I

It was just getting dark when they arrived back at the gates. There was still a steady stream of people entering and exiting, but it was less than during the peak hours of the day. The leftover corpses from the daily monster waves were mostly gone. The ones that remained were stacked like wood several yards from the wall. Most of what remained were from the goblins—even considering most of the goblin corpses had been burnt to their bones.

“‘Evening, guys,” one of the guards by the gate said. “I heard about the dungeon from Doug, how was it?”

“Not bad,” Eva responded. “Did Doug and the others get back ok?”

“Yeah, they passed through here all excited an hour ago.”

“Good to hear. I see they’ve been busy working on the defenses.”

“Mhm. They finished the trench today with spikes to be added over the next couple of days,” the guard said before lighting up as he remembered something. “Oh, I did want to ask the both of you if you would help the hunters tomorrow. We’re starting to run low on monster meat after the monsters we’ve had the last few days.”

Eva nodded and looked at Hideki, who agreed.

“Sure, we’ll tag along to help out however we can,” she decided.

II

Eva lay on a monster skin and stared at the sky. The stars twinkled brightly in the deep darkness with only the light of campfires spoiling the view. The stars looked very strange and out of place, and she didn't recognize any of the constellations she was familiar with. There was no moon she could see either. It felt truly alien.

She sighed. It had only been a few days, and yet everything had changed so much. That this was only the Tutorial made her wonder what changes would come when it was over. That she'd survive it was something she didn't question—she'd been trained well enough for that. Only a freak accident or a lucky shot would be fatal at this point. As long as she remained cautious and didn't take anything for granted, she'd be alright. Physically, at least. Fighting every day did affect the mind, after all. She was still human, even if the System had modified that slightly, and Eva promised herself that she wouldn't lose her humanity.

She turned her head to the side and looked at Hideki’s sleeping form next to her. Her heart fluttered. If they didn’t have to be up early, she would have taken a nibble of his cuteness. As it was, she satisfied herself with a peck on his forehead before she turned over to sleep.

III

Eva felt her world rock back and forth, and opened her eyes a crack. It was still dark, with only the faint hint of light coming from the east. She groaned at being awoken before dawn. One of the hunters crouched next to her. The sight of the man in the predawn haze startled her to attention.

“It's time to go,” the man said.

Hideki was no longer next to her when she quickly checked her surroundings. Eva slipped her gear on and followed the man. Through glimpses in the flickering firelight as they walked, she could tell he was tall and thin with dark hair and dark eyes. He led her towards the gate where Hideki and another man were talking.

As it turned out, the four of them were to be one of the hunting parties. The tall, thin man that had woken her—Thomas—was the leader of the expedition and directed them to the east. The other man with them was Hakeem. He was shorter and rounder—much like she had been before being trained to death a few thousand times—and had blue eyes despite his much darker skin.

They set off with the rising sun in their faces and their home behind them. The early morning was cooler than Eva had been used to since the Tutorial began. A light mist hung in the air that helped the trees obscure the sky above. They walked in relative silence—well, as silent as four people with armor and weapons could be.

After a little over an hour—and with nothing happening to split up the monotonous walk—Eva broke the silence.

“Thomas,” she asked, “what are we looking for?”

“Tracks,” he replied bluntly.

“Just tracks?”

“Yep.”

“How long until we find them?”

“We found them forty-five minutes ago and have been following them.”

“Oh.”

Eva paused and then continued.

“What do you think we're—”

“Shh!”

She shut her mouth as the man crouched down. Instead of walking, she opened her ears and heard the reason for their silence. It sounded like pigs to her ears. They sounded like they were rooting around in the ground for food. A quick peek in their direction confirmed their pigginess, although they were better described as very large angry boars. Calling them 'angry boars' was underselling it. They were truly huge. Observe✦ put them at level 8 and level 11, calling them 'Young Thunderboar' and 'Thunderboar' respectively.

Thomas pulled a crude bow from his back and quietly nocked an arrow. Hakeem did the same. Eva and Hideki got in position in front of the hunters and crouched to give them room to shoot.

With little fanfare, the two arrows were released at nearly the same time. They slipped between the foliage and each struck one of the thunderboars. The lower level boar was struck in a critical area. It struggled to turn in their direction, laboring just to stay upright.

The other boar was in much better shape. Though the arrow that struck it was in a similar area, the arrow had not pierced nearly as deeply into its side as it had the smaller boar. It squealed in pain and Charged at the hunters. If Eva knew one thing, she knew it was the same Skill she had used so many times to great effect. She drew her sword and stood ready. Hideki lowered his spear and stepped off to the side.

As soon as the boar was nearly upon her, she Dodged★ its Charge and Pierced✦ its side with an air Infused★ strike. Blood gushed from the puncture almost immediately. The boar was weakened considerably by the blow, only to be Pierced by Hideki's spear as well.

A second arrow whizzed by and struck the other boar through the eye. It dropped to the ground, dead. The higher level boar joined it moments later, giving Eva 7 experience for her troubles.

Now that they were dead, she was able to get a better look at the boars. They had sandy brown fur that had flecks of gold interspersed. The boars had two tusks each, with the young boar’s being shorter and slightly curved while the other boar’s were curved so much as to almost face backwards.

“Nice work,” Thomas said. “I'll need your help to string them from a tree, so they can bleed.”

Eva helped by lifting the bloody carcasses while Thomas and Hakeem attached ropes to their feet. Once they were secured, Thomas took a knife and slit their throats. The blood drained to the ground over the next hour. Several times, smaller animals or monsters would come to check out what smelled so delicious, but most ran off upon seeing the humans. The few that stuck around became additional food.

Once the boars had stopped dripping, Thomas removed the internal organs and had the others help with stringing the carcasses to poles to be carried back. The other monsters and animals that had been killed were attached where they could be. Thomas and Hideki carried one, while Eva and Hakeem carried the other.

In tracking the monsters, they'd ventured almost five miles northeast of the village. It was the farthest Eva had been since the start of the Tutorial. The topography was little different from where the village was. After all, it was simply the next valley over. It was when she was lost in her thoughts that she picked up on sounds of movement to the east.

“Hey!” came a voice from the same direction as the sounds she'd heard.

The hunters paused and laid their prizes on the ground before turning to the people coming out into the small clearing they were walking through. It was a group of three people, all men. They wore better gear than most of Eva's group except for herself. It looked like these people were busy fighting monsters every day and had received good gear as a result. Two were swordsmen, while the other was an archer.

“Hello,” Thomas responded once they were in view. “How can I help you?”

“Where are you guys from?” one of the men asked.

“We're from a village about 5 miles southwest of here, you?”

“Same, but east.”

“Monster fights have been hard, you know? With 1500 of us, there're a lot every day trying to kill us.”

“I know what you mean.”

While Thomas and the other man talked, Eva felt several other presences move to surround them. It seemed this was all a pretext to rob them of their gear, their catch, and probably their lives. She got Hideki's attention and signaled to him that there were five others around them. Hideki did his best to pass the news to Hakeem as well, though she wasn't sure if it got through.

In her mind, she had a plan to rush and take out the ranged opponents while letting the archers gain distance to support her and Hideki. The problem was that she wasn't sure if Hideki could hold down the fort while she rushed around. She didn't have a working shield, so things would be a lot more difficult.

As she predicted, the amicable discussion turned violent in an instant.

“Get down!” she shouted.

Hakeem and Hideki immediately complied, arrows whizzing where their heads had been moments earlier. Thomas was less lucky. He drew his blade but took an arrow to his side. It wasn't immediately fatal, but it put him off balance.

Eva Charged✦ the archers that had shot at them, while two of the five surrounding the hunters came out of the trees to reveal themselves as spearmen. She ignored the spearmen while she chased and slew the three archers that were nearby. Only one of them got a shot off at her, but it bounced off of her armor.

When she returned to the clearing, Hakeem was injured while fighting with the two spearmen, Thomas was on the ground but being protected by Hideki. One of the two swordsmen was on the ground as well, but Hideki was struggling against his two opponents.

Eva Charged✦ the two spearmen, and slashed the back of their legs, forcing them to the ground. That would give Hakeem the space he needed to fend them off, and it gave her the room to maneuver into position to support Hideki. While she was busy helping Hakeem, Hideki took an arrow to his left shoulder. It wasn't as bad as it could have been despite the close range, but it was devastating. The person Thomas has been talking with when it started used the opening to slash Hideki across the chest.