After walking for some time I started to get really tired and hungry. I had burned and disposed of most of my food supply when I left the battlefield campground. I realized carrying that much weight would leave me exposed to danger once I found myself needing to run away.

After a couple of days of walking, I had run through the small amount that I did bring. I had set my destination on the Guider to a small Village on the map called Fiercehunt Village, but even though it was the closest populated area in the vicinity, it was still an 8 day walk from where I was at. I had only managed to travel for 3 days and I was already at my limit.

I was walking at a very slow pace, and despite that thanks to the injuries and uneven terrain, the amount of energy I was consuming was rapidly draining me. I didn't know if I could sustain myself for long. I might drop dead at any moment if I keep on traveling with these conditions.

I did my best to hunt down something to eat, but at that moment I realized that a knife and a hunting blade were not the best tools to hunt small game.

One was really only good for really close-quarters combat and everyday tool use, and the other basically relied on the aggressiveness of larger game to be of any use. They were useless when it came to tracking and killing quick and slippery animals like the Needle Mouse.

I decided to use my slingshot to save on energy and have a better chance of getting lunch. I didn't use it from the start because I had felt like it would've been overkill, and it pained me to use any of the ammo which I had painstakingly collected for it, forget about the thought of even touching my elemental ammo.

I decided to use small pebbles which I picked up from the ground. I had a sudden realization that pebbles and rocks were probably some of the cheapest, effective, and most abundant types of ammo I could find and use. I had used them before as target practice, I don't know why I hadn't done this before.

I grabbed a variety of smooth pebbles and medium small-sized stones and made a pouch for both of them. The more ammo I had the better.

After the near-death experience, I had just gone through, being combat-ready was always a priority, even now that I was struggling to survive and feed myself, the instincts of combat still stayed with me.

I patiently searched for any small animal I could. In the distance, I saw a small group of Quick Sparrows. They were known as some of the fastest flyers in the animal and beast world, and commoners often had trouble catching or hunting them. They had evolved biology very similar to BuzzBirds who were small birds that had the fastest wing flapping speed and were very acrobatic, but they weren't very fast.

Quick Sparrows, on the other hand, were a bit larger and had adapted a similar use of that wing speed but they used it more efficiently as quick bursts of acceleration.

To be able to hunt one was no easy feat; you had to be a decent Marksman.

I took out the Slingshot, grabbed a pebble, and took aim. As soon as I felt like I had the right aim I let the sling band go.

Every time I shot the Slingshot it always surprised me how powerful it was. Even though it was silent in its shooting, and created no visual giveaways, the energy I felt every time I released a shot always astounded me.

I would never want to be whoever was at the end of this sling. When I was a kid, I made and played with many slingshots, it was a craft and trick I learned from my Dad.

That childhood experience was probably part of the reason why the Slingshot caught my eye and I bought it.

I always noticed that the act of pulling the sling band was the hardest when shooting the slingshots. The resistance of the rubber material or whatever was used to make the band, was quite substantial.

But whenever I shot with this Elemental Slingshot, the resistance I felt was almost nonexistent; which was surprising since I was certain that the more powerful the shot the harder it was to pull the band.

I'm assuming that was the difference between a magical sling and a normal one. After what was merely a fraction of a second a powerful wind gust appeared where the birds were.

All I saw was a lot of birds fly away into the skies.

Had I hit it?

I hurried to where the birds were previously at and found a piece of meat with its head blown off lying on the floor.

I cringed a little, using this sling was definitely overkill. But it'll have to do for now.

I picked up the bird and just as I was about to leave in search of a spot to camp I heard rustling in the bushes.

All my nerves and warning signals immediately flared up and I got myself in a defensive stance aiming my Slingshot towards the direction I heard the noise.

A group of people walked out, they all had weapons on them, either spears, bows, or clubs. They had weird attire and they didn't look dirty but they also didn't look like civilians from a village or town.

We stood there for a long time looking at each other without making a move. After a while, I realized they weren't there to be hostile to me so I was the first to say something.

“Who are you people? Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Hello there, kind traveler, we are a nomadic tribe of this country that call this patch of territory our home. We were just walking by this area when we heard the sounds of a disturbance. For safety reasons, us Warrior Tribesman came here to check it wasn't anything that might be of danger to us.”

The man's voice sounded like he carried good intentions, he had a very heavy accent and a weird tone, but he spoke the common language, so communication wouldn't be a problem, which was a relief.

At that moment I realized that by their side they had a group of hounds, feline-looking animals, and weasel-like beasts by their side. If they were truly hostile chances are I would be dead by now, those animals looked truly ferocious.

After hearing their words I let out a sigh of relief. I still didn't let my guard down but things probably weren’t dangerous.

“I am a traveling Adventurer, the disturbance was just me trying to hunt for some food, I apologize if I scared you I am of no danger to you guys, It was nice meeting you, I must continue my journey, I hope you guys have safe travels”, just as I was about to leave the lead Warrior called out to me.

“Young Adventurer, we cannot help but notice that you are injured, we Toltemic people like to make friends wherever we go, my tribe and I happen to have an Ancestral camping ground not too far from here, which is where we are heading if you would like, we offer you our hospitality and aid. Our healers are some of the best in this area. I'm sure they can heal your wounds.”

I had been trying to hide the fact that I was injured, but as expected to experienced Warriors I might as well be a walking corpse.

I decided to trust my gut, it didn't feel to me like these people were dangerous, so I decided to relent and accept their help. Right now getting these wounds healed was what was most urgent.

If they were to cause me some permanent damage I could say goodbye to my chances of becoming a powerful Ranker.

“I look that bad huh… alright I accept your offer. I'll try not to be too much of a burden. My names Guso by the way, like I said before I'm a traveling Adventurer, I just got wounded by some people that tried to steal from me and I had to fight them off, I hope I didn't offend you guys with the way I acted earlier I just couldn't afford to not be vigilant.”

“Not at all brother Guso, we know these parts are dangerous or else we wouldn't be carrying weapons at all, as for being a burden it is our honor to help people who are in need, it is no burden at all, my names Roksuma and these are my fellow tribesman, Choksuma, Tomis, Fuahotemic, and Megpiik. And these here are our hunting partners. I'll introduce them to you later. It seems it's better if we get you to a Healer as fast as possible. Choksuma, hurry on back to the tribe and inform the people that we have an honored guest. Everyone else help brother Guso with his stuff, we will hurry our journey towards the Ancestral grounds.”

****

As I was received and welcomed into the tribe, my wounds were immediately attended to by the tribal Healers.

They used a variety of herbal mixes and animal-derived foods to treat my wounds, replenish my energy, and recuperate my strength, almost immediately I felt like my old normal self.

These people were truly extraordinary. I had heard back in my Village about the local nomadic tribes but people regarded them as nothing special, hardly different than a homeless bum or an unfortunate poor wilderness man or adventurer.

Because of that, I didn't really know much about them it didn't help that they usually avoided highly populated areas and kept to themselves. Thinking more about it though and after what I had just experienced, being able to survive, let alone have a life out here in Volunterras wilderness, was not something an average person could do.

There were dangers at every corner of the wilderness, being a semi-decent fighter was far from what it actually took to survive out here. You were better off taking the main roads, and traveling in groups if you had to travel far.

The only reason I had managed to survive so long by myself, was because I had the Guider showing me what areas to avoid. And even then I still ended up in this state.

“You guys sure know your stuff, your Healers are amazing” I commented to Roksuma.

Roksuma looked at his Healers with a look of pride and satisfaction.

“It's not easy living out here in the wild. We are mostly common people trying to live our lives. We aren't even close to being the strongest living things out here, powerful beasts dominate this land. But the Ancestors of us Toltemic people have lived this way since even before the new Era, as our priests have told us, and they have left for us and taught our fathers and their father's many many secrets to survive out here. The blood and sweat of all our Ancestors are who you should thank, for it is due to their knowledge and wisdom that our current Healers can help you.”

“Indeed I'm indebted to you guys and to your Ancestors they are definitely amazing.”

It seems there was still a lot for me to learn and see in this world, even the nomadic tribes of this country hold such interesting and fascinating history. I should take this as a lesson never to underestimate anybody I should ever meet.

“I remember you told me you guys were heading to your Ancestral camping grounds if you don't mind me asking towards what direction are we heading”

Roksuma immediately understood where I was going with my question.

“We are heading west towards the main road heading to Will City. But our campgrounds are still deep within the forest. You are welcome to stay with us until you fully recover, but if our destination is too inconvenient we are also glad to help you with supplying you for your journey.”

These people really are too nice. I was fortunate to have encountered them when I most needed them.

I held off on making a decision on the options he had given me.

As it turned out they really weren't going too off-trail where I was going so I might as well take this opportunity to fully recuperate, and reformulate my plans for the future.

After I talked to Roksuma about food and the bird I had hunted, he bid his farewell and let me rest. Almost immediately I knocked out. This was the first good rest I had had in almost a week.