Chapter 128: GT Bonus 2: I Finally Got the Pulse Core… Then Both Predation and FORGE Claimed It

The Courser charged again a few minutes later.

This time, Raven didn’t wait in open ground. He retreated toward two basalt pillars separated by roughly fifteen meters. The gap was wide enough for the Stormhorn to enter without immediately recognizing it as a trap, but narrow enough to limit how much it could correct once it committed.

Valeria took position along one side.

"I can’t immobilize it while Pulse is active. It tore through my first threads like they weren’t there."

"Then don’t immobilize it."

"What do you want me to do?"

Raven kept his eyes on the animal.

"Wait until it discharges. Then pull one of its hind legs."

Valeria frowned.

"How much time will I have?"

"Half a second if we’re lucky."

"How generous."

"I don’t need you to stop it. Just alter the trajectory by a few degrees."

She studied the space between the pillars.

Then she understood.

"You want it to overcorrect."

"Yes."

Valeria prepared two blood threads.

"If this goes wrong, I’m reminding you about it for months."

"If it goes badly enough, you probably won’t have to."

"Sometimes I genuinely don’t know why I keep traveling with you."

Raven glanced at her.

"Because I’m useful."

Valeria pointed at him without interrupting her magic.

"That word stopped belonging to you several Chapters ago."

The Courser started moving.

Roland fired three arrows in rapid succession toward different points across the plain. None were meant to injure it. The first lifted a hidden rope from the grass, forcing the Stormhorn to avoid it. The second landed near its right flank and pushed it toward the clear route. The third struck behind it, removing another option.

The animal chose the corridor between the basalt pillars.

Raven adjusted his stance.

The Pulse Core glowed.

The Stormhorn accelerated.

Predator’s Instinct responded.

Raven didn’t watch the horn. He watched the shoulders, hips, and legs.

There.

The torso leaned several degrees.

The right hind leg shifted its support.

"Now."

The Courser released Kinetic Pulse.

Valeria sent the blood threads immediately afterward.

Both crimson lines wrapped around one hind leg and pulled sideways. They didn’t attempt to stop several hundred kilograms of muscle moving at absurd speed. They only displaced the leg enough to alter the angle.

The effect was immediate.

The Courser corrected.

Too much.

Its trajectory shifted several degrees and carried it directly between the pillars.

Raven activated Burst Step.

He didn’t chase the animal.

He moved laterally.

Raven appeared beside its neck. Stonehide spread over his left hand as he grabbed the thick mane.

The Stormhorn tried to throw him off.

The pull nearly tore Raven’s shoulder from its socket, but he pressed his body against the animal’s neck rather than letting himself become dead weight and allowed its momentum to drag him with it.

The Courser struck the ground again.

Another Pulse discharged.

Incomplete.

Raven felt his entire body jerk forward. His mineralized hand slipped, but he tightened his grip before losing the mane.

The Stormhorn turned toward one of the basalt pillars, trying to crush him against the stone.

Raven recognized the movement too late to jump away.

So he used Burst Step.

Not to escape.

Just a few meters around the animal’s neck.

The Courser slammed sideways into the basalt while Raven reappeared above its shoulder.

Stone cracked.

The impact disrupted the animal’s balance for less than a second.

That was enough.

Raven raised the short spear.

He didn’t aim for the chest.

He didn’t aim for the neck.

The Pulse Core needed to survive.

Kinetic Acceleration surged through the weapon.

Raven drove the spear upward beneath the jaw.

The point tore through soft tissue, pierced the palate, and entered the skull.

The Stormhorn went rigid for an instant.

Then it kept running.

Not because it was still alive.

Momentum.

The body traveled almost twenty meters before the front legs collapsed. Its chest smashed into the ground, and the entire animal rolled.

Raven released the mane before the corpse could drag him underneath. He hit the grass and rolled several times before ending flat on his back while the Stormhorn’s body slid to a stop nearby.

Rain struck Raven’s face.

He took a breath.

His ribs hurt less than before.

Good enough for now.

Valeria ran over and crouched beside him.

"Are you still in one piece?"

Raven moved his arms, then his legs.

"Enough of one."

She exhaled.

"That is not a medical measurement."

"It’s becoming one."

"It shouldn’t."

Raven sat up.

Valeria checked his side and found blood.

"Some of this is yours."

"Some."

"I don’t like that answer either."

"The Core has minutes."

That ended the argument.

They reached the Courser seconds later.

The animal was dead, but its body had not become still.

Its horn continued producing faint electrical arcs, and the muscles along its legs twitched in irregular contractions. Beneath the armored chest plates, blue-white light pulsed with a rhythm that no longer matched a heartbeat.

Predation appeared.

[Stormhorn Courser — Level 27 — ELITE.]

[Target Deceased.]

[Pulse Core Integrity: HIGH.]

[Stored Kinetic Charge: UNSTABLE.]

[Optimal Extraction Window: 4m 37s.]

[Warning: Postmortem discharge possible.]

Raven stopped before touching the corpse.

Valeria noticed.

"That sounds bad."

"The Core is still charged."

"How charged?"

Predation updated.

[Residual Core Charge: 47%.]

[Charge Decay: IRREGULAR.]

[Conductive Fiber Network Remains Active.]

Almost half.

Enough to matter.

Raven knelt beside the chest and placed two fingers against one of the natural armor plates.

A vibration traveled through the carcass.

Not muscle tension.

Pressure.

The body still contained movement it could no longer perform.

"Don’t touch the horn," Raven said.

"I wasn’t planning to."

"Don’t touch the chest either unless I tell you."

Valeria’s eyes narrowed.

"Now you have my attention."

Raven drew his knife.

The moment the blade touched the skin, Predation projected the extraction path.

More information appeared than before.

[Pulse Core extraction requires preservation of primary kinetic conduction fibers.]

[Recommended sequence:]

[1. Vent peripheral electrical charge.]

[2. Immobilize thoracic fiber network.]

[3. Sever secondary locomotion fibers.]

[4. Isolate spinal conduction bundle.]

[5. Remove Core before terminal discharge.]

[Critical Failure Risks: Core rupture / uncontrolled kinetic discharge / electrical arc propagation / structural degradation.]

Valeria read Raven’s face.

"How bad?"

"If I cut the wrong connection first, it can discharge."

"Through what?"

Raven looked at the dead Courser.

"The body."

As if responding, the animal’s rear leg kicked.

Hard.

The hoof struck wet ground and carved a trench through the mud.

Valeria looked at it.

"Dead."

"Yes."

"It just kicked hard enough to break someone’s leg."

"Yes."

"I dislike this organ."

"Predation doesn’t."

"That does not improve my opinion."

Raven checked the timer.

[4m 02s.]

"We need to move."

The first problem was the electrical charge.

Raven couldn’t simply wait for it to dissipate. The Core’s structure was degrading at the same time.

He took one of the metal stakes from the trap and drove it deep into the wet ground several meters away. Then he wrapped a spare chain around the base of the Stormhorn’s horn and connected it to the stake.

Valeria watched him.

"Grounding it?"

"Trying to."

"That word was unnecessary."

Raven stepped back and touched the chain to the horn.

Blue light erupted.

The arc traveled down the chain with a crack loud enough to compete with the rain. The grounding stake flashed white at the base, and steam burst from the surrounding mud.

Raven’s hand went numb through the glove.

Predation updated.

[Residual Electrical Charge Reduced.]

[Pulse Core Charge: 41%.]

"Only six percent?" Valeria asked.

"Electrical charge isn’t the same as kinetic charge."

"Of course it isn’t."

Raven returned to the carcass.

"Now the chest."

He cut from the lateral side rather than directly over the sternum, opening skin and muscle in controlled layers.

The first conducting fibers appeared beneath the fascia.

Silver.

Thicker than tendons.

They vibrated visibly.

Valeria leaned closer.

"Those?"

"Don’t touch them."

"I understood that from the part where they’re moving inside a corpse."

Raven slid the knife between two bundles.

Predation highlighted one in red.

[PRIMARY CONDUCTION FIBER.]

[DO NOT SEVER.]

He moved lower.

Another bundle illuminated.

[Secondary locomotion fiber.]

[Safe to sever after stabilization.]

"Valeria."

"Yes?"

"I need those three bundles held completely still."

She looked at the vibrating tissue.

"With Blood Magic."

"Yes."

"In an organ designed to store and redirect kinetic energy."

"Yes."

"That sounds like the kind of sentence you should hear yourself say."

"Can you do it?"

Her expression sharpened.

"Yes."

Three hair-thin blood threads entered the opened cavity.

The moment the first touched a silver fiber, the Courser’s entire body jerked.

Valeria recoiled.

The thread snapped.

A hoof struck the ground again.

Raven moved backward before the corpse rolled several inches toward him.

The horn scraped across the mud.

A blue arc leapt into the nearby basalt.

CRACK.

Valeria stared at the carcass.

"You could have mentioned it would do that."

"I didn’t know."

"Wonderful."

[3m 11s.]

Raven looked at the fiber network again.

The first contact had changed it.

The lines were brighter.

Touching the conduction system could trigger stored movement.

He adjusted.

"Don’t pull against the vibration."

"What?"

"Move with it."

Valeria understood after a second.

"Stabilize the oscillation instead of stopping it."

"Yes."

"That would have been useful information before the first attempt."

"I have it now."

Her eyes narrowed, but the blood threads formed again.

This time, Valeria matched the rhythm.

The threads moved almost imperceptibly with the silver fibers instead of forcing them still.

The twitching decreased.

Predation responded.

[Thoracic Fiber Network Stabilization: PARTIAL.]

Raven cut the first secondary connection.

The Courser’s left foreleg snapped forward.

Raven had expected movement.

Not that much.

The hoof passed less than a foot from his head.

Valeria swore.

Raven didn’t stop.

"Hold."

"I am holding!"

He severed the second fiber.

A violent vibration passed through the chest.

The corpse shifted again, but less than before.

Third.

Fourth.

Each cut reduced the network feeding the legs.

[Secondary locomotion pathways isolated: 63%.]

[2m 24s.]

Then Raven reached the spinal bundle.

It was thicker than the rest.

Silver tissue surrounded a line of blue crystalline structures running toward the vertebrae.

Predation marked it immediately.

[PRIMARY MOMENTUM RECOVERY PATHWAY.]

[Premature severance may trigger terminal discharge.]

Valeria saw Raven stop.

"What?"

"This one is carrying the remaining stored momentum."

"And you have to cut it."

"Eventually."

"How eventually?"

Raven looked at the timer.

[2m 07s.]

"Soon."

"That was not the answer I wanted."

Raven widened the incision.

The Pulse Core became partially visible behind the sternum.

It was oval and slightly flattened, approximately the size of two fists pressed together. Silver fibers emerged from its sides, while small blue crystalline structures glowed between them.

The Core vibrated.

The whole cavity vibrated with it.

Raven felt the frequency through the knife.

Then it changed.

Faster.

Predation flashed.

[Warning: Terminal discharge cycle beginning.]

[Estimated discharge: 38–52 seconds.]

Valeria looked at him.

"I assume that’s worse."

"Much."

"What happens at zero?"

"Unknown."

"That is becoming my least favorite answer."

Raven looked at the remaining connections.

Too many.

He could cut quickly and risk ruining the organ.

Or remain precise and risk letting it discharge while his hands were inside the chest.

Neither option was good.

Perfect.

"Valeria, I need the sternum wider."

"You told me not to apply pressure."

"Now I’m telling you to."

"How much?"

"Enough to give me both hands."

She stared at him.

"I hate when you use my words."

Two thicker blood bands formed around the opened ribs.

Valeria pulled.

Bone creaked.

The Core vibrated harder.

Raven slid both hands into the cavity.

[Terminal discharge estimate: 31s.]

He cut another secondary bundle.

Twenty-eight.

Another.

Twenty-five.

The dead Courser’s body suddenly contracted.

Every leg drove against the ground simultaneously.

The torso lifted several inches.

Raven’s arm was still inside.

Valeria reacted instantly.

Her blood bands tightened around the rib cage and kept the carcass from rolling over him.

The movement tore one of Raven’s cuts wider.

Blood covered his wrist.

Not his.

Mostly.

"Raven!"

"Still working."

"I noticed!"

Twenty seconds.

Only the spinal pathway and three Core anchors remained.

Raven severed the first anchor.

A kinetic pulse traveled through his knife.

The blade ripped out of his hand and embedded itself in the mud several meters away.

Valeria stared.

Raven stared too.

"That would have been my hand."

"Yes."

"You sound remarkably calm about that."

"I still need the Core."

He drew his second knife.

Twelve seconds.

Raven cut the second anchor.

The organ lurched inside the chest.

Valeria’s blood threads caught it before it tore the remaining fibers.

Eight seconds.

The spinal bundle began glowing.

Raven could feel the pressure increasing through the carcass.

"Valeria."

"I see it."

"When I cut this, pull the Core toward you. Not hard. Just enough to clear the cavity."

"And you?"

"I cut the final anchor."

"While it discharges?"

"Before."

"That distinction is doing a lot of work."

Five seconds.

Raven positioned the knife against the spinal bundle.

Predator’s Instinct screamed.

Not because the corpse was alive.

Because something was about to move.

"Now."

He cut.

The silver bundle snapped.

The Core released.

The corpse convulsed with enough force to tear two of the remaining stakes from the ground.

A pressure wave exploded out of the opened chest.

Raven was thrown backward.

Valeria’s blood threads stretched almost to breaking, but she maintained control and dragged the Pulse Core free as the carcass slammed sideways.

Raven hit wet earth hard enough to aggravate the fractures in his ribs.

Pain flashed white through his vision.

He rolled once and forced himself back up.

"Valeria."

"I have it!"

The Core hung between several crimson threads less than a meter above the ground.

One final connective strand still linked it to the carcass.

Raven crossed the distance, grabbed the strand with his Stonehide-covered hand, and cut.

The Core came free.

The Stormhorn’s body collapsed.

Completely.

No twitch.

No vibration.

No stored movement.

Predation updated.

[Pulse Core Successfully Extracted.]

[Integrity: 97%.]

Valeria stared at the organ suspended between her blood threads.

Then at Raven.

Then at the knife embedded several meters away.

"That was your definition of keeping the tissue open?"

Raven took the Core carefully.

"The procedure changed."

"The corpse tried to kick your head off."

"Yes."

"Your knife nearly became a projectile."

"Yes."

"You were still cutting it when the entire body discharged."

Raven examined the organ.

"Integrity is ninety-seven percent."

Valeria closed her eyes.

"I genuinely hate that this encourages you."

Raven almost smiled.

Then Predation reacted.

The intensity of the interface erased the expression.

[High-Value Trait Source Detected: "Kinetic Pulse."]

[Compatibility: 92%.]

[Synergy: "Kinetic Acceleration" — EXCELLENT.]

[Synergy: "Burst Step" — EXCELLENT.]

[Potential Benefits: Directional Kinetic Discharge / Acceleration Amplification / Momentum Recovery / Impact Enhancement.]

Raven read it again.

Ninety-two percent compatibility.

Two excellent synergies.

This wasn’t a marginal Trait or a situational adaptation.

It fit almost perfectly into the way Raven already fought.

Valeria saw the change in his expression.

"Predation wants it."

"Yes."

"How much?"

"Ninety-two percent compatibility. Excellent synergy with Burst Step and Kinetic Acceleration."

Valeria stopped smiling.

"That sounds too good to ignore."

Raven was about to answer when a second interface appeared.

FORGE.

[FORGE Component Detected: Stormhorn Pulse Core.]

[Integrity: 97%.]

[Kinetic Retention: 96%.]

[Output Consistency: EXCELLENT.]

[Prototype Rifle Compatibility: 96%.]

[Projectile Acceleration Requirement: SATISFIED.]

Raven stared at both windows.

Valeria couldn’t see them, but she understood immediately.

"FORGE wants it too."

"Yes."

"Then there’s the problem."

Raven looked at the organ still vibrating faintly between his hands.

Predation expanded the analysis.

[Projected Host Benefit: SIGNIFICANT.]

[Potential Improvements: Burst Mobility / Physical Strike Acceleration / Momentum Recovery Following Burst Step / Directional Kinetic Release.]

[Adaptive Integration Potential: HIGH.]

FORGE answered with its own calculation.

[Projected Weapon Benefit: SIGNIFICANT.]

[Repeatable Kinetic Projectile Acceleration Possible.]

[Integration Stability: HIGH.]

[Prototype Rifle Architecture Advancement: MAJOR.]

Immediate power.

Or the rifle’s fourth system.

If Raven chose DEVOUR, he wouldn’t merely gain another Trait. Kinetic Pulse could reinforce two of his most frequently used abilities and expand his combat style directly: stronger strikes, better acceleration, momentum recovery after Burst Step, and the ability to accumulate and redirect motion in ways he didn’t fully understand yet.

If he chose HARVEST, he would stand up exactly as strong as he was now.

But the rifle would advance.

Valeria crouched closer.

"If you eat it, you become stronger immediately."

"Yes."

"Significantly."

"Probably."

"And if you preserve it, the rifle gets its fourth component."

Raven nodded.

Rain continued falling around them as the Pulse Core released another faint vibration.

For the first time, DEVOUR and HARVEST weren’t competing over an organ whose best use was obvious.

Predation wanted this.

FORGE wanted it too.

And both were right.

The system recognized the conflict.

[Single Biological Source Supports Two Incompatible Acquisition Paths.]

One final line appeared beneath it.

[DEVOUR or HARVEST.]