Sid POV
Sid drove from the front, forcing a pace harder than they’d faced in days. He didn’t need to look back. The staggering rhythm of footsteps and short, heavy gasps told him everything.
Misty Mountain unfolded ahead of him. It hid more than it showed. Aptly named and known for its deceptive safety. His new skill evolution made it easier to cross. Still, the rough ground was hard to travel.
Sid spent nearly an entire day grinding repetitive exercises to level Keen Eyes. It was a foundational skill—the bedrock for Night Vision, Mana Vision, and Critical Eye. Some researchers even suspected it was a component of the fabled Euryale Sight, though none of the holders verified it. The skill was a favorite subject of study simply because masters leveled it so frequently, starting over from the common rank.
Sid executed a regimen refined by years of trial and error among academy instructors and independent hunters. His team supported him, spending the day mastering their new skills while also helping Sid push his perception to the limit. By the time he finished, his head throbbed and his eyes burned, but the effort paid off.
He pushed Keen Eyes to level nineteen, a five-level jump, but the last level refused to budge despite his meticulous practice. Pallavi stepped in, offering a crystal salvaged from one of their goblin prisoners. The evolution was quiet. The skill shifted, settling into a new shape.
Predator’s Awareness took its place, a vaunted skill from the Predator series. It felt more like a complete system than a mere combination of three abilities, lifting the cognitive burden from his conscious mind. If it were a rare rank skill, it would’ve boosted both intelligence and perception.
The skill scanned for subtle shifts that normally went unnoticed. It worked instinctively, the way a predator realizes prey is near without conscious effort. Sid felt his attention drawn to parts of his vision where enemies might be lurking.
Hiding from the skill was still possible, but only under specific conditions. A target would need a skill capable of masking its presence and then pass a perception check. Misty Mountain housed plenty of ambush predators capable of that kind of concealment, but those creatures dwelt higher up the slopes, where the mist thickened and visibility dropped to almost nothing for the naked eye.
Sid’s field of vision expanded to two hundred and seventy degrees, up from the standard two hundred. While perfect awareness would be a complete sphere of awareness around the person, Predator’s Awareness claimed seven-eighths of it, leaving only a narrow blind spot directly behind his head.
Overall, Sid felt good about his progress. Gaining one of the top perception skills at the uncommon rank in just over a week placed his pace within the top five percent of academy graduates. The comments and doubts of other associates seemed distant now, stripped of their weight by tangible progress.
“Should we split off and look for a place to stay?” Varun asked, his voice uneven as he struggled for breath. The group had been on a forced march since morning, pushing hard to reach the cave before nightfall.
“Yeah, Sid. While I’d prefer to stay in the cave, we don’t seem to be anywhere near it.” Rohan’s words came out rough, dragged down by labored breathing as the mountain demanded its toll.
Sid glanced aside without pausing or looking back. The slight movement was enough for him to catch both Varun and Rohan in his peripheral vision. “I think we’re close to the cave, and there’s at least two more hours of light. Let’s keep going, this’ll help your fitness.”
They were approaching the cave from a different direction than usual. The unfamiliar surroundings would’ve made Rohan and Varun feel as though they were farther away than they were.
Sid pushed himself as hard as the others, treating the day as an endurance test. While they faced a few monsters, the encounters were too easy to even slow them down. It was a clean sweep, but the lack of pressure worried him more than it pleased him.
The team had found its rhythm. Varun finally mastered his agile fighting style, while Pallavi stepped up as a steadfast frontliner, holding ground without flinching. Even Rohan excelled as a trapper, securing six personal crystals and facilitating twice that in the team’s level gains.
While Sid was glad to see his team thrive, he viewed their success through a colder lens. They had grown comfortable with the local monsters, and comfort meant stagnation. It was time for tougher opponents. He recalled his professor’s mantra: Struggle is the only path to progress.
“Sid,” Varun called out, “if we find a place now, we might have some time for training. Rohan can set up traps around our hideout.”
Sid recognized the bargaining tone. Varun used it whenever he wanted backup for some questionable idea. Skipping classes for movies. Filling the hostel water dispenser with beer to get it chilled. The pattern was familiar.
“I thought you were lazy,” Rohan said, his tone lighter than his words. “Seems you only lack initiative for office work.”
“Why would I take on extra work at the office?” Varun shot back. “You pay me for nine hours of my time and effort, nothing more.” His irreverent delivery made it a clean hit.
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Concern flickered in Sid. He recognized the spark of a pointless argument, the first in nearly two days. With Varun around, Sid felt the urge to install a factory-style safety sign: Days since last verbal spat.
“Fair enough,” Rohan said. “Your life was never on the line.”
Sid turned his head just enough to catch Varun’s smirk, as if he had scored a point. Even Rohan looked relaxed, a gentle smile on his face.
“Plus, money was never an issue for you, right?” Sid quipped without turning back.
That hit a sore spot. Varun had loaned money to all his friends at one time or another and often forgot about it entirely. It had earned him the nickname World Bank, something he despised. Sid could feel the scowl aimed at his back, burning straight through his blind spot.
“Fighting monsters lets you level up faster than training.” Pallavi’s voice came out slow and deliberate, as if she had rehearsed the thought before letting it leave her head. “It’s better if we continue. We’ll close the distance back to camp, and there’s a chance we might run into some skill crystals.”
Sid sighed as he walked. Varun’s influence on Pallavi worried him. She referred to monsters as “skill crystals” instead of threats. She saw the world as a game. It was a way to cope with violence. It made killing easier. But if she took things lightly, she would die. This was not a game. There were no resets. No second chances. Forgetting that difference could get her killed.
“Training actually sharpens your skills, not just your levels,” Varun’s tone was neutral until he decided to push. “Pure combat only increases levels. You could’ve gotten more levels if you’d learned to control your strength.”
Sid recalled their training. They used a captured goblin as a dummy. Pallavi practiced mixing Skitter Dash with Hindkick. Her style favored unarmed combat over weapons. Sid wanted to blend her footwork with a kicking skill. The combination had potential.
Pallavi ended it in one move. Her first kick crushed the goblin’s cheek and sent it flying. Sid thought she was just frustrated with training on captured monsters. But her face told a different story. She looked disappointed.
Sid agreed with Varun about controlling her strength. Pallavi had sharp instincts and solid basics. The real problem was her mindset. She had studied martial arts for revenge and protection. Her husband had been larger and stronger than she. To survive, she had learned to put everything into every strike.
Here, Pallavi was likely the strongest human around. If she ever wanted to capture enemies alive, she would need to control her strength.
Sid had a selfish reason to want her to learn control. He needed her help to level Echo Sense. He also wanted to keep his bones in one piece. She was the best fighter on the team.
“We’re not all as talented as you and Sid. Some of us don’t get skill levels out of every training session.” Rohan‘s voice carried jealousy, but more than that, it carried defeat.
Sid heard the resignation beneath the words. Rohan felt incompetent. That comparison was unfair, but understandable. Anyone would feel lacking when measured against outliers.
Rohan likely thought Varun leveled fast because his skills were common, lower-leveled. He was wrong. In just two days, Varun’s Flash Step surpassed Rohan’s Mana Web. Rohan had that skill from day one.
Skills grew through familiarity, will, and aptitude. Varun had both will and aptitude in spades. He raised Flash Step from level one, gaining deep familiarity. Rohan gained Mana Web from a crystal already at level twenty-one. The gap was inevitable.
It was no surprise that Flash Step was progressing faster.
Sid knew Rohan’s struggle well. He had felt that same sting, watching prodigies soar while he lagged despite his best efforts. As a delver who survived the Crossing and then trained by the army, Sid had once fancied himself among the country’s elite. That illusion died quickly. Encountering monsters like Tony—whose mere presence made men cower—served as a brutal wake-up call.
“It’s not about talent, but effort.” Varun stopped and reached a hand out to Rohan, stopping him in place as well. “There are skills on your status that you barely use. Look at Sid. He trains every chance he gets, whether it’s half an hour or even ten minutes. You won’t find an unused skill on his status.”
Rohan gave a noncommittal grunt and looked away. His shoulders sagged, as if acknowledging the truth without wanting to face it directly.
Varun shifted his attention to Pallavi. “And you, what’s the rush to get back to camp? It’s not like we’re in urgent need of healing.”
Pallavi glanced at Sid for a moment before turning back to Varun.
“That’s enough,” Sid said, stepping forward. He positioned himself between Varun and Pallavi without breaking stride. “We’ve already been over this. We decided as a group to go back to camp, and that’s final.”
“Fine. Fine.” Varun raised his hands in surrender as he took a step back. “I just don’t get why everyone wants to return to a camp full of people waiting to kill us.”
The argument faded, but the unease did not. Rohan had spoken to Sid earlier, voice low, almost apologetic. He had talked about the strain of constant movement, of never knowing where they would sleep, of rotating watches night after night. It was not fear that wore him down. It was attrition.
Sid had tried to reassure him. Tried to adjust expectations. In the end, all he got was a hesitant agreement to stay on as their trapper. Sid suspected the actual issue was comparison. Everyone else was growing stronger. Skills rising. Confidence sharpening. Rohan remained stuck.
That was why his refusal to use skill crystals unsettled Sid. It made no sense tactically. Until it did.
Sid suspected Rohan intended to use the crystals to earn goodwill at the camp instead. Political capital instead of personal growth. Sid understood the instinct, even if he did not agree with it.
Still, Sid knew the truth. If Rohan struggled here, he would not survive what came next. The journey to the hidden realm.
Sid wanted Rohan alive. That meant keeping him at the camp. That meant removing threats. George stood at the center of that calculation.
Pallavi had confronted Sid about it already. She had read his intent with uncomfortable accuracy. Instead of arguing, she had offered help. No judgment. No hesitation.
A sudden movement behind Varun caught Sid’s eye. His instincts screamed. Sid dropped instantly, slamming a hand down and gesturing for the others to follow.
“We have company,” he said.
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