Aaron leapt out into the savanna in absolute darkness. He had no issue seeing everything as clear as day with his senses and so the savanna looked almost like it did during the day to him. Just monochrome and colorless. Shades of gray, black and white from the fake moonlight above him was all he needed. Before him the savanna opened up and he breathed in the night air, cooler and yet no less alive and vibrant to his senses. He could smell the history of the entire day. Of behemoths moving by, of hordes of lizards driving antelopes into their midst and sharing the bounty with their giant protector.

These giants were his target for now. Simply because he wanted to see how easily his new kata could pierce their armored hides. If his upgraded capabilities reduced the time to hunt the giants significantly, then the behemoths might be his best bet to gather enough cores that would allow him to replenish his Qi. It was a delicate balance and he did not have that much Qi left to test it out. He did not want to starve himself and Aaron had no idea what would happen if he ran out of Qi. Better not to find out.

Most of the behemoths and their brood were nowhere to be seen. They had vanished from the savanna which was a neat trick considering their size. But Aaron rather quickly figured out where they went by the trails of scent that lead the way. At the edge of the savanna he could see giant caves dug into hills and rock that covered the entire floor to the far left. Their scents lead right down these giant tunnels and holes into what seemed to be their underground refuge or nests. Aaron hesitated for a bit in front of one of these giant openings and snapped his fingers. He listened to the echo like a bat would echolocate and quickly figured out that it was a labyrinth of caves that lead underneath the floor itself. Filled to the brim with lizards, big and small. Yeah that did sound like a bad time for most people.

Aaron had the impulse of diving into the cave system and test his new powers out, but he held back. This was something he should do once he had replenished his Qi reservoirs. If he overdid it he might not be able to use Wind Steps anymore and get stuck down there. No. No, he would not risk that. Instead he turned back towards the open savanna and followed another trail of lizards.

As it turned out not every group of lizards went to sleep in the cave system. Maybe it was too full and they did not have a spot or maybe the giant behemoths that wandered during the day too far away from the left side of the floor just did not bother to return. Either way Aaron was happy to find a giant pile of lizards sleeping around a behemoth. Of course not all of the lizards were asleep and there was plenty of movement in the giant lizard pack. Aaron settled down in the high grass and made himself a complete picture of the lizards and the behemoth, before he decided to go for it.

He did not sense any other behemoths close by so it was a good opportunity to hunt one behemoth and its kin if he had to. Aaron sensed the behemoth with his mana sense and it took him only a minute or so until he could pinpoint the exact spot where the core of the giant house sized lizard was. What if...he could just take the core first? Aaron paused and then decided to try. The worst that could happen was a bit of Qi wasted. No big deal. A few more percent of his dantian would be fine, if he killed this thing in the end. He just could not waste too much Qi or he would be in trouble.

With a huge leap Aaron burst out of the tall grass and leapt over the sentries and sleeping lizards. He had to step on one big lizard for another jump until he could get enough height to make it all the way up the behemoths back and to its neck. Shrieks echoed in the night as the lizards sounded the alarm and frantically began to search for him with their noses up in the air. But Aaron landed safely on top of the giant lizard before they could do anything about it. He had landed directly on its huge neck, which had been an impervious defense against him before. The formidable armored plates that surrounded the giant lizards neck were incredibly tough and Aaron knew he would have trouble even with his enchanted dagger. But he did not intend to use that tonight.

Aaron shifted his weight and fell into a swordform stance of the piercing finger kata and then he cut down with a sharp blade projected out of the tips of his fingers. His image was that of a hot searing blade made out of plasma torching through the armored hull of a starship like a lightsaber. He knew it was an unorthodox mental image for the kata, but it fulfilled all of Sylus criteria he had given him. Sharp, piercing and best made out of energy. There was a sound of tearing leather as the Qi blade sunk into the armor plates and his arms with it. Aaron could barely believe his eyes. His hand sunk into a new hole. There was barely any resistance and when Aaron shifted to a swipe he tore a huge gash into the armor plate, tearing so deep he cut into thick muscles underneath. The armor plate simply evaporated under the intense energy of his Qi blade and splintered into pieces as the cut widened. The lizard woke with a start that made Aaron grasp the smooth edge of the cut and hold on so he would not be thrown off by the sudden roar of pain of the behemoth.

He could feel the core close by, its mana signature was radiant and intense. He reached into the cut, digging into the meat as blood gushed out of the broad wound and pooled at the bottom like someone was filling up a bathtub of blood. The core was so tantalizingly close to where he had cut and determined not to let his attack be a waste, he formed his hand into tiger form as he cut into the flesh with long claws made out of Qi. After some ripping and tearing as his claws made quick work of the muscles and flesh in his way, his hand closed around the more than fist sized core. With a twist Aaron ripped out the core and could feel the immediate impact on the beast that was trying to throw him off. All the mana within the beast flooded into the core and out of the core like it was the magical heart normally. When he ripped it out the mana suddenly stopped. Where there had been a maelstrom of mana there was barely a trickle left. Aaron jumped backwards as the lizard smashed its head back to crush him and he hovered in the air, staring at the core in his hands. It was still bloody, but he could sense the power within.

Underneath him the lizard roared weakly and then collapsed as its legs gave out, crushing a dozen or more lizards underneath its bulk. A muffled sound of choking came out of its mouth as its lungs failed to inflate again and Aaron could literally watch how the giant creature died without the magic of the core helping it sustain its sheer titanic size. It was dead before Aaron landed on its back in wonder. He had not expected this to kill the behemoth instantly. Nor had he expected that his Qi blade would tear through the tough armor plates like they did not even exist.

He had not even used 1% of his dantian, the amount of Qi he had used to kill the behemoth was maybe a tenth of that or less? And the fight had taken seconds, not hours. This was huge, incredible actually. If he could keep this up, this entire floor would become an all you can eat buffet of beastcores to him.

Around him the lizards swarmed and a few attacked him. He casually killed any that came near without expending any Qi and then the lizard pack dispersed already. They formed into small tribes around the biggest lizards that found themselves in the confusing reality that the behemoth had died all of a sudden. So the same thing happened as before when he had killed a behemoth. The army of lizards either fought to eat the behemoth or fled. Either way the night was filled with sound of fighting and Aaron did not waste any more time. He could wait to harvest the behemoths egg sacks, but he doubted it would be a worthwhile time investment. Honestly now he could probably stock up on those ingredients and never worry about them again.

It was time to hunt the behemoths. Time to gather enough cores to replenish his dantian entirely. He leapt away from the carcass and sought out his next target.

Over the next hour Aaron hunted four more behemoths. But they did not all go quietly like the first one did. When it became clear something was happening out on the savanna most behemoths woke up and stirred. Aaron could hear swarms of lizards crawl out from their nests at the left side of the floor and he had to fight swarms of smaller lizards, but it made barely a difference. The swarm of lizards was entirely ineffective against him because he simply jumped up the behemoth and was quick and decisive in his attacks. None of them could keep up. Even when awake and fully active it only took a few minutes to cut through the armor plates of the behemoth protecting its core and then coaxing their head out of their shell so to say. They were not really turtles and did not really have a turtle shell equivalent. But they did retract their head like turtles which made for really inconvenient hunting. Each fight took longer and was more difficult and dangerous than the last.

The last two behemoths even got their magic breath attacks out against him, but they missed. Aaron was far too slippery to get caught in that. Besides now Aaron was confident he could wave such an attack aside or cut its magical signature to pieces making most attacks rather easy to avoid. Problem was that the lightning attack from the lizards was too fast for both of those options. He could only dodge that preemptively and make the lizard miss him. The real limitations against extremely quick magic were still there and even though Aaron was also confident he could take a hit if he could get his hand in between himself and one of those electric breath attacks. Why would he do that when he could just kill the behemoth and harvest its core safely.

To Aaron's surprise the lizard behemoths started to band together for safety. It was a curious behavior as the entire left side of the fifth floor was in an uproar. Killing that many behemoths had sent all of the other lizards into a frenzy as well and even though normally the behemoths would fight each other, now they worked together to defend their territory. When Aaron first saw two behemoths stride out into the savanna while their combined army of lizards combed through the grassland, he decided it might be best to stop. There was a huge difference in dodging and attacking one behemoth or two. The second behemoth could use their breath attacks to stop him from cutting into their necks and it would probably end up slowing him down enough so that it would take hours again to fight the behemoths. That was not worth it and besides he had what he needed. When Aaron retreated back to the foothills with his bounty he had gathered 5 behemoth cores. It was an incredible boon to him, enough to more than make up for his blunder after learning the third kata.

Aaron sat in front of his tent in his wrecked camp and calmed his mind. He cultivated all night. Slowly he integrated the never ending stream of Qi from the massive cores. It felt like drinking a delicious beverage in the desert quenching thirst he did not even know he had. Refilling his dantian felt incredible, like he was adding more to himself than before, like he was growing right before his eyes. His body absorbed almost as much Qi as his center of power though, but he did not mind with this much Qi coming in.

When dawn came Aaron had replenished his Qi entirely and had even gathered more than before. He was back to around 70% full and that vindicated his decision to learn the Piercing Finger kata early.

He woke to first light of dawn and stretched as his senses that had been turned inwards took in the savanna again. If he hunted like this every day he would be breaking through to the seventh minor realm tonight. He could not wait to see how the detox pills would work for a breakthrough.

Aaron paused mid stretch as he sensed something at the edge of his senses he looked towards the savanna with a frown and heard a man gasp. Someone was out there. Looking at him.

Krestus frowned into the darkness as his group defended themselves from another wave of lizards. They came out of nowhere in small groups and disturbed the otherwise easy route through the fifth floor for someone like him. His small caravan moved through the lizard territory because even with the potential dangers he was the leader of a powerful group capable of taking out a behemoth if necessary.

"What the fuck is wrong with the lizards tonight?" Merix asked disgruntled, the rogue looking up to their leader. Krestus just grunted and stabbed his greatsword into the lizard in front of him almost contemptuously. Compared to the 15th floor these beasts were nothing.

"You tell me Merix." Krestus said and gestured his team to move closer to the rock. He hated going closer to the rock. The Hyenas were vicious and if they disturbed them he was not sure they would be able to flee. There was a huge difference between hyenas out on the floor and hyenas defending their home. That would be a challenge even for him, but not one he wanted to go for. None of these monsters gave much or any Experience at his level.

The caravan stuck to the rivers and kept moving into hyena territory when necessary, but this close to the rock they stayed mostly to the right side of the river facing lizards. Unexpectedly the string of lizard hordes running into them frantically stopped after a while and his group looked at each other clearly uneasy by the sudden stop of the assault. The tower did not change. It did not just become different. It was always the same. So something changing was bad. Krestus was about to cross over into hyena territory that was empty still this deep at night, when Merix gasped.

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"What?" Krestus asked.

"There is a dead behemoth over there."

Krestus paused and frowned into the direction the rogue pointed.

"Dead? What happened?"

"I can't tell from this distance."

"What you think? The Army?" Harux asked, the warrior looking more angry than afraid.

"At night? No." Krestus shook his head. The army did take care of the behemoth population. Since everyone ignored this part of the 5th floor the army had to make sure the behemoths would not expand their territory and invade the hyena territory. It happened before when he had been a climber ten years ago and it had been a huge mess. The behemoths and hyenas killing each other had been really really bad for anyone on the floor. The sudden battle for territory had sent the whole floor into a frenzy and had broken the carefully maintained balance of territories of the three magical beast races living on this floor. When that happened all bets were off. You could meet any of the three beasts anywhere on the floor, even in the safe zones. Which meant people had died, almost a whole generation of climbers had died to that fiasco. So yeah the army made sure to kill the behemoths regularly since then. Because fighting behemoths was almost impossible for people coming from below unless they had good numbers, firepower and organization. Which they never did unless they were in Emnu's Army.

But even the army would not fight at night and considering how many frenzied lizards his group had encountered Krestus was fairly certain these beasts had died rather recently. It was a mystery for sure, but Krestus did not really have time for this. He was here on a mission.

"Lets keep going." he ordered and his caravan kept moving for another mile up the river until Merix cursed and the whole group stopped.

"Another dead behemoth." he said seriously.

"Okay, now this is getting interesting. Someone has hunted behemoths it looks like. Weird, but nothing to worry about. Lets keep moving. I don't want to be anywhere close to the rock when the hyenas wake up." Krestus said with confidence, but he was not really feeling it. Someone or something hunting Behemoths, multiple of them one after another, or worse at the same time, was a massive threat to his group. But he did not only worry about that but also because the giant mountain in the center of the floor still loomed above perilously close to them.

The problem with the hyenas was that they would rally the entire floor, every single one of their massive population against them if they were caught close to the rock. The hyenas did not stop coming at them in a fanatical suicidal assault and the more alphas they brought the worse the fighting would get. Even a group from Ambition with experience challenging the 15th floor like Krestus group did not fuck with the Hyenas at the rock. At some point numbers triumphed over the quality of his group. Especially if some of the elder hyenas came out of the caves in the rock. A slight shudder ran down Krestus back when he remembered his first encounter with one of those fuckers. That had been a really bad day.

It was barely 15 minutes later when Merix walked up to Krestus and said silently:

"Another dead behemoth."

Krestus raised his armored fist and the group halted. They carried two pack animals with them, armored zebras that could fend for themselves against most beasts on the lower floors. The animals seemed uneasy and this made the rest of his group even more nervous.

"Okay. Fuck. How many lizards are around it?" Krestus asked. He needed to find out if someone had killed the behemoths or something. The latter would be catastrophic so he did not want to even think about it.

"Sizable group, but splintered. Not the full behemoth escort." Merix explained.

"Are we seriously gonna go poke our noses into this?" Barus asked with a grunt, glaring at Krestus from his one good eye.

"Nobody hunts behemoths except the army." Krestus said and then gestured to Merix. But he did not explain any further. He was the leader and they would follow, if they knew what was good for them.

"Bring us to the closest cadaver."

"You got it boss." The rogue said and looked into the grass with his piercing gaze. His primary skill was exceptionally rare and useful. He had [Greater Sight], which functioned more like clairvoyance at the level that Merix had the skill. He could "see" everything in a certain radius around them with perfect clarity. Even through tall grass or around corners and even at night. Rare skills like his were nurtured in any serious organization in Ambition and Krestus was glad to have a true scout on his team. There was no argument in the group as Krestus lead them into the tall grass even though Barus looked like he had sucked on a lemon. The older warrior saw going down to the first floor as a waste of his time, just like Krestus did. But they could not trust their future cargo to just anyone, so someone had to make their way down.

They reached the corpse of the behemoth rather quickly, illuminating the surroundings with torches as they entered what looked like a battlefield crossed with a slaughterhouse. Lizards big and small were feeding on their fallen comrades, especially on the behemoth itself, which was a giant pile of meat. It smelled like lizard and blood, but not like rot or decay which meant this was indeed a fresh kill.

The lizards reacted to them like they always did. With indiscriminate violence. The lizards hissed and postured for a moment before they attacked them. It was a short battle. Krestus, Barus and Harux were up front, their huge armored forms like a wall against the incoming tide as they tore through the lizards like they were made out of paper. Arrows flew above their heads and in between their strikes, flying true and deadly from their team of archers and rangers while Merix killed any lizard that made it through the dual onslaught. After less than 30 seconds the lizards started to retreat and flee.

Krestus extracted his greatsword out of a lizard he had almost beaten to a bloody pulp and he sighed in disgust. He was glad they would be at the third floor soon. Nothing beat a power wash for his armor than the spray on top of the third floor. He opened the visor of his helmet and shook off most of the gore that clung to his armored fists.

Merix climbed on top of the behemoth carcass while the rest of them shone some light upon the corpse. None of them were shocked by what they saw. They had gone through here once, this was nothing new.

"How does it look?" Krestus called and Merix hmmed while kneeling down on top of the behemoth.

"There is a long sharp wound up here, most likely a really powerful spell." Merix called down and Krestus brow furrowed as he scowled.

"A mage cut its neck?"

"Yep, cut the core right out of the beast." Merix shouted and Harux whistled.

"Well fuck me that is a powerful spell."

"You sure its a spell?" Krestus called and they all went and had a closer look at the corpse. Merix jumped down from above and nodded.

"Yeah boss, deep cut, but its like too deep and too perfect. Its like it was made by a blade made out of energy. No fire, maybe lightning? No idea. No enchanted sword did that up there."

"Core gone?"

"Yep."

"What are you thinking boss?"

"Someone has been hunting behemoths. Very efficiently." He was secretly relieved. If this had been a monster attack this floor had a serious problem and they might need to wait for a solution if it became bigger. Now it was just some asshole with a powerful spell. That was nothing new to him or his group.

"You think one of the families had their greedy hands in it?" Harux asked with a frown.

"No, they would not send someone on the fifth floor." Barus said with a grunt.

"Then what?" Merix asked with a frown.

"Might be a mage got lucky. Maybe a summoned with a rare spell?" Harux pondered.

"There is almost no sign of any fight or struggle." Krestus observed and the others nodded.

"No big group."

"Long cast time and long range?"

"That is what this looks like if Merix is right." Krestus said with a nod.

"Hey you can climb up there yourself if you want to have a look!"

"But why hunt behemoths?" Harux asked with a frown.

"Because their cores are worth a boatload?" Merix asked with a frown.

"Nah, experience. Someone is pushing up their team." Krestus said decisively. It was the only thing that made sense.

"Ambient Xp? Shit from a behemoth at their levels those three behemoths we saw could be three whole levels for those newbies."

"That is what I am thinking."

"Okay, cool. But nothing interesting for us, no?"

"It is interesting because someone will get that mage for their side in the future. And it better not be someone who does not like us." Krestus said and pointed at the behemoth.

"Can you imagine what someone with that spell can do in a year or two?"

The whole group shuddered. As powerful as their team was, they were small fry in Ambition that was ruled by the old mage families and their ancient monsters. Mages who had artificially extended their lives and whose proficiency with their spells was unrivaled by anyone in the lower tower. What could a Vessel like them do against someone who could call down a lightning strike out of clear sky the size of a cart? Nothing. Only die or get the jump on them and kill them first. Not like that was ever going to happen with how things stood, but every Vessel had imagined it a couple of times in their careers. Because otherwise you would feel totally helpless against someone like that.

Mistrix cleared his throat. Their Archer captain and technically Krestus second stood a bit further away with the two armored Zebras and his two rangers.

"I know you want a promotion Krestus, but we don't fucking care. Lets get the dust and move on. We can be back home in two days. Curiosity killed the cat."

"Yeah, unless the cat is a fucking mage who can snipe you from a few hundred yards out with a spell that can tear through a behemoths neck like a really really big cleaver." Merix said grumpily. Krestus frowned at Mistrix and the two men stared at each other for a moment, before Krestus nodded.

"You are right. Lets get a move on. We still have to report this."

"Go ahead. Win employee of the month. We want to get back to hunting proper pray." Mistrix said with a grunt and lead the Zebra he was handling away from the corpse of the behemoth. Mistrix and his band of archers were only here because they had fucked up and their boss was mad at them. Krestus did not know what they had fucked up, but it was clear to him this was punishment to them. Krestus on the other hand was here because he had been voluntold to be here. He had drawn the short stick so to say. But someone had to take the dust up to Ambition and it could not be a normal caravan. The value of their cargo would be worth all of their lives if anyone found out which route they took. So despite being one of the most hated job assignments in their organization, it needed to be done.

The group formed back up around the Zebras as Krestus caught up to them without saying a word. They made their way back to the river in silence. Merix guiding them expertly as they left the rock far behind them. The save zone of the foothills lay before them as dawn was breaking.

"Lets be quick about it. The Hyenas will be swarming the central floor at dawn." Krestus ordered and their team began to jog the rest of the way. They were skirting two territories at the same time, but this was still the most convenient route for their caravan. Normal groups would stick to the wildcats, as they were much easier to handle than the risk of bumping into a behemoth. But Krestus group relied on secrecy as much as they relied upon their strength of arms. Sure, there were very few people on the first floor who could even contest them in a contest of strength. But the very nature of their occupation made it more likely that they would be ambushed.

Merix was their scout because of that little fact. Nothing escaped his sight. But sometimes this could be a bad thing. Merix head snapped to the side as he stared towards a rock to their right and the whole group stopped, almost by instinct as their scout stopped.

"What?" Krestus asked with a frown. They were in the foothills now. This was an absolute safe zone unless the magical beast population on the floor went out of control and that clearly had not happened.

"There is someone camping out on the left of the floor. Behemoth territory."

"So?"

"He looks like he is alone."

"Again, so what?"

"You know...there might be another explanation for the attacks on the behemoths." Merix said as if he had not heard him.

"What?"

"A cultivator." Merix said and then flinched.

"What the fuck? What the fuck...what the...FUCK. He is coming."

"What?"

"He noticed me watching him? How can he notice me?!" Merix asked almost in a panic.

"He can fucking fly…" Merix said in a whisper before a man stepped out from a massive boulder to their right. The man was tall, muscular and wore a neatly tailored outfit in black. He was armed with mostly a utility belt and a dagger. That was it. The whole group tensed at the man's sudden arrival and Krestus grasped his two handed sword a bit harder. He could fly? What was happening?

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