“God, Serra, it can’t be that difficult to set up the tent. Just follow the instructions,” said a brown haired boy.

  “What do you think I’m doing, Nick? I’m following the instructions, but they don’t seem right. Plus, you haven’t started the fire, so why are you giving me flak?” said Serra, a short, blond-haired girl.

  Nick snapped back, “I’m trying my best, but this stupid fire starter doesn’t want to work.” Nick got frustrated and threw the fire-starting kit off to the side. “I knew we should’ve brought someone with fire abilities. Then we wouldn’t have sacrificed three points on this useless kit.”

  “Stop whining and come help me,” Serra snapped.

  Nick walked over to her, looking at the mess she had made. There were pieces everywhere. The tarp for the tent was a tangled clump.

  Nick looked irritated seeing the jumble tent. He stepped forward and said, “Move aside, let me handle this. You go work on the fire instead.”

  “Fine, you give it a shot.” Serra frustratingly threw the two pieces she was holding down before walking away.

  Seeing Serra walk towards their fire setup, Nick began to look at the instructions. He quickly started to set up the tent, but soon realised something. Halfway through, the instructions started making no sense. The images showed steps that were impossible to do or had pieces he didn’t have.

  Nick became increasingly more infuriated and threw the instructions away. He instead decided to figure out how to set up the tent without any instructions.

  Meanwhile, Serra tried using the fire-starting kit to ignite the sticks and leaves they collected. However, no matter which way she tried, there were no sparks. She tried multiple times before choosing to take a closer look.

  “God dammit! No wonder this stupid kit doesn’t work; it’s completely worn down,” Serra yelled, frustrated.

  “Did none of you check the kit before taking it?” Serra turned to question Nick.

  “I’m not the one who chose it. It was Marcus. He’s the one who wasted our points on a useless kit.” Nick didn’t even turn to look at Serra. He just continued to make the tent. “If the kit truly doesn’t work, then try making a fire like Sett taught us.”

  “But making a fire like that is a pain,” Serra whined.

  “Now look who’s whining. Stop complaining and do it. I’m almost done setting up the tent.” Nick was tired of dealing with Serra. He just wanted to finish the tent and get something to eat.

  Serra sighed defeatedly before saying, “I hope Marcus and Nate are doing better than we are. They better be back soon. I’m starting to get hungry.”

  …

  “Geez, how did we only catch two null rank creatures?” said a guy with dark green hair.

  “How the hell am I supposed to know, Marcus?” a man wearing a golden necklace said.

  “You were supposed to get the jump on them while I distracted them. It's not that difficult. You just suck at catching weak creatures, Nate," said Marcus.

  “Like you did any better. You’re supposed to distract the creatures, not scare them off,” Nate retorted.

  “Screw you. Let’s just get back to Nick and Serra. I’m starving,” Marcus said.

  “With any luck, those two should be done setting up camp.” Nate didn’t sound confident.

  A few minutes later, the pair reached their campsite. However, they were met by a grizzly scene. The tent they hoped to see set up was ripped to shreds. There was a small fire going, but no one was around. Upon closer look, Nate and Marcus could see red splatter marks on the ground and on the destroyed tent.

  “What the hell happened here? We were only gone for an hour.” Nate sounded panicked.

  “Were they attacked by someone, or something?” Marcus looked around for any signs of them.

  “Dammit! If they were attacked and got teleported out, then we’ve lost so many points. At this rate, we’re going to fail.” Nate’s voice started to tremble a bit.

  “Keep it together, man. We don’t know if they got teleported out or not. We should look for them.” Marcus tried to sound brave, but his voice was also trembling.

  “You’re right. We should go look for them. Hopefully, they’re safe.” Nate calmed down before walking back to Marcus.

  “Alright, let’s stay close and search for them.” Marcus expected a response, but heard nothing.

  “Nate? Nate?!” Marcus panicked as he turned around to look for Nate. He scanned the forest for Nate, only to be met by the growing darkness of the night.

  The sun was now setting on the horizon, casting ever-growing shadows. Marcus started to breathe heavily as it got darker. The forest was eerily quiet.

  Marcus tried to calm himself, but was failing. His mind was racing. The lessons taught to him flooded his mind. Eventually, he remembered Sett talking about what it meant when the sounds of nature got quiet. A predator was near.

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  Remembering that, Marcus panicked even more. He suddenly heard rustling off to the side. Quickly, he turned to face the noise, but it was too late. A figure pounced on him, striking his chest. He felt immense pain as he saw his blood splatter out.

  As soon as his blood leaked out, his bracelet began to glow. In an instant, he was teleported out. The only thing left was his half-scream that echoed through the forest.

  As the night took over the forest, multiple screams echoed throughout. Many students were being attacked, and some were being teleported out.

  As this all occurred, Ian was peacefully resting in a tree. Below him, there were two small creatures cooking over a fire. One looked like a rabbit, while the other looked like a rat.

  The fire crackled and popped, providing light as the sun disappeared. After the sun fully went down, Ian opened his eyes. He stretched before jumping down next to the fire.

  Seeing that it was now nighttime, Ian grabbed his two cooked creatures and began to eat them. As he ate, he pulled out two green bands from his pocket and smiled to himself.

  The night was filled with the screams of students and fights occurring. Meanwhile, Ian kept his cool and ate calmly.

  Even though he was eating, his guard wasn’t down. He stared into the darkness while eating, keeping an observant eye. He couldn’t see what was hiding in the shadows, but he knew something was watching him. However, it never made a move.

  Ian quickly ate his meal, leaving nothing but bone. Standing up, he stretched once more, never shifting his eyes away from the forest.

  After stretching, Ian pulled out his daggers and rushed into the forest. He didn’t know what was watching him, but he had a feeling of where it was watching him from.

  The forest was pitch black. It would be hard for anyone to see anything, but not for Ian. Though he couldn’t entirely see in the dark, his vision was better than most. He was able to distinguish shapes and even see movement.

  Ian kept running into the forest, chasing whatever was watching him from a distance. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it was fairly sized. It appeared to be as big as a medium-sized dog.

  The creature was running fast. If Ian were just trying to run after it, he would’ve lost it by now. But he wasn’t running after it; he was using the terrain to catch up to it. He swung from vine to vine, jumped from tree to tree, and used everything to his advantage.

  Eventually, he caught up to the creature. He used his strength to launch himself at the creature and, using his daggers, stabbed it. The creature let out a small squeak as both of his blades pinned it to the ground.

  With it unable to escape now, Ian took a closer look and saw it was a fox-like creature with silver fur. Upon closer look, he saw it had a yellow band around its leg.

  Ian smiled happily seeing this. He held the creature down with all of his strength and used one of the daggers to stab the creature in the neck, twisting it to kill it quickly.

  After killing the creature, Ian wanted to take it back to his area, but decided against it. He instead took the band before running into the forest. He wanted to hunt as many creatures as possible during the night. Then he would collect the bodies for food later if they were still around.

  As the night went on, the screams of students continued alongside the sounds of some fighting. One group of students was fighting against two creatures with yellow bands. One looked like a spider, while the other looked like a giant bat.

  Two people fought against the bat while another two were trying to save one of their teammates from the spider’s web. Even though the students were using their elemental abilities, they still seemed to be struggling. The bat could easily evade its opponent’s attacks, while the spider just intimidated the other students to keep them away.

  Besides this, the students also looked exhausted. There were visible bags under their eyes. The lack of sleep was starting to affect them.

  As the group continued struggling, Ian watched from a distance. He kept his presence hidden while in a tree. He observed the fights carefully, trying to find an opening. Eventually, that moment would show itself.

  The pair of students fighting the bat were able to push it back with their attacks towards Ian’s position. Seeing the bat get close, Ian pulled out his dagger and waited. Once it got pushed back again, Ian finally jumped down from the tree, landing on the bat’s back, bringing it to the ground.

  Once they landed, Ian used the opportunity to stab the bat through its head. The students were stunned to see Ian appear out of nowhere. The pair relaxed a bit before realizing their teammates still needed help with the spider. They quickly thanked Ian for his help, then ran to assist the others.

  Ian didn’t say anything. He just retrieved his dagger and removed the yellow band from the bat before running off.

  Ian ran deep into the woods once again and continued his hunting. By now, it had been a few hours since the sun set. Ian had helped a few groups deal with some of the creatures attacking them while also hunting other creatures along the way. In total, he had killed five green band creatures, seven yellow band creatures, and one orange band creature. His score was now up to 136 from his original 95.

  Ian was happy with his first night of activities. He had collected plenty of points to secure a passing grade. With his winnings, Ian retraced his steps and collected the bodies of the creatures he could find. From there, he returned to his area and began to prepare the meat.

  He collected seven bodies in total from his hunt. In his area, Ian was preparing six of the seven bodies to turn into jerky. The last one was being cooked over the fire for him to eat.

  As everything was being prepared, Ian also started to work on his shelter. He gathered a bunch of large leaves and started arranging them in the tree to make a roof. He used vines to tie everything together and a few branches for support. After a bit of time, he finished his small shelter. He wanted to use the fur of the creatures he caught to make some bedding, but it would take time to clean and cure the hides.

  After everything was said and done, Ian relaxed, lying against the tree while watching his meal cook. The sounds of fighting had stopped a while ago, and the night returned to a calming silence. The only sound heard was the fire popping and the crickets chirping.

  A few minutes later, Ian’s meal finished cooking. Over the fire, there was a bird-like creature cooked to perfection. Ian was salivating at the sight of it. He reached out, pulling off one of its tender legs. The meat separated easily, almost falling off the bone. Though there was no seasoning, the meat was still delectable.

  Ian was peacefully enjoying his meal. Listening to the night, he could tell creatures were standing outside of his vision, staring at him. The smell of his food attracted them. And yet, none dared to get close. The six creatures hanging upside down from the tree, plus the one he was eating, were enough to deter them.

  Ian didn’t care for the creatures so long as they didn’t approach. He enjoyed his meal as best he could until something felt different.

  The sounds of the night didn’t entirely disappear, but they got quieter. At first, Ian didn’t notice the change. It wasn’t until he felt the air shift in an unnatural way that he became aware.

  Once he became aware of the change, he jumped from where he sat. A large blast of air came rushing towards where he was. It hit the tree Ian was against, stripping a layer of bark off. Seeing how close he was to getting hit, Ian turned towards the direction the attack came from.

  Slowly, from the shadows, a creature appeared. It looked like a Lynx with silvery blue fur. On its back, a pair of folded wings lay there. However, the thing that caught Ian’s attention the most was the red band on one of its legs.

  “Well, I wasn’t expecting to encounter one of you yet. Guess things just don’t go as planned sometimes.” A cold sweat was forming on Ian’s forehead.