As the afternoon sun's fading golden rays attempted to illuminate the lands below, two young adventurers harmonized a cheerful tune together. The female adventurer, fully immersed in the melody, even closed her eyes as she hummed along.
Walking in a fairly less-trodden path, Shye and Seira looked carefree as they headed towards a dangerous area, the ominous rainforest where Haemotoxin Vipers were aplenty.
Well, Seira seemed to be well-versed in this area so Shye couldn't help but be infected by her lighthearted approach.
A few moments later though, her carefree countenance turned into one of focused vigilance, prompting Shye to do the same.
'Geh...what stance am I supposed to take?' he mused, feeling awkward as he glanced at the elemental staff in his right hand.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at the ominous rainforest, however, their targets, the Haemotoxin Vipers resided in the deeper parts of the rainforest, hence, the two of them had to walk deeper.
Fortunately, the sight of a few adventurer parties somewhat eased the ominous feeling the two of them had in their hearts.
'Hmmm...I wonder what this feeling is...could it be some sort of aura? Nonetheless, I now understand why this place is called the ominous rainforest...'
Somehow, although the area's aura was ominous, nothing had attacked them yet, which was a bit unfortunate in Shye's opinion as he wanted to try firing a few mage spells.
A little while later, his wish was finally granted as one of their targets finally appeared.
"Haemotoxin Viper!" Shye exclaimed, alerting Seira of a viper hanging from a young birch tree, waiting for them to walk closer. "Allow me to test how strong this thing is."
Aiming his staff towards the viper, Shye thought of a skill's name, just like how he used skills as a warrior.
'Fireball!'
Shortly thereafter, a moderately sized fireball materialized in front of his staff.
It then hurtled towards the viper moments later, creating a dazzling path of embers as it flew through the air.
*FWOOSH*
What he didn't expect was that the viper would actually be hit by such a straightforward attack, burning it to crisp as a smell of roasted snake meat wafted in the air.
For some reason, it smelled delicious.
'Well, that viper is a wee bit stupid, isn't it? I mean, how can you get hit by the first skill an opponent throws at you?' Shye thought, inwardly reprimanding the viper for being a bit too incompetent.
It was best for them to avoid hunting at night as most monstrous creatures had better night vision than humans.
After looting their most recent kill, the two young adventurers headed straight toward the safe zone inside the ominous rainforest.
To their surprise, upon arriving, there were at least three parties of adventurers resting at the safe zone as well making things even safer.
"Looks like we'll be able to sleep well tonight!" Seira said giddily, immediately walking over to the resting adventurers to strike up a sentry deal.
As for Shye, he immediately started setting up their camp, taking advantage of the fact that no one was looking at him to take out camping items from the system's inventory.
Outdoor camping was one of the things he recently started enjoying.
Unfortunately, he couldn't do so in every quest.
Hopefully, Seira can strike a nice deal with the other adventurers.
After a few minutes, Seira returned with a wide smile on her face, basically confirming that the two of them would be able to sleep well tonight.
"What did they say?" Shye asked, expecting a positive answer.
"Well, they said that they already had a sentry agreement so they would let us join as long as we pay the sentries sixty silver coins each," Seira replied, as she took out a small pouch and counted the silver coins inside.
As for Shye, he did the same.
Sixty silver coins seemed a bit pricey, but they both agreed it was worth it for a nice nightly rest.
Receiving sixty silver coins from Shye, Seira once again headed towards the adventurers and gave the sentries the payment they requested.
Hence, that night, as the cold winds caressed their skin, Shye enjoyed yet another night of peaceful sleep nestled snugly in his sleeping bag.
After casting a transparent physical barrier on both him and Seira of course.
Should these bastards try something idiotic, he won't hesitate to slit each of their little throats.
Having already assessed them using his trusty appraisal skill, Shye determined that none posed an actual threat. Thus, he felt comfortable enough to enjoy a good night's sleep.
To him, they were only useful as some form of alarm.