“Caves inside the tree?” asked Elisa in surprise. Such an idea did not cross her mind.

“Yea, but nothing too fancy. A few beds, a table, and maybe a curtain to camouflage the entrance. There are plenty of materials around, I’m sure it can be done. Do you understand my idea?”

“I understand. It’s not a bad idea at all. So, when do we start?”

“Good. You can start whenever you want,” said Gorn, after which he threw a few more simple swords at his feet. “Here are a few more swords in case the others get dull.”

“So, what should be done first?” asked Rebeca.

“Whatever you want. I have some business to resolve, so I won’t join you.”

Gorn had to find suitable targets to get the full benefits out of his system. A few skill slots needed to be filled, as well as other stuff.

“Oh…” Rebeca was disappointed by his answer.

Gorn put down all of their berries, and a few big bottles of water. “Hopefully, I’ll be back in a few hours. See you then.” With that, he vanished from their sight.

“Alright then… Any ideas on how we should proceed?” asked Elisa while looking at the rest of the girls.

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.

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Gorn was swiftly moving through-out the mountains and valleys. His objective was to find a blue spotted dear, and wild boars. The day was not over yet, with enough time to spare for a small search.

Being able to walk on air brought an immense advantage when searching for something. From a high altitude one could spot things fairly easy. A big herd of wild boars was not that hard to find.

In under twenty minutes, Gorn spotted what he was looking for. It was a pack of boars. It consisted of around fifteen specimens. The leader of that group was visibly larger, and more intimidating than the rest.

Gorn blinked on top of it, at a sufficient distance. “Select!”

Race: Monster
Bloodline: Medium
Power level: 900
Abilities: Durability (Lvl8)
Loot: 900 gold; Durability (Lvl8)

Confirm target? Yes No

It was exactly what he was looking for. He quickly filled all fifteen slots with this particular opponent. Looking upon the group of boars, Gorn searched for a weaker target.

“Select!”

Race: Monster
Bloodline: Medium
Power level: 350
Abilities: Durability (Lvl3)
Loot: 350 gold; Durability (Lvl3)

Confirm target? Yes No

It was among the smallest out of the ones present, but nothing to scoff at, nonetheless. It appeared to have at least eight hundred kilograms. Thinking of all that meat, Gorn licked his lips in anticipation.

All of this was done in a few short moments. Since his teleportation did not make any noise, and the wind blew in a favorable direction, the boars failed to notice his presence.

Hardening his grip on the metal sword, Gorn vanished from his spot. In the next moment, he was next to that unfortunate boar. Swinging with great power, he aimed for the neck. The sword pierced the boar’s skin and flesh, but it snapped in half without managing to cut all the way through.

The wound was rather small, nowhere enough to threaten the boar’s life. The pig started squealing in fright, gathering everyone’s attention in a large area. The alpha male was quick to respond. Unfortunately for him, Gorn just teleported away.

Being a few hundred meters above the ground, Gorn looked at the alpha male. It tried to find the attacker, but failed to do so. After a few short moments, the male led the other wild boars away from that spot.

Gorn stalked them from above. Since his normal swords were not effective, he thought about another method. Extending his arm, Gorn conjured a thin but powerful blade of fire. It extended from his fingers, up to around two meters.

Pouring a great deal of energy into it, the flame quickly turned blue-white. It was hard to notice in the light of the day, making it even more dangerous. With his new weapon, Gorn tried again.

Teleporting next to the same wild boar, he swung with his new toy. The boar’s head was cleanly cut off without any resistance. The commotion alerted the alpha male yet again. Gorn had no intention to kill more of them, so he stored the carcass into his inventory, and disappeared. This time, without the intention of coming back.

Appearing on a random tree far away into the distance, Gorn quickly dismantled the boar into fine pieces of meat. He used both his fire ability and a sword to make the process as swift as possible.

His skills were not that great, but sufficient nonetheless. After taking out the finest out of the carcass, Gorn threw the remains towards the ground. Reapers or wolves were going to make short work of it quickly. That way, nothing was wasted.

“So far, so good. That stealth skill will be, however, a lot harder to acquire than this.”

Finishing with the boar, Gorn resumed his search. In the case of the blue spotted dear, he had to be on the ground, at a very close distance to the creature in order to be able to spot it. Looking from high above brought him virtually zero chances to find one.

Reapers, wolves, wild boars, and a few more groups of people were seen in the span of a few hours. Munching on a wild apple, Gorn approached a group of people. His presence was soon discovered. It was partly because of his loud munching noises, partly due to that special device that helped locate sources of power.

Seeing him walk on air towards them coupled with the big number displayed on the watch brought forward a wave of fear in their hearts.

“Hello guys,” said Gorn, displaying no intention of hostility whatsoever.

“Hello sir! Can we help you with something?”

Under everyone’s careful gazes, Gorn landed on the tree branch. The group was preparing to spend the night at that place, far away from the dangerous ground. “Can I join you for some time?”

“Of course!”

Gorn came closer, and laid down, while at the same time discreetly analyzing everyone. None of their power levels went above three hundred and fifty. Taking out a few more wild apples, he asked: “Aren’t you going to sit down?”

At his words, everyone sat down as well. The distance between them was very small. In front of him were now ten pairs of frightened, and slightly curious eyes. Five were male, and five were females.

Their armors and weapons were nothing fancy. When the women saw Gorn analyzing their bodies, they shuddered, afraid for the worse. Their appearance, and body shapes were, however, very lacking compared with his girls.

Shifting his gaze to his apple, Gorn took another bite. “How is the situation inside the city?”

Their leader spoke, but his words weren’t anything new from what he knew already. “I see…”

“I also heard a weird rumor… Someone said that there is a mad scientist by Norman’s side. He kidnaps random people from time to time to conduct weird experiments on them. I don’t know if it is true, but the mere thought of it makes me feel cold…”

Gorn’s eyes flickered slightly. This kind of information was something new to him. While its veridicity was questionable, it wasn’t impossible to be true.