Chapter 31
“This place should do. The stream isn’t far away, and the cliff completely blocks off the rear. We’ll settle here. Everyone, put down your things.”
“Yes!”
“Loyalty!”
“Loyalty!”
After getting rid of some of the awkwardness between me and my group members, we moved together in search of a place where we could stay for a while.
Compared to the stone chambers of Ammajeong, which were hardly comfortable but at least gave us a fixed living space, our conditions had become much worse.
And all of it was because of one sentence.
“For the next month, survive by groups. Your first test will be held one month from now. That is all.”
Jo Gyun, the owner of that cracked voice, had said it after our groups were finalized.
It basically meant that they had taught us most of what they intended to teach, so from now on, we were supposed to train and survive on our own.
Whenever that cracked voice spoke, our living conditions somehow got worse.
“Shouldn’t we inspect the surroundings first?”
“Yes. There may be wild animals nearby. I noticed a few animal dens here and there.”
“Then Jintae, Jinsu, and Myeonghwa will scout the area first. The first thing to check is any nearby danger. After that, if possible, find out where the other groups have settled.”
“The other groups too?”
Fortunately, surviving in the wilderness was not difficult for me.
Even with people depending on me, it was the same.
I had survived in deserts and at sea before. A forest like this was hardly a challenge.
To me, a forest was almost like a city.
We selected a spot not far from a water source, with the cliff behind us acting as a wall against the wind.
Naturally, the next step was scouting.
When I told the three who were leaving to observe the movements of the other groups as well, they questioned me.
It was not insubordination.
They had a reason.
“Group battles are forbidden until the test. Anyone who breaks this rule will immediately be expelled.”
That same cracked voice had told us that.
“It’s best if our routes for water and food don’t overlap with theirs. That way, neither side runs short. If we know their routes, we can secure more food and water for ourselves.”
“Ah. So you were already thinking that far ahead. I hadn’t considered it. As expected of my lord... no, Young Master.”
“All right. Everyone, start moving. And if you can bring back something we can eat, even better.”
“Loyalty!”
The word “Loyalty” and the title “my lord” were already starting to come naturally from my group members.
I immediately waved my hands.
In the end, we decided to standardize the way they addressed me as “Young Master.”
That was the easiest.
Jin Un already called me that anyway.
After we roughly cleared the campsite, Jintae, Jinsu, and Myeonghwa scattered into the forest to scout.
That left me, Ma Cheonho, and Na-gak.
It was a small group, but we had more than enough manpower for heavy labor.
I led the two of them into the dense forest.
“First, gather as much as possible. We need wood for a fence, houses, and firewood.”
“I obey.”
“Loyalty!”
“Use your internal energy if you have to. Let’s finish this quickly. Doing it in one go is best, right?”
“Loyalty!”
“Can you stop ending every sentence with ‘Loyalty’?”
“Loyaaalty...?”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, sir.”
After securing a location and checking the surroundings, the next thing to do was gather resources.
The easiest resource to find in a forest was wood.
We needed it first to build shelter for the next month.
This much is nothing.
If I were alone, I would have just dug a small underground shelter and lived there.
But with this many people, that would be difficult.
Having everyone live in holes in the ground would also look a little pathetic.
Besides, this month was not simply given to us so that we could survive.
It was also time for us to learn about one another, understand each other’s martial arts, and develop teamwork before the test.
We had to survive, but we also had to train.
This practical training included all of that.
Fortunately...
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Everyone here was a martial artist, so the work went quickly.
Weapons, arms, and legs wrapped in energy struck the trees, and one after another, the trunks came crashing down.
Na-gak broke trees with his legs.
Ma Cheonho caught and moved them aside.
I handled cutting away the smaller branches.
Once we divided the work, the pace became extremely fast.
We returned to camp carrying a large amount of wood.
We would still need to repeat the process several more times.
“We’ll leave the middle open and build the houses around it with the cliff at our backs. We’ll put a wooden fence in front. Cut the wood to the sizes I marked. Ah, but first we need to dig holes... Oh. There happens to be something perfect for that.”
“Why are you looking at my spear like that?”
“That’s what tools are for. Do you think I carried my dagger around so I could cut trees with it?”
“...”
“I’ll buy you a good one later. You know that, right? I told you we’re going to climb high. Once we get there, I’ll take care of everything. You trust me, right?”
“Loyaaalty...”
Because our group used a wide variety of weapons, we had plenty of tools available.
While I was shaping wood with my dagger, Jintae, Jinsu, and Myeonghwa returned.
They carried a deer and several rabbits.
Apparently, their hunt had been successful too.
“We’re back! We spotted prey on the way, so we caught it!”
“Food!”
“Problem solved!”
“Good work. What about the surroundings?”
“There wasn’t anything especially dangerous. We’re also far enough away from the other groups. Fifth Young Master settled on the northeastern hill, and Bijo made camp on the opposite side. We didn’t see the others.”
“Hmm. So the others were assigned to different areas.”
“If you go beyond a certain range, a formation makes you circle back. It looks like the zones were divided.”
They divided us into groups, and then divided the territory too?
There had to be some meaning behind that.
It became even more suspicious when I calculated the number of people in each group.
Cheon Gangwol’s group had the largest number.
Our group had the smallest.
Bijo’s group was somewhere in the middle.
If the remaining three groups were put together in another area, the total numbers would probably be similar.
It felt as if the instructors had deliberately balanced the population of each zone.
Maybe this month itself...
Was part of the test?
Direct combat was forbidden, but observation and information gathering were allowed.
For now, that was as far as I could guess.
“Good work. Remember their locations and occasionally check on their movements.”
For the moment, survival came first.
With everyone helping, construction moved faster.
We dug holes, planted logs, and bound them together with ropes made from vines to create walls.
For the roofs, smaller branches, leaves, and bark were enough.
After several hours of hard work, our first building stood.
We repeated the process over the next three days.
We moved wood, trimmed it, dug more holes, and built.
While moving through the mountain, I taught them which plants and mushrooms were edible.
I also taught them to boil water before drinking it.
Everyone kept reacting the same way.
“Young Master, how do you know all this?”
“I learned while searching for ingredients for alchemy.”
It was my usual unbeatable excuse.
It was already common knowledge that Cheon Sowol had once been so obsessed with alchemy that he blew up an entire building.
“About that alchemy thing... you’ve stopped now, right?”
“M-Myeonghwa. You shouldn’t ask something like that so directly...”
“I stopped. Don’t worry.”
“Phew.”
Ma Cheonho had tried to stop her from asking, but he was the first person to look relieved by my answer.
“Gather poisonous plants and mushrooms too. They may be useful later.”
“For fighting other groups?”
“I might eat them.”
“Why would you eat them...?”
Thanks to the Black Wolf, poison became internal energy for me.
Weak poison probably would not do much, but it was still worth collecting.
“It’s a hobby.”
“What?”
“I’m joking. Normally, we’ll coat weapons with it. If possible, poisoning a water source or mixing it into food would be even better.”
“That sounds rather underhanded...”
“It’s efficient.”
