Spatial rings let you store items inside — like a private space you could open and close whenever you wanted. No weight. No need for bags. Even fragile items stayed protected inside, untouched by time or decay...
At least that's what he'd heard.
According to his knowledge you could carry entire rooms worth of supplies on one finger. Depending on the quality of the ring of course.
Riven frowned. "They clearly used it... Otherwise there wouldn't be nothing on them."
Yue Lin nodded. "Exactly. That's what doesn't make sense."
A beat of silence passed between them, the forest oddly still.
Yue Lin lowered her hand, staring at the ring now nestled on her finger. "Unless the Knight's Order has ways to open them without spiritual sense…"
Riven looked toward the fallen noble girl, a trace of the scorched chain line still glowing faintly across the dirt. It hadn't faded yet. The image of her splitting in half felt burned into his mind. Suddenly the mystery of the spatial ring didn't seem that important anymore.
"Let's find a place to take a break first." he said quietly.
Yue Lin didn't argue.
But her eyes lingered once more on the ring.
And the body it came from.
Then she moved again, crouching beside the maid's body. Her hands moved carefully, almost respectfully, adjusting the limbs, checking pockets one last time for anything Riven might've missed. There was nothing.
Then she looked toward Riven. "I'm going to store them."
He blinked. "You… want to keep the bodies?"
She didn't answer for a moment. Then: "They were strong enough to be in here. And if the Knight's Order gave her a spatial ring, then the Order thought she was worth it."
There wasn't any malice in her tone. Just practicality. The same cold practicality she'd shown with the bandits, the corpses at the entrance, and even the stag earlier.
Riven nodded stiffly and took a step back, giving her room.
Yue Lin didn't hesitate.
She moved like someone who had done this a hundred times. Calm. Measured. Not cold exactly, but detached in a way Riven still wasn't used to.
She pulled a talisman from inside her sleeve — the same one as before, worn smooth from long use , bone-white with fine, hair-thin runes inscribed in looping circles. It pulsed faintly in her fingers, responding to her qi.
She started with the maid.
The charm hovered just over her chest, and then — light. A whisper of pale shimmer swept over the corpse, wrapping it like mist. A heartbeat later, the body flickered and collapsed inward, vanishing into the charm's surface like dust drawn into wind, leaving just a some torn clothes behind.
One down.
She repeated the process on the noble girl, careful not to look too long at the line still marking where the chain had cut.
Riven watched quietly from a short distance, arms loosely crossed.
He didn't like it.
Didn't hate it either.
It was just strange, watching someone handle death like this — not with grief or reverence, but as a resource. Like a tool you filed away when you were done using it.
Then again, that was Yue Lin.
And while he knew basically nothing about her past, he had a feeling, that this might be why she was still alive.
But even so.
He just really prefered the warm Yue Lin, smiling with a little blush while tucking her hair behind her ear and talking about how she'd wanted to wear a dress for once.
Once she finished, Yue Lin returned to him, the talisman dim now, resting against her palm.
"That's that," she said.
But her voice was a little softer than usual.
"Let's move then. We still need to find a place to rest." He started.
Yue Lin nodded once.
They turned together, stepping away from the clearing, past the crumpled stag and its half-carved flank.
Yue Lin paused. "Almost forgot."
She stepped back toward the stag's body, wiping her blade clean on a patch of grass before crouching beside its flank. With practiced precision, she drove her knife in just above the hind leg, slicing through muscle and tendon. The beast's flesh, still faintly warm, parted cleanly under her hand.
Riven stayed nearby, realizing they'd almost missed out on good food as he watched her work.
There was no waste in her movement. She carved meat like someone who had done it far too many times, fast and efficient.
Once she'd separated a decent portion, she glanced at the bodies of the girls they'd left behind — or rather, the scraps of clothing that hadn't been taken by the talisman.
She walked over, tore a clean strip from one of the fallen robes, and used it to wrap the meat, tying it tightly into a makeshift bundle.
"Still better than trying to carry this by hand," she muttered.
Then, as she cut a bit more into the stag's chest, her brow furrowed.
"…Wait."
Riven tilted his head. "What is it?"
Yue Lin dug a little deeper, then pulled something out with both hands — cradled like a fragile egg. A sphere, smooth and warm, pulsing faintly in the dim light.
A beast core.
But not in its usual elemental colour.
Instead of the watery blue or green of water or wind elemental cores, this one shimmered with copper threads — gold at the center, like a heart still glowing.
Yue Lin stared at it. "This color… I've never seen this before."
She turned, extending it toward Riven. "Here."
He touched it — and something clicked.
A steady, echoing beat — like his own heartbeat caught in someone else's chest. His fingers curled around the core before he realized it, breath halting.
It was warm. Not just in temperature. Alive. Like the gold at its center wasn't just color — but light. Moving. Breathing. Calling.
Riven's eyes widened.
He knew this feeling.
But no — he didn't.
This wasn't like the Water core, where something subtle had stirred within him.
This wasn't like Wind, where a thread had pulled at him lightly.
This wasn't a thread.
This was a root.
Deep and fixed. The moment he touched it, it recognized him. Like it had been waiting.
"…I want this," he said.
His voice was quiet. But absolute.
Yue Lin blinked, surprised. But she didn't hesitate. "Sure."
A small smilke came to his lips.
For a moment, he even forgot where he was and how tired he was.
This must be what Senior Brother Vaern had meant...
Not the small pull from the wind or water cores.
But this feeling of belonging.
Like he met a different part of himself.
His hand wrapped around the core before securely storing it in his robes.
They didn't linger much longer.
The stag's blood was still fresh in the air, and while no new beasts had come sniffing yet, neither of them wanted to test their luck.
They walked in silence for a while, deeper into the forest, until the trees grew denser again and the canopy thickened enough to dim the sun.
In the distance they could hear water, from what sounded like a river.
But before they could reach it, they found something else.
A cave appeared just behind a cluster of gnarled roots — half-hidden, narrow, but deep enough to shelter them for the night.
Riven was the first to duck inside, his eyes adjusting quickly as he scanned everything. "Looks good enough."
Yue Lin followed behind, but paused at the entrance, then said quietly, "Back in the fight… you hesitated."
He blinked, looking over. "What?"
"You froze. For a moment. When she got hit."
Riven was quiet for a beat too long.
Then: "Sorry. I was… just tired."
Yue Lin stared at him a second longer, her brows slightly furrowed. But she let it go. "Fine. Then you should rest first."
"No—" he said quickly. "Actually… can you take first watch?"
She blinked. "Didn't you just say—?"
"I know. I just…" He exhaled. "I want to try something. That core… I think it'll help. A lot."
There was a beat of silence.
Then she rolled her eyes. "You're like a kid with a new toy."
But her voice was softer now. Curious, not annoyed.
"Fine. I'll take first."
"Thanks."
Riven sat down cross-legged against the back wall of the cave.
He pulled the golden core from his robe.
It gleamed faintly in the low light, warm against his palm.