A group of twenty seven left the village. Thirteen youngsters, some of whom were now in high spirits, excitedly whispering among each other about the place they were going to and some even boasting about how big of a quarry they will go after. The other fourteen, experienced and seasoned hunters, some of whom have even done some adventuring, were much more calm and relaxed, having numerous similar multi day hunts under their belts. Their main concern was a possible encounter with some of the more nasty and savage elements of the wilds. There was a reason that an extra hunter was walking along with the thirteen, who each had their own innitiate to take care off. The foutreenth, Rilem, was a hunter of a different tier.

After what seemed like eternity to most of the younger generation, though Rex assumed it was around four hours, of walking, their reached a rather distinct location. As they exited the forest, they stood in a small clearing next to a rather wild river, its waters crashing further down along the riverbed for a few dozen meters and then dissapearing from ones sight, only the sound of crashing water remaining. Fooking further, one could see quite the wast expanse of forests and even mountaintops. The sight was breathtaking and paired with the distant cound of crashing water, remainded one of their insignificance in the greater scheme of things.

"Dont get too close to the river here, for if you fall in, there is nothing anyone can do. You will die." warned Rilem, as he lead the group a bit to the side, where old looking and crude steps had been cut into the stone sufrace, leading down the side of the enourmous waterfall. A rope was attached to the wall, aroun the height of ones shoulders, providing an extra point of security.

"Grab on and hold tight. The steps can get slippery at times." once more warned Rilem, as he took the lead. It took them about another fifteen minutes to descend the few hundred meter high waterfalls side, placing them into a sort of a crater that was split by the river, that created a small pond at the place where it crashed down into the earth, and flowed off, now like a calm and inviting presence.

"Dont dally now, we are close to the encampment."

With the command of Rilem, everyone followed the man and even Rex had to admit that the place had its calming, yet savage beauty and a sense of peace to it. Capable of drawing ones attention to the sight before their eyes. He was just as sure of quite a varied fauna and flora present in the valley as well. A fact that could work as both a benefit and detriment for their little excursion. He also noticed the heightened tension among the experienced hunters, their hands on the weapons each of them held, vary of any stray sound that reached their ears.

'There is more to this place than meets the eye. Most likely a couple of rather nasty predators, possibly even some monster tribe inhabiting the place.' Rex though to himself, calmly placing his hand on the hilt of his borrowed sword as if he was resting his hand in the position. It was better to be as prepeared as possible for whatever their guides and proctors were vary off. If he could pass off his observations as ordinarry actions of a simple minded person at the same time, all the better. That was how the villagers saw him after all.

Luckaly for them, no ambush, or an attack of any sort happened to the group, and another dozen or so minutes later, they had reached their targeted location. It was a rather well protected camp, if compared to the village they lived in. Unlike said village, a proper, two meter high wooden wall surrounded the camp, with a couple of watchtowers build on the opposite sides of the camp. Rex could even see a someone standing watch in the tower closest to their arrival point.

As they aproached the wooden gate, Rilem lifted his hand in greeting to the man standing on the wall above the gate, who in turn gestured back, cleary recognizing the man. Then the gate guard turned around and signaled to the people inside and moments later, the gate creaked open, revealing the camp to the eyes of Rex and his peers. As they entered, Rex looked around, evaluating the place. From his quick estimation, thirty to fourty wooden building stood within the camp, as well as a large number of tents.

'Around fifty or so tents.' Rex counted, as his gaze slid over the interior of the camp. 'They have their own tanner and a blacksmith as well. Convinient.' Rex thought as he noticed a forge and bellows near one of the buildings, as well as a few racks where a couple of hides were strewn on and drying in the sun. 'Even a couple of merchants? Impressive. Probably some sort of a join forward camp. maintained either by adventurers or a union of some villages. Though could even be here on the orders of some lordling.' Luckaly, Rex did not have to guess for long, not that he care more than he had already guessed, as Rilem spoke.

"Now, before anyone get any weird ideas, I better explain how things are going to work. Firstly, this is camp Wilder and its under the management of the hunters hall, so dont asume you are a hot shit, just because your parents held some sway back in your village, or you have shown some promising skills while growing up. Any of the hunters here could and will mess you up, taking more than one of you on at a time should you cross the wrong lines. The camp exists here because of the rather unique fauna and flora that exists in this valley. To your right" he then pointed to a group of tents that were seperated from the remaining tent group "are the tents that you will be able to use during the event. Note that wou will be sharing a tent with your proctor. On that note, while proctors will only observe you hunting, whether you do so in a group, or alone, they will share a few tips and tricks they themselves had been taught, or had picked up during their lives, so bit is in your best interests to have a decent rapport with them."

He then paused for a moment to let his words sink in, then continiued. "Since the climb is rather straining to return back to your village, whatever you manage to hunt and bring back to the camp can be sold to either the merchants" he once again pointed in a specific dirrection, this time pointing towards a small clearing in one side of the camp, where Rex had noticed a couple of stands with people snoozing near them. "or the hunters hall itself." he then pointed to the largest of the building in the center of the camp. "And while the price will be much cheaper than you could get either in village, or the nearest cities, the convinience just cannot be beat. Coin does not spoil and burden one quite so much as killograms of meat or pelts does."

Yet another moment of silence to digest his words, before the next segment of his explanation continiued. "The backsmith can sharpen your weapon, or sell you a new one, should the money you earn is too much for your pockets and you just cant resist a decent blade. Same goes with leather armor from the tanner. They both will provide solid equipment at reasonable prices. There is also an alchemist in the otehr corner of the camp. though be warned, the man has a few screws loose" he added as he twirled his right hand near his temple as he spoke of the alchemist. "Though he does make solid potions nonetheless. Still, I would recomend to not bother him unless you really need those potions. Thoygh I doubt any of you should be able to afford them right now."

Yet another moment of silence, before he started the last part of his explanations. "Right, now unto the part that you lot care about the most. That great hunt of yours. Five days. That is how long you have to prowl the the land here in search of a quarry that you believe is worth whatever name that you aim for. As stated before, the proctors will not interfere, unless a deadly threat that could endanger both of you appears, or if he feels sorry for you, a bit sooner, so make sure you dont chew off more than you can swallow. I have seen plenty of hunters perishing while doing precisely that. And with that said, I suppose that is all from me."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

A second later, Rilem slapped his face, groaning a bit. "Right. Rules. OI!" the then exclaimed, regaining the attention of the youngsters in front of his."The rules. Obviously, no stealing and kiling within the camps premises. If you run into another hunter in the wilds and he could use some help, else he might be cooked, give the neccessary aid. You never know when another hunter could bail out your ass from a sticky situation. Thats about it I suppose. Dismissed for real now."

With Rilems speach finished, the proctors aproached their assigned youngsters, introducing themselves by manes, if the two of the pair where not familiar, though that rarely was the case. The proctors were all from their own village, even if they spent most of the time hunting and not around the village itself, they were still recognized. Just like the proctors recognized thei subjects of evaluation.

"Well then Rat. The name's Oren. Do try to remebber that yea? Else I might hold a grudge you know." The hunter that had 'woken' Rex up aproached him and spoke, a playfull and at the same time slighty scummy smile adorning his punchable face. Rex, happily playing his part just shrugged and grunted, as if acknowledging the mans presence.

"So, would you like to rest and calm your mind, or do you want to rush into the unknown, being the first to claim thei own kill in this valley?" Rex's proctor asked.

Thinking for a moment and weighting his options, Rex came to the conclusion that it would be a waste of time to sit around. He had a limited amount of food accessible to him, and unlike most of his peers who were rather tired, or exausted, in thecase of the hungry orphans who had to travel on empty stomacks, something that would be rectified a few hours later, when the proctors would cook up a stew for everyone to enjoy. Rex was both fed and ready to hunt. Add in the fact that he now had a proper swords and bow with arrows, and Rex was actually ready for his forst foray into the territory.

"Hrhh, Hunt now." A grunt and a two word respone caught Oren by suprise, aware that Rex would use simple words and sentences, if neccessary, but never actually having hear the younger man speaking.

"Wow, It speaks indeed. Alone, or do you have a group already in mind?"

"Alone."

"So be it, lead the way, but know that once outside, I will only be observing you."

Another grunt and a nod of Rex's head later, the duo left the place they had been in. The gate guard did look a bit suprised when he saw Oren with one of the hunter newbies, but did not tease the man overly much. It was clear that the latter did not like the idea of babysitting some green and foolish kids, thinking they have suddenly become big shit just because their parents praised their tallent, even if the one he was supposed to look after was one of the orphaned ones, having recieved no special cuddling and such.

As the hours passed by, with Rex carefully moving throughout the forest, inspecting each and every claw mark left on the trees, stopping every now and then to listen in on the sounds around him even more than he already did while moving, Oren came to realize that unlike most of the youngsters he had seen so far, not even the ones he had watched over in the last two great hunts, but from the stories his fellow hunters had told of their wards, his wards was different. Meticulous, carefull and attentive, even if he barely spoke when spoken to. He went as far as to consider a possible defect in the youngsters neck, making it quite unpleasant, if not outright painfull to speak, resulting in the simple gestures and mostly grunts his go to way of communication.

'A fine seed for a hunters hall, if he keeps up as he has been doing.' Oren thought to himself, as he saw Rex avoid yet another group of borks, a piglike humanoid creatures that were videly considered a distant cousing of the worlds menace- goblins. There were a few notable differences between the two though. First, unlike goblins, sickly green and warped childlike appearance, borks were, on average, around the heigh of one and a half, to two meters tall, though quite bulky, often times with layers of fat on either their bellies or neck. And while some considered borks to be somewhat intelegent, they were monsters nonetheless, and quite keen on tasting human, and other humanoids flesh, in return causing said possible dinner to return the favour, not only in terms of killing the overgrown, on two legs walking piggies, but also using them as food. Turns out, borks were still pork at the end of the day.

It was closer to dusk, that Rex finally took action, when he found a doe slowly grazing grass near a small pond. With a bow in his hand, he positioned himself near a tree, very slowly and carefully notching an arrow against the bows string, and just as slowly and carefully drew it back,all the while his sight was trained on the doe in question. Taking a coupld of slow, deep breaths he had stilled his being, and after a second of absolute calm, did he release the arrow. From Oren's position it looked trully beautifull, both the form of the bow drawn, to the execution of the shot itself. Was it any wonder that the doe was precisely hit, causing it to tumble to the side and to remain there, barely moving its legs in one last struggle, drawing the very last of its breath.

Rex did not waste time, walking over to the fallen animal, retrieving his arrow, then quickly tying both fron and back legs together, and with the bow out of the way,m threw said creature in his shoulders. He quickened his pace as he walked back towards Oren, grunting out a single word before walking past him.

"Home."

There was no need for any further talk, with the quarry at hand, Rex upped his tempo to return to the safety of the camp, clearly aware of the likely danger that could beset them should they stay outside during the night. And yet, even with his heightened pace, as well as the additional burden on his shoulders, Rex still managed to skillfully avoid any of the bork groups he passed by. Oren could not help but assume the reasons for why his 'ward' was just so damn proficient, as well as the reasons for why avoid the bork groups that were, no doubt a better quarry at the end of the day.

It took them another hour, untill they reached the camp, no longer in need to stop and examine any of a possible tracks. as well as the rather straight path they took back, it was not that suprising on its own, but when a fresh and green youngster pulled that off, without training to boot, Oren once again was lead to the conclusion that Rex was born for the role of a hunter, or perhaps even a tracker. And while they had missed the supper provided by their guides, a couple of portions, one for Rex and Oren both, were set aside. Still, Oren never left the vicinity of Rex, inspecting the way he was skinning the doe. Finally, he noticed the amateurish mistakes that was expected from a rookie who has had barely any practice, calming the slightly tensed nerves of Oren. veterans could appreciate a raw tallent when they saw one, especially so when said tallent came with the correct mindset and personality, but make something too perfect and greed and envy of the heavens unfairness will start seeping through.

Breathing a sigh of relief, one he did not even notice, Oren aproached his ward, speaking for the first time since they had left the camp to hunt.

"Not like that boy. Let me show you the right way."

Rex nodded and stepped aside, allwoing for the older hunter to show his expertise in the matter, paying close attention to the movements and techniques Oren was using, all while describing the how's and why's. Oren was also quite happy that Rex did not pick it all up instantly, only managing to replicate the older mans teachings after several corrections on his part. Something Rex did on purpose, having noticed the rising tension in the older hunters stance and mannerisms. With his quarry skinned and gutted, Rex headed towards the campfire after disposing of the guts and other useless parts, all according to the dirrections of his Proctor. Saving a few killograms of meat from the doe, he handed the rest over to the hunters hall, earning a couple silvers for the rest of the creature. With that done, they returned to their tent, where their portions of supper awaited, both then had a rather late meal and went to sleep, ready to wake up early in the morning.