Wild Things are the hardest of beasts to bind. Unlike Domesticated Things, a Wild Thing knows freedom, and it won’t easily give it up.

~Cernunnos, Lord of the Wild Things

Leaving the valley was infinitely easier without having to lug their packs around. The forest outside the entrance had towering trees with little brush between them. The gaps in the canopy provided pockets of sunlight. It was much nicer here, even with the danger.

They walked a brief distance before Crow pointed at a fallen tree that had snapped in half over a pile of rocks. It created a choke point underneath it.

“We’ll set our first trap here. I brought snare wire that is strong enough to hold most rank two beasts. A trap won’t bring down a rank three. We could get lucky with a deadfall or a pit trap, but don’t count on it.”

“So we put up a trap and just check it daily?” Ryan asked, curious about this method of hunting.

Crow nodded. “That’s it. We will gain a lot of points while putting in minimal effort. We remain safe. We’ll still hunt like normal, but we don’t have to make it an all-day ordeal. Beasts are more active at night, so trapping them has a higher chance of success.”

“Yes,” Lonny said. “Show us.”

Crow stepped forward, pulling out the coil of wire he had brought. The reinforced wire could technically snare a rank three, but rank three was the time they’d start activating their abilities. It wouldn’t take much for them to shred or melt the wire.

“Snares are simple. The idea is we create this loop and then use their momentum to cinch the loop on them. So we make them like this…”

He demonstrated how to create the knotted end so it would slide down the length of the wire. Then hammered a thick metal spike to the heavy log before tying it off. It was quick and straightforward, so the others understood the mechanics pretty quickly. “We just need to check and reset it every day. It is probably unnecessary to mention this, but I doubt we’ll recover a full corpse this way. Too many predators—”

“That’s okay,” Mara said. “We’ll still get the points even if that happens.”

“Alright,” Crow nodded. “Now have nine more stakes, which means we have ten snares we can set, and I have enough spare wire it should last us at least a month.”

Burning most of the daylight hours, they set all ten snares.

“Now we just check them but keep an eye out for better locations. If a snare isn’t getting triggered, we need to move it.”

Days went on like that while they checked traps, hunted beasts in teams—for food more than points. Either way, both teams remained close. Crow taught them a few whistles to communicate with.

They built other traps. After attempting one pit trap, they gave up on it. The forest was a network of roots and rocks, making it more hassle than not. They also built deadfalls and spike traps but couldn’t confirm their success. No corpses were located, but the traps did trigger.

Days turned into weeks, and in all that time, they killed close to a hundred rank two beasts, enough that all of them were excited. It should be enough to put them in the top ten at the very least, provided they maintained this pace.

They saw nothing that proved too dangerous, not with Crow guiding them, but he always deferred to Lonny to make the final decision. If a beast was too dangerous, they backed away, and other times seemingly harmless beasts made Crow feel like a reaper was breathing down his neck.

The biggest gain was Crow’s understanding of his spell and technique. He’d even started using Become the Ghost from his Ghostly Visage spell. Using it to blend into his environment while hunting. Spells of this level were amazing. The other abilities related to the spell were more complicated and needed a stronger Source to manage, but he’d get there in time.

Ghost Steps felt as if they were on the cusp of reaching the next stage, Don’t Touch the Stone. It was a method of creating a cushion of energy beneath his feet, so he didn’t actually touch the ground. However, that required a graveyard to breakthrough.

More important than that, his Source stabilized. It had always felt like he was trying to fill a deflated sack with mana, and now it was full—expanding even. That awareness allowed him to understand his cultivation process of drawing in the surrounding mana. The trick was to stop before he grew his Source to the point of bursting, allowing it to recover and then continuing on.

It was the fights that Crow relished the most. The closest battles, the ones that put him at death’s doorstep, were terrifying but also exhilarating. He’d take time to analyze the fights later replaying his mistakes and improving on them. His bow and blade aptitude rose higher with each bit of understanding he gained.

In one incredibly close fight, Crow used his falcata and powered the strike with his Source. He missed the beast, and his blade struck a tree as thick as his head, and it practically exploded at the point of impact. Everyone, including him, was surprised when a meter long section of the tree turned into splinters, and the remaining top came crashing down.

Ryan was struck by most of that shrapnel because he was unlucky enough to be behind the beast. Thankfully, his injuries were light. It was that fight that forced the team to synchronize their attacks better. Mara saved the day using her slim looking sword and some kind of blade technique that sent bolts of lighting into their opponent. It wasn’t that the attack caused much damage, but it did mess up its momentum and gave them all an advantage.

Mara’s growth was something tangible. Her role as a front-line fighter was established, but her ability to control the fight was the biggest gain.

Ryan was basically pre-built to be an assassin, and his attacks flowed like water. His gain was that he perfected his timing. Not even Crow could detect when the little guy would strike, but it was almost always a devastating blow.

Lonny started carving a staff on their first day in Foghar, and a week after used it in battle. At times he wielded it like a spear and others a club, but the weapon choice complemented his technique, Stomp the Mountain, perfectly. The technique created tiny quakes. He’d learned to create them using his foot or staff, and the rank two beasts could not avoid getting tossed around.

Crow used his bow in front of the others but was forced to draw the falcata occasionally. Mara would sometimes berate him for using the blade, but he could only smile at her. She just didn’t know. Bow or blade, both weapons felt natural in his hand, and his movement ability bolstered both equally.

The only other thing of note in that first week was Mara’s new pet. One snare had captured a rank one beast that lived through the night. In fact, had they come any later, Crow was sure the thing would’ve escaped. It was small and cute, and Mara gushed over it, much to the others’ dismay.

“Why are you keeping that thing?” Ryan asked Mara. The beast in hand was like a mink, but its fur was snow white. It had a high level of intelligence for a rank one beast.

It really surprised Crow how this little beast survived. It revealed signs of a struggle, and he could read the sign enough to know other beasts hadn’t left it alone. He couldn’t determine precisely what type of beast it was, but comparing it to the bestiaries in his head, it looked vaguely like an Ice Clawed Mink. It just lacked the actual ice claws, but Crow wondered if those were some sort of evolution.

“It’s cute,” Mara said in response to the question. “Look, it’s staring at Crow. That’s right, little guy, that’s your new papa, and I’m your new mama.”

“Do normal words ever come out of your mouth?” Crow said and shook his head in frustration. “What, papa?”

“Crow! We shouldn’t fight in front of him. You’ll stunt his growth. Don’t worry, little Toutou, papa didn’t mean it.”

“Argh, does this daddy need to spank you again?”

Lonny and Ryan found a twisted sense of enjoyment watching Crow get tormented this way. Even discussed out outright ballsy Crow was sometimes, but Mara always topped him. Crow just lacked the confidence to rise above that. It was doubtful if the two would have the confidence to do what Crow did, but they enjoyed the hijinks that ensued.

Despite Crow’s attitude toward the beast, he built a cage for Mara to keep Toutou—the name she picked for the mink.

By his estimation, this was their thirtieth night in the camp. Mara was busy feeding the mink scraps of meat while it rested in her lap, and all of them were relaxing after a grueling day hunting. Crow found the evenings the best time of day during their stay.

Time passed quickly, but he’d never felt more alive.