Sid POV

  “What do you guys think about staying here for a day or two?” Sid asked after spitting out the crushed Nema leaves. “We can level up our skills and even evolve some of them, like Varun.”

  He sat on a flat rock at the edge of the ravine, knees bent, elbows resting loosely on his thighs. The stone was cool through his trousers. Rohan stood behind him, close enough that Sid could hear his breathing shift whenever he moved. Down in the ravine, Varun crouched at the water’s edge, scooping handfuls of clear water to rinse his face and mouth.

  Someone back at camp had figured out that Nema leaves worked much like mango leaves and could clean one’s teeth and deal with bad breath. Sid was thankful for that. It spared him the effort of accidentally discovering it through trial and error.

  He had never hidden practical knowledge about skills or combat, even though sharing it invited questions about the source of his knowledge. He needed a capable team, not a deadweight. Small comforts like Nema leaves or Amacha paste had fallen into a different category, things he had not bothered to explain or control.

  “Yeah, I think we can take on the spiders and boars any day,” Varun said. In a sudden burst of motion, he cleared the last stretch of ravine wall and appeared beside Sid. His landing was light, controlled. “We just need to be careful of the goblin army.”

  Rohan flinched. He took a reflexive step back, his head snapping towards Varun, eyes widening, mouth parting before he caught himself. “Have you guys lost your minds?” His gaze flicked from Varun to Sid. “We were lucky not to get caught by that army. Lucky. Let’s just get out of here and go back to camp.”

  Sid reached for the bottle beside him, unscrewed the cap, and took a mouthful of water. He swirled it slowly, feeling grit loosen between his teeth, then spat it over the edge. The silence stretched. He let it. Giving space for Varun to respond first.

  Varun stepped forward, closing the distance with Rohan. “More people does not mean more safety here. It could even become a liability.” His voice sharpened, daring Rohan to argue. “That army could wipe out the camp, and there is nothing we could do about it. Not even Sid.”

  Sid felt the weight of the words settle over the group. He had already played this out in his head. He wanted to stay. Not out of stubbornness, but because this place made sense. He needed controlled danger.

  Veil of the Mind’s Eye sat at level nineteen, close enough that he could almost feel the next threshold pressing against him. With the spiders nearby, he could grind the last two levels and finally step into Tier One.

  Rohan would benefit too, even if fear kept him from seeing it. The terrain and the enemies made this an ideal place to work on Mana Web. With the goblin army roaming nearby, the spiders would have their attention split. The Matriarch would be forced to focus outward, not on a small group skirting the edges of her territory.

  Sid pushed himself to his feet carefully. Gravel shifted under his boots, and he paused until his balance settled. He turned to face Rohan, meeting his gaze. Rohan’s eyes were still wide, but now there was something else there too, uncertainty fighting with trust.

  “That army was on the move,” Sid said. “Even if we stay here, they will move away from us.”

  Rohan opened his mouth, then closed it again.

  Sid leaned forward a little, not crowding Rohan, but making sure his words landed. “Moving blindly is more dangerous. We do not know what is in any other direction. Here, we know the threats. We know the terrain.” He held Rohan’s gaze. “We’ll stay for a day or two. We get stronger. Then we move.”

  Varun took another step forward, boots crunching lightly against gravel, and placed a hand on Rohan’s shoulder. “Think about it. We have been running into more spiders than other monsters. We could level up your Mana Web.” He turned his gaze toward Sid, watching him as if measuring his reaction. “If we get enough crystals, we might even evolve it.”

  Rohan stiffened under the touch. His shoulders rose, and he shifted just enough to break the contact. “Evolving my skills is the least of my worries.” His voice came out tight. “I don’t think I should hog all the crystals. We can give them to the people at the camp.” His gaze dropped briefly before lifting again. “More than the crystals, they need to know about the army. I cannot have their deaths on my conscience.”

  “What if the goblins follow our trail?” Varun shot back, a hint of triumph creeping into his expression. “Then we would definitely be responsible for their deaths.”

  Rohan froze. His lips pressed into a thin line, and he glared at Varun, jaw clenched hard enough that the muscle twitched.

  Sid let the silence stretch just long enough to drain some of the heat. Then he spoke. “Let Pallavi be the tiebreaker.” He raised one hand, palm outward, a gesture meant to slow things down. His expression shifted, softening at the edges. “If she agrees to stay, we stay. If she says we go back, we go back.”

  Sid had already spoken with Pallavi during their watch the previous night. The memory surfaced unbidden. Her quiet admission that the camp made her uneasy, especially after what had happened there.

  He turned his head toward their hideout. Through the thinning mist, he saw Pallavi approaching along the narrow path. She moved with a steady rhythm, alert but not rushed. Her backpack was missing, left behind near the shelter where she usually kept it close. That detail stood out more than he had expected.

  Sid extended his bottle toward Varun with a small tilt of his wrist, a wordless request. “Fill it.”

  Varun took the bottle without comment and closed his eyes, brows knitting together as he focused.

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  “Just use your skill the normal way,” Sid said, shaking his head, the corner of his mouth lifting despite himself.

  “You need to look at where you want to go, Varun,” Rohan said, exhaling as he spoke. His frustration bled into the words, making them rush together.

  “That attitude is the problem,” Varun snapped, opening his eyes to glare at him. “That is why you are leveling up slowly. You have always followed the beaten path. You lack the imagination to think of anything else.”

  Sid knew that to use Flash Step properly, Varun had to picture the destination clearly. The skill traced the shortest path along the ground and carried him there, arresting his momentum at the destination and preventing overshoot. Unlike Dash, it also allowed one to chain multiple quick movements, up to three in succession, before triggering cooldown.

  “You can’t attack someone personally like that,” Sid said, stepping in between Varun and Rohan, turning on his heel to face Varun. “You’ve been more unhinged since we came here, Varun. It’s like you’ve removed the filter in your head.” He wanted discussions within the team, even debate, but he could not allow his team to keep tearing into each other.

  “I’m just trying to do what you advised, Sid.” Varun smiled toward Rohan, then flicked a glance at Sid, checking his reaction. “I’m incorporating skills into daily life.”

  He lifted both hands and crooked two fingers on each, forming exaggerated air quotes. “Using skills outside of battle.”

  “What’s up with you guys?” Pallavi’s voice came from behind them, flat and unamused. “For a group of people who are supposed to be friends, you fight a lot more than strangers.”

  Rohan turned sharply, ready to respond, but Varun spoke first. “We fight because we care, Pallavi.”

  The words came out fast, then slowed. Varun swallowed, his expression shifting. The usual sharpness faded, replaced by something heavier. He met her eyes directly. “I’ve been around people who barely disagreed or raised their voices. Believe me when I say this. If you can’t be yourself with your friends, then they are not your friends to begin with.”

  Rohan shifted his weight, arms folding halfway before dropping again. His gaze dropped to the ground for a moment before sliding away, jaw working slowly as if he were weighing whether to argue or accept the point.

  Sid watched the exchange closely. That had been more honest than he had expected. Varun almost never spoke about his past without deflecting. This was not a joke or a jab. It was a line drawn from experience.

  Sid reached out and tapped Varun’s shoulder once, a silent cue to ease off. He pointed toward the water bottle, then turned to Pallavi as Varun moved away.

  “What do you think about staying here for a day or two before we go back to the main camp?” Sid asked, studying Pallavi’s face, already expecting agreement.

  Pallavi tilted her head back slightly, gaze drifting past him toward the trees and the slope beyond. She stood still for a beat, as if mapping the area in her mind. Then, her attention returned to him. “You want to gather more skill crystals?”

  “Yes.” Sid nodded once. His stance straightened, shoulders squaring as confidence settled in. “We’ve mostly been running into spiders here.” His gaze held steady. “I think this is an excellent opportunity to level some skills and collect a few crystals. And staying here puts distance between us and the goblin army.”

  They were close to the hidden entrance of the Matriarch’s lair. Elite spiders guarded the area, stronger and more coordinated than the ones they had fought so far. Those elites could provide a steady source of levels and crystals.

  Sid kept his expression neutral, but his thoughts ran deep. The Silkenfang Matriarch was the only known monster in the dungeon specializing in psychic skills. She was a commander-type entity, one that fought through control rather than brute force, shaping the battlefield through her brood.

  If Sid wanted to advance Veil of the Mind’s Eye to rare and beyond without sacrificing evolution benefits, he needed access to other mind-based abilities.

  “I don’t mind staying an additional day or two.” Pallavi’s words made Rohan’s face fall. His shoulders slumped, and his gaze dropped. He lifted his head again only when she continued. “But I don’t like the current hideout. Why don’t we look for a cave or something?”

  “We might not find a cave in this area,” Sid began, his eyes drifting past Rohan’s shoulder as he thought through the terrain. “But that’s not an excuse for not checking.”

  He turned fully toward Pallavi and leaned forward a little, his posture sharpening. “We’ll leave our bags at the current hideout and check the area.” His voice grew firmer with each sentence. “If we find a cave, we shift. If not, we come back here.”

  Pallavi gave a small nod, slow and deliberate. She adjusted her grip on her spear, knuckles whitening for a moment before relaxing, a quiet sign that she had accepted the plan.

  Varun let out a quiet breath through his nose, lips curling faintly. He gave a small shrug that read as approval.

  Rohan hesitated longer, jaw tightening. His eyes flicked toward the forest, then back to Sid. After a moment, he nodded once, reluctantly, his shoulders easing as if conceding ground.

  A direct assault on the Matriarch was impossible for their team. They lacked both ability and numbers. She spread her spiders throughout her territory, sensing what they sensed. Any attack on her guards would alert her immediately.

  The plan was to skirt the edges of the Matriarch’s territory, drawing her guards away. He was hoping her elite guards would drop a mind-based skill or two and that she would be busy with the goblin army to send troops after them.

  The Matriarch herself would have to be dealt with by the goblin army pushing into her territory. If the timing aligned, Sid intended to take a calculated gamble. He would raid the Matriarch’s lair while her attention was elsewhere. It was risky, but it was also an opportunity.

  “Come on,” Sid said, already turning away. “Let’s not waste time.”

  They went back to the hideout at a measured pace. The forest felt muted, sound dampened by mist and dense foliage. They moved efficiently, packing only what was necessary. Weapons were checked. One backpack was filled with water and emergency rations. Everything else was left behind.

  Sid took point when they set out again. His gaze stayed lifted, scanning the canopy instead of the ground. Branches overlapped overhead, casting shifting shadows. The air felt heavier here, carrying a faint, sticky hint of silk.

  “We haven’t seen any monsters so far,” Rohan said. His brows knit together as his eyes darted between the trees. “Do you think the army is still around?”

  “This could be spider territory,” Sid said without turning back. His voice carried evenly through the still air. “That might be why we have seen no other monsters.”

  He slowed and turned halfway around, lifting one hand. “Focus on the canopy more than the ground, okay?”

  Each of them nodded, one after another, acknowledging the instruction before Sid resumed walking.

  They were nearing the hidden entrance now. The hidden entrance lay somewhere ahead, surrounded by thin, nearly invisible strands of webbing. The threads were not meant to trap. They were sensors, subtle and widespread.

  It was also the ideal place for Sid to fake his sixth sense. He needed to build his team’s confidence in the skill. It would help him guide his team through the optimal path with no one questioning the source of knowledge.