Well, that was quick, thought Henning as he rounded a massive boulder that blocked the view of three separate paths winding through the forest. Arin had undoubtedly taken one of them, yet there was no sign indicating which direction he had chosen. Even Henning's tracking skills failed him this time because the person he was chasing was an expert in counter-surveillance and had spent his entire life learning how to disappear without leaving opportunities for others to follow. For the first time since the game had begun, Henning realized just how enormous the gap between a talented recruit and a true Sonnenberg ranger really was.
The rules of the exercise themselves were deceptively simple. Every participant received ten minutes to disappear into the forest before the real hunt began, allowing everyone enough time to choose a hiding place or prepare an escape route. Before the starting signal, every participant had secretly been assigned either the role of hunter or prey. If a prey was still within the line of sight of a hunter when the initial ten-minute preparation period expired, that prey was immediately eliminated from the game. Only after those ten minutes had passed did the true free-for-all begin, with hunters chasing their assigned targets while simultaneously avoiding becoming targets themselves. Since all ten Sonnenbergs had been designated as prey, their only objective during those first minutes was to vanish completely.
The difference in experience became obvious almost immediately. Arin never consciously thought about how to stay out of sight because those movements had become second nature after years of practice. His feet instinctively chose routes that broke lines of sight, while his body naturally adjusted its speed and posture to remain concealed behind trees, rocks, and bushes. That left his mind completely free to think several steps ahead and plan the most efficient escape route.
Henning and the other recruits, however, faced a completely different challenge. Every step required conscious thought as they reminded themselves to remain quiet, regulate their breathing, and move without disturbing the surrounding vegetation. If they abandoned those fundamentals simply to chase Arin more quickly, Head Instructor Lilly would undoubtedly make them regret it afterward. As a result, nearly all of their concentration was spent on moving correctly instead of predicting where Arin might actually be going.
Their first few seconds inside the forest went surprisingly well. They managed to maintain visual contact with Arin as he slipped effortlessly between the towering trees, always remaining just far enough ahead to avoid being caught. For a brief moment, Henning even believed they might actually pressure him into making a mistake. That illusion lasted less than half a minute.
Soon Arin began weaving between enormous tree trunks in a carefully planned zigzag pattern. Every time he disappeared behind one of those ancient trees, he remained out of sight for only two or three seconds before appearing again. Ordinarily that would not seem significant, but everyone chasing him understood just how dangerous those few seconds really were. An experienced ranger could completely alter an escape route during such a tiny window of opportunity.
Fortunately, the recruits had anticipated that possibility. Nearly ten people were pursuing Arin together, spreading themselves across the trail so that someone always maintained visual contact whenever he vanished behind an obstacle. That prevented Arin from suddenly climbing into the trees or doubling back without someone noticing. For the moment, their numbers compensated for their lack of experience.
Then everything changed.
Roughly thirty seconds into the chase, Arin suddenly darted toward the left-hand side of the forest. The abrupt change of direction presented what looked like the perfect opportunity to close the distance between them. Excitement surged through the group as several recruits accelerated, convinced they had finally forced their elusive target into making a mistake. If even one of them managed to tag him before the timer expired, Arin would lose the exercise.
That excitement proved to be their downfall.
Focused entirely on Arin's sudden turn, none of them bothered checking the terrain beneath their feet. Hidden beneath overgrown vegetation lay one of the irrigation ditches the Sonnenbergs had carved throughout the forest years earlier to regulate water flow after heavy rainfall. Under ordinary circumstances the obstacle was obvious to anyone paying attention. Today, however, every pair of eyes remained locked on Arin instead of the ground.
The result was immediate chaos.
Half the pursuing recruits vanished from sight almost simultaneously as they stumbled straight into the trench. The ditch was far deeper than it appeared, large enough for a fully grown adult to stand inside with only the top of their head remaining visible above ground level. Mud splashed in every direction while startled cries echoed through the surrounding forest. What had been an organized pursuit collapsed into complete confusion within a single heartbeat.
Henning barely managed to stop himself before suffering the same fate. He instinctively threw his weight backward as the recruits in front of him disappeared into the trench, only narrowly avoiding falling after them. His heart pounded as he stared at the obstacle that had somehow escaped his notice until the very last moment. Before anyone could fully process what had happened, another chorus of surprised shouts erupted farther to the right.
Arin had already slipped behind another massive rock formation during the confusion. By the time the remaining recruits reached that location, he had vanished completely without leaving behind so much as a glimpse of his cloak. One moment he had been within arm's reach, and the next it was as though the forest itself had swallowed him whole. Even Henning had no idea where to begin looking.
"Well," Henning muttered while shaking his head, "that went about as well as it possibly could have."
Suppressing the urge to laugh, he reached down and grabbed Mya's arm before pulling her out of the muddy trench. She emerged looking thoroughly miserable, with thick black mud covering nearly her entire face after landing headfirst in the ditch. Wet leaves clung stubbornly to her hood while muddy water dripped steadily from her sleeves. The sight was so ridiculous that Henning had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep a straight face.
"I look like absolute shit," Mya grumbled while wiping mud from her eyes. "And I feel even worse." She glared toward the direction where Arin had disappeared before letting out an exasperated sigh. "He's far too slippery, and he's taking complete advantage of our inexperience."
The humiliation stung far more than the fall itself. Normally Mya consistently finished within the top ten during these exercises, earning praise from both the instructors and her fellow recruits. She prided herself on rarely making careless mistakes, especially ones that beginners would make. Falling face-first into an obvious ditch while chasing a Sonnenberg was not something she intended to forget anytime soon.
Henning finally allowed himself a faint smile.
"Maybe," he admitted, "but standing here complaining won't help us." He glanced toward the timer displayed on his wrist before continuing. "We still have about nine minutes before the preparation phase ends, so we should disappear while everyone else is still distracted." Waiting any longer would only make them easier targets once the real hunt began.
Mya reluctantly nodded. She gave herself one final shake in an unsuccessful attempt to remove the worst of the mud before pulling her hood back into place. Neither of them expected to catch Arin again anytime soon, so preserving their own position had suddenly become far more important than continuing the chase. Without another word, the two recruits split up and disappeared into different sections of the forest.
Hidden high above them, Arin watched the entire scene unfold from the safety of a thick tree branch concealed beneath the dense canopy.
I honestly didn't expect that to work, he thought while looking down at the recruits being pulled from the muddy trench by their teammates. He quietly covered his mouth and took several slow breaths to stop himself from laughing out loud. It would absolutely break their hearts if they ever discovered that he was watching them from directly overhead while struggling not to burst into laughter.
This was the first time Arin had ever seen someone fall for something so obvious. If he had tried the exact same trick against members of his own family, it would never have worked. For one, the Sonnenbergs would never have sent ten people charging after a single target, knowing that such a large group only got in each other's way. More importantly, every member of the family knew the Crimson Forest as well as they knew the layout of their own home, making simple environmental traps nearly impossible to overlook.
Even if the chase had taken place in a completely unfamiliar forest, Arin doubted the outcome would have been much different. A true Sonnenberg ranger did not simply look at the person they were chasing. They constantly observed the surrounding terrain, the direction of the light filtering through the canopy, the age and spacing of the trees, the density of the undergrowth, and even subtle changes in the shape of the ground beneath their feet. Those countless details painted a picture of the forest that warned them long before they encountered danger.
The recruits, however, had made one crucial mistake. They had become so excited at the thought of catching Arin that they developed tunnel vision, allowing everything else around them to disappear from their awareness. Instead of reading the forest, they stared only at their target. That single lapse in concentration had been enough for the terrain itself to defeat them before Arin ever needed to do anything. From a ranger's perspective, the forest had simply punished careless hunters.
Arin had never expected the irrigation ditch to become part of his escape plan. The route he had chosen was merely one of several paths he frequently used whenever he played the role of prey during family exercises. Under normal circumstances, he would have continued toward the large stone outcrop ahead before either disappearing behind it or vaulting into the trees after crossing the ridge. From there, he usually escaped by moving through the canopy rather than remaining on the ground.
The ditch had simply been an ordinary landmark along that familiar route. Never once had Arin considered the possibility that someone would actually run straight into it, especially a group of recruits who had already received years of survival training. The thought had never even crossed his mind because the obstacle seemed far too obvious to miss. Yet seeing nearly half of his pursuers vanish into the trench all at once had nearly broken his composure.
He had needed every ounce of self-control not to burst into laughter. Watching heads suddenly disappear beneath the edge of the ditch before hearing a chorus of startled yells had been one of the funniest things he had witnessed in years. Even now his shoulders shook slightly as he struggled to suppress another laugh. It truly was a sight he never expected to see.
Meanwhile, back at the gathering grounds, the atmosphere surrounding the enormous viewing screen had become noticeably heavier. The recruits watching from outside the exercise had begun to realize that the same kinds of incidents were occurring all across the training area. Every few moments another live camera showed someone losing sight of a Sonnenberg or stumbling into an unexpected obstacle. What many had expected to become a competitive match was rapidly turning into a one-sided lesson.
Lilly quietly observed the live feeds with folded arms. Although her expression remained as stern as ever, she did not particularly enjoy seeing the recruits become so thoroughly discouraged. The purpose of today's exercise had never been to humiliate them or make them feel hopeless. Rather, she wanted them to understand how much room they still had to grow despite already graduating from the basic training program.
She also knew something the recruits did not.
Every route her grandchildren had chosen was instantly recognizable to her. Like every member of the Sonnenberg family, she had walked those paths hundreds of times throughout her life while playing exactly the same games. They had become the preferred escape routes not because they guaranteed success every single time, but because they constantly created opportunities to disappear from a pursuer's sight for a few precious seconds. In the hands of an experienced ranger, those few seconds often decided everything.
Each route naturally split around boulders, dense bushes, ridges, or clusters of enormous trees. Whenever a hunter briefly lost visual contact, they were immediately forced to make a decision about which branch of the trail to follow. Choosing correctly allowed the pursuit to continue, but choosing incorrectly usually meant the prey vanished without a trace. The routes themselves did not guarantee victory; they simply multiplied the number of chances an experienced ranger had to escape.
The recruits mistakenly believed that their opponents had intentionally led them into embarrassing situations. In reality, Arin and the others were merely following the same instinctive escape routes they had practiced since childhood. The irrigation ditches, hidden ridges, and confusing intersections were simply natural parts of those paths rather than carefully prepared traps. The recruits' own inexperience had transformed ordinary terrain into devastating obstacles.
Lilly almost felt sorry for them.
Almost.
She knew exactly what expressions her grandchildren wore at that very moment. Every one of them was probably trying—and failing—to keep a straight face while watching the recruits repeatedly outsmart themselves. The moment they returned after the exercise, the family would undoubtedly spend the evening laughing together as they replayed the funniest moments from the recordings. Even so, Lilly refused to warn the recruits now.
Some lessons could only be learned through experience.
As she continued watching the live feeds, another sigh escaped her lips. The recruits would undoubtedly be embarrassed once they discovered that most of their defeats had not resulted from elaborate traps or brilliant strategies. More often than not, they had simply failed to notice what the forest had been trying to tell them all along. To a true Sonnenberg ranger, that realization was the most valuable lesson the exercise could possibly teach.