~~~Cunning Fang~~~
Cunning Fang lay still in the brush, nothing moving but her eyes as they scanned the humans scurrying about in the distance. Night Shadow lay beside her, his power deepening the shadows and helping hide both of them from seeking eyes.
She heard the humans coming long before they arrived. They were loud and clumsy. Stumbling through the forest and howling like puppies. But she supposed they could afford to be so bold. Here, at the center of their den, where they had the numbers to quell any attacker.
No, not any attack. She had not forgotten the rotting swarm of death. It had sent her fleeing and would do the same to the humans here. Unless...
The golden human emerged, and she watched his light heal the wounds of his fellows. He did that often. Many others emerged with him, their eyes turned away and seeking threats to the healer. It was smart of them to protect him. It saved her the trouble.
"We should not have come," Night Shadow huffed softly when another human appeared. "He is on the move."
She didn't reply to her mate as they watched the alleged Beast Lord emerge from the humans' dwelling while riding on the flying human. More humans gathered around him, and then they all flew away together. None of them noticed her, not that she could tell...
"Are you sure that is him?"
Night Shadow shivered. "He hides his power. A lazy beast, content to be carried around like a pup... but I am sure. I suspect the golden human cleans the air here, so we do not smell him."
Cunning Fang relaxed her tense muscles as her fear abated. She knew the Beast Lord was somewhere in this rotting cage... she'd heard his howl... But that little pup? That pet? Could it be that Night Shadow was confused?
"Must we flee, then? Will he hunt us?"
"I do not know," Night Shadow growled. "Perhaps he is content with his humans..."
The humans. Cunning Fang watched one of them in particular. Dark-skinned, and with sharp eyes that saw too much. Even now, he looked their way, and she stilled. This one was dangerous...
Night Shadow pulled her into the dark and away from the humans.
She trotted after him through that darkness until they finally emerged back into the light.
Cunning Fang greeted the pups happily when they threw themselves at her. They were growing fast, and thanks to that golden human, they had plenty to eat.
The wind shifted, carrying with it a foul odor from beyond the clean lands. Her pack stood as one to face the coming threat. These clean lands were a boon and a way for them to survive... but they had to fight for them.
Because everyone wanted a piece of her territory.
~~~Stanley~~~
"Seriously, Caff? You still won't evolve?" Sure, he hadn't started counting from the beginning... but he'd been feeding him for days now, and Caffeine had definitely eaten enough cores to reach E-grade already.
Caffeine stared intently at the piece of meat in Stanley's fingers and didn't react to the question except for the non-stop, slow wag of his tail.
"Fine..." He handed over the meat. "Eat up."
The building shook slightly under him, and Stanley gave a quick scan with Soul Sight. It was just more new E-grades flexing their power. Intentionally or not.
It definitely helped that Nate's base was an actual lair now. Otherwise, the entire thing might have come down with the new uptick in stronger people. It wasn't only E-grades, either. Going abruptly from ten to seventy in all their attributes was apparently quite a rush.
Stanley's scan also saw the humans sprinting closer outside, and he was unsurprised when someone shouted for Zeke. The resident healer was already E-grade... along with Nate. All the bigshots were. Stanley was the odd man out. Plus Caffeine.
Even Lee had reached E-grade, and he'd done something to their soul since Stanley had to agree to it. Whatever it was. He wasn't sure what the point of asking permission was if it didn't tell him what he was agreeing to...
Stanley still couldn't figure out why Caffeine wouldn't evolve, and his best guess was that it involved him not being E-grade yet himself... That put some pressure on Stanley to hurry it up, and he had. Today should be the last day at F-grade...
His team did a lot better at hunting now, but not as much as he'd hoped. Sure, they'd all gotten stronger and faster. By a lot. But humans weren't the only things getting stronger...
It was depressing when you stopped to think about it. This was their life now—everyone's life. A never-ending fight. A literal arms race to stay ahead of the monsters, or else you'd get eaten by them. Some people liked it... probably because they were idiots and hadn't actually thought about what was happening. Or they just loved fighting...
But that was fine. They might as well enjoy themselves, since they had no choice but to fight or die.
Stanley wasn't complaining. Not very much, at least. He was powerful now; even the E-grades couldn't touch him. Nate was the only E-grade he wasn't confident about fighting... and luckily, the man not only kept his distance but went out of his way to help Stanley with his plan. Speaking of which...
"Here are the cores," James said, walking into Stanley's room with a small bag full of the things. It only took a glance to know this amount wasn't enough. James must have seen the look because he asked, "We going back out?"
"Yeah," Stanley grumbled. "Damn lazy hunters..."
"You're the one who insists on fortifying." James shook his head. "I still don't get why you're bothering. You're literally more powerful as an F-grade than anyone else is at E-grade. Why not just evolve?"
Stanley glared at him. "I told you why." He also assumed the man had told Nate.
"Yeah, and I still think you're overreacting, but..." He held up both hands before Stanley could say anything. "It's your choice! Besides, you've got Nate curious now, and he's gotten some volunteers to follow your example."
"He better not be hoarding the cores..."
"Relax," James said, rolling his eyes. "They are pushing strength and intelligence right now. He wants to push all the attributes, but he'll wait for you to finish before he does that."
Stanley wanted to be angry at the man. Nate too. But the bastards were being too cooperative. "Good..."
"I'll get the team ready. Say in... half an hour?"
Stanley nodded and dropped into his meditation. His anger was irrational. Just like the paranoia. Some of it. Maybe.
He stayed like that for a few minutes, until the frustration faded. Then he absorbed the cores.
+0.1 Willpower Fortification
+0.1 Willpower Fortification
+0.1 Willpower Fortification
...
Willpower has reached maximum fortification for F-grade. Evolve to E-grade to increase this attribute further.
The diminishing returns were still a thing, and it was a tragedy to see such low numbers from E-grade cores... He was also pushing willpower, despite it being the very reason he was even fortifying at all. It was too good not to. Willpower was his whole thing, and if his plan for vitality didn't pay off, then more power wouldn't hurt.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
But that wasn't the worst part. The real problem was that it hurt.
+0.5 Vitality Fortification
+0.5 Vitality Fortification
+0.4 Vitality Fortification
+0.4 Vitality Fortification
...
+0.3 Vitality Fortification
Each core he absorbed made it hurt more. A constant low-level ache that just... hurt. It was nothing like the pains he'd endured before, but it also wouldn't go away. It definitely wasn't helping with his mood...
Stanley took his time flying downstairs, using the leisurely flight to administer a thorough belly rub to Caffeine on the way. He had no idea if the pug was also fortifying attributes, but unless his math was way off...
Caffeine showed no signs of discomfort. He didn't even balk at the cores Stanley offered. So maybe it was still at low numbers. The pain hadn't started until he was over a hundred points deep...
He spotted Zeke through the walls; Eve not far away, and he avoided them. The way they looked at him ever since the Soul Sight incident... Stupid kids! They could think whatever they wanted! They didn't know what he'd been through! They didn't...
Of course, he didn't know what they'd been through, either. That fucking cult...
It was easier to just avoid them. He didn't want to snap at Zeke, and Eve was really good at pissing him off... So he used Soul Sight to avoid them and flew outside.
Nate was out there teaching martial arts to a bunch of people. Apparently, someone had figured out classes could evolve depending on what you did while leveling them up. The news had revitalized tons of people with less useful classes. Like, why would anyone choose to be a magic accountant? Idiots.
Stanley told his team that he only needed vitality cores from here on and then flew them all into the city.
As they approached the towering monoliths of downtown, Stanley forced more of what he tentatively assumed was his soul into his eyes.
His team had heard about what happened when he went looking for Zeke, and Edward immediately insisted Stanley hit him with the boosted Soul Sight.
Surprisingly, it hadn't unlocked their soul attributes—none of them. They all hated the experience but gained no hidden soul attributes. The leading theory, according to James, was that Stanley's emotional state had played a role in what happened at the base. Stanley was reluctant to feel anything like that again... and no one pushed him to.
Luckily, the skill was very directional, and so long as they stayed behind him, Stanley could scan the city as much as he wanted while bothering no one. The monsters didn't count.
That was how he spotted a few human souls in one of the skyscrapers. It wasn't obvious at a glance, but they had far more color than most monsters or undead. Far more variety, at least. It was a spot to avoid. None of Nate's people were hitting the downtown area, and Stanley was fine waiting until E-grade before meeting the new group.
He pushed until his eyes burned, but found nothing else that stood out. Monsters filled every tower, and undead filled the streets. All the undead were now E-grade red eyes, but that was it. They were stupid, mindless things. They didn't group up or hunt together, but at least they all dropped cores now...
Stanley was good at spotting their corrupted souls, a sickly gray. All the same color. All the same brightness. Nothing that stood out as a potential invader. No giant skeletons, and no talking zombies. He still killed every one that got close, but it was less efficient to hunt zombies versus the lairs.
So he picked a tower that didn't have humans in it and went to war against the occupants.
Every skyscraper was now a kingdom of monsters. Strong ones that got smarter every day. Stanley didn't leave his team alone for these fights. Caffeine could probably handle anything this place could throw at them, but Stanley didn't want him to fight. So he fought alongside them and kept Caffeine in his lap.
Stanley knew he could wipe out the whole tower in less than a minute if he went all out. He'd done it once. When they hurt Caffeine...
The four-hour debuff that followed made it a suboptimal choice. Even with meditation helping him drop the timer faster. Working with the others, it should only take about an hour to clear one building. That was fast enough.
Cut
He de-limbed one creature that made it past Silas' shield and almost reached Serenity. If he spaced out his attacks enough and killed only slightly faster than the others, with some food breaks for him and mana regen for them, he could go almost non-stop. With no debuff.
Despite the original cost of being on his team, this group were now the highest contributors to the base. Mainly because Stanley had been trading half the cores for willpower and vitality. The rest went to Caffeine.
His hunger also went up too fast these days, and Stanley didn't eat from their stash other than first thing in the morning for the food buff. The rest of the day, he just ate raw monster meat.
He'd experimented with trying to cook it with his skill. Meat was matter, and there was no reason it shouldn't work. It just didn't. Something about the way he used his power. Moving stuff came easily, likely since he'd been doing that for as long as he had this power. The cutting part was slightly harder, but also something he'd been doing for a while, only with weapons instead of willpower.
Burning or cooking—that was something else. He'd figure it out eventually, but it wasn't a priority when he could just eat the raw meat.
Stanley still kept Samantha's spear around, but he used it less. His power to throw things had gotten a lot more destructive, and he worried about breaking the weapon. He ended up letting Serenity use it most of the time. A last-ditch backup weapon.
The groups' mana consumption had drastically improved following E-grade, and they no longer had to stop after one or two fights. Especially in this lair. Because the monsters seemed content to let them fight their way up, floor by floor.
It was only as they neared the top floor that the monsters realized they weren't stopping and threw everything they had left at the group. A futile effort that was further hampered by the narrow stairwells funneling them into manageable numbers.
Like most lairs did these days, the queen surrendered. She did so before they even reached the top floor. All the remaining monsters fled from the fight at the notification, and Stanley watched them gather around the queen above. The stairway doors also slammed shut behind them, blocking any pursuit. "I don't see any eggs," he said. "Verdict?"
"It was easy," James said. "It will be worse next time... but I say leave them. We can swing by in a few days to see if they become a problem."
Stanley shrugged and flew everyone back out. He could destroy the lair doors or even just reach past them to wipe out the monsters. He'd done it for lairs which seemed a little too clever. They would get no cores from the monsters if they did that, but sometimes it was worth the trouble.
Doors closed behind them as they went until they reached the ground floor, and a core appeared. It was always a skill, though not always a useful one.
Tail Whip (Uncommon)
It was good for twelve vitality cores if they traded it to Nate, so better than nothing. Though worth less lately. Stanley had offered more favorable trades when the influx slowed. A lot of fresh E-grades didn't want to give up vitality, especially if they'd almost died once or twice... but offering two-for-one deals still swayed enough people.
Stanley absorbed all the vitality cores they'd claimed from the lair, and each one ramped up the ache filling his body. There was still no debuff or notifications, so he assumed it was intentional suffering from the system. Which should mean he was doing the right thing. The system liked to make people suffer.
The next skyscraper lair went... less smoothly. They cleared the first floor, and halfway across the second floor, the entire lair charged down at them.
It wasn't the first time this had happened, and Stanley knew the best strategy as well as what the monsters were hoping to pull off.
Cut Cut Cut
He gave himself a short debuff by wiping out the entire second floor in a couple seconds, then dragged his team to the next stairwell on the other side of the building.
The lairs tended to adopt a common layout as the buildings shifted and changed. Floor to ceiling windows were rare these days, most of them closing up into narrow gaps that let only a little light inside or just vanishing entirely. Most stairwells no longer ran straight through a building. They would go up one floor, then you had to cross to the far side to go up again, then rinse and repeat all the way up.
Stairs weren't always stairs, either. Sometimes it was just a hole in the ceiling or floor. Others were tunnels or ramps, ranging from gentle slopes to sheer drop-offs. Almost all of them forced the invading force to travel further before reaching the queen.
This lair still had stairs with narrow doorways. It made a nice choke point for the swarming monsters, and Stanley let the others handle the rush while he meditated his debuff away. He'd done this before, and they knew to attack him if shit hit the fan. Nothing serious, just enough to trigger his premonition, assuming Caffeine's reactions didn't break the meditation before that.
Between James' slowing magic and Silas' shield, they held the doorway easily. Stanley never had to help, though he popped out occasionally to check his debuff timer.
He helped speed things up after that, and the lair surrendered before they got even halfway up the building. Probably because they killed all but a handful of the monsters by then.
Aside from a bit more stress, this was a faster way to clear the lairs than going floor by floor like some of them.
Stanley pushed his vitality higher while everyone took a break, then carried them outside.
He thought nothing of the undead souls in the street. That was normal now. But he knew something was very wrong the moment he floated outside and laid eyes on them.
The red-eyed zombies filled the street. Not charging or shambling aimlessly. All of them stood unmoving. All of them were staring at him.
Caffeine looked up and growled.
Adrenaline was already pumping through Stanley's veins when he followed the pug's gaze. Accelerated Thought was blazing as far as he could push it. Premonition hovered in his mind like a dangling blade waiting to strike, and Stanley attacked.
CUT
He only noticed the lack of a glowing soul after his attack landed. After he saw the skull grinning from within the cloak. After he saw the four hands weaving magic faster than his eyes could follow. After his attack utterly failed to do anything to it...
Stanley met its gaze in that instant and saw no red glows, only glowing black pits that burned hotter than the sun as they bore into his own eyes. Stanley stared up in frozen horror... because he knew without a doubt that this monster wasn't an E-grade.
It was something stronger.
Then premonition flared, and at the same time, something entered his domain.
MOVE