Octavius moved quickly along the path in a low crouch. The ring of illusion on his finger rendered him all but invisible to any onlookers. The stars overhead lit the near-empty path. It was nearly abandoned, a stark contrast to the bustling roadway that it was not two hours earlier.

Ava had told him that if he followed the busy path he had followed her on, he would pass through the middle of the Sanctuary before it reached an exit through the barrier. The mana counter at the side of his vision made it clear that he would have to make his exploration short.

He decided that he would use that night to survey the center of the Sanctuary. Due to the fact that he would be in the area for a few more days, he could come back to learn more about anything that caught his interest—for example, their salt-making process.

The farther he got along the worn dirt path, the more irregular the tents and enclosed areas around him became. To his right, his eye fell upon two men. They stood like sentinels on either side of a doorway.

The doorway led to an enclosed clearing, much like Ava’s own. The largest differences between the two were the height of the walls and the material of the door. Ava’s door was merely an animal skin covering, while this door was made of the same woven branches as the walls.

Octavius identified the secured clearing as a storage area. Ava had told him about how the only guarded places within Sanctuary were the storage areas. Some held food, some held materials from Earth, and some held firearms and ammunition.

He had considered attempting to steal a gun but decided against it. The people of Sanctuary needed guns much more than he did, and he was doing well enough with a spear.

Past the guarded storage area, the tents turned to more enclosed spaces. These were likely the lodgings of the more important members of Sanctuary. The area to his right opened up greatly and was filled with the smoldering remains of large fires. This was the communal kitchens.

He could see a group of people working large fires at the far side of the area devoted to cooking. They used large pots and pans to boil water before storing it in various containers and repeating. The Sanctuary had a shortage of pots that they could boil water in but made due by using the ones that they did have 24/7.

He hurried along and passed a middle-aged woman on the path. The area was taken up almost entirely by clearings enclosed by walls made of branches. He couldn’t tell what was on the other side of the barricades and didn’t have time to carefully investigate at the moment.

The path began to curve to the right as his legs carried him past a large enclosed area. Within the area, he could see the top of a modern camping tent peaking above the walls. Nothing else was of much interest to Octavius as he walked through the zone made up of the weaker survivors again, then the outer area.

The path reached a break in the barrier. There were guards on either side where the fence started. The dirt part continued into the darkness after the barrier, and the guards were peering into the darkness. That meant that they weren't paying attention to the inside of Sanctuary and thus failed to perceive Octavius as he passed in between them.

The moment Octavius was out of the Guard’s sight, he broke off the path into the woods and pulled off his ring. His mana was running low, but he had been able to move much faster without having to worry about bumping into people on the path.

He found a sturdy tree a few hundred feet off the path and hauled himself up to a large branch. He slung his rucksack onto the branch between his legs and secured it before tilting his head back and falling asleep.

The next morning, Octavius had to amend the daily routine he had developed. To avoid being seen by any of the people of Sanctuary, he set his fire under a lot of tree cover and fetched water from as far down the stream as he could reasonably go.

He ate his breakfast and made his way to the clearing he had met Ava in. His rucksack was set onto the ground, and he hefted his spear. He whirled it around his head in a slow motion. Once he was suitably warmed up, he fell into a complex kata.

For hours, he trained as he waited for midday. The extended training seemed to be helping him. He could feel his movements and skill usage become more and more smooth as time passed. Taking frequent breaks, he trained and trained. Sweat poured down his forehead and glistened in the rays of sunlight that pierced the canopy.

He was in the middle of a complex series of movements when he heard rustling to his right. His spear immediately moved to combat this new threat. After a moment, Ava stepped out from the trees. She had a large animal skin that bulged with water at her hip and her flint-tipped spear in her hand.

For three hours, he taught her the spear. Under his tutelage, she learned to use the spear in fluid movements, to always maintain momentum. At the end of the session, he had her enter in a full spar with him. He was confident that while she didn’t have the skill to spar without hurting him, he could both avoid hurting her and any injuries.

Octavius waited in a defensive posture a dozen feet from Ava, a long wooden stick held in his hands. After a few seconds of silence, she charged him. He had honestly hoped for more from her. It was trivial to sidestep the thrust. An opportunity to end the fight in seconds presented itself to him, but he didn’t take it. This was a training exercise, after all.

Ava proved that the six hours of training she had received weren’t for nothing when she quickly recovered. She had overextended but recognized that and compensated on her next thrust as she pivoted to face him once more. Her spear snapped out as she tried to avoid telegraphing her movements.

Octavius snapped his spear in an upwards arc and knocked hers aside. She was about to attack him again when she felt the butt of his spear press gently into her sternum. “Wow, I couldn’t even -”

“Again,” was all Octavius said.

Thirty seconds later, her spear was flung from her hands.

“Again”

Her hip slammed into the damp grass.

“Again”

They continued for ten minutes. By the end of the sparring session, she was making fewer simple mistakes and had gained some understanding of her own strength. She left to do her hunting for the day, and Octavius returned to his own practice. He ate well that night before sneaking back into the Sanctuary.

In the Sanctuary that night, he learned what plant they used to make the salty substance.

Marestoe Leaf (Common) - The leaf of a marestoe plant, which is known for its small yellow flowers and hardy nature.

It looked like the leaves of the plant were laid out on large racks to dry in the sun. Behind the racks, it was clear that the leaves were burned to produce the salty substance. He filed the appearance of the plant into his mind and left.

The second day of the deal was largely a repeat of the first. They trained and sparred before Ava left, and then Octavius trained some more. It was the third and final day that something changed.

Octavius moved the spear as slowly as he could. His concentration was immense as the tip of his spear moved millimeter by millimeter. The peaceful sounds of the forest were suddenly and viciously broken when Ava came stomping into the clearing.

“That fucking bastard!” she screamed, and she threw her spear at the base of a tree.

Octavius stood and lowered his spear. He turned to face her as she stomped back and forth in a huff. “Ah yes, I’m sure. Complete bastard,” he said with a deadpan expression, “Now, who exactly is this ‘fucking bastard’?”

“James!” she screamed, before continuing in an exaggerated mocking tone, “‘Oh nooooo Ava! You can’t have a gun! We have to PRESERVE OUR BULLETS!! Now leave me alone so I can go waste half of our remaining supply to level up! After all, my strength is absolutely vital to Sanctuary!’”

“So, let me get this straight,” he spoke with a raised eyebrow, “The head of the hunters at Sanctuary is taking half the ammunition with him to go kill things and level up, and you are upset with his decision to.”

She hurled her arms into the air. “Not just that! It’s going to be useless anyway. I bet they aren’t even going to be able to kill it with their handguns.”

“It?” Octavius frowned at her and spoke when she opened her mouth to answer, “And how about you explain in a way that makes sense this time.”

She blushed slightly in embarrassment. “Ok, so, a hunter found a level 30-something beast of some sort and rushed back to tell everyone about it. James got it in his head that he would level up if he killed it,” she explained.

Octavius was definitely interested; he had yet to find a beast even close the being above level thirty yet. The concept of killing it first entered his mind, but he needed more information. “Ok. He probably will. I don’t see why you have such a large problem with this. A few good shots and an easy level up.”

Ava shook her head like he was crazy, “No, you don’t get it! The highest level anything that we’ve killed was only level 27. That was a bear that took a full party of hunters unloading into it to bring down. A level 30? It’s going to take all the ammo in Sanctuary to bring that thing down!”

Octavius considered for a moment. The amount of time between his level ups had increased dramatically recently, and this level 30 beast was worth a significant amount of EXP. The problem was: could he defeat something more than twenty levels above him? After a moment, the answer came to him. Yes. Yes, he probably could. With his new skills and equipment, it was likely within his capabilities.

Now the question was whether he should. He knew for a fact that someone at level 9 who needed a ridiculous amount of bullets to level up probably wouldn’t gain all that much from leveling up a week or two earlier. The way Ava described him, this James guy was rather self-centered and wanted to do it for himself. If Octavius killed the beast, it might even be helping the Sanctuary in the long run. After all, bullets were a very finite resource.

“Do you know where the beast is?” he asked her.

“Well, yeah,” she responded, “James had to go over the full plan before he left to convince the others to let him use all that ammo,” she responded.

Octavius stared at her. “Well? Where is it?”

She looked at him like he was crazy. “Where is what? The beast?” she questioned, “It’s in the woods a few miles north of here; why?”

Octavius grinned as he began to gather his things, “I’m going to go kill it. Do you have any better directions? And when did the other hunters leave?”

Her piercing blue eyes drilled into him. “YOU ARE GOING TO GO AND…” her shout trailed off, “You know what? I bet you can actually do it. You make no sense whatsoever.”

“Can you answer the questions?”

She shocked herself, “What? Yea. To the north, there’s a small creek, only a few feet across. If you cross it and follow it to the northeast for long enough, you’ll find its hunting ground. The hunter who saw it said that most of the trees in the area had the bark torn off at head height.”

Octavius flashed her a grin over his shoulder as he broke into a run through the woods to the north. His voice called out to her as he disappeared from her sight, “I’ll see you here for your lesson, same time tomorrow.”

Octavius jogged along the treeline beside the small, burbling stream. The crystalline water trickled over the rocks as he moved parallel to it. Ten minutes after he came to the stream, he found the first sign of the beast.

He had yet to pass the hunting party from Sanctuary, but he left from a different position than them and had run the whole way. While it was possible that they were ahead of him, he doubted any group could have beat him without forgoing any attempt at surprising the beast and sprinting the whole way, leaving a massive trail and a lot of noise in their wake. Alone, though, he had much better stats and didn’t have to move in formation with others.

He knew he had come to the correct place when he saw that a tree half as far around as he was tall bore deep gashes at head height. The bark was long gone, but the scars from where it was torn off remained. The pale inner wood of the tree trunk was clear to anyone with eyes.

Octavius examined it closely. It was scraped off, not torn. But what creature could scrape the bark off a tree six feet in the air? I probably should have asked Ava about what it was. That was foolish; being in a rush is no excuse. I’ve gotten sloppy out here with the lack of any credible intelligence to rely on.

Now that he knew that he was in the right area, he quickly scrambled up the tree. Once he found a large enough branch, he placed his rucksack onto it and tied it down. He removed everything that he might need and moved back to the forest’s floor.

He held his spear at the ready, glad that the ambient light was bright enough to drown out his spear’s glow. As he crept forward, he scanned the ground for any tracks. A hundred feet into the territory of the beast, he found a recent print. It was a cloven-hooved imprint in the damp ground. Maybe it’s a pig of some sort. They tend to scrape their bodies against trees.

As he continued, the woods around him became more and more sparse. The tree spread out until they were dozens of feet apart, and the undergrowth seemed to retreat. In Octavius’s opinion, it was completely unnatural. The normal sounds of birds chirping and other animals going about their lives that one might find within a normal forest were all conspicuously absent.

It was the lack of sound that made the deep huff echo like a gunshot among the trees. Octavius turned to his right and crouched. He crept forward until he edged around a tree. There, he laid eyes upon the beast.

It was bent over, snout buried into what was up until recently a small mammal of some sort, but even with its face hidden from him, Octavius didn’t even need to use identify to know what it was.

Thick brown fur covered the sleek and powerful muscles of its hindquarters. An innocuous white tail stood erect from its backside, suspended four feet from the ground. The white from its tail ran in two stripes down the coiled muscles of its back before terminating just before two massive bone horns stretched from the top of his skull. One of its back legs kicked at the ground, and Octavius used identify.

Uncommon Carnivorous Deer (Lvl 35)

Well, what do you know?