Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 163: Retcon

When the crew examined the garax’s corpse, they discovered one last surprise waiting for them. Lodged into the stump of its neck was a core-seed—a magical phenomenon that occasionally appeared when a stage-three beast died.

It took the form of a pearly white sphere as big as Edge’s fists that shimmered in every color of the rainbow. It was beautiful, but that wasn’t the reason why the item was so valuable. As its name suggested, a core-seed could be refined by an alchemist to create a basic core.

Since everyone in the crew had a core of their own, only Trapper had an interest in the item beyond what it would sell for. “Do you mind if I take this for my share of the haul? I know someone who needs it, even if she isn’t going to be happy to hear me say it.”

After the massive pile of gains they had just received, no one had a problem with Trapper claiming the core-seed. With that out of the way, they began processing the beasts’ remains before they lost the light. They would head out to scout the borderlands first thing in the morning.

The garax’s head wound up taking up most of the wagon by itself. Rather than preparing anything elaborate, they used Edge’s iceblade to freeze jugs full of water and packed them around the behemoth’s skull. Then the hunters moved on to dealing with the tougher jobs.

They planned to remove as much of the garax’s leather as they could, then extract the claws from its limbs and the scales from the padamas’s tail. They were going to have to leave most of the meat and bones behind, although they were the least valuable parts. The crew intended to eat as much of it as they could for dinner, since the magicyte-rich flesh of a stage-three beast would refill their reservoirs overnight.

Riller, Jumo, and Trapper went to work skinning the carcasses, since they had enough experience to preserve the hides’ value. Violet started preparing dinner, while Sasha went to collect some spikes from the padamas's tail that were buried in wreckage of the silo. Edge’s job was to cut the claws free from the behemoth’s limbs, which was labor intensive, but relatively straightforward and hard to mess up.

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He finished the last one shortly before sunset. After he helped Jumo strap them to the sides of the wagon, the crew met back up around the fire. Next on their list was something that everyone had been looking forward to for hours—ever since the aroma of grilled meat had risen to fill the air.

After the climactic battle and dangerous journey, it was time for a victory feast. Everything was delicious, and Edge went to bed with a full belly and a full heart. He was thrilled to be an official member of the crew and in the company of people he didn’t have to hide his powers from any longer. The magicyte-rich meal let Violet use Traveler’s Boon, which helped the hunters heal their wounds overnight.

The team split up after breakfast. Violet, Sasha, and Blue stayed behind to guard the wagon and finish packing their haul. Meanwhile, everyone else left to conduct their scouting mission. If everything proceeded as planned, they would complete the trip in less than a day and be on their way back to Puppet Town well before sunset.

Edge found the journey to be significantly more pleasant without the ever-present threat of ambush. They still had to be careful, especially this close to the borderlands. But since the garax and the padamas had been terrorizing the region, the other predators had been displaced and the hunters were much less likely to run into anything hostile.

They began hiking northeast, following a winding footpath through the verdant growth that was only wide enough for them to progress in single file. Riller was so excited to have a core that he was practically dancing, and his good cheer was infectious. Everyone was smiling and laughing as they put the miles beneath their boots—ecstatic to have overcome such a deadly opponent and secured an amazing reward in the process.

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The achievement would have made them legends on the feed, if the Prison World broadcasts were still running. The crew had accomplished within a matter of days what would normally have required years of hard work—dramatically increasing their odds of surviving the changes that were taking place across the biome.

By now, he was ready to spend his attribute points. This time around, Edge decided to shore up some of his weaknesses. He went with an even split between Reflex, Control, and Disruption.

Once the potentia was set loose, he sat down to ride out the intense sensations. Reflex felt like lightning was racing beneath his skin, and Control increased his awareness of his body on a fundamental level. Combined, it left him feeling incredibly dexterous—able to respond to stimuli quicker than before and articulate each joint with increased precision. As always, gaining more Disruption was deeply soothing, like the static in his brain being replaced by a clear signal.

When they stopped for lunch a few hours later, Riller went off on his own to hunt a pack of hyenalike creatures that he’d spotted a mile back. The man was eager to start cycling-up his core as quickly as possible. He came back grinning from ear to ear. He had managed to finish them off with poisoned arrows without giving his position away and had earned his very first cycle.

Edge was happy for him. Riller was already an incredible hunter, but now he could make a larger contribution when the crew faced off against big beasts or multiple opponents. Not to mention, take some punishment without risking his life with every exchange of blows.

Edge could only imagine how much stealthier Riller would become after investing his attribute points and hitting stage-one. Hunting on Ord would never be safe, especially with the changes taking place in the wake of the anomaly. But being out in the wild with a core was far safer than going without.

Once he was back, everyone gathered their gear and resumed their journey. By the time that noon rolled around, Edge could see their destination—a massive hillock jutting up along the horizon.

When he asked what it was called, Trapper turned to him and answered. “That’s the Titan’s Nose. A hill so big that could just as easily be called a small mountain instead. From the top, you can see for over a hundred miles in every direction. We’ll climb it, survey the area, then hightail it back before we run into anything nasty.”

Two hours and a grueling climb later, the hunters were nearly there. They had scaled the hill from the southern approach, which was the only way up since the north side was a sheer face. As a result, they hadn’t been able to take a good look around during the ascent.

When they stepped onto the crest, Trapper pulled out a spyglass and cast her gaze into the distance. A few seconds later, the color bled from her cheeks, and she began to curse.

It was the first time that Edge had seen the veteran hunter truly disturbed. Even during the chaotic fights for their lives, she had always kept a level head. But in this moment, it was clear that the woman was deeply shaken—to the extent that she had to look away to collect her thoughts.

He walked over to her side, then took the spyglass when she offered it to him. He put his eye up to the lens, eager to find out what had Trapper so worried. For a second, he didn’t understand what he was looking at, but then the crew’s boss broke the silence.

“That’s supposed to be the Murkwood Lagoon to the north and the Barrens to the east. But that’s not what’s out there. I can make out two different biomes from here, but I don’t recognize either of them. I’ve never heard of anything that matches the description.”

Wait. How is that possible? That must mean… Everyone looked at one another with expressions of dawning realization. An understanding that was crystalized by Trapper’s next words.

“It can only mean one thing. We’ve had it wrong the entire time. Random bits of Ord weren’t transported onto the Ivory Plains. The whole damn biome was moved to the other side of the planet. Somewhere deep in the frontier, if my guess is right. We might be the first humans ever to set eyes on these biomes, and only the gods know what is waiting for us out there.”

She let out a shuddering sigh and then steeled her resolve. “Those must be high-threat regions. I’ve never seen such a dense concentration of magicytes. There’s more than enough magic out there to raise the threat level of the whole Ivory Plains. Before long, the area around Puppet Town is going to be just as saturated as the borderlands.

“No wonder we’ve been seeing so many stage-two beasts migrating onto the grasslands. And the worst is yet to come. Puppet Town has less time to prepare than we thought, and the danger is greater than we imagined. We must get back to town and warn them of what’s coming, before we lose the chance to strengthen our defenses.”