After escorting Hank's battered team to the relative safety near the portal zone, they left the explanations to the rescued captain. With their own mission still incomplete, Team Adam turned back into the deepening gloom of the Cinder Wastes. The next several hours were a grueling hunt, a blur of tense encounters with skittering lesser beasts and cautious advances through narrow defiles. As the sky faded through shades of orange and purple to a velvety black, the temperature plummeted, the day's blistering heat giving way to a biting, dry cold.
"Let's camp here," Raven decided, pointing to a sheltered recess at the base of a high cliff. "We take shifts, two hours each. Try to get some sleep."
They moved with weary efficiency. A small, contained fire was lit, its light a brave, flickering defiance against the vast darkness. The smell of roasting meat soon mingled with the smoke. As they ate in exhausted silence, the whistling wind was accompanied only by the sizzle of fat on the flames.
"Wren first, then Adam, Kael, Raven, and Lira last," Raven announced, laying out the order.
Wren took the first watch without complaint, his usual chatter subdued by fatigue. When Adam relieved him hours later, Wren's report was brief. "I think the beasts are around there," he whispered, nodding into the dark. "Try not to draw their attention, would ya?" With a yawn, he vanished into his sleeping bag.
Adam was left alone with the crackling fire and the immense, star-dusted sky. The solitude finally gave him a moment to focus inward, to pull up the system messages he had been dismissing.
[User: Adam Ashblade]
[Status: Level 6]
[EXP: 590/800]
[STR: 23]
[SPD: 22]
[DEF: 21]
[MANA: 49/55]
[HP: 72/80]
[Free Stat Points: 8]
The numbers were a cold map of his progress. He had eight points to allocate, a significant power waiting to be claimed. But his mind drifted past the mechanics. If his understanding of this world's elements was correct, if fire was a fundamental force, then this power, this system, felt like something older. Like it could be a legacy of Aethelgard himself. The thought was staggering. But why? What was the Dragon King's true purpose in leaving such a thing behind?
His deep contemplation was shattered by a low, guttural snarl from the darkness beyond the fire's reach. Adam's head snapped up. Silhouetted against the starlight on a higher ledge were three sleek, feline shapes, Shadowstalkers. But these were larger, their eyes glowing with a sharper, more intelligent malice.
He didn't hesitate. "Up. We have company," he hissed, kicking the embers of the fire to life for more light.
Kael was already rising, his daggers in hand. Wren groaned, fumbling for his weapons, while Raven and Lira shook off their deep sleep with warrior's discipline.
The fight that followed was a nightmare of frustration. Their usual tactics were useless. The Shadowstalkers refused to engage in the circle of firelight. They struck from the utter blackness, a slash of claws from the left, a pounce from the right, only to melt back into the shadows before a counterattack could land.
"Forget pursuing them. Back to back, around the fire," Raven commanded, his spear tracing defensive arcs. They formed a tight circle, a bastion of light against the pressing dark. The beasts hit and run tactics were relentless, designed to wear them down. A claw grazed Wren's shoulder. A tail whip cracked against Adam's guard. Each time, a pulse of Raven's healing light sealed the wound, but the cost was fatigue as the night wore on.
They held the defensive line for what felt like an eternity, muscles screaming, eyes straining against the gloom. The turning point came from the slow, inevitable creep of dawn. A pale, grey light began to bleed into the sky, weakening the absolute dominion of the shadows.
As the world gained texture and depth, the beasts lost their perfect camouflage. "Now," Kael snapped. "Attack."
The shift was instantaneous. No longer waiting to be struck, they became the hunters. Adam, his blue flame too mana intensive to risk, relied on swift, precise strikes with his glowing orange blade. Lira cornered one against the cliff face and pummeled it into submission. Kael and Wren worked in tandem, one crippling, the other finishing. With their advantage gone, the Shadowstalkers fell quickly.
As full dawn broke, they stood panting amid the fallen beasts. With the immediate danger past, the grim work of looting began. Adam knelt beside the largest Shadowstalker. His dagger found the spot beneath its ribs. He cut through the tough hide and muscle, his hand moving with a practiced certainty, and dug into the visceral warmth. His fingers closed around a hard, irregular object. He pulled it free, a dark, crystalline core, slick with fluid. He wiped it clean on the beast's own fur, the gem cold and humming with a faint, malicious energy.
They packed their camp in silence, and forced down some tasteless packed cereal. The final trek to the portal zone was a blur of automatic movement and minor skirmishes, their bodies operating on stubbornness alone.
The portal zone was a scene of organized chaos when they finally arrived. A significant crowd of students had already gathered, many bearing injuries being treated by academy staff. Among them, a man with closed eyes and radiating waves of visible sound stood directing recovery teams back into the canyon to locate stragglers.
On the fringes of the activity stood Cain's team. They looked weary but intact. Cain's gaze found Adam's group, and a look of genuine concern flashed across his face. He gave a slow, acknowledging nod, a silent check in from one friend to another, before turning back to listen to one of his own teammates.
As Cain's gaze turned away, a shimmering screen materialized in the center of Adam's vision.
[Quest Complete: The First Proving]
[Objective: Survive 48 hours in Whispering Woods and retrieve squad token]
[Status: Success]
[Calculating Rewards]
[EXP Gained: 400]
[Stat Points Awarded: 5]
[New Skill Unlocked: Draconic Vitality]
[Draconic Vitality: A foundational dragonforged ability. Allows the conscious conversion of mana into life force to accelerate natural healing. Efficiency scales with skill proficiency and user's Vitality. Cost: Variable Mana. Effect: Converts 1 Mana into 2 Health.]
[Level Up]
[EXP: 590/800 to 990/800]
[User: Adam Ashblade]
[Status: Level 7]
[Free Stat Points: 13]
A warm, potent energy surged through Adam's veins, washing away a layer of his deep fatigue and knitting together the last of his minor aches. It was immediately followed by a rush of new, instinctive knowledge. He understood the skill innately. Draconic Vitality. A fundamental law of conversion, mana into life. He could feel the potential coiled within his core, a direct conduit that would allow him to sacrifice his magical energy to mend his body.
He let the screens fade, his physical and spiritual exhaustion momentarily eclipsed by a profound sense of growth. He had survived the First Proving. He had grown stronger. And now, he held a piece of a dragon's legacy within himself.