I looked out over the forest knowing that I'll have to make my way back here especially to fully take down Oberon's Hunting Ground. Hopefully, the next time I get back I'll have a team with me to help explore the woods. I pulled the rest of my nest apart and carefully made my way to the branches.

I tested my weight on each branch having to move lower and lower until I was at the thicker branches near the base of the tree. While some of the other branches would hold my weight if I wanted to jump to other branches without plotting out a path then this was the best route for me.

It was a bit odd running along and jumping from branch to branch only on two legs. I hummed softly before trying to go back to quadrupedal movements and found it just as easy as running upright. It would appear my body had more in common with primates than humans.

I made my way back to the tent city that the adventures had set up by the dungeon. I kept my ears and eyes open not only for dangers but others of my kind. I spotted a few normal squirrels the closer I got to the dungeon but nothing of the new race. Part of me wondered just how many there were or if any were close by.

If I truly had to find out I could always try praying to my race's patron god. That thought sat heavy in my mind. Gods were real here and the system had the power to create new gods.

'Just how strong was the system? I shook my head refocusing on my current task. I had to take things one step at a time. I could worry about the Gods if and or when one showed up.'

As I got more comfortable with my new body I moved to the higher branches. I was about twenty feet up in the air by the time I arrived back at the clearing. I sat down on my branch watching the laziest adventures start to wake up and join everyone else already hard at work. They had made quite a lot of progress in one day. The start of a wall was already taking form.

I hadn't noticed it when I ran away yesterday but as I watched I noticed the tent city had three separate groups that made it up. First and most obvious were the adventures. The second was a group that was similar to the adventures being kitted out in armor and weapons but they were all wearing different versions of a uniform. My current guess was soldiers or a guild.

The last group didn't have any weapons or armor to speak of instead they had tools and looked to be going about building permanent buildings. While each group had multiple different races it looked as though humans outnumbered the other races two to one.

Having made sure, to the best of my ability, that the city I'd be headed towards was welcoming to all races I followed the road that had been cleared. I dropped down to just ten feet above the ground as I made my way above the rough road.

I had lost track of time as I made my way from one branch to the next. The road I was following had wound its way through the woods before meeting up with another road. I had hopped down to the ground checking out the road crossing sign only to belatedly remember that although I could speak the language I was completely illiterate.

I looked down at each path trying to make out which direction just had the hoard of adventures leave. Unfortunately for me, the road was hard-packed and my little to no tracking skills even enhanced by the system weren't enough to figure it out. I pulled out a copper coin, one side had the face of a woman I didn't know while the other side had a crown made of antlers.

'Heads I go right, crown I go left.'

The coin just seemed wrong in my hands, it being about an inch in diameter. I held it in both hands before tossing it up by one edge causing it to flip around as it flew up into the air. The polished copper caught the light as it hit the ground bouncing once, twice, thrice before settling down heads up. I nodded to myself, slipping the coin back into my inventory before I decided to walk down the road for a time.

It was still odd for me to be so small and in moments of travel I wish I had the long legs of my past life that eat up the distance. I stopped walking and stretched out my body to loosen up my muscles and prepare my body for what was about to happen. I got down in a runner's stance, my tail flicked side to side before I took off like an arrow pushing my new body to run as fast as it could.

The claws on my, still very squirrel-like, feet dug into the ground giving me the extra traction to push off the ground with my full strength. I leaned forward taking a running position that had more in common with speed skaters than runners. My tail acted as a counterbalance keeping me from falling onto my face. Each step pushed me faster than the last until the trees blurred as I passed them.

I burst out laughing, finally being able to make the most of high Agility and Dexterity without my body feeling like it was about to be torn apart. My lungs heaved as my stamina slowly ticked down. I pulled back from a dead sprint to more of a light jog once my stamina hit half. My body took on a more traditional form as I slowed down.

From my little test, I was no longer worried about having to keep up with the taller races. Besides, if they ever did start to outpace me I could always just ride on their shoulder. I kept up my jog for the better part of the day. It was a few hours after noon that I found a good place to stop and make a fire to cook my lunch.

The spot I found looked to be an old campsite with a firepit set off from the road. I gathered up some deadfall and made a small fire around a flat rock I placed in the pit. I waited until the flames died away and I was left with the coals. I put a rabbit steak on the hot rock after salting it.

I watched the meat sizzle and pop tapping my foot as I waited for it to cook. After five or so minutes I flipped the steak using only my claws holding back a wince of pain as hot grease splattered against my fur. I darted my glance around as my ears started to pick something up.

I dragged my eyes back to the rabbit steak plucking it off the hot rock. I tore into it ignoring the hot grease as it coated the fur around my mouth. My ears twitched as they picked up the sound of hoofbeats coming up the road. I pulled out my backpack using the fur lining to clean up before shoving it back into my inventory and tossing dirt onto the fire putting it out.

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I made my way back to the road and waited for whoever was coming, luckily for me it wasn't long before I spotted a wagon being pulled by a horse. A gnome wearing a cloak was driving the wagon as two humans sat in the wagon. The driver pulled up on the reins once they saw me. I took a few steps further on the road and waved at the wagoner.

Both humans hopped out of the wagon and moved closer. I ideally noted that the one on the right was a woman. She stood about five feet even wearing leather armor. A quiver was on her right hip with what to her was a short sword on her left.

The other human was a man about half a foot taller than his female counterpart. He was wearing chainmail over padded cloth armor from the looks of it with a shield in his right hand and a mace on his hip. They stopped ten feet away from me looking a bit puzzled.

"Hello, friends, I'm Theseus. Would you be able to tell me where this road leads?" I asked

"Hello, Theseus. Are you by chance a member of the new race?" Asked the male

"Yes, I am. As such I'm not that familiar with where the roads lead or the names of cities." I replied

"We're headed to Sherwood. It's a trade city, just a few hours travel by wagon." Said the woman

"Is there a chance I could get a ride on your wagon? I don't have much but I can pay for the trip." I said

"I told you Jareld! It's the same squirrel that popped out of the dungeon yesterday. You are the same one right?" The woman said.

"Emma, it's none of our business. Let Theseus have his secrets." Jareld scolded his company before turning back to me. "You're more than welcome to catch a ride with us. It's the least we could do to help out someone just starting out. As you probably figured out I'm Jareld and our excited archer here is Emma."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all now that no one's trying to catch me. What was that all about anyway?" I asked as we walked back to the wagon.

"Oh that. Everyone thought that a dungeon break was going to happen but then when it was just you and you started talking it made all the mages want you as a familiar. It's a good thing you got away. I think a few are still hunting for you but it's too late now." Emma explained.

"Okay. I'm guessing you all are going on a supply run." I suggest. I had to reach up and grab the wagon's floor before pulling myself up and into it.

"Something like that." Jareld said.

Unsure where to take the conversation from there I just let it die and turned my attention back to our surroundings. I wrapped my tail around my waist and started to run my fingers through it in an attempt to keep myself busy. The unnamed gnome gently flicked the reins getting the wagon up and rolling again.

Luckily for me, the burden of restarting the conversation did not wholly rest on my shoulders. If it did I was sure we'd endure a long awkward and quiet ride.

"So what do you remember of being a beast? Do you remember anything about the dungeon?" Emma asked

I scratched lightly at the back of my neck deciding to stretch the truth a bit.

"I only remember the last few days. Most of that time was spent getting stronger and trying to flee from a pack of wolves. I remember everything from the dungeon but I avoided taking on the boss. I'm not sure how much help I'll be, besides I followed a group to the dungeon and they went in first. I'm sure they'd be of more help." I said

Emma just waved my comments off as she continued.

"Yea but they're only going to report to the guild and their friends. We'll only get the bare basics of what to look out for, not the story."

I gently rubbed my chin as I ducked my head in thought. I'd have to edit a few things but I didn't see the harm in letting them know what they could get into. We spent the rest of the ride with me telling them of my experience in the dungeon with Emma asking questions now and then whenever I was a bit lacking in detail. I was able to keep the fact I was a traveler to myself passing off my knowledge of their language as a reward from the dungeon.

I was able to slip a few of my own questions in learning that it's ten copper coins to a silver coin and ten silver coins to a gold coin. They also told me that the best shops were those endorsed by the crown but they were sometimes more expensive. You could identify these shops by their signs having a crown at the bottom right.

Most importantly I learned that while everyone has an inventory there were some classes and abilities that would greatly expand it. From what I was told most people just kept their most valuable items in it along with supplies if they were going to leave the city. I still had some ideas I wanted to test out to find the limits.

Before I knew how it happened two hours had come and gone. We were just a few minutes out from Sherwood. I turned my attention to our surroundings, a smile coming across my face as we passed farmers working in their fields. I leaned out of the wagon a bit, getting a better look at the city through the open gate.

We joined a line of other wagons entering the city. Jareld and Emma both pulled badges out and pinned them to their chest. I leaned in getting a better look. Both badges had the same basic shape of a shield. Each badge had different symbols on them and was made of different materials. Emma's badge was made of iron while Jerald's looked to be copper or bronze.

Once it was our turn the guards were a bit surprised and did a double-take once they noticed me. They ended up just waving us through once Emma cleared her throat. I turned to Emma.

"Do all guild members get waved through?" I asked

"Normally yes but there are times when we get stopped and questioned. The guards are mostly there to keep order and to look out for any criminals. I'm sure they were just surprised to see a member of the newly announced race. I'd get used to people staring. It should go away after your people interact with others more but right now we've only seen you." Emma explained.

I gave her a nod acknowledging that I'd just have to ignore people's stares. I rode with them back to the guild my excitement building. Emma and Jerald exchanged glances once I started to bounce slightly in place my fingers running through the fur on my tail.

"Theseus is everything okay?" Jareld asked.

"Yes. I'm just a bit excited. I'm hoping to join the guild and get some training. What do you have to do to join?" I said.

"Joining is simple you just pay a fee of one silver. For training, you'll have to find someone willing to take you under their wing or you can sign up for some basic classes but those aren't that great. Your best bet is to rent time at the training ground to build up your skills." Jareld replied.

"Thank you I'll keep that in mind hopefully I'll be able to find someone willing to train me." I said.

The wagon pulled up in front of a large three-story brick building. I followed Emma and Jerald out of the wagon before it took off with our silent driver towards the back of the building. Emma and Jareld waved me off as they headed to a side entrance for guild members. I took a deep breath before trying to relax. I made my way to the front door pushing it open easily.