When the sun crested over the earth, I turned over and grumbled. I hit someone by accident and was startled awake. Who is in my bed! The sun blasting my retinas brought me back to reality. This isn't my room or even my planet. I'm not ashamed to say that it took a good thirty minutes of intensive breathing and a pat on the back to wake up from what felt like a major-league spiral. I believe that I have a new friend in Mr. Konrad the comrade. Ha, I will die with that joke.

Groans and moans of suffering surround me as everyone in the team wakes up one by one. Today's agenda is by far the most important. Substance! I could work on the tutorial disaster, but I have a good feeling I'd be wasting my time. However, I know for a fact that you can always go right with food.

"Today's order of business is the most basic one. Food! I, personally, garden, but that won't help us right now. Does anybody believe that they have the skills to figure out whether a plant is edible or not? Afterward, Mr. Duran, based on your experience, I ask you to lead us to a suitable location to establish a foothold in this strange land. Mr. Konrad, could you point out any potential sites for the development of our, I guess, civilization."

Mr. Duran stops surveying our surroundings to give me a nod, then goes back to his work. I can at least depend on having some defense when things get hairy. We lock eyes for a moment after the request, but the shallow nod I get is a good indicator of his help. That being said, no one responds to the food determination question. We've got a situation, and the clock is ticking. The silence is deafening, and I know that if I don't speak, this might give ground to a seed of doubt I can't afford to be planted. I've already come to a few conclusions in the span of a few breaths.

"Well, let's get started, then. Before we start, does anyone need a moment?"

There is a silent judgment taking place. Pressure is beginning to settle in the atmosphere. My next set of actions may very well determine if we can get our frontier group off the ground.

"Mr. Duran, let's secure water first."

Off we go, I don't even give them time to really think before ushering everyone forward. I can't give anyone time to start thinking. There's too much to think about. What are we doing? Who is she? Who is she to lead us? What are we going to do? What is this place? The list goes on and on. We can't afford to spiral. I don't know if anyone has realized it besides Mr. Duran, but we are in a do-or-die situation, and I don't plan to die. Trekking through the wild uses energy and focus. I need their focus because we need food, water, and shelter. Beyond that, we need a place to call home as soon as possible. How long can we last in the wild? More importantly, how long can we last before the wildlife comes back? The birds and bugs have been too far away for too long. If this were Texas, I would have been eaten to bits within the last thirty minutes of just walking through the brush. I won't lie; I believe the trees were gorgeous and evergreen. All shades of spring green. The grass, however, itched through my pants.

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The landscape changed quite a bit as Duran led us through the brush. I started to notice bushes and maybe weeds thigh-high. Flowers and berries of a multitude of colors. There were too many to count, and poisonous stuff is always pretty and tasty until you die. I heard it before I saw it. Duran had done it. We had water! Three people rushed forward without care. How unwise, what if something else was getting a drink. I waited until Duran gave the okay after watching the three who had already drunk the water for a few moments; I guess not die. This was decent enough water. The river was flowing, which meant it wasn't stagnant. I didn't see any fish, which wasn't per se a relief, as the question of why not. It could be the river was too shallow. Altiria considered the fish to be too dangerous for our budding civilization. Or worse, the water wasn't fit for consumption. As far as I could see, everyone else had already drunk the water, or at least almost everyone else. I noticed a gaze upon my back that seemed to question why I hadn't drunk the water, too. There was no way to clean the water anyway, so I took a handful and tasted the cleanest water I'd ever tasted. I hate to say it, but the river water was sweet!

Water was taken care of, but food was not. We couldn't just start eating berries and hoping for the best; that'd be a disaster waiting to happen. I want to say it didn't take me almost an hour, but I'd be lying.

Status.

Personal Status

Name

Azaiah Star

Race - Variant

Earthling - African American

Vocation

Grove Tender

Career

Mechanical Engineer

Standing

Frontier Woman

Age

26

Gender

Female

Tier

Excellent

Vitality

12

Power

5

Strength

3

Charisma

3

Wisdom

5

Spirit

15

Intelligence

15

Equipment

Sleep shirt,

Underwear,

Leather pants,

Wilderness boots

There it was in that lovely little spot called. Vocation. Grove Tender was the thing I needed. What was worse was I needed to find the revealing stone as soon as possible. No one else knew what they were set up for, and I needed to verify identities. Now is the perfect time to do the Grove Tender tutorial. As everyone plays in the water; I can focus on figuring out my vocation for food rather than lose ground for maintaining this operation. Leaders must be competent if they want to lead.

However, I am concerned that there's an extra person in our frontier group. Altiria said there were ten, but my list contains eleven, including my name. No one else read the tutorial, so they don't have a clue, and if I mention it, I will surely be the one they point the pitchfork at. Mira is the only person I can assume is not an imposter. That being said, she is a prickly pear. One of us is not like the others, and I have no way to tell who is fake. I pray it's not as serious as it could be.