“You’re here early,” Zane said.

“So are you,” Sophie said.

“Were you two waiting long?” Shane asked. “I hope you didn’t force Shawn to leave early.”

“She didn’t force me,” Shawn calmly answered. “I’m eager to take a look at what this forest has to offer.”

“I’m joking.” Shane laughed and slapped Shawn's shoulder. “Considering how Sophie usually act I guessed that she would want to come early and wait for everyone.”

“Well,” Shawn smiled. “She did say that-”

“Not another word Shawn,” Sophie commanded.

Zane was listening to their conversation but he was also paying attention to his surroundings. Standing a few feet away from the entrance, Zane saw multiple people moving in and out of the building. He didn’t know how many people were in the starting village but he did know that the village shouldn’t be big enough to fit an entire world of people.

“Have it your way" Shane said “I’ll wait for the others but I’m charging in once everyone’s here. I want to eat and drink before we head into battle."

“You won’t have to wait long” Zane said. He saw Luna and Lana walking toward them.

“How was the walker training ground?” Sophie asked.

“It was fun,” Luna said with a small smile.

“The training ground used magic to create different types of areas.” Lana said. “She spent all her time in the forest areas.”

Luna stuck her tongue at Lana. “I didn’t spend all my time in the forest area. I looked at the wilderness area too.”

“And you ignored all other areas. Even if you don’t like those places, you should still practice your techniques in them.” Luna turned her head and ignored Lana’s look of annoyance.

“Magic like that sounds expensive,” Sophie frowned.

“It cost 1,000 points today and the price will increase tomorrow,” Lana replied.

“The prices in the warrior training ground will also increase,” Zain said. “What about the mystic training ground?”

“They told us the prices would be increasing.” Sophie said.

“I heard the same at the mage training ground,” Jason said.

“Finally, now we can go eat.” Shane said.

Zane and the others followed Shane into the Inn. Zane listened as Shane, Jason and Sophie described their training grounds. Both training grounds had high quality and quantity of mana. The difference between them was that the mystic training ground had animals and plants to practice magic on. The mage training ground only had targets.

After walking in Zane saw a man with fair skin and blond hair standing behind a podium. Behind that man was a small area with tables, chairs and a bar. The place was packed and noisy. Only a few people were eating food while others gave greedy stares to the bar full of drinks.

“What do you mean you don’t have food? Shane asked.

“We don’t have any chefs here,” A man calmly replied. If you have the cooking skill, you’re more than welcome to use our kitchens for a small fee.”

“Let’s go to the forest there’s no point in staying here.

I don’t know why you’re so upset,” Zane said. “The meal we had earlier today had a lot of energy. I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t feel hungry for a week.”

“Eating isn’t about getting energy its about the feeling of pleasure your mouth sends to your mind and your soul.

“There’s a lot of people who would disagree with you,” Jason said.

“And there’s a lot of people that would agree with me.

“We may not have food but we have beverages,” said the man behind the podium.

“Don’t bother” Sophie spoke when she saw Shane’s eye light up. “The price for water is absurd. Don’t consider buying anything with actual flavor.”

After leaving the Inn, Zane and the others followed a stone path between two training grounds. Zane didn’t see any of the circles that were here earlier today. The area between the forest and the training grounds had nothing but grass that gave off a light blue glow. They eventually arrived at the forest after walking for a long time.

Turning his head, Zane could see his own nervousness and excitement mirrored on the faces of everyone else. Zane explored the forest near Green Valley town and experienced the dangers of the wilderness but he felt a little anxiety when he stood in front of the forest. It was because he saw much more than a forest. Looking at the forest he saw his future battles and adventures. His possible victories and defeats. The forests represented the first step on his path and every step that would come after.

“Are we entering?” Shawn asked. “This forest feels like it’s full of opportunities.”

“I think what your sensing is danger,” Jason said.

“Definitely danger,” Shane agreed.

“Were entering.” Sophie took a deep breath. “But we need a plan.”

“Luna and I can scout ahead.” Lana said.

“I’m at the front.” Shane put his shield on his arm and took out his sword.

“I’m at the back,” Jason said while backing up.

“Planning is important but we should take things slow.” Zane looked up at the sky. “We still have some daylight left. Based on the quests we saw the mana creatures we meet during the day aren’t strong. Let’s spend the rest of the day getting used to fighting together.”

“That’s a great idea,” Sophie said. ‘We’ll treat this like a normal outing in the forest until nighttime.” Sophie stuck her handout in front of everyone. “Now everybody put your hands in. team orphans on three.”

“I don’t think team orphans is an appropriate name,” Shane said. “Technically, Luna, Jason, and I aren’t orphans.”

“Luna’s parents raised me and I considered them my parents,” Lana said.

“My parent is nature,” Shawn said.

“Fine then we’ll say team adventurers on three,” Sophie replied.

“I think we can come up with a better name than team adventurers,” Shane said.

Sophie didn’t say anything else. She looked at Shane until he agreed they should be called team adventurers. Seeing no more complaints Sophie stuck her hand out again.

“Wait,” Jason said. “Do we say team adventurers on three or after three?”

Zane grinned knowing that Jason completely understood what Sophie meant. “I think we say team adventurers after three.”

“Hold on I’m confused,” Shane said. “I though it-”

“Team. Adventurers. On. Three.” Sophie spoke while trying to glare at Zane and Jason simultaneously.

They quickly calmed down after laughing and placed their hands on top of Sophies. After shouting team adventurers everyone stopped and stared at the space in front of them.

You have received a request to join Sophie’s party. Accept or Decline?

“That’s interesting,” Zane said. “Sophie, are you planning on throwing us a party?”

“Do you think it’s because I made a team name?” Sophie ignored Zane’s question. “Someone should accept so we can see what happens.”

“I’ll do it,” Shane said. A second later he shouted in surprise. “I can see your health, stamina and mana! It doesn’t give me specific values but seeing the bar is amazing enough.”

“I can see your core energy levels too. It looks like I learned a new skill called party leader and unlocked the leadership skill.”

Zane and the others quickly accepted the request before gasping in amazement. Zane suggested that they each repeat what Sophie did to see if they could gain the same skill. When Zane tried it, the system told him it wasn’t possible because he was already in a party. Sophie quickly figured out how to disband the party and Zane tried again.

After creating and disbanding several parties they were all pleasantly surprised to see that they each were able to learn the skill. Each time they formed a party they learned more about the skill. The skill allowed them to mentally communicate with each other and sense each other’s presence. Everyone rejoined Sophie’s party and she was able to mentally send a request without any physical actions.

“This is amazing,” Zane told the group mentally. “We should practice communicating like this while were in the forest. Also, I think this might be a skill from another world. It’s to useful for nobody to tell us about it.”

“I think so too, Sophie mentally responded. “I didn’t receive the skill creator title so it likely that we’ll see groups like ours. It’s a good thing that the skill only allows ten people to be in a group. Of course, this limit might increase as the skill levels up.”

Zane walked into the forest and received a message from the system. It told him that the village would not protect him and his fate was in his own hands. The trees in the forest were thirty times taller than the height of an average person. The forest had a small amount of sunlight shining on the ground due to the large trees. Although they were spaced apart from each other, their large crowns worked together to block out the sun. The lack of sun did not stop the many plants, flowers and bushes existing in the forest.

Zane saw Shawn touch the trees they passed by and mutter strange words to them. Other than Shawn everyone else became more cautious after hearing the system message. Everyone looked around more and Luna would frequently sniff the air. After a few minutes they began to see some humans fighting.

Zane relaxed as he watched humans battling different mana creatures. Most of the creatures they fought were below level four. Zane silently laughed as he watched people nervously face a level one horned rabbit. He could see the others shared his amusement and became a lot more relaxed.

As the group continued forward, they began to mentally discuss the forest and the different battles going on around them. They saw elevens and humans battling against different types of mana creatures. Zane pointed out the different characteristics of each creature and what they could do if they fought against a more powerful version.

Eventually they reached an area in the forest that had less people. The trees looked thicker and the mana in the air was denser. The trees became further apart but the crowns became larger. Barely any sunlight made it to the ground floor. There would be a few small areas that had a lot of sunlight and a lot of large areas that were covered in shadows.

“Be careful the trees say there are many dangerous plants in this part of the forest,” Shawn said.

Everyone nodded after hearing what Shawn said. They knew that he had a special relationship with trees. Nobody knew if he had a talent that let him boost his senses using trees or if he could hold a conversation with trees. Whenever somebody asked him about it, he would smile and say nothing.

“I smell something,” Luna said.

A few seconds later Zane heard something moving through dead leaves. Zane drew his sword and everyone else made their preparations for an enemy. Soon they saw a spider that was taller than Zane’s waist. The moment it appeared Zane used identify on it.

Worker Spider Lvl 12

“This creature is mine,” Shane said.

Zane watched as Shane silently charged at the spider. The spider let out a short screech before Shane sent it flying with his shield. Shane paused for a minute before charging after the insect but he didn’t see the two spiders that appeared behind him after he passed the tree. Zane began to move forward but stopped after seeing two arrows headed toward the two spiders.

Luna flashed by Zane’s eyes as she ran behind a tree. Zane saw that the two spiders were moving toward them and Shane was completely focused on the spider in front of him. Lana showered the spiders with arrows as they approached. Before the two spiders crossed half the distance Luna appeared behind them with two short swords. She jumped on the back of one spider and pierced its throat before jumping of it to attack the other.

Multiple arrows from Lana plus Luna’s attacks equaled two dead spiders. Zane used identify and it showed two worker spider carcasses. Seeing that the two spiders were dead Zane directed his attention to Shane. He saw Shane land two more blows on the spider before the spider died.

“Ha-ha this fight was too easy,” Shane said.

Zane chuckled as he saw the smile on Shane’s face stiffen when he turned around. Shane’s first turned red when he realized he became too absorbed in his fight with the first spider. If he was by himself, he would be injured by the two spiders attacking him from behind.

“Oh yeah,” Jason said “That fight looked really easy.”

Everyone shared a laugh at Shane’s expense before putting the spider corpse in their space bags. Shane mentioned that some of the experience he received from the kill was shared with the party. Zane checked and saw that his experience increased by a small amount. Zane didn’t want to sit back and reap the rewards so he suggested that he take the next creature that appeared.

“No way!” Shane shouted. He realized his mistake and quickly returned to communicating mentally. “Everyone here heard about the special training you received from Teacher Isabelle. After sparring with you I know these battles would be easy for you. Sit back and relax while the rest of us get some practice in.”

Before Zane could argue everyone started to agree with Shane. Even Luna and Shawn who usually kept quiet spoke up in agreement. Zane could see that everyone was eager for battle experience. After seeing the basic mistake that Shane made, he decided not to argue with them. Zane took it easy while everyone else fought mana creature after mana creature. This continued until the day ended and the night began.