Chapter 230: Here It Comes
Three days passed.
Kael spent every waking hour training. The soul well sessions continued — morning and evening, cycling soul force through the Breath of the Deep Green until the misty chamber felt like a second home. His soul sense crept toward the Late Stage threshold with each passing day.
Over the past few days, Seraya had sent for him twice. Kael ignored both messages. He had no intention of going — not yet. Letting her stew, letting the need build, letting her pride crack piece by piece until she came to him herself was far more effective than showing up on demand.
Since achieving Soul Awakening, Kael had begun experimenting with Rank 5 Runemaster techniques. The gap between Rank 4 and Rank 5 was fundamental — Master runes affected single items, but Runemaster runes affected reality itself. Dorin had provided him with a collection of advanced rune patterns before he left Starfall City, and Kael had been working through them methodically.
Suppression seals that could dampen mana flow in a targeted area. Identification seals that marked objects with traceable soul signatures. Tracking marks that could be embedded in a target’s shadow and followed across distances. Slave marks — the same type Margaret had given him — that bound a servant’s will to their master through forced soul compliance. Barrier seals that created walls of condensed soul force, stronger and more durable than their mana-based counterparts.
Each one required precise soul force manipulation. Each failure taught him something about the nature of soul power — how it differed from mana, how it behaved differently under pressure, how it responded to different mediums.
The theoretical knowledge was solidifying into practical skill.
The forest of Vael-Khazul was alive with mana and crawling with beasts.
Kael moved through the undergrowth in Finesh’s form, bone blade in one hand, dagger in the other. Hunting was part of his duty as a Nesh Clan head hunter — a role that gave him legitimate reason to roam the territory and test his abilities away from prying eyes.
Beasts were the perfect targets for soul technique practice. Their souls were fundamentally stronger than human souls — denser, more primal, more resilient. If a soul technique worked on a beast, it would work on a human. The reverse wasn’t always true.
Three Rank 5 beasts had cornered themselves in a small clearing — a pack of Shadow Stalkers, reptilian predators with black scales and the ability to blend into darkness. Each was roughly four meters long, with fangs dripping with venom and claws that could tear through stone.
They snarled at Kael as he entered the clearing, their slit pupils dilating with predatory hunger.
Kael smiled beneath Finesh’s face.
Three days ago, after revealing his Mid Stage soul cultivation to Goran, the old man had stared at him for a full minute before disappearing into his home. He had returned with a scroll — a technique from the Nesh Clan’s private archives.
Vael-Serpent Stride (Earth Grade Soul Technique)
Channels soul force into the lower meridians and the soles of the feet, creating a frictionless interface between the user’s body and the ground. Boosts movement speed by 40% without requiring mana expenditure. Can be layered with physical speed enhancement for compound velocity. Does not grant flight or aerial mobility.
Kael had mastered the basics within hours. The technique was elegant in its simplicity — no fancy footwork, no complex movements. Just pure, frictionless speed generated by manipulating the relationship between body and earth.
He activated it now.
The lead Stalker lunged.
Kael’s body flickered — Dark Step carrying him three meters to the left, Vael-Serpent Stride making the movement so smooth it looked like he had simply stopped existing in one spot and appeared in another.
Swish.
His bone blade caught the Stalker across the flank as it sailed past. Black scales cracked. Blood sprayed.
HISSS!
The beast twisted and snapped at him, jaws wide enough to swallow his torso. Kael ducked under the strike, Vael-Serpent Stride carrying him forward in a low slide that put him directly beneath the creature’s belly. His dagger punched upward.
SHLICK.
The blade sank into soft underbelly tissue. The Stalker shrieked and slammed its claws down.
Kael rolled sideways. The claws cratered the ground where he’d been lying, sending moss and dirt flying.
BOOM.
The second and third Stalkers attacked simultaneously — one from the left, one from the right, both moving at full speed with jaws gaping.
Kael activated Soul Veil.
His soul presence vanished completely. The beasts’ attack patterns stuttered — they were creatures that relied partially on soul-level perception to track prey in darkness. For one crucial second, they lost him.
That second was enough.
Dark Step. Vael-Serpent Stride. Kael appeared behind the left Stalker and drove his bone blade into the base of its skull.
CRACK.
The blade sunk three inches into bone. The Stalker convulsed, its body going rigid, then collapsed. Dead before it hit the ground.
HISSSS!
The remaining two Stalkers regrouped, circling Kael with predatory intelligence. Their souls burned like dark flames in his soul sense — dense, powerful, full of killing intent.
Kael created a gap by feinting left with Dark Step. Both beasts committed to the feint, lunging toward where he appeared.
He was already behind them.
"Soul Spike."
A concentrated needle of soul force erupted from his consciousness and struck the nearest Stalker directly in the soul core. The beast’s entire body seized — legs locking, jaw snapping shut, eyes rolling backward. It dropped to its knees with a THUD, a gurgling hiss escaping its throat.
SHLICK.
Dark Slash.
The crescent of black energy caught the kneeling Stalker at the neck. Scales, flesh, and bone parted cleanly. The head separated and tumbled across the clearing.
The bone blade in Kael’s hand cracked.
SNAP.
Fine fractures ran through the bone material — the weapon had absorbed Dark Slash too many times without the structural integrity to contain it. The blade crumbled into pieces, leaving only the hilt in Kael’s grip.
He tossed it aside without breaking stride.
The last Stalker lunged at him, venom dripping from its fangs, claws extended.
Kael met it head-on with Vael-Serpent Stride. His body flowed around the first claw strike — swish — slipped under the second — swish — and drove his remaining dagger into the beast’s eye socket.
PUCK.
The blade punched through the eye and into the brain. The Stalker’s body spasmed once, twice, then went limp.
THUD.
Kael pulled his dagger free and wiped the black blood on the moss.
Three Rank 5 beasts. Dead in under three minutes.
He stored their meat in the leather bags slung over his shoulder — the Gra-Khazul didn’t have storage rings and he couldn’t use system storage as that will be very suspicious. Everything was carried physically. It was primitive, but Kael was playing the part of Finesh, and Finesh wouldn’t own a storage ring.
He wanted to continue hunting when a voice shattered the forest silence.
"KAEL, YOU DISRESPECTFUL, SHAMELESS BASTARD!"
The shout echoed through the trees, loud enough to startle birds from their perches and send small animals scattering into the undergrowth.
Kael paused. His lips curved into an evil smirk.
"Here it comes."