"Ok, next step is to decide what we are going to do for the day. Food, looking for other people and finding materials, all our problems require exploration."

"Staying inside this cave is safe but is not going to improve our situation. We need to contact others."

"I have a suggestion. We should look around this village for anything useful, and after that, a group should go outside. Does that sound good?" There were no objections.

They looked around on their own. The cave wasn’t that big. It took barely more than an hour. Most of the houses were old and ruined, and most of the materials were very old. There was nothing particularly useful. In the end, they were still empty-handed.

The most valuable thing is the symbol on some walls. There is no doubt whoever lived here was advanced enough to have a writing system, but we can't read it.

It was time to go outside and explore more. Silas asked Nadine to make more weapons. Two more rock swords for Emily and Rebecca. Protecting the scout and healer was key in case they had to retreat.

"Okay, since Nadine is too tired after making weapons, you need to stay here."

"Wait, I'm supposed to guard the cave alone? What if more wolves tried to take it back?"

"That’s why Franco and Nora are going to stay behind with you. We need to have a safe place to return to. The three of you should be good enough to defend the cave. Start by moving rocks to the entrance to make a barricade."

"I don’t have a problem with staying."

"Sure, I wasn’t eager to fight more beasts so soon." Franco and Nora agreed.

This was the best team for collecting information he could put together. A scout, a healer, a tank, and a DPS. Of course, he had to go as well to learn about the enemies in this area with his own eyes.

They exited the cave, and the forest extended in all directions, endlessly. "There are no animals around. At least I can’t feel them."

With Emily on watch duty, the only thing they could do was trust her ability and advance.

"Try to look for strange flowers or plants. We need to take them back for study, or maybe some of them are edible."

They collected plants and seeds as they saw fit. It was a bit strange since Emily had the ability to use plants, but she was clueless about their types.

Every time she noticed an animal around, she told them, and they took another path. Her power is very useful. We can move without fighting, but we’re going to miss some exp, but information comes first, grinding comes later.

He was calm about the exploring. They spent a couple of hours without a problem until Nathan called their attention.

"Guys, I found something." It was the remains of a human being. It had been devoured from the waist down. On closer inspection, he was still being eaten by worms.

"Ugh, I’m still not over having to borrow everyone else in the cave." Rebecca looked away, trying to not vomit.

"I have seen my fair share of insects and worms eating dead bodies in the wild, but those worms don’t look normal. You may want to step back a little, buddy."

They were fat and black, much bigger than normal worms. They were eating the body at an incredible pace.

"Their mouths are dissolving the body with some dark liquid. Is that spit? Man, this is disgusting, but I can’t look away. Is like one of those videos of nature." Nathan was disgusted but kept watching for morbid curiosity.

"We should keep going before a bigger beast comes." As soon as he said those words, a sharp wind cut behind him. It was only for a second before he turned around and saw the silhouette of a bird flying away.

"What?" He looked carefully and noticed the body caught in his claws. It was Jacob. He had been snatched and was now being carried away.

"Emily!"

"I-I didn’t sense it, it was flying! It is not my fault!" She was panicking, but she was correct; there was no way for her to detect a bird flying over them.

I should have thought about flying enemies. We are in a forest full of beast-type enemies. There was no time to wait. He used his power against the bird who was getting away. Maybe he could grow wings and follow him.

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Right before catching the bird, he felt an invisible wall blocking his ability. I can’t go beyond. Is this my range limit?

The only way for him to catch the bird was to follow it. "Everyone, follow that bird. We have to save Jacob!" A race on foot against the giant bird.

He ran with his eyes glued to the bird who was flying without a care. Jacob was trapped in its claws, and he didn’t move.

"Wait, what if he’s already..." Nathan couldn’t say it, but everyone was thinking about it.

"There is still another possibility. He’s unconscious from the attack; he’s in no condition to fight. We need to help him."

"But what if we all die because we took another fight is just like the wolf."

"No, you think we could have survived without Jacob? He’s the one who shot him in the head. No one else could have done that."

Yes, I know it all too well. There is no designer that makes an online game that you can solo. The fight with the wolf made it clear. We need a guild if we want to survive in this world.

If this was a video game, he wouldn’t care. Jacob would only die and then respawn at another point. But there was no such luxury here. It was like playing hardcode mode with a single life. Every life lost from his guild was going to make it harder to advance.

"If he’s dead, there is nothing we can do, and we leave back to the cave. If he’s alive, we will do our best to save him and retreat."

"But…"

"Would you say the same thing if you were in the claws right now?" They couldn’t deny it. Who in their right mind wants to die? If they abandoned people for every problem, then they would all end up dead sooner or later.

"We have a guild. We have to stay together no matter if one person is a noob or someone is being targeted by a guild of PKs repeatedly."

"What are you talking about?"

"Forget it, if we don’t help each other, then we are all going to die. Is that clear enough?" No one complained. They were scared, but the fact that they could end up the same was enough to make them try a little.

The trees were getting taller until the bird stopped in some branches. It was high, but they could see a nest.

"Uf, uf, hide behind a tree, Emily. How many animals are around here?"

"Uf, about a dozen, but they aren’t that close. We could hide if we don’t make too much noise."

"Can you use your power to see where Jacob is?"

"I’m doing it right now. He’s in the nest of the bird. He’s bleeding, but I think he’s still alive."

"Okay, okay, give a moment to think of a plan. Oh, how I wish I had some teleportation skill."

The tree had no way of ascending other than by climbing. But it was a vertical wall of hundreds of meters. If you fall, then you will die. No one could survive the fall. The bird was sitting in its nest but was still out of the range of Silas' power.

"I can’t copy his power. The other option is to climb. Emily, is there a creature climbing the tree right now?"

"Give me a moment. Over there, a small animal is climbing it." She pointed a bit high, but he could see a ball of fur moving across the tree. It was hard to see because it was the same color as the tree bark.

He didn’t hesitate to use his power. His skin turned to fur and sharp claws longer than his fingers, six in each hand. His mouth became long and thin, with a long tongue. The downside was that he couldn’t see very far. The sun hurt his eyes, but his hearing sense increased. Last was the skill of the animal.

[Tremor sense] He could locate objects like he had a sonar in his head.

"I think it could work. Emily, you stay here and hide. I’m going to take Nathan and Rebecca as protection and to heal Jacob. Climb on my back."

"Do I have to? You’re probably going to be fine. Look, the animal is doing well on his own. Carrying two people is going to slow you down."

"Better than dying because I didn’t have a shield. Come on, every minute counts."

They climbed on his back and held firm onto his fur. He could carry a person with some trouble after gaining more power, but in this form, he had no trouble moving with these two on his back. Nevertheless, he was slow.

The tree was so tall that even with his claws, it was going to take a while before he reached the nest. Not only that, but he had no way of securing Nathan and Rebecca behind his back. They had an arm around his neck, but an attack could separate them, and they would fall to their deaths.

"Oh man, I like high views, but I don’t like being hung by a thread." Nathan looked down and saw the distance to the ground. "Can you see or feel anyone nearby?"

"Yes, there are some insects that are hiding in the bark, but they haven’t detected us."

"I can see so far from here. This damn forest extends everywhere. How are we supposed to find anything here." It was a sea of green with a couple of meadows in the middle. He could see other trees in the distance, some of them higher than this one.

"It’s crazy. Are you two seeing this?"

"I will see when we are in the nest and save Jacob."

"No, I refuse to look anywhere that is not the tree." Her face was turning pale, but she kept looking at the sky and pretended she was close to the ground.

At that moment, thanks to [Tremor sense], Silas could feel the movements inside the tree. "Nathan, some insects are coming for us. I need you to block from above and left!"

"Now? fine." He summoned his shield and waited. After ten seconds, the tree's bark was broken by some type of centipede. They were huge, as were most creatures in this forest. I’m not surprised anymore.

He dodged some attacks, and Nathan blocked the rest as they moved to the side. Rebecca could only use one hand to swing her sword to keep the insects away. Silas used his long tongue to slap some of the centipedes away. After a few tries, they gave up.

"Nice, we are getting closer." As he made his way to the nest, he moved carefully so as not to make any noise. He looked above and saw Jacob with a massive wound on his chest and the bird looking into the horizon.

There were some things, like corpses of other animals and some rocks that looked like they contained minerals, but the main concern were the eggs. They were about his size. That explains why he hasn’t eaten Jacob yet; he wants to feed it to his kids.

He whispered to the two on his back. "We are going to have to fight."

Without any stealth power or skill, there wasn’t going to be any other conclusion.