The Camp

Along the way, Aeon switched roles with Samuel, so he was now carrying Suri on his back.

Throughout their journey, he didn't get the chance to fight. Or at least it appeared that way. The main reason was that the group tried their best to avoid forcing Aeon to help. They could not afford to show Dan his new abilities.

It's not that they did not trust the Assistant Supervisor. It's just that they agreed to keep this information within the group unless everyone agrees to reveal or if they are forced into a helpless situation. Part of this deal also included Aeon holding back as much as possible when fighting in front of others.

Levi was the one who proposed this idea, and when he did, it immediately earned a sharp disapproval from Samuel. The latter felt that it was completely unnecessary, and would give the others a mental burden. They will be too conscious about everything that Aeon does. Levi also had several arguments that Samuel also disagreed to, but after he explained that revealing Aeon's extraordinary abilities would subject him to people's attention, and greed, Samuel conceded.

It was almost 3:00 PM when the group reached the camp.

They were all extremely exhausted. For some reasons, most of the beasts they encountered were big ones, even when they entered the area near the camp. Thankfully, they made it.

The camp was packed full of people, just like the first day. So much that they had trouble walking around. The difference, however, was quite huge. This time, the atmosphere was not relaxed at all, and wounded people were everywhere. They didn't know the specifics about the matter, but based on what they overheard, there was a sudden influx of magical beasts around the area without any reason or prompt.

Hearing this, Aeon's group realized that the information they got from Dan wasn't known to everyone. He probably leaked it to them because, somehow, he knew them personally.

The influx of beasts around the area…How would they take it if they knew about the beasts wandering on the plains, away from their territories?

Their move was understandable though. There are indeed times when authorities had to hide a bit of the truth to the people just to avoid a state of panic.

What they could not understand was why they still weren't leaving.

They couldn't really identify if there were missing students, but just from the current ones in the camp, about 20 of them were wounded. If they stayed here while the beasts move of out the forest, they'll be forced to fight at a disadvantage. Unless they abandon those who become a burden, of course.

They had to get moving soon.

Aeon temporarily laid Suri down inside his own tent as he packed the items he left in the camp. Aeon picked up literally anything inside.

As he was placing a small knife inside his fanny pack, he suddenly heard a soft clink. Aeon stopped and fumbled through his pack thinking that he broke something. After a moment, he took out his hand. He was now holding a small vial of sticky liquid. He eyed it as the liquid inside flowed slowly.

It had almost been a month since he last saw that vial so he almost forgot about it—the vial containing the juice of the Galaxy Flower.

Suddenly, Aeon heard a commotion breaking out outside. He woke up from his stupor and placed the vial safely in one of the pack's secured outer pockets. Then, he hurriedly started packing again. He couldn't care less about organizing his pack anymore, so it was quite a mess.

Aeon finished and went to Suri's tent right next to his. He did not forget to bring Suri's pack. Just like what he did in his tent, he shoved everything he could find inside the pack. Thankfully, there wasn't much, so all the items fit.

After a minute, Aeon was done. He went back to his tent to pick up Suri and moved towards their rendezvous spot, an area somewhere west of the camp. They chose that spot because, the moment that things go awry, it would allow them to escape as soon as possible.

As he was moving forward, he noticed that there were lesser people. He looked around and found that most of the students were gathered in front of Klaus' tent. They were all yelling something at the same time, making their words inaudible. Aeon cocked an eyebrow but ultimately decided to move on.

Korona and Selena were already in the rendezvous spot, so only Levi was missing.

Aeon moved closer and asked the two, "What's going on over there?"

Aeon gestured towards Klaus' tent. As he carefully laid Suri on the ground.

Korona looked towards the direction Aeon was indicating, and immediately realized what he was implying. She finished packing earlier than Aeon, so she had a certain understanding of the matter. "They're trying to force Klaus to start moving."

"Why?" Aeon asked.

"Just a few minutes ago, some beasts attacked the camp, mostly small ones. They weren't much of a threat, but the people are already on edge, so they are quite anxious," Korona explained.

Based on most of the other people's behavior, they didn't have quite a good experience with the beasts.

As Aeon was looking around, he saw someone quite noticeable. The person caught Aeon's eyes because he was isolating himself in the corner. "Guys, I'll be right back."

Aeon moved towards the person he had been eyeing. The person was just sitting down partially inside his tent. He had short black hair and a single glove.

"Yo Mark!" Aeon yelled as he strolled over.

Mark, hearing his name, naturally reacted. He looked towards the direction of the voice and saw Aeon who was moving closer.

At first, he was shocked. But after a few moments, his shock turned into curiosity. But he wanted to dodge the question as much as he could. He was not yet ready to hear about what he wanted to know. Mark smiled and initiated the conversation, "Hey, how long have you been back?"

"Just a few minutes ago," Aeon sat next to Mark, "how about you?"

"Just the other day."

"How about your other teammates? Are they okay?"

"Yeah, they've all woken up. It appears that they didn't suffer any permanent injuries."

"You know, we found Samuel. He should be packing up at the moment,"

After hearing this, Mark was stunned. His curiosity was satisfied without him having to ask any questions, but it completely caught him off guard. He felt relieved as the guilt that had built up slowly lifted, but he immediately felt guilty again about not having enough trust in Samuel.

At that moment, he felt lost. He didn't know how to respond. He gave a dry laugh as he looked towards the ground. What mad lads, he thought. But deep down, he was happy.

"Thank you," Mark suddenly said.

"For what?" Aeon asked.

"For giving us a chance to thank him," Mark answered.

"No problem, bro. If you're thankful, though, how about you give us info about what's really happening?" Aeon said. The entire time he talked, he was looking towards Klaus's tent.

Mark lifted his head up to look at Aeon and he immediately noticed that the latter was staring at something. He also looked and saw a group of people gathering. "Oh, you mean that? Starting this morning, large beasts started roaming near the camp, and there were quite a lot of them. Those students who were in too deep encountered them along the way back to the camp and were caught off guard. That's why we have more than a few injured people."

"Really? That's weird," Aeon replied as he feigned shock. It seems that the Lake Beasts had been roaming around quite far from their area. Were they preparing to exit the forest?

Aeon was still daydreaming when he saw Suri sit up. He immediately stood and rushed back towards the group. As he was running, he looked back at the surprised Mark, "Sorry bro, I need to go. Thanks for the info!"

Mark stared at Aeon's back, confused. He could only shake his head.

….

The noise from outside Klaus' was, for Dan, practically deafening, but the former didn't seem to mind at all. The person just continued on writing a report.

"Sir, don't we need to move out?" Dan finally asked. His voice seemed low, but it was just the noise overlapping with it. Dan felt annoyed again. He didn't want to repeatedly ask Klaus a question.

Klaus heard him, but he chose not to respond. There was naturally a reason why they were still staying in the camp. Just as he finished writing down a report, he rolled it and passed it on for Dan to read.

Dan received it, but he was clueless about the contents of the report. Moreover, shouldn't Klaus keep the reports, not him? He slowly unrolled the sheet and read the contents. As he was going through it, he was filled with confusion.

The report was about a group of students who successfully rescued an Assistant Supervisor.

Seeing this, Dan started sweating. Was the report referring to him? Then, he looked at the date.

It was the date for today…

"I lied about something," Klaus tossed something at Dan which he immediately caught. "That's Merell's Tracer."

Dan opened his hand and looked at the stone on top of his palm that looked just like a Common Magic Detection Stone. Of course, it was not. It was called a Tracer. The one Dan used to track down Aeon's group.

Immediately, he paled in shock and horror.

"Merell!" Dan yelled in worry.

The light on the Tracer was very dim.

"Go get him. Bring another team with you," Klaus said with a frown.

….