Riven sat cross legged at the back of the cave, the golden beast core now resting in his lap.
Yue Lin stood near the entrance, one hand on the cave wall, eyes scanning the dark forest beyond. They still didn't know much about this side of the forest and couldn't be too cautious.
Meanwhile Riven looked at the core a little more closely now.
It looked just like the elemental cores he'd handled before. But with veins of muted copper spiraling beneath its surface, all converging toward a radiant gold center that pulsed faintly.
Like a heart.
Or a gate.
He slowly withdrew a needle from his belt.
Steady fingers. No hesitation.
The needle pressed against the surface.
For a fraction of a second, it resisted — not hard like stone, but dense. Then it gave with a soft, crystalline crack.
Fissures spread outward in delicate lines. The golden center brightened.
A kind of golden mist emerged, bleeding out slowly. It was like a shimmer in the air itself, distorting the space just above the fractured core.
Riven raised his palm over it.
Closed his eyes.
The essence rose.
Not drifting.
Not hesitant.
It moved straight into him.
The moment it touched his skin, his breath hitched.
There was no cold like water from the water beast core.
And no cutting current like wind from the wind beast core.
Instead there was… depth.
A pressure that wasn't heavy, but vast. As if something immeasurable had unfolded inside his chest, stretching without moving.
His blood vision snapped into place.
The hazy red field returned — blood cells drifting in slow constellations. The silver and gold flecks gleamed faintly among them.
Then the golden essence entered.
It wrapped around the cells with a speed unlike any of the cores he'd used before.
Threads of gold extended — thin at first, then thicker, transforming and connecting scattered points across his blood like lines drawn across a map.
Riven's pulse quickened.
Layer by layer, cell by cell, the gold spread — not staining everything, but expanding its territory with quiet certainty.
From the previous five point three percent coverage it started climbing.
Five point four.
Five point five.
The numbers climbed in his mind as he watched.
Five point seven.
Five point nine.
Then—
Six.
But it still didn't stop.
Six point one.
Six point two.
Six point three.
A whole percent.
Riven's breathing faltered.
The transformation finally stopped after transforming a full one percent into golden flecks.
This didn't feel like borrowing power.
It felt like reclaiming something that had been misplaced.
The fractured core below him dimmed rapidly, its glow collapsing inward before crumbling into fine golden dust.
Gone.
Inside him, the gold steadied, now substantially bigger than the silver flecks.
He could feel it even without blood vision — a subtle awareness beneath his skin, like the air around him had grown slightly more… responsive.
Riven slowly opened his eyes.
The cave looked the same.
Stone walls. Dim light. Yue Lin's silhouette near the entrance.
But for the briefest flicker—
The space between him and the cave wall seemed thinner.
Not closer.
Just… less absolute.
The sensation faded as quickly as it came.
Riven flexed his fingers.
Warm.
Grounded.
Whole.
And somewhere deep inside his chest, something ancient and silent had stirred — before it quicly disappeared again.
He lowered his gaze to the find golden dust on his lap.
His fingers brushed through it absently, the particles clinging faintly to his skin like static. Even broken down, it felt… potent. As if the essence still lingered, unwilling to fully dissipate.
He smiled faintly.
This must've been what Vaern meant.
That feeling — not just of raw energy, but of something shifting deeper inside. Of progress that wasn't theoretical or symbolic, but real.
Tangible.
Not like the water or wind cores.
Those had been crumbs. A taste. Barely enough to notice unless he was actively looking.
But this?
This had moved him forward by an entire step. Clean. Clear. Obvious.
Whatever kind of elemental core it was — he needed more of it.
He shot to his feet.
Plans were already forming.
And for once this trial didn't seem like a punishment and instead like a chance.
He had to find more of these stags… then maybe, just maybe, he could hit twenty-five percent before the end of the trial.
And if he reached that…
A new Divine Ability.
Something like Divine Speed — or stronger.
His heart pounded.
Excitement buzzed behind his ribs as he moved toward the mouth of the cave, already imagining how fast he could find another beast before—
A sharp tug yanked him back mid-step.
His collar caught, jerking him straight off his momentum.
Riven stumbled, nearly lost his balance — and turned with a startled glare.
Yue Lin was behind him, arm still raised, two fingers looped in the fabric of his robes. Her expression was equal parts exasperated and sleep-deprived.
Her hair was mussed from the long day, and dark circles had started to form under her eyes — proof of everything they'd endured since entering this place. She didn't say it, but he could tell she was more tired than she let on. And still, she'd stayed awake for him. He felt a little bad now for nearly ditching his shift.
"…Where are you going?" she asked flatly. "Did you forget it's my turn to rest?"
Riven blinked, caught mid-rush.
"I—right. Sorry. I just—"
He hesitated. The words piled up behind his teeth, before he finally gave up on an explanation.
Instead he offered a sheepish smile. "I'll take watch properly now. Promise."
She eyed him another second, then turned and dropped down onto the ground.
"Good. I don't wanna wake up to this stupid chain pulling on my waist."
He chuckled dryly.
Yue Lin curled to one side. "Good night."
Yue Lin curled to one side. "Good night."
"Good night."
She was asleep within minutes.
Riven turned back to the cave entrance and sat down with his back to the wall, gaze fixed on the forest outside. The breeze rustled lightly through the trees beyond, distant and far too calm for the things they'd seen today.
But his mind wasn't still.
That core…
He could still feel it humming inside him — subtle, quiet, but undeniable.
Whatever element it held, it wasn't something normal.
Not water. Not wind. Not earth, fire, lightning.
Something rarer.
Something that didn't fit into the standard categories at all.
Something more all encompassing.
He thought back to the stags they'd fought and what element they could possibly be related to.
Eventually his thoughts flicked back — not to the gruesome fight today, not the deadly chain binding him and Yue Lin together, his thoughts already registering their situation as an unchangable fact. But to the very first stag they'd fought.
At that time him and Yue Lin still hadn't been chained together for too long and unaware of the implications had split up too far in the middle of the fight, giving the stag a chance to escape.
Its antlers had lit up — not with elemental glow, but something warmer. Deeper.
A richer gold. Like the golden beast core from today.
And then it had covered the space in front of it in half the time it did in the earlier fight — not with speed, not quite.
It had been like distance folded, warped. Like a shortcut through air.
Like one step covered more ground than it should have.
As if it manipulated space, if only slightly.
Space?
He recalled their other fights with stags.
And while most of the stags hadn't lived long enough to show much, he remembered one or two flickering strangely in battle — distance twisting, steps misplaced.
Can it be space?
Is that even an element?
He closed his eyes, brows faintly furrowed.
If Yue Lin saw, she'd probably scold him for not taking his watch seriously enough.
But she was asleep now.
And the more he thought about it, the more he realized… it didn't matter.
Even if it was space — or something else entirely — if it worked, he'd use it.
He rose quietly, stepping out of the cave just far enough that the chain didn't pull. The forest was calm. Still. But no sign of movement. No gleam of golden antlers. No sound of hooves.
Unlucky.
He lingered for a moment, half-hopeful. Half-anxious.
Then—
A sound behind him.
Inside the cave.
Riven turned, eyes narrowing.