Chapter 25: Cores

After a tense battle deep in a forest of towering pines, Kenshiro Perez and his companions defeat a powerful creature known as a Fellcat, leaving Kenshiro puzzling over an unusual phenomenon: a rare double core drop. As the team quickly harvests the creature for valuable materials, Kenshiro grapples with the limitations of his current strength and the group's decision to sell the second core rather than let him use it. Though grateful for their protection and guidance, a seed of frustration grows in him, knowing how much the core could have meant for his survival.

As the group journeys onward toward the city of Bethaven, Kenshiro seeks to learn more about the world’s strange, mana-filled cores. Myrtle eagerly explains their nature, how they form within magical beasts, and the dangerous effects they can have on creatures. Despite some tension between Kenshiro and the others over the differences between beasts and sentient beings, the group bonds through shared conversation, small moments of music, and simple comforts, offering Kenshiro a fleeting sense of belonging in this foreign, dangerous land.

However, as night falls and the camp settles into quiet meditation, Kenshiro's homesickness returns with full force. Staring up at an alien sky under the watchful gaze of his companion Sombra, Kenshiro clings to the faint hope that reaching Bethaven might bring him closer to finding a way home—and closer to reuniting with the wife he was torn away from. Despite the camaraderie he’s found, the weight of his longing keeps his heart heavy as he finally drifts into a restless sleep.