12 The Forest

Now in a sombre mood, Stanis walked over to Juan's tent with a slow gait and heavy steps. Not knowing when he should go in, he then stood outside the tent whilst eavesdropping the discussion ongoing inside, waiting for an appropriate moment to barge in.

It seemed the ongoing discussion was about what Jayesh had told him: how the camp should be structured. Hearing countless speakers, and understanding that it was an open discussion, Stanis realised he wouldn't be interrupting anything, and so strode into the tent.

Inside, it was dark, especially when in contrast with the outside, and so Stanis felt as blind as a bat in the darkness the second he walked in. Not wanting to make a show out of himself, he managed to push his body towards the edges of the tent, before then waiting for his eyes to adapt to the darkness. His motion seemed to be effective as no one came and asked him what he was doing, instead he was only given curious glances by a few when he had entered, before they eventually lost interest.

Now that the sound wasn't so muffled by the tent cloth, Stanis could hear the discussion in clarity. There seemed to be two big talkers in it, both males and both seemingly vying for leadership. After a few seconds inside the darkness, Stanis could finally see the people around him.

There seemed to be around 14 or more people in here, meaning around half the people in the camp were currently here. Another thing was that there were about two or three guys for every girl, although none of the girls here was the soft-spoken type.

Now onto the two big-shots: one was a tall, and muscular man with a deep voice that Stanis had heard before, so Juan, and the other was a smaller, slimmer man who spoke in a language that Stanis could swear that he had heard before.

It was after a few pensive moments that he realised that the language the man talked in was exactly the language his parents sometimes used speak in: Russian. Neither of the two wanted the other to have all the control, although the general consensus in the room seemed to be towards Juan instead of the Russian man, mainly due to his proactive thinking during the battle.

The discussion went on for a few more minutes, around thirty in total after Stanis had entered, and ranged from what should be done with the rewards from the Storage Stones, to what kind of leadership the camp should have.

All in all, it seemed that the Storage Stone's rewards would be going to the Dead 4, apart from the skill's scroll. The reason why this conclusion was reached wasn't that the people here wanted to give up their rewards, rather because it was extremely difficult to split them up fairly. So the logical conclusion reached was to give them to the strongest, as they would once again most likely be doing the most work in the next fight.

Of course, there was the issue of betrayal and back-stabbing, although no one out-rightly mentioned it as they wanted to keep the warm(ish) atmosphere. The next issue of leadership was decided by the majority for Juan to have loose control of the others, as most trusted his quick and decisive judgement.

Having stayed up all night and now finished with the discussion, most people swiftly left the tent in order to go to sleep. Juan too was about to leave with a girl, who had been beside him from the start, when Stanis caught him by the arm. Understanding his intentions, Juan motioned him to come outside, and so the three of them walked about a minute away from the tent before talking.

Now in clear light, Stanis could see Juan better. He was tanned, with curly black hair, and had a well-kept beard. His body was as Stanis had seen in the dark: muscular and wide, although what Stanis hadn't seen before was the slight limp Juan walked with.

The girl beside him was a brunette Caucasian girl, who had no notable features other than her long, straight hair and her good looks. It was clear that she and Juan had a relationship, although that was a bit weird considering the fact it had only been a little more than a day since their normal lives had ended.

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" asked Juan, with an inquisitive look in his eyes. Stanis could tell from his expression that they were currently not on the same page...

"I heard you wanted people to scout out the area, something about the forest or such?"

Juan's expression dropped ever so slightly, before instantly recovering.

"Ahh. Considering the fact that you are so eager, I guess you have already slept. Go ahead and scout the forest, the Dead 4 are already doing so, and I'll send more people in a few days."

He then closed the already-small distance between him and Stanis before he whispered into his ears, "If you find out anything especially interesting, do tell me in private, and I will definitely make it worth your time."

He then patted Stanis across the back like a wise older man, before walking back to the tent with his hands around the girl's shoulder.

On the other hand, Stanis stood dazed for a few moments before following them back to the camp. It seemed Juan was taking the challenges to his position quite seriously, perhaps too seriously considering how he had acted right now. A while later, Stanis decided to stop thinking about it, all the people here were on edge due to what they had been through yesterday. Juan's behaviour seemed nothing out of the ordinary when taken into context the atmosphere of the Camp.

Back at the Camp, Stanis went back to the provisions place to get a few more rations of food and water. He was planning to only be out a day or such but also wanted to be prepared just in case. He also went through the simple arsenal that the System had gifted them, through which he got himself a forearm length axe alongside an equally sized wooden shield.

Both were a much better quality than what he had before, and so now there was only one last thing on his mind: his old clothes. They wouldn't provide much extra protection, especially against violent attacks, but the sentimental value held by his Malitsa coat was far too much for it to be just discarded. And so he searched around in the injured tent before he found his bloody coat alongside his jumper and Cuirass armour.

He cut the Malitsa coat across its waist so it would allow better manoeuvrability, before wearing his Cuirass over it. He now had three layers on, one which had protection against the elements, and another which provided protection against injury, at least for the most part.

Having gotten everything, Stanis cast his rucksack, containing his supplies, across his back before setting off towards the Forest. It was at the top as he looked back that he saw the surrounding area of the Camp in better detail: the Camp was right in the centre of 3 landscapes.

Down North and South carried on plain, brown land with nothing that special to it. To the East of it was the Forest he was currently on the edge off, whereas to the West was a large body of water. From the constantly crashing waves, Stanis guessed that it was most likely the sea and not a smaller body, although he couldn't be certain.

The oak-brown Forest had quite an enchanting spirit to it, especially when in comparison to the camp. Crunchy twigs and crackling leaves dominated the Forest floor, which coloured it with various shades of orange and brown. He could hear a few squirrels scurrying through all the mess, or at least he hoped they were squirrels. There were also various plants across the floor, whether it be the brightly coloured mushrooms, or dull-green, leafy plants with strong, aromatic smells.

As for the middle layer of the Forest, it was exclusively brown trunks that reached to the sky. If one looked close enough, you would also notice the moss-veiled trails all across the trunks, although the brown of the bark still dominated the colour palette. And the crown layer at the top was a mixture of the blue sky and the large, bright green crowns of the tallest trees.

Danger seemed to be non-existent in the idyllic Forest, although Stanis was already too battle-worn to actually believe that. Instead, he walked through the Forest with a slow gait, while keeping his body low in order to lower his surface area. He had considered grabbing leaves and twigs to cover himself with, however, he had eventually decided against this due to the sound they would make as he moved.

Stanis's precautionary tactics came into effect about ten minutes after setting foot into the Forest, as Stanis heard rhythmic sounds in the distance, getting louder every step he made forward. Having a vague guess at what it was, Stanis decided to use a tree as cover as he leaned himself against it, whilst also crouching down. A few seconds later, the small whispers across the air had become clear footsteps. Accompanying the footsteps was a jolly whistle, albeit a rough one, which too was getting louder as Stanis waited in his position.

From the footsteps, he could tell that it was only one enemy, as he could only ever hear two feet moving. How did he know it was an enemy without even looking? That was to do with the fact that he doubted any of the Dead 4, who were also currently scouting, would dare act so lackadaisical in enemy territory.

And so the only animal he could think of that was bipedal and in the region were the Goblins that had attacked recently. It only made sense that they too had a camp close to the Human one, otherwise, why would the Goblins attack their camp when there was another Human one of a similar standard not too far off?

Moments later, the Goblin finally came into sight. It was a small thing, barely above hip height compared to Stanis, but had a menacing dagger wrapped around its waist. Other than that, it was totally unarmed with neither weapons nor armour across its body. Still in its own world, the Goblin hadn't noticed Stanis as it kept walking past his line of sight. It was around ten metres away from Stanis, or a two-second sprint, when he decided to make a move.

Knowing he was already in ideal conditions, Stanis didn't wait as he immediately sprinted forwards, cracking several twigs across the ground as he dashed towards the Goblin. The Goblin was beyond shocked as it saw a Human charge towards it, and fumbled at its waist to grab its dagger. However, it was met with a wooden shield to its face before it could, followed by several stabs across the now-felled Goblin's body. It had died without making too much noise, much to Stanis's joy. He then checked Status.

[Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Mana capacity: 18 (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)

Level 7 (Progress to the next level is 76%)

Strength: 17 [15]

Dexterity: 17 [15]

Constitution: 16[14]

Intelligence: 12[11]

Wisdom: 12[10]

Tenacity: 16[14].

Skills: Layman's Rush]

His experience had gone up by 4% for just killing a single Goblin. Stanis was sure that specialised, stronger Goblins like the Shamans he had faced before, were worth far more experience than a simple, weakling scout. It made him wonder how much experience Anatoly had received last battle since he had torn through the Goblin Shamans like a hot knife through butter.

Stanis then remembered how Lucas had thrown away Xiu's life in the first group trial in order to get extra experience, all in order to level up. It was clear for anyone living in this world right now how important levels were to survival, and thus Stanis was unwilling to let such a goldmine get away. He would kill a few more scouts, and only go back once he saw the danger rise to high.

Plan set to mind, Stanis began creeping further into the Forest. It was unclear what he was currently on his way to? A goldmine of experience, or just an early death?