Howling Gorge was a deep cut in the earth, winds screaming through it like angry spirits. Wolf-kin guards patrolled the high ridges.
Echo, Leyla, and Mira observed from a hidden ledge.
His Error-Sight activated, revealing the terrain's glitches — a subterranean river flowing beneath the gorge, a weak cliff face ready to collapse.
"We can flood them out," Echo said. "Redirect the river into their camp."
Mira pointed to a natural dam upstream. "If we break that…"
Leyla studied the guard patterns. "At night. When the shift changes."
They planned until dusk. As they set up camp in a secluded hollow, Mira approached Echo.
"You're forming many bonds," she said quietly. "Leyla. Kiera. Even the village."
"Is that bad?"
"Bonds are power here. But they are also vulnerability. If one breaks…" She trailed off.
Echo understood. "I'll be careful."
She placed a hand on his arm. "See that you are."
That night, as they prepared to sabotage the dam, Echo looked up.
Silhouetted against the larger moon was a giant eagle, and on its back, a rider clad in feathered armor.
The rider looked down, directly at their hiding place, before the eagle banked and vanished into the clouds.
Leyla saw it too. Her fur bristled.
"Beast Lord's scout," she whispered.
Echo's mark on his forearm tingled.
They were being watched from higher powers now.
The trade war was just beginning.
But a larger game was unfolding — one that spanned clans, continents, and maybe even worlds.
[ Quest Updated: Secure Howling Gorge ]
[ New Quest Hinted: The Beast Lord's Gaze ]
[ Bond Points Total: 7 ]
[ Cultivation: Qi Condensation (Mid Stage) ]
Echo gripped his spear, feeling the bonds within him — Leyla's fierceness, Mira's care, Kiera's cunning — all humming like strings of a strange, powerful instrument.
He was no longer just surviving.
He was playing the game.
And he intended to win.