The aim was to find a landmark — the last place the caravan had made camp — but we'd found nothing for hours.

From morning until afternoon, Kassie had been running. No sign of passage. No tracks, no disturbed earth, nothing.

She eventually paused when we hit a cave. I actually instructed her to stop.

Something was wrong.

If there was one thing I'd noticed about the terrain from Mishard to Brackenfall, it was the lack of rocks. The land was mostly flat, earthy, sparse. There really shouldn't be any rocks here, let alone a cave — unless we were closer to Faeren. I didn't know what that region looked like, so it wasn't far-fetched to guess we'd drifted off course.

Kassie had been running all the while, straining under my weight. An obvious strain. Sweat glistened on her neck, and her legs — I could feel them trembling slightly beneath me.

The cave was a good option. Shelter. Rest.

But then, the fact that we hadn't found our way... and could have been led astray by that useless bastard... that was also there to think about.

Even worse, he could've intentionally wasted my time sending us northward so he could run back and return with reinforcements.

'Ah. I should have killed that bastard! All of them!'

It was my fault to assume he was going to learn. I didn't know he was going to double down on stupidity and stoop to lying. And here I was thinking they operated on just principles.

I slid down from Kassie, brushing my hand through my hair. She nearly trembled at the loss of contact, her face slightly flushed. Anyone watching might have thought I weighed three times her size and probably looked at me like some shameless slave master overworking his property.

But that really wasn't the case. Kassie... she had to have fantasies I couldn't glimpse into yet. Fantasies she wouldn't let me see.

'Because tell me why Summoner's Touch is so effective against her.'

The ability to amplify one's desires... how befitting. But it was rather irritating that I'd put all those moments into preparation, and now I had to be worried about something else entirely.

'Tch. Annoying.'

I turned to her. "Kassie, I know you want me to touch you so bad right now, but hey—" I snapped my fingers in front of her face. "We need to focus here."

She stood straight, clenching her fist, staring forward with feigned concentration. Fighting to suppress whatever was running through her mind.

'Hehe... I can't be the only one suffering. We're in this together.'

I grinned internally while keeping my face perfectly neutral.

Meanwhile, Kassie's gaze had locked onto the cave. "There's... there—is something there... a beast. A Spirit Beast."

I snapped my head forward, frowning. "A Spirit Beast in that cave? We should totally avoid it."

Kassie shook her head and raised a trembling hand — not toward the cave, but upward.

"Uh?"

I followed the direction of her finger and squinted at the sky.

There, in the distance, I could see a large plume rising above the treeline. It looked more like a cloud than smoke, really. Thick and grey, billowing lazily into the afternoon air.

She looked at me. "Listen too... beyond the bickering of the forest."

I stared at her with confusion. I really wasn't sure how I was supposed to ignore the sounds of the forest. Birds, insects, wind through leaves — it was constant background noise.

She added, her voice steadier now, the flush fading from her cheeks. She seemed to have regained control.

"Pay attention to the distant smoke and the underlying sounds. For more effectiveness, don't try to hear with your ears. Just let your spirit essence flow outward and pay attention to their sound."

"Oh?" Slightly surprised, but I wasted no time. I spread my essence outward without attaching an attribute to it.

The process felt similar to how we'd been taught to channel spirit essence into the spirit core we used for the summoning ritual — a gentle push, letting energy seep from my center into the air around me.

As I did, I could feel the movement of the wind more acutely. A fog somewhere between grey and white seemed to gather around my body, swirling in slow eddies.

"The sound," she prompted.

I paid attention to the sound of my essence as she'd instructed. Not hearing, exactly. But feeling.

And then — it came to me. My hearing sharpened tenfold, as though the winds themselves were ushering sound waves directly into my ears. Distant noises that had been muffled suddenly crystallized into clarity.

I raised my head in astonishment, eyes wide.

"Spirit essence is like the blood of this world," Kassie explained. "It runs in the veins of Ealdrim. And regardless of what you see, this world is more spiritual than it is physical. It's possible to take advantage of that — to hear, see, and move better."

I nodded slowly, absorbing her words.

"So," I said, letting a grin creep into my voice, "this could be considered the very beginning of our master-student... relationship." I put a little emphasis on the last word, like it was the only part that truly mattered.

She shoved a glare into my face.

"Listen and tell me what you're hearing."

"Hai, Sensei."

I paid closer attention to the sound waves now. It took about three minutes of concentration, but eventually, an extra sound began to register.

A strong, low honking. Like a train horn, but deeper. I didn't remember Tristan mentioning Faeren Heights being a train station, though.

It was supposed to be a port city. So most likely... that was the sound of a ship? Or ships.

"We're close to Faeren Heights!"

She looked at me and nodded.

"More like... around it. The man indeed led us astray to waste our time."

I clenched my fist hard. "That petty bastard. Son of a baboon."

"We should fight the Spirit Beast and go through the cave."

I turned to her with a "you don't mean it" expression.

She returned a "I'm dead serious" look. Cold and unflinching.

It was a silent communication that told me, without any room for doubt, that I was going to be facing whatever horror lurked in that darkness.

'Let's hope it's a mob.'

"It's a Primal-tier beast."

"What?" I turned to her sharply.

Then I thought about it. 'I've faced primal-tiers before... besides, Kassie is here.'

Then she looked me in the eye and dared to place that filthy hand upon my shoulder.

"And you'll be facing it... alone. With blades, not flames."

She smiled and added, "We're starting our master-student relationship."

She emphasized the master-student.

At that moment, it was my turn to look at her with scorn.

'This bitch.'

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