Putting that idea aside for now, he got up and asked the System in which direction the road it had detected.
"Path is two-hundred and eighty meters northeast from Host's current location."
So he took off in that direction, hoping to gleam more information from survivors of the war. Maybe find someone who actually knew how it all started.
After about 15 minutes of walking through the woods, he reached the tree line to what indeed looked like a rough earth path. He stayed hidden a bit, waiting to see someone pass on the road before going on it.
It didn't take much time.
About 5 minutes later, he saw a small group of four men with backpacks filled with goods. He assumed they were merchants.
Walking out slowly from the tree line, he waved at them so he wouldn't frighten the men.
"Hello, fellow humans!"
When they saw him, the four men took out small blasters from under their coats and immediately aimed at the stranger before them.
"Woah!! I am human, just like you!"
"We'll see about that ourselves," the man in the front answered coldly.
"Corey, use the scanner and check him out."
Pulling an odd tablet, the man named Corey pointed it at Karl's head, getting closer to get a better reading.
"He's clean!!" Corey yelled back, lowering his weapon.
The other three men also lowered their blasters but didn't holster them, as they still didn't trust him.
"What's your name, stranger?"
"Courtesy dictates you state your own name before asking for someone else's," Karl answered, not wanting to reveal his identity.
"State your name or die a nameless death," the man said, all four of them raising their weapons again.
"System advises the Host to not use his real name, as the name is associated with a dead person from a lost age."
"I know that, jeez. How stupid do you think I am?"
"System will not answer such a question."
"Oh? What do I hear there? Is that a point of sarcasm?"
"Negative."
"HAHH! Denial. That's rich."
"My name is Henry Calvert. I am a traveller and have come from far away. I have no ill intentions, so why don't you lower your weapons?"
"Hmm. Much better. Well, Henry, my name is Jhon; this is Max, Grant and Corey, which you already know.
"I'm the leader of this merchant group. We were headed to the village close by. Were you also going there?" Jhon asked, holstering his blaster, followed by his three friends.
"Not particularly, Jhon. I was passing through. But indeed, a village would be a welcome sight. Would you mind me joining you for your travel the" ''
"I don't mind. As long as you don't do anything funny, you can do what you please."
They then started walking again, heading west, where they were telling him was a hidden village inside a mountain. That explained how it had survived the war being waged in the area.
On the way, Karl, now calling himself Henry, talked with all four of them and learned that the village was called Legacy Cave. Henry found it had a nice ring to it.
He also learned that it used to be a mining shaft that had been transformed over time into a giant cave to accommodate fleeing survivors of the war.
Keeping the discussions to informative small talk, they took almost two hours to get to the village. Once there, the five of them parted ways with a small head bow and a few words.
Now, with him being here, he made it his priority to find some access to information.
Walking towards the biggest building in town, which he had learned from Corey, was the town hall; he was being looked at with curious eyes and low heads. Noticing people were avoiding him, he wagered it was because he was a stranger.
Reaching the town hall, he entered the building.
He beeline'd for the counter and immediately asked the clerk, "Excuse me, good sir. I am a travelling historian, and it has come to my knowledge that this town may have some historical documents that remain unknown to the world. Would there be a possibility of browsing such documents, for history's sake?"
Looking at him bewildered, the man took a few seconds to regain his composure.
He then smiled and said, "Of course, young man! The documents you are looking for are stored in the city archives at the library. They are accessible to all, as history has no price."
Giving directions to the city's library, he ended his guidance with, "We sure hope you will bring this city to light in history books."
"I am sure to try, my good man !" Henry said, waving his hand and leaving for the library.
As the building was not very far, he walked there in a few minutes.
He quickly entered and asked the young clerk where he could browse the archives. The young man, clearly bored to hell with his job, barely looked up and pointed to an old computer at the back of the room.
Making it to the computer quickly, unable to hide his excitement, he powered it up and sat in front of the big flat screen.
He started by getting information about the war's cause. Not learning much more from the archives, as the System had summed it up for him the day before, he moved on to the next question he had.
How had the human race survived?
He learned they had started migrating to the stars after realizing they might become extinct through the continuous raids from the now-stable wormhole just outside the moon's orbit.
He also read that to prevent massive loss of life; the world government had decided to turn to mass-produce 'driveable' clones to send to the front lines.
With his curiosity fulfilled, he had more personal questions to verify, such as what had happened to his son.
He looked into his old company and found a few news that shocked him. The headlines read, 'Hampton Technologies joins hands with Phoenix Co. to produce clone soldiers.'
He remembered his son's combative nature and hard-headed manners, which he had gained from himself and was proud to see his son trying to save his fellow humans.
Other headlines such as 'Hampton Tech releases new weapon concept, Earth might be saved,' and 'President of Hampton Tech takes the fight to them!' made him proud as a father and fellow human.
His son had grown into a fine man, fighting in his own way to protect his planet. The following headline, though, crushed his heart to bits.
'Tamarain raid on Hampton Tech HQ brings death to thousands of personnel. President's body remains unfound in the debris. Is Earth's main defender dead or alive?'
With his eyes wet, Henry opened up the article and read it thoroughly. The more details he read, the more he cried.
It was a tragedy.
With pain and anger now brewing in his heart, Henry made the vow to exterminate the Tamarain race to avenge his son. Knowing that he would have to consume a lot of Tamarain genes on his long journey to ensure his survival, he grunted.
"It's a means to an end," he thought, heading out of the library with a stern look.