Naturally, the men were unable to respond to Zane’s question. They were all moaning in pain from the wounds Zane inflicted on them. For a moment Zane considered killing them and leaving the area, but he knew that they had information that could be very useful to him.

“Enough!” Zane roared. “Instead of making noise, you should be doing your best to answer my questions.”

“Why should we?” One of the men asked. “You’re going to kill us anyway.”

“I don’t have to. I can leave after you give me the answers I need. None of you are a threat to me.”

“Do you think we’re idiots? All of us have seen your face. Letting us go would be putting yourself at risk. All we have to do is tell people your identity and then you’ll have no place to hide.”

Zane was surprised by what the man said. He honestly didn’t think the men would be able to cause him any problems. Now that he knew about the threat they could pose, he had no intention of leaving them alive.

Looking at the six men, Zane could see they all believed he wouldn’t be letting them leave alive. They all wore determined expressions and Zane new they wouldn’t answer any of the questions he asked. Briefly Zane considered torturing them for the information, but he quickly discarded that idea. He wouldn’t feel good about torturing someone, and he knew there were other ways he could get the answers to his question.

With his decision made Zane gave the six men a cold look and raised his blade in preparation to kill. The eyes that looked back at Zane didn’t hold any fear. Of course, that quickly changed when they saw Zane separated one of the men’s head from their bodies.

Immediately the remaining five became a lot more talkative. They tried to reason, threaten and beg Zane to stop. However, Zane wasn’t swayed. He already made the decision to kill them, and he didn’t want to waste time listening to what they had to say. Plus, there might be people approaching his current location and Zane wanted to avoid fighting until he got a better understanding of the situation, he was in.

After Zane killed the final man, he turned and ran in the direction opposite of which the group of men came from. Zane didn’t know if he chose the best direction. He basically knew nothing about the world around him, so he could only hope that the other people that might be looking for him came from the same direction as the seven men.

Running through the barren region, Zane would occasionally activate his Martial Weapon Awareness skill and Magic Weapon Awareness skill. As he moved around or between the mountains and hills, Zane kept his sense on high alert. He didn’t want to be caught off guard by any hidden enemies.

Fortunately, Zane didn’t encounter any new enemies. He was running for more than one hour and he didn’t sense or see anyone in his surroundings. This should be seen as a good thing, but Zane couldn’t help but feel he was in a dangerous area.

Silence reigned in the area Zane moved through and he sensed a sinister energy in the air. The energy was faint, but it seemed to exist everywhere like mana. The energy felt threatening to Zane and made him act more cautiously than he already did.

“Hold them back, our spells are almost done.”

Zane heard a mixture of roars and shouts in the distance. He carefully made his way forward with his Martial Weapon Awareness and Magic Weapon Awareness skills active. Immediately Zane was able to make out the several weapons behind a hill in front of him

Claws, shields, swords magic staffs, magic wands and other weapons. Closing his eyes Zane did his best to get a better grasp of the information he was receiving from his two skills. There were three beast like creatures, nine warriors and three mages.

Three warriors surrounded one beast each. Zane sensed that all nine warriors were trying to distract their beast. The three mages were almost finished gathering magic power to unleash what Zane thought was a tier one spell.

A few seconds later, the three mages casted their tier one spell. Zane couldn’t tell what spell they used, but he could sense how powerful the spells were. The spell was capable of injuring him if he didn’t use his shield or one of his defensive skills.

“One more attack should do it.”

Mana surged into the magic staffs the mages were using. Zane sensed the magic power of the three mages increase, but the increase occurred very slowly. At first, Zane didn’t pay much attention to the slow increase in magic power. However, Zane became dumbfounded when he sensed that the mages had been gathering power for more than ten seconds.

Fifteen seconds later, the three mages finally casted their tier one spell. Zane sensed the death of the three beasts through their claws and fangs. He sensed the will surrounding the claws and fangs of the beasts dramatically weaken.

“Okay, let’s all rest for an hour before we begin moving again.” A man stated.

“An hour? We can’t stay here for that long. My home is in danger, and we can’t afford to waste an entire hour.” A woman responded.

“How many more spells can you cast? One, maybe two? There’s no point in rushing there if you arrived their tired and useless. I doubt we’ll even be able to make it the entire way without taking time to rest. We’re more likely to end up in the belly of one of these demons.”

Listening from behind the hill, Zane was thinking over his next decision. He needed information and he was confident he would be able to obtain it from the group in front of him. However, he would most likely reveal that he was from another world when he spoke to them. Therefore, he would have to kill them.

Zane frowned when that thought appeared in his head. It felt like he was being forced to kill the people in front of him. The people in front of him hadn’t done anything wrong. Zane only had to kill them because he was worried about the trouble, they might cause by knowing his identity.

When traveling through the wilderness its best if you treat everyone like your enemy. A person that approaches you with kind intentions might be secretly trying to harm you with a skill.

Teacher Isabelle’s words appeared in Zane’s mind as he was thinking over his decision. Opening his eyes, a determined and cold light could be seen within them. He would treat the group in front of him as an enemy. If he had to kill them then so be it.

After Zane stood up, he leaped twice before he reached the top if the hill. Looking down he saw four women and seven men. The warriors were wearing dark leather armor and the mages were wearing grey robes.

The three mages were two men and a woman. The men were fair skinned with dark hair while the woman was a tanned blond. The warriors had tanned skin and either had brown or black hair.

Not wanting to startle the group Zane decided to walk down the hill. He resolved himself to become enemies with the group but startling the group and making them raise their guard wouldn’t help him obtain information. When Zane was halfway down the mountain one of the men in the group noticed him.

The man tapped one of his companions and pointed in Zane’s direction. The group had a short conversation before four of them stood up and walked a short distance away from the group. Zane continued his walk down the hill as he paid attention to their actions.

It didn’t take Zane long to close the distance between himself and the four men after he reached the bottom of the hill. He stopped a little bit away from the four men and silently observed them. They were all young and seemed inexperienced except for one person.

A dark-haired man stood a bit further forward than the other three men standing in front Zane. He had a strong jaw and muscular body. His hazel eyes showed a trace of his fighting spirit that he developed over the years. His stance was both calm and cautious. He was ready to fight at any moment.

The young men beside him didn’t have any caution. They were relaxed and slightly curious about Zane’s presence. One of the young men was more curious than the others.

“Are you a wanderer?” A young man asked with a hint of wonder and excitement in his voice.

Zane was confused by the term, but he didn’t show it on his face. He wasn’t experienced with deception, but Zane knew he should control his expression as much as possible. In response to the young man’s question, Zane stared at him and kept his silence.

Never be in a rush to speak. You can usually learn far more by remaining silent.

“I apologize for my friend.” The muscular man spoke while giving Zane a friendly smile. “Wanderers are the only group of people he knows of that share your complexion.”

The young man face started to turn red while some of the men and women behind him started to chuckle. The two male mages snorted and get the young man a look of disdain before they went back to meditating. The female mage placed her eyes on Zane and kept them there ever since he stood in front of the four men.

Zane found the woman’s gaze strange. He didn’t feel like she was analyzing his abilities, but it did feel like she was looking at more than his physical body. Zane began to circulate his mana through his body as a form of protection. At the same time, he nodded at the muscular man to let him know he wasn’t upset.

“Most of the people in our kingdom have fair skin. It’s rare to see someone with your skin color in this area. Can you tell us what brings you here?”

Zane didn’t have a good answer to the man’s question. Therefore, he decided to answer the man with a question of his own.

“He's from another world.” The female mage shouted.