Kage sat beside the fire, watching it dance and flicker in the cold night, his violet eyes catching the cantaloupe hue of the flames—subdued, gentle as prayer.

The white-haired cub sat next to him, exchanging glances between Kage and the flame. It would look at Kage with a curious tilt of its head, then return to the flames, then back to Kage again.

Its constant head movement drew Kage's attention.

"I wonder what I should call you."

[The Wolf of the North is very giddy. He has an idea. He says what about Bei Chen Shuang Qi]

Kage looked at the proxy's message with visible irritation.

"Bei is good."

[The Wolf of the North is dissatisfied with your naming sense]

Kage exhaled, ignoring the message and gently patting the cub's head while calling its name.

"Bei. From today forward, you will be addressed as Bei. Understand?"

The cub growled—low, rumbling like a Carrier's engine at idle—and pushed its forehead against Kage's palm, closing its eyes.

"You'd better answer to the name, or I'll have to cut your head off if you don't."

The cub shook abruptly and withdrew its head, staring at Kage with unmistakable fear.

He laughed at its reaction and ruffled its fur before turning back to the flames.

Bei hesitated several times before eventually settling into a sitting position beside him.

For a few minutes, Kage sat and watched the flames. Then he finally stood after the fire died out. He gathered all the materials he'd used to reach the second marker and dropped a cryptic message in the ashes, hoping they'd decipher it.

With that, his debt was paid. And so he pressed deeper into the forest with Bei, toward the location of the third Harmony marker—dangerously close to the Academy's major threats.

Before that, though, he had to entertain some people—if they managed to reach him in time, at least.

He traveled all night, encountering beasts which he killed easily thanks to Talia's sword.

The girl's forgery skills still had ways to go before they could compare to the Forgesmiths of Ironstorm Clan or even her own clan. But she would only get sharper from here. The fact that she was at this level at her age was staggering, although to her family, that was expected—they came from a lineage of extraordinary forgesmiths.

But her eyes and her physique would certainly reveal themselves in time. The only problem was her damn mouth that couldn't stay closed for one second.

Kage passed more campsites as he scaled across the forest, but most of them had one or two examinees keeping watch—proof enough of their competence. Of course, if anyone had survived past two days, they had to be among the best of the best. And having figured out the two harmony markers, he wasn't surprised there were examinees already approaching the Silent Groves.

But he also found some who were even more careless, and he followed the same pattern with them, pointing them toward the direction they should go.

All of it was toward a single goal. They were losing their scrolls for the greater good—according to Kage's design.

With Bei in one hand, Kage slipped through the forest, running but not too fast. His face was already roughened and dirtied by the forest itself, thin leaves tangled in his hair.

For hours, he switched between running and walking and made sure he didn't stop even while he was out of breath. Eventually, Kage came to a halt at another opening. Of course, he didn't just lunge into it.

He stayed at the entrance first. Right from when he was nearing the location, he could see claw marks on the trees, and so he was well aware that he had to be careful with what he was approaching.

Kage climbed the tree closest to the opening and spent the morning there, overlooking the stone circle of the open area and the White Ape beasts that prowled the circle of stones—massive brutes that moved like restless thoughts trapped in muscle.

He exhaled and leaned into the tree with Bei carefully cradled in his arms. This part of the tree branch wasn't wide enough to sleep on, so he maintained an uncomfortable position and sat in silence until he sensed an opportunity to strike or until he was well rested.

Kage was confident in taking down a few beasts, as long as their skins could be sliced, unlike Impures. Even the sharpest of blades couldn't pierce an Impure's skin—it had to be a Pure Armament. Even a broken one was fine. It just had to be a Pure Armament.

This fundamentally made Impures a far more dangerous threat than these wild beasts, no matter how imposing they might look.

The White Apes were larger versions of the first one Kage had stoned at the entrance of the forest. That one could be considered their lesser kindred. These were large, at least five feet tall, and far more imposing with their muscular arms and legs that both served as walking tools, like pillars forged for war. Their tails looked strong too—thick as forged iron, swaying with restrained violence.

Fighting them was certainly not going to be easy, but Kage didn't see himself losing.

He rested until a few hours had passed. At this point, the White Apes had stopped patrolling the ground and all settled into the center of the circle to sleep.

That was when Kage gently placed Bei on the tree and said to him:

"This place is not balanced. If you so much as move an inch, you're going to fall down there."

He pointed to the ground.

"Can you see down there? Yes, it's very fatal. You're going to die from a single fall. So don't move. Understand?"

[The Wolf of the North is enraged and does not approve of your parenting skills]

"How about you crawl out of your grave and do it instead?"

Kage slipped down the tree and crept toward the White Apes, stifling the sound of his steps, with his sword at the ready.

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