In the thick forest a strange humming sound resounded quietly, it resembled the quiet clattering of metal combined with the low growl of a beast, yet it was constant and consistent in its tone.
Casmir carefully left the tent, quietly climbing the tree they were hiding under while activating his Soul Flame.
Casmir's movements quickened as he precisely navigated the naturally formed maze of the large trees branches, his perception of time was slowed allowing him to perceive the easiest path for him far quicker than before.
It only took Casmir a breaths worth of time to reach the canopy of the forest in a virtually silent manner.
From the canopy, Casmir could see the clearing where the remnants of the main camp laid but hovering a hundred meters above the clearing was a strange object that projected a series of lights down onto the camp, like beams of sunlight searching for something.
The strange hovering object was pitch black and Casmir could only vaguely make out its shape from its silhouette against the night sky. It looked like a bird with short wings and strange pointed objects jutting out of its body and wings oddly.
However this 'bird', was massive, its wing span was at least 50m wide and its body was around 20m wide and 40m in length.
Casmir watched the strange bird as it slowly drifted across the sky above the main camp, its wings unmoving as it emitted its strange, low humming sound that sent a cold shiver down Casmir's spine.
Casmir was just about to retreat back to the tent when the bird let out a strange screeching cry that stunned Casmir's body.
The thin layer of Soul Flame infused Qi energy that covered his body, dissipated into the air as the Qi energy in Casmir's body became unstable and could no longer leave Casmir's body under his Soul Flames support.
'What the hell is this!' Casmir thought as his body refused to listen to his will.
A fraction of a second later a large pitch black figure darted up silently through the canopy, striking at the back of Casmir's head in one swift movement, relieving Casmir of his consciousness.
=======
Later into the night inside of an unknown place there was a small room painted completely white with an oddly clean environment, there were 4 clean white beds inside of the room, 2 of which were occupied and a third had clearly only just been used.
The room was small and compact with every inch of space being used for storage cabinets or strange looking equipment that was all fixed down tightly, as if people were afraid of it falling off all by itself.
Occupying two of the clean white beds were Zaya and Casmir, notably their wounds had been cleaned and bandaged up. Casmir's broken arm appeared to have been mended, only a light bandage covering it as if the arm could be used normally already.
Casmir had been resting in this room for some time, a twisted expression on his face as his body twitched over an over as if in distress.
"Zaya!" Casmir suddenly called out, as he awoke from his nightmare.
He quickly looked around the room in slight panic before he saw Zaya resting near him peacefully, her wounds freshly bandaged.
'Where the hell are we..' Casmir thought anxiously as he scanned the room.
Yet Casmir's anxiety slowly faded as he noticed the various pieces of medical equipment in the room, realising they were in some kind of medical facility.
Casmir noticed that his broken arm felt much better but still slightly weak, however when he tried to move his arms Casmir realised that he was restrained by thick leather straps on his arms and legs.
'Why am I restrained.. where's Vin..' Casmir thought as he recalled what Vin had last said to him.
'Either we're screwed.. or we're saved..'
It only took a moment for Casmir to wonder if he had been captured by some unknown group or even the cloaked figures that had destroyed the main camp. Casmir's anxiety slowly climbed higher and higher as he thought of the various possibilities.
Then suddenly, a nearby door made a strange beeping sound before it opened, however it didn't open like a normal door, into or out of the room on a hinge but was raised up into a gap in the top of the door, disappearing into the gap like it was never their in the first place.
However Casmir paid this strange door no attention as he noticed the person standing on the other side of the doorway.
"Instructor Redfire!" Casmir shouted in surprise.
Instructor Redfire walked in with a reassuring smile on his face however his crumpled eyebrows betrayed his worry.
"Casmir, it's good your awake. Don't worry your safe now, we've already picked up Cor'Dana and the rest of your team and they told us the situation." Redfire explained as he walked over to Casmir's bed, undoing the restraints on his arms.
"Sorry about the restraints, we couldn't let you just walk around and we couldn't spare anyone to watch over you until you woke up."
Casmir nodded at Instructor Redfire, but he was still slightly confused about his explanation as he rubbed his wrists and sat up in the bed.
"Is Zaya alright?" Casmir asked rather nervously.
Redfire felt a pang of guilt in his heart as he heard Casmir speak of Zaya.
"Yes, she's perfectly healthy now.. Unfortunately we don't have a perfect remedy for the scarring caused by the acidic burns, she'll need to use a special medicine for a few months before her scars fully heal themselves."
Casmir was relieved about her condition, scars didn't matter in his eyes as long as she was ok.
"Instructor.. what exactly happened out there.." Casmir suddenly asked.
Redfire was lost for words at Casmir question, he knew that Casmir would ask it but he still didn't know how to explain himself. He felt extremely guilty for placing Casmir and his friends in danger like he did, but he felt worse because even knowing what Casmir's group might face after he left them, he would probably still make the same choice.
Capturing the Grade 6 Shadow Wolf before it reached a small town and caused massive loss of life was more important than their lives, even if he would never admit it.
Redfire sat down on the bed next to Casmir, patting Casmir on the back in a clearly rough and inexperienced manner as he tried to explain himself.
"That wolf call that you heard was from a Grade 6 Ferocious beast called a Shadow Wolf, it was ambushed by an unknown disguised group while it was giving birth and thus vulnerable. It abandoned its new-borns and managed to escape the disguised group by causing the massacre at the main camp that you've seen."
"When I detected it I had to chase it down, ferocious beasts at that level are too dangerous and often vengeful. Thankfully I and Instructor Do'Shan managed to delay it until reinforcements arrived and we captured it." Redfire explained.
He then looked over at Zaya before he looked back at Casmir, letting out another deep sigh as he apologised in a low deep voice.
"I'm sorry I abandoned you.. but at the time I had no idea you would face the danger that you did. The Array Orb I gave you should have protected you from any danger in this area normally.. Unfortunately I couldn't predict the involvement of Qi-less Beasts."
Casmir accepted Redfire's apology, knowing how complicated and serious the situation was if the fate of a small town hung in the balance. He knew that Redfire cared for his students no matter how tough is outward manner was but Casmir had no idea how he'd react if his families lives were weighed against the lives of thousands.
When Redfire mentioned the term Qi-less Beasts, Casmir quickly connected the term to the Black Viper he had encountered.
"What exactly were those Black Viper's?" he asked.
Redfire rubbed his eyebrows as he debated whether to explain everything to Casmir.
"Hrm.. ok. I'll tell you." Redfire grunted as he pulled out a Qi chip.
This Qi chip was more advanced than others Casmir had seen, it was made from a material of at least Qi Grade 5. When Redfire injected his Qi energy into it, it projected a 3D hologram of an image instead of the usual 2D light that needed to be projected onto a surface to read properly.
The projection displayed an image of one of the Black Vipers as well as a large amount of text explaining various details of the beast.
"The Shadow Viper that you fought off was a special type of beast, they don't use Qi energy at all which makes them excellent at avoiding various forms of Qi energy detection systems like the one inside the Array Orb I gave you."
"This isn't normally a problem because these animals are incredibly rare in this region, and only the weakest kinds will survive. However the group that attacked the main camp brought a contingent of them with them to attack the Shadow Wolf, some of which escaped or were lost during the fighting."
"These Qi-less Beasts are always savage and unintelligent by nature however many nations have perfected the training of them for use in.. war."
Redfire then looked at Casmir with a slightly intrigued look.
"To be honest.. I'm shocked you managed to kill one. They're stupid but incredibly powerful and are by no means unable to take out a small group of inexperienced cultivators."
Casmir thought about it for a moment before he activated his Soul Flame again, infusing it with his Qi energy before expanding it outside his body.
"I had a breakthrough with my Will Resonance State.. this.. ability, increased my strength dramatically. Do you know what it-.." Casmir said, pausing halfway through his question as Instructor Redfire stood up in shock.
Instructor Redfire watched Casmir's Qi energy flow naturally in the air like a blue flame in shock, extending his own Qi energy cautiously to prod at Casmir's like a child seeing a pet animal for the first time.
"How did you.. No that's.." Redfire mumbled.
"Quickly stop that! Don't use that again until we talk to Bluefire about it.. this is too serious to play around with." Redfire quickly advised Casmir.
Casmir followed Redfire's instruction while asking what his Soul Flame was exactly.
Redfire explained seriously, "What you're using is Soul Energy, I don't understand how you know to use it, but you cannot use it until you've had proper training or you might kill yourself by accident!"
Casmir didn't realise how serious the situation was, quickly explaining how he used it to kill the Black Viper and escape detection from the two cloaked figures in the forest.
"Your near death experience gave you the ability? You can already use Soul Energy to disguise yourself..? You met two of them and even identified their Qi energy signatures!?" Redfire cried out in shock, hearing one surprise after another.
Redfire looked at Casmir in disbelief as he absorbed this information, a thousand questions passing through his mind until he focused on the most critical point, Casmir's knowledge of the two cloaked figures Qi energy signatures.
"Casmir are you sure you can identify their Qi energy signatures? Don't joke around about this, it could be very important in finding out who did this." Redfire said seriously.
Casmir sat up straight, looking at Redfire confidently.
"I remember exactly what their Qi energy felt like. I can only recognise a few of the Qi energy types that comprised their Qi energy signatures for sure.. but the rest I can definitely identify if I have a sample to compare it with." Casmir explained.
He was only familiar with common types of Qi energy that he had studied with Master Bluefire, however he knew enough about identifying different types of Qi energy to be able to identify those he did not know, given enough time.
Hearing Casmir's confidence, Instructor Redfire considered his next actions for a moment before he suddenly pressed his finger on a small badge that rested on his chest which Casmir had not noticed before.
Redfire had never worn such a badge before.
It resembled Vin's ID badge from before except it was more elaborate and finely crafted, it was shaped like a small bird with a circular crest at its centre. When Instructor Redfire pressed on it, the badge lit up with a white light and Redfire spoke into it with a respectful tone.
"Guardian, Sir, permission to bring one of my students to you. They have potentially valuable information about the Hunters."
After a few seconds a soft almost feminine voice slowly crept out of the badge, speaking rather plainly.
"Granted."
Redfire quickly moved to the side, opening a draw before he picked up a set of fresh clothes and threw them over to Casmir.
"Put them on quickly." He said while pulling out another small badge.
Casmir quickly got changed out of his ragged clothes while he watched Instructor Redfire play around with the new badge before pressing it against his own.
The new badge was smaller and plainer but it still lit up with a white light when Instructor Redfire pressed it against his own, clearly they had similar functions.
It only took a moment for Casmir to finish getting changed, afterwards Instructor Redfire walked over and pinned the new badge on Casmir's chest.
"This is an ID badge, I'm sure you've seen similar ones before on guards for Ellaris city. Don't lose it."
Casmir quickly nodded.
"Can mine also transmit my voice like yours?" Casmir asked curiously.
Redfire shook his head, "No, mine is a higher grade commander badge to allow communication between command and control, however your badge can receive orders if needed."
Redfire then walked to the door but paused just before walking through, turning to look at Casmir.
"What you're about to see might be a bit shocking, don't walk off and keep following me. A lot of the things around you are classified military technologies that the public are not aware of so remember, you can't tell all your friends about all this." Redfire explained strictly, as if Casmir wasn't a student anymore but a soldier.
Unfortunately Redfire's words only served to make the young and naive Casmir more curious.
Redfire then finally stepped out of the room into a small corridor made purely of metal as he prompted Casmir to follow him.