Chapter 386: Chapter 386 - Taming Misconceptions In the joint Goldcrest-Yino camp... The abyssal soldier clearly remembered what had happened during transport. The flyer who had been carrying the wounded tracker alongside him had developed small golden marks on his neck and arms, spores spreading slowly from the points of contact like a creeping infection. "That’s when I realized," he explained to the Yino officer taking his report. "My arm had completely recovered after the first contact with the infected. The abyssal energy had burned away the spores, but shortly after it had recovered, I suppose thanks to the abyssal mana core being in the center of our torso..." The officer, a middle-aged man, took notes meticulously. "So you decided to use more energy from your beast once your arm ’healed’ to help your companion." "Exactly. I touched the infected areas with the recovered abyssal energy in my hands, and the golden marks vanished." The soldier demonstrated the motion, though his hands remained clean now. "Like washing away dirt." "Pain?" "For me, yes. Significant burning sensation. For him, barely discomfort. But it worked." The soldier’s voice carried the matter-of-fact tone of someone reporting successful field medicine. "The first sick soldier looked worse, so I decided to channel from both arms this time, and the infection retreated considerably too." The officer observed the original tracker, now stabilized but still unconscious on a nearby cot. His body showed the effects of the spores’ energy absorption: pale skin that looked almost translucent, labored breathing that rattled slightly in his chest and general weakness that left him looking decades older than his years. "And is there any analysis of these... creatures?" A beast specialist, sent specifically from Yino’s central city, approached with a collection of carefully contained samples. Each vial glowed faintly with golden light. "They’re completely unknown," he reported, setting down his collection with care. "They don’t appear in any of our species catalogs. Their behavior is aggressively parasitic, so far they only seem negatively affected when confronted with our abyssal energy specifically." His tone carried the mood of a scholar encountering something that challenged fundamental assumptions about the natural order. "Origin?" "Impossible to determine without more information. We could be seeing a new species that evolved naturally, or something..." He paused, considering his words carefully. "Ancient." The specialist showed one of the samples under a mana crystal amplifier. Under some magnification, the golden substance revealed a bit of what seemed like complex internal structures. "Their life cycle appears simple. They feed on almost any energy source, reproduce rapidly in the presence of infected bodies or crystals, and apparently can form larger, organized structures." "Recommendations?" "Avoid direct contact unless you have access to abundant abyssal energy for neutralization. And report any sightings of these golden structures immediately." The specialist’s voice carried the weight of someone who understood what this biological threat could accomplish. "We’re dealing with something that could potentially spread beyond our ability to contain." The officer closed his notes with a decisive snap. "I’ll prepare the report for transmission to our capital. Priority classification: urgent." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞 ♢♢♢♢ In Kassian’s room... Kassian read the complete report about the incident with the golden spores that Kharzan had provided him regarding the "possible cause" of what he had witnessed at the academy. His eyes stopped at the description of the "boy with mushroom-type beast" they had been pursuing during the discovery. He leaned back in his chair, the leather creaking softly as he recalled his own observation of the boy at the academy. The purifying light ray he had witnessed, the way it had cleansed Klein’s abyssal corruption with an ease that had seemed impossible at the time. The memory was crystal clear: the flash of light, Klein surprised as the purple energy faded, the boy’s casual dismissal of what should have been a miraculous feat. "I see," he murmured to himself. At that moment, he had thought he was witnessing something unique, a special ability that could change the balance of power against them. Something that required possibly even desperate measures. But now, reading about these anti-abyssal spores and the fact that the boy had a mushroom-type beast... "Maybe it wasn’t so mystical after all." The connection seemed obvious in retrospect. A boy with a mushroom beast that happened to be naturally resistant or even effective against abyssal energy. But not a special ability developed by the boy himself, only simple biological compatibility with a creature from his home region. "How many times do we see what we want to see instead of what’s really there?" he asked himself. He had been so desperate to find a bigger threat that he had elevated a lucky child to the category of mystical prodigy. The human mind’s tendency to create patterns, to assign significance where none existed, had led him astray. Even going so far as to think of attributing the revolutionary cultivation methods for the poor masses to him, methods that Selphira and the royal family had surely been keeping secret for a long time... The reality was probably much more mundane. The boy had a beast that, by coincidence, had gained a weird light skill, effective against low-level abyssal corruption. Useful, certainly, but not the secret weapon he had imagined. "The cultivation methods, a supposed genius..." Kassian shook his head, feeling the weight of his own misperceptions. "Propaganda. Exaggeration to create a mythical figure." He stored the report in a drawer, his priority level for the matter considerably reduced. There were more important threats to pursue than fantasies about child prodigies. Though, he thought as he closed the drawer, perhaps it would be worth keeping an eye on the development of these new mushroom species. If someone else learned to use them differently, that would be a real threat worth preventing. Fortunately, they were in his territory. But the boy himself... probably just a pawn in a much larger game. The purple threads in Kassian’s hands moved rapidly again, weaving patterns of influence and manipulation. ♢♢♢♢ Flying low over a patch of trees... Wei knew quite well the noble alliances of most of his students, as he had always been someone concerned with his image... perhaps too much, which had led to his stumble with Ren. For years he had memorized every detail of the noble alliances surrounding his students. Academic politics required such knowledge, who could be offended, who could be leveraged, who held power behind seemingly innocent facades... And who didn’t. But today it would serve him... His relentless absorption of official records, which in the past had seemed like the highest priority as a teacher, now didn’t seem so important, but at least he could extract utility from it. He knew not just alliances, but also enmities. And if he could fly to the Blackwood camp, he would find the Strahlfang’s rival. The rivalry for being the Goldcrests’ right hand was only a few decades old, but it was quite intense. Two proud families, both believing they deserved primacy, both willing to go to considerable lengths to undermine the other. Wei landed his manticore in a wooded hollow two kilometers from the Blackwood camp. It was already morning, and a huge Silver 2 manticore would be impossible to hide in daylight, so he would have to continue on foot. What he needed was to create ’evidence’ that the Blackwoods were celebrating the death of the Strahlfang heir. The plan was crude but effective: plant evidence of celebration, let it be discovered, and watch the rival families tear each other apart while Ren’s parents escaped in the chaos. Wei moved through the forest with surprising stealth. He approached the area where it seemed the morning patrols would attend to their solitary needs. He didn’t have to wait long. A Blackwood guard moved away from the camp perimeter, clearly heading toward a cluster of bushes to attend to natural necessities. He was a robust young man, probably a new recruit based on his nervous glances around the area. Wei waited until the man was in the most vulnerable position, then moved silently from behind. The guard never saw what hit him.