---
Chapter 17: Quiet Before Night
---
Time passed slowly.
---
Not much.
---
But enough.
---
The rain had not stopped.
---
It never truly had.
---
Only changed.
---
From violent downpour—
---
To a steady, endless fall.
---
Droplets slid from leaf to leaf.
---
Gathering.
---
Falling.
---
Breaking apart mid-air.
---
Tap.
---
Drip.
---
Tap.
---
An uneven rhythm—
---
Spread across the forest.
---
Kael's eyes opened.
---
The first thing he felt—
---
Cold.
---
Not biting.
---
Not sharp.
---
But persistent.
---
Damp air clinging to his skin.
---
"…still raining…"
---
His voice came out low.
---
Rough.
---
Unused.
---
He exhaled slowly.
---
A faint mist left his lips.
---
The air had cooled further.
---
Evening approaching.
---
Faster than expected.
---
Clouds blocked the sky.
---
Light dimmed early.
---
His body felt heavy.
---
Not broken—
---
But far from recovered.
---
Muscles tight.
---
Energy low.
---
A dull ache lingered deep within.
---
"…not enough…"
---
Still—
---
He sat up.
---
Slowly.
---
Carefully.
---
No sudden movement.
---
No waste.
---
His gaze shifted immediately.
---
Toward the eggs.
---
They rested near the trunk.
---
Protected.
---
Dry beneath the canopy.
---
Unaffected by the rain.
---
The blue one pulsed faintly.
---
Cold.
---
Calm.
---
The red one responded.
---
Warm.
---
Steady.
---
Between them—
---
That faint shimmer.
---
Like distant stars caught in glass.
---
Unchanging.
---
Stable.
---
"…good…"
---
Relief flickered briefly.
---
Then faded.
---
Replaced by focus.
---
"…status…"
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Kael
Race: Human
Level: 10
EXP: 113 / 200
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Attributes:
Strength: 18
Agility: 17
Endurance: 19
Wisdom: 16
Spirit: 21
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Skills:
• Nature Sense — Level 5
• Life Transfer — Level 5
• Basic Spear Mastery — Level 3
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Affinities:
• Nature Affinity (Common)
• Dark Affinity (Uncommon)
• Starlight Affinity (Rare)
Starlight Affinity Description:
A rare cosmic affinity born from refined stellar essence.
Allows fusion and harmonization of conflicting energies.
Enables coexistence of incompatible forces such as fire and ice.
Greatly enhances stability during mutation, transformation, and evolution processes.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
Kael stared at it quietly.
---
"…still feels unreal…"
---
Fire.
---
Ice.
---
Together.
---
Not clashing.
---
Not destroying.
---
But… stable.
---
His gaze drifted back to the eggs.
---
"…you two shouldn't exist…"
---
Not accusation.
---
Just truth.
---
The rain grew slightly heavier.
---
Soft at first—
---
Then steady again.
---
Drip.
---
Drip.
---
Drip.
---
His eyes shifted outward.
---
The clearing shimmered.
---
Wet soil reflecting faint blue light.
---
Leaves glistening.
---
Droplets gathering at edges—
---
Before falling.
---
The lake rippled endlessly.
---
Circles forming—
---
Overlapping—
---
Vanishing.
---
"…need to move…"
---
Evening deepened.
---
Darkness creeping faster under storm clouds.
---
"…food first…"
---
He stood.
---
Ignoring stiffness.
---
Ignoring fatigue.
---
Because waiting—
---
Was worse.
---
He climbed down.
---
The bark was wet.
---
Slick.
---
Dangerous.
---
But his grip held.
---
Controlled.
---
Measured.
---
His feet touched the ground.
---
Soft mud absorbed the impact.
---
No sound.
---
Kael paused.
---
Listened.
---
Rain.
---
Wind.
---
Nothing else.
---
"…good…"
---
He moved toward the lake.
---
Water levels had risen slightly.
---
Edges swollen.
---
Mud softer.
---
The Purification Lotus still bloomed.
---
Unmoved.
---
Unaffected.
---
Soft glow beneath grey sky.
---
"…still clean…"
---
That mattered.
---
More than anything.
---
He crouched.
---
Eyes narrowing.
---
Surface distorted by rain.
---
Fish movements harder to track.
---
Blurred.
---
Broken by ripples.
---
"…annoying…"
---
He adjusted his grip.
---
Waited.
---
Didn't rush.
---
Didn't guess.
---
Just watched.
---
Minutes passed.
---
Rain tapping against water.
---
Masking everything.
---
Then—
---
A flicker beneath.
---
Movement.
---
Clear.
---
Enough.
---
Strike.
---
The spear cut through ripples.
---
A sharp splash—
---
Then resistance.
---
Kael pulled back.
---
A fish struggled briefly—
---
Then stilled.
---
"…one…"
---
He didn't relax.
---
Again.
---
Wait.
---
Observe.
---
Rain distorted patterns—
---
But not completely.
---
He adapted.
---
Adjusted angle.
---
Timing.
---
Strike.
---
Miss.
---
"…tch…"
---
Too fast.
---
He exhaled.
---
Reset.
---
Slowed himself.
---
"…don't rush…"
---
Again.
---
Wait.
---
Longer this time.
---
Then—
---
Strike.
---
Clean.
---
"…two…"
---
One more.
---
Just enough.
---
No waste.
---
No greed.
---
Final wait.
---
Rain softened slightly.
---
Visibility improved—
---
Barely.
---
But enough.
---
Strike.
---
Direct.
---
"…three… done…"
---
He stood.
---
Rain soaked into his clothes.
---
Cold.
---
Clinging.
---
But manageable.
---
"…next…"
---
He moved toward the edge of the clearing.
---
Soil softer here.
---
Waterlogged.
---
Easier to dig.
---
"…good…"
---
He crouched.
---
Hands sinking into wet earth.
---
Cool.
---
Dense.
---
He dug slowly.
---
Carefully.
---
Feeling beneath surface.
---
Then—
---
Contact.
---
Solid.
---
He pulled.
---
A thick root emerged.
---
Covered in mud.
---
"…same one…"
---
"Appraisal."
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Wild Sweetroot
Type: Edible Root Plant
Rank: F
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Properties:
• Rich in natural sugars
• Provides steady energy
• Mild restorative effect
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Status: Fresh
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
"…useful…"
---
He collected a few more.
---
Not too many.
---
He paused.
---
Looking at the remaining roots.
---
"…leave some…"
---
Sustainability.
---
Not greed.
---
Rain would help regrowth.
---
But still—
---
Balance mattered.
---
Next—
---
Mushrooms.
---
Near fallen logs.
---
Clusters had expanded.
---
Moisture accelerating growth.
---
Soft blue glow—
---
More visible now in dim light.
---
"…good…"
---
"Appraisal."
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Glowcap Fungus
Type: Light-Emitting Plant
Rank: F
Level: 2
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Traits:
• Soft Luminescence
• Moisture Dependent
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Status: Thriving
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
"…rain helped…"
---
He harvested carefully.
---
Not ripping.
---
Not destroying.
---
Leaving base intact.
---
Collecting spores separately.
---
"…more light tonight…"
---
He stood again.
---
Fish.
---
Roots.
---
Mushrooms.
---
Enough.
---
For now.
---
Rain continued falling.
---
Steady.
---
Endless.
---
The clearing shimmered.
---
Alive in a different way.
---
Not bright—
---
But breathing.
---
"…home…"
---
The word slipped out.
---
Quiet.
---
Unplanned.
---
He froze.
---
Just for a moment.
---
Then exhaled.
---
"…not yet…"
---
Still dangerous.
---
Still temporary.
---
Still fragile.
---
But…
---
Safer than before.
---
He turned.
---
And walked back toward the Life Tree.
---
Slow.
---
Measured.
---
Because preparation—
---
Was not finished.
---
The rain continued.
---
Soft.
---
Endless.
---
Unchanging.
---
Droplets slid down the massive trunk of the Life Tree.
---
Gathering along grooves in the bark—
---
Before falling.
---
One by one.
---
The clearing had grown darker.
---
Clouds swallowed what little light remained.
---
Evening—
---
Was almost gone.
---
Night approached faster under rain.
---
Kael stepped into the center.
---
Setting down everything he gathered.
---
Fish.
---
Roots.
---
Mushrooms.
---
"…not enough light…"
---
His eyes moved across the clearing.
---
Shadows had begun forming.
---
Between trees.
---
Near the edges.
---
Around blind spots.
---
"…can't let that happen…"
---
Not tonight.
---
Not now.
---
He crouched.
---
Taking out the spores.
---
Carefully.
---
Not rushing.
---
Then—
---
He began planting.
---
One by one.
---
Each placement deliberate.
---
Near pathways.
---
Near the outer perimeter.
---
Near his shelter.
---
Near the base of the Life Tree.
---
Rain helped.
---
Soil soft.
---
Accepting.
---
Holding.
---
"…good…"
---
He pressed the last cluster into the ground.
---
Then stood.
---
Watching.
---
Waiting.
---
Moments passed.
---
Then—
---
A faint glow appeared.
---
Soft.
---
Blue.
---
Another followed.
---
Then another.
---
And another.
---
Until—
---
The clearing slowly began to change.
---
Darkness—
---
Did not vanish.
---
But it was pushed back.
---
Gentle.
---
Controlled.
---
Raindrops reflected the glow.
---
Tiny flashes—
---
Across leaves.
---
Across mud.
---
Across water.
---
Like scattered stars.
---
On the ground.
---
Above—
---
From the canopy—
---
Faint particles drifted down.
---
Barely visible.
---
Mixing with rain.
---
Falling like glowing mist.
---
Blue.
---
Soft.
---
Alive.
---
Kael stood still.
---
Watching.
---
"…looks better…"
---
Different from before.
---
Rain changed everything.
---
Sound.
---
Light.
---
Even feeling.
---
The clearing no longer felt like a simple shelter.
---
It felt…
---
Alive.
---
Breathing.
---
For a moment—
---
He did nothing.
---
Just listened.
---
Rain tapping softly.
---
Wind brushing leaves.
---
Water shifting in the lake.
---
"…not bad…"
---
Then—
---
He moved.
---
Food.
---
Still needed.
---
Still important.
---
He picked up the pot.
---
Simple.
---
Rough.
---
But reliable.
---
He placed it beneath partial cover.
---
Protected from direct rain.
---
Then—
---
Water.
---
From the lake.
---
Clear.
---
Mixed with collected rain.
---
Into the pot.
---
Fire came next.
---
Small.
---
Controlled.
---
Sheltered between stones.
---
Shielded from wind and rain.
---
It flickered.
---
Weak at first.
---
Then steady.
---
He adjusted wood placement.
---
Letting it breathe.
---
Letting it grow.
---
The flame stabilized.
---
"…good…"
---
The pot settled above it.
---
Water began to heat.
---
Slowly.
---
Then—
---
Ingredients.
---
Fish first.
---
Cleaned quickly.
---
Dropped in.
---
A soft hiss.
---
Then—
---
Mushrooms.
---
Sliced roughly.
---
Added.
---
Then—
---
Sweetroot.
---
Crushed slightly.
---
Releasing natural sugars.
---
Added last.
---
The water began to change.
---
Clouding.
---
Darkening slightly.
---
Then—
---
Bubbles.
---
Small at first.
---
Then rising.
---
Then—
---
A steady boil.
---
Steam rose into damp air.
---
Carrying scent.
---
Warm.
---
Rich.
---
Earthy.
---
Mixed with the freshness of rain.
---
Kael leaned slightly closer.
---
Watching.
---
"…smells better…"
---
Time passed.
---
The aroma deepened.
---
Blended.
---
Balanced.
---
He picked up a carved wooden piece.
---
Used it as a spoon.
---
Scooped slowly.
---
Blew gently.
---
Then—
---
Tasted.
---
Silence.
---
Rain.
---
Steam.
---
Then—
---
"…yeah…"
---
"…better…"
---
Still simple.
---
Still missing salt.
---
Still missing spice.
---
But—
---
Good.
---
Warm.
---
Filling.
---
He ate slowly.
---
Not rushing.
---
Each bite measured.
---
Each swallow steady.
---
Warmth spread through his body.
---
Fighting off damp cold.
---
Easing tension.
---
"…needed this…"
---
When finished—
---
He set the pot aside.
---
Carefully.
---
Not wasting even remnants.
---
Then leaned back slightly.
---
Breathing steady.
---
For a moment—
---
Just existing.
---
Rain.
---
Light.
---
Silence.
---
Then—
---
His gaze shifted.
---
Toward the eggs.
---
"…check…"
---
"Appraisal."
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Unnamed Egg (Variant — Frost Origin)
Type: Mutated Beast Egg
Rank: Unknown
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Origin:
Formed from the final life essence of a Frostfang Wolf.
Mutation Process:
Body converted into a life vessel under extreme conditions.
Energy condensed and redirected into embryonic form.
External Influence:
Starlight Energy Integration
• Enabled fusion of opposing forces
• Stabilized mutation process
• Altered natural evolutionary path
Result:
Deviation from original species confirmed
Current Race: Unknown Variant
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Affinities:
• Ice
• Starlight
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Status: Stable
Hatching Time: 10 Hours 58 Minutes Remaining
Adaptation Phase: Active
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
The second.
---
"Appraisal."
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Unnamed Egg (Variant — Flame Origin)
Type: Mutated Beast Egg
Rank: Unknown
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Origin:
Formed from the final life essence of an Emberflame Fox.
Mutation Process:
Body converted into a life vessel under extreme conditions.
Energy condensed and redirected into embryonic form.
External Influence:
Starlight Energy Integration
• Enabled fusion of opposing forces
• Stabilized mutation process
• Altered natural evolutionary path
Result:
Deviation from original species confirmed
Current Race: Unknown Variant
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Affinities:
• Fire
• Starlight
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Status: Stable
Hatching Time: 10 Hours 58 Minutes Remaining
Adaptation Phase: Active
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
Kael exhaled slowly.
---
"…faster…"
---
The time had dropped again.
---
Not by much—
---
But enough.
---
"…tomorrow…"
---
No doubt now.
---
They would hatch.
---
Soon.
---
Very soon.
---
His fingers tapped lightly against his arm.
---
Thinking.
---
Calculating.
---
"…no mistakes…"
---
Everything would change after that.
---
Two unknown creatures.
---
Unknown strength.
---
Unknown needs.
---
Unknown danger.
---
His gaze softened slightly.
---
"…but alive…"
---
That was enough.
---
For now.
---
He leaned back.
---
Looking upward.
---
Through the canopy.
---
Rain falling through branches.
---
Breaking.
---
Scattering.
---
"…day five…"
---
A quiet breath.
---
"…only five…"
---
Level 10.
---
Shelter built.
---
Territory secured.
---
Food stable.
---
Water purified.
---
And now—
---
"…this…"
---
He glanced toward the eggs again.
---
"…too fast…"
---
Growth.
---
Change.
---
Risk.
---
Everything accelerating.
---
He closed his eyes briefly.
---
"…slow down…"
---
Not physically.
---
Mentally.
---
No panic.
---
No rush.
---
Only decisions.
---
Clear ones.
---
"…next two days…"
---
He spoke quietly.
---
"…no hunting…"
---
"…no exploring…"
---
"…stay here…"
---
"…defend only…"
---
A pause.
---
Rain filled the silence.
---
"…protect them…"
---
Simple.
---
Clear.
---
Absolute.
---
He shifted position.
---
Moving closer to the eggs.
---
Close enough to feel them.
---
Cold.
---
Warm.
---
Alive.
---
The faint starlight shimmer between them—
---
Still steady.
---
Still unchanging.
---
"…strange…"
---
Opposites.
---
Yet calm.
---
Because of that—
---
Because of him.
---
Because of them.
---
Kael lay down slowly.
---
Back against the inner shelter.
---
Eyes half-open.
---
Still alert.
---
Still listening.
---
Rain outside.
---
Soft.
---
Endless.
---
The clearing glowed gently.
---
Blue light reflecting across every wet surface.
---
Tiny flickers.
---
Moving.
---
Shifting.
---
Alive.
---
Above—
---
The Life Tree stood silent.
---
Massive.
---
Ancient.
---
Unmoving.
---
Watching.
---
Always watching.
---
Kael's breathing slowed.
---
Not fully relaxed.
---
Not careless.
---
But controlled.
---
Ready.
---
Because when morning came—
---
Everything would change.
---
And this time—
---
He would be ready.
---