The Place Where Everything Begins

After pretending to view his tutorial missions for some seconds, Jeremy's eyes widened for a bit before asking Morgan,

"Indeed... So, are you saying that the mentioned 'kenkus' in the second mission are those bird humanoids we had fought against not long ago?"

As no notification or reward had shown up after killing those kenkus, it was normal for a person not to know about the identity of those bird-humanoid creatures. Thus, Jeremy had to feign ignorance about the matter.

Morgan nodded his head slightly and said,

"That's right. That's how the two camps came to be in the first place; one is the human camp, another is the kenku camp..."

Then, Jeremy's expressions suddenly changed into a confused one before asking further,

"From what you had said earlier, you and other people were teleported to our human camp's peripheral area, correct?"

"Yes, it is so..." replied Morgan truthfully.

"I see... Have you ever heard anyone being teleported to the middle of nowhere like me?"

"Unfortunately, no..." said Morgan as he shook his head slightly before continuing,

"There is no need to think about that anymore because you will never know the actual answer to that. You know, the only thing that matters now is how to survive out of this place and reunite with our loved ones on the planet Ortus..."

*Sigh...*

Jeremy sighed lightly before saying with a renewed expression,

"Well... You are right. Why do I have to care about such a matter as the only thing that matters is to survive."

'Even though his story about the first stage is a bit unbelievable, this man sure looks pretty straightforward and adapts real fast to the environment he is staying in. He can survive inside this forest full of predators for almost three days, and he can even fight like a real beast...'

Morgan smiled lightly at the middle-aged man before him as he evaluated the latter for a bit before asking some random stuff,

"Anyway, have you eaten anything in the past three days?"

"Yes, I've eaten some as I brought some food with me from the first stage, but I lost it while escaping a wolfpack. Still, I was lucky to catch a rabbit yesterday. However, today I haven't eaten anything yet except for some distasteful fruits," replied Jeremy while smiling in bitterness.

After hearing so, Morgan put his hand inside the backpack before bringing out something wrapped by big green leaves from within before saying,

"Well, then take this. Just think of it as gratitude for helping us fight against the kenkus earlier."

"Thank you..." Jeremy said with a grateful smile after receiving the thing supposed to be edible stuff.

Upon handing the food to Jeremy, Morgan said while standing up from the rock,

"Alright, we will rest here for another twenty minutes before departing for our camp. It would be best if you used this time to take a good rest and recharge your stamina. I will go catch some fish with those guys."

"Okay, have a good catch," replied Jeremy as he nodded his head slightly with a smile on his face at Morgan.

Simultaneously, Morgan also nodded his head back as he started walking in the creek's direction.

After seeing Morgan walking away, Jeremy started unwrapping the green leaves to see what was inside.

Unsurprisingly, the things inside were three big pieces of dried meats...

Smiling bitterly to himself, Jeremy could only force himself to eat them, albeit not wanting to eat that much.

...

Twenty minutes later...

Along the riverbank, ten people were seen to be regrouping with one another and preparing for departure.

Jeremy was also among the group as all of them were waiting for the lookout named Jessy that Morgan had sent out to scout the surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, Kurt, another lookout, had already come back a minute ago after not seeing any anomaly in the periphery.

"Kurt, why is she still not back yet? I want to go back to the camp," said a man within the group, aiming the question towards the group's lookout, Kurt.

It appeared that the man only wanted to joke, but the latter seemed not to be in the mood...

Upon hearing a random question from his teammate, Kurt could only shake his head in annoyance before replying with an annoyed voice,

"How am I supposed to know? You go find her and ask her yourself."

"Tsk... What a distasteful guy. I know that you are into that woman," said the same man after rolling his eyes.

"You..."

Smiling slightly, Morgan interrupted the two with a calm voice as it looked like such a situation had happened many times already,

"Alright, guys, do not argue now. It's not the..."

"Everyone, look over there!"

Before Morgan could finish his sentence, Jeremy's voice suddenly resounded out, causing the latter to stop in tracks.

Morgan and everyone else hurriedly looked in the direction where Jeremy was pointing his finger at.

"Hmm...?"

"What?"

"That is..."

"Shit!"

To everyone's surprise, they saw a black smoking flare lightening up high in the sky in the direction of the temperate forest.

'Black signal means...'

Morgan thought to himself momentarily before mumbling one word,

"Wolves..."

Followed closely by other people's panicked voices,

"It's one wolfpack or more."

"Damn it! Why this time?"

"Morgan..."

Upon hearing someone calling his name, Morgan finally came back to his senses before giving out an order to his teammates,

"We will cross the creek!"

"What about Jessy?" asked Kurt with a worried expression plastered on his face.

Shaking his head slightly, Morgan replied,

"We can only pray for her safety. Now, we have to survive this shit and arrive back at our camp first."

After saying those somewhat harsh words, Morgan said aloud to the group,

"Let's go!"

Simultaneously, Morgan started marching into the creek with the water level almost reaching his chest, followed closely by other people within the team.

Meanwhile, Jeremy, who still hadn't moved an inch from the spot, commanded inwardly,

'[Third Eye]'

Soon, the sight before Jeremy suddenly warped as the view before him had changed.

Right now, it depicted the scene almost one kilometer away from him...

There, Jeremy swept his eyes past some trees and looked at the gaps among them. Not long after, he finally spotted many wolves rushing in his direction at a breakneck speed as if they knew about the 'sumptuous meals' awaiting them here.

After sweeping his eyes for a few more seconds, Jeremy finally saw something...

It was a muscular, tall creature, too tall to be considered a wolf. Its mouth was long, protruding out from its skill, akin to a dog's mouth. Behind its body, a one-meter sturdy, brown tail extending out from the buttocks like a dog's furless tail.

The dog-humanoid creature stood at two meters tall on two thick, strong legs, sprinting alongside the wolves at a fast speed.

It wore full-body leather armor, covering only its body part, exposing its long arms and legs. A great sword was held within its right hand, yet the creature carried it like an ordinary stick.

'A Gnoll... So, it is a hunting squad of the wolf tribe...'

"Tommy! What are you standing there for? Hurry up!"

As Jeremy was thinking to himself, Morgan's voice was suddenly heard from a dozen meters behind him.

Upon hearing so, Jeremy dismissed Third Eye and turned towards the source of the voice before replying aloud,

"Alright! I'm coming!"

Having said so, Jeremy also started crossing the creek like others.