Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... These were all skills that were needed on the battlefield but could only be gained through first-hand experiences.

A couple of days passed in the peaceful cavern, there was absolutely no sign that the place they were in previously existed anymore and there were no beasts who wandered near the cavern, but at the same time, Odrunn had been out looking for beasts. His voracious appetite was now a habit rather than a need, his need for food was more like fuel in the tank for him to power his well-trained body.

Z with a healing manifest took that long to recover, even though those few days made him unable to move his limbs and body, he always made sure to use the newly acquired manifest as much as he could. Doing all the things he needed with his mind.

Odrunn entered the cavern, on his back a few hog beasts, he strolled into the cave and dropped the carcasses with a thud. He smiled at the sight of Z fully recovering and couldn't help himself as he started to look at Z from head to toe.

"Wow, boss, you really recover quickly! I can't believe you've healed already"

Odrunn took the liberty to hug Z and lift him off the ground.

"If you don't let him go, he'll probably be back on the ground again"

Soli said with a frown looking at the gentle behemoth.

"Oops"

Odrunn stuck out his tongue as he set Z on the ground gently.

"Let's process the meat and turn some of it to jerky, I'm fully recovered, so we have to start finding our way out of here. Right now, we have no map, and we don't even know where we are or how deep into the basin we are. The day we fell into the basin, at that time the sun was facing eastward. So if we match the time, we should be able to find our way back to the cliff or somewhere close to it. I know it's a slim chance, but its a chance we have to take."

The trio did what they had to do and was finally ready to leave the cavern, it had been a full 5 months since they fell into the basin and every one of them was thinking about their loved ones dearly.

The journey to the west was a long and treacherous one, wild beasts had appeared periodically and it was difficult for them to all take a rest without being on edge. By this point, the trio had exceptional teamwork and they understood their strengths and weaknesses well, with the rich battle experience contributed by Z they easily took down the beasts that dared approach, as long as they didn't face high-level Warship beasts, they had a 90% chance of winning against them.

Trudging through the forest and mountainous terrain they saw smoke in the distance, it was a sign of a campfire and it was definitive that there were other people around.

Soli was thrilled and wanted to rush out to ask for help immediately, only to be pulled back by Z.

"Listen, right now, we shouldn't trust anyone, we don't know if these hunters are working for people that are hunting us or not. For now, it's still safer to look completely different. Here put on this cloak."

Z quickly undid the cloak off his back as he passed it over to Soli, he quickly reached into the ground and smeared a little mud on his face as well as his hair making himself almost unrecognisable.

Odrunn didn't need any disguise, he had morphed from a fat caterpillar into a magnificent butterfly, his muscles and low-fat content was disguise enough.

"Soli, keep your head down, let me do the talking."

The trio slowly approached the campfire, looking at the 3 hunters that were surrounding it.

"Greetings, could ya help a fellow hunter out? we lost our belongings after being chased down by some beasts and we're now left without our maps."

Z said slowly, making sure to not let his heartbeat give him away.

"Oh? Forgive us for being wary, but how can we be sure that you're hunters too and not those bandits?"

The old man nearest to them said, giving them a shifty look.

"Well, the only bandits in this parts are dark hunters too, so in the end we're still asking for help hunter to hunter. All we need are just directions back to the gate so we can get out of the basin and the dark forest."

Z replied, standing still, his mouth twisted into a smile as he continued looking at the hunter.

"You got me there. I'll give you a copy of the map, but there has to be something you could trade it for right?"

The old man smiled, showing his teeth, with one golden tooth standing out amongst the rest.

Z willingly took out some jerky, freshwater and traded it with the hunters, it was easy to find meat, but freshwater was a bit hard to come by, well that is of course unless you had Soli who could easily generate freshwater.

After the trade, Z, Soli and Odrunn set off with a map in hand and renewed confidence in finding their way back to the gate and home.

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Outside of the basin, huge winds were changing a storm was brewing as news of the trio quickly leaked out.

"Yes? Speak... Party of 3, 1 female 2 males? Doesn't fit the description? That's fine, I'd rather not take any chances. That's a lot of credits there. I'll cut them off on the path to the gate"

"What!? There are signs of Soli? I'm coming down immediately with the guards, everything else can wait, I won't miss this chance. Who cares about the elders, I'll deal with them once I settle this issue."

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Unbeknownst to the trio who were still making their way to the gate, multiple people were arriving to either stop them or rescue them.