Two hours later. They arrived at Trutam village, which is located not far from the forest itself. The village wasn't big as it had only approximately 70 houses. The village, fortunately, had electricity since it wasn't that far from Suroff. At the moment, not all settlements have electricity. Villages or towns that were far from a big city or power plant didn't have electricity.
They stopped the bus and walked out of it. The students lined up while waiting for the patrols to report to the village chief.
One of the patrols stood in front of the students and spoke. "Before we are moving, I heard you guys have your own plan? Do tell me."
Eric stepped up with Kyle and began to explain their plans. The patrol listened attentively and nodded. "So six groups. Make one group act as a scout. It is essential to know what is in front of us before the other groups come forward. I will send one patrol for each group to watch over you guys," told the patrol while adding some adjustments.
"The rest will be behind you guys, along with your teacher. We will act as a backup team in case something bad happens. But since we are just clearing the outer part inside the forest, there won't be any dangerous monsters."
"The operation will begin at 8.30 and end at 5.00 pm. However, should we deem the operation is complete, it will end sooner."
"But, if the situation is far than we have expected and dangerous, we might have to stay here for a day," added the patrol. This caused complaints from the students but of course, they were smart enough not to voice it out.
When everyone was ready, they moved out toward the forest. Kyle and those under the scout group moved first by following a patrol that acted as a scout as well.
"Sir," Kyle approached the patrol who led their group. "My name is Kyle Welton, and I'm on behalf of the others would like to ask," he spoke politely.
"Ah, just call me Jean, Jean Wilkins. What do you want to ask, kid? And relax, no need to be formal," the patrol named Jean smiled.
"Yes. We have gathered information about Trutam through books, but I think it is not enough. Is there anything else we should know about the forest?"
"Hm …. What do you know about it?"
"Since it is a place of resources for the village, it is best we don't cause any damage if possible. Monsters only stay in the depth of the forest, and they rarely venture outside of it. Some animals can be found, but in this kind of situation, they probably are going into hiding to avoid the monsters who come out from their area."
Jean nodded with a pleased expression. "Good, you know it well. Then, I'll tell you what is left. Trutam is a relatively safe place from the dangers of nature, such as poisonous plants. There are only a few of them. However, it is different when we are stepping into the monster area. Since the monster area is left untreated, many poisonous plants or even monster plants existed there."
"The terrain isn't hard, be careful of the tree roots and mind your surroundings. You don't want to get tripped or cause a sound by stepping on a tree branch while scouting."
"Also, monsters here are agile and able to use their surroundings as they like, so we have to use our surroundings as well. As a scout, do not have any scent on you. Some monsters have sensitive smelling to notice this," Jean finally stopped and looked at Kyle with a look like whether he understood that or not.
"I see, thank you very much. Then, how should we proceed on scouting?"
"We will split later but not too far from each other. Also, has anyone of you experienced being a hunter or a scouter or something like that?" Jean asked the students he had to take care of. Among five people, only three raised their hands, including Kyle.
"You two will stay with me for a moment to learn. The rest, can you guys cover these two positions for a while?"
''I can," Kyle replied. "My mana strings can cover a lot of places and sense any movement through waves."
"That's good," Jean seemed to have a higher opinion of Kyle by telling him about his capability and his readiness to take responsibility. "You three shall move to the front. Return to us once you've finished confirming the surrounds."