The Place Where Everything Begins

"Those animals are gone..."

"Yeah, Morgan's decision to cross the river was absolutely right."

"Indeed..."

"Anyway, what the fuck is that creature? Did you guys see it jump far ahead into the water earlier?"

"Yeah, that was the farthest jump I've ever seen in my life..."

While everyone was talking to one another after the unexpected skirmish earlier, Morgan turned to look at the silent Kurt before asking,

"Kurt, is there any way to cross the river to ambush or encircle us?"

Upon hearing those words, the red-eyed Kurt only shook his head in response before answering shortly,

"From all the reports, none..."

"Alright... I know you are feeling bad about the loss of Jessy. But we have to move on; life goes on, brother..." said Morgan, trying to soothe the saddened Kurt.

Even though Kurt didn't say anything or cry out on the outside, everyone knew he felt pretty hurt inside from losing Jessy.

As a result, they decided not to bother Kurt and let him ponder his own life for now. They knew he could overcome such an ordeal in no time.

As they too had overcome many ordeals before they managed to survive this far...

Meanwhile, Jeremy, who hadn't done anything in the brief skirmish earlier, promptly walked up to Kurt before patting the latter's back softly to convey his empathy.

Kurt turned to look at Jeremy, whom was patting his back, before nodding his head back softly at the latter.

After some seconds of silence, Morgan's voice was suddenly heard,

"Can you still lead the way? Or should I let others do..."

"I can; let's go..." said Kurt with a somewhat hoarse voice.

Before Morgan could finish his words, Kurt interrupted the former's speech. Then the latter turned to look at the 'round object' lying on the ground fifty meters away for one last time before leading the way back to their camp.

The group continued their marching without delay, albeit their bodies were still wet and water-soaked. They didn't dare to delay for fear that those wolves and the muscular creature would change their minds.

They didn't want to engage in another bloody battle. If they could avoid it, they would avoid it...

'Now, come to think of it, the hidden tutorial mission that gives two white stars...'

A certain someone thought to himself as he marched alongside the other nine people into the green forest.

Soon, the scout team consisting of ten people, which were eight males and two females, went into the forest shortly.

...

The bright sky from earlier started darkening down bit by bit...

The group of ten people had been wading through the forest full of deciduous trees, green vegetation, and a myriad of known and unknown animals for two hours straight.

Most people felt worn out from the high-speed march, but they didn't have any choice but to brace themselves and continue marching.

No one complained, no one whined, and no one said anything to disrupt the current silent atmosphere.

They knew within their hearts that they were pretty close to their camp's vicinity. It was only a matter of time before they arrived back at the base and could rest sumptuously there. So, they persevered...

Fifteen minutes later...

"We are here..." said Kurt as he slowed his pace down, letting the others have some room to breathe out their tiredness.

When the others had heard his words, whether it be males or females, everyone sighed in relief as they felt thrilled to finally arrive back at their camp, the only safe zone within this cursed forest.

"Finally..."

"We survived yet another fucking day..."

"Let's eat something delicious."

"I want to eat some hot soup."

"Nah, let's go with wolf steak."

"Are you sure you wanna eat those savage animals?"

"Hahaha..."

People started talking and joking with each other after finally seeing some silhouettes here and there within the darkened forest.

Those silhouettes were obviously of the humans as they should be the surveillance teams sent out to check around the camp's periphery to spot any anomaly that might affect the camp's safety.

Not long after, a two-meter tall wooden fence was revealed to the group as they walked out from the forest.

Many people were lingering here and there in front of the two-meter gate made of thick woods, with two people wearing thick steel armors standing guard before the said gate.

When the two male guards saw the group of ten people sauntering tiredly out of the forest, they hurriedly shouted for the people inside to open the wooden gate.

As the gate was opening up, the view behind was gradually revealed to the ten people, including Jeremy.

"As we don't have any name for the camp, anyway, welcome to the human camp, Tommy," said Morgan with a light smile plastered on his face.

Not only Morgan, but most people within the scout team also had smiles plastered on their faces as it appeared that they should have felt very glad to be alive back to the camp.

Simultaneously, Jeremy nodded back in response as he pretended to be amazed by the fence, gate, people, and the view behind the gate.

"Just three days..." Jeremy mumbled audibly.

"Hmm?" Morgan raised one eyebrow as a response.

"I mean, even though you guys have so much workforce to spare, how could you manage to build such a grand wooden fortress like this in just three days? There are also many wooden towers of more than five meters in height, even more, not just one or two but at least seven or eight of them towering around the camp?"

"Hahaha, I knew you would be astonished by this. In fact, we haven't cut down the trees and built this fortress from scrap. We've got it from the Crystal..." said Morgan after hearing Jeremy's question.

"From the Crystal?"

"Yes, you will know about that soon enough..."

Jeremy raised one of his eyebrows as a response, but he was met with a mysterious smile and obscure reply from Morgan. So, he could only reply with a shrug of his shoulders,

"Alright..."

After replying to Morgan, Jeremy looked at the sight behind the gate....