On his way to the recently scouted area, every snapped twig, every disturbed leaf spoke to him, a language of survival he'd come to understand. To others, these signs might seem trivial, but to Cal, they were clues leading him ever closer to understanding this alien ecosystem. Cal knew now that the direhogs were on the lower end of the food chain from his explorations – prey, likely with many predators.

Cal considered that for a while. His previous encounter with the direhog matriarch switched his role from hunter to hunted. Technically, he was at the bottom of the food chain now.

He ventured deeper, the canopy choking out the sun. Cal listened for the rustle of life hidden just beyond sight. In the distance the ground rumbled, sending a shiver down his spine—not of fear, but anticipation.

Stealth was his ally; he advanced unseen, footsteps finding the soft patches of moss and dirt, avoiding the treacherous crunch of dry leaves.

Eyes narrowed, he spotted a trail of upturned soil—a sign of something burrowing, something living beneath the surface. This species was one that Cal had recently discovered. He named them beetleworms – likely first-stage beasts.

Although they were insects, their size was similar to the direhogs, and they were likely the direhog’s natural predators given their sharp mandibles and their speed.

Today, Cal prepared a tactic to lure out the insect. He pulled out a carefully crafted net, embodying the spirit of Old Earth retiarius gladiators. He planned to ensnare it after it spread its wings. A quick stab should be sufficient to break their weak carapace afterwards allowing Cal to retrieve their energy organ.

Cal crouched low, his gaze fixed on the cluster of ferns ahead where a rustling betrayed presence. The beetleworms alternated between burrow and flight. Cal knew that he would have to lure the beast into the air if he wanted his net to be effective.

Temp sighed, "beetleworm ahead. Cal your naming sense is atrocious." Temp indicated, almost inaudible.

Cal ignored Temp, chuckling inside when a shadow shifted, silent but for the faintest snap of twig. A shadow escaped the earth towards the direhog bait Cal had left in the open. Cal adjusted his grip on a simple rock. He threw the stone with practiced precision at the beetleworm.

The shadow pivoted and wings emerged as it veered off course, its carapace with shades that flickered between green and brown, heading now towards Cal.

Cal let loose his net now that the insect had released its wings. Ensnared it careened into an adjacent tree and Cal dived with knife extended to finish the job.

Struggling to reenter the earth, the beetleworm tried retracting its wings unsuccessfully, only to buzz restlessly for moments more before Cal’s dagger dug deep.

Cal pulled Temp out to analyze the beast, and effortlessly pulled out the identified organ. This one pulsed in a different tint. Cal pocketed the organ, adhering to his rule to only use them in the relative safety of the room. “Temp we can analyze this when we get back..”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Leaves whispered among themselves, a language only the wind knew. But beneath it, something else stirred—a sibilant undertone that teased at the edge of perception.

"Temp, do you hear that?" Cal paused, head tilted.

"Elaborate."

"Voices, like... whispers. They're not from the beasts. At first, I thought it was the wind" He frowned, feeling a prickle of unease.

"I hear nothing within audible range. I have heard no such whispers; do you think it is a result of the absorption?"

"Then it's just me," Cal conceded, though doubt gnawed at him.

"It may be another undiscovered aspect of this environment. Please tell me next time it occurs, perhaps we can analyze and identify it." Temp allowed.

Cal just couldn't get used to talking with his AI and didn’t have the heart to tell Temp that he was starting to hear them everywhere. "Let's keep moving." Cal would think about this later.

Boots light on the loam, Cal retreated back towards the base with his prey flung over his shoulder as his mind drifted into his thoughts.

Without realizing it, Cal started extracting the energy from the organ, after reaching inside his satchel.

Cal was unsure what was driving him to these lengths. Was it survival instinct that forced him to hunt these creatures and extract their energy organs so that he could keep exploring this alien world? Is it the unadulterated curiosity, the pure childlike science of discovery that Temp so clearly exhibited, or something darker lurking beneath, did he relish the hunt?

“Cal, this new organ has improve your dexterity instead of vitality. I suggest you alter your current strategy and prioritize hunting these insects.”

He suspected that Temp brought up a change in strategy because he had been pushing hard – perhaps too hard.

“Pushing your vitality higher with your already high wisdom will lead you towards a front-line fighter role. This is not how you have operated in the past.”

Temp’s logic was also quite logical, he supposed. “Yeah, it would be a waste of my experience and combat style.

“Pushing both dexterity and vitality would also be wasteful of defense utility as you should be able to dodge a significant amount of damage outright with improvements in dexterity.”

Cal realized he would have to make a choice.

“Do you think we wasted stats going into wisdom?”

“Quite possibly, however, it presents as a good buffer for the elemental attuned damage we just recently became aware of.”

“Figures. We can’t do anything now to change it anyways. Sentient beasts, and perhaps humans may eventually have more dedicated spellcasters or mages that heavily relied on this sort of magic.”

Cal considered as he thought back to Anu’aris. They didn’t have this directly, but Cal assumed resistance would act as a defense against oversoul as well. This may be one reason why he was so effective at busting up other young masters back at home.

“I would suggest Vigor and dexterity, Cal.”

Cal knew Temp was right. He would require vigor for sustained fights and dexterity with vigor would give him a way to out-speed his opponents with more consistency, limiting the need for vitality.

“Yeah, you’re right Temp. Let’s identify and target beasts that could give strength and vigor or strength and dexterity.”

Cal considered his choice of weapon as well. He hadn’t run into fatal setbacks with his adamantine dagger yet, but his ability to dig into his enemies’ weak spots would be limited against truly resilient beasts and he expected to need to adapt with higher strength – either to a longer weapon or to a more brutal style trading blows for blows.

As Cal walked back to the base he began daydreaming about being able to breath fire like the direhog matriarch in relative safety, but his nonexistent access to oversoul currently, as well as his already paltry investment into intelligence made it obvious that it was not suitable for him, especially now that survival hung in the balance. He had no idea if the energy organ was required or necessary to use this kind of power.