Luna returned half an hour later with a tray of food.

"What is it? It smells good." I asked, inhaling the aroma of the food.

"Of course, it does. It’s the meat of a Wood Deer, after all." Luna smiled, "Wood Deer’s meat is most delicious and nutritious among all the beasts beneath Iron Tier in this region."

She sat on the edge of the bed and asked, "Do you need help sitting up?"

"No." I shook my head and slowly sat up.

She handed me the tray and I began eating. The first bite made my eyes light up. It was really delicious.

Luna watched me eat with an incomprehensible look in her eyes.

After I had finished half of the meat, I finally slowed down because I was starting to feel full.

I noticed her look and asked, "What is it?"

Luna stared at me.

"You... seem to have become stronger." she said, sweeping her gaze across my body.

I also looked down at myself and noticed my muscles were more defined. I could even see a hint of abs when I flexed my abdominal muscles.

"Yeah. It seems to be true." I nodded in acknowledgement.

Luna didn’t ask how I improved so quickly and just stared at me, deep in thought.

"By the way, Ms. Luna. I wanted to ask something." I said while taking another bite from the remaining meat.

"What is it?" she asked,

"You told me you all wish to leave—"

Before I could finish my sentence, a loud voice echoed outside.

"...A messenger from the city has arrived!"

"...A messenger from the city has arrived!

"...Everyone, you are to gather at the village plaza."

"Hm?" Luna’s brows furrowed, then she jumped to her feet and said, "Let’s go and see what they want this time."

...

On the way to the village plaza which was an open space at the centre of the village, I glanced at Luna.

Unlike her usual, cheerful self, she looked very solemn now.

"It’s not the first time someone from the city came over?" I asked.

"Yes. They occasionally come, sometimes every few months and sometimes after a year." Luna nodded, and without him asking, she explained.

"You know the Dark Beasts... their flesh isn’t edible nor the weaker ones have a Beast Core. So, they are all but useless to us. These city people, however, buy their corpses. But they are too greedy." She snorted in dissatisfaction, "They buy them very cheaply and when we try to buy some supplies they bring, they sell them to us at a high price."

"I see." I hummed in response, then asked, "Why don’t you guys go and sell the corpses in the city? I’m sure you’ll get a better price there and you could buy what you need at more reasonable prices."

Luna gave me a side-long glance, the look in her eyes saying she knew what I wanted to know.

"If we would love to..." she sighed,

"Unfortunately, the nearest city is over a thousand miles away from. And there are many small forests and mountains where beasts thrive. Even if we somehow manage to survive the journey, the bandits run rampant near the city. They would not only loot our supplies, they would also slaughter us."

I noticed a hint of grief on her face when she mentioned the bandits.

It seemed they had tried to travel to the city and the bandits looted and killed them.

As if to confirm, she told him that it had indeed happened. A group had gone to the city. Some died to the beasts while others were killed by the bandits they encountered near the city.

"...Only uncle Joshua survived and made it back. Everyone else, 13 hunters with three being the Awakened, died." she sighed, her voice heavy.

We walked in silence, both lost in our thoughts.

I had received the information I needed. But it made me purse my lips.

1000 miles?

Even on earth where there wasn’t any danger of beasts or bandits, it would take several days to cover this distance if one didn’t use modern transportation.

’This means I have only two options if I want to go to the city. First, I could tag along with the city people when they returned, and second, I had to be strong enough to deal with all dangers of the journey.’ I thought, then let out a sigh. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The first option wasn’t going to work because the city people wouldn’t take me along unless I could give them something valuable and make the trouble worth it.

But did I have something valuable? No, I did not.

’It seems I have to spend some more time here.’ I thought. ’This is also good. I can hunt the beasts in the forest, home my fighting skills and earn Stream Points. Once I have enough, maybe I’ll be able to buy something that can Awaken me.’

This was my main objective at the moment.

I could continue increasing my strength, agility and perception with the SPs, and I was sure I could become strong enough to defeat the Awakened.

However, to go this route, I would need SPs and therefore, I would have to continue streaming, and continue trying to entertain those people...

But if I became Awakened, I could harness Mana like other Awakened and become stronger on my own.

As I thought about all this, we arrived at the bustling plaza.

I swept my gaze across people and noticed that the older ones had neutral or even somewhat cold looks on their faces while younger ones, including John, Dan and Miles, looked excited and hopeful as they stared at a trio dressed in neat clothing, standing on a raised platform.

The moment my eyes landed on the trio, the system screen appeared in front of me, glowing texts flashing on it.

[Warning! Authority Fragment detection tools detected!]

[The Authority Fragment—Predator’s Gaze is currently unstable and will be detected.]

Ba-Dum!

My heart skipped a beat when I read these notifications and an ominous sensation settled in my chest.

I knew if my fragment was detected, I would be in fatal danger.