The basin held its silence like a sealed jar.
Sam knelt beside the dead log, palms pressed into damp soil, and tried to slow his breathing. The raid was over. The corridor had closed. The wind hunter had retreated back into the deeper Rewilded line like it had never existed.
But Sam could still feel the consequences moving, even from here.
Fear did not vanish when danger passed. It simply changed direction.
He stared at the pale mushroom caps, small and motionless, and listened for the network.
"What happens now?" he asked.
The answer came immediately, layered and calm.
"They return to the nest carrying failure," the network said. "Failure becomes hunger. Hunger becomes blame."
Sam's jaw tightened.
"Kellan will look for an enemy," Sam said.
"Yes."
"And the camp will turn inward."
"Yes."
Sam exhaled slowly. His head still throbbed from the strain of controlling the thrall under flickering firelight. His chest felt hollow, as if he had spent something inside himself that he could not replace with food.
The system chimed softly, then again, sharper.
[ ATTRIBUTE BREAKTHROUGH ]
[ Will strained to limit ]
[ Will +1 ]
Sam froze.
He had expected pain, not reward. But as the prompt faded, he felt it physically. A subtle tightening behind his ribs, like a band being pulled into place. His mind felt steadier. Less frayed at the edges.
He swallowed. "So that is how it works."
Nyx's presence stirred faintly behind his thoughts, cold and approving. She did not speak, but Sam felt the confirmation.
He had broken past a threshold.
The system chimed again.
[ OBJECTIVE COMPLETE ]
[ Prevent the raid ]
[ Reward: Processing ]
Sam's stomach tightened. He did not like uncertainty when the camp was about to become a knife pit.
"Process faster," he muttered under his breath.
The network replied before the system did.
"Your structure is impatient," it said. "Impatience is useful when it does not become recklessness."
Sam ignored the commentary. He focused. He forced his mind into the quiet place he had learned to find in the rubble years ago, where fear became information instead of panic.
The system responded.
[ REWARD GRANTED ]
[ Level Up ]
[ Level: 2 ]
[ Stat Points Available: 1 ]
Sam exhaled once, sharp.
A level.
That meant choice.
He opened his status without moving his hands.
[ STATUS ]
[ Name: Sam ]
[ Level: 2 ]
[ Class: Unassigned ]
[ Soul Element: Unawakened ]
[ Strength: 1 ]
[ Agility: 1 ]
[ Endurance: 1 ]
[ Perception: 1 ]
[ Will: 2 ]
[ Stat Points: 1 ]
[ Abilities: Shadow Communication (Novice), Shadowbound Thrall (Novice) ]
Sam stared at the numbers.
He could feel the difference already. Will at two was not power. It was not dominance. It was simply the ability to hold on longer before slipping.
In the world he lived in, that mattered more than strength.
But there was something else in the reward line that had not appeared yet. The system usually did not give only a level for an objective like that, not when it had nearly killed him.
He waited.
The chime came again, and this one carried weight.
[ SKILL UNLOCK AVAILABLE ]
[ Condition met: Maintain cover under threat ]
[ Bloodline response: Adaptive concealment ]
Sam's skin prickled. "A new skill."
The network's attention sharpened.
"Your shadow learns," it said. "It remembers what almost exposed you."
Sam remembered the moment Kellan had hit the ground, the firelight flaring, shadows thinning, his control straining under brightness and chaos. He remembered how close he had come to being seen.
He did not need more offense right now.
He needed to stay alive inside the camp.
He needed concealment.
"Accept," Sam said.
The basin's underground glow pulsed once, faint and blue, like a heartbeat answering.
The system confirmed.
[ SKILL UNLOCKED ]
[ Umbral Veil (Novice) ]
[ Effect: Cloak presence within shadow, reduce sound and signature ]
[ Limitation: Requires shadow coverage ]
[ Warning: Moving fast increases drain ]
Sam's breath caught.
A cloak.
Not invisibility. Not a cheat. A veil that worked where shadows existed, which in this world was almost everywhere that mattered.
He could use it to cross the camp unnoticed. He could use it to slip into meetings and listen through shadows. He could use it to reach the fence hole even if they doubled the guards.
Sam clenched his fist, then forced it to relax.
The system chimed one more time, quieter.
[ Stat Points Available: 1 ]
[ Allocate now ]
Sam's gaze moved over the stats.
Strength would help later. Agility too. Endurance would keep him alive when hunger and cold tried to finish what his father had started. Perception would sharpen Shadow Communication, widen his awareness.
But Will directly increased the ceiling on what he could control. Thralls. Skills. Veil duration. Resistance to strain.
He did not have time to build a balanced foundation. He needed leverage.
Sam made his decision.
"Will," he whispered.
[ STAT ALLOCATION CONFIRMED ]
[ Will +1 ]
[ Will: 3 ]
[ Stat Points: 0 ]
For a moment, Sam felt his mind settle further, like a storm passing beyond the horizon. The world did not become kinder. His problems did not shrink.
But he felt more capable of carrying them without breaking.
He lifted his eyes to the mushroom caps again.
"I need rules," he said. "You said you could guard this place if I build them."
The network's response came slowly, as if it had been waiting for him to ask the right way.
"This node must have boundaries," it said. "Not fences. Agreements. Signals."
Sam frowned. "Explain."
"We can mark you as permitted," the network said. "We can mark others as trespass."
Sam's stomach tightened. "Meaning what happens to trespassers."
A pause.
"Warnings first," the network said. "Then deterrence. Then denial."
Denial. The scout's torn throat flashed in Sam's mind.
"Fine," Sam said. "Mark me. Mark this place as mine."
The glow beneath the soil brightened, then dimmed, like a pulse traveling outward through hidden threads.
Sam felt it inside his chest, a faint pressure spreading under his skin, not painful, but invasive in the way a new organ might be.
A system prompt appeared.
[ SANCTUM LINK ESTABLISHED ]
[ Location: Mycelial Node 07 ]
[ Status: Authorized ]
[ Note: Sanctuary effects active within boundary ]
Sam stared at the words.
"Mycelial Node 07," he repeated quietly.
The network replied with faint amusement.
"You do not understand how many mouths we have," it said.
Sam stood slowly. His legs still felt weak, but his mind was clear.
"I need to go back," he said. "Before they notice I was gone."
The network's voice flattened.
"They will notice," it said. "The question is whether they can prove."
Sam's jaw tightened.
He turned away from the dead log and started toward the tree line.
Halfway up the ridge, he stopped and looked back at the basin one last time.
It looked the same as it always had. Dead. Quiet. Empty.
A perfect lie.
Sam swallowed and moved into the trees.
The walk back to the fence took less time than it should have, not because he moved faster, but because he moved smarter. He stayed under canopy. He avoided open ground. He let his shadow stretch ahead like a scout.
When the fence lights became visible through the branches, Sam slowed.
Something had changed.
More light.
More movement.
He crouched behind a half-collapsed wall and watched.
Two extra guards paced the fence line now. Their rifles were up, not slung. Their posture was alert, not bored.
Near the gate section, a small group clustered around Kellan.
Sam's eyes narrowed.
Kellan's left sleeve was scorched. His knuckles were raw. His jaw worked like he was chewing anger.
Someone held a lantern close while another spoke quickly, gesturing toward the trees.
Sam could not hear the words.
But he did not need to.
He reached into the shadows.
The nearest guard's shadow answered with a flare of agitation.
"Something out there. Beast. Wind cut. Dead man moved. Kellan says it was a sign. Kellan says we were tested."
Sam's stomach tightened.
Dead man moved.
So Kellan had told them.
He was turning fear into propaganda. Turning failure into myth. That would rally the camp, not fracture it.
It also meant the camp would become more paranoid, not less.
Sam's pulse quickened. He needed to get inside without being seen. If the hole had been checked, he was trapped outside. If the gate guards noticed him returning from the forest, he was done.
He did not hesitate.
Sam dropped lower into the shadows and activated his new skill.
"Umbral Veil."
The world did not vanish. He did not turn invisible. Instead, it felt like the air around him thickened, muffling his presence. Sound dulled. His outline seemed less certain, not to his own eyes, but to the sense he had of being perceived.
The shadows accepted him.
[ Umbral Veil: Active ]
[ Drain: Low ]
Sam moved.
He crossed the last stretch of open ground in a low sprint, hugging the fence line where the floodlights cast sharper shadows along the base. He reached the hole and slipped down into the dirt.
Wire scraped his shoulder. He ignored it.
He slid through.
On the inside, he stayed prone for a moment, listening for any shout, any movement, any sudden footsteps.
Nothing.
The veil held.
He crawled away from the hole and rose only when he was behind a stack of crates.
The camp was awake now in the way it only became awake after blood. People moved with urgency. Fires burned higher. Tools clinked. Someone was reinforcing the gate with a welded brace.
Sam's Veil drained faster as he moved through stronger light. He stayed close to tent shadows, slipping from one patch of darkness to the next.
He reached the outer edge of the central hall and paused.
A shout cracked the air.
"Kellan wants everyone."
Sam's stomach tightened.
A camp-wide gathering meant an announcement. A narrative. A direction for the anger.
He did not have time to avoid it.
If he missed the meeting, it would be noticed.
Sam let the Veil fade before anyone could see a distortion.
[ Umbral Veil: Inactive ]
He straightened, pulled his hood back, and walked toward the crowd like he belonged.
Because he did.
At least on the surface.
People gathered in a loose ring around Kellan. Torches burned, throwing light up into faces and casting long shadows behind everyone. Those shadows overlapped, merged, and shifted, turning the ground into a map of hidden thoughts.
Sam stepped into the edge of the crowd and listened through shadow.
Kellan raised his hands.
"We were attacked," Kellan said, voice carrying. "Not by a settlement. Not by a human."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Kellan continued, louder.
"We were tested by the wild."
A wave of agreement moved through people who wanted meaning more than they wanted truth.
Kellan's eyes swept the crowd, sharp and searching.
"We lost good people," he said. "We will honour them. But we will not retreat from what is right."
Sam's shadow reached toward Kellan's shadow, careful and light.
He felt rage. He felt fear. He felt something else under it, a deep irritation that his control had been challenged.
Then Kellan said the words Sam had been dreading.
"Someone brought the wild close," Kellan said. "This was not chance. This was not a random beast wandering near our path."
The murmurs shifted tone.
Kellan pointed toward the trees.
"I saw it," he said. "A dead man moved. A corpse stood up in the dark."
The crowd stiffened.
Some faces twisted in disgust. Others in fear. A few in awe.
Kellan's voice hardened.
"That is not nature," he said. "That is corruption. That is interference."
Sam's stomach sank.
Kellan was close enough to the truth to be dangerous, but not close enough to point at Sam.
Yet.
Kellan lifted his chin.
"We will cleanse the east another time," he said. "Not today. Today we cleanse ourselves."
Sam felt cold spread through his ribs.
Internal purge.
Kellan's eyes swept again, slow and deliberate.
"Double the perimeter," Kellan snapped. "Check the fence line. Check the holes. Check every route in and out."
Sam kept his face neutral.
But inside, his mind moved fast.
They would find the hole.
Not tonight. But soon.
Kellan raised a hand for silence.
"No one leaves camp without escort," he said. "No one moves alone after dark. Anyone caught outside the perimeter will be treated as compromised."
Compromised. Not suspicious. Not questioned.
Compromised meant killed.
Sam's fingers curled slightly at his side, then relaxed.
He could feel Nyx behind him like a cold breath.
He could feel the network's quiet far beyond the fence, patient and watching.
Kellan spoke again, voice low and sharp.
"And we begin an inventory," he said. "We count our supplies. We count our weapons. We count our people."
Sam's stomach tightened.
Count our people.
That meant headcounts. That meant noticing patterns. That meant noticing him missing if anyone had tracked him.
Kellan's final words hit like a hammer.
"If the wild is closer than we thought," he said, "then someone led it."
The crowd murmured again, and this time the sound was hungry.
Sam listened to the shadows around him and felt it.
Suspicion.
Not aimed at him yet.
But waking.
Like an animal lifting its head.
Sam forced his breathing to stay even as he backed away from the crowd and slipped toward his shelter.
He kept his pace calm. He kept his shoulders loose.
He acted like a loyal believer returning to his tent after a frightening speech.
Inside, his tent was exactly as he left it.
Except for one thing.
A small object sat in the center of his sleeping mat.
A strip of cloth.
His cloth.
The piece his shirt had torn on the fence nail.
Sam's blood turned cold.
Someone had found it.
His eyes went to the tent flap.
A shadow crossed it.
Not a guard passing by.
Someone standing still.
Watching.
The system chimed softly in his mind.
[ NEW OBJECTIVE ]
[ Survive the purge ]
[ Condition: Maintain cover ]
[ Reward: Unknown ]
Sam did not move.
He did not reach for a weapon.
He only listened to the shadow outside his tent.
And waited for the knock.
[ STATUS ]
[ Name: Sam ]
[ Level: 2 ]
[ Primary Bloodline: Abyssal Shadow ]
[ Additional Bloodline Signatures: Detected ]
[ Bloodline Status: Access Restricted ]
[ Class: Unassigned ]
[ Soul Element: Unawakened ]
[ Strength: 1 ]
[ Agility: 1 ]
[ Endurance: 1 ]
[ Perception: 1 ]
[ Will: 3 ]
[ Stat Points: 0 ]
[ Abilities: Shadow Communication (Novice), Shadowbound Thrall (Novice), Umbral Veil (Novice) ]
[ ATTRIBUTE BREAKTHROUGH ]
[ Will strained to limit ]
[ Will: 1 -> 2 ]
[ LEVEL UP ]
[ Level: 1 -> 2 ]
[ Stat Points Available: 1 ]
[ SKILL UNLOCKED ]
[ Umbral Veil (Novice) ]
[ STAT ALLOCATION CONFIRMED ]
[ Will: 2 -> 3 ]
[ Stat Points: 1 -> 0 ]
[ SANCTUM LINK ESTABLISHED ]
[ Location: Mycelial Node 07 ]
[ Status: Authorized ]