The first day of travel went without much issue. A few packs of stray monsters appeared on the road, and that was it. The group spent most of the time talking, both so the new members would know each other and to take their minds away from Mark. The only minor problem was Bonnie's stamina. The rest of the group could walk and talk for hours, but Bonnie was different. She wasn't used to an extraneous workout, even if she still kept going to the guild's gym. That was the difference in skill ranks.

They stopped a few times during the journey to the campsite. Even with the group resting and never judging Bonnie, she felt restless. She was why they were taking the breaks, which pushed her to work even harder to keep up. Bonnie kept saying that they could walk past a campsite that was on the way and spend the night in a secondary area with all the same benefits. However, when they arrived at the camp, she was too tired to keep going.

"Bonnie, It's ok," Hera tried to comfort her.

"No, it's not," Bonnie was still having trouble catching her breath, "How can I help Mark like this?"

"You are already helping. You brought us here, didn't you? Besides, what's the point of getting there just to be too tired to help?" Hera passed a bottle of water to her.

"But I'm not doing anything to help," Bonnie replied after drinking half the bottle.

"For fuck's sake. Aren't you a researcher? Why the hell are you complaining about not being fit enough for the field?" Blue asked.

"Because I want to help my friend!" Bonnie snarled.

"Calling us, giving us all the information you could, and coming here isn't helping?" Blue barked back.

"I… Just…" Bonnie shoved her face in her arms.

"Hold up. Are you and Mark a thing? Is that why you are that freaked out?" Alex asked.

"What?" Blue and Hera gasped at the same time.

"NO! It's not like that. I mean, I don't think it is…" Bonnie scratched her head, "Why are you all so chill about that. He's our friend, and he could be in trouble!"

"Yeah, but like so could Leo," Blue replied, "Not to mention everyone else we know here. I mean, you weren't here for the rampage. Many people died on our end, but it's not like worrying could do anything about that. We have to just live our best lives and hope everything works out."

Bonnie froze for a moment, "Ok, since when did the muscle head became all wise and profound? Did she hit her head during the rampage or something?"

"No, no. That's new," Hera stared at Blue in shock, "I mean. It makes a lot of sense, and we kind of been doing that for a while. Even my shrink told me something similar. But since when did you realize all that?"

Blue scoffed while crossing her arms, "You all take me for just a pretty face but fail to realize the true depth of a hero."

"That line would have been much more impressive If it wasn't for the water bottle you are spilling," Alex pointed at Blue's left hand that was holding an open bottle of water.

"Crap!" Blue quickly closed the cap, only saving about a third of the water.

Tom and Runir were setting up the tents while they watched the girls talk.

"That came from you, right?" Runir asked.

"You are a true friend. Able to identify my words even after being changed in such a way."

The two laughed and finished setting up the tent they would use. It didn't take long for Hera and Bonnie to set up the other tent while Alex took care of the perimeter, using the same type of stake that Hera used when she traveled to the edge of the room. The campsite, on the other hand, was a completely different world. Near the pangolins, Hera was lucky to find clearings where she would be able to lie down and set up a fire comfortably. Now the area was easily 200 meters wide. The violet grass was smooth and soft, and the surrounding trees looked like saplings compared to the large purple oaks in the denser parts of the forest. Even the moonlight that covered the ceiling of the cave could reach them here, all the way near the back of the cave.

They prepared a bonfire and hunted a giant newt nearby to have dinner. Bonnie had brought some rations that could last about three days, but they all agreed that it was better to hunt if they had the chance. Leaving the rations for emergencies was standard practice among veterans, not to mention that Mark and his group could need the food.

As they grilled the meat in the fire, Runir asked, "Bonnie. Do you mind explaining again where your friend is supposed to be?"

"Sure. According to the people who work with him in the workshop, he and two other crafters, Ryan and Bill, went to the west wall of the room. They are looking for snapping turtle eggshells for an order they received. They were supposed to just catch the leftover shells from recently born turtles, so they didn't risk being targeted by the mothers. The nests are deep into their territory. The biggest ones would be in small caves by the back wall. They should all be on the floor level, but I read some reports saying that there are some caves above. Not sure why." Bonnie explained while the meat cooked.

"Right, and where do you think Mark would be?" Alex asked, opening her map on the tablet.

"Probably around here," Bonnie pointed to the end of the map, on a wall to the left side of the cave, "This area is well known for having a lot of nests. If you are going to look for eggshells, this is the spot. But if they are smart, they will try to reach the caves in the wall. It’s a more defensible position."

"Right, and what should we do with the turtles? Can we make noise, or will that be a problem?" Hera asked.

"We need to be careful with the mothers if we are near the babies. Aside from that, noise shouldn't make them angry. But they eat meat. If they are hungry, we might look like a nice snack."

"Well, even if they are big, we shouldn't look just like snacks. Like there are some frogs bigger than those things, and they still don't see us as free food," Blue said.

"More or less, the turtles are more aggressive. Even frogs and newts stay away from their territory. They might be wary of us, but unlike the frogs, they should attack even if they are not starving," Bonnie explained.

She proceeded to give a small lecture about the turtles' behaviors and how they could fight them. They had problems to turn around and would always open their mouth wide before biting. Another point was that the turtle's shell wasn't large enough to hide entirely inside it. Unlike what they all assume, the shell wasn't a defense mechanism but a way to control their body temperature since they are cold-blooded creatures. Because of that fire and cold spells could have a good effect even when hitting the shell.

"I think I'm not forgetting anything, so that's it. I'm Bonnie and thank you for coming to my MED talk."

Hera chuckled while Blue groaned and started discussing strategy. Aside from Bonnie, they all had fought with much larger turtles than the ones they were going to face. That created some problems since they weren't entirely aware of the monsters’ speed. Still, they were able to develop some strategies. Bonnie and Runir would stay behind the group, along with Hera, who would be protecting them and focusing on magic. The rest would remain in the vanguard, with Blue being the one to spearhead the fights. Bonnie had a couple of new spells. Now her range of elemental fists had increased. She could make them as ice, water, earth, mud, fire, and the air fist that Hera already saw. Unfortunately, her cold bomb wasn't the same. According to Bonnie, the only new option was a water bomb, which would be an excellent firefighting tool, but not much else.

They finished their meal and decided to sleep. Even though the sun had set only a few hours ago, the sooner they rested, the sooner they could leave.

"I know we have the stake perimeter, but I'm staying as a lookout for a while. Who's after me?" Hera asked.

"Why? The stakes and the repellent fire should be enough, right?" Alex asked.

"The last time I camped outside like this, I woke up with a Wendigo coming after me," Hera's reply gave little room for discussion.

"I'll take the second shift," Runir said.

"I'm the last one then," Alex joined.

"I can be with someone. We should have two per turn, right?" Bonnie said.

Blue stared at her, "You need to rest. We could have covered more ground if it wasn't for you," Hera slapped Blue's shoulder, "What? I'm not trying to be mean here, but it's not like we can afford to take our time tomorrow. She really should rest."

"That was a really bad way to put it, but she's not wrong," Alex said.

Bonnie huffed and went to bed, grumbling. They gave her a couple of minutes alone before Alex and Blue joined in. They had 2 tents, one was a large size enough for 4 people and had a deep purple color made to blend with trees in the room. The smaller one had the same color, but it came with an air mattress embedded on the floor.

Hera stood alone outside by the fire, looking away from the flames to keep her eyes used to the dark. Sure, they had quite a distance before any monster got close, but the green bonfire was a beacon in the middle of the night. Hera took advantage of the time to practice her mana regeneration. She felt like the idea of keeping the mana in constant motion was getting better. Hera was using her own movements to make the energy inside of her to shift. The problem was that she had to be moving to do that. Standing still wasn't the best way to practice that.

Or maybe it was.

The human body is never completely still. Even If the limbs are not moving, her heart will always beat, and her lungs are still taking in the air. She focused on her breathing since feeling her heartbeat wasn't exactly easy. With each breath, as her chest raised, Hera pushed the mana inside her body away, to her extremities. As the air left her lungs, the mana came back, almost like it was a pool of water being disturbed by something. It wasn't easy to focus on that and on looking around at the same time, but it was also part of the training. Ultimately, Hera wanted to have her active recovery always engaged.

That wasn't the only issue with her lookout. Even though she was focused on the skill, it also made her sleepy. It was close to meditating, and Hera was never good with that. Several times, she gave up on standing still and walked around the fire, looking at the edges of the surrounding forest. At one point, she saw a crested newt leaving the treeline and slowly approaching. It's eye glued on her.

Hera took a few steps towards it, gathering her mana in her fingers, and flung a poison needle that depleted over half her energy. The monster didn't notice the small orange projectile in the air or the moment when it hit it. Hera stared down the creature and activated her [Observe]

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Giant Crested Newt – Level 2 – Poisoned

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Hera just watched the monster move around the edges of the campsite before collapsing to the ground. A few moments later her [Observe] confirmed that the monster had died. The rest of her shift was peaceful. No monster appeared, letting her focus on her training. Seeing the three hours of her lookout end, she called Runir to take over and went to bed.

It wasn't hard to fall asleep. They spent the entire day walking, and even with the increased stamina, she was still drained. Hera felt like she barely rested her head on the mattress when the sunlight woke her. She was alone in the tent, and the smell of frog meat was making her stomach grumble. Hera got up and headed to the campfire.

"Hey, come eat. After that, we can head out," Bonnie offered a plate with some freshly cooked meat.