Birth Of The Crafts-God

Chapter 30: Chapter 30 : Autumn’s Gate Guild

"So where are we at?" Lucas asked the group during their break."Still a couple miles away. At the speed we are moving at, we might make it the next day." said one of the men, who had black hair but grey eyes.

Parked close to the squad was a hover-vehicle used for traversing dangerous terrain. It was called a 'Sare' shuttle or carrier, and looked like a space-shuttle but was much smaller and without the 'wings'. It was equipped with attack options and made with a tough material less susceptible to desolate beast attacks.

Most freelancer teams and guilds made it their priority to get one of these, even if it were the cheaper editions. The journey in the Wastelands was usually not smooth or safe, so having a vehicle such as this was quite helpful for most teams.

Apart from Lucas, there were seven other individuals present. These seven were the members of the Autumn's Gate guild.

Originally, Lucas was meant to move with only four of them, but coincidentally, the guild received a mission in the same direction Lucas was headed. As such, it ended up being all seven escorting him, but as this was an unplanned event, Lucas didn't need to pay extra.

The seven members of the Autumn's Gate guild included their leader, the two vice captains, and the other team members. In truth, Autumn's Gate was much larger than just the seven, however, the others weren't official members. Also, due to the risk involved with the mission, the weaker members were asked to stay behind, with all seven official members taking part.

The strength of the seven was impressive, as this was what led to the guild being renowned. The guild leader was at the sixth level, whereas of the two who went to meet Lucas, the woman was a vice captain and at the fifth level. She was quite a popular figure due to both her strength and potential, as it was rumoured that she reached this level just before her twenty-fourth birthday.

A year has gone by since then, and while her strength didn't break through to the next level, it was reputed that her current ability was nothing like the person she was a year ago.

The other vice captain, who was also at the Five Apertures Opening stage, was a young man Lucas hadn't spoken to yet. The other four members had their strength split between the third and fourth levels, making them all elite figures.

It had been over twelve hours since they departed the base station, and they had yet to reach Astranian Forest. This wasn't that their speed was slow, but because the distance was long.

The Astranian Forest was home to many desolate beasts that could compare to stellar refiners at the third to fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage. For that reason, the base station was built a couple kilometres away. Even if one were to use a vehicle, it would take over a day to get there.

"You guys have been here a couple of times, right? How was it? Any survival tips?"

As this was his first time outside the city, whats more in a dangerous location, Lucas wanted to know more about the area. This was a survival tactic from his first life kicking in. Back then, Lucas had lived his early years as an orphan, which was one of the worst-case scenarios for anyone in a world governed by the rule of the strongest fists.

It was only natural to re

Today, the Autumn's Gate guild was among the top twenty freelancer squads in the city with a total force of almost fifty men.

"I spotted tracks of a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice up ahead." The scout, who was at the third level and controlled the scouting drones on the outside, said.

Crimson Fang as well as the other team members in the vehicle, frowned. Ever since they were closing in on the Astranian Forest, they released a couple of scouting drones to move head of their vehicle. The team's scout was a man with sharp-eyed vision, which made it easy for him to spot some irregularities in the terrain, using the scouting drones' vision.

A Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was a dangerous monster that usually operated at the Astranian Forest.

It was on par with a fifth level Aperture Opening stage practitioner, but as the desolate beasts of the Astranian Forest were on another level compared to the others, even a fifth level stellar refiner would almost have no complete confidence in taking on this creature alone unless with a powerful vestige in hand.

Usually, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice resided in the depths of the Astranian Forest, so most freelancers who came to the location never came across it unless they went deeper in. As such, encountering one at the fringes was unheard of before.

Crimson Fang couldn't help but take this occurrence seriously. Powerful desolate beasts were known to be territorial, and the only reason they would abandon their operating region was either due to a lack of food or they were forced out. None of the options were good for them.

"Keep going, but be more cautious and monitor the surroundings even tighter. Try to avoid it, but don't go too far out of our path. Juán, work with him as well. The rest, prepare for a possible battle. If we can't avoid it, we have to finish the battle as quickly as possible." Crimson Fang gave his orders.

With his strength, a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was no problem, but Crimson Fang still had to consider the possibility that there would be even stronger desolate beasts up ahead. Regardless, he had no choice for now. The pay for the mission was very high, even for them, and there was no way they would retreat without even reaching their destination.