Premonition

---At a certain clearing 100 km from the pod---

It was almost nightfall but 50 people stood attentively but also anxiously at the center of their small settlement where there was no house nor any building. It was a place for informing the members of the settlement. It is something like a plaza.

They were waiting for something to be announced. Earlier that day, which was 68 hours ago, the settlement elder ordered a gathering at the plaza. This does not normally happen as the only times a gathering of the whole settlement population happens is when a beast wave sign is imminent and will inevitably happen. Everybody knows that the settlement elder is a once famous shaman that can vaguely tell fortune and he had never been wrong before. This gathering has to be an important one.

Just as the last person came, one burly figure called everyone's attention. "Attention! The elder is about to enlighten us!" He shouted in a calm and domineering manner. "Elder, every adult has been accounted for, please proceed as you wish." The figure kowtowed before the elder and everyone else followed suit.

"..." Moments later, the elder did not speak but chose to just lamely sit there as if he was dead. He was like a breathing statue. To be a shaman, one would blind themselves, father no sons or daughters, impede their sense of smell, shave all hairs off their body with a technique, and take no name. He seemed like an extreme monk of some sort.

Even though 30 minutes of silence invaded the gathering, no one dared to reprimand the elder for wasting their time. Instead, they all waited patiently. While they were still kneeling in front of the elder shaman, he finally spoke.

"From the heavens, a seed descended." He said as he pointed eastwards. The 50 people naturally were in awe. How can a blind man even point in a specific direction with such mysterious confidence? So they followed where the shaman pointed and noticed that it was where the ball of fire descended. 'Seed?' What was that supposed to mean? 'That's only a normal meteor though?' That was what they thought of it.

This planet was so large and old that stories about such things are not rare. Nonetheless, everyone just let it slide and once again patiently listened to the elder's words.

"From it, a tree will sprout." The shaman said. 'It was a seed. Of course it'll grow to be something.' The people thought but still kept their thoughts within.

"This tree, like no other, will bear 7 different fruits." He said.

"What?!" This time the listeners were shocked and were finally intrigued. 'A tree that bears 7 different fruits! What kind of tree is it?!' Everybody thought of getting their hands on this tree. In the cultivation world, treasure means improvement of strength. And strength rules on everything.

"Its roots will pierce Urtha."

"When it blooms, all the Yggdrasils tremble."

With that, the elder shaman finished and signed that his premonition had ended. He wanted to get back to rest.

Instead of a noisy discussion and consultations, what followed the end of his speech was total silence. No sound came out of anyone. There were only their faint breaths. Every person there was in deep thoughts. 'Pierce Urtha and make holy trees tremble? Doesn't this seem very bad?!' Naturally, the words of a shaman will always be mysterious but will also be true all the time. Could this premonition be a bad thing? They all thought.

"Everyone, that is all the elder has to say." The burly figure said and signed to everyone to disperse and go back to their own tents. After that, he personally escorted the shaman back to the central tent which was the biggest and luxurious tent.

---Inside the tent---

The shaman was now lying on the bed motionlessly. "Elder, a-about what you said…" The burly man respectfully tried to inquire about the recent topic. He was afraid to offend the respected elder.

"It is up to you to decide… Water it… Stomp on it… Cultivate it… Eliminate it… In the end you don't know the definite future." The elder weakly squeezed the words out. Looking at him, you would notice deep and multiple wrinkles all over his body. He was almost like a corpse with only skin and bones. Obviously, he is old, very old.

"B-But elder, what you said seemed too ominous to let it be." The man rebutted. For the survival of what his ancestors have worked hard for, how can he be relaxed when a possible threat was near them?

This time, the elder directed his blind eyes to the man as if he could see him. "Young one, Adhi, I'm too old."

""Elder! You shouldn't say such things!" Adhi, the burly man said in worry.

"Sigh… I'm now past 700 years old. It's time I join your forefathers — my brothers in arms, my comrades. Don't take this chance from me." The shaman said with a solemn look.

"I know that elder! B-But who will guide us if you are not with us?! This settlement will not last a year without you!" Adhi was now very worried as the elder mentioned 'rest'.

"Haaia… Adhi." The shaman could not refute what the man told him. Although every adult in the settlement was a cultivator, most of them were just foundation realms and had a core formation realm as the strongest member which was Adhi. Surviving required strength and strength is what this settlement had been lacking throughout its history.

50 cultivators was the lowest population this settlement had achieved. This kind of number is bound to decline even more at some point if there is no way to strengthen its overall prowess.

The shaman and his brother in arms had built this settlement here as a last resort as they had escaped from the Opus Empire that is now called the Dark Continent.

At first they had felt that hope is found in here — the 'Land of Beasts' but little did they know that its name was not just for show. This continent is teeming with beasts of all shapes and sizes that their previous empire had little to know about.

The settlement was just at the edge of the land but still had a hard time establishing dominance against beasts in the area. This means that deeper in the land, there are more powerful beasts that can evaporate them with a single sway of its tail. Despite his worry, he was really out of time now.

"Adhi. Look at the settlement again and see." The shaman said.

"W-What do you mean elder?" This man Adhi was surely confused by how the elder shaman talked. What can he do but try to comprehend his words? If he fails, he can just ask.

"Sigh. Look and see that I'm a high human, you're a half-dwarf… Zack is a werewolf, Karen is a human and well others are more bizarre." He said. Seeing that Adhi was still silent he couldn't help but continue. "How can adding a seedling in the herd be any different at this point?"

"D-Do you mean…" Adhi realized what the shaman was telling him.

The shaman smiled and then said. "As the shaman, I now command you to take 10 trusty comrades to explore a little deeper into the forest and from there, decide what path to take."

"T-This…" Adhi was speechless, For more than 50 years the exploration of the deep forest has been halted because of the continuous decline of the number of cultivators because of the mortality rate of missions involving the forest. But now, the elder is actually telling him to lead his people in to fetch the seed? Adhi was not that stupid. He understood that the elder wanted him to have a look at the seed and determine whether it was really an imminent threat or a blessing from the heavens.

"3 hours from now, burn my body. Do not grieve. Do not be sad. Do not despair. Celebrate this event as when something is taken, something will be given." With those words, the shaman returned to being motionless. It is a sign that he wishes to be alone.

Although sad and worried, Adhi could only follow what the shaman wished. 'The Elder was never wrong. He should be right this time as well.' Adhi thought.

---Meanwhile at the the pod---

"An hour left. Sel, Clay, make haste! We have to return to the cave and spend 72 hours in the night." Alex was commanding the relocation of their supplies. Gin may know what they should do at certain times but Alex had a better sense of the actual thing. Gin knew that they should gather the supplies from the pod and bring what they could back to the cave but he did not know how to do it the most efficient way.

Gin was currently on the lookout using the empty sniper rifle and the almost broken plasma pistol. "Alex is right. The sun of this planet is almost out. It's getting dark and I don't feel good about staying in the open. Not while being enveloped in darkness, especially for 72 hours."

"Hurry!"

Just like that, nighttime on this planet came.

"So… What do we do now?" Diesel asked his younger brothers.

The 4 of them were currently sitting on makeshift seats around a crackling fire. The fire seemed so peaceful. "This breathing is really difficult to maintain." Alex said calmly while looking directly at the fire as he munched on the nutritious but not so tasty foil sealed meal.

"Damn right. Wish I had the system." Clay said as he gulped in some syrup of some kind.

"Come on, I already said that you had to be a heavenly Body and other special requirements to get it." Gin reasoned.

"Calm yourselves now."

"How long do you think these supplies could last us?"

"More or less 10 days, water would be 3 days."

"Hmm. That is a problem."

"Yes, that means, after 72 hours, we have to find a good source of water. If there is any on this planet that is."

"There is also the problem of the piled up corpses of beasts around here. What if another wave comes in because of the smell of death?"

The brothers had a long discussion about their current situation and it dawned on them that they really had little knowledge about this world. They did not know any language or any basic way of living here. They only know that beasts want to eat them and they kill the beasts. They didn't even dare eat one beast as they feared it being poisonous. Alex had been poisoned before so, they felt that being wary is the correct play here.

Furthermore, they have been introduced to the concept of cultivation but this resulted in them asking more questions.

What is cultivation?

Why does earth not have it?

And this system thing, Is there any extraterrestrial lifeform out there that could actually make something such as this profound Archaic system? If so, how can it be possible?

As time passed, their conversation and pitiful planning halted and they proceeded in clearing the area. They went to dig a pit and threw the plethora of dead beasts inside it then covered it. The operation lasted 18 whole hours.

What they did was to take turns in the buddy system. They of course separated Clay from Gin as they feared that a murderous scene would occur the moment that the two was left alone.

Unbeknownst to the 4 brothers, a group of 11 cultivators approaches.