David's eyes widened as he looked down at the herd of Gem Deer. He had only ever seen carcasses or material from them; this was the farthest he had ever been from the settlement.
They were all a pale blue color, with eyes that resembled bright sapphires, and atop their heads were sparkling sets of antlers. Most of the deer stood about a meter tall at the shoulder and only had a few prongs on their antlers.
They wandered back and forth from the pool, leisurely drinking, almost too calm for being so at risk. But further back from the water, watching over the rest, was a huge deer, almost double the size of the rest.
This deer had a huge set of antlers, and its bright eyes were constantly roaming around the slopes that surrounded the clearing. David pressed himself down into the grass as the deer's eyes scanned past him, desperately hoping he wouldn't be spotted.
"Phew, that'd be a way to kill off our first adventure." David sighed as the deer's eyes moved past him and glanced down at his CoreScanner. He took in the many empty circles, and then his eyes fixed on the red circle, and flicked back to the large deer.
"Wow, a red core. She's the leader all right."
"Only one star. Just out of the coreless stage. We should be safe enough." David started to shuffle back away from the crest of the hill, then froze where he was, slamming himself back onto the ground.
A sudden chill ran down David's spine, and cold sweat started to drip from his forehead as he pressed down deep into the grass. A sweaty hand clamped tight around the straightsword on his back.
"What the hell?" David murmured to himself and glanced at his CoreScanner, but aside from some of the coreless deer shuffling around, nothing at all had changed. As soon as it had come on, the feeling disappeared, and after waiting a few moments, David sped back towards the group.
-----
By the time David got back to the others, they had made it around a third of the distance toward the clearing.
It was well known that the Gem Deer they were looking for preferred the grassy areas nearer to the mountain.
"Brogan. Hah. I, saw, the Gem," David began to gasp out, short of breath, his hands on his knees as he struggled to catch his breath. His brown hair was stuck down onto his forehead with sweat.
"Boy, what's the problem?" There was a hint of concern in Brogan's voice as he got on one knee to get a better look at David's face.
The other students maintained their distance, as much as they wanted to close in to find out what the issue was, they had been trained well and kept formation.
"Okay. I spotted the deer, about twenty colorless, two to six stars. One leader, red, one star. But when I was leaving, I don't know."
"I had this feeling, like I was about to die. I didn't catch anything on the CoreScanner though." By now, David had caught his breath and began to explain.
"It was just. Bad. I don't think we should head that way, Brogan." David's brow was furrowed, and his slim eyebrows were wrinkled up with fear.
"Hmmm. Look, kid, I know you're a good scout, but out here in the wilderness, we go off concrete observations. There's all sorts of beings around, and any one of them could've caused that. If we were to worry about all of those, no expedition would get far from Coppervein." Brogan put a massive hand on David's shoulder and handed him a flask of water.
"It might've been the Storm Eagle that flew over earlier," Xavier called out from near the center of the group, where he stood next to Cherie and the other more attack-oriented students.
"What? Damnnit, boy. That changes things. You should've mentioned it earlier." Brogan shook his head at him and sighed.
"Sorry, Brogan. I didn't think it was necessary, it was so high up, it's unlikely it was looking for a hunt, it's their migration season anyway. I don't think we should be worried." Xavier continued, looking down and adjusting his holster.
"Yes, but!" Another voice piped up, and the hushed voices of more and more students started to add to the conversation. Everyone wanted to show off their knowledge to Brogan.
"Quiet." Brogan cut through all their voices, not raising his voice as he usually would at the settlement, not wanting to attract the attention of what might be lurking out here.
"Alright team. You all need to get used to this, backline, come a little closer, what do we do if we need to make a decision in the wilderness?" Brogan gestured to Callahan and the other heavy-hitting students at the back.
"Vote." The students chorused back, with only David being silent, his face still scrunched up with worry.
"Alright, I saw you straining your ears to listen in, so I don't need to explain the situation. Anyone who's for going ahead, raise your arm, otherwise, stay silent." Brogan crossed his arms, and by his face, all the students could tell that he was very serious.
There was a rustling of cloth, and the clanking of weapons as gear, as the majority of students raised their arms, with only a few exceptions. Those being David, Cherie, and Callahan.
"Alright, it's settled. Sorry, lad, but you know that this is how it's done." Brogan grimaced and patted David on the shoulder. Even though David might doze off in his classes, Brogan knew he was gifted, and as much as he wanted to pick his side, he needed to set a clear example for the student how these situations must be handled.
"I know, Brogan." David sighed and loosened his sword in his sheath as he led the others back towards the clearing, a sinking feeling in his stomach.
-----
There was a collection of gasps as the students came over the hill, all low to the ground, having spread out into a loose crescent shape. They were all taken aback by the beauty of the deer, and some, by the wealth those sparkling antlers represented.
Life was happy but tough at Coppervein, and taking down a single deer could feed a family for an entire month. And while none of them had the capacity to take down the leader, they all imagined taking it down. Its antlers aside, the red core within it was of insane value.
Now, the students at the center of the crescent slowed down, and those at the edges sped up; they were planning on encircling the deer. But of course, there was no way they could take on all of them, so their strategy would exploit the natural fearfulness of the deer.
Cherie on the right and David on the left came to a halt; they were almost halfway down the slope, looking back at the others. Noting the others were in position, they made a hand signal to Brogan, who stood slightly behind them.
All of the students ducked as Brogan stood up straight and opened his mouth. On the opposite side of the clearing, the red core deer's head immediately darted up and focused on him.
The deer opened its mouth to call a warning, but it was far too late.
"Yah!" Brogan yelled first, barely a sound coming from his mouth; a shockwave rippled over the heads of the students, blasting into the deer. Those deer closest to the students fell to the ground, while the others let out cries of pain.
The red core deer let out its warning bellow, and those deer near it immediately fled up the hill; it hesitated for a moment, but the students had already encircled some of the deer; it joined the others in fleeing.
"Tch, what a waste. The ladies would've loved that one." Brogan muttered as the large deer fled; to him, that deer wasn't a financial opportunity but a potential decoration; he had been imagining those antlers hung above his fireplace.
The remaining deer, realizing they were trapped, lowered their antlers, ready to fight. They were all amongst them, weapons bared. Some students took on the deer in groups of two or even three, these were the students who were only at the two or early three-star coreless stage.
But Cherie, Xavier, Callahan, and David were all on their own, and Brogan nodded with approval as he watched them make short work of their targets.
"Tsk, he's clearly distracted." Brogan shook his head at David, who had left wounds all over his target, had clearly missed its weak point.
David, of course, was glancing at his CoreScanner between each blow, he couldn't shake off the terrible feeling in his stomach. He looked down, seeing the empty dots of the students and deer, and the fleeing red dot at the edge. And of course, there was the reassuring orange dot that was Brogan, a faint third star around his dot.
"Oh, fuck. RUN!" David yelled as he suddenly saw multiple red dots appear on his Core Scanner, approaching them rapidly.
Brogan, who had been watching David, immediately took in the situation; his eyes flicked down to his own scanner, yelled a warning. The students scrambled in all directions, ignoring their targets, but David, who had warned everyone, was frozen in place.
All he could see right now was Cherie's piercing violet eyes looking at him, filled with fear. And right behind her the gun pointed to her head.