Proofreader: M_W Miss Fierce

The next morning, when Leo finally woke up, he soon after found his older brother Reinhart missing.

"Maybe he's just out hunting for food, so I'll just wait here till he returns." Leo said to himself before getting down from his bed and walking towards one of the drawers to grab a book entitled Nightmare Era. It was a book about the life of the Human race after suddenly being transported into the Celestial World, written by an author named Kaiser, specifically one of the early Mages born out from the Human race.

He really felt interested every time he reads this book because it shows every struggle that the Human race has gone through on living in a new and unfamiliar world.

It mentioned how the Human race has survived by fighting against many different Foreign races who were long inhabitants of the Celestial World and a few others that were also like them that have also been transported into the Celestial World a few years before them.

It also mentioned how the Human race developed from first using some stone weapons, which was said to be a technique used back on Earth when it was still in the Stone Age. Then it slowly developed into using metal tools and weapons. Until they were finally able to obtain a little knowledge about the different weapons, tools, and many more like things that can exist and be created in the Celestial World.

But what he was really interested in was the journey. It was written in the perspective of Kaiser, the author of the Nightmare Era, on how the Human race transferred from one place to another in order to survive, how they struggle in order to adapt, how the prior population of 7.5 billion slowly became 1 billion or so, and then how they finally stabilized themselves after 50 years of time.

It was repeatedly mentioned many times that such a feat of the Human race was really a miracle since back in the days when they were still living on Earth in which the Humans were only able to develop into the Information Age after many centuries of development.

Well, of course, it is indeed still possible to achieve because the Human race already has a lot of knowledge of many things. Though the majority of their knowledge was deemed useless after suddenly being transported into the Celestial World, considering that this was a world of Magic, a subject only mentioned in fictions, but the foundation of the knowledge that they have established throughout the many years of studying back on Earth could still be applied here. Additionally, they have 7.5 billion Humans working on a single goal, which is their survival.

At this moment, there were still wars between the Human race and other Foreign races that have a clear intention of using the Humans for themselves. But unlike before, the numbers have clearly decreased by a considerable amount in this present time.

Just like what was mentioned in the book Nightmare Era, the Human race was finally able to stabilize their existence after 50 years, meaning they were no longer a bunch of sheep waiting to be slaughtered. They were now in the process of developing to reach a similar level to the other Foreign races that have long been inhabiting the Celestial World.

Minutes and hours passed seemingly like in a blink of an eye, and worryingly it started to rain again.

Every time Leo felt a bit hungry, he would just simply open the leather bag packed with dried food and eat it to satisfy his hunger.

After so much time has passed, there was still no sign of his older brother Reinhart returning. He was already starting to worry that something dangerous might have happened to him.

He believes that his older brother Reinhart is very strong, considering that he's a Mage and was mentioned to be at a higher level as well. However, he wasn't a fool to say for sure that no one can defeat his older brother. Even people much more powerful than his older brother that was mentioned in the book Nightmare Era had still died.

"That can't be true, right? In the Silver Kingdom, my older brother is considered as a genius, so he won't easily die like that..." Leo said in order to console himself.

While Leo was walking from here to there inside the small hut because of how worried he was already for his older brother Reinhart's safety, a few beasts called Magical Beast was silently creeping towards his location, obviously attracted by the obvious light in the middle of the rain.

These few Magical Beast that was silently creeping towards Leo's location were just some ordinary ones called Forest Rats. Unlike normal rats, the Forest Rats have a bigger build, specifically 2 meters long from its head to its tail, and 1 meter big. Its way of attacking is through its extremely sharp claws and deadly bites. It can also use its tail and other parts of its body to attack if it was really needed, like for example slamming its powerful body or headbutting someone using its thick head.

Although the Forest Rats were just considered as ordinary Magical Beast, they were still very dangerous, especially to the likes of Leo. Not to mention, there was a considerable amount of them in numbers.

Behind these groups of Forest Rats was something even more dangerous, a Forest Rat King, specifically a 1 Star level Magical Beast, commanding the small group of Forest Rats.

With the Forest Rat King, even if Leo could indeed escape from the Forest Rats, it would be impossible for him to do that in front of a Forest Rat King. He could only wait for his death facing such a dangerous and powerful Magical Beast.

A few minutes pass by, and when the Forest Rats and the Forest Rat King were finally in front of the small hut, only was then Leo able to notice them.

Leo's face immediately turned from worried to scared. He has long known the existence of Magical Beast, and that he was also not yet capable of fighting against them.

Without any hesitation, Leo quickly closed the door of the small hut as he then grabbed a chair to add a few blockages. After doing that, he runs towards the window and closed it before finally going under the wooden double-decker bed to hide.

Being attacked by Magical Beast wasn't unfamiliar for Leo. That's why he was able to execute everything calmly. In fact, he had already experienced many similar situations like this one. After all, the location of this small hut was inside the Nine River Forest, specifically a Danger Zone, so there is obviously a huge possibility of being attacked by Magical Beast. However, that doesn't mean he could only wait for his death if ever he encountered such a situation.

From the first day he and his older brother Reinhart built this small hut, they have already taken into consideration being attacked by Magical Beast, it's even the number one top priority thing they have considered.

That's why he quickly went under the wooden double-decker bed, because below the double-decker bed was a small underground room that can be used to hide from Magical Beast if ever they cannot defeat it or run.

Quickly, Leo opened the iron door of the small underground room that was disguised similar to those of the wooden floor in order to not get easily found out by anyone. He then right after jumped inside before swiftly closing it from the inside. This iron door can be closed and open from both the inside and outside of the small underground room. Hence there was no reason to worry about getting trapped inside.

Inside the small underground room was a small chest with a few iron weapons, a few jars of dirt, and two empty leather bag, at the side, there was a small wooden bed with a similar mattress as the one from the double-decker bed, and a wooden cabinet at the opposite side with food packed inside a leather bag and dozens or so of water container in case they would be staying inside this place for a few days.

This small underground room was always restocked by his older brother Reinhart, in case they needed it at an unexpected time, that's why everything here was still usable and edible.

As if Leo was already familiar with the drill, he immediately went to open the chest and grab two jars of dirt, then quickly picked up one water container and opening it. Afterwards, he quickly poured half the water inside the container into one of the jars full of dirt while the other half was for the other jar. The moment he finished that, he swiftly started mixing the water and dirt and soon after creating mud, which without any hesitation he covered himself with.

Hiding inside a small underground room was obviously still not a sure guarantee to be safe, especially to a Magical Beast that has a strong sense of smell. Hence, in order to counter that, Reinhart has taught Leo that he can use mud by mixing dirt and water and then use that to disguise his smell of something akin to the smell of ground from the Magical Beast. Even 1 Star Magical Beast could easily be tricked using this way.

After Leo finished doing that, he soon after heard the small hut's door and windows getting destroyed.

Although he was inside the small underground room, he was still able to hear the sounds up above him.

What followed after the destruction of the door and windows were many footsteps of the Forest Rats moving all over the place, obviously looking for him.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Soon, the furniture inside the small hut was being destroyed.

BANG!

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Just like the other furniture, the wooden double-decker bed wasn't spared, causing its destroyed parts to spread all over the place, but with the majority obviously covering the entrance to the small underground room, causing it to be difficult to locate from the surface.

This was the main reason why the entrance to the small underground room was hidden under the wooden double-decker bed, so that once the wooden double-decker bed was destroyed it would, then certainly cover the entrance and not allow it to easily be discovered by the Magical Beast attacking up above.