The return journey to Whitepeak felt different. The weight of the wolf pelts slung over his shoulder was insignificant, but the weight of the nascent soul core—a small, rough, violet-glowing stone he'd carefully extracted from the alpha—felt heavy in his pocket. It pulsed with a faint, feral energy, a stark contrast to the clean, stable cores he'd sold before. This was evidence of a changing world, a direct consequence of the magical turmoil he'd caused.
When he pushed through the guild doors, the late afternoon crowd was in full swing. He made his way to the counter, where Lyra was on duty. Her emerald eyes lit up with recognition as he approached.
"Back already, Kaito? Don't tell me you changed your mind about the rats," she said with a playful grin.
In response, he heaved the bundle of pelts onto the counter. The thick, metallic-grey fur, still stained with dirt and a few spots of dried, unnaturally dark blood, made a heavy thud. Then, he placed the faintly pulsing violet soul core next to them.
Lyra's smile vanished, replaced by a look of professional shock. She leaned forward, her fingers carefully brushing the fur. "By the gods... these are Grey-Tusks, but... the coloration is all wrong. It's like their fur has been... metallized." She then picked up the soul core, holding it up to the light. A low whistle escaped her lips. "And this... this is a soul core. From a wolf? That's... that's not supposed to happen. Not outside of a high-mana zone or a dungeon."
Her exclamation drew attention. A few adventurers nearby turned to look. The sight of the mutated pelts and the glowing core on the counter was unusual enough to break through the usual guild noise.
"You took down a mutated pack? By yourself?" one of them asked, his voice laced with a mixture of skepticism and respect. "The E-rank quest was for normal Grey-Tusks. That's a C-rank threat, easy."
Kaito kept his expression neutral. "The pack had changed. They were more aggressive. The leader could... project energy."
Lyra's gaze snapped from the core back to him, her look now one of intense curiosity. "And you 'pacified' them?" she asked, using the specialization he had listed.
"I subdued the leader. The rest of the pack lost their coordination and fled," he explained, which was technically true. He had "subdued" the alpha by draining its mutation, and the pack had indeed fled in confusion.
The story spread through the guild hall in a wave of murmurs. The quiet newcomer with the strange staff had not only completed an E-rank quest that had morphed into a C-rank problem, but he'd done it alone and brought back proof of a mutation no one had anticipated. The "Pacification Specialist" title suddenly seemed less like a oddity and more like a genuine, rare talent.
Lyra quickly calculated the reward, her fingers flying over her abacus. "The standard pelt bounty is eight silver each... but given the mutation and the confirmed soul core, the guild research division will want to study this. I'm authorizing a hazard bonus. Let's call it... fifteen silver per pelt, and five gold for the core." She slid a small pile of coins across the counter—a significant sum for a single day's work, especially for a newcomer.
As Kaito gathered his earnings, he felt a presence beside him. He didn't need to turn to know who it was. The air itself seemed to still.
"Energy projection in mundane fauna is a sign of catastrophic environmental mana saturation," Seraphina stated, her voice calm but her sapphire eyes fixed on the violet core. She picked it up from the counter before Lyra could even protest. "The energy signature is chaotic, unstable. Like it was forced." Her gaze lifted from the core to Kaito. "You encountered no other... anomalies out there?"
Her question was loaded. She wasn't just asking about other monsters. She was asking about the source.
"No," Kaito said, meeting her eyes. "Just the wolves."
She held his gaze for a moment longer, the core glowing in her hand, then gave a slight, unreadable nod. "A remarkable find. And a remarkable performance." She placed the core back on the counter and turned away, but the unspoken challenge hung in the air between them. She knew the wolves were a symptom. And she was starting to believe he was connected to the disease.
Kaito pocketed his coins, the weight of them a small comfort against the weight of Seraphina's scrutiny. He had successfully completed his first quest, earned a small fortune, and drawn even more of the wrong kind of attention. The path to A-rank was proving to be anything but simple.