opened up from its ball form and struck with its claws. Despite wanting him to die, Kaden knew Olren was indeed a genius. With his usual illusory moves he was able to avoid incoming attacks. The armadillo itself was not any easier to attack, its softer side was now against the ground and the spiked armor was protecting top.

Hem and Sari had noticed this change. Hem liked to use hammers and earth magic and he was the first to notice the armadillos were much easier to fight, if you fought them without stopping them. His hammers could send in a forcewave through the armor anyway. He was able to kill his opponent first, even if he did not notice the weak point.

There was another weak point he was able to take advantage, though. Suddenly an earth spike struck Olren’s opponent from below making the beast turn up from its defensive position. These Spiked Armadillos were earth affinity beasts so it noticed the strike coming, but was still slightly injured. Olren took this time to send in quick sword strike into its soft belly finishing it off.

At this point, Kaden simply powered up slightly and tore open the ball shaped beast he had played around with. He could not be slower than the rest. Once open, slammed it against the ground leaving it on its back and then he began to repeatedly tear on it with his talons. He tore some gashes and eventually pulled out its entrails.

While at this Sari had used water magic to encase the armadillo into a bubble of water, stopping its rolling, but it didn’t matter anymore since the beast was suffocating.

“Well, what do you think of the cave now?” Kaden said to the others as he was tearing out core from the armadillos corpse he had fought with. Once that was done, he incinerated it and sat down to eat. “You should eat. Thats the way wilderness works. You killed prey, now consume it and grow stronger.”

The others stared Kaden. Indeed, his words had been completely correct. The camp was completely messed up. They had attracted a group of beasts. There was no telling, if they might have been found even without the fire, but it was surely a problem. They had underestimated the beasts strength. They were supposed to be the elite and yet each of them had some problems fighting basically random beasts.

It did act as a wake up. This was a harsh lesson. Even Olren who had given all the orders had to agree that Kaden was right. This did not make him happy. As for the others, they did know Kaden was supposed to have experience, but they had not listened to him. Was it because he was a bit mad or had they just been over confident? Both? Even Walden had noted to them Kaden’s experience.

“I think we should do as Kaden says”, Hem finally said and started digging out core from his opponent. “If we make fire to prepare this meat, we better hide it and put it out once we are done.”

“Take the armor parts and spikes”, Sari added. “First the snake, now these. How many beasts should we expect daily?”

“I don’t know about myself, but you count as humans”, Kaden said and then continued matter-of-factly. “Beasts that have ever tasted human flesh or just know about it, even just by instinct, will know that human mana is easy to absorb. You see those cores you pick up? You are exactly that to beasts. Valuable cultivation material. They might even fight each other about which one gets to kill you. If they are intelligent enough that is… most aren’t. I repeat. We are prey. You are tasty prey specifically. If you don’t like that, be stronger and be a hunter instead. No mercy. Kill. Eat. Grow. That is how world truly works.”

Rest of the Verdict members might not agree with Kaden’s world view entirely, but there was quite a bit of truth in it. Some if the stuff was even obvious. Beasts and humans had always fought against each other. This was entirely normal.

Kaden only told these things because he would have to work with Verdict. It would do good, if they acted the right way.

“We will use the cave”, Olren finally said begrudgingly. “The camp is trashed and its better than staying in the open, but tomorrow we will see what can be salvaged.” Then he looked at Kaden who was stuffing last of the meat into his mouth. “Kaden… do you see anything wrong with that?”

“Nothing exceedingly wrong”, Kaden replied. “Its night, we should be hunting, but I guess we already did that.”

Olren snorted and ignored Kaden from then on.

The others took their scattered things and gathered them inside the cave. While at this Kaden was observing the area. He had some plans to try out. There would be more beasts with a group like Verdict attracting them. It would be good idea, if he tried something he had not yet tried.

“I’m going to try and see, if I can create an alarm formation around the cave”, Kaden said as examined the area and even took out some of his tools to measure the local mana. “I assume you have nothing against this, Olren?”

“Do as you wish”, Olren replied.

It was relatively simple formation and since there would be beasts coming, there would be potential alarm triggers to see, if it functioned correctly. It would take too much funds to actually get a formation holder for such formation so it was going to be a temporary one, but that was what he really wanted to test. Not the actual formation, but to see if he could build one.

To construct a formation on air or on something that wasn’t a plate or object, was a demanding matter. You would have to condense mana into formation line and draw the formation that way. This required more spatial awareness and at the same time you would have to stabilize the formation somehow. In fact, Kaden was not planning on drawing the formation on air entirely, but he would anchor it on something solid around the area, rocks or trees in this case. This was usually the best way. It was still temporary construct, but far easier to create and stabilize for use rather than personally support each part of it until it was ready.

It took a few mistakes, but after some time Kaden was able to complete formation that should function. He sensed the area and did his last checks on the mana lines that would usually be invisible until they were in use. There had been some methods that he had not been familiar with that were different from carving a formation on solid object, but he expected next time to be quicker now that he understood it.

Still it had only been possible because of his higher quality and quantity of mana. Before his evolution, he probably wouldn’t have been able to support the formation and it would have scattered before he could anchor it. The mana would simply have been too weak.

Kaden returned to the cave where others were discussing matters for the next day. There he interrupted them as he released small pulse of mana inside the cave. A small glowing circle appeared on the floor. The formation was working!

It released small amount of mana roughly similar to the local area into the said area. Once something that didn’t match it, it would cause a disruption that would be sent back to this focal point that Kaden created inside the cave. He fed it more mana and sensed it fill up.

“Good, it works”, Kaden said. “If something approaches, you will see it in this circle. As long as one of us feeds more mana in at least every few hours it should remain functional, but if not, the formation will crumble.”

“This is very good, Kaden”, Sari said and looked at the detection circle. “With this we will not be taken by surprise anymore! We can all rest and prepare.”

“Sure”, Kaden replied and sat down to cycle his mana system. This sort of temporary formations were more intended to be used in action rather than safely crafting them on objects. This was his first true success! If given time, he now knew that he could prepare various formations anywhere he liked!

“Hmph”, Olren snorted yet again. “It surprises me that a freak like Kaden can create something as intricate as a formation like this. This is acceptable! Our base camp can be considered well prepared!”

“Not thanks to them”, Kaden though to himself.