CHAPTER 5: ESCAPE THE HOARD(3)
DAY 4 IN THE GABJIN JUNGLE. THE TOWER ACKNOWLEDGES YOUR TENACITY.
BODY'S CONSTITUTION IMPROVED
The tower's voice brought me out of my drowsiness.
Getting out from the makeshift bed a sharp pain crossed my stomach as I checked my wound.
It left a nasty scar, but it was surprisingly healed, even though there was no medical supply.
I wanted to ask the guy how this was possible.
"I know you have a lot of questions but will you please follow me?" he asked.
The guy gave me a tour of the stronghold. He was well built, maybe that is why he survived this long.
I was shown a small river to drink from and wash myself. That is kinda disgusting, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
He introduced me to where I could get resources, who to get them from, and the daily tasks we all needed to do.
"Hahaha, sorry if I talked too much. I'm Carter, your scouting group leader." Carter said with his familiar friendly smile.
"Where are my manners, what's your name?"
"Isaac", I answered.
"What are we scouting for?" I asked, bewildered by how fast this was progressing.
"I guess I have to catch you up on how things are going," Carter joked.
From what he said Gabjin forest is native to two intelligent species. The goblins and the lizard men. Twelve Goblin tribes are allying to battle the lizardmen.
The camp coincidentally is in the only clear path towards the lizardmen, and there are no chances for negotiations due to a language barrier and both sides killing each other.
So the goblins will deal with us before they go for the lizardmen.
After I was caught up, a bag was thrown in my direction, and I caught it midair.
Noticing my confused look, Carter answered me," Sorry for making an injured person take on more tasks, but the supplies need to be constantly refilled. Hope you understand."
I wasn't going to freeload on these people, so it was fine for me, maybe a little difficult in my situation, but still manageable.
I learnt from Carter that the leader of this survival camp was a person who awakened his myth, and all leaders are people with awakened myths.
This scavenging group was made up of me, Carter, and five others.
Three males and two females.
No one except Carter looked in the mood to chat. The silence was loud as we plucked off edible fruits, herbs, and other things.
Those sour berries also grew around these areas, as I got close to pick one I was stopped by Carter.
"Ehm, Isaac those aren't edible. They heat the body to dangerous temperatures and they taste unbearable. Try something else" he chuckled.
This information is enlightening as memories of all my sour berry smoothies teared me up.
The other scavenging members looked at me weirdly for some reason as they stayed further away from me.
Coming back with all our bags full, the hunting group also came back.
A young man in his twenties, looking younger than me, was the leader of the group. He had black hair and eyes, and his body looked built to survive any situation.
He looked so breathtaking that even a man would be charmed by his face, as other members of the hunting group were also following behind me.
The hunt they caught was two crocodiles about seventeen feet long, with multiple scars and burns on their corpses.
We took our haul to another guy in a tent.
"This is scavenging group fifteen," Carter cheerfully stated as he told him the type of goods we brought back, and the guy documented it.
"How did this camp come to be?" I couldn't hide my curiosity so I asked.
A wide smile spread on Carter's face as he looked pleased that I asked that question.
"Isaac, all this peace was only possible because of the camp leader. His grace saved us all. Only he, with the powerful mythos that makes him know everything, could gather the masses to a safe haven in this lawless land." Carter's voice was filled with reverence for the camp leader.
"If only I could have awakened my mythos, I could have been by his side in the hunting group," he wiped a tear as he continued to praise this camp leader.
I made a note to myself to stay away from Carter from now on. He's a nice guy, but a little crazy.