The spiker emerged from the mists, and Blake stepped back, pulling Jared along with him. Blake and Jared took ten steps back, but that probably wasn’t enough, so Blake made them take ten more.

  The spiker was the size of a house from the old Earth, but shaped like a gorilla. A row of black spikes ran down its spine, from which it got its name. Otherwise, it was just physically strong.

  But this one, if Blake had to guess, was low in the Core Formation stages. He didn’t extend his spiritual senses toward the beast again, because he didn’t want to make Winterbeard angry, but he kept his senses aware of the land behind him, just in case something came and tried to attack.

  He watched Winterbeard swing his axe, effortlessly using Shaping techniques to create ice formations. The man swept his axe up at the beast, creating a wave formation of ice in the direction of his swing that scratched the Spiker’s cheek, then rolled away from a counter-attack.

  Jared said, “Mr. Blake, I thought we weren’t going after spikers.”

  “It was a suggestion,” Blake replied. “I…uh, well, let’s just say, this guy should be more than capable of handling it.”

  “So Nascent Souls can go after spikers?”

  “It depends,” Blake replied. “Let’s just say, it depends how strong you are and how strong it is. I’ve never seen one stronger than Core Formation, so a Nascent Soul should do fine against it. Especially one as strong as him.”

  Jared nodded. “Me neither.” He paused. “Is it true that you got that redcloak as a reward from the prince?”

  “Yeah.” Blake replied.

  “Are you…fond of the royal family?”

  Blake considered for a moment. He didn’t necessarily know Jared’s stance on the topic, and this could have been a test. He waited a few seconds, watching the spiker slam a hand down toward Winterbeard. The man held up his axe, weathered the blow, then pushed the spiker’s hand back. It wasn’t going to be a challenge for him at all.

  Finally, he said to Jared, “I don’t know what to make of the prince. I’m not here to topple the galactic government. I’m looking for freedom for myself and anyone else who’s willing to carve it out.”

  “And you think you can do that without fighting?”

  “Not without fighting. But…look around you. This world isn’t ready to burn everything down. But there are some of us who are looking to make something more of ourselves. There are thousands of worlds out there. I’d bet there’s one that hasn’t been occupied yet. Something we could take for ourselves.”

  Jared chewed his lip, then said, “Do you have a plan? A destination in mind? Or anything?”

  “I’m working on it,” Blake said. He was going to have to consult some maps and find a workaround at some point. But he’d been putting it off. And truly, stealing the manaship was more important at the moment.

  Jared only gave a non-commital nod.

  Opening his mouth, Blake was about to reply, when a flare of warning erupted behind him. It alerted him to something his physical senses just couldn’t pick up. He whirled around to face the threat, but suddenly, the swell of danger faded from his soul.

  Something had been trying to sneak up on him, realized he knew, then backed off. It was the only explanation.

  “What’s wrong?” Jared asked.

  “Nothing yet,” Blake replied. “Keep an eye on Winterbeard, and don’t let him do anything stupid. Otherwise, I’m gonna investigate the area.”

  Blake circled around Winterbeard and the spiker, giving the pair a wide berth. With the fog reducing his visibility, he made sure to at least keep their silhouettes in sight. He wanted to identify what stage the spiker was at, but he didn’t want to risk angering Winterbeard again. Not yet.

  There must’ve been a way to scan someone’s spirit without outright alerting them to your presence, because Ethbin did it all the time. But Blake didn’t know exactly what that was.

  He did, however, feel a chill run down his spine and race to his toes. The same thing that Winterbeard had mentioned it felt like when someone else laid their senses on you. In all fairness, he’d had numerous occasions in the past few months where something had sent a chill down his spine, but this was different. He couldn’t understand why.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  More importantly, if any cultivator viewed a scan as a challenge, an assailant would know that, too.

  There was more than just beasts out there.

  Blake extended everything. His arcane senses, his physical senses, trying to pick up on a threat. At the moment, his ears only picked up on Winterbeard laughing and saying, “Is that all you’ve got, beasty?” Then he shouted something in the Nord language.

  He was doing fine against the spiker, but—

  But now, off in the distance, Blake sensed the dirt shifting. He couldn’t hear it; it was shifting too slowly. But his mind picked up on it nonetheless. The model of his surroundings in the back of his mind changed. Footsteps plodded toward him. There were eight legs, each leaving round and thin footprints.

  He should have been able to hear or smell something, but there was nothing. He couldn’t even pick up a change in the direction of air currents.

  Was this thing hiding from every sense?

  He pulled his staff out of his backpack and whirled it into a fighting position, preparing to intercept the target. But there couldn’t have just been an invisible monster out there. Something had scanned him, and no monster was capable of that. He’d never felt it before from any other creature.

  Whatever had led the snake to him yesterday was doing it again today, but with a different monster.

  He waited, stance wide, as the footsteps drew closer. In the distance, bones crunched and flesh ripped as Winterbeard tore apart the spiker.

  Blake pushed his budding spiritual senses out in front of him, concentrating them as intensely as he could, and only then could he pick up on a brief well of power. It felt about the same intensity as Winterbeard’s had.

  Did someone find a Nascent Soul monster to send after him?

  Holding his staff out to the side, Blake swallowed. There was punching above his weight, and then there was suicide. He backed away, trying to formulate a plan in his mind.

  The fog parted ahead of him. The air rippled with a faintly iridescent sheen, and a spider-shaped ripple prowled through the fog, moving right toward him. Its body was entirely invisible, save for the rippling air, which gave Blake a hint about its shape. The beast had to be at least as tall as him and four times as wide.

  A well of strength washed out from it, some sort of primal killing intent, which threatened to stall Blake right where he stood. His eyes watered and his ears popped, and when he wiped his nose he found a trace of blood. But he broke the swell with his own rush of killing intent, just pushing hard enough to keep himself from feeling the effects.

  But the spider kept moving, slowly stalking toward him. Unbothered but clearly interested in eating him. Did it know he could see it?

  Blake ran through plans and excuses in his mind. He considered what he could do to convince Winterbeard to run.

  And then Winterbeard shouted, “Come one, give me a challenge!” The man slammed his axe into the spiker’s skull, dealing a debilitating blow to the weak spot at the top of its head. With a howl, the beast fell still.

  Blake might not have been able to beat this spider alone, but with the help of Winterbeard…

  “It’s your lucky day, Winterbeard!” Blake shouted. “I’ve found your next challenge, and I’m bringing it right to you!”

  “What incredible service!” Winterbeard exclaimed. Then came a rush of dismay. “Where is the monster?”

  Blake turned his back to the spider and sprinted back to the corpse of the spiker. He glanced over his shoulder only long enough to see the air rippling behind him, chasing after him. “It’s invisible! It has a veil!”

  He’d never encountered one of those before, but Winterbeard must have known about them.

  “Veiled spiders!” the man shouted.

  Because of course that was the name. Why wouldn’t it be?

  “I’ve never seen one in the wild!” Winterbeard continued. “What a glorious, unique fiend it is! Almost like you!” He cackled.

  “You think you can kill it?”

  “I’ve killed stronger men. This spider should not be a challenge.”

  “Good! Because—” There was another swell of danger in Blake’s senses—apparently even the spider’s veil couldn’t prevent itself from triggering an innate danger sense. It lunged at him. He couldn’t tell exactly what was rushing at his face, but he triggered the Serpent’s Cloak and jumped to the side. “—because it’s coming right at you!”

  “I see it!” Winterbeard called. Brandishing his axe, he sprang toward Blake and the spider. Jared raced after, using an Augmentation technique of his own to keep up, but he was smart enough to keep his distance.

  Winterbeard slammed his weapon down on the rippling, invisible sheen of the spider. “Oh, what glorious creatures. It will be an honour to wrap the haft of my axe in your silk!” Again, he cackled.

  For now, the spider was busy with Winterbeard. But that wouldn’t last forever. One of them would win, and Blake had to make sure it was Winterbeard.

  But he paused. The man was doing fine. He raised ice walls, protecting himself, and drove spines of ice into the chittering beast’s underside. No, Blake needed to deal with whatever had scanned him earlier. What were the chances it was the same thing that led the snake to him?

  “Blake!” Jared shouted. “Over here!”

  Blake rushed over, expecting another monster. But the boy was just pointing forward and out. There was a ripple in the fog ahead, and he identified the faint silhouette of a woman before it disappeared.

  “I’m going after her,” Blake said. “Whoever that is.”