Karolina found herself staring at the sign that had prompted this whole expedition. It looked the same as it had a week ago, reading “Forward barracks this way” and pointing to an overgrown trail. That trail led to the clearing where she had fought a monster for the first time.

It had only been a week since then, but it felt like a lifetime. She remembered that they had only found the sign because Thomas hadn’t wanted to get lost in the woods; they hadn’t known back then how easy it actually was to find their way back to camp as long as you were careful.

She had gone into the woods with only Thomas by her side, angry at Buckley and determined to fight something. She had almost no idea what she was doing, and had been completely unprepared to face a group of goblins. It was almost a miracle that they had both escaped major injuries.

Now, however, it felt like everything was different. Today, she would be able to easily demolish the same group of goblins that she had struggled to survive against just a week ago. If this was the kind of progress that she could make in a week, what would the future hold for her? For the rest of humanity?

“You coming?” Thomas called out to her. He, Ada, and Selena were standing at the head of the path, just a few feet ahead of her.

“Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about something,” she called back, and walked over to join the group.

As soon as the meeting ended they had all walked over to the path. It was still mid-morning, so there should hopefully be enough time to get to the forward barracks and get back before dark. Aaron had apparently gone around to caution people against going out into the forest today, as Selena was going to be temporarily unavailable, so they were all good to head out now.

“Ready?” Thomas asked, smiling at her.

She nodded, smiling back. Hopefully the barracks would have something useful, but as long as they found higher-leveled enemies than the weaklings that were left around camp she would be happy. Her level growth had stagnated due to the lack of appropriately leveled enemies, which meant that she had stagnated, and she couldn’t allow herself to stop pushing forward.

She remembered that the System had said that sometimes it was best to wait to level up, but she didn’t think she had to worry about that yet. She was still very far away from her class evolution, after all.

As they started walking into the forest, she looked around. The forest, which had seemed so strange, dangerous, and beautiful when she had first arrived in this new world, seemed almost mundane now. It was still beautiful and dangerous, but she had gotten used to it.

Quickly enough, they reached the clearing that they had fought the goblins in. The corpses were still there, but strangely enough hadn’t decomposed that much. They didn’t even smell all that bad.

Selena went closer to one of the corpses, seemingly fascinated by it. As she had never left the camp, it makes sense that she had never seen a monster, alive or dead, before.

As Ada and Thomas headed towards where the path continued on the other side of the clearing, Karolina walked over to Selena. The blonde looked up from the partially mangled corpse and smiled at Karolina.

“These are what monsters look like? I’d heard the reports, of course, but it’s still almost unbelievable in person,” Selena said.

“Yeah, it surprised me too the first day. This whole situation is almost unbelievable, isn’t it? I’ve only gotten used to it this fast because I’m coming out here every day,” Karolina replied.

“Yes. It’s really amazing, what you’ve managed to do out here. I’d never be able to fight and kill monsters, so I’m glad that I can rely on you guys to do that for me,” Selena replied.

Selena continued looking at the goblins for another minute or two before she got up.

“Well, I guess it’s time for us to go. I definitely don’t want to hold any of you up, after all,” Selena said brightly as she stood up, as if she hadn’t just been closely examining the corpse of an ugly green monster. They both headed over to where Thomas and Ada were engaged in an animated discussion over, apparently, the merit of some band that Thomas loved but Ada hated.

As they continued down the path, Karolina tried to keep an eye out but eventually she slipped back into introspection. Keeping a constant watch on their surroundings was exhausting, and she knew that she could trust Ada to point out anything that she needed to see.

She couldn’t stop herself from thinking back to the meeting this morning. She wanted to be important, to be a leader, but she had found most of the meeting intensely uninteresting. While she knew that the necessities of rebuilding the camp and making sure that everyone had what they needed were important, they just didn’t interest her.

She was glad that she hadn’t had to organize any of that. For a brief moment, she was even glad that Buckley had taken charge instead of her, before she remembered his complete lack of an overarching plan and how he had tried to obstruct her.

That seemed strange, somehow. She had always wanted to change things, to be able to make the world a better place, as cliché as that sounded. To her, the way that that had been possible had been being a leader. She had always thought that leaders were able to affect change in a way that ordinary people were just unable to.

However, what did it mean for her goal of becoming a leader in this new world if she found so much of what they apparently did uninteresting? Hopefully she was just overthinking it, but the thought wouldn’t leave her mind. She forced herself to pay more attention to her surroundings to distract herself.

The woods around them still looked the same, but the path was starting to look different. Back at the camp, the path had been faint and nearly overgrown by vegetation. However, the dirt path that they were walking on was becoming more and more distinct. It seemed likely that they were approaching their destination.

After another ten minutes or so, Ada turned around and held her arms out to stop them. “Hey, I think I see something,” she said quietly. They had been traveling for over an hour, maybe two hours, so the possibility of finally reaching their destination was a relief.

Without clarifying what, exactly, she thought she could see, Ada snuck off into the forest on the right side of the path. Within thirty seconds, she had vanished from view.

Karolina looked at Thomas and Selena, confused. Were they supposed to follow her? Wait for her to come back? Thomas just shrugged at her, as confused as she was, and Selena seemed content to wait on them to make a decision. Karolina just shrugged back at Thomas, and decided that they should wait in silence for Ada to come back.

As the minutes passed, Karolina found herself getting annoyed. This was only the second time that Ada had pulled this stunt, leaving without an explanation, and she was already tired of it. Thankfully, it wasn’t too much longer before she was able to spot Ada returning.

Ada crept back out of the woods and gestured for the three of them to back up further down the path. Once they were all apparently far enough back, Ada started to relate what she had seen.

Apparently, up the path there was a large clearing with a wooden building larger than the lodge in the center of it. A group of four level ten direwolves patrolled around the building, which Karolina could only assume was the forward barracks. Ada couldn’t be certain, but she thought that she had seen some movement through one of the building’s windows, so it seemed likely that there was at least one monster inside.

After Ada was finished describing what she had seen, she looked at Karolina specifically. “So, Karolina, what should we do?" she asked.

Karolina glanced at the others, and found that they were also looking to her for direction. Apparently, she had so gradually slipped into a leadership role over her team that she hadn’t even noticed it happening. She considered the issue.

“I’m not sure how smart a frontal assault would be. Anything could be inside, even something that we wouldn’t be able to face. Ada, do you think that you’d be able to draw the attention of the direwolves and bring them to us? That way we wouldn’t be fighting right next to possible reinforcements, at least,” Karolina said.

Ada looked pensive for a moment. Karolina knew that what she was asking Ada to do was dangerous, but she hoped that she would be able to do it. Ada did have some kind of movement skill, after all. After a few more seconds, it looked like she had made her decision.

"Hey, if you're relying on me, how could I say no?" she asked with a confident smirk.

"Thomas, could you open up with a fire bolt? I think if we can get a strong first hit in, we should be able to take them," Karolina said.

"Yeah, that sounds doable," Thomas replied.

"Selena, I don’t want you getting caught up in the fight or getting hurt. Stay within sight, but besides that I want you as far away as possible,” she told Selena.

“Of course! I definitely don’t want to be anywhere near a dangerous fight. Good luck everyone,” Selena smiled. She then turned and briskly walked down the path back towards camp until she was barely visible.

Karolina looked at Thomas and Ada. This was probably going to be their most difficult fight yet. In addition to four higher-leveled enemies that she couldn’t use Combat Perception on, there was also the possibility of facing unknown reinforcements. She was looking forward to the fight, but that didn’t mean that she was unaware of the risks.

Maybe she should say something to them before they began? However, looking at Thomas’s serious expression and Ada’s bloodthirsty grin, it didn’t seem like there was much to say at all. They knew what they were getting into.

“Good luck,” she said to Ada.

“Like I need it,” Ada snorted, and then went off into the woods again towards the forward barracks before she could reply.

Karolina and Thomas stood in silence for a few moments.

“Hey Karolina, what do you call an unlucky woman?” Thomas said, interrupting the tense silence.

Karolina stared judgingly at him for a few seconds, then decided to respond. “What, Thomas?" she asked exasperatedly. This definitely wasn't the time for a joke.

“Miss Fortune,” he replied with a smile.

She didn’t even deign to respond to his poor attempt at humor. Thomas’s muttered “well I thought it was funny” didn’t really help his case. They only needed to wait in silence for another minute or so before she spotted Ada returning, her legs clad in the red blur of her movement skill.

Karolina and Thomas started running towards Ada, hopeful that the direwolves were following her. Sure enough, following behind Ada were four direwolves.

Her plan was actually working. She saw Thomas stop running and start preparing a fire bolt, and she engaged her armor, the blue sheen again covering her vision. She was ten feet away from Ada when it all started to go wrong.

One of the direwolves must have activated a skill, because it was suddenly a blur of motion. It quickly caught up to Ada, smashing into her and viciously swiping its claw across her back. Ada’s shriek of pain pierced Karolina’s ear, a sickening signal of her failure.

The shriek must have distracted Thomas, because the fire bolt missed all four of the direwolves, barely managing to singe one of them. Karolina continued to rocket forward, hoping that she would make it in time to save Ada.

She had almost reached Ada, who still had the direwolf on top of her, when one of the other direwolves leapt at her, snarling. She instinctively backed up, avoiding the leap, but the other direwolves were now in the way of her reaching Ada.

She tried to press towards Ada anyway, but the three direwolves circled around her, keeping her away from her prone friend. She tried to hit one of them, but a different direwolf attacked her from the side, distracting her enough that the direwolf she was attacking was able to evade her punch.

She kept trying to hit them, but a different direwolf would always attack from another angle when she tried. She felt the cracks beginning to form in the armor, her pulse accelerating as she realized that at any moment one of the direwolves could land a lucky blow and break through her armor, leaving her just as defenseless as Ada.

Just as she had resolved herself to just charge through the wolves to get to Ada, whatever the consequences to herself, she saw Ada somehow manage to turn herself just enough to stab her dagger through the direwolf’s chest. The direwolf sagged to the side, still on top of Ada but no longer attacking her.

The other three direwolves turned to the wounded direwolf, their distraction keeping them still just long enough for a mana bolt to slam into one of their sides. Karolina lunged towards the recently bludgeoned direwolf, crushing its skull in with a Strong Blow.

Karolina smiled at the two remaining direwolves as she saw Ada get to her feet after pushing the direwolf off of her and retrieving her dagger. The tide had certainly turned.

She stepped towards one of the direwolves, keeping her stance loose and easy. Just as she was about to go on the attack, she heard her name being called by a frantic Thomas.

She looked up just in time to see the red beam slam into her chest, instantly smashing through her weakened armor and sending her tumbling backwards. She felt her head hit a rock with a loud crack, and instantly everything she could see became blurry and indistinct.

She struggled to her feet, frantically blinking until she could see clearly again. There was a loud ringing in her ears, and she could smell the stench of something burning. She staggered a little to the right, just barely managing to avoid falling back down.

The back of her head felt wet from blood and the skin on her chest felt burned and raw. Looking down, the front of her gi was almost burnt to a crisp, and her skin didn’t look much better. Moving at all was incredibly painful. She did her best to push down those sensations, knowing that she would be healed quickly if she managed to survive the rest of the fight.

She reactivated her Mana Armor, feeling her mana drop to nearly nothing. What was that? What hit her? As she looked around, she saw that more monsters had arrived. Two goblin archers, and a new kind of monster. The monster was about the size of a goblin, but it looked like an upright red lizard instead of an ugly green person.

Those must be the unknown reinforcements from inside of the barracks. She inspected the red lizard.

[Kobold] - Level 18

This kobold was the highest leveled monster she had ever seen, and apparently it could use magic, which made it even more dangerous. She didn’t have time to be nervous about how strong it was, however. She needed to kill it before it was able to use that spell again, or she was dead.

She charged forward, getting only a single scratch on her armor before she was past the two remaining direwolves. Behind her, she could hear Ada yelling as she attacked the direwolves before they could follow her.

She continued running towards the kobold, laser-focused on her target. It seemed to be gathering red mana in its hands, but the process looked slow. She might make it in time.

One of the goblin archers loosed an arrow at her, the other following suit a second later. She used the remainder of her meager mana reserves to use two flashes of Combat Perception so she could deflect the arrows as she kept running.

She could see the goblin archers frantically grasping for more arrows as she got closer and closer. The kobold, on the other hand, seemed calm and collected as it slowly gathered more red energy between its palms.

She was only about two seconds away from the small group of monsters when its attack was ready. It gave her a fang-toothed grin. She quickly slowed to a stop, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her only hope now was that she could somehow dodge the attack or that her nearly undamaged armor could block the hit.

However, it seemed that that wasn’t going to be an issue. As if he had been waiting for her to stop moving, one of Thomas’s mana shields formed directly in front of her, between the kobold and her. Its grin morphed into a snarl, but it released its spell anyway.

The red beam easily crashed through Thomas’s shield, but it was weakened enough that it only left a light series of cracks across her armor’s chest area. Now it was her turn to smile, as she burst into motion again and was quickly among the monsters.

The first goblin she reached tried to use its bow as a shield. She effortlessly grabbed the bow and shattered the weapon over its head. The goblin was so dazed it didn't even try to dodge the Strong Blow that caved in its chest.

She took another two steps to reach the other goblin, then swept it off its feet. Its rib cage made a satisfying crunch as she stomped on it.

The kobold was frantically backing up, trying to gather more mana.

She bent down and hurled one of the dead goblins at it, its frantic attempt to dodge her improvised projectile breaking its concentration. She tackled the overgrown lizard to the ground, then repeatedly hit its face with Strong Blows, smashing its stupid face into a bloody mess. This kobold was never going to threaten her again.

The fight was over at this point. Looking back at her friends, it seemed that Ada and Thomas had managed to take care of the two remaining direwolves. As if to confirm her thoughts, two blue screens popped up in front of her.

You have slain [Direwolf] - Level 10, [Direwolf] - Level 10, [Goblin] - Level 12, [Goblin] - Level 12, [Direwolf] - Level 10, [Kobold] - Level 18, and [Direwolf] - Level 10.

Experience has been awarded.

You have leveled up. You are now a level 13 [Human (F) / Monk].

You have leveled up. You are now a level 14 [Human (F) / Monk].

You have leveled up. You are now a level 15 [Human (F) / Monk].

She was glad that the fight was over. The spell from the kobold was probably the closest she had come to death since she had been transported into the tutorial.

She didn’t really know how to deal with that. She felt more fine with it than she had expected—maybe the constant danger she had been putting herself in had accustomed her to getting hurt? Or maybe how close to death she had been just hadn’t hit her yet.

Either way, she had other things to worry about now. The first item on her agenda was getting healed. Selena was rushing towards the group, but she was still at least a minute away. She could do nothing except wait and try to ignore her pain. Maybe the blue screens would distract her.

She had leveled again, multiple times, which was a good thing. She had spent most of the day before yesterday killing the fodder around camp without leveling once, so it was good to level up again.

Just as she was closing the blue screens, Selena arrived. She seemed to be in her usual good spirits, smiling brightly and chattering away about how intense the fight had looked.

Karolina was healed first, and she felt incredibly relieved as the pain started to melt away from her body. After Selena was done with her, she headed towards Ada who was staring down at the direwolf that had tackled her, fingers playing with her dagger.

Karolina looked down at her outfit, trying to assess the damage. She was definitely going to need to have Sam, the Tailor, repair her clothes after this. She still retained her modesty, but her gi was definitely ruined without some form of magical repair.

After Ada was healed, they all gathered back together near the kobold’s corpse. Karolina felt like she had to say something to Ada.

“Sorry you got hurt following my plan, Ada,” she said.

“Are you kidding? I’m fine. I’m the one that should be apologizing to you. I didn’t manage to only draw the attention of the direwolves, and you almost died as a result,” Ada scoffed. “I’ll make sure to do better in the future. You can count on it."

Karolina looked over at Thomas, who also had an approving look on his face. Privately, she still thought that her plan was at fault, but she wasn’t going to argue with them. She was going to do better in the future, though.

“Well, either way, the fight’s over and we won. That should leave the forward barracks totally undefended. Ready to loot the place?" she asked with a smile. Hopefully whatever was in there was worth all this trouble.

The three of them didn’t even need to respond. The growing smiles on their faces were answer enough.