POV Kaio
I'm happy to see that one of my oldest challengers is back, I hope he's not so angry anymore about what happened with Diem a few weeks ago. I even tried not to mess too much with them and several of the others who were on the expedition and only get rid of those who deserved it like those wizards, it doesn't surprise me that they were of low rank even though they reached 90 years old, AFFF, but I explain about them, what happened and because I have this little enmity afterwards. My concern and focus right now is with Connor and the friends he brought back from Elbor. The way they act seems like a mixture of young people from rich families and young people from ordinary, working families, it's difficult to know which would be the case.
'Why would that be the slightest bit relevant?'
Well, simply because here is a world of survival only for the strongest and the fittest, and it would be normal for more privileged people to have more comfort and it would be unnecessary for them to take risks with something that could hurt them or even kill them. And the way they treat Connor is more like a true friend than a hired hand.
Anyway, things continued to move forward after the 4 boys from Elbor had a little briefing about my dungeon, which the locals simply call Ordeal (a pretty good name and I'm even considering putting that as the official name, as far as they would understand but...). While they were doing this, the girl with the stick, Cali noticed that just below the mural there were some iron plates with something written on them, this would be the general level 1 status of the monsters that had already been eliminated.
—Excuse me, but what are these things written here but plaques?
—We're still not sure, but we think it must be the names or something regarding the creatures residing in the Ordeal, as we confirmed that shortly after one of the creatures was killed one of these plaques appeared. But we don't know for sure why master Akion, who was researching this language, ended up dying in the incident a few weeks ago. — answered the receptionist.
—Hmm, I understand. — the girl said looking at the plates again, a little disappointed.
—Why care what these signs say? It's unlikely they can help us understand this place better just because they're here. — said Maxuel.
—In fact, the research team believes otherwise, according to what little Master Akion left, the symbols on the plates are the same as the images in the tomes that can be obtained from the Ordeal. — warned the receptionist to the boy with light hair.
—And why is this necessary?, the images are enough to understand the story and obtain the skill, even if it is random. — Maxuel said to the older woman.
—We don't usually agree, but this is one of the rare exceptions. You really don't need to read the tomes to understand them thanks to the vivid images, they are a bunch of people in strange green clothes who keep killing each other until a monster comes out of the forest and starts killing us one after another with that strange metal pipe taped to the shoulder and that weird red 3-point red light. — said Mavak defending his brother.
'Oh there, if they knew half the real story that this "tome" has, they wouldn't be saying that, I hope that Cali is more of a studious type, and that she has more interest in languages as an area of study. The popularity of the "tomes" would increase even more with the story, for them to understand the images and the fact that they could obtain skills after they were "read". Speaking of which, you may have noticed by now, but this "tome" is actually a comic book, more specifically an adaptation of the 1987 Predator movie, because it became a "tome of skill" or because it came along with the Special Plunders, no idea and the system doesn't help either because of the Authority.'
—Not necessarily, the symbols could be other hidden abilities, or a way to get the specific ability you want etc, although this is just speculation. — said the receptionist.
—Well whatever it is, the point of concern is for us to go to the forest and do what we can, let's go!! — Maxuel remembered why they had come.
—That's true, all right guys let's go. — This time unexpectedly it was Connor who said it, with a good dose of enthusiasm I must add.
Said and done, they soon headed towards the teleportation circle and from there to the first floor, good luck to you.
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Connor's POV
Shortly after the light faded, we could all feel the heat, the smell and the Air that the forest emanated, I have lived in forests all my life and as a very promising apprentice hunter the smell of the forests is not something strange to me. But the air in this forest wasn't like any other forest I've ever been in, it always feels richer, stronger, more alive.
Soon after the 4 had recovered from both the transport and the vision in front of them we checked our weapons and armor to make sure nothing was out of place, one of the things we learned early on is that if you're careless here, chances are you back are much smaller. Gotta thank Anna's family for buying that new bow and green dyed leather cape, that's even more so. which is why I'm going to make sure everyone comes back alive(ノ｀⌒´) !
We started to advance slowly heading north towards the hut by the river, there was the only place where you can set up camp safely, thanks to the expedition we are sure that no monsters come more than 400 meters from the hut, making it -a the ideal place to rest, but we still don't know why. One of the magicians who went on the expedition theorized that there was a magic circle under the ground that formed a barrier that repelled them, but the others who were with him didn't believe it because they didn't feel any energy fluctuations that would indicate its activation, another believed that the hut's wood was made of a material that repelled them, but he couldn't prove it because the hut was completely indestructible no matter how much you hit it with axes, swords, machetes or spells, nothing happened.
—Guys, after we get there and get settled in the cabin, what exactly are we going to do next. — I asked the others.
—I don't know about you, but I'm going to explore the surrounding area, I heard there's a sweet red fruit that helps you recover your energy, I want to take some to my family. — Anna said excitedly, I still can't believe her family let her come here, even with me and the others, this isn't exactly the best place to play.
—Why go to all this trouble, I don't doubt that your family could buy them from Connor's village, right? — Max voiced my exact question.
Being the daughter of the 3rd richest merchant in the 2nd most prosperous city with only parents, it's easy to imagine how much power, influence and money Anna's family must have, yet they let their 2nd 13 year old daughter come to a potentially deadly place with childhood friends and a boy they met 2 weeks ago. Regardless of how I look at it, it doesn't make sense for this to happen, if they wanted to use me as bait for something I would understand, but then they should have called mercenaries, not childhood friends, even if they have some notion of combat.
—Tch tch tch tch, my dear Maxuel you are still very naive, my objective is not merely the fruit, but to be able to say that I was the one who got it. — Anna stated resolutely but it still doesn't make sense in my head how they accepted that reason?????!!!!!
—I'm sure there's more to this than you're telling me, but if you don't want to say it, so be it. — Cali said. I may not have known her for a long time, but what I've discovered is enough to say that sometimes she simply knows things about others that they don't tell them.
—.....
This left a rather heavy atmosphere, to alleviate it I asked Cali what she intended to do.
—I heard that there is a book inside the cabin with several symbols similar to those in the tomes, if I can decipher them I will be able to enter into any greater order I want. she said with more animation than I've ever seen her show. But you could understand that it was already difficult to join a normal order, let alone a superior one that is almost entirely dominated by nobles.
—*bookworm as usual* — the Mavak muttered, not as quietly as he thought, considering the baton he'd taken in the stomach.
—Honestly, sometimes I find it difficult to say which one of you is the mature one or if the two of you are still children anyway. — told them
—HEY THAT WAS CRUEL!!! — the two shouted
—But completely true, and so what will the pair of airheads want to do, although I already have an idea.
—HHhhffff, well you're probably right, yes we simply came to fight these creatures and get the missing tomes. Nobody wants to sell theirs to us. — Mavak said, still a little irritated.
Well, we've all been waiting for that, after all, the only reason why foreigners have been coming to the village is to enter the Ordeal to get the herbs, meat and especially the tomes. As dangerous as it is from what has been observed, most of them are only obtained when defeating the green demons riding the furry beasts. That's why we gave the Ordeal login, it has a high risk and also a high reward.