Over the course of the next week, I began to explore deeper into the canyon. It quickly became apparent that in order to reach the center, I'd need to traverse quite a distance and advance greatly in cultivation. According to the book I'd found with information on Luoxuan Canyon, the canyon was divided into the Outer, Middle, and Inner Spirals, the dividing lines between each able to be roughly approximated by drawing a line from the entrance to the canyon to its center, and noting what points in the canyon the line crossed. The magical beasts in the Middle Spiral would be stronger by a Stage than the ones here, and a stage stronger than that in the Inner Spiral. There were also different types—instead of Giant Bats in the Middle Spiral, Spider Wolves dwelled in the caves, and in the Inner Spiral, Whiptongue Lizards made their dens there, while Bloodletter Crows ruled the daylight and skies. Not only were those going to be at Stages 5, 6, and 7, they were also stronger types which did physical damage. I couldn't be nearly as confident taking on a Stage above my own there. The Whiptongue Lizards in particular weren't vulnerable to arrows like the rest, so I'd have to mostly avoid them.
There was something more terrible than any of that guarding the Spiral's Center, but the book only referred to it as the Ruler of the Spiral, and gave no more information about it. I'd have to deal with that one when I managed to even reach it.
The distance to the Middle Spiral was so long, however, that I decided to clear out another Giant Bat cave, one very close to where the Middle Spiral began. This time, I was able to whittle down its numbers with hit-and-run strikes, since I didn't have to worry about passing that freakishly strong bear in order to retreat. It took most of that day, but I was able to prevent them from eating their dead, obtain two more Stage 4 cores on top of three I'd gained up to this point, and extract enough blood to turn in for the 3 Contribution Points. My arrow supply as well was sitting at just over 50—I could probably last a couple more days at least, but those days would be better spent getting back to the main camp anyway, just in case any beasts messed with me.
I set out from the first cave I cleared early in the morning, and once again made it out of the Dark Forest soon before dusk. I kept going for a while before setting up camp, though. The following morning, I decided I'd go ahead absorb the Stage 4 Cores I'd accumulated—and it turned out those alone, on top of all the Qi gained from my kills from the Experiential Physique, were enough for me to break through to the Fifth Stage, and even get so close to the 6th that I could probably straight cultivate up to it. I walked into the main camp feeling very pleased with myself, especially as I took out all ten filled jugs of Giant Bat blood. I handed him my Academy ID Badge, and he transferred 150,000 Credits and 3 Contribution Points, essentially paying double the usual rate. "I didn't think you'd be back this quickly," he said, grinning, "though maybe that says more about me. After all, you were quickest to get going."
"The main camp seems emptier than I thought it'd be. Or are people more confident in camping out by themselves than I'd have thought?"
"No, but most folks are already out hunting in the field—except for the rest of the likely candidates for the Inner Court, they're probably all through the Dark Forest by now. I tell you, this is a good year. Even without Jue Zhu, you're among probably the most promising batch of newcomers since the Academy opened its doors. Even the slackers in your year are a little bit ahead of previous curves, so I hear.
So, anything you're interested in before you head back out yourself?"
"I need more arrows, and is there anything I can afford that will give me better protection?"
"If you mean protective gear, then no, we don't even offer any. That kind of thing costs more Contribution Points than even Jue Zhu would earn from this trip in one go. Although, if you're planning on fighting Spider Wolves, I can sell you a charm against poison for 250,000 Credits, or a set of antidotes and poison resistance potions for 50,000."
I talked him down to 200,000 for the Antidote Charm, and bought 500 more arrows for another 5,000. I wasn't broke after that, but I was close. I'd need to pay more heed to collecting monster parts with this next trip. I did want to end the summer with more than a handful of converted Contribution Points, after all.
By the time I returned to Luoxuan Canyon, some of the Giant Bats had tried to spread back into the caves I cleared. With my power increased from the recent breakthrough, I was able to make much shorter work of them, especially since there were fewer than when they were full nests before. Carefully, assiduously, and steadily, I advanced deeper into the Middle Spiral. For several days, I mostly explored, only fighting Gazers when I had to. The Spiderwolves, so named because they were spiders about the size of large wolves and tended to hunt in packs, were more cautious than the bats, but even so I managed a few kills. Their fangs and poison sacs would sell even better than the bat blood, I was sure.
Eventually, I found a cave that seemed quite a bit smaller than most, and so should have had relatively few of the Spiderwolves in them. I was right—there were only nine—but it was still an extremely challenging fight that I had to take care with. For the first time, I was required to use my sword and bow in concert, using the bow when they took to their webs and draglines to evade my sword's reach, and fighting them off with the sword when they pressed the attack more up close. No matter the situation, I had to be extremely wary of their webs. Unlike many spider-based enemies I'd fought in Dive Games, they didn't actually shoot webbing at me. That was good, because their silk was much too strong to get out of simply by filling a struggle bar for 30 seconds, or something. As far as I could tell, they didn't use their silk to catch prey so much as catch intruders. In my observations of them, they relied on pack tactics, mostly spitting poison and biting with their fangs for that. I got a creepy impression that as magical beasts, they had too much bloodlust to simply wait for prey to fall into a trap.
I had to remind myself to still be on guard for it though. Just because they hadn't shot webs at me didn't mean they couldn't. My paranoia was proven right almost as soon as I managed to finish one of them. Thought you could use me for sport, eh? I backed all the way out of the cave, taking what potshots I could, and they still followed, doing their best to overtake and surround me as soon as I was out in the open. They hadn't reacted like that to my previous kills, but then I had only finished off ones that had been weakened by prey they were hunting, so I'd probably only been seen as a scavenger.
I was pretty good at dodging, but I knew if they got behind me, I likely wouldn't even be able to use the totem. I kept on the move, and in about a minute, two more of them died from arrow wounds. From that, my Experiential Physique absorbed enough Qi for me to break through to the 6th Stage. After that, the fight got rather easier...that is, until a group of five Stage 5 Gazers decided the Spiderwolves had made too much of a ruckus with this hunt and attacked both them and me. Even though that meant the battle was giving me less pressure personally, it got a lot more chaotic. Still, I was able to handle it from there. I dragged the spider carcasses back to the cave, to strip the fangs and poison sacs away from prying Gazer eyes.