The wind died down slightly, carrying only the faint hiss of Husk Field's residual qi.
Rosswell's breathing remained steady, eyes locked on the beast, reading its every twitch, anticipating every strike.
Behind him, Rang Rang and Yang Yi mirrored his tension, alert but careful, forming a triangle of observation and restraint.
And yet… Mei Mei remained silent, unmoving, a figure on the distant ridge.
Her silver hair shimmered faintly, reflecting the twin moons' fading glow.
Rang Rang's whisper broke the tense air.
"Where is she? I mean… why isn't she helping? She's supposed to be monitoring Husk Field… why isn't she doing anything?"
Yang Yi's gaze didn't leave the beast.
Her voice was calm, precise.
"She's not… absent. Mei Mei doesn't intervene unless necessary. Husk Field itself reacts to energy, to presence. If she stepped in, it would amplify the field's response, possibly destabilize the creature entirely, or worse… make the environment hostile to us."
Rosswell's eyes flicked to Mei Mei, recognizing the faint pulse of qi around her, controlled, measured, yet undeniably powerful.
"She's observing,"
He murmured.
"She's allowing the field, the creature, to interact with us directly. Her goal isn't to fight, it's to ensure we survive and learn. She trusts our actions, but she watches every subtle change, every response, every adaptation."
Rang Rang's jaw dropped slightly.
"So… she's just… letting us handle it ourselves? That's insane!"
Yang Yi's lips pressed into a thin line.
"Not insane… deliberate. Husk Field teaches through experience, not intervention. If Mei Mei acts too early, Rosswell doesn't learn control, doesn't feel the rhythm, doesn't understand absorption. Everything she teaches is meant to emerge naturally."
Rosswell crouched slightly, letting the qi threads beneath his feet guide him.
"Her absence is guidance,"
He said quietly, more to himself than anyone else.
"She's present, yet not active. She ensures we are tested, but not destroyed. Observation without interference… that's the method. Focus on the immediate, not the overseer."
Rang Rang exhaled sharply.
"Nya~ So… she's basically letting us get our asses kicked to teach us something?"
Yang Yi gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.
"Precisely. Husk Field isn't forgiving, but it rewards insight. Mei Mei's role isn't to fight for us, it's to let us engage, survive, and understand."
The beast lunged again, faster this time, claws striking through the air like lightning.
Rosswell's hand brushed the residual qi left in its wake, drawing fragments into himself without fully absorbing them.
The energy pulsed, informing him, guiding his movements.
"Partial absorption confirmed,"
Rosswell muttered, voice calm, almost serene.
"Connection stabilizing. Observation phase… complete. Adaptation phase… initiating."
Rang Rang's voice trembled with excitement.
"He's… actually doing it! He's learning it while it's attacking him!"
Yang Yi's eyes glinted.
"He's stabilizing his bond with Husk Field and the beast simultaneously. That's not just survival… that's mastery in the making."
From her ridge, Mei Mei's expression remained calm, almost unreadable.
Her hands rested lightly at her sides, yet every flicker of qi around the beast, every ripple in the field, was noted by her with precision.
She didn't need to intervene yet.
The lesson, the test, was unfolding perfectly.
Rosswell pivoted again, glider strap tightening, qi flowing faintly around his fingers.
He felt the creature's aggression, its hesitation, its rhythm.
"This is more than combat,"
He whispered.
"This is a dialogue… Husk Field, the beast, me. Every pulse… every strike… a sentence, a phrase. And I am learning to speak it."
Rang Rang's jaw dropped further.
"He's… he's… talking to it? Like… mentally? How is he even..."
Yang Yi interrupted, voice low but firm.
"He's not talking. He's listening. That's the difference."
The beast snarled, circling, muscles coiling. Its eyes glowed red, not with mindless fury, but with cautious calculation.
It could sense Rosswell's adaptation, his connection with the energy threads, his growing understanding of Husk Field itself.
Rosswell crouched, letting the residual qi tangle with the beast's, feeling its intent with every heartbeat.
"Partial control… enough to anticipate, enough to survive… soon, perhaps enough to influence,"
He murmured.
Rang Rang whispered behind him, barely audible:
"I don't know if I'm impressed or terrified."
Yang Yi's eyes remained fixed.
"Both. Husk Field doesn't forgive fools. He's neither. That's what scares even seasoned observers."
And in that quiet observation, the silver-haired figure on the ridge watched, unseen by the beast, unnoticed by Rosswell, yet fully aware.
Mei Mei's hands twitched slightly, barely perceptible, almost like a conductor feeling the vibrations of a distant symphony.
Her absence was presence.
Her silence was guidance.
Her restraint ensured that the three of them, Rosswell, Rang Rang, and Yang Yi, would learn, adapt, and survive… the only way Husk Field allowed.
And slowly, imperceptibly, Husk Field itself seemed to lean into Rosswell's growing understanding, as though acknowledging a new player in its endless, dangerous rhythm.
The battle, though only just beginning, had already shifted.
Rosswell was no longer merely surviving.
He was listening.
And Husk Field, with its primal, untamed beast and undulating threads of qi, was teaching him everything.
The beast snarled, its molten-red eyes flicking between Rosswell, Rang Rang, and Yang Yi.
Its muscles coiled like springs, each movement precise, almost deliberate.
Husk Field pulsed faintly under its weight, the residual qi threads reacting violently to the creature's energy, rippling outward like invisible lightning.
Rosswell remained crouched, calm, absorbing the rhythm of both the beast and the field.
Each heartbeat of the creature sent tremors of information through the residual qi, and he felt it all, aggression, hesitation, instinct.
Every twitch of claw or tail, every ripple in the ground beneath, painted a picture.
"Observation phase… complete,"
He muttered, almost to himself.
"Adaptation… ongoing. Absorption… partial, but increasing."
Rang Rang's voice cut sharply through the tension.
"He's… he's actually touching the thing mid-fight and surviving! I don't, how does he even..."
Yang Yi's voice was calm but carried weight.
"He's not surviving by luck. He's mapping the energy. Husk Field teaches patterns, not raw power. He reads the pattern, predicts the attack, absorbs the feedback."
The creature lunged again, claws carving through air, but this time Rosswell didn't dodge immediately.
Instead, he pivoted subtly, letting the claws swipe past while his hand brushed against the glowing qi trails it left behind.
A spark surged through him, a fragment of the beast's energy, raw, uncontrolled, but informative.
"Partial absorption… confirmed,"
He whispered.
"I can sense intent, strength… hesitation."
Rang Rang's eyes widened.
"That's insane! He's actually… reading it, like it's a book or something!"
"Haaa..."
Rosswell allowed a faint exhale, focusing, feeling the threads of energy tangle briefly around him like a living net.
"Husk Field… teaches. The beast… reacts. We… respond. Observation, adaptation, control. Not combat alone. Not survival alone… but mastery."
Yang Yi stepped slightly forward, her fingers brushing the air, subtly testing the energy currents.
"Rosswell… you're not just surviving. You're interacting with the beast and the field simultaneously. That's beyond normal comprehension."
A low, resonant growl vibrated through Husk Field as the creature's tail whipped around, sending stones and shards of residual qi flying.
Rosswell pivoted, letting the fragments touch the threads of energy he had partially absorbed.
Sparks danced faintly along his fingertips, like the whisper of a conversation he was only beginning to understand.
"Every strike… every surge…is a sentence,"
He muttered under his breath.
"And I… am learning to speak it."
The beast paused suddenly, tilting its head.
Its molten eyes flicked toward the ridge, as if sensing the presence of another, yet unseen force.
Rang Rang frowned.
"What's it looking at?"
Yang Yi's gaze followed instinctively.
"It's… aware of her. Mei Mei. Even the beast recognizes her energy. That's why it's hesitating. Husk Field amplifies awareness."
Rosswell's eyes flicked subtly to the ridge, where Mei Mei stood like a statue, silver hair glinting faintly.
She made no move, no attack, no gesture, nothing, but the faint pulse of her qi radiated outward, like a calm eye in the storm.
"She's not acting,"
Rosswell observed quietly.
"Her presence alone… shapes the battlefield. Husk Field, the beast, the residual energy… all respond to her without intervention. This… is intentional."
Rang Rang's whisper carried a mix of awe and exasperation.
"She's… just letting us deal with it? That's… that's cruel!"
Yang Yi shook her head minutely, voice low.
"Not cruel. Like i said before, Calculated. Husk Field's lesson isn't survival alone, it's understanding, adaptation, control. She knows the field, the beast, and… now, us. She's waiting to see how you, Rosswell, respond under full pressure."
The beast lunged again, faster this time, claws slicing through the air like twin scythes.
Rosswell moved with precise timing, letting the strike pass while his hand brushed against the lingering qi trail.
The feedback surged through him, a violent pulse of aggression, resistance, and instinct, but now he felt something deeper: the creature's hesitation, the subtle pattern in its attacks, the almost imperceptible pause before each lunge.
"Yes,"
He muttered.
"I see it… rhythm… pattern… intent. Observation… leads to understanding. Understanding… leads to control."
Rang Rang's voice broke through again, trembling with excitement.
"I can't believe it! He's… he's learning the beast mid-fight! He's… talking to it, in a way!"
Rosswell allowed a faint smirk, just a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"RRang Not talking like I said he's Listening. Listening… is what makes one survive. And… control, eventually."
The beast reared, tail smashing a stone into shards, sending residual qi rippling violently.
Rosswell crouched slightly, letting the threads of energy wrap faintly around his fingers.
The spark of absorption surged, stronger than before, almost violent.
But this time, instead of recoiling, he let it flow, allowing the partial connection to deepen.
"Deeper connection… established,"
He whispered.
"I feel its intent, its strength, its hesitation… and its potential."
Rang Rang and Yang Yi exchanged glances, each silently acknowledging the shift.
Yang Yi's voice was quiet but firm.
"Rosswell… you're stabilizing your bond with the beast. That's… unprecedented."
The creature roared, sensing a change in its opponent.
Its eyes flared with molten red, yet its movements became slightly more cautious, almost measured.
It was testing him… testing whether the bond was mutual.
And Mei Mei, still on the ridge, allowed herself a small, almost imperceptible nod.
She had not intervened, had not acted, but her presence, her observation, her restraint, had guided this trial.
Husk Field had delivered its lesson perfectly: the students, Rosswell, Rang Rang, and Yang Yi, had adapted, survived, and begun to master the unpredictable energy around them.
Rosswell shifted his stance slightly, feeling the flow of energy, the rhythm of Husk Field, the pulse of the beast, and a faint whisper of her presence.
"Soon,"
He murmured.
"Soon… you will understand, and the field, the beast, and I… will move as one."
Rang Rang whispered, almost to herself, trembling with a mix of awe and fear:
"I don't know if I'm witnessing a fight… or a conversation with a god."
Yang Yi's lips pressed together, eyes fixed.
"This… is the beginning. The lesson has only just started."
The winds of Husk Field whipped violently, the residual qi threads shimmering like ghostly snakes.
The creature roared, the echoes bouncing endlessly through the jagged rocks, and Rosswell crouched, calm, focused, listening… learning… adapting.
And from the ridge, the silver-haired figure of Mei Mei watched silently, letting the lesson unfold exactly as it should, her hands resting lightly at her sides, her eyes keen, her restraint absolute.
***