Chapter 4: The Wild Hunt
The pre-dawn air was a biting thing, sharp and cold against Leo's face. The forest floor was a mosaic of fallen, dry leaves, each one making a loud crunch under his worn leather boots. Kael, a young man with a cocky swagger and a perpetually annoyed expression, moved with the silent grace of a ghost. He was the barony's best scout, a hunter who moved as if the forest was an extension of his own body. He was also a skeptic.
"You really think a lord can keep up with me?" Kael had asked, a sneer on his face when Leo had accepted his challenge. "You'll be more a liability than a help."
Leo had simply looked at him. "I'm a project manager, not a liability. I'm here to find a sustainable food source. If you're the best scout, you're my best resource."
Kael had simply scoffed, a look of profound disbelief on his face, and had set a breakneck pace.
The forest was a somber place, overgrown and silent. It was a testament to the lack of successful hunts. Kael moved with a familiar rhythm, his eyes scanning for tracks, for signs of game. He gestured to a high branch, a dark, gnarled thing that hung over a ravine.
"The devil's perch," he said, his voice low. "No one ever climbs there. It's too high, too dangerous. An old hunter's superstition."
Leo, however, was seeing something else. His project manager's eye saw the forest not as a chaotic mess, but as a system. A system of interconnected paths, of resources, of opportunities. He noted the way the wind moved through the trees, the subtle shift in the air pressure, the faint scent of damp earth near a mossy rock. His new body felt stronger, more aware. His senses, honed by his new life, were picking up on details Kael's training had made him overlook.
Kael stopped suddenly, looking at a set of faint tracks on the ground. "A wild boar," he whispered, his eyes narrowing. "Fresh. We can corner it."
He took off at a run, his movements a blur of speed and agility. Leo, despite his newfound energy, struggled to keep up, his boots slipping on the leaves. He was falling behind, becoming exactly the liability Kael had predicted.
A silent, internal hum, the familiar voice of the MoS, flared in his mind.
[ SYSTEM: NEW FEATURE ACTIVATED: SKILL BORROWING. POTENTIAL TARGET: KAEL. SKILL: QUICK STEP. SP COST: 5/MIN. ]
Leo didn't hesitate. He knew what he had to do. He focused on Kael, on the skill, on the need for speed. The silent transaction was complete. A surge of kinetic energy, a deep hum in his muscles, a new, profound understanding of how to move through the forest. He could feel the ground, the texture of the leaves, the subtle inclines and dips of the earth. His body felt lighter, his movements more fluid.
He took off, his feet moving with a silent, unnatural speed. He wasn't running so much as gliding, his feet barely touching the ground. He caught up to Kael in seconds, passing him with a silent, graceful blur.
Kael stopped, staring in dumbfounded awe. He had never seen anyone move like that. Elian, the defeated lord, was a blur of motion, silent and deadly. Kael's jaw dropped.
"What in the...?" he muttered, staring at Leo's disappearing back.
Leo, his mind now a mix of his own pragmatism and Kael's borrowed instincts, saw something else. He saw a faint, bio-luminescent glow in the shadows under a thorny bush, a soft light that would have been invisible to the naked eye. But his senses were amplified, his sight enhanced by the borrowed skill. He remembered his old life, a passing interest he'd had in mycology, the study of mushrooms. He knew what this was. A rare, edible mushroom.
He stopped, pulling back the thorny bush, and revealed a patch of glowing, beautiful fungi. The light, a soft, ethereal blue, pulsed faintly in the gloom. Kael, who had finally caught up, stared at the sight, his eyes wide.
"Mushrooms? My lord, they are poisonous," he said, his voice still a mix of awe and disbelief.
"Not these," Leo said, kneeling. "These are... life-givers. They grow only in places where the soil has a unique composition. They're rich in nutrients. They're a long-term solution."
He began to pull them from the ground, the fungi soft to the touch.
Kael's skepticism turned to a quiet, grudging respect. He had hunted this forest his whole life, and he had never, ever seen this. He realized Leo wasn't just a lord who had changed; he was a different kind of leader. A man who could see things he couldn't.
Later, they walked back to the village, Kael carrying a basket overflowing with the glowing mushrooms. The boar they had been tracking was forgotten. Kael's usual cocky swagger was gone, replaced by a quiet, thoughtful expression. He looked at Leo, then at a notification that only Leo could see, a faint, translucent blue in the air before them.
[ SYSTEM: STRATEGIC FORAGING CONFIRMED. SP GAINED: 20. ]
"What is this man?" Kael wondered silently.
He had seen a lord who was not a man of titles, but of solutions. He wasn't a hunter, but he had found more food than a lifetime of hunting. He wasn't a warrior, but he had moved with a silent, deadly grace. He had a new respect for his new lord. A respect that was, in its own way, a kind of faith. He would follow Leo, not out of duty, but out of a growing sense of wonder and curiosity. He had no idea what was next, but he had a feeling that his life was about to become a lot more interesting.
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