The road northeast of Valdris took four hours on foot.
Kai did it in three and a half because he walked fast and didn't stop to rest.
Serah followed three meters behind, as always.
The chat had been active since they left the city.
---
[GarcíaFTW: good morning stream. Did you arrive yet?]
[NocheEterna99: they've been walking in silence for 2 hours and I've been watching for 2 hours. No regrets.]
[StreamerHunter: the silence between Kai and Serah has more narrative tension than most novels I've read]
[Current viewers: 89,341]
---
Halfway there, Serah spoke.
"The zone you're looking for has smelled of corruption for weeks."
"Corruption?"
"Distorted aura. When something in Aethon absorbs energy it can't process, the aura rots from the inside. Affected beasts grow larger. Become erratic." Pause. "Dangerous in ways that aren't efficient."
Kai processed this while walking.
"How long does a corrupted beast last before collapsing on its own?"
"Depends on the rank. A C-rank, weeks. An A-rank, months."
"And if something is actively feeding it?"
Serah looked at him.
"Why do you ask?"
"Three S-rank teams went in for reconnaissance and came out without usable information. If the threat was just an erratic corrupted beast, they'd at least have been able to report what it was."
Serah didn't respond immediately.
Then: "It means something didn't let them look."
"That's what I think too."
---
[NocheEterna99: KAI ALREADY FIGURED OUT THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE IN 30 SECONDS OF CONVERSATION]
[GarcíaFTW: the S-rank teams couldn't report and this F-rank guy already knows why]
[StreamerHunter: Serah is impressed. She hides it well but she hasn't said anything for 10 seconds and that's a lot for her.]
---
The unstable zone didn't have a sign.
It didn't need one.
The change was gradual but clear — the trees first. Taller than normal. Bark with dark veins that pulsed every few seconds as if breathing. Then the ground: denser soil, darker, with a humidity that didn't match the day's weather.
And the silence.
Not the silence of a quiet forest. The silence of a forest where everything that had the option to leave, had left.
[Unstable Zone — Sector 7 detected]
[Environmental corruption level: MODERATE-HIGH]
[Beasts detected within 500m radius: 23]
[Behavior: stationary]
"Stationary," Kai read quietly.
"They're not attacking," Serah confirmed, sensing the same without needing a system.
"Why not?"
"They're waiting for something."
---
They advanced a hundred meters into the zone.
The first beasts appeared among the trees — wolves twice normal size, with the same dark veins as the trunks. Eyes that captured light incorrectly, as if processing the world from a slightly wrong angle.
C-rank. Corrupted.
They didn't attack.
They stopped when they detected Kai and looked at him with the same collective, confused expression as the pack from the previous quest.
Kai looked back.
"This happens a lot," he commented.
"Your aura," said Serah, "interferes with the corruption. It partially stabilizes it." A pause. "You shouldn't be able to do that."
[Beast Resonance active]
[23 entities within influence range]
[Side effect detected: partial corruption suppression in nearby entities]
---
[GarcíaFTW: HIS AURA SUPPRESSES CORRUPTION???? THAT'S NOT JUST MARTIAL ARTS]
[StreamerHunter: Serah said "you shouldn't be able to do that" and Serah has been seeing things for 2300 years. That's important.]
[Gift received: Gold Coin x30 — NocheEterna99]
[Gift received: Gold Coin x15 — GarcíaFTW]
---
They kept advancing.
The C-rank beasts followed at a distance — not as a threat, but as something between curiosity and relief. Kai's aura reduced the corruption pressure on their systems. For them, approaching him was instinctively more comfortable than moving away.
"They're following me," Kai observed.
"Yes."
"Is that normal?"
"No."
Kai made a mental note and kept walking.
---
The core of the zone was a natural clearing surrounded by dead trees.
Not dead from disease. Dead from absorption — something had drained their energy from the roots upward, leaving the wood standing but hollow, like shells.
In the center of the clearing stood a beast.
A wolf. A-rank.
Kai knew from the size before the system confirmed it — three times the mass of the C-rank wolves outside. Four meters tall at normal stance. Fur completely black, without exception, as if corruption had consumed any other color. Eyes that didn't capture light incorrectly but rather absorbed it directly.
[Beast detected: Corrupted Shadow Wolf]
[Base rank: A]
[Corruption modifier: +30% mass / +45% aura density / -60% processing speed]
[Threat level to user: CRITICAL]
[Recommendation: Flee. But since I know you won't, destroy it.]
"The system says to flee," Kai mentioned.
"Do you want me to help? I could easily deal with someone so inferior, but I'd rather see you in action."
"Won't be necessary." Kai studied the wolf. "It moves slow. The corruption increased its mass but didn't optimize the distribution. Center of gravity is shifted to the right side." Pause. "The left shoulder joints have accumulated tension. It probably hasn't been able to relax them for days."
Serah looked at him.
"You can see that from here?"
"Posture reading. The basics."
---
[NocheEterna99: "the basics" Kai biomechanically analyzed a corrupted A-rank in 10 seconds]
[GarcíaFTW: LMAO the system is resigning itself very quickly]
[StreamerHunter: I already put my coins on Kai this time. I learned.]
---
The wolf detected them.
It turned toward them with the characteristic slowness Kai had predicted.
And then it charged.
Slow for an A-rank. But a slow A-rank was still a massive mass moving at enough speed to destroy a stone wall.
Kai didn't move until the last second.
When the jaws were about to close, he took a fifteen-centimeter step sideways — no more, exactly the necessary amount — and threw a direct punch to the left shoulder with his full hip behind the impact.
The sound was different from the B-rank wolf on the first day.
Denser. More resistant.
The A-rank wolf didn't fall.
It staggered. Turned. And charged again.
Kai landed and registered the data without drama.
This one is tough. It didn't go down on the first hit.
---
[GarcíaFTW: IT DIDN'T FALL]
[NocheEterna99: KAI HAS TO KEEP FIGHTING. THIS IS NEW.]
[StreamerHunter: my coins are still on Kai but I'm sweating]
[Viewers: 124,000 — rising]
---
Second charge.
Kai let the jaws pass on the right side this time, absorbed the body impact with a hip movement that redistributed the force instead of absorbing it, and struck the side of the skull.
The wolf turned. Didn't fall.
Third charge.
Kai rolled underneath, struck the abdomen from below, and exited on the opposite side.
The wolf stopped. Reoriented. Charged slower.
It's learning to compensate for the gravity shift.
Good. That means I can use that.
---
[System — Real-time log]
[Micro-correction #1: exit angle adjustment]
[Micro-correction #2: force redistribution on impact reception]
[Micro-correction #3: charge pattern reading — active prediction]
[Internal progress: recording]
[Rank: still unclassified]
[System note: the user is improving in real-time during combat. The system finds this statistically unusual.]
---
Fourth charge.
Kai didn't dodge.
He planted himself, absorbed the first impact with both forearms crossed — the force was enough to push Kai three steps back, his feet leaving marks in the dirt — and at the exact moment the wolf extended its jaws for the final bite, Kai struck upward with his right elbow directly at the joint point of the jaw.
Not the neck. Not the head.
The exact point where corruption had created accumulated tension from the start.
The sound was definitive.
The A-rank wolf fell.
---
Silence in the clearing.
Kai dusted off his forearms. He had a minor abrasion on his left forearm where he'd absorbed the direct impact. Nothing requiring immediate attention.
[Corrupted Shadow Wolf — A-rank — Defeated]
[Combat time: 4 minutes, 17 seconds]
[Micro-corrections recorded: 47]
[Internal progress updated]
[Side effect: corruption in the area reduced by 40% after defeat]
[User rank: F]
---
[GarcíaFTW: HE DEFEATED IT. 4 MINUTES AGAINST AN A-RANK]
[NocheEterna99: "47 micro-corrections" the system was taking notes during the whole fight]
[StreamerHunter: I WON MY COINS BACK. FINALLY. CRYING.]
[Viewers: 124,000]
[Gift received: Gold Coin x100 — StreamerHunter]
[Gift received: Gold Coin x50 — NocheEterna99]
[Gift received: Gold Coin x500 — User: unknown]
[Updated balance: 1,243 Interdimensional Gold Coins]
[The 500-coin gift has no traceable origin]
[The system has attempted to identify the user. The system has failed.]
[Again.]
---
Serah approached from where she had been observing.
She hadn't intervened. Kai hadn't needed her to — and they both knew it.
She looked at the fallen wolf. Looked at Kai.
"Four minutes and seventeen seconds," she said.
"It moved slow." Kai examined the abrasion on his forearm. "But the density was real. I absorbed the fourth hit poorly."
"You absorbed the direct impact of an A-rank with your forearms."
"It worked."
"It shouldn't have worked."
"But it worked."
Serah looked at him for a moment with that evaluating expression Kai now recognized.
"You adapt quickly," she said finally.
"It's the basics."
A pause.
"You are perfect for mating," said Serah.
"Thanks... I think."
---
[System — Notification]
[New technique unlocked with stream points]
[Breaking Stance — Level 1]
[Effect: increases strike accuracy on accumulated tension points by +15%]
[Cost: 800 stream points]
[Remaining balance: 403 points]
[Note: This technique was developed instinctively during combat. The system only formalized it.]
Kai read the last line.
"Are you telling me I already knew it?"
[Technically, yes.]
[The system only gave it a name and a percentage.]
"Ah. Good."
---
As they left the clearing, the 23 C-rank beasts that had been following at a distance reorganized themselves.
They didn't leave.
They stayed at the clearing's perimeter. The corruption in them had visibly lowered — without the active core of the A-rank wolf feeding it, Kai's aura was enough to suppress it almost completely.
Kai looked at them for a moment.
Then, without overthinking it, he turned to the nearest one — a C-rank wolf watching him with its head tilted.
"Guard stance," said Kai, and demonstrated the position.
The wolf looked at him.
"You. Imitate this."
---
[NocheEterna99: KAI IS TRYING TO TEACH A CORRUPTED C-RANK WOLF]
[GarcíaFTW: he just fought an A-rank for 4 minutes and now he's giving a lesson]
[StreamerHunter: the wolf is... trying??? BRO ITS FRONT PAWS]
The wolf clumsily adjusted its front paws.
It was vaguely an approximation of a guard stance on a body not designed for it.
Kai evaluated.
"Good enough for now."
[System — Notification]
[New category unlocked: Beast Instructor — Level 1]
[Entities under active instruction: 1]
[Instruction progress: 0.1%]
[The system notes that this is, objectively, the most unusual thing it has recorded since stream activation]
---
Serah observed all of this in silence.
Then:
"Why are you teaching them?"
Kai thought about the answer while putting away the quest map.
"I need sparring partners that can take my hits," he said. "You're the only one who reaches 10% without issue. If I train them, they'll eventually be useful."
Serah processed that.
"You're using me as a durability reference?"
"You're the available reference."
Another silence.
"Fine," said Serah. And something in her tone wasn't exactly the same as her usual fine.
---
They were already leaving the perimeter of the zone when the system sent a notification Kai wasn't expecting.
[Alert — Beast Resonance]
[New SSS entity has detected your aura]
[Location: unknown]
[Intent: en route]
[Estimated distance: 40km — approaching]
[Note: This is a different entity from the already-registered SSS entity]
[The system now records two SSS entities in simultaneous approach]
Kai read the notification.
He looked at Serah.
"You said there were others who already knew about me?"
"Yes."
"How many?"
Serah didn't respond immediately. She stepped close to Kai and hugged him tightly, her head exactly between his breasts.
"It doesn't matter as long as they don't take what belongs to me," she said finally.
"Right..." was all he could manage properly.