Thalion ran until nightfall, his stamina down to twenty percent by the time he finally slowed. He doubted any human could have kept up with them, and for the next few hours, they would be safe. Jakob and Annie were also exhausted; clinging to him for so long as he sped through the jungle had taken its toll. Thalion glanced back at them, his eyes narrowing as he noticed their fatigue.

"You can’t rest just yet," he urged, his voice firm but understanding. "You need to free yourselves. That woman seemed determined to find you."

Jakob and Annie exchanged weary glances but nodded, determination flickering in their eyes. They fumbled for small metal pins, their hands shaking from exhaustion, and began the painstaking task of breaking open the locks. The jungle was quiet, except for the faint rustling of leaves and the soft grunts of effort as they worked. An hour later, with a final click, both were free. Jakob let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, his shoulders sagging with relief.

"Alright, climb up that tree and wait. I’ll be back," Thalion instructed, his gaze steady, though the tiredness in his eyes betrayed his weariness. He took the slave cuffs, his jaw set with determination and started running again. He didn’t want to do this, but if that woman traveled through the night, they could easily be hunted down. The thought made him pick up speed, his footsteps barely making a sound as he moved through the dense jungle.

After about ten minutes, a light murmur reached his ears, a river? He immediately altered his course, pushing through the thick foliage until he broke out onto a grassy plain. In the middle of it, a crystal-blue river flowed, almost double the size of the one he had jumped over after encountering the orc with his first party. A wave of nostalgia hit him, and he paused for a moment, a melancholic smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Man, this brings back some memories," he thought, his mind drifting to James, Lukas, David, Emily, and Mike. What were they doing right now? But he shook off the thought; there was nothing he could do about it now. He shifted back into his human form and tossed the slave cuffs into the river. The metal clinked as it hit the water, quickly disappearing into the depths.

The grassy plain was dotted with vine horses and bone spike boars, all around level 19. He needed to fill up his stamina pool, and they would do just fine. He spotted a herd of bone spike boars grazing lazily, unaware of his presence. With a swift motion, he charged a fireball, hurling it at the closest group. The explosion was quick and deadly, killing two boars instantly while the others scattered in panic. Without hesitation, he shifted back into his shadowstalker form, his fur bristling with energy, and pounced on the fallen boars.

His sharp teeth tore into the flesh, devouring them with precision. Feeding in this form was more efficient than draining them with blood harvest in his human form. The sanguine thorn within him craved for high-quality blood, and was not impressed by the blood of those beast. After his meal, he felt his stamina pool filling up, now at fifty percent. Satisfied, he made his way back to the slaves.

When he arrived, he found them nestled between some leaves, sound asleep. They had hidden themselves well, at least. Thalion climbed a few more meters up the tree, finding a sturdy branch to lie on, his eyes scanning the area for potential threats. His mind raced with thoughts of how to get stronger. If these people could use their slaves to farm credits, he was falling behind in both equipment and skills. Tomorrow, he decided, he would hunt on the grassland while teaching the new ones a few things. Reflecting on the situation, he realized he didn’t even know what classes they had.

<--

Kael and his group had a good day hunting, and everyone made significant progress. Even better, the psychopath Thorwald had stopped hunting them. Kael couldn’t help but hope that bastard had been killed; the thought brought a rare smile to his face as he watched Sylas and the others laughing and joking while perched on a tree. But his smile faded as he spotted a group of eight humans approaching. Their blue robes were tattered, and they looked more than just exhausted, they looked desperate.

Kael slid down the tree, landing silently on the forest floor, and made his way towards them. He moved like a shadow, his presence only noticed when he stepped out of a bush directly in front of them. The group flinched back, some at the rear looking like they were about to bolt.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Kael asked, his voice calm but tinged with suspicion. Were they running from someone? He really couldn’t afford another Thorwald coming after them.

"We were slaves," a middle-aged man spoke up, his voice shaky but filled with hope. "Freed by a giant wolf-tiger that said we would find shelter if we kept going in this direction. Are you Kael?"

Kael’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Wait, a beast freed you and told you my name?" he repeated, incredulous.

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"Yes," the man confirmed, though he seemed to struggle to believe it himself.

"So, who enslaved you? Are you from that other planet with humans?" Kael asked, trying to piece together the puzzle.

"No, we’re from Earth," the man replied cautiously. "We were owned by Lady Nerissa Selwyn. She’s from that other planet, and it seems quite common for them to enslave humans from Earth. They see us as weaker beings because we lack any affinity."

Kael’s expression darkened. This was troubling. He had hoped that at least the humans would band together against the vampires and orcs, but it didn’t seem like it. "Is this lady still following you?" he asked, noticing how the former slaves tensed at the question.

"No, we don’t think so," the man answered, though his voice betrayed a hint of fear. "We freed ourselves from all tracking tools, and if they had tried to catch us, we wouldn’t be here."

"Alright, that’s good enough for me," Kael said, his tone softening slightly. "I’m Kael. Nice to meet you. Please, follow me. I want to hear everything about those other people and that wolf."

With that, the former slaves followed Kael to his camp in the trees, where they had a long conversation with the whole group about what had happened.

<--

Thalion was up early in the morning, his two refugees still sleeping like rocks. He had spent the night debating whether he should reveal that he was a shapeshifter, but in the end, he decided to practice more with his spells instead. It would come out eventually, but for now, he wanted to keep it under wraps.

He perched on a branch above the two, tossing around mana barriers, his concentration unbroken. He was getting better; the speed of the mana walls was almost undodgeable in close quarters. He practiced for three hours, the sun climbing high in the sky before they finally woke up.

Annie let out a startled scream, stumbling back when she saw him sitting on the branch above them. She instinctively threw an ice shard at him, so she was a water mage, he noted, puzzled. Thalion easily blocked the shard with a mana barrier, chuckling.

"Calm down, it’s me. You’ll wake up the whole forest if you keep screaming like that," he said, a smug smile hidden behind his mask.

"Wait, you were that wolf-tiger?" Jakob exclaimed, his eyes wide with disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"Yes, to the first one. As for how... I’m not telling," Thalion replied with a grin, his tone light. "Anyway, we need to get moving. You two need to level up fast, and I need to hunt as well."

"Wait, are you some kind of werewolf? Was yesterday the full moon?" Annie asked, still in shock.

"No, that’s not how it works," Thalion laughed. "Now, get going. Over there is the grassland where a lot of prey is waiting," he said, nodding in that direction.

As they traveled, Thalion asked, "What classes do you have?"

"I’m a stone-blessed warrior," Jakob said, his chest puffing out a little. "I fight in melee and can harden my skin while shooting rocks."

"I’m a water mage," Annie said, still deep in thought, her eyes flickering with curiosity.

After a brief discussion about classes and the system, they arrived at the grassland with the big river in the middle. Thalion suddenly remembered something. "Ah, I should have told you earlier, but I threw the cuffs in that river. So maybe they’ll come by this place."

"Wait, why are we here then?" Annie asked, shock clear in her voice. "They even have tamed some water beasts. With those, they can travel very fast, even upriver!"

"Well, even with those beasts, it would take them a long time to travel here. They definitely can't arrive before nightfall, and you won’t be here by that time anyway," Thalion concluded, deep in thought.

"Wait, why are you talking like we’re parting ways soon?" Annie asked, worry creeping into her voice.

"Well, I planned on killing more of the blue ones," Thalion explained, "maybe even that woman, and you are not strong enough follow."

"I want to kill those bastards too," Annie said, her voice filled with bloodlust.

"Me too," Jakob added, his fists clenching. "I want revenge for what they did to us."

"You can have your revenge when you’re strong enough. You don’t have to go to Kael’s camp," Thalion said, his voice steady. "So pick your targets. I’ll be close by."

He transformed into his shadowstalker form and sprinted onto the grassland, his eyes locking onto a big glowhorn standing near a tree, munching on some plants. The glowhorn turned to face him, its large horns gleaming in the sunlight as Thalion circled it, looking for an opening.

In a blur of motion, Thalion darted forward, his claws slashing across the glowhorn’s side. The beast retaliated, a mana wave throwing him back several meters, but Thalion was relentless. He pressed the attack, moving in for the kill, his teeth sinking into the glowhorn’s throat. The beast struggled, its powerful legs buckling under its weight, but Thalion held on, and with a final, savage bite, the glowhorn collapsed.

He spent the next 40 minutes feasting on the glowhorn, his eyes occasionally flicking over to Jakob and Annie as they fought bone spike boars. They were surprisingly good at it, leveling up to 18 in just a few hours. Impressive, he thought, watching them from his perch.

After two hours of hunting, Annie and Jakob were out of stamina and mana, resting under a tree while watching the giant wolf-tiger rip apart one beast after another. Nothing seemed to work against him. If they charged, he dodged; if they ran, he was faster. The only time there was any real challenge was when six mudwallers circled him, their long necks snapping at him. But even then, he simply transformed back into his human form, threw a fireball at the biggest one, and on impact, the heavy beast fell, burning. He then transformed back into shadowstalker, finishing off the rest.

As night approached, they climbed a tree to hide on one of its bigger branches, covered with soft moss.

"I have a question," Annie asked, breaking the silence. "Why are you even staying on this stage and not moving on?" That’s when they discovered how they could get a better class.

"Tomorrow I will be checking out some of their fields; you should be fine here. This is a nice hunting ground, and I will come back," Thalion explained.

Annie and Jakob nodded in confirmation, and after a round of talking, they slept, except for Thalion. He was trying to learn how to fly all night.