As a tree burned to ash in the background, and people stood around it to prevent the fire from spreading, Bright was crouched over the man who was impaled and was lying on the ground. Bright was far from being a Medical Doctor, but he was the closest thing the settlement had and was doing his damnedest to keep his friend and peer alive as he put pressure on the wound and forcefully fed the man various berries.

“Fuck, stay awake, John! Hey, need some help over here!” Bright cursed before calling out to some of the men idling around.

One of the men rushed over, and Bright immediately got to work guiding the man on what to do. “Keep pressure on his wound like this,” Bright showed before continuing, “The Best chance he has with a wound that bad is if we cauterize it. What you're going to need to do is hold him down. I know you're an Aspiring Warrior. You’ll need to use one of your skills to keep him still.” 

Once the man began putting pressure on the wound, Bright pulled back and unsheathed his machete; rushing over to the burning tree, he wasted no time in stocking the blade right into the fire. The only reason they managed to kill the tree was because one of his men, for some goddam reason, was carrying around a Molotov cocktail, ready to be used at a moment's notice. Not only did using it save their team from suffering more damage, but it might just also save John’s life.

Stepping away from the burning tree, Bright noted that it must still be alive, as no one had gotten a notification. Luckily, they cut off all the roots it attacked with, so it could not defend itself. That’s also why Bright felt brave enough to get close enough to heat the blade.

Rushing back to John, Bright called for another Aspiring Warrior to help hold John down, “Alright, no matter what, keep him still. We can’t afford him to struggle and cause more damage. Do you both understand? If we don’t do this, he will die.”

Seeing them both mod, Bright took a deep breath while the warriors tightened their grips on John. John, seeing the red-hot blade nearing his body, began to involuntarily struggle and thrash around.

“KEEP HIM STILL!” Bright shouted, bringing the flat side of the blade down onto the wound. Instantly, a sizzling sound and the cooking of human flesh and blood wafted from the wound while John screamed and screamed. Holding and pushing the side of the blade into the wound, Bright grits his teeth; this had to work; otherwise, John would die long before the team could return to the settlement.

Tossing the blade away, Bright forced John to drink his only Narco Potion, the sleep aid potion Lily made back at the settlement.

As John began to drift into unconsciousness, Bright began issuing orders. “Change of plans! I force-fed John a Petty Healing Potion and a Narcotic Potion, these two,” he gestured to the two aspiring warriors next to him. We will carry him and escort them out of the Jungle. Got it? We ain’t letting him die!” Bright ordered.

That’s when they heard buzzing in the air, coming right from where they had to go if they wanted to leave the Jungle.

“Fuck!” Bright cursed quietly, “Come on, we don’t want to be here when the Blood Wasp Swarm gets here!” 

Rushing back from the tree, everyone quickly fled deeper into the Jungle, having no choice but to go deeper toward what they believed to be their next checkpoint. However, due to their encounter with the tree, they unknowingly fled in the wrong direction, heading deeper into an unexplored section of the Jungle.

“Keep up!” Bright huffed as he ran from one of the most dangerous things roaming the Jungle, a ‘monster’ that soon reached the scene of the fight between Bright and the others against the [Young Blood Drinker].

[Blood Wasp Swarm - Level 93]

…

As the group fled into the Jungle, clearly lost as they found none of the landmarks they memorized and encountered before, they were surprised to soon come upon what looked to be a road, mostly buried under grass and dirt and covered in flora. 

“A road?” Someone questioned.

“Should we follow it? It could lead us out of here,” Someone else commented.

“We don’t got much of a choice; we can either follow it or try to get back to the settlement and past the Blood Wasps as well,” Bright explained to the others, offering his input into their choices.

Stopping in their tracks, Bright let them come to their own decisions. For one, they could risk returning to ARK at the risk of encountering another Blood Wasp Swarm, or they could push on and find a spot to rest while John’s body recovered, which would take a few hours due to the Integrated players’ enhanced physiques.

"Boss, we only have one option: we have to advance. There's no way we can take on the Blood Wasps, especially not with one of us injured. Plus, if this road leads somewhere out of this damn Jungle, shouldn't we take the risk?" A man by the name of Bart questioned.

Bright sighed, "You're right. Alright, everyone? Let's follow the road and see where it takes us. Once we find a definable spot, we'll rest and recuperate while John heals, got it?" 

Getting a bunch of nods, Bright took the lead, following the rough outline of the road that was covered in thick mounds of dirt, leaving only small parts of the road peaking out from under the terrain.

They tailed along the path for over an hour, getting lost a few times and digging around to find where the road led, leaving behind markers on trees and rocks to act as a path back.

Soon enough, however, they found something that was...surprising.

 Some large structures or buildings, two floors in height, are covered in vines, roots, and other flora. Sat outside the building and saw what looked to be long-since rusted cars buried beneath mounds of dirt and leaves. 

"What the hell?" Someone asked as a screen suddenly appeared before them all.

/=========+=========\

Alert! A new Quest has been assigned!

Quest Name: A Mysterious Structure

Quest Type: Exploration Quest

Quest Description: You and others have uncovered a structure from many years ago that nature has long since reclaimed. What is this mysterious structure, and what does it hold?

Quest Option 1: Explore the structure and discover its purpose.

Optional Quest: Learn what has happened here and listen to the final moments of all those inside.

Quest Rewards 1: Map of ???

Optional Quest Rewards: Pristine Focus (Rare) and ???

\=========+=========/

"Well, we have no reason not to, plus that first reward is too precious to ignore, even if the map hardly helps after so much time has passed," Bright commented after reading the quest's description. He wondered what the optional quest rewards were, especially whatever the 'Pristine Focus' was, and why it had a 'Rare' tag.

"Well?" Bright asked, looking at his friends and allies, only to realize that none of them had seen a quest before, though for Bright, this was the second one he'd seen yet.

"Alright, come on, let's clear that place out and find a spot to lay John down before we even consider completing that quest. You guys got that?" Bright asked, raising his voice to snap his men to attention.

Bright might not be the best, but the settlement had some military veterans training everyone. He helped where he could with his decades of experience in the paramilitary organization known as the S.C.P. Foundation, even if that experience was mostly as a Scientist. Together, Bright and the Veterans managed to drill almost everyone who volunteered to scout the biomes into people who could act like soldiers. They weren't soldiers by any means, that's for sure, but at least they could take orders and had some basic doctrines drilled into them to increase their chances of survival on the battlefield. 

Looking upon the sky above them, Bright sighed. This really was a battlefield, wasn't it? They fought tooth and nail, clawing at everything around them to survive and emerge victorious...but a battlefield was not for everyone, and he knew that eventually, someone he knew would freeze in the face of a monster and be cut down like a scythe through weeds...

Shaking his head, Bright focused on the here and now; they had a job to do, and John will not die on Bright's watch, not if he has anything to say about it.