In the next few days, Wu, Lera, and Ver had gone ahead and checked to see if those dangerous tiny granules were also present in the other streams and whether those things had gotten to their drinking water. Then, that was when they narrowed the search down to the Filtering Cast set up by Lera just before the water gets into the reservoir.

With how detailed and perfectly constructed the Filtering Cast was, their drinking water was completely safe.

"Lera..." Wu said, reaching both hands forward and squeezing her in the shoulders as his thick eyebrows danced in the wind, "You are, in fact, the greatest."

Lera's face immediately turned red, and she bit her lips and looked to the side, "Of...of course I am."

She looked back at Wu, but he had already turned his attention elsewhere.

"Um..." Ver said, pointing to a pile of the residue of the granules built up right behind her Filtering Cast, sitting still like river rocks, "So this won't be an issue?"

"Hopefully not." Wu said with a sigh of relief, "Thankfully not, or this would have been an Engineering Ethics textbook-worthy public health incident. Thanks to your sensing abilities too, Ver."

Lera bit on the inside of her cheeks while Ver smiled back at him.

After sorting out the deal with the water levels, Wu then set up more rulers upstream for his daily data collections, and Ver often opted to stay back, which Lera happily accepted as that means it would just be the two of them walking around. Watching Lera and Wu go off into the woods, Ver made sure nobody in the camp is looking her way before she casually strolled out in the other direction.

Within her hand, the Communication Cast pulsed with light.

As Ver ventured deeper and deeper into the woods, vaulting around spanning roots and exposed bedrocks, the Communication Cast acted as a compass of sorts, guiding her to its designated pair which is held by Skylar Jay, the owner of the Sky Splitting Sword, one of the five legendary swords.

He, alongside a massive group of mercenary soldiers and bounty hunters, had already set up a camp in the middle of the woods, and they were located just about twenty minutes away from the main settlement of the Dwellers.

As Ver approached him, the corresponding Communication Cast in his hands also pulsed with increased frequency. The giant man with brown hair spun around and smiled as Aya leaped down from a tree behind him.

"There she is!" Skylar Jay laughed, reaching his hands out to the side, "The lone survivor of that Wolf's group, and the only one that succeeded in their job."

"The job is not complete yet." Ver said slowly with a forced smile on her face.

"Precisely." Skylar said with his voice lowered, "That's why I said you succeeded in your job."

"Why did you call us, when you could have finished it?" Aya asked, her voice sharper and she spoke quicker than the relaxing pace of Skylar's.

"Because it's not that simple." Ver said, "Wu is housed by a Dwellers Tribe, and he has been accepted."

Skylar and Aya shared an intrigued look, "Well, that's certainly a surprising development."

"Then, we will just attack them." Aya said quickly, "Group of Dwellers are a non-issue."

"But we do not want the Dwellers to buy him time to escape," Skylar added, looking towards Ver.

"But don't we have a few Casters that can deliver a large enough AoE cast?" Aya asked, and Skylar nodded, then shook his head.

"Leave the Dwellers out of this." Ver said, "That is the condition of my cooperation."

"Very well. I'd like to keep things tidy too." Skylar said, "How about this, can you find a way to isolate Wu and bring him to us?"

"Then what?" Ver asked, and her gaze clashed with Skylar's.

"Then, we will go through the 'diplomatic route' to deal with our little competition." Skylar smiled, "You know how this goes."

Yeah right. Ver knew how this goes all right.

"Tonight," Ver said, putting her hand up, "Create a diversion for me, and I will bring Wu here."

"Alive." Aya added, and her aura of aggression surrounded Ver's body, "For diplomatic purposes."

"Obviously." Ver said, her arms crossed and looking at Skylar, "If you provide me with a distraction, it is only fair that you get a fair shot at the price."

"I like you~" Skylar laughed, "The Lost Girl of Vaughan sure knows how things work around here. And if you have other fun ideas.....just remember this."

Then, Skylar reached over and flicked against the back of his Sky Splitting Sword with his finger. It roared into life and hummed as a small gust of air blew away the dust and dirt around him. With its overwhelming Wave flowing through Skylar, it became a show of power.

A show of power, a threat to cooperate, and a showing of its dominance.

Ver looked straight back at him, not backing down an inch and not showing any signs of fear. Then, she spun around and walked away.

After her figure disappeared into the woods, Aya and Skylar shared another look before she spoke first.

"Gang up and kill her." Aya suggested, "She may not be mountain-splitting yet, but her potential is too high."

"Once she brings the Summoned one, yes. The one she referred to as Wu." Skylar said with smile of excitement and expectation before turning around and marching to the rest of the camp.

Fortunately, with the way things are moving, they won't have to stay in this dreaded forest for much longer.

Ver took a few detours on the way back, collecting sets of berranges (Berry + Orange) from the bushes and acting like she has just gone out and did some foraging. Then, with handfuls of sweet fruits in her pocket, she walked back into the camp just as the afternoon sun was at its highest.

Dropping off the fruits at the dining area, Ver glanced around the camp. Wu is in his workstation that has been upgraded into its own tent ever since the end of the aqueduct project, and Lera's nowhere to be found.

At least that's what she thought until she became the one that came into her tent just moments after Ver entered and started cleaning away her things.

"Hey, Ver." Lera greeted as Ver swiftly zips up her little bag of items, "How was your foraging trip?"

"Oh, you saw me?" Ver asked without looking back.

"Yeah." Lera said slowly, her fingers running along with the cover of her Book of Casts, "by the dining area. You dropped off some berranges. Looks ripe."

"They are really sweet, aren't they?" Ver asked, turning around and looking towards Lera. She has her hair tied up, and her face is slightly red. Her pairs of grey eyes are sharp, and they are focused on Ver's face.

With a blank expression, Lera exited the tent and gestured for Ver to follow her.

"I found another bush on the other side." Lera said, "Can you give me a hand in picking it since you have become rather proficient at it already."

"Of course," Ver said, following close after Lera. She took a quick glance around and made sure that Wu's still in his workshop as a pair of Dwellers children went in there while holding onto something.

Ver followed Lera out, and the two of them quickly made their way somewhere far away from the main camp. The two didn't share a word, and the only sounds around are that of branches being crushed under their feet.

Then, everything opened up in front of them. The ground was flat and dry, with handful of tiny rocks scattered near the trees.

"So...this is the berrange bush?" Ver asked, looking at a massive opening in the forest.

"Yeah." Lera said, her body suddenly leaping forward with a surprising amount of speed and agility before an array of Cast formed underneath Ver's feet, "and I am going to pick out one of the rotten pieces!"

"Whirlpool Purple!" Ver shouted, activating her teleportation Cast tied to her manifestation, but before the purple fluid can fully take her away, strands of light had already been shot out from the array which spanned the entire opening as they bound around Ver's wrist, locking her in place even as Whirlpool Purple tried to pull her in.

"I have seen your teleporting tricks." Lera said, pointing a finger at Ver as she landed softly outside the area of her Trapping Cast, "You need to physically go through those pools, don't you?"

"What...what are you doing?" Putting up her innocent front, Ver cried out in fake pain, "You are hurting me!"

"Won't work for me." Lera said, shaking her head as the binds elevated Ver high up into the air until her feet cleared the Whirlpool Purple, "Wu gives you benefit of the doubt, but I won't. Tell me, how many of the mercenaries are here?"

"Too many. For you." Ver sighed, her eyes hidden behind her strands of blonde hair before jets of water shot out from red patches of fluid around her wrist, "Whirlpool Red."

Those highly pressurized jets cut through the binds with little resistance, and Ver landed firmly on the ground.

"So who are you really?!" Lera asked, forming sets of Wave orbs around her body, "Who do you work for?!"

"I am Ver Fulgen." Ver replied, tearing off her eye patch as the dark lines grew thicker around it, "and I work for no one."

"LIES! If you work for no one, then who were you meeting?" Lera said, leaping forward with the orbs charged up, "Release!"

Those orbs around her shot forward, each curving in a slightly different trajectory before they exploded around Ver's body in a brilliant series of flashes.

"They are mere competition." Rising through a Whirlpool Purple behind Lera, Ver put a hand up before she shot a jet of water right into Lera's back, "I intend to kill Wu myself."

The jet of water bounced off Lera's Bubble Bubble, and she spun around before commanding the binds around the ground to lock Ver down again. However, Ver simply picks her foot up and slammed it back down while muttering, "Kraken's Dance."

The ground cracked around her feet before massive pieces of rocks were split up, turned over, and sent flying up into the air. Enhancing her physicality and movement capabilities vastly, Ver squatted down, leaned forward, and dashed towards Lera, appearing in front of her shield instantaneously while avoiding the pieces of flying rocks.

She's fast!

Lera cursed under her breath before jabbing hard into the ground and avoiding her point-blank strike. She had prepared the traps all day, and in that single stomp, Ver had completely destroyed the basis of the Cast through her lines of protective Casts. That physicality rivals that of any Channeller that she has met before, and if she's wasn't careful...

"This is not personal." Ver said, slipping an arm through Lera's Bubble Bubble and shooting a jet of water right through her right shoulder blades from behind Lera, "A Token has been offered for the killing of the Summoned one, and I need that Token, no matter what."

The shield dissipated, and Lera fell forward to the ground as blood rushed out from the wound. However, just as Ver thought everything is over, Lera reached her hand back through the mind-shattering pain at the back of her shoulder and grabbed onto the hand of Ver. Then, before she could react, Lera planted her feet down and yanked Ver through the Whirlpool Purple in a spin.

Ver's eyes widened, and she watched as an orb of light formed immediately in Lera's free hand, the latter gritting her teeth together while shoving her hand towards Ver's right eye.

She may have just been a utility-based Caster, and the majority of her spells do no direct damage to the opponent, but due to how volatile the Wave is, particularly in Manifesters, Lera might have a chance!

Like how she disrupted the ritual ran by Jiyu on the Portal by inserting a burst of the Wave at its critical junction, she is now going to destabilize Ver's manifestation by doing the same!

"Little one! DODGE THAT!" The roaring voice of the Kraken nearly cracked Ver's skull, and she violently tried to pull her head back. However, Lera's other hand has held her in place, giving her not an inch of room to evade!

As the orb of light shot off her hand and dissolved into the right eye of Ver, white cracks suddenly began showing in her field of vision before an overwhelming burning pain sent her stumbling backward.

"YOU BITCH!" She screamed out in pain, kicking the falling Lera square in the jaw and knocking her out. Then, Ver hissed and gripped around her right eye as blood started streaming out from it too. The entire world's ringing, and Ver felt nothing but the searing pain.

"What is going to happen to me?" Ver asked, and there was no reply from the Kraken as her voice sounded slurred. She looked down, and her hands had turned completely black. In fact, her entire body turned black.

The same color of black as the dark patterns over her right eye, and the same black as the abyss that the Kraken resides in.