The rest of the day was uneventful and I managed to find an abandoned hunting shack to spend the night. It wasn't very warm but it was off the ground and had walls on four sides. There was no door but an old blanket was slung over the opening, keeping most of the weather out. I thought it a bit weird that I hadn't encountered any monsters this way. It's almost like the land had been cleared of anything hostile.

I decided to string up some of my improvised chitin plate alarm systems to warn me in case I had a visitor in the night. I wasn't tired yet and there was a bit of light left so I decided to study my rune books some more. I felt that runic magic could be a force multiplier that few would suspect if I could master it. It also synergized well with my Mantra based magic. After a while of reading, I got a notification.

Congratulations you have studied runes to the extent that the accumulated knowledge has unlocked a specific tab in your character sheet

I was confused at first as I already had a tab that showed runic combinations until I opened the tab that the System was referring to. Turns out this new runic knowledge tab contained all of the runes I studied so far as well as a description based on my understanding of what they did. There were many runes listed that I had seen but had no knowledge on and those descriptions were blank. Even some I don't remember ever coming across in my books were listed on this tab. Unfortunately, it only gave the name of the rune and not the symbol so I couldn't carve them to see what they did.

The largest amount of information was contained in the runes I used in my combinations. Turns out my combinations were barely functional according to the following information, not that I was surprised. I continued reading the book on runes watching it add more information to my knowledgebase. By the end of my reading session, I had a decent understanding of the contents of my first book contained in my knowledge base. Now if I ever lost the books or they were taken away I would still retain all knowledge I had read. It even filled in some of the unknown runes, although, I still had quite a few of those. When did I even come across runes, other than when my father taught me?

Closing the book I put it away and lay down to get any sleep I could.

I woke early, having slept undisturbed. I ate a light meal, packed up my gear, and popped my head out the door making sure it was clear. There was nothing outside the shack that I could see, so I made my way down the ladder and started off on my journey again.

My next stop was a house I spotted the day before. It lay on the opposite side of the field from my sleeping spot. I could have spent the night in the house but with the roaming bands of monsters and humans capturing or burning everything in sight I figured it was safer in the forest.

I approached the house from the rear away from the roadside, staff in hand, and spells prepared just in case. The door was closed and it looked like the windows were boarded up. I decided to knock to see if I got a reply.

I listened carefully and could hear some shuffling and clipped whispers from inside. It didn't appear that they were going to greet me and I wasn't about to get into it with some scared farmer and his family, just because guns didn't do much damage doesn't mean it didn't hurt like hell to get shot. I decided to warn the family of the danger and let them know where the Guard could be found. While I may not trust the Royal Guard completely it might be the best option for some people. It's why I didn't try to deter Frank and his group from heading that way. With my good deed of the day done I moved on to the next house.

I wasn't looking for wayward families, no I needed supplies. I watched the next house from some small bushes for a few minutes. The back door was open and swaying slightly in the wind. I scanned the surroundings looking for any movement. Nothing made itself known so I decided to make my move.

I sprinted across the hundred or so feet of the backyard coming to a stop outside the door. I glanced inside and spotted legs poking out from an adjacent room. They were not human legs. I stepped across the threshold trying to move as quietly as possible keeping my staff level as there would not be enough room in the house to swing the weapon horizontally.

Slowly, I made my way to the room with the body. The scene that awaited me was horrible. Three pig-faced bi-pedals that I assumed were Orcs lay on the ground with dozens of gunshot wounds but that wasn't what was horrible. On the opposite end of the room ripped to shreds lay the remains of a man his wife and three young children.

I turned to the side and vomited my breakfast. After that, I quickly left the room of death. It took me a few minutes to stop dry heaving and accomplish what I had initially come here to do. Finding the kitchen, I ransacked the cupboards for any canned goods that I could add to my meager remaining supplies.

There was a large selection of baby food and with a deep sigh, I tossed the jars into my bag along with cans of tuna and other canned goods. Digging through the drawers I found a can opener that I tossed into my bag as well.

That's when I heard the creak. On instinct, I dove to the side and felt a blade flash past, followed by a thunk as it stuck itself into the countertop. As I hit the ground I spun, casting Earth Fist or I tried to. Forgetting that there was a basement in this house and Earth Fist only worked if the ground was within a few feet. I scrambled away and around the kitchen island.

The Orc was growling trying to get his sword out from the counter as another Orc came running in. I was caught with my pants down on this one, my staff had been set aside to speed my food search and the Orcs' stood between me and my gear.

I had one option to try, as I cast Area of Denial on myself and rushed through the room right at the second Orc. The creature grinned evilly thinking I was trying to run past him to escape. He raised his sword high to strike me down, his sword slid across my dome and the dumbstruck look on his face lasted long enough for my dome to slam into him.

If this had been a test of strength I would have easily lost, but this was a magical defense and the brute was slammed against the wall dropping his sword. I tried picking it up but the field that protected me pushed the loose item from my area.

Swearing, I cast Aura Strike on my fist and hit the disoriented Orc causing more damage to my hand than I caused to him, although, the spell's effect triggered and he was slowed. I turned around to see the other enraged Orc running at me and I just stood there as he bounced off my spell barrier, having missed what happened to his cohort. I pushed him off to the side getting into a position to grab my staff as soon as my spell ended.

I could try to use my Seismic Strike but this house looked old and I doubt it would stand up against the spell if it even worked. I suspected it worked like my Earth Fist, requiring ground contact. The Orc looked at me warily, waiting, he knew he had me trapped and must assume I had some ability active. It was only a matter of time for him.

When my timer hit three seconds I roared and made to charge at the sword-wielding orc and his now recovered ally. They took a step back reflexively and I pivoted running to grab my staff just as the spell ended.

I wasn't quick enough to avoid the blow entirely and the Orc's nasty curved sword sliced a long furrow in my bicep. I winced at the pain, instead of crying out. Which says a lot about the amount of pain I have received lately. Grabbing my staff I whirled around having to recast Flurry as it cannot remain active on an unequipped weapon and I struck out with my now nine punishing blows.

The monster even managed to block one of the blows but his animal-hide armor-covered torso did little to blunt the force of my impacts as he staggered back spitting up blood. I followed that attack up with a quick Stunning Gust causing the creature to topple over. Checking my notices I saw it was still alive. I changed my focus to the second Orc, he had rearmed himself. I took this time while we sized each other up to get his stats.

Charlok | Orc Hunter | Level 6

This was surprising in and of itself, the only names I had come across had been on Intelligent creatures, not that I had any issue killing them, at least not anymore. I was just in a bit of a hurry, plus I didn't know how many were in the area. From speaking with Frank and his group it seemed like there might be quite a few of these Orcs around, so I decided to try something.

"So is this how all Orc hunters fight, like cowards by sneaking up on unsuspecting prey?"

"Grrrrr, what you know of honor huumaan, Wee see the dead. You kill yes?"

"W...what, no I didn't kill them, although, perhaps I should have after what they did to that family," I responded angrily.

"FFamily capruuur and kills packmate, getss what they desserve," Charlok said, slurring certain words with his mouthful of tusks.

"Yea, well I'm not part of that family and I didn't kill any of your pack, so why did you attack me?"

"We sees you enter building from treeline. You humanss hunting Orc packs we's here to sstop you," He growled and charged at me.

Guess the dialog was finished. I smashed his sword out of the way and dashed for the back door. I needed to get outside to use the rest of my skills effectively. I didn't particularly want to kill these Orcs but they didn't seem content to just let me go.

Something large whizzed by my head scant inches away as I ran for the door.

"Did you just throw a boot at me, don't you know how dangerous a boot to the head is?"

'Savages,' I thought to myself as I ran out the back door.

I turned and smiled as Charlok ran through the same door only seconds later. Smashing an Earth Fist into his knee as he charged at me causing him to tumble to the ground. I was about to rush back in to attack the injured Orc before I heard a horn blare from my left. Swinging my head around towards the sound I saw six more orcs running towards the house. This horn was followed by a score more. I had a decision to make.

"Look this has been fun and all but I gotta go, let's just say we're even, you both tried to kill me and I tried to kill you," I said, running away from the enfeebled Orc.

"Gets back here human so I can tear offs your arms," he bellowed.

"How bout a raincheck?" I said, sprinting into the forest and out of sight.

More hunting horns followed me as I ran through the forest, they were going to try and box me in. At least I had been correct to flee instead of fight. My last count was twenty-six separate horn blasts. Perhaps I could have killed the two at the house before their reinforcements arrived but I would have had to fight my way through more and more with no guarantee that I would be able to get away let alone survive. Especially now that my trump card was used up for the next three hours.

These creatures weren't like the Sulid or the humans that I fought earlier, except for the mage. These Orcs were clever and well-prepared adversaries and they had numbers on their side. Perhaps I would return to eliminate this threat once I gained some more strength. I also had to remember that I couldn't save or avenge everyone. That was a sure-fire way to get myself killed.

I ran as fast as I could run and damn could I run. My endurance, strength, and agility were all above human average with my buffs even though strength was still one of my weakest stats. I felt like an Olympic sprinter as I ran through the forest dodging trees and a few arrows that were fired at me from distance.

The Orcs were strong physically but they didn't appear to be all that fast and I was able to outrun the horns after twenty minutes or so. I was even nice enough to leave a nice clear trail of blood to follow.

That was until just now, I healed up my wound and washed the blood off in a small stream nearby. I had led them on a path west, well away from the humans I had run into previously and off of my path south. Now that I was cleaned up and had time to catch my breath I jogged southwest again to skirt well away from any possible hunting party that could have been following me.

The farther south I went the thicker the trees got. It was easy to tell these weren't the normal trees from this area or even this world. For one they were a shade of green so vivid it was almost blue, and their leaves were wide.

Some of the trees resembled willows with their large draping canopies. I steered clear of those trees, not from any insight or anything. Nope, I didn't need that, the large ring of small bones that surrounded them said enough for me.

The Forest was getting so thick overhead that very little light filtered down between the branches. This meant there wasn't much ground cover which was nice. The trees also got larger the farther I went into this strange zone.

They weren't reaching Sequia size yet but they were bigger than any tree I had seen otherwise. The forest was surprisingly peaceful. I could hear small animals and birds flitting through the trees but there had been no sign of anything larger. And just like that, the forest ended again.

A quick look at my watch told me I had been walking for six hours. I tried to get a bearing on where I was in relation to my target but I wasn't familiar with this area, so, I had to find the nearest road crossing and take out my map.

It took me a while to find the road on the map and I cursed. I was farther west than I had wanted to be and there was a river cutting across my path that I had forgotten about. This usually wasn't a big deal but the closest bridge crossing was back on the main road that I wanted to avoid. I could travel farther west five miles or so to the next crossing.

I thought about it for a few minutes before deciding. For safety sake, I choose the bridge west of my current position.