Village

As soon as the first rays of sunlight hit Rael's face, the young man opened his eyes and looked around him.

Luckily, it seemed that no other beast attacked him last night.

Stretching for a while, Rael got back to his high ventage point and tried to look in the direction of the campfire the saw last night.

"Because the distance is a few kilometers, I can't really see if there are people there. Last night would've been my best shot to approach them; but, whatever. I don't really care."

No matter what, Rael's first priority right now was to scout the village ahead. He hoped to learn a bit about Ceria, and more than that, to see if this world's people hated earthlings.

Rael carefully descended from the tree and made his way towards the direction of the village he had spotted the previous night. As he ventured deeper into the forest, he kept a keen eye out for any potential threats, relying on his chaotic bloodline-enhanced senses to detect any signs of danger.

The forest was alive with various creatures, some of which he recognized from his earlier encounters. Others were new and unfamiliar, adding to the mystery and danger of this world.

Rael moved silently, blending in with the shadows and doing his best to avoid any unnecessary confrontations with powerful looking beatst.

'It seems that not all of them are bloodthirsty monsters that only wish to kill. Some of them also turned around and left as soon as they saw me.'

'I wonder why...' Thought Rael as he slowly took his bloody sword from a deer's neck. Its other family members including some young looking deers were sprawled on the ground; a pool of blood around their lifeless bodies.

After what seemed like hours of travel, Rael finally reached close to the village.

He also obtained a lot of White Crystals for slaying so many ranked lifeforms on the way.

Since there was only around one kilometer between him and the village, Rael decided to be more cautions with his approach.

He didn't want to scare the people over there into thinking of him as an enemy, thus, attacking him.

He hid in the dense undergrowth, observing from a safe distance. The village appeared to be a relatively simple settlement with wooden huts and a central gathering area where the lights from the previous night had been.

From his vantage point, Rael could see the villagers going about their daily routines. They appeared to be a mix of different ethnicities amongst them.

"It seems that the inhabitants of this world are quite diverse." Rael referred to the fact that some people inside the village seemed to have blue skin, others had long ears.

Rael continued to watch, trying to gauge their reactions to his presence. He didn't want to make the first move and risk hostility. Instead, he decided to wait and see if anyone would approach him or if there was an opportunity to initiate contact without causing alarm.

As he observed the villagers, Rael couldn't help but wonder about their culture, language, and customs.

'What if they don't speak English? Man, that would be so awkward...'

This was a chance to gather valuable information about Ceria and the world he found himself in. However, he also remained cautious, aware that their response to an earthling like him was uncertain.

With his chaotic bloodline abilities and the skills he had acquired, Rael felt confident in winning one on one, but if over a hundred villagers decided to attack him... That was another story.

He was ready to adapt to any situation, whether it led to cooperation or confrontation.

After getting bored for waiting so much, Rael finally decided to move.

But before he could do that, he heard something behind him.

"Aron, how much did this guy stay over here and watched our village?" A somewhat young voice was suddenly heard from behind Rael.

"I think it's close to half an hour? Or maybe more." A rough voice responded back, Rael was glad that he could understand them, because when he turned around, there were three beings there.

One young man who looked to be in his twenties, a middle aged man that was built like a tank, and a young woman whose face was hard to see because of the hood she was wearing.

The trio was currently looking at Rael with anticipation, not a hint of fear on their faces.

"Um, hello there villagers of Ceria-"

Before Rael could finish speaking, he heard the young woman giggling at his introduction.

"Haha! I'm sorry, I'm sorry for that... Please continue." She quickly apologized before letting Rael continue.

'She's a strange girl,' Not minding her anymore, Rael continued, "Ahem! My name is Rael Hamartia, as you probably guessed, I'm not from 'here'."

Finishing his words, Rael expected some questions to be thrown his way, but surprisingly, no one said anything.

"I see. And what's your purpose for paying so much 'attention' to our village?" Asking this, the middle aged man resembling a bear looked deeply into Rael's eyes.

The other two were also curious about this, they were afraid of something disturbing their lifestyle.

"I don't really have a specific reason. You could say that I was only curious." Rael tried his best to hold himself back from saying that he considered them as potential experience for him.

"Hmm, did the Apocalypse Games begin already?"

The next thing asked by the middle aged man stunned Rael; he didn't think that the inhibitants of Ceria would be aware of something like Apocalypse Games.

Seeing Rael's stunned expression, the middle aged man knew that he was right, "Theo, show our guest around the village and tell him our rules."

"Yes! Come with me, as you heard, my name is Theo, glad to meet you Rael Hama-"

"Wait a bit! I want to be the guide for Rael!" The young woman suddenly spoke, because of her hasty movements, her hood fell off.

Long, blonde hair, astonishing blue eyes, Celia was considered the most beautiful woman inside the Tonen Village, by far.

Only now did Rael have enough time to properly look at her, but even he was amazed by how beautiful she was.

"Hah... Do what you want, Celia." The young man sighed in defeat, he couldn't say no to his younger sister.

"Okay then, you can go. If he tries something funny, announce the E Rank hunters on the village to 'take care' of him.

Said Camel as he watched his own daughter not paying any attention to him anymore as she jumped up from the tree she stood and wrapped her arms around Rael's own.

'E Rank hunters... Could they be people that are hunting E Rank Lifeforms?'

"Come with me, we're going to have a lot of fun!"

Her vivid personality made all three men around her tired, Rael quickly looked at Theo, but the latter turned his gaze away from him.

'I'm sorry...' Reading those words from the young man's face, Rael sighed before following Celia inside the village.