The jungle of Xylos-4 was hostile.
It was not just the predators. The environment itself felt heavy and oppressive. The air was incredibly humid. It stuck to their skin and filled their lungs with hot, wet vapor. Every breath required a conscious effort. The thick canopy above blocked the sunlight entirely, trapping the heat near the muddy ground.
Jin walked first. Luna followed five paces behind him.
They moved slowly. Running through dense, unfamiliar terrain was a foolish way to drain stamina and trigger hidden traps. Jin placed his boots carefully. He stepped over massive, rotting tree roots covered in slick green moss. He kept his silver tier falchion drawn and resting on his right shoulder. The heavy iron felt cold against his neck, a sharp contrast to the suffocating heat of the air.
They walked for another hour in complete silence.
The silence broke suddenly.
A loud, shrill scream echoed through the thick trees ahead. A flock of small, brightly colored birds erupted from the canopy, scattering wildly into the dark sky. The sound of heavy branches snapping followed the scream. Something large was moving very fast, crushing the underbrush in a straight line.
Jin stopped. He lowered his falchion. He bent his knees slightly, lowering his center of gravity.
Luna immediately stepped behind the wide trunk of a dead tree to their right. She unhooked her chain-sickle from her belt. She held the metal links tight in her left hand to stop them from rattling.
The sound of breaking wood grew much louder. The heavy footsteps were accompanied by the frantic, splashing sound of boots hitting wet mud.
A boy burst through the wall of thick green ferns directly in front of them.
He was covered in dark mud and deep, bleeding scratches. His academy uniform was torn at the shoulders. He was running completely blind with pure panic. Both of his arms were wrapped tightly around a massive, pale green object held securely against his chest.
It was an egg. It was easily the size of a human head, covered in thick, leathery scales instead of a hard shell.
Jin stared at the boy's face. He recognized him instantly. His highly trained memory cataloged faces and physical traits automatically. It was the same nervous, thin-shouldered boy he had accidentally bumped into on the very first day of the academy, standing outside Instructor Thorne's classroom. The boy had been terrified of the older students back then. He looked even worse now.
The boy did not slow down when he saw Jin. His eyes were wide and completely wild. He was sprinting for his life.
He ran directly toward them.
Ten feet behind the screaming boy, the massive ferns exploded outward. The predator chasing him finally broke into the small clearing.
It was an alligator, but it did not belong in a normal swamp. It was a Mud Alligator. It was eight feet long and incredibly wide. Its body was completely covered in thick, interlocking plates of dark brown armor that perfectly mimicked the color and texture of wet earth. Its short, muscular legs dug deep trenches into the mud as it charged forward with terrifying speed.
Jin felt the heavy, suffocating pressure radiating from the beast.
It was Foundation Level 7.
The boy holding the egg did not stop to ask for help. He did not warn them. He sprinted straight past Jin, his boots kicking up wet dirt. He ran right past Luna's hiding spot behind the dead tree. He kept running, disappearing into the dense foliage behind them.
He used them as a physical barrier. He left them to deal with the angry mother.
Jin watched him pass. He did not feel angry. It was a dirty, cowardly tactic, but it was highly logical. The boy was significantly weaker than the alligator. Dumping the threat onto two strangers was his highest probability of survival.
The Mud Alligator did not care about the boy anymore. It saw Jin standing directly in its path. To a beast, one human was just as good as another.
The alligator hissed loudly. Its massive jaws snapped open. Rows of long, jagged, yellow teeth dripped with thick saliva. It lunged straight at Jin's legs.
Jin did not step backward. Stepping backward against a charging reptile gave it momentum.
He stepped diagonally to the left. He swung his heavy silver falchion down in a brutal, two-handed chop aimed directly at the thick snout.
Clang.
The sound was deafening. The sharp silver edge bit into the brown scales, but it did not cut through. Bright yellow sparks flew from the impact. The dense bone plating of a Level 7 beast was incredibly hard. The kinetic shock traveled straight up the blade and into Jin's shoulders.
The strike forced the alligator's head into the mud, but it did not stop the attack. The beast simply twisted its massive body.
It whipped its heavy, armored tail forward in a wide, horizontal arc.
Jin saw the muscle shift in its hind legs a fraction of a second before the tail snapped. He jumped backward, pulling his knees up to his chest. The heavy, spiked tail swept through the empty air exactly where his shins had been. The tail hit a small, rotting tree next to Jin and completely shattered the wooden trunk into splinters.
The raw physical power of the beast was immense.
Jin landed on his feet. The mud made the ground slippery. He quickly adjusted his stance. The falchion alone was not going to cut through the heavy top armor. He needed a soft target. The underbelly, the throat, or the eyes.
The alligator recovered quickly. It hissed again and pushed itself forward on its short, powerful legs, aiming for Jin's stomach.
A sharp whistling sound cut through the humid air.
Luna stepped out from behind the dead tree. She threw her right hand forward with all her strength. The silver throwing knife attached to her chain blurred across the clearing.
The alligator was moving fast, its thick neck protected by heavy scales.
Luna narrowed her grey eyes. She pushed her Level 9 Aether into the metal. The space directly above the alligator's back twisted violently.
The flying knife hit the warped pocket of space. Its trajectory altered instantly. Instead of flying straight over the beast, the blade hooked sharply downward at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
The razor-sharp knife buried itself deep into the soft, unarmored joint right behind the alligator's front right leg.
The beast roared in pain. It stopped its charge immediately. It snapped its heavy jaws sideways, trying to bite the metal chain pulling at its leg.
Luna did not give it the chance. She planted her boots firmly in the mud, grabbed the chain with both hands, and yanked backward with her entire body weight.
The sharp knife tore backward through the soft muscle and thick tendons of the alligator's shoulder. Dark, thick blood sprayed across the green ferns. The beast's right leg collapsed entirely. Its heavy chest hit the wet mud with a loud thud.
The opening was created. The teamwork was flawless.
Jin did not hesitate. He pushed his Level 10 Aether completely into his legs. The mud beneath his boots exploded backward. He crossed the distance in a fraction of a second.
The alligator thrashed wildly on the ground. It threw its heavy head upward, opening its massive jaws to bite Jin as he approached.
Jin did not swing at the armored skull. He stepped directly into the beast's guard.
He drove the heavy point of his silver falchion straight down into the alligator's wide-open mouth.
The sharp blade bypassed the thick outer scales entirely. It punched through the soft pink tissue at the roof of the beast's mouth. Jin used his entire upper body weight to drive the heavy iron deeper. The blade easily pierced the thin bone separating the mouth from the brain cavity.
The alligator's body went completely rigid. Its yellow eyes rolled backward.
Jin twisted the handle of the sword sharply, destroying the brain stem completely. He pulled the blade out and quickly stepped backward to avoid the violent, involuntary death throes of the massive reptile.
The alligator's heavy tail slammed against the mud twice, breaking a few more ferns. Then, the massive body went completely limp. It was dead.
Jin stood still. He breathed slowly, letting his heart rate drop back to a normal rhythm. His arms ached from the heavy impact of the first strike, but he was completely uninjured.
He walked over to the dead beast. He wiped the thick blood off his falchion using a large green leaf.
"Good throw," Jin said without looking up.
"Its scales are too thick," Luna replied. She walked over and carefully pulled her silver knife out of the beast's ruined shoulder joint. She wiped the blade on the dead alligator's flank. "We need to aim for the joints from now on. Direct hits waste too much energy."
"Agreed," Jin said.
He knelt next to the massive, armored head. He pressed the tip of his clean sword into the soft flesh under the jawline and pushed upward into the skull cavity. He dug the blade around for a few seconds. He popped out a smooth, glowing blue stone.
It was a Level 7 Aether core. It was noticeably larger and burned much brighter than the Level 3 hound core they had collected earlier.
He wiped the blood off the smooth stone and dropped it into his grey leather pouch.
"That is seven points," Jin stated. "Added to the three from the hound, we have ten. The baseline is met. Everything from this moment forward is pure profit."
He stood up. He turned around to check their surroundings for any other predators attracted by the smell of fresh blood.
He stopped.
The boy from the academy was still there.
He had not run away completely. He was sitting on the ground twenty yards away, leaning heavily against the trunk of a massive, moss-covered tree. He was panting desperately, gasping for the thick, humid air. Both of his arms were still wrapped tightly around the large, pale green alligator egg.
The boy watched Jin harvest the core. His eyes were wide with pure shock. He had fully expected the alligator to tear them apart. He had run away assuming they were dead. Instead, he had just watched two freshmen slaughter a Level 7 apex predator in less than thirty seconds without using a single expensive rune.
Jin looked at the boy. He looked at the massive egg clutched to the boy's chest.
Stealing an egg was a highly inefficient way to hunt. It provoked a completely irrational, enraged response from adult beasts. The risk-to-reward ratio was terrible. However, rare beast eggs were heavily prized by the Alchemy department back at the academy. They could be sold for a massive amount of high-grade Aether cores. The boy was stupid, but he was greedy. Jin understood greed perfectly.
Jin slowly walked toward the tree. He kept his silver falchion resting comfortably in his right hand. He did not point it at the boy, but he did not sheath it either.
Luna followed him silently, her chain-sickle hanging loosely by her side.
The boy watched them approach. He pressed his back harder against the rough bark of the tree. He swallowed hard. The terror of the alligator was gone, replaced quickly by the cold realization of the massive power gap between him and the two students standing in front of him.
Jin stopped five feet away. He looked down at the boy in the mud.
"You used us as a physical barrier," Jin stated. His voice was completely flat. It carried no anger. It was a simple statement of fact.
The boy flinched. He tightened his grip on the large green egg.
"I... I had to," the boy stammered. His voice shook slightly. "It was going to kill me. I am only Foundation Level 4. I couldn't fight it. I just ran."
"It was a logical decision," Jin said. "But it created a severe hazard for us. You brought a Level 7 threat directly into our path."
The boy looked at the dead, armored body of the massive alligator resting in the mud behind Jin. He looked back at Jin's dark, unreadable eyes.
"I'm sorry," the boy whispered quickly. "I didn't think. I just saw people and ran."
He slowly pushed himself up from the mud, keeping the egg held tight against his stomach. He stood up on shaky legs. He looked at Jin, then looked at the silver-haired girl standing silently behind him.
"My name is Ren," the boy said, offering a weak, nervous smile. "Section C. Thank you for killing it."
Jin looked at Ren. He calculated the boy's immediate value. Ren was weak, cowardly, and prone to making incredibly stupid, high-risk decisions. He was a massive liability in a combat situation.
But he was holding an asset.
"You stole its egg," Jin observed coldly. "Why?"
"Points," Ren answered quickly, his voice still trembling. "The instructors said killing beasts gives points. But the supply master on the ship told us that rare organic materials count too. An intact Level 7 Mud Alligator egg is worth exactly fifteen Merit Points. I just wanted to pass the test on the first day so I could hide for the rest of the week."
Jin processed the information. Fifteen points for a single item. It was a massive payout. It explained the boy's desperate greed.
"You have fifteen points in your hands," Jin said. "We killed the mother."
Ren looked at the heavy silver sword in Jin's hand. He understood the unspoken threat immediately. In the deep jungle, the strong took from the weak. It was the oldest law of nature.
Ren slowly held the large green egg out in front of him.
"You can have it," Ren offered nervously. "Please. Just let me go."