The Place Where Everything Begins

Right now, it appeared that more and more people, who had finished their breakfast, started gathering in groups of tens not far from the prohibited areas around the giant Crystal. The number of people was increasing noticeably with the naked eyes...

After hearing Morgan's words, the scout team members started talking to one another after hearing about the last topic,

"Wolf monster?"

"Is it a wolf or a dog anyway? They look pretty similar."

"Yeah, with that protruding mouth, it can be either of the two."

"Is that even important?

Rather than being curious about what Morgan had said, most people discussed whether the creature was a dog or a wolf instead.

Meanwhile, Jeremy obviously knew what the creature was...

Gnoll was considered a dog-humanoid creature, no less. It was also the same low-ranked organism as humans. Still, the gnoll and human's differences in physical capabilities were similar to that of a cat and lion.

That alone had made the differences between an average human and gnoll become pretty vast.

For more reference, the gnolls were akin to an evolution race of normal dogs on Earth, making their nose and running speed become something that couldn't be taken lightly of in the least.

Even more than that, a gnoll was considered one of the bestial races on Ortus, albeit its race was more like a subordinate race to the werewolf race. Every gnoll still had a unique trait called 'Bloodline', which was said to be something inherited from the first ancestors.

Regarding the term 'Bloodline', each bloodline had a different hierarchy and abilities coming along with it. The higher the bloodline's rank was, the stronger the holder of that bloodline became.

In other words, the lower the bloodline's rank was, the weaker the holder of that said bloodline would turn out to be. This was also the case for gnolls, the race of which was destined to be subordinated to the greater hierarchical race, the werewolf.

As for the gnoll's bloodline rank, most gnolls were only born with 'Common Bloodline', having only a few irregulars and outliers within their race that had managed to be born with higher-ranked bloodlines.

Nevertheless, the gnoll race was still just a commoner race compared to other bestial races, undoubtedly except for the werewolf, for they considered the gnolls as their subordinates.

The cases of subordination like this were often seen on Ortus, especially within the bestial races. For example, the kenku race was subordinated to the Tengus, the kobold was subordinated to the Draconians, the feline race was subordinated to the Leonins, the naga race was subordinated to the Medusas, and many more.

It wasn't strange in the least that those inferior races were subordinated or some even enslaved to the superior ones because the former had a too low density of the so-called 'Bloodline', causing them to be suppressed instinctively by the latter, who had higher hierarchy and bloodline ranks.

Nevertheless, even with its common bloodline, the gnoll's physical strength was at least four or five times greater than an ordinary human.

Regarding the gnoll's sensory, it was also undoubtedly superior to humans in many aspects, especially its smelling sense.

"Alright, calm down, guys, hearing me out first..."

As everyone was talking to one another clamorously regarding the wolf monster, Morgan finally spoke up, attracting everyone's attention.

Upon seeing everyone was looking at him, Morgan continued,

"As you know, team 7 only has one survivor coming back alive from a tough battle against the so-called wolf monster."

After hearing the word wolf monster once again, people's expressions started to become a bit serious.

After all, they had seen with their own eyes how the monster looked like and how strong it appeared to be when it had jumped far ahead into the river. Even after being shot on its shoulder, the creature hadn't even budged one bit.

"It is confirmed this morning that the wolf monster looked somewhat similar to the one we had encountered in the forest yesterday. However, it appears that the being we saw and the one that team seven fought against were different beings. That indicates to only one thing, there are at least two of those wolf monsters roaming inside the forest together with many packs of wolves."

"The sole survivor of team 7 told me that the wolves were not a problem to their team at all, but the reason why they had experienced a total defeat was because of that one muscular creature, the wolf monster."

Upon hearing Morgan's words, other people started murmuring and talking again to express their thoughts and opinions to one another.

After all, they had just heard an unbelievable sentence, 'a total defeat was caused by only one creature.'

Then how strong would the wolf-humanoid monster be?

Some felt glad that they hadn't fought against it because Morgan ordered them to cross the creek before that wolf pack arrived, whereas some felt doubtful if the wolf monster was indeed that strong as the survivor from team 7 had told Morgan.

The opinions within the crowd were split...

"Alright, there is no need to argue with each other, okay? The reason I'm telling you guys about the wolf monster is to let you guys, I mean, to let us become more careful about the true predators sneaking within the forest."

"To be honest, I think there are more than just two of those beings out there, waiting to take our lives at any time, so we must be more aware of our surroundings when we go out for a scouting mission next time. I hope you guys take this advice in mind because our lives are on the line here."

Having heard Morgan's reminders, most people nodded their heads in understanding.

It was clear that nobody wanted to lose their lives because of their own carelessness.

At this moment, some people within the team started feeling regret, volunteering to become a scout team member. They should have joined a construction team instead.

At the time, they hadn't thought that the scouting mission would be this dangerous; they only wanted to earn some Kill Points to buy some decent gears for themselves, that's all.

Nobody would have known that people's lives would be lost so easily akin to those lives were worth nothing like this.

"Alright, guys... that's it for today's topics. Does anyone have any questions?" asked Morgan after finishing all the topics of today's meeting.

Meanwhile, people only shook their heads as they didn't have any questions to ask. They only wanted to take a rest right now. Some of them hadn't even slept fully but had to wake up early to attend this meeting.

*Ring* *Ring*

*Ring* *Ring*

At this time, the ringing noises suddenly resounded out from the giant Crystal. The noises were so loud that the guards standing in front of the gates also heard them, albeit only lightly as they stood some hundreds of meters away.

Most people within the camp had already known and expected such noises to come since long ago. After all, those sounds had happened precisely three times in the past three days, and this time was the fourth. They signified that the time had finally come...

The time for the daily supplies to be summoned within the prohibited areas...

The people, who had been gathering not far from the prohibited areas, also got ready for the incidence after hearing those ringing noises.

It clearly meant that those people gathered at the periphery of the prohibited areas because they were waiting for the event to commence.

Some seconds later, the ringing noises gradually died down as the areas around the blue Crystal suddenly brightened up with white glowing light, illuminating the surrounding areas brightly.

"Get ready!"

Someone's voice was heard from the other side of the Crystal.

After hearing the guy's words, many people shouted and exclaimed enthusiastically while some kept quiet and waited patiently for the materials, whereas some complaint about their lack of sleep.

Suddenly, several heaps of wooden materials, foods, drinks, clothes, and other daily necessities appeared magically out of the white glow before everyone's eyes.

Although most people had seen such a thing for the fourth time already, some of them still exclaimed in mesmerization at the fantastic scene before them. They could never get used to it no matter how many times they looked at it.

The sight of countless items and materials appearing out of nowhere was simply too shocking...

Upon seeing the awaited items and materials, the gathering people from the construction teams finally got to work their today's jobs. Those jobs were keeping, organizing, constructing, and repairing things within the camp.

"This is the reason why I choose this place as our meeting place; it is to show our new member, Tommy, the summoning event," said Morgan while looking at several hundred people picking up the items and materials from the prohibited areas.

At this moment, other people within the scout team, including Jeremy, were also looking at the construction teams doing their jobs, just like Morgan.

"Well, that's it for today. I will let you guys go and take a rest now. Anyway, don't forget to recruit more people from the construction teams and report the results to me at 4 p.m. today. If there are still not enough people after 4 p.m., I will report to Kahn, and we will find an alternative way to solve this problem. Alright, everyone, dismiss!"

Morgan dismissed everyone, letting them go to do their own things.

...

[A/N: One of the differences between wolves and dogs is that wolves have yellow eyes, whereas dogs mostly have brown or blue eyes.]