Even though the smoke was thick and he couldn't make out which of the figures at the camp was which, Victor watched them all for a moment. The two on the right looked to be doing some upkeep on something, or perhaps just talking to each other with props. Meanwhile, the ones on the left seemed to be physically closer. He thought to himself that one of them looked to be a woman, probably Sanri, but the other figure seemed awkward. They didn't have their arms up and they seemed to be slouching over greatly.

Mentally preparing himself to use his spear as a surprise if needed, Victor started to approach the campsite, an audible pop from the fire illuminating the people around it and he saw who was where. The unknown figure was on the left with Sanri as he suspected. He couldn't make out much, but by his best estimate, it was someone who was one of the beastkins. The odd protrusions on its head that seemed likely to be horns gave him confidence in the assumption.

As he approached the campsite he started to hear the crackling of the fire just as he heard Cador speaking.

"...... it does....... succeeded there was still a..... that you could have failed. I know that you like to... Ah, welcome back Victor. Dinner is already cooked up for us. We found some game, but we ended up having dry meat for our stew instead. Apparently, Evezi had one as a pet when he was younger and had us let it go."

"That's alright," Victor said slowly as he went to get a closer look at who else was at the campsite.

"I see that you got some company and....."

His speech stopping as he found himself rooted in place. Victor found himself looking at the last figure, noticing it wasn't a person at all. Sitting upon the ground, nuzzling against Sanri was an animal of some sort. At first glance, he could see a similarity to deer, but with thicker limbs and paws, a longer smaller body, and shorter antlers that only split once.

"If you don't mind my asking...... what is that and why is it in our camp?"

Sanri was lightly stroking around the beast’s antler, causing it to give off a small purr. It leaned into her hand as it kept its eyes closed.

Evezi scooped out some food into a wooden bowl for Victor and held it out to him, "Sanri likes animals more than we'd like sometimes. This time she found a nont that set off one of the security lines."

The rest of the night was uneventful, despite the unknown creature clinging closely to Sanri. Victor thought about what he was told at the guild and wondered if it was true that one of her attempts to befriend an animal really did cause Cador to have his ear mangled.

By the time the group had gotten back to Green Rebirth, Victor was ready to go his separate way. The company was nice, but he didn't like the feeling of people who might befriend a possibly dangerous creature on a whim as his companions when he had heard stories of so many dangerous creatures in the world.

After they turned in the hides to the guild’s representative, he was told that his share, like all of theirs, would be ready for him the next day after the hides quality and the size of the cuts were examined by another of their workers.

"Oh, but I'd like it if you could stay here Victor. I have something I need to talk to you about."

Watching the rest of his group go, he didn't feel worried about the situation, but his curiosity did spike. Looking around he saw two other people eating and talking to each other. They looked like they could be twins for how similar they were, he thought to himself.

The woman coughed a bit to draw the attention back to herself, stopping Victor’s wandering mind.

"I got your record from Orlayn Wave and unless I am missing something it looks like since you took part in an orange mission, and it was pretty successful, you will be getting promoted to red rank."

"Oh," Victor said with a hint of surprise, "I wasn't expecting that honestly... Why did you say ‘unless you're missing something? What might you be missing?"

Turning just enough to point at the pile of hide that was brought in she kept her eyes on Victor.

"It depends on how much that is worth. I don't have the exact numbers for credit versus value, but I think if your cut ends up being worth at least six small silvers it will be enough for you to go up to red."

"That's nice. That means I'll be able to become a bit more self sufficient and get some of the red requests. I ran out of things to sell off a while ago so this should be a big help." Victor said mostly to himself.

"You will need to go back to Orlayn Wave to get it done though," the representative said as she turned back to look more directly at Victor, "It's the closest place that has the tools to do promotions."

While he was able to keep it from showing on his face, except for a sudden deep breath, Victor was mentally cursing and worrying about this.

He went from thinking about how it was probably the biggest place that was close to where he nearly died, to how it was the place he was abducted, even if they did let him go. There were some nice people, but most of them were nice because he was a customer or a worker. Thinking about it he wondered if any of them thought about him as anything more than money or labor.

"Do you have any other places I can do that?" Victor asked a bit hesitantly.

"There are a few places, yes. Any of the buildings that get enough traffic end up having the tools needed to do the promotion, but most people just go to where they got the guild crystal when they joined until they reach yellow. Otherwise, you have to get it delivered. Most people just find it easier to make a trip when they have to go through a promotion. Especially when they are so close."

"I'm going to think about it some if that's alright. I mean there isn't a big rush right?" Victor asked while rubbing the back of his neck.

Leaving the building, Victor watched as the sun set over the horizon for a moment before remembering he needed to get a place for the night. Hefting up his bag, he went to the closest inn to get a roof over his head, costing him a little more than usual but he did notice that the bed was a bit more comfortable and there were curtains on the window.

Time passed for Victor in Green Rebirth. He was paid barely under seven small silver coins for his part with skinning the dragons.

After collecting the money from the orange quest, Victor managed a couple of black requests for general labor around town and got to know a few of the people. He almost felt a small stab each time he realized how the common sense of this world and his own were at odds with each other.

That along with the awareness of how small his perspective was, even though he felt like he would be able to make a name for himself if he was able to explain something to make a big advancement for this world using the knowledge he had from his own.

Eventually, he had settled mentally on the facts that he felt was most important to his desires and, while he didn't like the idea, he would return to Orlayn Wave and advance to red. Only doing black requests would prevent him from making that much money and, in his mind, money was something he needed for anything he wanted or needed to do.

Seven days after he had gotten paid for the orange group request, Victor felt a scintilla of motivation. He felt the need to prove to himself that he could manage here on his own.

"I heard that there were some..... ugh.... alright I forget the name, but something I can go and kill out at the farming area." He thought to himself.

Leaving the tranquility of the town, Victor paused at what he thought was the edge of the wilderness. Looking at the plains and the trees he shook off the anxiousness that he was feeling and started to take a trek beyond where he had been on his own.

The walk was quiet and Victor’s mind started to wander. He thought about home and wondered how his family was reacting to him being gone, how the school was dealing with a group of its students vanishing with no trace, and hoping that nobody was being brought to trial for the fact that they were all gone.

He couldn't help but dwell on the last point as he started to quicken his pace.

"No point in thinking about it," He told himself, "You're here now. This is the world you should focus on and maybe you can get back home. Those jack..... jerks probably know more than they are telling me so maybe I can get something out of them eventually, but....."

Hearing a small rustle behind him, Victor pulled out his sword and looked for what had made the sound. A bird he didn't recognize had landed not too far back and was eating something.

Putting away the blade he went back on his way.

"Probably fly off before I could try anything anyway. Besides it's not what the little reward thing was asking about."

At the guild, he had seen a poster with a black outline of a circle instead of a circle filled in. Apparently, that meant it was a general request that you didn't need to verify you were taking and could just bring in proof of the kill.

The drawing looked similar to a snake, but with two legs in the front and none in the back. He was told it was a tricky creature that would get into buildings and kill smaller animals, but if someone had a weapon they could cut off its head before it had a chance to do anything that was a risk to a person. The trouble was that if it noticed anyone it might be able to scamper before you could go for the kill.

"Come on stop getting distracted. This is what you agreed to do today damn it. You can't just hide away and expect to get somewhere."

Slapping himself once across the face, he realized that he should get a new razor soon. Learning to use this world’s razors was leaving his face with a lot of small cuts.

Over time Victor had managed to find four of the beasts. Putting them in the bag he brought, it was now just over capacity as the head of the last one was hanging out of the bag’s mouth.

Getting himself reoriented from his trip, Victor realized he wasn't completely sure which way he had come from. While he had a general idea, the exact path eluded him.

Taking a little bit of time he thought about which way the sun had rose compared to when he had left and where it was now. Just a little past noon based on how the sun looked in the sky.

"Not really enough to know for sure..... I could wait but....." He said to himself.

The place he had found himself had been an orchard, filled with fruit bearing trees that blocked his line of sight and prevented him from even hoping to find where he wanted to go.

Putting his sword away he decided to start walking along the tree line in the direction that he thought Green Rebirth would be. After some time had passed he thought about his cell phone. He wished he had a way to power it and use the games on it. Even though they were ones he had already beaten, it would be better than a long uneventful walk through some trees, he told himself.

After some time he heard something a little ahead in the orchard and picked up his pace a little bit hoping to find whoever was there and ask for directions, but the sight he found wasn't what he had hoped.

Against a tree was a slightly older woman, wrinkles barely appearing on the face that was flushed. Her eyes showing a petrified gaze forward at the man whose hands were on her throat with a large smile on his face.

Off to the side was a man who looked like he could be almost the same age as the woman, but unlike her, he wasn't moving. An ax of some sort was deep in his chest, blood soaking around the clothes he had been wearing.

Taking in the whole sight, Victor could only think of one scenario. This couple had likely been working on the farm, he assumed as he tried to creep out of sight from the man, only to freeze when the woman noticed him. Holding his finger to his lips he shook his head and hoped she would get the idea.

This person must have killed the man and was now trying to take advantage of the woman and the only thing that Victor wasn't sure about was if he would kill the woman after, take her as a prize, or leave her broken and alone.

Every part of his body was screaming to run. The man was at least twice his size and a small lingering worry told him that this man probably had magic that he was able to use, although he admitted that was most likely fear whispering in his ear. On the ground, leaning against a tree was an oversized hammer of some sort and on the man’s back was a shield.

The man had no armor on, but that was likely because he was trying to remove his pants and wasn't worried about anything at the moment beyond his carnal desires.

Despite his desire to flee, Victor found himself drawing his sword, even as he thought about hundreds of ways that this could go wrong. The only thing keeping him going was that he should try and fail maybe his trump card would save him.

Holding his sword in one hand, he did a countdown from three with his other so the woman could see. When all his fingers were gone however he still hadn't moved. The woman stared at him and closed her eyes while looking away. Victor's lack of action had shown her something. It showed on her face that she knew what was going to happen. That show of acceptance to her fate gave him the last push he needed to run full force.

Sword in hand Victor ran forward, gaining momentum as he thrust at the man's neck for all he was worth. The uneven footing near the target, however, took his accuracy away from him as it went past his target and glanced off the tree, wrenching it from his hand and causing it to clatter several yards away.

At the same moment that the man turned around, Victor cursed his luck and jumped back as best as he could to gain some distance between them.

"Looks like I get to end the whole family. And here I thought you ran when I said hello to your father."

The man’s voice was gruff and slow. Each word almost an accusation in its own way.

As she was tossed to the ground, the woman stared at the man who her life in his hand and the young man who might be her salvation as she felt the man’s foot step on her stomach, his pants falling to his ankles just a second later.

"Please," She whispered with a quiver, "kill him."

The man took out a long knife from his back, hidden by the shield, and pressed it to the woman's throat, "If you don't want to see your mom bleed to death right here and now you will come here and take her place like a good son."

Victor’s mind raced. This woman had a son who must, at least in part, look like him. The son ran leaving his mother to go through all this alone as her husband lay dead not far away.

"I'll come closer, but take the knife away from her throat."

Despite his words, Victor was alarmed. This man had a blade and what he was thinking of doing could be a surprise, but what if this man was good enough for it not to matter?

"What are you doing?" The woman cried out, "He'll just kill me after he kills you. Don't throw your life away when I'll die right after anyway."

Silently stepping forward the woman thought that Victor was showing determination, but he just couldn't think of a single word to say as he stepped just out of reach of the man.

Clenching his hands into hollow fists he took a few deep breaths and spoke, his words slow and soft.

"Just give up and walk away and I won't kill you. I mean...... I don't want to kill you because....."

"Let me guess," The man interrupted loudly, "You never killed anyone. I bet you never killed anything that could fight back on your little farm."

Now that the man thought Victor was in lunging distance he went for the attack at the exact moment Victor tried his own.

Where a moment ago had been two empty fists, now resided the wooden length of a spear.

Barely able to see its form, the man attempted to move to the side but his legs caught on his pants resulting in a stumble that was just enough to let the knife slip from his hand. The momentum helped to move him forward as the spear moved, causing the two to meet.

A loud cracking sound was immediately heard as Victor found himself flung back, barely staying on his feet from the impact. Looking at the man he noticed that his spear had indeed broken in the middle and the blade at its tip was deep in the man’s stomach.

Both Victor and the man stood staring at each other and then the wound that the spear had created, neither one seeming to quite register what had happened.

You're going to fucking die for that." The man bellowed.

Taking out another knife from the other side of his shield, he suddenly fell to his knees. The knife that had been dropped earlier had found its place deep in the back of his left knee. The woman who he had only just stepped off of a moment ago had used her chance to return his blade.

"You...... you aren't...... no..."

Her words were weak and soft as she tried to pull the knife out.

The man turned his body to slash at the woman but soon found himself knocked back, looking up at the sky.

Victor had kicked the spear, pushing it in deeper.

"Game...... Over."

He wasn't sure that the man got the reference and he didn't care. All Victor knew was the situation he was in while he kicked the spears stump to the side, watching it rip through where it was stuck, before walking away and leaning against a tree far from the man, but still within view of him.

It wasn't long before the woman came over as well, but she stopped when she saw her young savior was throwing up on the ground, barely able to stand.