“First, the basics,” Ren whispered as they approached a cluster of trees. “See how the threads shine differently depending on the angle?”
Taro and Min nodded beneath their camouflage blankets, moving with the deliberate slowness Ren had emphasized. Each movement was carefully calculated to avoid alerting the creatures above.
“The brightest ones are older, but they’re not the most valuable,” Ren continued, his voice barely above a whisper. “Look for threads with a faint, transparent gleam. Those are new ones that haven’t absorbed much mana yet. Their sensitivity is still perfect.”
“How do we reach them?” Min whispered, observing the threads stretching several meters above their heads, creating an ethereal web in the filtered sunlight.
“Watch the Weavers first,” Ren discreetly pointed toward the high branches. Several white figures moved among the foliage, their moth wings shimmering under the sun like living silk.
“They have routines. Approximately every two hours, they come down to check the lower networks.”
As if to confirm his words, a Weaver descended gracefully down a nearby trunk. Its white fur gleamed as it inspected the threads, completely ignoring the camouflaged students below.
♢♢♢♢
“Now,” Ren whispered when the Weaver returned upward, “we have a two-hour window in this section. You need to look for vertical threads that start attached to the trees. And watch this…”
He pulled out a long and thin branch he’d carefully selected earlier.
With precise movements, he began winding one of the lower mature threads, which caught one of the new threads from above in a controlled spiral.
“The older silk is stronger than it looks, but also less sticky. The new silk is more elastic.” He let Min try with another thread. The silk tensed but didn’t break.
“It stretches,” Taro completed, watching fascinated.
“Exactly. But if you twist it on its own axis several turns and then wind it at the correct angle…” Ren demonstrated the movement, “it detaches cleanly from the bark without damaging its properties.”
His friends began imitating the technique, growing more confident with each attempt.
“And something interesting,” Ren indicated marks on the tree trunk that most would mistake for random scratches. “See these scrapes? They’re Weaver territorial marks. They tell us exactly when they last renewed the networks in this area.”
“Like a calendar?” Min whispered.
“Better. The deeper marks indicate primary weaving zones. If we follow the pattern…” Ren guided them around the tree, revealing a complex system of markings, “we’ll find the newest networks, and therefore, the most valuable ones.”
“One last thing,” he murmured while crawling carefully across the ground. “Weavers leave more than just silk. Look at the base of the trees… there.”
He pointed to what appeared to be old bark. But when he carefully moved it aside, it revealed a complete Weaver molt, its delicate structure perfectly preserved.
“The molts contain traces of their fur and wing scales. Some cultivators use them to enhance beasts with light affinity.”
“Valuable materials too?” Min whispered excitedly, his eyes widening at the discovery.
“Exactly. And look at this…” Ren pointed to peculiar marks in the ground near the molt. “These are Bark Stalker tracks. But they’re old, not deep, at least a week old. If we find fresh tracks…”
“We move away,” Taro completed, his beetle’s markings shifting protectively.
“Precisely.”
Ren smiled beneath his blanket. Jin could mock his absences from class, but Ren didn’t need those classes just like Wei’s case.
“The silk needs special containers,” Ren explained while extracting a large bag from his equipment. “Cost five hundred crystals, but worth the investment for its preservation properties.”
“Why invest so much in a large bag?” Min asked while examining the container curiously, his water snake mirroring his interest.
“Silk contaminates easily, like crystals,” Ren explained, demonstrating the proper storage technique. “Without the right container, it would lose its properties before reaching market. You must be very careful storing it. Keep the old separate from the new, or both will be ruined.”
“You must?” Min paused, catching the detail in his words. “Won’t you be with us?”
Ren smiled while adjusting his own equipment, the mushrooms in his hair pulsing with increased intensity. “I’m entrusting you with the silk collection. It’s the simplest and safest task. I’m going after something a bit… more complicated.”
“More complicated?” Taro frowned, his beetle’s markings darkening. “What are you planning?”
“Nothing dangerous,” Ren assured, though the mushrooms’ increasing pulse suggested otherwise. “Just following some interesting leads.”
“What leads?” Min pressed, his snake coiling anxiously.
Ren discretely pointed to patterns in the ground that others might miss. “See those patterns? They’re Bark Stalker escape routes. But I’m not interested in them…”
“Then what?”
“I’m looking for Shadow Stalkers’ daytime hideouts,” Ren revealed in a low voice. “Yes, they’re deadly at night, but during the day…”
“You’re crazy!” Taro whispered in alarm. “The professor said…”
“The professor warned about facing them at night,” Ren corrected calmly. “During the day they’re not so bad. I just need to find where they hide.”
He calmed them while studying more ground marks. The Bark Stalkers’ escape patterns told a clear story to those who could read them, and thanks to his special knowledge, Ren could interpret them perfectly.
“I’ll be fine,” he assured his worried friends. “Focus on the silk. You know how to collect it now, and it’s valuable material.”
“But…” Min began.
“I have the flare,” Ren reminded them, patting his pocket. “And I won’t go too far. I just need to confirm some theories.”
His friends exchanged worried looks, but after a month of following Ren in the mines, they’d learned to trust his judgment… to a certain extent.
“Be careful,” Taro finally conceded. “And don’t take too long.”
Ren nodded and began moving away, his eyes fixed on the ground markings that would guide him to his true goal.
The Shadow Stalkers had to be somewhere. And with them, materials worth far more than the common silk other students would collect.
♢♢♢♢
Ren had lied a little to calm his friends.
The knowledge flowing through him was clear, Shadow Stalker colonies were mortally dangerous even during daylight hours. Thousands of them, packed into deep caves, each capable of draining a student’s vitality in seconds.
‘But they’re creatures of habit,’ he thought while studying the terrain. ‘And every colony has its solitary sentinels…’
First, he needed a large Bark Stalker, one of those the professor mentioned they’d removed from the marked area. Which meant leaving the safe territory. But for that…
‘I need a distraction.’
About a hundred meters away, Jin’s group worked near a particularly silk-rich area. The mushrooms pulsed while Ren analyzed the situation. Just above them, an especially large colony of Weavers was constructing new networks.