This was crazy. It felt like it was 90 degrees out and who knew how much further they had until they reached the city. By the rate they were going it’d probably take them around five hours if not more. That was if they knew where they were going.

The group was as friendly as ever, not. Everyone was quiet and since they didn’t know each other well no one said anything. The stress of being lost probably didn’t help things either. To make things worse everything looked exactly the same. From the trees littered with green leaves to the brown dirt pavement.

This heat is crazy! It’s so hot! If Junji didn’t force me to remove my shirt, I’d probably be passed out by now.

There was thick tension surrounding the area. Awkward tension. Keianna wasn’t the friendliest chick to boot, she looked like she had a real mean streak on her. It wouldn’t be wise to get on this girl’s nerve.

Then there was Claire… sweet Claire. She seemed nice enough, not socially awkward for a nerd. That’s a huge positive. She might even be the reason the group survives this ordeal. Though… she had an odd fashion sense.

This other girl, well it was easy to tell that she was the socially challenged of the group. She refused to acknowledge the others and didn’t even speak her name. It’s one thing to be shy, but when you’re lost in the middle of nowhere it wouldn’t hurt to open up a little.

“I hate to be that guy, but… I think we need to remove our pants.” This was bold of Junji, but he was trying to make a crude joke while breaking the silence.

“It might be hot, but even then that's a bit excessive,” Claire responded to this, keeping forward as she followed the path of which she thought was the correct way.

“Come on, man. Don’t be a perv.”

“I’m not, it’s just...so…” His hand ran through his hair, lines of sweat collecting on the palms of hands. “Hot. Don’t act like you wouldn’t be interested in seeing the girls in their panties Isaac, hehe.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t.” It was the truth. Isaac wasn’t a naughty boy, he was innocent. For now.

“Aww, you’re no fun.”

“The only way I’d remove my pants is if I removed your eyes. Now if you’re interested that can be arranged.” Gosh, Keianna was so intimidating. Just what was up with her?

“Wow! So scary. I was just trying to make a joke. Annnd it got most of you talking. So, I win.” He glances over towards the mysterious girl who still went unnamed.

It was odd enough that she had decided to stay with the group regardless of really communicating with them or not, but now she was dragging a thin branch along the dirt, which left a trail following her along. She seemed to be paying the others no mind, as well, watching her surroundings.

Seeing this… Junji instantly thought: What a WEIRDO! Maybe it wasn’t his place to judge. He’s just been so extroverted it was hard to see things from an introvert’s point of view.

I get what he was doing now. Making conversation would raise our spirits and make time go a lot faster. We are classmates so it isn’t weird for us to better get to know each other.

“We are classmates…” Isaac started.

It’d probably be best to stay with light topics. Nothing too personal.

“So, I was curious. What do you guys like to do for fun?”

Claire complied with Isaac’s attempt to make conversation, placing a finger to her chin as she walked along. “For fun? Well… I like to read good novels, study and learn new things, you know, the usual.”

“Hahaha! Man, I can’t believe people like you really exist! Who reads books nowadays?” Keianna laughed, stopping in her tracks as she held onto her stomach.

“Hey, there's nothing wrong with a nicely written piece of literature! What do you even consider fun, then?” Claire retorted, Keianna’s laughter seemingly touched a nerve.

“Anything but that. I do whatever, really, music, TV, fighting it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Yeah, like watching TV as well. But, I also play ball. It’s good to keep active.” Junji smiles.

“You didn’t look active the way you were huffing and puffing on the field earlier.”

“I wasn’t expecting to run. I just wanted to chill and graduate. Not be put in some survival game.” The boy ran his hand through his damp hair as he came to a stop, breathing out heavily.

“If you guys are feeling tired of walking, we could always take a break. We do have a few days to get back.” Mentioned Claire, who turns her head to look back at the group. “I'd like to find some water, at least.”

That was probably the smartest decision to be made. Keianna looked fine, but Junji was obviously tired from the way he breathed out. Looks like he really didn’t come prepared today. He was exhausted from the run and in time it would catch up with the others.

“That sounds like a good idea. I’m pretty tired.” Isaac agreed with this plan, once they secured a supply of water everything would be good.

“I’m down with that! I’m damn thirsty too.” Junji plopped down onto the ground.

“If we're right outside of Terra, we have to be close to a river of sorts. I don't want to digress far from this path, but a necessity is a necessity,” said Claire, as she looked around for a way to mark their location.

“Is it even safe to drink water from a river? I really should have paid attention that lecture!”

“Of course it would be safe, the rivers around here are connected to the same lake we get our water from at home. Only… not filtered. Still, it shouldn't hurt… most likely.”

“Water’s water. As long as it states our thirst.” Keianna adds as he begins to head into the forest.

“We’ll also need food. Hmm, what are we going to eat…?” Isaac questioned.

“Food… food… anyone up for hunting?” Claire asks in return before she giggles lightly. “Just kidding. We'll probably run into berries sooner or later. Edibility is another thing, though. Sheesh, this seems like it was premeditated, tiring us out with an obstacle course, then dropping us off to fend for ourselves in the middle of nowhere. Rather cruel a graduation if you ask me…”

“Those bastards! I bet it was in there plan to do this from the start! Now we gotta pass and rub it in their faces!” Junji stands up, walking deeper into the forest.

“It'll get dark in a matter of time, so we should hurry if we don't want to die of thirst tonight,” Claire spoke as she removed her jacket from her waist, wrapping it by the sleeves around a tree that was center of the way they were going. She'd even position it to be able to tell which direction they were headed. She had critical thinking down.

Keianna was already by the river, crouched down as she cupped her hands in the cool refreshing water. In this heat, this was a blessing from God… if there was one. Terra didn’t believe in gods but merely worshipped science.

After a few handfuls of drinking she was satisfied for now, but pretty soon it’d be time to eat. They could only get so far without eating.

Junji soon followed taking his fair share of water from the river. Though it definitely tasted different from the water they normally drank. “Yo, my water tastes kind of like… dirt.”

“Like Claire said, it’s not really filtered. But, technically, it’s the purest form of water right now.” Isaac bent down by the riverside, getting his fair share of water, but he could taste the natural properties within it.

Following suit with everyone else, Claire kneeled down to indulge in the freshest water available to them at the moment. “Ahh, refreshing.”

The other girl did similarly, using her cupped hands to scoop water up to her mouth, little by little. After finishing her drink, she'd sigh of relief and satisfaction, sitting back.

“That feels a lot better. It’s nice and cool in here as well. But, now we have to worry about shelter and food.” Isaac scratched his head feeling his plastered locks.

“Well, the easiest thing to do without wasting time is to make a campfire, right here along the river. A couple of us can do that, and the others can look around for fruits, roots, or anything edible.” Claire suggested, before tossing a handful of water into her face, to cool herself off.

“Leave the campfire to me,” Keianna stated.

“I can easily cut some wood! It’ll be no problem!” Isaac cheered.

That left Junji on berry duty along with the others. “Guess I’ll help pick some berries… dang is that really all we’re going to eat? No meat?”

“Sure, we can have some meat. If you're up for killing some animal out here with your bare hands.” Claire waved her index finger in his face before she began to head off, in search of the fruit of the forest.

“Hmm… could I do that…? Nah, that’s too savage.” Junji sighed as he wandered off, trying to catch up to Claire before she got too far ahead.

“With them getting us food it’s time we collected some wood! Let’s go, Keianna.” He was eager to start a fire because honestly he was tired and just wanted to sleep.

The two didn’t head off too far, but they left the unnamed girl all on her own. They even forgot that she was there. However, that's probably how she wanted it, to be left alone to do what she does.

Standing up from the river’s edge, she walked off by her lonesome, once again dragging the branch she held onto through the dirt. Where was she headed? It was anyone's guess.

As Keianna and Isaac walked off to find some suitable wood to cut down, Isaac realized that he was alone with a pretty intimidating girl. He clammed up a bit, trying to figure out what to talk about so things wouldn’t be awkward between them, but she broke the ice instead.

“That looks thin enough.” She pointed to a skinny looking tree, with thin branches connected to it and an array of leaves.

“Yeah, it looks really small. Even I could cut that down.”

“Stay here, I’ll chop it down.” She held out her right hand, a yellow light enveloping it as a leather glove formed around her appendage with claws constructed from metal attached to it, curved like daggers.

She was making use of the weapon link system that Terra and other regions used. It was a way to carry a weapon without it taking up any space by storing it in hammerspace. This allowed for quick summonings at the cost of a small bit of mana.

This was an interesting weapon choice though, not many people used claws as it took a fair amount of training to use properly. But with her speed, it was no wonder why she chose something like this.

Isaac blinked and she was gone, leaving behind a trail of lightning along the dirt. Isaac raised his head towards the tree and simply saw what appeared to be lines of electricity moving across the branch and sharp cutting sounds.

The branches soon fell onto the ground cut up into smaller pieces. It was crazy how fast this girl could move. In a blink and it was already over, he didn't even have to do anything.

Dad said I should always offer to do the physical stuff for a woman, but she didn’t give me a chance.

Bringing his attention toward the girl, he could see that she was breathing heavily even with her back turned. It has been a long day so maybe she needed to rest.

“Are you tired? Maybe you should rest.”

“Shut up, I’m fine! Come and carry this!”

“O-oh, right!” He rushed over and begin to pile up all of the wood she cut. They had the wood now all they needed was to light it. Anyway, it was time for them to return to the group. Though with how fast Keianna moved they probably wouldn’t be back for awhile.