Somewhere in a forest outside Luxen City.
Woo-chak!
Beeeaaak!
Thud.
An arrow shot through the air and landed on the chest of a Bukaroo, causing the bird to cry out in pain before it fell to the ground and drew its last breath.
"Great shot, Gaze!" a cute female voice squealed.
Gaze, a boy 15 years old of age with a Copper I pendant around his neck holding a bow on his hand and carrying a quiver over his shoulders, went over to the dead bird.
He knelt down and offered a small prayer.
"I thank the Gods for this knowledge and experience they bestowed upon me…"
He then extracted the arrow, took out a knife from his thigh and sliced off the tail of the bird before turning around and showing it off to his companions; a male and a female.
"9 pieces more!" he announced with a bright smile on his face.
"And then we can go back to the guild to get our reward!" the female said excitedly.
"Don't worry, Felize, it will be over in no time! We can probably even sneak in another Quest!" Gaze replied.
"Sure!" Felize said.
Just like Gaze, Felize was also 15 years old with a Copper I pendant around her neck. She held a spiked club and wooden shield on her hands.
"Guys, isn't this weird?" a male voice interjected.
Both Gaze and Felize looked at him.
It was a boy who was also 15 years old with a Copper I pendant around his neck. He was carrying a spear and was quite tall, towering over at 5'11.
"What do you mean?" Felize said.
"This forest is supposed to be abundant with monsters because they're weak and aren't aggressive. But there's hardly any monsters that are alive. Most of them are all dead with some still fresh and others a day old or more than that."
"So?"
"It's just weird. It took us more than 30 minutes just to find a single monster alive," he said and then turned to Gaze. "Out of the three of us, you're the one with the most experience in dealing with carcasses. Didn't you also say that most of them weren't even extracted?"
Felize became silent. As a matter of fact, the other 5 tails that they gathered were from Bukaroo corpses.
"Maybe some people were training here or something," Gaze said.
"But isn't it a crime to overhunt?" Torr said.
Gaze nodded.
"That's true. But it's also true that we're now Adventurers."
Torr didn't say anything.
"Do you remember what Instructor Shay and the other veteran Adventurers told us? One of the most important skills you need to learn as an Adventurer is to adapt to whatever situation you're thrown in. Whoever caused all this, although it's a crime, they're clearly a group who isn't afraid of the law. And as embarrassing as this may sound, I don't think we're that strong to go against them if we encounter them. For now, let's just focus on completing the Quest that we have."
"You said it yourself: They're clearly a group who isn't afraid of the law. If they're not afraid of overhunting, what makes you think they're not afraid of doing other crimes?"
"Torr, you're too much of a worrywart! Haven't we been doing Quests these last few days and nothing bad has happened? What do you want us to do? Stop doing Quests?" Felize said.
"There are other Quests available."
"Do you mean those boring Quests about searching for a missing engagement ring, searching for a lost pet and other boring things?"
Torr became silent.
"This is the quickest and best way to rank up and also learn how to be proper Adventurers!" Felize said and then turned to Gaze. "Come on, let's search for more Bukaroo tails!"
Gaze's eyes bounced between Torr and Felize.
"The both of you are correct. But unfortunately, I'm going to side with Felize. We're Adventurers. Whether we like it or not, a time will come when we will have to face a dangerous situation so let's take this as a learning experience. Also, I doubt that we're the only people or Adventurers who have noticed this."
"That right!" Felize said.
Torr, on the other hand, remained silent.
"Come on, let's go," Gaze said before turning around and walking.
Felize rushed to Gaze's side while Torr followed behind.
"If we find another live Bukaroo, let me try shooting it!" Felize said.
"Sure, as long as you don't miss. I would get an earful from my father if he found out that I lost too many arrows," Gaze said.
"But isn't it normal to lose an arrow while hunting?"
"Yes, but this is my father's back when he used to hunt and I promised to properly use it."
Felize puffed her cheeks.
"Guys!" Torr cried out and pointed.
Gaze and Felize stopped and then turned to him before looking at where he was pointing.
"I think it's a Bukaroo's corpse."
They all went over to it.
Judging by the corpse, it was sliced in half and it looked like it was at least 5 days old that it already started decomposing and there were worms and insects eating its flesh.
"The tail is missing," Torr said.
"Looks like the others have the same idea as us!" Felize said.
"Don't worry, we'll find others," Gaze said.
They resumed walking and passed another corpse.
This time around it was a fox. And just like the Bukaroo's corpse from earlier, this too was sliced in half and was in the same state -- decomposing with worms and insects eating its flesh.
They continued walking and passed 3 more corpses.
Two were decapitated sunflowers and the other was a Treebark whose body shattered into pieces. All of them were in the same state.
"The Sunkiss' leaves are of no use anymore," Gaze said and turned to Torr. "How about you?"
Torr was inspecting a Treebark's heart.
"Same here. The worms and insects already got to it."
They resumed walking around.
"There, look!" Felize said and pointed.
The two boys looked at where she was pointing and saw 2 corpses.
One was a fox that had its skull crushed. Meanwhile, the other was a Bukaroo that looked like it was stomped to death but the tail was still attached to it.
Gaze rushed towards the Bukaroo's corpse.
"It's no use. The tail is too damaged."
Both of the corpses were more than 5 days old. As for the Bukaroo's tail, worms and insects already ate about 40% of it.
Felize and Torr approached to take a look.
"But the Quest didn't say that the tail must be kept in good condition, right?" Felize asked.
Gaze shook his head.
"Yes, but this is too damaged."
Bam!
Felize stomped her foot on the ground.
"How are we supposed to gather Quest Items if they're all like this?!"
Gaze let out a wry smile and scratched the side of his face with a finger.
"We could try going deeper into the forest…"
Torr turned to Gaze with a serious expression.
"We promised our families that we won't go deeper into the forest until we become Copper II."
"I know, but what choice do we have? And plus, who's gonna know? It's not like we became Adventurers to loot corpses."
"Gaze is right," said Felize. "And I'm sick and tired of this! I want to see some action!"
Whooosh!
Whooosh!
And swung her spiked club a few times, her face filled with desire for a fight.
Torr let out a sigh.
"Sometimes I wonder how did you guys even manage to convince me to become an Adventurer…"
"This is what childhood bestfriends do! We stick and do things together always!" Gaze said with a bright smile.
"That's right!" Felize said and then turned to Torr. "And quit being such a worrywart! You're supposed to be tall and strong!"
Torr looked at his spear and thought about it for a moment.
"I guess it would be a waste not to use this spear that my mother gave me."
"And we could also train our Physical Arts!" Gaze said.
"And become the best Copper I group in the entire kingdom!" Felize said.
Gaze and Torr looked at her for a moment and they all burst into laughter.
Once they were done laughing, they all wore serious expressions. However, it wasn't out of fear. Instead, it was out of anticipation.
"I guess this means we're all in agreement to go deeper into the forest?" Gaze asked.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Felize swung her spike club.
"If any aggressive monster appears, I'll be ready to crush them!"
Torr nodded.
"I'll use my spear to make sure no monster can approach us."
Gaze raised his bow.
"Don't forget, I have the bow and arrow."
"The both of us then."
"Hey, what about me?" Felize said. "If the both of you kill the monsters right away, I won't be able to train my Physical Arts."
They both turned to her.
"There are Brown Kraines and they aren't easy to kill. If we encounter one, we will need to work together to take it down," Gaze said.
"So I can only fight with Brown Kraines?"
"You and Torr can take turns," Gaze said and then turned to Torr. "Right?"
Torr nodded.
"Of course. And plus, even if I disagree, it's not like I have unlimited stamina."
Felize thought about it for a moment.
"Okay~!"
Both boys secretly let out a sigh of relief.
The trio then headed a bit deeper into the forest in search for more monsters.
***
Some time later…
Felize went over to a corpse.
"This one still looks fresh…"
At the moment, they were examining two Treebark corpses. One was cleanly sliced into two while the other was also shattered into pieces.
Despite heading a bit deeper into a forest, what they found were only more corpses. However, they seem to be fresher. And the deeper they went, the fresher the corpses were.
Felize turned to Gaze.
"What do you think?"
Torr, who just finished expecting the other Treebark corpse, looked at him as well.
"Well… Um… I'd say this one was cut with something very sharp --"
"No, not that. I'm asking how many people are there."
Aside from the corpses becoming fresher, they also noticed another thing -- human footprints. Outside the forest, there were multiple human footprints heading in different directions. But the deeper they got, there were lesser the footprints.
Gaze swept his eyes around the area.
"I think…" he said as his brows slowly started to knit together. "I think it's only one person."
"Are you sure? It's not a group?" Torr said.
Gaze shook his head.
"I'm not completely sure, but that's what it suggests," he said as his eyes continued tracing the footprints. "And it's headed --"
He stopped when he saw a beautiful but haggard-looking female with purple hair and red highlights and red eyes holding a 6ft-long poleaxe. She wore a Brown Cloak and a golden necklace with a sun pendant, indicating that she was a member of the Temple of Priests, and also had a Copper I pendant around her neck. She was standing a couple of meters away from them.
"Are you the new Adventurers who took the Bukaroo Quest?"