Team five led by Sorin with his map in a northeast direction. They have been following the geographical features on the map for where they are and if they were on course. The supply point they were given was near a lake approximately seven kilometers away represented on the map by a single grid square conveniently enough. They began making their way across the terrain keeping their eyes open for beasts. All they saw were your small deer looking things and a few burrowers that would run as they came into sight.

Sorin kept his eyes and ears well trained on his surroundings careful to not get tunnel vision. The group didn't really say anything. Most of their conversations took place in the earlier weeks as they began to share in the suffering. Both of his teammates came not from a rift like Sorin, but as tributes from a conquered region of the empire as recompense for their defiance.

Cain, Sorin found out, was a Dhampir. This is half human half vampire hybrid that are exceedingly rare. Sorin had thought vampires were undead creatures form all of the legends in his books form back home, but that just wasn't the case. They lived, breathed, and even reproduced like other humanoids. The legends of needing blood were true in part as was the aversion to sunlight, but it was not for the reasons those stories said. They did prey upon other humanoids periodically to replenish their special regeneration skill each vampire had that relied upon using another's blood held in a special organ they had called a hemato. If this had another's blood in it, they could use this blood to heal themselves from the brink of death. Vampires had a bonus where they had their full strength in the dark, but had it cut in half during the day in direct sunlight.

Cain had a little give and take. His mother was a vampiress and his dad was a knight commander in the war. He didn't suffer from the daytime issue but also didn't get the massive strength and speed. He did get the regeneration ability and the blood path available to vampires. He came from the Bathory house in his kingdom over in region 16 of the Serpent empire and when the empire expanded into their world, they couldn't even slow them down. They had their defenses swept aside and their Patriarch which was their king named Orlock was forced to kneel or have his entire line destroyed.

Linx was the son of the Tribe lord Yako. As he was the only child, he had no choice but to be given up as a tribute from region 12. They had long been conquered by the emperor so the act was a given and Linx knew from a young age he would have to go.

This tribute system didn't surprise Sorin as it was commonly done in history on his own world all though medieval times and before. It was also seen on a few popular movies and tv shows as well.

*Snap!*

The group stopped and dropped lower into the forest they had entered a whole kilometer ago. They had been walking and didn't see or hear anything. They were not skilled in stealth save for Linx who had kept his nose to the wind, but as they were walking with the wind he wouldn't get much of a warning and this was one of those times. A groan that sounded from deep in the chest of a large creature came from their left and was moving their way.

Sorin told them to spread out as they had no idea what they were facing and didn't know if they could avoid a fight or not. Sorin stayed upright as the main target as his teammates slinked into concealment. A large green bear at least twice the size of a grizzly bear from earth came out of the brush and zeroed in on Sorin who stared back at the bear careful to not show any emotion, but confidence. Sorin dropped his pack on the ground in front and quickly tossed the map inside it. The bear was watching Sorin seemingly deciding something. Sorin drew his second sword and started charging them with aether. He was going for that muscle memory balance he had grown used to, but it took more energy to achieve that balance due to the aether steel being able to hold more than the wood.

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Whatever the bear had been contemplating Sorin guessed that it had made its decision. It jumped up on its back legs and slammed back down. Sorin, confused was rooted to the ground by literal roots. They coiled up his legs and solidified as the bear rushed toward him with large lumbering steps. Sorin slashed down seeming to not pay attention to the bear and cut himself free. The bear reached him and attempted to grab him with both of its massive paws when Sorin slammed his burning barrier into place.

*Crack! Hiss! * The bear was scorched and thrown backwards to the ground and as it hit Linx and Cain attacked. Can slammed his short blade into the bear's side as far as it would go and ripped causing massive blood to flow which he took advantage of. He fed on it and continued to stab. Linx leapt to the bears back and began to attack its spine moving his way up to the neck burning it. The bear tried to react but was overwhelmed with the pain and burning that it spun and bucked slashing randomly. Sorin slammed his barrier down over top of its body flat causing it to press up against it and burn itself brutally. Once his barrier was limiting its movement and causing hysteria, Sorin attacked the exposed neck of the bear when it was distracted looking at the aether that was torturing it so. Sorin slammed his super-heated blades down and the bear dropped. Its legs started kicking violently then slowly went still.

The three of them looked at the bear then back up at each other. After a brief moment they all started to laugh. The adrenaline dump and the ease of their victory made for a humorous first kill as a team. "We need to gut this thing and cut it up." Linx said sheathing one of his daggers. He moved quickly infusing aether into his blade and slashed the stomach open and let all the guts spill out. he cut them out at the base and went to work like a seasoned professional. Sorin who had watched his brother and a butcher growing up was able to assist in the skinning and cutting of the meat.

In a matter of a half hour, they each had large slabs of meat wrapped up in green bear fur and tied by tendon on top of their packs. They couldn't possibly take all the meat from the bear so they figured it would be a distraction for other dangerous beasts in the forest.

Linx stood up and tossed a green stone to Sorin. "Catch!" Sorin caught the stone that was approximately the size of his thumb nail. "Is this the core they spoke about in the class?" Cain walked up beside him. "Correct. They have all sorts of uses and are often used when pushing into the third tier of power. My father told me about them." Sorin paused and looked at him. "Did he say anything else? We should get to the third tier in a few months. Sorin said. "Yes, he said cores are used when you are full of aether and you need to stretch the capacity of your own core to as far as it will safely go and the channels throughout your body. Once they are expanded enough, you will be pushed to the third tier." After a brief pause and him looking at Sorin who was looking at the core. "You only want to use cores that match your aether type or you risk damage or dilution of your own core. In other words, you weaken yourself and take away from your potential." Sorin nodded and put the stone in a secure outer pocke of his pack.

They moved on and after another hour they came out to a rocky beach on the lake and began to look around for the gear that was said to be here. To their surprise there was another two teams here gathering large packs with different colors on it. The colors matched different colors teams were assigned to. One team in blue and white had their green and black marked pack.

They all noticed at the same time and went quickly to head them off.