“Ugh.” Cadrin looked at Labu. “You, at least, understand something of our ways and are willing to learn. If only all Wilds knew their place.” His eyes swept to Kumi. “If I allow you to join us, will you wait a day or two before needlessly bothering the Guildmaster?”
Kumi inclined her head. “I’d be happy to.”
Cadrin turned his gaze back to me. “You, I would actually like to see hunt. To find out whether your fighting is up to your posturing.”
“So gracious of you,” I said. “I’m interested to see how you do things here.”
I was interested in a lot of things. My mission to Horix could wait. Sometimes, the best way to see the quality of a teacher was to take a measure of his students. But there were unanswered questions. Labu was obviously a Wild, just like his sister. So, why was Cadrin’s manner so accommodating to the prince, but not the princess? Was the guild really stealing from the clan’s farmlands? What was the business with the Isles?
I needed answers, and I wasn’t about to find them. Not if I waited around in the guest quarters. Going on the hunt with these three would provide insight into the guild and the Qihin Clan. There was also the added bonus of more monster cores, and I had to admit that was a big motivator.
“I’ll be sure to show you how a real guild disciple fights,” Cadrin said.
Kumi watched me, fascinated.
I smiled at her before I nodded to Cadrin. “Lead the way, babyface.”
Cadrin pulled the gate shut behind him, and we followed him down the path to the shoreline. He moved into a boat, and Kumi shot me a grateful smile as I followed. Labu ignored both of us as we climbed into another magical craft and set off.
Half an hour later, I stood on a stretch of sandy beach alongside Kumi, Labu, and Cadrin. The now-empty boat had sliced a furrow into the sand where we’d drawn it up out of the ocean.
If I hadn’t known in advance that this was a Vigorous Zone—a place of strong magic and elemental beasts—I would have soon been able to work it out. The waves crashed unpredictably against the shore and didn’t follow the regular patterns I was used to. Streams gushed from the dunes beyond the beach and shifted directions as they swept away the sand. Sometimes, the water would stop, swirl in a single place, and form a pool out of the sand. Other pools vanished as the water fountained out of them and the sand swelled to take its place.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kumi asked me.
“It’s definitely different from a fire cave.” I winked at her.
The princess’ features flushed as she turned to face the ocean.
“What are we hunting?” I asked Labu.
The prince pointed along the beach toward a series of fast-moving shapes. “Starsquids,” he said.
“They’re frenzied,” Cadrin chuckled. “Far more dangerous than your regular monsters. They’ve claimed more than one fisherman this week. Are you still sure you want to be here, Lo Pashat?”
“I’m sure it’ll be easier than appreciating your flawless wit,” I said.
The starsquids’ black bodies swirled under the shallows as icy tentacles ripped ceaselessly at the air. As Cadrin and Labu drew their weapons, the monsters increased their pace and emerged from the water in a dripping mass of inky foam. Starfish-like heads hung open with barbed suckers clicking back and forth. A translucent armor of ice shimmered around their bodies as the monsters pawed their way over the sand. They were monsters from the deep ocean, creatures from a biology textbook’s worst nightmare.
“Ugly suckers, aren’t they?” I asked Kumi.
“Certainly not the prettiest the ocean has to offer, no.”
“You talk too much,” Labu growled at me.
The Sundered Heart Sword warmed in my hand as I drew it free of its scabbard. It was a comforting contrast with the bitter chill of the ocean breeze. Cadrin drew what I had taken for a katana, but it turned out to be a sword with a serrated blade. The blade almost glowed as it caught the light of the dying sun. Labu took up a fighting stance beside him and blocked my access to the rapidly approaching starsquid.
Kumi didn’t reach for her daggers from over her shoulders. Instead, she started singing in a low, beautiful voice, a rhythmic chant that reminded me of waves rising and falling. Water rose out of a nearby pool as she sang and swirled her hands. The princess conducted the ribbons of water toward us like the master of an orchestra. The flowing liquid traveled through the air and found each of us. Power coursed through me and strengthened my internal Augmentation channels.
I stared at her in amazement. “You’ll have to teach me that.”
Kumi halted her song for a few bars. “Wild Augmentation can’t be taught, Ethan. It can adapt to traditional techniques, but you can’t teach someone.” Her eyes twinkled. “You’re welcome.”
“I fight first,” Cadrin said.
I wanted kills and cores, but I also wanted to see what he could do, so I nodded.
“I’m second,” Labu added.
“No teamwork?” I asked. “Or is Kumi the only one kind enough to share their techniques for the benefit of all?”
She chuckled under her breath as the wave of starsquids closed the distance between us.
Cadrin closed his eyes for a moment, and plates of icy armor twisted into being across his body. It was identical to that of the starsquids, but spikes rose from his shoulder plates. The addition seemed purely ornamental, and I shook my head at his lack of discretion when using Vigor.
“Frozen Armor,” Kumi explained. “And what he’s about to do next is undoubtedly an Ice Spear.”
On cue, Cadrin produced a short barbed spear of ice in his left hand and hurled it into the monsters’ midst before he dived into the mass of ice-bladed limbs.
The monsters thrashed at Cadrin with their tentacles, and he responded with his blade. He sliced into each limb as it attacked him and forced
