Ambush Deep in Cavern Valley

At dawn, mountain wind swept through the woods. The rising sun tinted the mist faintly red, but the valley floor remained dark. Ryan walked slowly along the jagged stone path, his weighted armor gleaming coldly in the morning light. His expression was colder than the valley wind. Fatigue showed in his eyes, but so did resolve.

He had camped here and trained for nearly twenty straight days, battling Nen beasts every day. The ordeal had refined his Aura and improved his stamina beyond what it had been when he arrived. Even so, he had found no trace of the No. 003 Return Card.

Ryan picked up a stone scored by a Nen beast's claws and ran his thumb over its rough surface. "They're getting wary," he murmured. Last night, he had brought down an adult Thunderflame Raging-Tail Beast, but it had dropped only an ordinary Non-Designated Card. He knew that lying in wait was unlikely to yield the No. 003 card, with its vanishingly small drop rate.

He crouched at the valley entrance and reviewed the combat data he had recorded over the past few days. Sweat had soaked and wrinkled the corners of his notes. Every page was dense with details: Aura consumption ratios, stamina decline curves, the limit of the recoil he could withstand from the Sniper Cannon, and the average duration of his blade auras. His gaze grew steadily calmer. "I need a different approach. Trying to beat the odds by brute force is too slow."

Just then, a low roar rose from the valley, followed by a faint tremor underfoot. Ryan looked up. Below a distant cliff, a group of Thunderflame Raging-Tail Beasts was converging on the valley floor. Three adults guarded two young, moving warily and in good order. It was the first time he