“That’s the bastard that attacked us on the road.” I said and pointed at the large raptor ahead walking towards its cave.

Veena stopped beside me. “The raptor?”

“Yeah. Look at its head.”

The tall and colorful feathers were unmistakable. So was the ugly wound along its neck, where I had hit it during our first encounter. It had healed badly, leaving a bare patch between the feathers. But the rest of it was different. It was larger, for one. And gray plates now covered its shoulders, chest and upper back, overlapping down towards the tail. Even its thighs had some armor.

“I think you’re right,” Veena said. “It looks different, though.”

“No kidding. What happened to it?”

“Evolution,” Betuko said quietly. “Look at the fresh plating. Not fully dark yet.”

“Beasts evolve?”

“Yes, young master. If they live long enough and eat well. Some become very different.”

I looked at the remains scattered outside the cave. “Well, this one has clearly been eating well.”

“It probably killed the previous owner,” Veena said.

“Where’s its pack?”

Betuko shrugged.

“If it had companions when it evolved, it probably ate them.”

The raptor sniffed around the cave entrance. With my Mana Sight, I could tell it was stronger than before. All those new plates had a mana lattice that likely strengthened them. That was interesting. I wanted to take a closer look at them. Instinctively, I moved forward before my mother placed a firm hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry, mom.”

“Can you kill it?” Veena asked.

“Sure,” I said. “It seems weaker than the Mamba.”

“This one is armored though…”

“I’ll just have to magic even harder then.”

And I had a proper group with me this time. Mother was already moving towards the trees with the runner boys and Betuko. That was good. I didn’t want to worry about my mom. The warriors waited for Veena’s orders.

I wondered how I should play this out. I wanted to test the Water Spear again. It had been soooo satisfying killing the big snake with it. Could I pierce those armor plates?

“Keep everyone spread out,” I told Veena. “If it gets through, give me room to shoot. Don’t try to hold it in place.”

“And you?”

I grinned. “I’ll try an improved kill-shot.”

I started casting a Water Spear.

The cultivation made the first part easy. Water appeared above my hand, and I added a structured formula to hold it together while I kept feeding it mana. Then came the kinetic components. I wanted to try out a dozen things, but this wasn’t the time. I didn’t have time to waste, and I didn’t want to put Veena and her warriors at unnecessary risk. I would start with a Water Spear without any fancy special effects.

Ah, who was I kidding? I couldn’t help myself, so I added a little spin to it.

Then suddenly the raptor lifted its head. Ah, damn, it had noticed. Maybe it had a Danger Sense Perk or something similar.  I wouldn’t be able to finish the spell. It started charging at us. Me specifically, which was convenient.

 I activated my Apex Predator, but it barely slowed it down. Maybe because it was already expecting it. The raptor was fast. It came at us with its head low, kicking up mud behind it. I waited until it had committed to a full speed charge. Once it had rushed close enough to me, I stopped adding to the spell and unleashed it.

The spinning Water Spear streaked through the air and surged into the beast’s shoulder like a lance.

There was a loud crack. Gray fragments flew into the bushes, and the beast tumbled sideways and fell. The armor had broken. I could see blood beneath it. Unfortunately, the raptor wasn’t dead. It scrambled up and screamed at me.

I immediately started another spell. The beast didn’t charge straight at me again. It rushed to the side, using the trees to break my line of sight. Veena turned to intercept it.

“Left! Shields!”

The warriors moved, but the raptor rounded a tree and leapt over the intercepting line of men. Straight at me, naturally. I decided to try a new trick. It was simple, really. And fun.

I used Kinetic Push on myself. Why hadn't I been doing that more often? 

I shoved myself backwards and cast a barrier. The beast landed where I’d been standing, claws tearing through the ground. Before it could turn, I hit its wounded shoulder with a barrage of Water Bullets. It shrieked and lashed out at the nearest warrior of the line of men converging on it.

The man caught the blow on his shield, but it sent him stumbling. His heel struck a root and he fell. The raptor lowered its head towards him on instinct.

“Letok, back!” Veena shouted.

But Letok was already moving. He stepped over the fallen man and drove his shield into the beast’s face. It worked. The jaws snapped shut on the shield’s rim.

Then one of its feet came up. I grimaced. Letok wouldn’t make it. He was too overextended and flatfooted from the shield slam. The sharp claw would gouge through him like a butcher’s knife.

I abandoned my current spell and used a simpler trick instantly. I cast Kinetic Pull on Letok. He flew backwards, but not before a claw caught his side.

“LETOK!” Veena shouted.

The raptor tried to follow Letok as I pulled him. I hit the beast with a Water Jet.

The spell struck the broken plating and drove the beast sideways. It dug its claws into the mud and pushed against the stream, trying to reach the wounded man.

“Get him out!” I yelled.

Veena grabbed Letok under one arm. Another warrior took the other, and they dragged him behind a tree. The beast turned its head towards them. I fired another barrage of Water Bullets, with one of them hitting on the wounded spot. That got the raptor’s attention.

Then I activated my Water Jet again, but I didn’t have enough time to cast my strongest version. It lunged through the water with its jaws open. It was a stubborn bastard. But I had a plan.

All this time I had been preparing the mother of all barrier spells, and I had been overloading it with a dynamic effect of pure kinetic energy. So when the raptor got close enough, I suddenly shifted my Water Jet to aim at its feet, and it stumbled and screeched in anger and surprise.

It flew at me face first, and I unleashed the spell.

“Barrier Pulse!”

I timed it as the head reached me.

The expanding barrier struck under its jaw and threw its whole body backwards. Its body twisted as the accelerated head smashed into the ground. I saw the eyes roll and its tongue loll out. But I wasn’t going to give it quarter. It had already escaped me once.

I jumped into the air and levitated myself while I launched a Water Jet to pin it down.

“Now!” Veena shouted and led the charge.

The Awakened beast thrashed and screeched, but the warriors were professionals and carefully took the monster apart, until it stopped moving. I let go of the spell and let myself drop. The warriors cheered.

Oh, hell yeah. That had been amazing! I was so happy I managed to overload the Barrier Pulse. That had been so fun! Like a parry, only magical. And now I would be getting another monster core. This would be even fatter than the gorilla’s had been. I could probably push my cultivation by another percentage. I was snapped out of my rush of victory by a pained groan. Letok was grimacing and holding his wound. I went over to him.

Veena had already pulled a red vial from her satchel. She poured some of it over the wound and made him swallow the rest. His armor had been cut open along the side. There was far too much blood. Mother knelt beside him, holding a folded cloth against the wound.

“Will he live?” I asked.

“Healing potion,” Veena said. “It should stop the worst of it. Help me get this strap loose.”

I held the torn armor while she worked it free. Letok gritted his teeth but didn’t cry out.

The bleeding was slowing. I could actually see the edges of the wound drawing together. Healing potion, huh? This seemed to work with the same kind of magic as Elder Piraka’s healing salves, but on a completely different level.

“Are those expensive?” I gestured at the vial.

Veena gave me a look. “Healing potions? Cheaper than training a new Warrior and paying Letok’s family.”

Letok let out a pained laugh. “Your care warms my bleeding heart.”

“Don’t talk,” Veena snapped and got back to her triage. After she stabilized him, she stood up, hands on her hips.

“He won’t be walking far. And that was my last potion.”

I looked at the path behind us. “How far to the nearest cabin?”

“Too far before dark,” Betuko said.

The sun was already low. We’d spent most of the afternoon waiting for the raptor.

“What about getting help from the city?” I asked.

“We’ll send a runner,” Veena said. “But getting people back here will still take days.”

I looked at the cave. It was right there. Protection from the weather and one entrance to watch. If there was ever a convenient time for someone to get injured, it was right here.

“Check the cave,” I told Betuko. “Take two men. Mom, do you sense anything?”

She looked towards the entrance. “Nothing inside. But I have a… fuzzy feeling?”

“What does that mean? I asked.

“My Sixth Sense is activated, but I can’t make heads or tails from it.”

“That’s weird,” I said. “About the cave?”

Mother shrugged. “Maybe.”

That wasn't particularly reassuring. Then again, we'd been getting strange warnings for days, and Betuko hadn't found anything.

“We'll stay near the entrance,” I decided. Then I turned to one of the runner boys. “Can you get back to the city?”

“Yes, young master. I know the cabins.”

“Tell the governor we have a wounded man and need help carrying him out. Tell him where we are. Get us a healer.”

Veena gave the boy further directions and a small token from her belt. Then he was off.

Letok tried to sit up.

“Thank… you… young master. ” he said between gritted teeth. “I am sorry.”

“You should be proud,” I said. “Your bravery saved a life. I’ll make sure the governor hears about it. For now, stop moving.”

“Yes, young master.”

Betuko returned before long.

“Empty. Some bones, old droppings. It goes back a fair way, but nothing living there.”

“All right. We’ll stay near the entrance.”

The warriors made a stretcher from a blanket and two poles. While they carried Letok inside, I went back to the raptor. We needed its core, and we needed to get settled before dark. Betuko was already cutting away feathers, but if I didn’t help, it’d take all damn night.

“Under here,” I said, pointing with Mana Sight active. “A little further towards the spine.”

“The plating makes it difficult.”

I considered that and grinned. I had been thinking about making a cutting spell. Just a nifty little custom cantrip I had been idly daydreaming about. What a perfect opportunity. 

“Give me a moment.”

I formed a narrow kinetic effect around my hand. A sharp edge would have been ideal, but keeping it both sharp and moving was difficult. I ended up with several little jagged shapes circling my fingers. Then I pushed my hand into the gap where the Water Spear had broken the armor. It cut, but boy was it messier than I expected. The splatter also completely ruined my cute poncho.

“Oops.”

“Young master—”

“I’ve got it.”

I adjusted the spell and tried again. This time I managed to cut deeper without throwing quite as much of the raptor onto myself. A few unpleasant moments later, I pulled out the core. It was beautiful. Dark with a hint of swirling red moving slowly inside it.

I didn’t have Sixth Sense, but I could sense my mother’s glare. I turned to her and realized I was covered in gore.

“Young man, I—”

“Yes mom, I know!” I cut in.

“You didn’t even bring a change of clothes, did you?” mother said and shook her head.

“I know!” I said.

The warriors cutting up the corpse hid smirks. I sighed and washed myself with Basic Water which didn’t do enough to appease my mother, but it was something. Then I put the monster core into my satchel. I’d deal with it once we got settled into the cave, and Letok comfortable.

*

Ranok of the House Belator watched from the shadows as the runner disappeared between the trees.

“Intercept him?” the Scout asked.

“No. Stay here.”

They would have a runner coming back soon from the gorillas. If the two runners didn’t meet, there would be questions. Ranok considered killing them both, but that would require killing the gathering crew, and if nobody returned to the cave for days, the expedition would be on alert.

Besides, he was hoping this was it.

This expedition had taken longer than Ranok wanted. He should have been training. Instead, he had spent days crawling through the jungle because his father refused to leave the little sorcerer alone.

Rumors of a Little God. He had thought them ridiculous.

After watching the raptor die, Ranok had understood the concern. The boy was strong. Annoyingly strong. He had also managed to block the corrosive cloud back in the city. Ranok had been thinking about that barrier ever since. A structured spell. He was certain of it now. Without a staff or a wand or any kind of tool, it was quite strange. A hidden artifact perhaps?

No, it couldn’t be.

The boy altered it, strengthened it, and sometimes made it burst outwards. If such varied effects and control were woven into an artifact, it would be worth more than the damn archipelago. The barrier would be a problem, but Ranok was adept at using his corrosion artifact. He had a variant for the barrier.

He hadn’t shown the brat any of his variants. If they fought, the little sorcerer would learn that stopping one cloud meant very little. Still, there was no reason to fight him alongside Veena and half a dozen Warriors if the problem could be solved another way.

His father had spent enough money to make sure of it.

Three specialists had accompanied Ranok. A Scout who knew these paths, a man who could conceal their movements and dull awareness Skills and their Perks, and a Trapper hired specifically for this job. The Trapper crouched beside him, holding a small artificed control plate.

“Anything?” Ranok asked.

“They are staying near the entrance, young master.”

“Can you identify the boy?”

“If he enters the marked passage.”

The man’s Trap Vision Perk let him watch the approaches to his prepared traps. He had spent most of the morning setting this one up. Useful little skillset for a servant.

They had reached the cave before the hunting party. The raptor had been away feeding, and their Scout had recognized the route Betuko was taking.

The charges were artificed, brought all the way from Baros. Small enough to hide deep in cracks, powerful enough to bring down the stone above them. They contained their mana until armed, and the triggers were in the Trapper’s hands.

And the Trapper had some concealment Perk as well. Intelligence said that the brat’s mother had a Rare awareness Skill. The plan was far from foolproof, but so far everything had gone according to plan.

The injured warrior had helped. Moving him again would be inconvenient, and the little sorcerer clearly cared about his men. Fool.  Now they only needed him to get a bit too curious.

“How far from the entrance?” Ranok asked.

“The bait? Thirty paces. Around the bend, as instructed, young master.”

A lesser artifact lay among the bones at the back. Nothing particularly valuable, but enough to lure the brat. The servant Spy in the governor’s house had told them of his interest in artifacts.

If the plan didn’t work this time, that was fine. There were other caves. Other hunting cabins. With four men and no wounded to carry, they could stay ahead of this expedition.

Ranok would fight the brat himself if necessary. But first he would see if there was an easier way. He wasn’t a political creature like his father, but he could learn a little subtlety.

They waited. The fire at the entrance grew. Someone started cooking, and one of the warriors took the first watch. Then the Trapper straightened.

“Someone’s moving back.”

“Who?” Ranok asked.

“A toddler. Barely three years old.”

Ranok smiled. “That’s him.”

“What is he doing?”

“He is examining the artifact.”

Ranok watched the mouth of the cave. The soldiers were relaxing and telling tales. The boy’s mother was sitting beside the fire. Their Hunter was cutting up the raptor with his apprentice. The boy was all alone in the cave. Perfect.

“Do it.”

The Trapper detonated the trap.