I was lost in thought, thinking about plans and what to do moving forward as I supervised Kimmy as she cut into the cavern. I got quickly bored of that and decided to familiarize myself with the area outside from the crack in the cliff wall. So I got up and grabbed my weapons, moving over to the crack. When I lay down, crawling forward with my rifle and setting up, I quickly realized something.

Things change fast.

My situation had changed since I last looked out, and I saw a group of people coming and scouting out caves. There was more than I expected as I saw three guarding the tree line and five scouting out various caves. They were even slowly making it to my cave, although it was in question if they would. But they stopped when they found the cave that went a bit back that I found last night. It didn't have an escape, but that seemed fine for them.

One of them whistled, which looked like a woman, and I brought my scope to bear on her. She was an older-looking woman with creases on her face. Her complexion was slightly darker and was definitely human. She barked orders at the others, and I was tempted to shoot her here and now to kill their leader.

But not at this time; I could see them carrying large backpacks, and some were starting to set up some traps in the treeline, it seemed. It was interesting to know that I wasn't the only one who thought that traps were a good way to go. Still, my mind turned to more things I could do as I watched them move in. Tonight, I would attack before they explored the area more and potentially found my cave, but for now.

Suddenly, as I watched, I realized many things about traps and how useful they were. They were a surprise mechanic in the game, just as in real life. Watching them put down traps in the forest, I realized how useless they were. Or I should say how useless they were against someone who watched them get placed. Another thing was how long it took to place down good traps. It took time and effort, and that was something I would have to pay attention to.

They seemed to put down something like Bear traps more meant for bipedal species out in the brush. It was a thick foliage, and hard to see anything in. Then they came back and started to move into the cave while some others started to set out some equipment outside the cave. I quickly realized that they were cooking, and I wondered if they were criminals or not.

There was nothing that yelled criminals from them, and it was something that I would have to look into. The Bounty database needed the tablet, and it was incredibly difficult to use the scope.

Already, I learned so much about bounty hunting while on this trip, making it invaluable. I was sure there were devices that would make up for this that I could buy. And I will buy them when I have the chance. I wanted back into the pros, and when I got out into the main universe from the Tutorial, I wanted at least a basic set of gear ready to go.

Now, with people moving in just outside my home, I would have to confirm and play around that. That meant settling in and watching as they set up base and gather more data. I took my time watching them set up everything over the hours as the night slowly started to creep up, and I started to get hungry.

I started to gather what I learned in my head before I pulled out of the crack.

First, the Human woman was the leader of the group. They wore no uniform, but that did not mean much. There were more than just her, though, and each was armed. It was a group of armed men and women, and there were at least four assault rifles. One massive weapon on them that I didn't know what it was, and the woman carrying it looked strong. She looked like a threat with four arms to carry it. It was definitely a heavy weapon, and I think the four-armed woman was the only one who could carry it.

The woman looked like a white, thick-skinned barbarian with a large bandolier across her chest and massive breasts. She was a bipedal, too, but did not look like Appo, who had his arms all centered around the front. Instead, her second set of arms came more from behind to move forward. It was odd to see, and the woman seemed to carry the large weapon effortlessly.

Honestly, as I watched her, I wanted her over Kimmy, who continued to chip into the cave wall at this time with a small shovel. The woman looked built and ready to fight. She had an angry sneer and was almost primal.

I watched the entire group, and none of the rest really stood out. Five women, four men with plenty of ammo. Their camp seemed odd to me as they were setting up. Someone started to bring out more and put their tents and things to sleep more at the edge of the cave instead of deep inside. I would do the opposite if I wanted to set up a camp in that cave. Instead, it was more like they were using it as a choke point to keep things in instead of a safe space to sleep.

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They continued to set up as the sky started to turn dark, and the purple and blue trees and foliage started to turn dark. I watched then as the situation changed when suddenly, five new people walked out of the forest heading toward the camp. In tow of those five people, each with whips and large rifles were weak-looking men and women in chains. They all had on collars, and I realized that I got myself a group of Slavers, maybe. None of the men looked fit, and one seemed to be thrashed to the point his life might be in danger. He was coughing, and six people were in chains as they were brought to the cave entrance where they were setting up camp.

The leader looked over the new people and seemed to be yelling something, while the five who showed up seemed apologetic. It seemed that something happened, and someone messed up, which left them with a smaller-than-average haul or something. And I looked over the situation, startled and not knowing what to do.

There were now thirteen people, and I was pretty sure they were criminals. They looked like it, and the slaves did not seem like criminals. They were partially clothed and looked abused. I wanted to say that I was now absolutely sure that these people were Criminals I could bounty hunt. Unfortunately, I could not be sure as I had a little criminal slave behind me at work.

I watched and watched a bit more as the sky started to move toward darkness and planned. I planned what I would have to do and the supplies I would need. It would not be much, but the grenades would be vital. Finding out where their spotter was, and any hidden watchers was a must. As the night grew close, I Finally saw it.

A man and a woman walked out of the Cave. One was a man from the group bringing back the captured people, and he was a yellow-looking dude. He carried an assault rifle on his back and a handgun on his waist attached by a belt. On the other hand, the woman was a bit green with nice C or D cup breasts that had a bandolier on them. I saw Shells of some type through the middle with a shotgun and a rifle attached to the backpack she was carrying. They both moved to the cave, where I killed the last spotter with the last group.

Watching as those two moved toward the farther cave I had assaulted the night before, I realized that their position complicated things slightly, as that meant they were on the opposite side of the camp I was at. I would have to crawl past their camp to get there. That complicated things a lot, and the shotgun on the back meant that she would have close-distance coverage that could make me shudder.

Shotguns were always strong at close distance in video games and weak at distance. That was not true for real life, though, depending on the type of shot you were using. I was worried about shotguns in this game. My personal shotgun only worked in close range as it was sawed off and not meant for any range.

I would have to consider that shotgun when I went to kill them. I watched them enter the cave. I killed that Dog guy and Captured Kimmy the other night. I watched, but I never saw them start to overwatch, although the angle to see her come out wasn't great, and the night was starting to settle in.

Crawling back, I grabbed my guns and walked back to the cave with Kimmy, lost in thought. It would be a long night, and I would need to learn if those were bounty hunters or Criminals. I wasn't a hundred percent sure who they were, but they looked more criminal than otherwise. But then again, looking at Kimmy now breaking into the stone of the cavern with a small shovel. “Kimmy, you can stop and rest,” I told her as I watched sweat drip from her body, and she nearly collapsed from the hours of work.

“T-Thank you,” Kimmy gasped, “C- Can I have water?”

I tossed her a portion of water as I started to pull out things to cook and drink from the supplies. I needed to get my food and water level higher; then, I would go play more of this fascinating game. I would have to plan my attack, which was the hard part. Maybe I could set up a trap for them just outside their camp so I could kill a few while I moved to attack the watch in the last cave.

There was a problem with all possible ways of attack that I could think of. It was the separation and the fact that two people were overwatching instead of one. I wondered if the base camp was going to have guards themselves. It would be a very hard night ahead, and I looked at the cooking I was doing with my loot from the night before.

It didn't take long, and my mind barely paid attention as my slave watched, anticipating food. I finished up, passed her some food, and ate the majority myself as I drank water, thinking about my attack. The night is coming in, and I would need to find out their final plans for the night.

I finished my food and picked up my things to do a final scout. I would at least find out if they were criminals or Bounty Hunters tonight. If Criminals, I would attack. If Bounty Hunters, I did not know.

Grabbing my guns, I pointed Kimmy back to the bed as I took the shovel, “No leaving your bed,” I told her, “Keep your mouth shut unless I say otherwise,” I barked a second order as my mind spun.

I laid down and went back to final scouting as the sun no longer illuminated the sky.