A few hours later, 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Jayden was about entering the Emerald City forest region. The transition from the concrete sprawl of the city to the dense, untamed canopy of the woods was a welcome relief for him. Earlier, after leaving the bathroom and finally convincing the girls to leave his room, he had instructed Skye to run ahead to the forest perimeter. Walking a beast through the city in broad daylight wasn’t exactly an option.

Jayden stepped past the tree line, the thick scent of pine and damp earth filling his lungs. He closed his eyes, extending his senses to track Skye’s signature.

He found nothing.

He stood still and tried again, extending his senses wider and deeper. But he still found nothing.

Jayden frowned. Skye had left the house thirty minutes ahead of him. And she was fast enough to have circled the entire forest twice in that time. So where...

Master!

Jayden flinched, letting out a yelp as he spun around. Skye was sitting perfectly still less than two feet behind him, her tail swishing lazily. Despite his heightened perception, she had completely bypassed his senses.

"Skye, you nearly gave me a heart attack," Jayden breathed, pressing a hand to his chest.

Skye tilted her head, her blue eyes blinking. What is heart attack? she asked curiously.

"Don’t worry about it," Jayden sighed, his heart rate slowly returning to normal. "What have you been up to? You’ve been out here for barely half an hour."

Skye suddenly bounced on her front paws, projecting a wave of smug, vibrating excitement into his mind.

Skye was hunting! she said. Skye killed lots of beasts for Master!

Jayden couldn’t help but chuckle. She was acting like a kid showing off a drawing. If she had actually killed anything, he would have received the passive Exp notifications by now.

Deciding to play along, he smiled. "Is that right? How many did you kill?"

Skye can’t count that high, she replied matter-of-factly. Master should come see!

Then she spun around and trotted deeper into the brush, looking back over her shoulder to make sure he was following. Jayden trailed behind her, amused by her antics.

A few minutes later, they broke through the thicket into a wide clearing, and Jayden stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw dropped.

Right in the center of the clearing was a gruesome, towering mound of carcasses. At least twenty beasts...ranging from Howlers to Tremor Gators, were stacked haphazardly on top of one another. The metallic tang of fresh blood hung heavy in the air.

Skye wasn’t kidding at all. She really did kill a lot of beasts.

Jayden stared at the pile, then slowly turned to look at the massive feline. She was sitting proudly beside her work, looking entirely too innocent.

"You killed all of these?" He asked, completely stunned.

Yes! Skye beamed. All by myself!

Jayden furrowed his brows, taking a step toward the slaughter. If she had killed all of these, why hadn’t he received the Exp? Or was the system lying about the Exp generation?

Before he speculate further, a massive wall of silver text suddenly flooded his vision.

[Bonded Beast (Skye) has eliminated 22 beasts in total]

[Targets: 2 D-Rank, 15 F-Rank, 5 E-Rank]

[Base Exp Earned: +530 Exp]

[Soul Bond Bonus (x2). Base Exp has been doubled]

[You have received +1,060 Exp]

[Exp: 4160/7500]

Jayden exhaled a sharp breath. Over a thousand Exp, handed to him on a silver platter in less than thirty minutes. He turned to Skye, who was casually licking a speck of blood off her wrist.

"Good job, Skye," Jayden said, a wide grin breaking across his face. "Incredible work."

Skye’s ears perked up instantly. Does that mean Skye gets crystals?

"You absolutely do," Jayden laughed. He opened his inventory, retrieved five shimmering beast crystals, and tossed them to her. She caught them mid-air, crunching them down with terrifying ease.

While she feasted, Jayden walked over to the pile and mentally commanded the System to harvest the crystals. They all immediately automatically entered into his inventory, 22 beast crystals. And among them were three Wolverine Stalker crystals. He absorbed them immediately.

[3 Wolverine Stalker Crystals Absorbed]

[Crystals required for next rank: 3/30)]

"Alright, let’s get moving," Jayden said as Skye swallowed the last of her treats. He wanted begin looking for his tamed beasts, and it could take a while before he found any of them.

Okay! Skye chimed, padding happily to his side.

As they turned to leave, the dense underbrush ahead of them suddenly rustled.

Jayden instantly dropped into a combat stance, his Lycan claws extending. Beside him, Skye’s playful demeanor vanished. She dropped low to the ground, a vicious, rumbling growl tearing from her throat as static electricity began to crackle across her fur.

The bushes parted, and a massive creature stepped out. It was a Wolverine Stalker, but significantly larger than any Jayden had seen in a while. Its limbs were thick and corded with muscle, and massive knuckle claws protruded from its forearms. It radiated a heavy, menacing aura.

It was a Greater Wolverine Stalker.

But instead of lunging, the apex predator stopped in its tracks and lowered its head, pressing its snout into the dirt in a deep bow of absolute reverence.

Jayden blinked. It took a second for his Pack Bond tether to register the signature. He recognized the beast instantly.

This was his Wolverine Stalker.

"Stand down, Skye," Jayden ordered softly. She eased out of her pounce, though she kept her eyes locked warily on the beast.

"Rise," Jayden commanded. The Stalker stood, but still kept its head lowered.

Jayden stepped forward, admiring the sheer bulk of the creature. The crystals he had fed it had triggered an earlier evolution just as he’d hoped. It was a calculated gamble of his crystals, but it had worked in his favour. The beast was now a Greater Wolverine Stalker.

His investment had paid off beautifully.

"Do you have all the new evolutionary perks? Jayden asked. "Invisibility?"

The beast let out a low, rumbling grunt. Then its body shimmered, like an heat mirage before vanishing entirely. A few seconds later, the light bent again, and the beast reappeared.

"Perfect," Jayden smiled.

Meanwhile, Skye had been watching from behind, and she didn’t seem to share Jayden’s excitement.

Ah! That beast disappears, she yelped. Skye doesn’t like that.

Jayden turned to her, letting out a chuckle. "He’s an ally, Skye," he explained. "You have nothing to worry about."

But Skye wasn’t convinced. She shook her head. Skye still doesn’t like it. she said, looking repulsed. It’s ugly.

Jayden simply chuckled and turned back to face the Wolverine Stalker. "Where are the others? he asked. "And did you all do what I asked?"

The Stalker grunted again, turning and motioning with its head for Jayden to follow.

"Come on," Jayden said, glancing back at Skye.

Skye fell into step behind him, her mental voice laced with suspicion. Why is Master following the ugly beast? What if it is a trap?

Jayden laughed, his mind flashing back to the time the forest’s strongest beasts had actually attempted a coup to kill him.

"No, Skye. This beast is bound to my pack," he explained. "It can’t betray me."

Then he reached out to Luna for confirmation.

"Right, Luna? They wouldn’t actually try to overthrow me... would they?" he asked carefully. While Skye stared at him in confusion, wondering who he was talking to.

Luna laughed in his mind. [Are you really scared?] she teased. [Relax, Jayden. It is systemically impossible for subpack members to turn on their Alpha]

"Good to know. But even if they did, they wouldn’t stand a chance against me," Jayden said confidently.

They followed the Stalker for nearly twenty minutes until the dense woods gave way to a rocky incline, revealing the gaping, dark maw of a cavern. Its entrance was set into a rise in the terrain. It was partially obscured by root systems and overhang, the kind of feature that was easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it and easy to find if something had led you toward it.

The Stalker paused at the entrance, grunting to signal their arrival.

Jayden looked at the cave. Then at the stalker. Then at Skye who was looking nervous, which was somewhat ironic because she was the type of beast that could easily eliminate every other beast in the forest if she wanted to.

Jayden stepped inside the cave, his Lycan vision easily piercing the gloom. They navigated a short, damp tunnel before the cave opened up into a massive, naturally formed subterranean chamber. A large hole in the ceiling allowed a single, thick shaft of sunlight to illuminate the center of the room.

And resting in the shadows of the cavern were the rest of his tamed army: the two Tremor Gators, and all five Howlers. Jayden was genuinely surprised to see them all alive. He had fully expected a few of the weaker Howlers to have perished, but it was a testament to the Stalker’s leadership that the unit was completely intact.

Then, Jayden’s eyes drifted to the center of the chamber. And there it was; the pile of dead beasts.

It wasn’t a heap. It was a mountain.

Over fifty fresh beast carcasses had been dragged into the cave and stacked with terrifying efficiency.