After a... cryptic enough warning, The Ever-changings form began to shimmer and was eventually replaced by one of the gargantuan trees of the forest.

"Well... what now?" Kai groaned as he stood up. Once he was back on his feet, a thumping headache nearly knocked him back down, a reminder to never look into the sky in this damn forest.

How can the whole sky be a god damn mind attack? And what the hell is a question mark abomination?

With too many questions and too little answers, Kai picked a direction to walk and stuck to it. Walking West... North?

Ah who cares, he was walking somewhere.

This was the first time since he's got here that Kai decides to really look at the trees. After seeing them move to protect him from the moonlight, there had to be something to them.

Walking up to one of the gargantuan trees, Kai took out his dagger and tried to cut the bark, only for the blade to bounce off harmlessly along with a few sparks. He could try and climb a tree, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea incase the light peeked through while he's climbing. While he was slightly stupid, he would much rather not fall to his death.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. After getting bored, Kai decided to check the status of the tutorial.

Time remaining - 687: 22: 47

Pairs remaining 202/250

Points earned: 45

Kai frowned, nearly thirty hours had passed since he last saw Noelle and Umbra.

How did Creepy's hallucinations only work the second time? And how did it distort time? Or maybe I just ran for that long...

Sighing, Kai pushed the thoughts to the side and continued to walk, and eventually he reached an open area. It was still covered in shade by the oversized tree tops, but it was a big area.

Only in the middle of this area, sat a man on a rock. The man has short brown hair and a charming face, the kind women would swoon over. In fact, he almost seemed to glow a light green.

The man, noticing someone was watching him, looked towards Kai and smiled. Charisma oozed out of the man's smile, any woman who say it would undoubtedly blush if they saw it.

"Ah, hello there my friend, the scenery is quite beautiful, isn't it?"

Kai, a bit confused by the kindness of the stranger as compared to the other two men he met earlier. He was on guard, of course, but something about the man compeled him to relax.

"Ah... yeah, it's great..." Kai tried to sound honest, but all the scenery was just big trees and darkness, nothing special. The man must've noticed his dishonesty though, he sighed and got up off the rock, then wiped his hands on his cotton shirt.

"Well, it was once the most beautiful place in the land, people would flock from all over the kingdom just to peek at it. Alas, that's all gone now..."

Kai felt something from the man... Nostalgia? Nah, it couldn't be... he wouldn't have been alive back then anyway.

Just as Kai was about to ask a question, the man shook his head and said:

"You should probably get going, wasting time in the tutorial is a pretty common way to die. You've got to use all the time you're given... all of it"

Gods... Why so many cryptic messages? If they were this common back home they would've been on postcards.

Frowning, he looked at the man in detail, inspecting him. His confidence, attire... wait, attire? His clothes were different, he doesn't have the leather armour.

Kai thought for a few moments before deciding to ask:

"Who are you anyway?"

The man chuckled softly, his charismatic voice echoing freely throughout the open area.

"Who cares about me, I'm a failure, or a spectator depending on how you look at it. We will see each other again though, I'm sure... Now, let me give you a little hint."

The man then pointed in a direction behind Kai and slightly to the left. Kai turned around and saw... nothing but more trees and endless darkness.

Kai turned back to the rock where the man was and... nobody was there?

The man was gone without a trace.

Wondering if he hallucinated the whole thing, Kai shook his head and started walking in the direction where the man pointed.

He didn't seem bad... and there's no reason to just send me off in a random direction... I hope.

After walking for what seemed like forever, there was finally a slight change in scenery. The spaces in between the trees get wider.

Only after walking for another while, Kai stumbled upon something interesting.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

A group of what looks to be about twenty people are all huddled around in a group. Some are lying on the ground sleeping while the ones with weapons are gathering around a Middle-Eastern man.

He must be the leader. Kai assumed as he watched them. Suddenly, one of the people beside the Middle-Eastern man pointed at where Kai was hiding and said something that Kai was too far away to here.

The Middle-Eastern man chuckled and said:

"Stranger, are you going to spend all your time over there or will you come and join us?"

Hesitantly, Kai exited the bush and walked over to the group, who were all staring at him. As he got closer Kai realised what was really going on.

Many of the people on the ground aren't sleeping, they're holding injuries and groaning, one even had a stump where their right arm is supposed to be.

As Kai gets closer to the main group, he noticed how large the variety of people they have is.

One boy looked to only be about fifteen, a small bit shorter than Kai. An older girl who had the same colour hair as him, red. And a dude who looked like he just left a twenty-four hour shift at the office, deep black bags under his eyes, it was also him that spotted Kai.

The final member of what seemed to be the main team was the Middle-Eastern man. Now that Kai is closer to the man, he looked a lot older than when far away. At least forty anyway.

"So, stranger" The man spoke in a thick Eastern accent. "Where's your partner? Doesn't seem very smart to wander around this forest all alone"

Thinking about how to answer, Kai just said:

"I got split up with them while we got attacked... that was a while ago though."

"Hmm... a real shame, seems they're probably dead. Could've used someone hands to go around, we are in quite a state after all."

The leader gestured towards the injured people lying on the ground, there's twelve of them so majority of the group are injured. Kai's guess was a bit far off as there was only seventeen people in the group.

Seventeen? What? Twelve injured... Four fighters... where did I get seventeen?

Kai frowned, then concentrated on his surroundings. He tried to sense anything off about the area. After a few moments in which the leader continued to complain about needing more 'soldiers', Kai spotted the person he missed. Beside one of the gargantuan trees stood a man... who was blending into the tree. Their skin turned the same colour as the tree and even distorted slightly when changes happened to the area, making it nearly impossible to know they're there without them telling you first.

Kai was only able to spot him because...

I don't know? Maybe because my luck stat is high?

He doesn't know how, but he's glad it worked. After the Middle-Eastern man finished his rant, he turned to Kai and said:

"Anyway, fresh blood, tend to the injured. Us four need to get some rest, we haven't slept properly since getting here"

Inwardly groaning, Kai said. "Alright then, go enjoy your sleep"

Kai then realised that he forgot to ask something, he quickly asked as the leader lies down:

"Wait, what's your name?"

The leader grinned and answered: "Rashik, but you can call me the General if you want."

But I don't want to. But Kai relented. He then noticed that he missed something. Rashik said 'us four haven't slept properly' but what about the camouflage guy. Does he not know they're there or does he think I can't see him and is trying to keep him a secret?

Kai looked back towards where he saw Camo, the guys new nickname, and can't spot him anywhere.

Giving up, Kai decided to give all of the main team nicknames. The kid who looked fifteen was now called Shorty

....even though Kai isn't much taller.

The red haired woman was now called Red, very creative. And the tired office worker guy was now called Sleepy.

Great nicknames if I do say so myself. Kai praised himself at the incredibly original nicknames, then again, he'd only known these people for about 5 minutes.

Kai started to tend to the wounded. He gave one a pillow of leaves to sleep on, another a leaf over their eyes so they can sleep easier, a third a leaf...

You get the idea.

There's not much he can do with his only medical supply being leaves. Thankfully, he was saved the embarrassment of having to do anymore leaf medication when he heard a rustling behind him.

Turning around, he saw Red standing up... and walking towards him. Kai flinched slightly when she reaches him as she leaned her face beside his ear, whispering in a dark tone.

"Listen close, get out of here before Rashik wakes up. You will be in deep shit if he finds out who your teammate, or if your teammate finds you here with him. This will be your only chance to get out."

Kai frowned slightly, then used three Mana to set up a telepathic link to speak to Red privately.

"And why should I believe that, and who even are you?"

Red flinched slightly at the sudden voice in her head, then smirked softly and thought:

"Handy trick, as for why you should believe me? I'm a undercover officer who worked in the areas around Egypt. Rashik is a-"

*crack*

"What-"

Before Red could finish what she was saying, she was launched across the open area and in between the gaps of two trees, dissapearing into the darkness.

The air shimmered around where she got launched and Kai faintly saw the outline of... a person?

Shit! Camo!

Kai panicked and scrambled away, just as the air distorted around where he just stood, as if someone missed a punch.

Realising that Red probably didn't even know Camo was in their group, he panicked and scrambled away as fast as he possibly could.

Kai sprinted away into the gap in between the trees where Red got flung, faintly hearing Rashik shouting something behind him.

After only a few moments, Kai found Red lying on the ground, groaning and holding her arm which was bent in a weird direction.

Holy shit... Kai held back a gag as he helped her up, wrapping her good arm around his neck. The situation was so stressful that he doesn't even blush at how close they were.

Red continued to groan as Kai practically dragged her away from the camp, the only problem being that the sound of footsteps behind them was getting closer and closer.

It felt as if the group of people behind them were about to catch up to them. Kai desparately looked around for... anything.

Suddenly, he felt something faint... something changing in the atmosphere. The forests branches seemed to shift slightly, blocking off some paths and clearing others.

Remembering what The Ever-changing said about trusting the forest more, Kai's grip around Red's waist tightened as he pushed himself, trying to get away from the pursuing group.

After what felt like eternity, Kai finally saw something in the distance, the outline of a person... and a wolf?

"Noelle" Kai cried out as he spotted the olive skinned beauty, honestly, he was never so happy to see the angry Arabian.

"Kaiser?" Noelle frowned as she spotted Kai running towards her with a red haired woman with her arm around his shoulder. Umbra broke away from Noelle and sprinted towards Kai.

Just as Umbra reached Kai, he tripped and fell onto the ground. Red let out a pained cry as she fell onto her disfigured arm.

Just as Kai tried to get up, three figures emerged from the darkness behind him. Sleepy, Shorty and... Rashik...

...Kai also assumed Camo was there but he couldn't see him.

"Well well well, what do we have-" Rashik started to speak, only he stopped when his eyes locked onto someone else. A wide grin appeared on his face as he said:

"Oh... hello Noelle, fancy seeing you here"

Then, all hell broke lose.