Daylight crept across the floating island, chasing the shadows back into the crevices where they belonged. The Evolvers began to stir one by one. Their bodies were strong enough that a few hours of sleep was sufficient, and within minutes most of them were on their feet, stretching muscles and blinking away the remnants of rest.

Once everyone was up, Moon got to work. He pulled several beast corpses from his storage ring and began preparing them over the bonfire. He seasoned the meat with the spices he kept on hand, adjusting the heat carefully, rotating the cuts so they cooked evenly.

A few offered to help, and Moon did not reject, allowing them to cut the meat.

The mouth watering smell of various spices, herbs and tender meat filled the cave within minutes.

"Wow, boss! This is so good!" One of the female Evolvers said between mouthfuls, her eyes wide. "You’re also a great cook?! Just what can you not do!"

"I know how to cook a little. I learned from a friend." Moon muttered, placing another portion on the plate. "Anyway, dig in. We have a long day ahead of us, so you need the energy."

Everyone nodded and continued eating. As they ate, Moon noticed a problem, the cave was quiet. Too quiet. People chewed in silence, eyes on their food, minds clearly still heavy with everything that had happened. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Moon let a moment pass, then spoke up casually.

"So who here is the worst fighter?"

Heads turned. A few confused looks.

The brute pointed at one of the mages without hesitation. "Him."

"What?! I saved your life twice last month!" The mage shot back, nearly choking on his food.

"You set my hair on fire the first time."

"That was friendly fire!"

"There’s nothing friendly about being on fire. Don’t you know the phrase, don’t play with fire, lets you get burnt? You burnt me!"

Laughter rippled through the cave. Small at first, but it remove some of the tension.

"What about you?" Moon looked at the tank. "Any embarrassing stories from the hunts?"

The tank groaned. "Don’t ask."

"He got headbutted by a baby boar once." The archer said from his corner, grinning. "Flew about ten meters."

"It wasn’t a baby! It was at least level 28! Back then I wasn’t strong."

"It came up to your knee."

The cave erupted. Even the quieter, newer members of the group were smiling, the heavy silence from before replaced by the warmth of people remembering that they could still laugh.

Stories began to flow freely about the Evolvers failed hunts, and ridiculous encounters.

Moon sat close, eating his own portion quietly, watching the group come alive. He didn’t insert himself into every conversation, but when someone directed a question his way, he answered with enough warmth to keep the energy moving.

These people had spent months as puppets. They needed a meal, a fire, a few laughs. Something to remind them that they were still human.

Once the meal was finished and the fire had died down, Moon stood and addressed the group.

"We’re going hunting. We’ll spend the next two days killing everything that crosses our path. Beasts, spirits, whatever comes."

The brute frowned. "Are we not going to attack the hideout?"

Moon shook his head. "No. Not yet. It would be foolish to attack now. They know something is wrong. They’ll have fortified the entrance, set up defenses, and positioned their strongest people near the chokepoints. Walking in there right now is exactly what they’re expecting us to do.

Many of you will die if we attack now. We are outnumbered by 3 to 1."

He looked across the group. "So we let them wait. Every hour they spend hiding inside that base is an hour they aren’t hunting, aren’t training, aren’t getting stronger. Meanwhile, we’ll be out here doing exactly that."

He held up two fingers.

"Two days. By the time we go in, we’ll be stronger than we are now, and they’ll be exactly the same. That’s how we win."

The group was quiet for a moment. Then the tank nodded slowly.

"Makes sense. They can’t grow if they’re too scared to leave."

"And we can’t lose if we keep growing." The archer added.

Moon picked up his staff and walked toward the cave entrance.

"Grab your weapons. We move now."

Everyone exchanged excited glances.

It had been so long since they felt like this. The rush of dopamine before a hunt. The surge of adrenaline when a beast appeared. The will to grow stronger, to push further, to chase something beyond survival...a goal. They had forgotten what it felt like to want something for themselves.

This young man had given it back to them.

"Let’s go, people!" The brute slammed his fist into his palm.

"Time to hunt!" The archer grinned, slinging his bow over his shoulder.

"For freedom!" One of the mages shouted.

"For our families!" Another added.

"For the future!" The tank said, and the cave erupted in a cheer that echoed off the stone walls as they walked out.

Moon walked ahead of them, hiding the small smile that crept onto his face.

The next two days were nothing short of relentless.

Moon led the large group of twenty Evolvers across every hunting ground Frey had shown him and several more that the freed Evolvers knew about. They moved as a unit, covering vast stretches of the island in long sweeps. When they found beasts, they killed them. When they found stronger beasts, Moon stepped forward and killed those too.

And the more they fought together, the more shocked the group became.

It wasn’t just Moon’s raw power that impressed them, though that alone was nothing short of staggering. It was his instincts. His ability to read a fight before it happened. The way he positioned his team so that nobody was ever overexposed, the way he rotated who fought on the frontline so that everyone gained experience equally rather than letting the strongest carry while the rest watched.