A Betelgeuse Pest Frog peacefully sat on a lily pad as it croak.

A fly lazily fly by the frog's face before it was caught by the amphibian's tongue and was shoved into its mouth. The frog croaks again and proceeds to h—

It was snatched from its place on its lily pad by a white owl whose face look like a mask. The owl lands on a branch and swallows the frog whole.

The bird of prey then scans the area around it.

"It would seem that I'm back at the pond. Either that or those frogs are were at every single body of water in this forest," Aariv said.

He had been searching for human settlements for while now and hasn't been able to find a single trace of them. The owl had to try going to the place where he had last seen humans, but he got lost.

"Now that I think about it, is there even human settlement in this world or is it just filled with murderous forest like this, and there are only a few humans in this world and are barely surviving?" Aariv asks. "No, that's highly unlikely." He shook his head and was fly away from this pond before he heard the sound of metal clinking.

He turns toward the noise and saw a group of people wearing, some of them wearing iron armors talking to each other in a language that he can't understand. But he didn't care about that, all that he cares about was the fact that he finally found humans! Humans!

Two of them were wearing iron armor, wielding a sword and shield or ax while the rest were either wearing leather armors or a robe, wielding bows and arrows daggers, or a staff.

Their aura, as he could see green like that of a forest, grey like that of steel, a mixture of fiery red and cool blue.

Although at a closer look, Aariv notice that a few people in the group either had pointed ears or were short as hell. Wait a moment, don't tell him that they were...He needs to use [Appraisal] to make sure.

Name: Lisa Oakwood

Species: [Elf] - One of the dominant species on Gaia. They are known to be immortal and arrogant with some believing that everyone else is inferior to them.

Class: Archer - Lv. 32

Stats:

[Strength]: 96

[Endurance]: 80

[Wisdom]: 102

[Agility]: 200

[SP]: 125

[Mana]: 156

Name: Aerin Windrunner

Species: [Elf] - One of the dominant species on Gaia. They are known to be immortal and arrogant with some believing that everyone else is inferior to them.

Class: Rogue - Lv. 34

Stats:

[Strength]: 115

[Endurance]: 87

[Wisdom]: 112

[Agility]: 185

[SP]: 256

[Mana]: 187

Name: Dan Ironbeard

Species: [Dwarf] - One of the dominant species on Gaia. They are short and stocky and live in the mountain and underground. They are the best in the

Class: Warrior - Lv. 30

Stats:

[Strength]: 186

[Endurance]: 125

[Wisdom]: 105

[Agility]: 176

[SP]: 252

[Mana]: 156

"Huh...They really are elves and dwarves," Aariv said. "Then again, there are goblins, and drakes so really the fact that elves and dwarves exist isn't that surprising." He then took a look at the other members of the group.

Name: Edward Willaim

Species: [Human] - One of the dominant species on Gaia. They themselves hold no special abilities but are adaptive.

Class: Mage - Lv. 34

Stats:

[Strength]: 108

[Endurance]: 87

[Wisdom]: 187

[Agility]: 135

[SP]: 213

[Mana]: 345

Name: Jack Riptear

Species: [Human] - One of the dominant species on Gaia. They themselves hold no special abilities but are adaptive.

Class: Warrior - Lv. 36

Stats:

[Strength]: 235

[Endurance]: 205

[Wisdom]: 125

[Agility]: 215

[SP]: 314

[Mana]: 198

"Wait a minute...Why the hell are they are so weak? They're all around level thirty and their stats are lower my mine!" Aariv yells. "You know what? Forget about it." He activates [Stealth] and began following the group.

As he followed the group, Aariv noted that they all had their hands near weapons as they threw cautious glances whenever they took a step. So far, they hadn't noticed him, still talking amongst themselves.

Aariv continue to follow the group as they explore the forest before a pack of fanged rats tried to ambush them. The keyword was 'tried' because one of the elves, Aerin notice the fanged rats, and yelled out of panic alarming the other, and threw a dagger.

The dagger landed into the head of one of the rats, killing it, leaving five more rats left. The dwarf and Jack draw their weapons and rush to where the rats landed to protect the rest of the group, Lisa nocks an arrow while the mage, Edward prepares his magic.

One of the fanged rats launch itself at Jack, but he—

—Raise his shield as and bashed the rat with it, sending the monster flying as the rat hiss in pain. He then swung his sword at another rat and felt his blade cutting into it, leaving a bloody wound on it.

An arrow found itself into the rat's head, killing it.

One down, four to go.

Jack heard Dan roar as his ax glowed with power and chopped off a rat's head.

Right, Two down, two to go.

"Duck!" Jack did as he was told as a fireball whooshes past his head and hits the last remaining rats engulfing them in a ball of flame. When the fire clears, there was only the burnt corpses of the monsters.

Jack stood and sheath his sword and shield and proceed to group up with the rest of his party members. "Fucking hell mate, these damn rats are why too strong. The fanged rats back home would just need some swings from my ax and they die, but I need to use a skill in order to kill these fucking critters," Dan grumbled. "Remind me why we decide to come here?"

"I agree with the dwarf," Lisa agreed. "Why did we decide to come here?"

"Because the pay is good and we needed the money for equipments," Edward replied as he took a look around.

"Ah."

"You guys done talking? Because Let's get a move on, I want to get out of here as fast as possible. Place's giving me a bad feeling," Aerin said.

"Yeah, let's going," Jack said.

Everyone nods and began to get a move on, not noticing that something was following them in the shadow.