"Berserk?" I gasped. Unable to resist the magic pulsing from the tiny shard, I stepped away from the table to pace back and forth before I did something impulsive. Like sweep everything off the table and contaminate it. Or start swinging my sword. Anything, as long as it was violent.

Uncle noticed my actions. "Hang on." He touched the stone again and sent another burst of magic inside. At first, the stone’s magic resisted him like water and oil, but then it slowly fell under his influence. The berserk magic quieted down and a barrier formed around the shard.

I sighed, finally able to breathe again.

"Only ninety percent of the magic is left in the stone now," he explained. "Meaning that it used to hold a very potent berserk spell. Enough to cause any already violent monster, no matter the rank, to lose its head."

I swallowed hard, remembering my encounter with the unknown dragon. "It attacked everything that moved, no matter the size or rank. And it didn't mind smashing down buildings to kill." Laramie was already in ruins when I arrived. By the time I left, it was in shambles. Collecting more data from there would be a lot harder now. That is, if they ever fixed the roc's beacon.

"What happened to the leviathan?" Uncle asked. "You said it almost died. Did you see what happened?"

I took a deep breath. If I couldn't trust Uncle, I couldn't trust anyone. "He's right outside." I motioned in the general direction I felt Levi's life force. Through our connection, I could tell he was relaxing underwater, probably treating Uncle's water-feature like a cold jacuzzi. When Uncle looked confused, I vaguely expanded the story and finished with, "Like I said, he almost died in the battle. When I went to check on him, he suddenly shrunk and now he's my constant companion."

Uncle looked confused. "Did he bond with your magic to keep himself alive?"

So Uncle sensed our bond, just like Terre. "Actually, I think I'm the one that bonded us. But I don't fully understand what happened." After all, I had the option to decline then. I thought I was going to get a really cool ride home. Boy, was I wrong.

Uncle glanced at the green Guide pearl on my right temple. "I see." He motioned to the scale on the table. "What do you want to do with this? It's evidence, so it should stay with the box. But there's no denying this is a treasure any Hunter would kill for."

"Oh, you can keep that one. I have lots of them," I said, thinking of the treasure trove in my Items Bag.

Uncle's brows rose. "How many is lots?"

"About two hundred," I said with assurance.

Uncle's eyes widened. "Good god. That's enough money to support the next three generations. What are you going to do with them?"

I looked out the open doors to Levi's location. "Honestly, I want to make new armor and weapons with them." My lips pressed into a bitter smile, remembering all the inconvenient battles that happened in the wilds. "I love my old gear, but they just don't work for what I need anymore." I ran my finger along Levi's smooth scale, feeling the ever cool temperature through my latex glove. He hated this ‘tainted’ scale, since it was trapped in the box and put inside the unknown dragon, but I didn't have the same disdain. It was a part of Levi, so I welcomed it, no matter how dirty he thought it was. After all, I wasn't spotless either.

"The thing is, Levi's really smart," I explained. "Like, on the same level as people. He can understand what people mean when they talk." Although he understood through my comprehension, it was technically secondhand, but he still understood the complexities of our communication with the thoughts and emotions to it. "He's not like Chuck or even Shiva, where we can take the things they shed and use them in gear. Being used as a renewable resource would offend him. And I haven't asked him if I can use his scales yet. He might get upset if I just showed up in armor made from them, especially since he got hurt to lose them."

Uncle hummed in thought. "That is different. A fully intelligent monster. Fascinating."

"But," I stressed, waving my hand, "I don't want anyone else to know. Levi's special to me and..." My words died out. There wasn't much more I could say. Literally. I couldn’t talk about the full extensions of our bond. "I also can't keep the scales in my Items Bag forever. Can I keep them in the family vault?" I peeked at him, waiting for a reaction.

"Of course, we can move them over today, and any other treasures you picked up while you were gone." Uncle started to put the box back together. "Just let me know what your — Levi — decides."

I nodded. "Thank you." I bumped my head on his shoulder. I'd give him a hug, but although my gloves didn't look dirty, I didn't consider them clean.

Then I remembered. "Oh, wait. I actually found another box." I moved to the other side of the table and tapped on the metal surface. A much smaller box appeared, identical to the larger one, only four inches long. The steel was tarnished so badly, there wasn't a speck of clean silver. Dried dirt and gunk clung to it, clogging the tiny slit on the front.

"I take it you didn't dig this one out of a monster," Uncle commented. He changed his gloves then picked up the new addition.

I shook my head and also changed gloves. "I found this in a wraith lair. Honestly, everything happened so fast, I almost forgot I had it."

Uncle stiffened then gave me a sharp look. "Where?"

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"It's where Terre found me." Of course I cut out a lot of things that happened to me when I talked to my family last night. I already knew Uncle would react like this — Dad would have had a heart attack. "I didn't open this one, though, so I don't know what's in it," I said, directing his attention back to the box. Anything to distract him.

Reluctantly, Uncle let it slide. "I can see that." His voice was a little sour. He took out a set of jeweler's screwdrivers and started to loosen dirty mini screws. "It’s solid inside," he commented. He tapped on the top with the tiny Phillips head. Instead of an empty ting sound, there was a sturdy thunk, thunk. "Maybe this one is unused and I can find some stuff out."

"That's what I'm hoping for." The box wasn't big enough for us to work on it together so I watched him work.

Uncle pulled out the last screw then wedged his tool into the sliver gap around the lid. With a grinding pop, the lid came off. Inside was full of dirt, looking a lot like brown homemade soap, only it smelled like compost and dirt.

"Huh." Uncle turned the box over and tapped it gently on the table. The whole block of dirt came out with a soft thump. He glanced at the dirt brick then turned the box over, examining inside. It had the same circuit board configuration inside, along with a tiny magic stone shard. "Either this stone wasn't used, or it completely ran out of magic."

There wasn't enough room for two heads over the box, so I poked at the dirt block on the table. It was packed completely solid. How long was that box underground in the wraith lair? Humming, I pushed at the dirt, searching for something inside. A chunk fell off, revealing a flash of silver. "What's this?" I picked up the dirt brick and carefully pulled it apart to free the silver thing.

Uncle paused to watch.

A minute later, I finally got the silver thing loose. "This is hair?" I asked. There wasn't just one strand inside, it was a whole wad. They were about six inches long and too thick to be human. The course stands clung to the dirt, without any hint of eroding.

Uncle picked up a strand and looked at it closely. "I think ... this is yeti hair."

My eyes widened as something clicked in my mind. Yeti hair?

I walked a short distance away and took something else out of my Items Bag. A huge yeti pelt spread across the ground, like a giant rung.

Uncle braced his hand on the table, like his knees just went weak. "I know for sure you didn't have that before you left, Ria. You fought a yeti? How many dangerous things did you encounter out there?" His shaking voice was a little desperate.

I bit my lips and leaned down to compare the wad of hair to the pelt. "I didn't actually fight it. I threw it off a mountain. Then dropped a boulder on it."

Uncle choked. "Well." He paused. "Well, that works, I guess."

"Yeah, it did. Levi thought it was cool." I sat up. "They match." I stayed on the pelt as I thought aloud. "I found this box only a couple miles away from the yeti's lair. And the hair matches. Do you think this is the same yeti's hair? Or just any yeti's hair, and it was a coincidence?"

But wouldn't that be too much of a coincidence? After all, if my theory is right, then the reason the unknown dragon hunted Levi was because it had his scales in it. So this box must have been in a monster that was hunting the yeti. Did the monster wander into the wraith's lair and fall prey there? Monsters aren't usually zombified like humans. For that reason, zombies are prone to eat a monster clean, because the carcass never goes through the transformation to signal the zombie that it's one of its own. Did the zombies eat the carcass and leave the inedible box behind?

It was a stretch, but it made sense.

"The more I think about this, the more I'm sure," I looked into Uncle's serious face, "that all this is man made." The idea was terrifying. "The unknowns, the boxes. None of it's natural. I just ... can't understand why. Or who."

Uncle left out a heavy sign. "I agree. Someone, or some organization, is behind all this. But I don't know who either. All I know is they're brilliant." He waved the rusty box in his hand. "The design in this really is something."

I stared at the box. "Do you think it's possible the monster attack that killed the team carrying the unknown horned monkey carcass ... was man made too?" When Uncle's eyes widened in shock, I rushed on. "I was just thinking, what if these boxes could direct unknown monsters to attack people too?"

Uncle's face hardened. "That ... would be disastrous." He looked at the box in his hand then set it on the table. "Ria, I know that you can take care of yourself now and I'm not trying to stop you from being a Hunter, but I'd like you to stick around here for now. No more traveling long distances. At least, not until we know what's going on with all this." He motioned to the stuff on the table with his chin. "Whatever is going on here is above our heads." He folded his arms across his chest. "I'll contact the Association, but I don't know if they can make heads or tails of it either. Don't expect a quick turn around."

That was expected. "Not going to lie, I don't want to run into any more of these unknowns either. They're much stronger than normal monsters." I got up, put the yeti pelt away and sent Uncle transfer requests to everything on the table. "I actually wanted to ask if you had any D or low C ranked tasks you need completed?" If Uncle gave me the task, it would make him feel better about knowing where I was, while enabling me to continue to hunt. A win-win.

"You’re that strong now, huh?" Uncle paused while putting the boxes and Levi's scale in his Items Bag to rub his chin, sizing me up. "I can't think of anything off the top of my head, for now. I'll get back to you tonight."

I nodded, then paused. "Oh, that's right." I tapped on the empty table and instantly covered it with battered, stinking armor.

Uncle's mouth pinched together, less than impressed with the sudden mess. He eyed the dirty armor. "I take it, this is the armor Terre teased you about?"

I nodded. "These are from the zombies the wraith controlled. I thought maybe you could help me figure out who the armor belongs to, so their families could know." Oh wait, I just unloaded a ton of things on Uncle. Asking him for this wasn't fair, was it? "I mean, I want to find out who the armor belongs to, so I can locate the families and return the armor." I pinched my thumb. "It's just that I can't figure out who made the armor to start tracing it."

Uncle hummed under his breath and stepped up to the table. "There's several ways to identify the maker," Uncle taught and rambled on about logos and symbols armorers use as he examined a gauntlet. It wasn't the first time I heard this lecture – or even the third – but I patiently listened again. His voice faded away as he examined the piece. As if stumped, he set the gauntlet down and picked up a shoulder brace. Then a thigh guard. Then another gauntlet.

After another minute of silent searching, he hummed under his breath and set it down. "Well, this old man is losing his touch. I've failed you again, Ria baby." He swept his hand out, motioning to all eight pieces. "There's several different makers represented here, and I don't recognize any of them."

*****