Location: Dark Forest - Outer Ring Cave to Mid Ring | Doha (Lower Realm)
Time: Day 431, Dawn
Dawn broke cold and clear, painting the cave entrance in shades of copper and shadow. Jayde sat cross-legged on her bedroll, the Old Man's leather-bound journal open across her lap, reading by the pale morning light filtering through moss-covered stone.
"The Mid Ring is not the Outer Ring with bigger teeth. It's a different battlefield entirely. Flamewrought-tier beasts don't just hunt—they think. They adapt. They remember. Approach them like you'd approach the Outer Ring predators and you'll die screaming."
The words hit different now. Thirty days ago, she'd read this passage and thought she understood.
She hadn't.
(We were so stupid.)
