Kepala Bear Cat yang besar itu miring.
Mata makhluk itu, yang masing-masing lebih besar dari seluruh tubuh Mantis, memindai batang pohon. Mencari sumber suara yang tadi berbunyi.
Waktu terasa molor, detik-detik berubah menjadi keabadian.
Dan melalui serpihan kristal yang melayang di depan mata Ren, ratusan kilometer jauhnya...
Dia mengamati.
Menahan napas bersama beast-nya.
Merasakan ketakutan dan ketegangan yang sama. Harapan putus asa untuk bertahan hidup.
Hidung Bear Cat bergerak mendekat... Mengendus.
Semakin dekat.
Semakin dekat.
Begitu dekat hingga sang Mantis bisa melihat helai-helai kumisnya. Bisa menghitung pola pada bulunya. Bisa mencium bau napas yang kaya akan mana.
Cat itu bernapas dengan kuat...
Dan kemudian sang Mantis membuat kesalahan.
Dorongan rasa takutnya terlalu kuat, kepanikan mengalahkan kesabaran.
Mana tersebut mengganggu kemampuan kamuflasenya.
Pendaratannya di dahan berikutnya tidak menimbulkan suara. Tapi itu tidak masalah...
Sekarang ia terlihat.
Terungkap... Tanpa perlindungan.
Kepala Bear Cat yang besar menoleh dengan kecepatan yang mustahil.
Matanya, yang tadinya kosong dan tidak fokus, menajam dengan ketajaman persepsi yang hanya bisa dimiliki oleh beast tingkat Gold 3. Sangat besar, meskipun bukan beast yang berorientasi pada pendeteksian.
Ia melihat sesuatu yang kecil.
Bukan mangsa yang besar atau penting.
Tapi sesuatu yang berkilau bagi seekor kucing...
Jenis beast yang penuh rasa ingin tahu dan insting berburu. Kombinasi terburuk.
Cakar itu bergerak.
Lebih cepat dari kilat untuk ukuran tubuh sebesar itu. Ia menghantamkan Mantis ke batang pohon dengan kekuatan yang cukup untuk menghancurkan besi, dengan tekanan yang cukup untuk memusnahkan makhluk malang itu sepuluh kali lipat dan memutuskan ikatan mana.
Pemusnahan mutlak.
Bear Cat mengangkat cakarnya.
Tidak ada yang tersisa dari beast yang dilindungi mana itu.
Ia berkedip, kebingungan.
Ia tadi merasakan sesuatu... melihat sesuatu. Kucing itu yakin akan hal itu.
Ia mengendus udara, lalu mengendus kulit kayu tempat cakarnya menghantam. Mencari konfirmasi atas apa yang baru saja ditangkap oleh indranya.
Tidak ada apa-apa.
Mungkin itu hanya imajinasinya?
Mungkin kelaparan membuatnya berhalusinasi. Bagaimanapun juga, buah-buahan mana dijaga ketat dan sangat berbahaya pada musim evolusi Pohon Naga kali ini.
Ia berjalan pergi, kehilangan minat, matanya sudah beralih mencari bola-bola bercahaya di atas yang benar-benar penting. Mangsa nyata yang substansial.
Duapuluh meter di bawah titik benturan, tak bergerak sama sekali, berkamuflase menyatu dengan tonjolan pada kulit kayu...
Mantis itu menunggu.
Jantungnya berdegup kencang, seandainya ia memiliki organ seperti itu. Setiap insting meneriakinya untuk lari.
Tapi ia menahan diri.
Ilusi itu berhasil.
Ia telah memproyeksikan salinan dirinya persis di tempat yang diharapkan Cat untuk menemukannya. Dengan penampakan yang cukup terang untuk memuaskan indra beast raksasa itu selama sepersekian detik.
Tipuan yang sempurna... Pengalihan perhatian terbaik.
Tepat waktu bagi tubuh aslinya untuk melompat ke bawah dalam keadaan berkamuflase dan bersembunyi.
Proyeksi adalah kemampuan terbaiknya.
Ilusi dari makhluk yang bahkan hampir menjadi ilusi itu sendiri.
Ia menunggu selama tiga puluh detik lagi.
Kemudian bergerak lagi.
Lebih berhati-hati sekarang.
Lebih pelan.
Mana lingkungan terus mengganggu, namun Mantis itu belajar, beradaptasi. Setiap lompatan terasa lebih mulus dari sebelumnya, setiap pendaratan semakin senyap.
Dan akhirnya...
Akhirnya ia mencapai area terbuka.
Itu bukan benar-benar area terbuka. Lebih mirip luka di dalam hutan.
Sebuah pohon tumbang.
Tapi bukan 'pohon' biasa.
Itu adalah salah satu yang terbesar. Raksasa di antara para raksasa yang siap berevolusi, yang tumbangnya menciptakan celah tempat sinar matahari benar-benar menyentuh tanah.
Sebuah bekas luka di kanopi. Sebuah anomali di tengah kegelapan hijau.
Cakar yang disebutkan Zhao tidak ada di sana.
Beast-beast korup telah memindahkannya, mengorupnya untuk menyerang kota dan menggunakannya sebagai senjata dalam penyerangan mereka.
Tapi pohon yang tumbang itu ada di sana, tertutup rumput anti-mana yang mulai memudar kualitasnya.
Dan di bagian tengahnya...
Sebuah lubang.
Besar dan gelap. Menurun menuju kedalaman yang tak pernah disentuh cahaya matahari.
Itulah jalurnya.
Tempat Sirius pergi.
Tempat yang harus dituju oleh Mantis.
Namun masalah utamanya sudah sangat jelas...
Lubang itu menembus langsung ke wilayah tunas platinum. Jumlahnya puluhan, bahkan mungkin ratusan. Sistem akar mereka saling menjalin, menciptakan jaringan pendeteksi di dalam tanah.
Jaringan kelaparan dan kekerasan yang menunggu mangsa bodoh yang cukup berani masuk dan menimbulkan gangguan apa pun.
Jika Mantis menyentuh salah satu dari mereka...
Permainan selesai.
Akhir dari misi... Akhir dari harapan.
Ilusi tidak akan berhasil. Tunas-tunas itu buta, berburu berdasarkan getaran dan tekanan murni. Kontak sekecil apa pun dengan jaringan akar mereka yang masif...
Mereka tidak akan menyisakan apa pun.
Tetapi Mantis bisa terbang.
Yah.
Tidak persis terbang.
'Meluncur penuh gaya' adalah deskripsi yang lebih akurat.
Sayapnya belum dirancang untuk penerbangan berkelanjutan di tingkat Bronze 1. Sayap itu dirancang untuk lompatan terkontrol, penyesuaian di udara, atau jatuh yang berubah menjadi pendaratan.
Ia tidak bisa terbang. Tapi di ruang vertikal...
Di dalam lubang yang hanya berisi arah ke bawah...
Itu mungkin berhasil.
Mantis memposisikan dirinya di tepi lubang.
Sayapnya mengembang. Membran setipis kertas yang memantulkan cahaya tersaring dari kanopi, menciptakan pola-pola kaleidoskopik yang menghilang secepat kemunculannya.
Di bawah, dalam kegelapan, sesuatu bergerak.
Tunas-tunas platinum itu dapat merasakan udara yang bergeser. Dapat merasakan bahkan sebagian perubahan tekanan...
Dapat merasakan kehadiran calon mangsa.
Mereka sedang menunggu.
Lapar.
Mantis melompat.
Dan mulai turun menuju kegelapan.
Menuju jawaban.
Menuju kebenaran tentang Sirius Starweaver.
Sebuah kebenaran yang akan dilihat Ren melalui serpihan ilusi di depan mata kirinya. Melalui jendela kristal yang disediakan oleh beast terkecilnya.
Karena dia telah berjanji untuk tidak pergi.
Tapi dia tidak pernah berjanji untuk tidak melihat.
♢♢♢♢
Gerbang akademi terlihat lagi, para penjaga berdiri siap sementara kelompok-kelompok murid mulai kembali dari ekspedisi gathering mereka masing-masing.
Periode evaluasi memasuki jam-jam terakhir.
Tenggat waktu semakin dekat.
Beberapa kelompok tampak sukses, dengan ransel penuh dan ekspresi puas. Kebanggaan atas pencapaian tergurat di wajah-wajah yang lelah.
Yang lain... tidak begitu.
Ren melihat satu tim lewat sambil pincang, salah satu anggotanya dipapah oleh rekan-rekan mereka. Darah mengotori seragam mereka, gelap dan basah.
The Bear Cat’s massive head tilted.
Its eyes, each one larger than the Mantis’s entire body, scanned the trunk. Looking for what had made that sound.
Time stretched, seconds becoming eternities.
And through the crystal fragment floating before Ren’s eye, hundreds of kilometers away...
He watched.
Held his breath alongside his beast.
Shared the fear and tension. The desperate hope for survival.
The Bear Cat’s nose moved closer... Sniffing.
Closer.
Closer.
So close the Mantis could see its individual whiskers. Could count the patterns in its fur. Could smell the mana-rich breath.
The Cat breathed strongly...
And then the Mantis made a mistake.
It jumped.
The terror impulse was too strong, panic overriding patience.
The mana interfered with its camouflage.
Its landing on the next branch produced no sound. But it didn’t matter...
Now it was visible.
Revealed... Vulnerable.
The Bear Cat’s massive head turned with impossible speed.
Its eyes, which had been glassy and unfocused, sharpened with the perception only a Gold 3 beast could possess. Huge, despite not being a detection oriented beast.
It saw something small.
Not a substantial or important meal.
But something shiny for a cat...
The kind of beast full of curiosity and hunting instinct. The worst possible combination.
The paw moved.
Faster than lightning for something so large. It crushed the Mantis against the trunk with force sufficient to pulverize iron, with pressure enough to eliminate the poor thing ten times over and break the mana bond.
Absolute annihilation.
The Bear Cat lifted its paw.
There was nothing left of the mana protected beast.
It blinked, confused.
It had felt something... seen something. The cat was certain of it.
It sniffed the air, then sniffed the bark where its paw had crushed. Searching for confirmation of what its senses had registered.
Nothing.
Maybe it had been its imagination?
Maybe hunger was making it see things. The mana fruits were very well-guarded and dangerous this Dragon Tree evolution season, after all.
It moved away, losing interest, its eyes already seeking the glowing spheres that really mattered above. Real substantial meals.
Twenty meters below the impact point, completely motionless, camouflaged against a knot in the bark...
The Mantis waited.
Heart racing, if it had possessed such an organ. Every instinct screaming to flee.
But it held.
The illusion had worked.
It had projected a copy of itself exactly where the Cat expected to find it. Sufficiently bright in appearance to satisfy the massive beast senses for a fraction of a second.
The perfect deception... Misdirection at its finest.
Just enough time for the true body to jump camouflaged downward and hide.
Projections were its most developed ability.
Illusions from a creature that was already almost an illusion itself.
It waited thirty more seconds.
Then moved again.
More careful now.
Slower.
The environmental mana continued interfering, but the Mantis learned, adapted. Each jump was smoother than the previous, each landing more silent.
And finally...
Finally it reached the clearing.
It wasn’t really a clearing. More like a wound in the forest.
A fallen tree.
But not a normal ’tree’.
This had been one of the largest. A giant among giants that had been ready to evolve, whose fall had created a space where sunlight actually touched the ground.
A scar in the canopy. An anomaly in the green darkness.
The claw Zhao had mentioned wasn’t there.
The corrupt beasts had moved it, had corrupted it to attack the city and used it as a weapon in their assault.
But the fallen tree was there, covered in anti-mana grass that was losing quality.
And in its center...
A hole.
Enormous and dark. Descending toward depths that sunlight never reached.
That was the path.
Where Sirius had gone.
Where the Mantis had to go.
But the main problem was obvious...
The hole descended directly through the golden sprouts’ domain. Dozens of them, maybe even hundreds. Their root systems interwoven, creating a detection network in the subsoil.
A web of hunger and violence waiting for prey foolish enough to enter and make any disturbance.
If the Mantis touched one...
Game over.
End of the mission... End of hope.
Illusions wouldn’t work. The sprouts were blind, hunted by pure vibration and pressure. The slightest contact with their enormous root network...
They’d leave nothing behind.
But the Mantis could fly.
Well.
Not exactly fly.
’Gliding with style’ was a more precise description.
Its wings weren’t designed for sustained flight yet at Bronze 1. They were designed for controlled jumps, for mid-air adjustments or falls that became landings.
It couldn’t fly. But in a vertical space...
In a hole where there was only down...
It might work.
The Mantis positioned itself at the hole’s edge.
Its wings unfurled. Membranes thin as paper that reflected the filtered light from the canopy, creating kaleidoscopic patterns that disappeared as quickly as they appeared.
Below, in the darkness, something moved.
The golden sprouts could sense displaced air. Could feel even some of the pressure changes...
Could taste the presence of potential prey.
They were waiting.
Hungry.
The Mantis jumped.
And began descending toward the darkness.
Toward answers.
Toward the truth about Sirius Starweaver.
A truth Ren would see through the illusion fragment in front of his left eye. Through the crystal window his smallest beast provided.
Because he’d promised not to go.
But he’d never promised not to look.
♢♢♢♢
The academy gates were visible again, guards standing at attention while groups of students began returning from their own gathering expeditions.
The evaluation period entering its final hours.
The deadline approaching.
Some groups looked successful, with full backpacks and satisfied expressions. The pride of accomplishment written across tired faces.
Others... not so much.
Ren saw one team pass limping, one of its members being half-carried by companions. Blood stained their uniform, dark and wet.
"They went too deep for their capabilities," Zhao murmured, observing the group with trained eyes. Professional assessment still, not judgment. "Or trusted their rank instead of their experience... Classic mistake."
"Will they be okay?" Fan 1 asked, concern evident in her voice. Genuine worry for fellow students despite the competitive nature of exams.
"Yes, the healers gathered like every semester, and this time it seems we have new numbers with better quality. The shortage of healers common in these dates has been greatly reduced thanks to the new cultivation methods..."
He paused and cast a meaningful glance at Ren.
Recognition... Credit where credit was due.
"...But they’re going to fail this evaluation." Zhao shook his head. "Gathering isn’t just about obtaining materials. It’s about knowing when to retreat. When potential gains aren’t worth the risk."
Survival over success. The lesson some students learned too late...
The evaluation building was chaos when Ren’s group entered.
Students filled almost every available corner, forming lines in front of evaluation tables where their materials were weighed, catalogued, registered. The air smelled of sweat, earth, and the nervous tension of those who knew the next few minutes would determine their grade.
Futures being decided, opportunities opening or closing. Everything compressed into numbers on a form.
Ren scanned the space while his group headed toward the tables. His eyes found familiar faces among the crowd.
Larissa was near the entrance, while evaluators weighed piles of gold-rank vines of decent quality. Her posture was perfect as always. There was satisfaction in her expression, the quiet pride of achievement earned through effort.
Beside her, Liora conversed animatedly with her team, gesturing toward their own materials. Energy radiating from her despite obvious exhaustion.
Impressive quantities.
Small fortunes, really.
But compared to what Ren’s team had brought on their two trips...
Maybe a quarter of the total. Perhaps a fifth.
Still exceptional by normal standards... Just not by Ren’s increasingly abnormal ones.
Taro approached upon seeing him, a wide grin splitting his face.
"They made two trips," he murmured, following Ren’s gaze toward Larissa and Liora. "Without a Wolverine for cargo. Must have pushed their beasts to the maximum."
"And they succeeded," Ren responded, impressed. Larissa and Liora didn’t have the advantage of dimensional space. But they’d compensated with meticulous planning and pure determination.
Intelligence and effort closing the gap that raw advantages had opened.
"I didn’t stay behind either."
Ren turned at hearing Taro so confident. His enormous Royal Living Tunnel was Gold 1, like a walking mountain of rock and muscle that surely had given his team a great advantage.
It was a new species. The vanguard in the tunneling beetle line that had become famous, with many users following its path to the letter. The first success story that spawned imitators.
And on that massive shell, supported by equally massive strength...
Taro had transported their materials. A mountain of them, secured with ropes and improvised nets.
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