Callum's absence left a data void. Not just an empty space—a negative space, like someone had deleted a chunk of reality and the universe hadn't figured out how to fill it yet. My parallel analysis kept trying to map his return, but the probability cloud was a flatline. [ERR: TARGET NOT FOUND] was the only output.
Yulia's frost spread across the floor, crystallizing in a perfect circle where Callum had stood. "He's been gone for six minutes," she said, her voice tight. "Phasing doesn't last that long. Not at Level 7."
"His skill's not phasing," Drek rumbled, his warhammer resting on a shoulder. "It's echoing. He phases into the dead space between seconds. Time still passes for him, just... elsewhere."
My overlay flickered: [THEORETICAL MECHANICS: ECHOES OF THE DEAD = POCKET DIMENSION ACCESS?] The math was elegant. Callum wasn't invisible. He was orthogonal to our timeline.
Gorum's prosthetic crossbow folded back into an arm. "He's compromised. Track him later. Right now, the River's still tainted upstream. Drek, you head out at dawn. Mira's your guide. Kael—" He looked at me. "You calculate. Find the signature. If Callum's the seeder, his residue will be at the site. If he's not, the real seeder will have left something else."
[QUEST BRANCHING: CALLUM = SUSPECT (29%) = DECOY (71%)]
[OPTIMAL PATH: PRIORITIZE SITE OVER MANHUNT]
I agreed. "He phased out to avoid confrontation. That means he's not ready to kill us yet. Or he can't."
"Optimist," Yulia sneered. But her frost receded.
Drek clapped a hand on my shoulder. It felt like being hit with a sack of hammers. "Pack light, math boy. We move fast upstream. Mirelings get frisky after rain."
Rain. I checked my overlay's environmental tracker: [WEATHER: DRIZZLE IN 4 HOURS] . That explained the humidity.
"Gear up," Gorum said. "Meeting's over. Try not to kill each other before dawn."
---
[PARTY STATUS: FORMED]
[MEMBERS: DREK (LV9 TANK), MIRA (LV6 GUIDE), KAEL (LV5 ANALYST)]
[PARTY BONUS: +10% SURVIVAL, -5% LOOT (SPLIT 3 WAYS)]
Back at the Wayward Wake, I repacked for speed. The shortsword stayed. The leather armor, repaired by Helga's "guy" for 30 copper, stayed. Everything else—survival gear, potions, the last of the Demon-Bark slivers—went into a light pack. Total weight: 8.4 pounds. [MOBILITY: -2%]. Acceptable.
Helga slid a small pouch across the bar. "On the house. For killing the Bloom." Inside were three vials of silver liquid. [ITEM: QUICKSILVER ELIXIR x3] [EFFECT: +50% DODGE FOR 30 SECONDS]. Emergency use only. The debuff afterward was nasty.
"Callum was here," she said quietly. "Two hours before the meeting. Asking about the Bloom's collapse. Wanted details."
[INTEL ACQUIRED: CALLUM'S TIMELINE INCONSISTENT]. He'd phased out of the meeting, but he'd been physical before it. The pocket dimension theory strengthened.
"Thanks," I said. The intel was worth more than the potions.
Upstairs, I spent my last hour running simulations. The upstream site was 4.7 miles from River's Reach. Drek's pace would be 4.2 mph. Mira's foraging would add 0.3 mph delay. Total travel time: 68 minutes. Add 20% for combat encounters. 82 minutes.
I set my overlay's alarm for 0447 hours. Military precision.
---
[TRAVEL SEQUENCE: INITIATED]
Dawn in Aetheuron wasn't sunrise. It was when the silver moon set and the green moon dimmed to a sickly afterthought. The sun itself was a pale, reluctant thing that seemed embarrassed to exist.
Drek and Mira waited at the north gap. He'd traded his hammer for a pair of hatchets and a pack that made mine look like a child's lunchbox. Mira wore green leathers, camouflage for the forest, and had a bow slung across her back. [ANALYSIS: PARTY COMPOSITION - BALANCED] .
"Math boy," Drek greeted. "Ready to calculate our deaths?"
"Already done," I said. "Probability: 23%. Down from 31% before I joined."
"Comforting."
We moved out. Mira took point, her pathfinding a graceful dance through undergrowth that would have taken me twice as long to navigate. Drek walked beside me, his hatchets loose in his hands, scanning for threats.
[PARTY SYNERGY: MIRA'S GUIDE SKILL = +15% AMBUSH AVOIDANCE]
[DREK'S PRESENCE = +20% PREDATOR DETERRENCE]
[KAEL'S ANALYSIS = +25% ENCOUNTER PREDICTION]
The forest was quiet. Too quiet. My overlay's audio filter amplified ambient noise: insects, distant bird calls, the rustle of leaves. All within normal parameters. But the hypothesis engine flagged an anomaly: [PREDATOR ABSENCE = ABNORMAL] . No Gloomvermin calls. No Mireling tracks. Even the Stranglevine seemed dormant.
"Something's wrong," Mira whispered, echoing my analysis.
Drek sniffed the air. "No rot smell. The Bloom's dead, but the forest should still be—"
The ground erupted.
Not a monster. The ground itself. A mass of root and stone, animated by a central core of pulsing green light. A [TERRASPIDER - LEVEL 11 CONSTRUCT]. Not a demon. Not a beast. A golem made from the forest floor.
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: EXTREME]
[PARTY LEVEL AVERAGE: 6.7]
[RECOMMENDATION: RETREAT]
Drek didn't retreat. He charged, hatchets spinning. Mira's bow was up, an arrow nocked in 0.3 seconds. My parallel analysis mapped 847 possible combat vectors in the time it took the Terraspider to fully emerge.
[COMBAT: ENGAGED]
Drek's first chop hit a root-tendril thick as my thigh. The hatchet bit deep, but the root didn't bleed. It grasped, wrapping around the axe handle. Drek snarled, his Unique Skill flaring: [UNBREAKABLE DIGESTION] extended to his gear. The root recoiled, sizzling where it touched his iron-forged equipment.
Mira's arrow flew, not at the core, but at a root junction. [ANALYSIS: TERRASPIDER MOBILITY = ROOT-BASED]. The arrow struck, pinning two roots together. The construct staggered, its balance thrown off by the sudden restriction.
I didn't draw my sword. Useless against stone.
I drew knowledge.
[ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN: TERRASPIDER CORE = WEAK POINT]
[CORE PROTECTION: 8 LAYERS OF ROOT-ARMOR]
[ARMOR RESISTANCE: PHYSICAL (90%), MAGIC (60%)]
[WEAKNESS: SONIC RESONANCE (UNKNOWN TO PARTY)]
Sonic resonance. We had no sound-based attacks. But we had Drek.
"Drek!" I shouted. "Your stomach acid—what's its pH?"
He beheaded a root while answering: "Negative four!"
Perfect. Strong enough to dissolve iron, which meant it contained hydrochloric acid with a concentration of 10M+. Highly reactive with limestone—the Terraspider's stone components.
"Mira! Shoot his mouth!" I ordered.
She didn't question. The arrow flew true, embedding in Drek's open maw. He bit down, shattering the shaft, the arrowhead cutting his cheek. Blood and acid mixed.
[COMBINATION ATTACK SEQUENCE: INITIATED]
[STEP 1: ACIDIC BLOOD GENERATION]
"Spit!" I commanded.
Drek spat a glob of blood-acid onto the Terraspider's core. The stone sizzled, the root-armor recoiling. But it wasn't enough to breach.
"Again!" I ran forward, not at the core, but at Drek's side. My shortsword drew a shallow cut across his forearm. [HP: DREK -5] . He roared, but I caught his eye. Understanding flickered.
He let his blood drip onto my blade. The steel sizzled, but held. [WEAPON: ACID-COATED (TEMPORARY)] .
I charged the core, Mira's arrows pinning roots to give me a path. The Terraspider's primary tendril lashed at my head. My parallel analysis gave me three futures. I chose the one where I ducked under and rolled forward.
The acid-coated blade struck the core's weakest root-layer. Steel met stone, acid met calcium carbonate. The reaction was instantaneous. The root shattered, the layer beneath exposed.
[CRITICAL HIT: MATERIAL SCIENCE]
[+45 DAMAGE] [LAYER 1 DESTROYED]
Mira's next arrow hit the exposed layer. Her bowstring had been coated with Drek's blood. [LAYER 2 DESTROYED] .
The Terraspider reeled. Its core, now two layers exposed, pulsed frantically. [HP: 220/280] .
"Again! " I shouted.
The third attack wasn't mine. It was environmental.
The Terraspider's thrashing had weakened the cave ceiling. A stalactite, poised above since the cavern formed, chose that moment to fall. My overlay had mapped its stress fracture three minutes ago. I'd positioned us deliberately.
The stalactite impaled the core.
[ENVIRONMENTAL KILL: 280 DAMAGE]
[TERRASPIDER: DEFEATED]
[PARTY EXP: +900 (SPLIT EVENLY)]
[+300 EXP] [LEVEL UP! LEVEL 6 ACHIEVED!]
The construct dissolved into dust and roots, leaving behind a Terra Core, a fist-sized gem of green stone. [ITEM: TERRA CORE (UNCOMMON)] [USE: CRAFTING, ARTIFICER TRADE-IN] . Drek pocketed it.
Mira lowered her bow, breathing hard. "You knew that stalactite would fall."
"Calculated," I corrected. "Probability: 67% within a 5-minute window."
Drek clapped my shoulder again. "HAH! Math boy's got stones. Welcome to the party."
[PARTY TRUST: DREK (RESPECTED), MIRA (IMPRESSED)]
[PARTY SYNERGY BONUS: +15% COMBAT EFFICIENCY]
The fight had taken 2.1 minutes. We were 1.3 miles from the spore site.
We moved on, but my overlay was already modeling the Terraspider's presence. It shouldn't have been here. Constructs needed a summoner. A shaper.
[HYPOTHESIS: SABOTEUR LEFT GUARDIAN]
The site would have more. This was just the tutorial.
The real grind was waiting upstream.