They moved like a pack.
Ten creatures came out from the mist in staggered formation—five sweeping to the sides, the rest driving straight through the centre. It wasn't a mindless attack. It was a hunt, and the team was their prey.
AJ's warning echoed. "Stick together. Do not let yourself get singled out."
Ethan let out a low breath, then stepped forward as the first creature closed the distance. He swung hard, and the axe met bone.
The creature's body caved slightly—but didn't stop. It twisted unnaturally, ignoring the broken ribs as it lunged again.
"Damn thing doesn't care!" Ethan barked.
Ethan slammed it with his shield, knocking it back creating an opportunity to swing again—this time aiming higher. The axe carved clean through the neck. The body twitched, and then dropped.
"Everyone focus their heads!" Sam shouted.
Lily spun low as another came at her from the flank. She ducked under a sweeping claw, surged up, and slammed a palm into its jaw.
The creature staggered, its head snapping back, AJ finished it off with a spike piercing its skull.
8 creatures left.
Walter stayed near the centre, his movements smooth. He didn't waste energy. He flowed from parry to strike, redirecting attacks and tipping enemies just enough off-balance for Ethan or Victor to land their attacks.
One of the circling beasts broke off, it was too confident, it had strayed too far. It died in silence, throat slit, spine severed. Even its corpse took some time to react before it collapsed.
Victor disappeared again, melting back into the mist.
Another beast attacked, aiming straight for Walter.
Lily intercepted it with a kick, knocking its attack off its mark. Walter stepped into the space it had left behind and drove the butt of his cane upward—straight into the creature's jaw.
It reeled, and Ethan finished it with a brutal vertical strike, splitting the skull clean down the middle.
5 down, 5 to go.
The rest hesitated—no, repositioned. They weren't retreating, they were adapting.
Two of the remaining creatures darted forward in sync—one low, one high.
Sam blocked the first with his spear, bracing hard as claws attempted to scratch at him. Lily passed beside him and drove her fist into the second creature's temple. It screeched, landing beside Ethan.
The axe would be too slow.
Ethan's foot came slamming down, crushing its neck. He stomped its head a few more times for good measure.
Blood sprayed, sticky and hot.
A blur appeared behind the farthest creature.
Victor appeared for a moment—just long enough to remove the beast's head with a single slash—and disappeared again into the mist.
The final two realised it. That they were outmatched. That they had become the hunted.
They attempted to escape, making a run for the way the had come in.
One made it five paces before Lily caught it with a sweeping strike to the knees. It hit the ground hard. She followed with a final palm to the skull. It wouldn't be standing back up any time soon.
The last turned and slammed into AJ.
He didn't spike this one. He simply hardened a single limb, drove it forward like a piston, and shattered the creature's face in a single blow. It crumpled, twitching once, then lay still.
Silence returned.
The mist curled around the bodies, dragging faint wisps of mana from the cooling flesh.
No one moved at first.
They stood in a loose formation, catching their breath, muscles tense, adrenaline still lingering like heat in their veins. But there were no more sounds. No more shifting shapes.
Lily knelt beside one of the corpses, checking it for movement. "They're done."
Without needing to be told, the team found their places again, returning to the familiar stillness of their earlier cultivation circle.
No one spoke. As they settled in, they began absorbing mana and circulating it through their bodies. Each of them had sensed it—a boundary, a wall pressing back.
But Sam felt something different.
He sat down slowly, breath calm, heartbeat already steadying.
The network he had uncovered—the invisible highways of mana threading through his body—began to hum under his focus.
They had always been there, silent and unused. Now that he had found them, he intended to make them his own.
Carefully, he pressed the energy along those dormant routes, widening and reinforcing them, carving real channels where only ghost trails had existed before.
At first, he was met with resistance. The faint paths flickered and buckled under the pressure, some fading almost entirely.
In some areas of his body he needed to create the path from scratch.
He persisted, guiding the energy with slow, deliberate force. Where the mana broke through, the channel deepened.
Where it faltered, he circled back, patiently reinforcing the weakest points until they could hold the flow.
Slowly, painfully, the highways began to take shape.
Sweat rolled down his forehead as he painstakingly stabilised each route, forcing chaotic currents back into organised flows.
An hour dragged by.
The highways grew brighter, stronger, interlinking into a foundation he could feel solidifying within him.
Now when he circulated his mana through the channels the flow didn't waver. It was smoother—more efficient. Every stream of energy fed into the next with a seamless, unbroken rhythm.
Sam realised, with a quiet certainty, that he was nearing a threshold.
Then—something shifted.
The network began to stabilise and solidify. The channels he had painstakingly nurtured hardened, becoming permanent pathways.
And then—A pulse.
Sam gritted his teeth and focused. His awareness focused inward on the network spreading through his body. Nothing else mattered. Not the mist. Not the others. Only the intricate network he had created.
The transformation was subtle at first, but Sam could feel it—like the final pieces of a puzzle clicking into place.
The mana highways, now fully formed, began to resonate with one another, their connections deepening as energy pulsed through them in harmony.
It was a natural progression, inevitable and unstoppable, as the network settled into its final form. Sam didn't fight it; he let it happen, his focus guiding the process until the network was a complete, interconnected whole.
Sam exhaled sharply as the network settled into place, humming with energy. This was his network—the symmetry, smoothness, and stability a reflection of himself.
It's done.
He exhaled in relief—only to feel the world lurch.
The mana around him twisted.
The mana around him twisted, and the air crackled with a strange energy. The mist surged, converging on his position like a thousand invisible threads pulling tight.
The atmosphere grew dense, charged with a building storm. Lightning flickered in the mist, not striking him but circling him.
Sam involuntarily hunched over as the pressure mounted. The air grew heavier, pressing down on him from all sides.
His vision blurred, and his muscles tensed as the weight of the world seemed to bear down on him.
Walter's head snapped up. "What's going on?"
Lily stood sharply, her breath catching in her throat. "The mana—it shifted."
AJ tensed, rising slightly as his form shifted. "It's converging on Sam."
Lily's eyes darted towards Sam. "Why? What's it doing?"
"Don't know," Walter said, stepping closer but being careful not to get caught up in it.
Victor stood up, eyes sharp. "His breathing's off. Look at him—something isn't right."
Sam was on his knees, shoulders trembling under an unseen force. His back hunched further with each passing second, muscles straining visibly as the pressure intensified.
Around him, the mist churned violently, twisting into a spiralling vortex. The air crackled with energy, and arcs of lightning flickered through the mist, circling him like predators.
They could all feel it now—the density in the air, the way the mana swirled unnaturally towards him, compressing the space like a vice.
The mist was no longer passive; it roiled and sparked, forming a storm that seemed to centre on Sam.
"Should we help?" Ethan asked, fists clenched but uncertain.
Walter held up a hand. "No. We don't even understand what we're seeing. If we interfere, we might make it worse."
Inside the roiling storm, Sam barely heard them.
His thoughts were fragmenting. Pain layered itself into everything. Breathing was no longer a reflex—it was an effort. Every inhale was a battle.
The pressure was evenly applied—it pushed into his joints, into the connections between muscle and bone. He could feel micro-fractures forming, tendons beginning to stretch past their limits.
It wasn't just targeting his body however, as sparks of lightning began to appear in his mana channels, flickering and crackling as they surged through him.
The lightning grew in intensity, tearing through his channels each surge leaving a trail of searing pain. The mana channels struggled to contain the raw power.
It wasn't a gentle flow but a violent storm, smashing into the walls of the channels, as if testing their durability.
Each surge felt like a hammer strike from within, threatening to shatter the carefully crafted highways.
Sam gritted his teeth, fighting to maintain control. The lightning wasn't just circulating—it was alive, seeking out weaknesses, pushing against the boundaries of his network.
He could feel the channels straining, the newly solidified paths groaning under the relentless assault.
But Sam refused to yield. He began to push back, forcing his mana to circulate throughout the network.
He focused on the damaged areas, pouring energy into the fractured channels. The mana responded, flowing through his body, reinforcing the highways and mending the cracks.
The effect was immediate. The channels, on the verge of collapse, began to stabilise. The lightning continued to rage, but the network held firm, its structure growing stronger with each passing moment.
Sam's breath steadied slightly, his body finding a rhythm in the chaos.
At the same time, the mana circulating through his body was also sent to his muscles, joints, and bones.
The highways speeding up the process, their quicker and more efficient circulation allowing the energy to reach every corner of his body.
He gasped.
The pain didn't vanish. But it was decreasing as time passed. His body was being given the strength to withstand it.
Five minutes passed. Then ten.
They watched silently. The mist had stilled, taking the form of dome that none of them dared approach.
"What's happening to him?" Ethan asked, voice low.
"He's enduring something," Walter said. "It's very intense by the looks of it."
Sam's body had stopped shaking.
Not because the pressure eased.
But because he was adapting.
Bones that had begun to fracture stopped. Muscles that were being torn were now reinforced, holding firm under the weight.
He felt it, foundation.
He wasn't being crushed.
He was being forged.
After roughly 20 minutes the pressure eased.
Not all at once, but gradually—the storm was winding down. The crushing weight lifted in stages, his body trembling slightly as the weight lessened, his muscles slowly relaxed as the mana settled into a steady, humming rhythm.
He slumped back, into a sitting position.
His body was drenched in sweat. Every breath came ragged and slow, each inhale pulling air into lungs that felt too small for the task.
His entire body felt different.
Not larger, not stronger in a visible way—but denser. Tempered.
Like heat-forged steel, cooled and set.
"…You good?" Ethan asked, cautiously.
Sam nodded once. "Yeah. I think so. I'm going to need a good minute to understand what happened. I'll explain everything later, don't worry."
He readjusted, getting more comfortable, legs folding beneath him. His breath began to steady. The pain hadn't vanished, but it had settled into something manageable, it was like background noise.
Sam spent a while in quiet reflection, meticulously going over the process. His network of mana highways was greatly improved.
He had a subtle feeling that this was the foundation that would allow him to reach for the stars.
Sam opened his eyes an hour later, he gathered everyone around the green campfire.
"What the hell happened?" Lily asked. "You looked like you were being crushed."
"I think… I just broke through."