No one spoke.
Not that the sprites were capable of lengthy conversations.
Still, the silence around the group felt deliberate.
Everyone remained hidden among the trees.
Ethan kept his gaze fixed on the clearing.
The silver pillar stood quietly at its center.
Nothing about it appeared dangerous.
Nothing about it appeared extraordinary.
Yet hundreds of wolves had gathered around it.
That fact alone made it extraordinary.
Minutes passed.
Then more.
The wolves remained calm.
So rested.
So wandered around the clearing.
A few occasionally approached the pillar.
Ethan noticed sothing interesting.
Not every wolf touched it.
In fact, most didn't.
Only a small number approached the stone.
The others simply watched.
His eyes narrowed.
That didn't look random.
It looked organized.
Or perhaps instinctive.
The distinction hardly mattered.
Either way, there was a pattern.
The Air Sprite drifted down from above and landed nearby.
The scout pointed toward the edge of the clearing.
Ethan followed its gesture.
Another group of wolves had arrived.
Unlike the others, these wolves looked exhausted.
Several carried scratches.
One limped noticeably.
They had clearly traveled a considerable distance.
Yet the mont they entered the clearing, none of the nearby wolves attacked them.
There was no territorial dispute.
No challenge.
No hostility.
The newcors simply joined the gathering.
Ethan found that strange.
From what he had seen so far, wolves were not particularly friendly creatures.
Yet around the pillar, different rules seed to apply.
His attention shifted again.
One of the exhausted wolves slowly approached the stone.
The surrounding pack watched.
The wolf placed a paw against the pillar.
Silver light appeared briefly.
Not bright.
Just a faint shimr.
A mont later, the wolf stepped away.
Nothing dramatic happened.
No transformation.
No explosion of power.
No visible mutation.
The wolf simply returned to the group.
Yet its posture seed slightly different.
Straighter.
More confident.
Nearby wolves made room for it without protest.
Ethan morized the observation.
Status.
Recognition.
Acceptance.
The pattern was repeating.
The pillar seed capable of changing a wolf's position within the pack.
At least, that was the simplest explanation.
Beside him, the Earth Sprite stared intently at the stone.
The small sprite rarely paid attention to anything unrelated to resources.
Seeing it so focused made Ethan even more curious.
The resource clearly mattered.
The question was how much.
Hours continued to pass.
Normally Ethan would have considered such long observation a waste of ti.
Not today.
Every new detail felt valuable.
The longer he watched, the more he realized sothing important.
The wolves weren't guarding the pillar.
They were gathering around it.
Those were very different things.
Guarding implied ownership.
Gathering implied benefit.
The wolves weren't preventing access.
They were waiting for access.
A quiet rustling sound suddenly ca from the clearing.
Several heads turned.
Ethan followed their gaze.
Another creature had erged from the forest.
His eyes widened slightly.
It wasn't a wolf.
The creature resembled one of the rabbit-like animals the expedition had seen before.
The small animal cautiously approached the clearing.
Instantly dozens of wolves noticed it.
The rabbit froze.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the rabbit fled.
The wolves ignored it completely.
Ethan blinked.
That wasn't what he expected.
Hundreds of predators.
An easy al.
Yet none gave chase.
Their attention returned to the pillar almost imdiately.
The resource was more important than food.
That realization lingered in his mind.
Resources could influence behavior.
He already knew that.
But the degree of influence was surprising.
A wolf's survival depended on hunting.
Yet these wolves were willingly ignoring prey.
The pillar's importance must be imnse.
The Fire Sprite fidgeted beside him.
Its excitent had been growing steadily.
The small elental clearly wanted to get closer.
The Water Sprite imdiately blocked its path.
The Fire Sprite glared.
The Water Sprite remained unmoved.
A brief struggle followed.
The result was predictable.
The Fire Sprite ended up sitting several steps farther away from the clearing.
Ethan almost laughed.
So things never changed.
Even on another world.
As evening approached, the atmosphere around the pillar shifted.
The silver glow beca slightly more visible.
Not brighter.
Just easier to notice beneath the fading sunlight.
A low murmur spread through the wolves.
More and more began moving toward the center of the clearing.
The change was imdiate enough that Ethan sat up straighter.
Sothing was happening.
Not an attack.
Not a migration.
A routine.
The wolves clearly knew what to expect.
The expedition remained hidden.
Nobody moved.
Nobody made a sound.
Slowly, one wolf after another approached the pillar.
Touched it.
Received a brief silver shimr.
Then stepped aside.
The process repeated over and over.
There was no fighting.
No competition.
No struggle for priority.
The wolves simply waited their turn.
The scene reminded Ethan of people standing in line.
The thought felt absurd.
Yet the comparison refused to leave his mind.
This wasn't random animal behavior.
At least, not entirely.
The wolves understood sothing about the pillar.
Sothing he didn't.
The line continued moving.
One wolf.
Then another.
Then another.
As the sun disappeared beyond the forest, silver light flickered quietly throughout the clearing.
Ethan watched every mont.
The resource remained a mystery.
But one thing had beco clear.
The pillar wasn't rely attracting wolves.
It was being used by them.
And whatever benefit it provided was valuable enough for hundreds of wolves to gather peacefully around it.
For Planet 042, that fact alone might be more important than the iron deposit.
As darkness gradually settled over the forest, Ethan made no move to leave.
The answers he wanted were still hidden.
But for the first ti, he felt that he was asking the right questions.
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