Beyond The System
Chapter 107: Retreat

There was a creak above me, and the hatch cracked open. Marcus peered down with a mildly concerned look, eyes flicking to the tubers. Seeing them untouched, he looked back at me. “Uhhh… heard some crazy noises…”

He stared at me and I stared back. Time passed as neither of us said a word.

‘Say something, Peter,’ Luna offered, ever helpful.

“Hm. I. Um. I sleep laugh sometimes. Did I wake you?” I replied, trying to sound… sane?

‘Ah, he thinks stupidity is comedy,’ Wyrem mused.

‘Quiet, both of you,’ I snapped internally.

Marcus rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh. Yeah, no problem. I’ve scared the dogs plenty with my own scre—bad dreams.”

“I think I’ll just stay up the rest of the night, then. So you can catch a bit more sleep,” I offered, trying to sound casual.

He squinted at me. “Night? You know it’s morning, right? Time’s already flown.”

Oh. Well, cultivating had that effect. Sometimes an hour passed in a blink, but several? That was much more than usual. “I see…” I cleared my throat. “Sooo… hunting?”

I wasn’t exactly at full power, but if I could get the gauntlets to work for just for one strike, it should be enough.

“In a bit,” Marcus muttered, glancing at the treeline. “Still a little dark. Things get nasty out there this time of day.”

I nodded. “I’ll be up in a sec.”

He nodded back, then shut the wooden hatch.

‘What do you guys think?’ I asked internally.

‘With me, you’ll be fine,’ Luna replied. ‘But poisoned meat isn’t exactly ideal.’

‘You should gather more energy,’ Wyrem added. ‘If it’s that dangerous, you’ll want every drop.’

I mostly agreed with Wyrem, but Marcus had been more than generous, bringing me here and sharing his supplies. Who knew how long it had been since he last ate?

Besides, I wasn’t even sure how system users handled basic needs. His pups seemed to manipulate force well enough to form Spiritual Objects, but Marcus himself didn’t give off strong cultivator vibes.

PIus, had plenty on my own plate: a broken channel, more Tuning Scars to forge, Spirit Root cultivation to figure out, another purification pass, and ideally… Body Refinement. Yeah. No big deal.

‘It should be faster,’ Luna added.

‘Why are you spouting nonsense now?’ Wyrem grumbled, still oblivious to the deeper connections forming through this headache power.

Luna laughed. Not kindly.

Still, the last thing I needed was to lose the sliver of Internal Force I had left. Even a small cultivation session would help stabilize things. Besides, with my Grand Channel, I could still harness World Force for combat. A good hunt might let me convert some of it on the fly.

I sat down and started the process.

My Grand Channel filled up half decently. It still felt like starting from scratch, mostly thanks to how weird and delicate this new Water Force was, but I had experience now. I knew how to cultivate. How to breathe, focus, draw power in.

Even if the nausea made the whole thing slower than I liked.

Once I had the time, my real plan was to start Water Purification. That would massively increase my cultivation speed and hopefully open the path to further Body Refinement, but first, I needed enough Water energy to form an unstable core.

At around ten percent full, the hatch creaked open again. “I’m heading out,” Marcus called, poking his head down and interrupting my cultivation.

“No problem.” I got up, moved under the circular doorway, and leapt through, landing face-to-face with my overly accommodating host. “I’m ready.”

His pups trotted over, tails wagging, and started sniffing me. And… kept sniffing me. Then more of them joined in.

All six of the 'actual' beast tamer’s partners circled around, giving me quick sniffs and sharing confused glances like they were trying to cross-check something about me.

Can they… smell energy? At least they didn’t look hungry I guess.

Marcus chuckled as he looked down at the strange canine conference. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you snuck some meat in and didn’t share.”

I grinned. “If I had, they wouldn’t be smelling me. It’d be gone.”

I shuffled past the furry wall of curiosity, and we all headed to the elevator. For a moment, I considered just climbing down the tree again, but not wanting to seem rude, I joined them on the terrifying vine-and-platform deathtrap.

‘Hey, Peter,’ Luna said in my mind.

‘Yeah?’

‘I can’t hear the worm anymore.’

Ah. Time must’ve run out.

I sent more Beast Force toward her, re-establishing the connection so I could activate True Sight and prayed that whatever horrifying bond I’d formed would let the two of them communicate in peace without dragging me into it by adding that to my intent.

After a few moments of unnerving silence, I checked in. ‘Luna? You guys talking?’

‘Sharing poison information,’ she replied matter-of-factly. ‘Why, something wrong?’

Terrifying. ‘Nope. All good.’ Definitely didn’t need to hear the details.

We landed on the forest floor with a soft thud, and Marcus immediately started toward another part of the massive tree, his hounds trotting behind him, tails wagging with barely contained energy.

He pulled aside a panel of bark, revealing a long, narrow tunnel carved into the trunk. From within, he drew out a sleek, pronged trident, its surface glazed in a pale green finish. The weapon was massive, easily double his wingspan, and as he slung it over his shoulder, flanked by six panting, sharp-toothed beasts, the man looked... unhinged.

Not fierce but Feral. Maybe with a haircut and a comb, he’d pass as rugged and threatening, but right now? He looked like a forest-dwelling maniac with a big pointy stick. One he was ready to use.

“Let’s head out,” he said casually.

I fell into step beside him. “So… what exactly are we hunting?”

He shrugged. “I let the little ones track. They fire off those needles to spook the beast toward me, and I finish the job.”

That seemed simple enough.

The dogs split off slightly, climbing a few meters above us into the lower branches, but stayed within range. “What are they, exactly?” I asked, watching one of them vanish through the leaves.

He stopped and looked at me like I’d asked whether fire was hot. “Dogs.”

I stared at him. “Oookay. Have you named them? Or your System, that has to have come up with something right?”

His expression didn’t change. “System did. Pet 1. Pet 2. Pe—”

“I get it,” I cut in quickly, face heating as he burst out laughing.

Once the laughter died down, a silence started creeping in, the awkward kind. The kind that clung to the space between footfalls. So unable to cope with the silence, I blurted, “You got anyone waiting for you out there?”

As soon as I said it, I regretted the bluntness, but maybe the laughter had softened things, because he actually answered such a personal question.

He didn’t stop walking, but his tone shifted to something slower, heavier. “Yeah. Two people. They probably think I’m still out there, still fighting in the war…”

*Tch.* He clicked his tongue, frustration bleeding into the silence. “This damn country already keeps kids away from their parents, and even worse, sometimes families never even find out if their people died.”

“Really?” I asked, trying to sound casual but careful, but generally, people from other places were just… people. Like Callum or Synthia. None of us cared much about origins, at least, not when survival was on the line. “Stars or Voxter?”

He glanced over, then rolled the shoulder carrying that massive trident. “State of Stars. You?”

I smiled. I wasn’t exactly patriotic for the place, but it was still weirdly nice to hear something familiar. “Same. Seems like a lotta problems with that place, huh?”

“Mmm.” He hummed in agreement.

A short pause. Then, “What about you? Any friends? Family?”

I hesitated. “No family. They, uhhh… well, they’re not around.”

He nodded like that answer made perfect sense. In this world, unfortunately, it seemed to.

I cleared my throat. “But… I’ve got a few friends I want to meet again. And…” My voice dipped, and heat crept up my neck.

Seriously, I'm eighteen. Why the hell was I getting embarrassed?

“And?” he asked, glancing sideways with a grin forming.

“Girlfriend,” I muttered.

“Really?” he repeated, voice rising with that I’m absolutely going to tease you tone. “What’s she like?” He bumped my shoulder.

“Battle freak,” I blurted before I could think. Thank the stars she wasn’t here to hear that.

*Pfft.* “HA!” His laugh was so loud and sudden I was pretty sure it scared away anything within a two-mile radius. Even the dogs in front of us flinched.

He took a few wheezing breaths to recover. “I get that. I married into a pretty powerful mage family, and lost count of how many times I had to dodge a fire blast.”

“Yeah? What’s she up to now? Still fighting?” I asked, honestly curious.

He shook his head. “Nah. After our daughter was born, she opened an inn near one of the recruitment camps.”

I stopped walking.

He kept talking, lost in his own memories. “The Star family’s got a bit of pull, not noble-level or anything, but still, bu—” He turned, just then realizing I wasn’t walking beside him anymore. “What’s up?”

My heart was pounding and my thoughts were already spinning. Faces, names, old conversations rushing through my mind. It couldn’t be...

I opened my mouth to ask the question, but I never got the chance.

The dogs suddenly circled us, snarling low, energy flaring from their bodies in bright, red pulses when I instinctively activated my Precursor Sense. Everything sharpened immediately.

“Shit.” Marcus’s voice cracked with real panic. “Peter we have to run. I’ll have the dogs shoot, and then we book it together with them alright?”

“What’s out there?” I tensed, scanning the woods.

No answer, just a shrill cry that sent a chill down my spine. I knew that sound.

“DAMMIT! They’re only supposed to come out at night!” Marcus grabbed my shoulder. “Run!”

Before I could respond, needles launched from the dogs in every direction, and they sprinted after us, barking wildly.

I stopped, pulling Marcus back mid-step.

“Peter, we don’t have time! If we don—" 

Then I could only see his lips moving, no sound coming from them as even the smell from the air vanished.

And just before my vision began to collapse, I caught the look on Marcus’s face. A wide-eyed face locked in dread, and the dogs, suddenly trembling where they stood.

‘Luna?’ I pushed Beast Force toward her and Wyrem, just in case.

‘I know,’ she responded, calm but tense. ‘If you start to lose your grip on your domain, follow the energy changes. I’ll guide if you need it, but I still don’t have enough for poison.’

I gave a short nod and focused, zeroing in on the outlines. Marcus and his dogs now just red blurs in a dull, gray void. None of them moved, but I don't think it was just from fear.

They were doing the same thing I did back then, their only choice. Let the beasts strike first, hope it doesn’t aim for anything vital, then ideally take it out.

‘There were three in the cave before, right?’ I asked.

Luna’s voice came through again, calm but focused. ‘No.’ If Wyrem was giving any input apart from her, I heard nothing.

What? 'Yes there were.'

‘No,’ she clarified quickly, ‘there was one you hurt, but then it got up and—behind!’ Her warning cut off mid-sentence.

The creature was mostly how I remembered it. Wiry, fast, four-legged, and a mouth full of needle-like teeth, but this one had a tail, long and barbed, whipping wildly as it rushed a nearby hound. 

They did seem a little unique from each other.

It stood nearly the same height as Marcus’s beasts, so if it landed that strike...

I didn’t wait. I launched forward, Force pooling beneath my soles in tight controlled spirals and Swift Stride igniting beneath me. The speed was more than I expected. Almost too much.

I was in front of it in a blink, stumbling to recenter my weight, and struck low. My knuckles crashed into its skull with a sickening pop. The beast folded in on itself, spine bending wrong as I drove it into the earth.

The dog I saved suddenly jumped up as if startled.

Could he see now? Maybe these things could only target a single creature at once with its version of Sensory Veil.

That meant there was more.

Blood sprayed, hot and metallic, but I was already pivoting.

‘Left!’ Luna called. ‘It’s flanking Marcus!’

A shimmer, barely more than a ripple in the air, darted behind Marcus. I charged again, sliding across the grass with controlled momentum, realizing that I was getting better at using True Sight with Luna’s help.

My fist snapped forward in a clean arc, slamming into what felt like brittle glass wrapped in fur and flesh.

Skull fragments clung to my knuckles, and guts oozed between my fingers, but it didn’t fall like the last one. It twitched then jerked up, teeth gnashing blindly, biting the air in front of it like it hadn’t noticed it was already half-dead.

I grabbed it by the jaw, twisted sharply, and threw it to the dirt. A dog lunged forward and tore into the flailing remains with a snarl.

I still couldn't see myself, but movement from Marucs. I saw him immediately attack the first one I took down, jabbing repeatedly with his trident until only a mess of meat was left.

‘These things don’t die easy I think.’ Luna murmured.

Just like that, sound flooded back in. The wind whispering through the leaves, the soft rustle of branches, the quiet shuffle of paws on dirt. I staggered slightly as equilibrium snapped into place, then came the sound of something skittering away. The rapid clicking of hooves retreating into the forest.

Apparently we were too much trouble to bother with.

I turned to Marcus.

He stood with blood dripping from the trident, chest heaving, wild-eyed. His hounds prowled the space, growling low but ready.

‘WHY AREN’T YOU RESPONDING!’ Wyrem shouted from the back of my mind.

‘AH! Don’t do that!’ Luna chastised. ‘It was probably the monster's ability.’

I groaned, apparently, not only could you hate grass, but an energy worm too.