Hah. Wearing That?

By the time they were about to stop for the night, Elias was still knocked out cold. Alec took the chance to ask if he wanted to ink a spatial dimension rune on himself since he already had the tools out.

Since he had been in good form, completing the runes had only taken around five minutes to draw.

Elias, learning from Alec's experience, had it on his hand instead of Alec, who had it in a strange position.

Alec inked Bunbun and Fenrir with it, as well as Echo, explaining how to use it. The bunny and wolf seemed to have put aside differences for now, opting to get along since they were stuck together with no end in sight.

Bunbun hopped around with a tiny wolf on his back, Fenrir seemed to find this experience novel and exciting. He was riding another creature instead of running around.

Alec's lips twitched. Somehow, they had not been affected by the inking of the runes upon their body, unlike how he had been knocked out for the larger part of a day, just like Elias.

Alec theorized that it was because of the different ways their body was built to handle magic, but he could not confirm it at this point of time.

Elias woke up, resisting the urge to curl up into a ball. The ache was something else. He didn't think he felt this bad even when he went a full sparring session with their teacher.

Henry woke up soon after, looking dazed.

From what Alec could tell, the hunter had recovered a fair amount of his magic, leaving him around half full.

The System smiled at the hunter, who seemed to shrink under his smile.

Why was that?

"I won't do it again!" Henry burst out, unable to take the atmosphere any longer, confusing Alec.

Had he said something out loud? Though he had been disapproving of the way he had used all his magic to the point of passing out without a warning, the other had still helped them, so Alec hadn't said anything. Yet, that was. But he was already admitting his mistakes?

Elias laughed lightly in the corner. Alec's aura sometimes projected his feelings without him being aware of it, which made it even worse since he had no clue he was doing it. It was quite pressurising.

It was also why amongst their group of friends, they never once slacked off. Not only was Alec always doing something, seeing him work that hard made them feel like they were wasting their time when they weren't doing anything productive.

At this time, the light had not yet dimmed completely from the skies, casting a faint orangey glow over everything.

By the time they finished setting up camp for the night, they heard a roar of anger and unwillingness in the distance, causing them to frown.

The wolves' fur all bristled, a sure sign of the potential threat that they felt.

The roar was followed by the sounds of shouts as they were presumably fighting against a creature or monster.

The sounds of fighting went on for a while, but none of them moved to help. This was because firstly, they could tell judging from the first roar that the humans must have provoked the being in some way.

Since this was the case, then if they decided that they wanted to take risks, they should be equally prepared to lose their life. This was an adventurer and hunter's main rule. Even if no one came to help them, they would never complain because there was always a risk every time they decided to venture out.

Secondly, just because they were humans didn't mean that they were always on humans' side. There was always a series of events that would lead up to a fight.

Cold? Maybe. Practical? Yes. Why should someone get involved in someone else's fight if they were the one to instigate it first? Cause and effect.

Personally, Alec liked to think that they just weren't idiots like a few Main Characters that liked to charge straight into danger. Just how suicidal did someone have to be to recklessly rush into danger without taking into account potential death?

They didn't have the Main Character halo, nor were they moved around by the plot, so for what reason would they charge into the fray when they were clearly bystanders?

The sounds of the roars tapered off as whatever creature or monster headed deeper into the depths of the forest, leaving the sounds of cursing and swearing behind from the humans.

Alec tilted his head. From the sound of it, those people who had been fighting were coming their way.

Elias and Philip quietly continued cooking the stew, whilst Henry was sharpening his sword.

The wolves were lying low, but their eyes were sharp with caution even as they looked relaxed.

The sounds of heavy trudging met their ears, even as all the armour clinked and rattled, causing Henry to frown.

Judging from the way they carried themselves, they were not normal hunters or adventurers. Even those who were first time adventurers would receive advice from those in the guild when they left looking like this.

Unless they were complete morons who decided to forgo sound advice, no adventurer would be caught wearing that out.

Most would quickly learn that the more sound you made, the more danger you put yourself in outside of city walls. Unless you were fighting another human, or in a full-scale war, it was always better to go with leather. Though the protection it garnered was not as good, it was lighter, quieter and overall better to move around with.

Just what were these people doing out here trying to fight monsters or creatures in those tin cans?

The sounds of grumbling filtered into their ears under the sound of metal clanking. There were five men that emerged from the line of trees, covered in blood and gore. They were clearly fuming from their loss.

There were traces of dry blood on the armour before the shiny metal had been painted over by these men's blood.

The one in the front paused when they caught sight of them, his face twisting in a series of rage-filled disgusted expressions as he clutched his helmet in his hand.

The man, cuts on his face, scanned the group, his eyes stopping on Henry, who obviously looked like a hunter or adventurer.

This must be the leader, the man thought. Fabian grabbed Henry by the collar, snarling in his face. "You heard us, didn't you! You should've come help us! We're all adventurers here!"

His words were echoed by his remaining teammates, each carrying a look of indignance on their faces.

Hearing their words, Alec felt both incredulous and disgusted. He couldn't even muster up the usual anger that seemed to come so naturally to him. They weren't even worth an iota of his attention. Two men, a teenager and a child. What exactly was it about them that made these men think that they would make a big difference to their fight?

Of course, if they really wanted to help, they likely would have made a difference, but the way these men acted so entitled to their blood, sweat and tears rubbed him the wrong way.

What did they expect? Did they think that just one man alone would have made a difference?

From the way the blood-stained man had instantly gone for Henry, it was clear that he had dismissed everyone else in their group, going for their 'leader'.

Those men were all Foundational level hunters who had gone after a rank two creature that had been on bounty. They originally had ten members but lost five of them in the clash with the rank two creature.

Henry laughed in his face. "Ha. You call yourselves adventurers when you're wearing those tin cans around? Why don't you pull the other one? You're lucky not to have already died from all the noise you're making."

Fabian's face purpled with rage, glaring daggers at Henry. The other four men made moves that made them appear like they were about to confront them head on.

The sounds of growls filtered into their rage-addled brains, causing them to freeze up.

Fabian let go of Henry's collar, slowly backing off with his hands up.

The previous bravado had been replaced by a deep resentment mixed with fear for their lives.

"An adventurer would never butt into someone else's hunt in case there's ever the chance that they're accused of stealing a kill," Henry said with cold eyes.

Fabian sneered at them, turning around to leave.