By the time the group reached the far side of the Gravespine Range, even Daren had stopped pretending that his map was still useful.
The tunnel Kael had created through the mountain had placed them somewhere that no normal expedition route ever crossed, and although Daren could recognize several distant ridgelines, most of the nearby terrain did not correspond cleanly with anything marked on the damaged leather sheet in his hands.
The others were in no condition to complain.
Their injuries had worsened after hours of travel, the healer was visibly exhausted, and the hunter who had been struck by the Graveback still needed assistance whenever the ground became uneven.
When Daren finally suggested making camp, Kael only looked around once before agreeing.
He had no particular need to stop, but he also had no reason to refuse.
They chose a relatively open patch of ground between several large stones where the trees grew far enough apart to give the hunters some visibility.
Daren immediately began organizing the camp while the others gathered whatever dry wood they could find.
Kael simply sat on one of the stones and watched them work.
Rhea noticed.
For someone who had accepted a disciple only a few hours earlier, her new master was showing remarkably little interest in what a master was actually supposed to do.
Still, she remembered one thing very clearly.
“I can cook.” Those had been the words that had finally earned a reaction from him.
Rhea therefore took control of the evening meal with far more determination than the situation deserved.
Their remaining ingredients were poor.
Most of the preserved meat had absorbed moisture, several packets of dried vegetables had been damaged, and what little seasoning remained had to be shared carefully.
Even so, she managed to put together a thick stew using wild roots the scout confirmed were edible.
When she finally handed Kael a wooden bowl, she sat nearby and watched him with such obvious expectation that he paused before taking the first bite.
He chewed slowly.
Rhea leaned forward.
Kael swallowed.
“Better than what I’ve been eating.” Rhea immediately smiled.
Then the meaning of his words caught up with her.
“Master…what have you been eating?” Kael looked toward the forest.
“Whatever was available.” Rhea followed his gaze.
Somewhere in the distance, something large screamed once before abruptly becoming silent.
She looked back at him.
“Right.” She decided that she did not need further details.
The rest of the group ate quietly, though the atmosphere around the camp remained strange.
Every few minutes, someone looked toward Kael and then quickly looked away again.
They had survived the Graveback because of him, crossed Blackroot Basin because of him, and passed directly through an entire mountain because he had apparently decided going around would be inconvenient.
None of that made him easier to understand.
Later, while Kael remained near the fire, Daren gathered the others a short distance away.
“Don’t ask unnecessary questions,” he said quietly.
The archer frowned.
“That’s difficult when every necessary question creates three more.” “I know.” The scout lowered his voice even further.
“You still can’t sense him, right?” Everyone shook their heads.
That was perhaps the most disturbing part.
Kael was sitting less than thirty meters away.
They could see him.
They could hear the occasional movement of his clothes.
Yet if any of them closed their eyes, their instincts insisted that the stone beside the fire was empty.
The archer glanced toward Rhea.
“And you decided to become his disciple.” Rhea folded her arms.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Daren gave her a long look.
“It still seems like a good idea.” Nobody argued with that.
The scout looked back toward Kael.
“What if he’s not actually human?” Rhea’s expression changed slightly.
The thought had already occurred to her.
Kael looked young, but nothing else about him fit with any hunter she had ever met.
He walked through the Hollow Depth without equipment.
Monsters could barely notice him.
He possessed some kind of power that caused living creatures and even mountains to deteriorate.
He somehow sensed things no scout could detect.
And he had never once looked afraid.
Rhea glanced at Kael again.
For the first time, she wondered how old her master actually was.
Kael happened to look toward her at that exact moment.
Rhea immediately turned away.
Daren sighed.
“Whatever he is, don’t provoke him.” The archer muttered, “I wasn’t planning to.” By the time the meal was finished and the injured hunters had settled down to rest, Rhea’s attention returned to a more immediate problem.
She had a master now.
That should mean training.
She approached Kael while he was still sitting beside the fading fire.
“Master.” “Hmm?” “When does my training begin?” Kael looked at her.
Rhea waited.
Several seconds passed.
Then Kael asked, “What do you want me to teach you?” Rhea stared at him.
“What?” “You asked about training.” “You’re the master.” Kael considered that.
“Fair.” Rhea resisted the urge to rub her forehead.
Kael stood.
“Show me what you can do.” That was more like what she had expected.
Rhea moved into an open section of the camp and drew the short blade she carried at her waist.
Unlike Kael, the hunters of this world did not rely on ordinary physical strength alone.
Through repeated training, they learned to circulate the force produced within their bodies through specific pathways, reinforcing movement, perception, weapons, and specialized techniques.
Rhea focused.
A faint pressure gathered around her arm.
She stepped forward and cut.
The blade moved fast enough to produce a sharp sound as it crossed the air.
Kael watched.
More accurately, he sensed everything.
The movement of her muscles.
The shifting tension in her tendons.
The force traveling through her body.
The fraction of power that dispersed before reaching the blade.
The unnecessary tightening in her shoulder.
Rhea lowered the weapon.
“Well?” “You’re wasting a lot.” Her expression stiffened.
“Where?” Kael pointed toward her shoulder.
“There.
And here.” He touched two places along her upper arm.
“You tense too early.
The force spreads before the strike.” Rhea frowned.
“That’s how I was taught.” “Then they taught you wrong.” She opened her mouth to argue, but Kael had already stepped back.
“Do it again.
Relax until the last part.” Rhea adjusted her stance.
She tried the strike once more.
The blade cut through the air.
This time the sound was noticeably sharper.
Rhea froze.
She looked at her own hand.
The difference was small, but unmistakable.
Kael had watched her technique once.
Once.
“Again,” he said.
Rhea obeyed.
The second attempt was cleaner.
Her expression slowly changed.
Perhaps becoming this man’s disciple had been an even better decision than she had thought.
Night settled heavily over the forest.
The hunters took turns keeping watch while Kael remained near the center of the camp.
Eventually even Rhea fell asleep, still thinking about the corrections he had given her.
Several hours later, the scout on watch heard movement behind him.
He turned immediately.
Kael was standing near the edge of the camp.
The scout relaxed.
Then his eyes drifted toward the fire.
Kael was still sitting there.
The scout stared.
His gaze moved back toward the trees.
Kael was there too.
For several seconds, the scout genuinely wondered whether exhaustion had finally broken something in his head.
Then another Kael walked out of the darkness carrying a bundle of dry branches.
The scout fell backward.
The noise woke Daren.
“What happened?” The scout pointed.
Daren looked.
His expression became blank.
Within moments, everyone was awake.
Rhea rubbed her eyes before following their gazes.
One Kael sat beside the fire.
Another stood near the camp boundary.
A third dropped the bundle of wood onto the ground.
Rhea stopped moving.
“Master…” All three Kaels looked at her.
“What?” That made everything worse.
Rhea slowly pointed from one to the next.
“Why are there three of you?” Kael frowned slightly.
“There aren’t.” Rhea stared at him.
“Master, I can see three.” “You’re seeing me in three places.” “Isn’t that the same thing?” “No.” Daren stepped forward carefully.
“Senior Kael…which one is the real you?” Kael looked at him.
“Yes.” Daren blinked.
“Which one?” “All of them.” The archer whispered, “Illusions?” “No.” “Projections?” “No.” “Copies?” “No.” Rhea approached the nearest Kael and cautiously touched his arm.
Solid.
She immediately crossed to the one sitting by the fire and touched his shoulder.
Also solid.
Kael looked mildly amused.
Rhea stepped back.
“I don’t understand.” “That’s fine.” “How is that fine?” “You don’t need to understand everything tonight.” Rhea decided that was probably true, although it did nothing to make the situation less disturbing.
Daren asked the question everyone else was thinking.
“How many places can you be in at once?” Kael paused.
“A lot.” Rhea narrowed her eyes.
“How many is a lot?” “A lot.” “Master.” Kael sat back down.
The conversation was apparently over.
The hunters returned to sleep much more slowly after that.
By morning, the camp was quiet again.
The scout completed one final inspection before departure and noticed several sets of tracks surrounding the camp.
Human tracks.
He followed one trail between the trees.
Then another.
Then another.
They extended in different directions around the campsite, overlapping with the prints of several monsters that had approached during the night.
None of those monster tracks came close.
The scout looked back toward Kael.
“Senior Kael…were you walking around the camp all night?” Kael adjusted the simple cloth wrapping around one wrist.
“Part of me.” Everyone became silent.
Kael paused.
“Actually, that’s not accurate.” Rhea immediately looked interested.
“Then what is accurate?” Kael pointed toward the remains of the fire.
“I was here.” Then he pointed toward the forest.
“And there.” Another direction.
“And there.” The scout slowly followed each gesture.
Rhea’s expression changed as understanding began to form.
While all of them had slept believing the camp was vulnerable, Kael had been occupying positions throughout the surrounding forest.
Not copies.
Not guards.
Him.
The same person.
Everywhere around them.
Kael started walking.
“Coming?” Rhea hurriedly grabbed her belongings.
The others followed a moment later.
For the first time, Daren understood that traveling beside Kael did not simply mean traveling beside one powerful man.
It meant traveling beside someone for whom being in only one place at a time appeared to be an unnecessary limitation.