The afternoon sun shone viciously as the hot summer winds blew over the forests, gently rustling the leaves of the numerous trees.
On this fine, hot day, Sundrin stood upon the branch of a huge tree in one of the densest areas of the forest, observing all the greenery that surrounded him as the buzzing of the insects entered his ears.
His eyesight was quite good so he was able to look far away and Looking from this high vantage point, he could see where the forest grew even denser and where there was a clearing.
He sweated a lot, feeling the hot winds and the sun's hot rays falling on his skin as he tried to figure out the terrain surrounding them,
"Hey! Sundrin!"
As he heard the voice of Torvyn, he turned his head to look at his companion calling out to him.
Taking one last glance at the scenery, he jumped from the branch and landed with a bang onto the ground.
By now, his body had evolved to a point where he could no longer be called human, and even such a jump, which would have hurt a lot before made him feel nothing now,
"Hey, bro! Why haven't we started hunting yet?!"
Torvyn couldn't help but ask in a questioning and hasty tone as a frown appeared on his face, and in response to his friend's question, Sundrin just let out a small smile as he started explaining,
"Don't be hasty, Torvyn, you know what master says, right? The work done hastily is the devil's work."
Hearing these words, Torvyn calmed down a bit and nodded, but Sundrin could still see some restlessness in his expression, which made him shake his head with a wry smile,
"Torvyn, what do you think we should be doing first here?"
He asked his friend as he looked around a bit, trying to figure out in which direction the forest was denser,
"Ummm, isn't it to hunt beasts so that we can get points?"
Torvyn said, not so sure himself, as he also knew that his friend was implying something else with his words,
"Ideed we do need points, but there are two other things we need if we wanna survive, do you know what tehy are?"
Sundrin knelt down to check the soil on the land, but continued speaking to his friend,
"Uh, I think it is food but what is th- oh!"
Torvyn suddenly had a revelation as a startled expression covered his face,
"Indeed, we need food and water. The past few months, we hunted our own food, so we know its importance, but we were also near a water source all the time, so we forgot its importance. We can find food anywhere here by hunting, but first we need to find a water source."
Sundrin said with a smile as he got up and looked at Torvyn.
Survath had taught them how to distill salt water into drinking water by using their flames, thus all they needed to do was to find some kind of water body, and then they would be set for the hunt,
"But how are we gonna find a water body in such a dense forest?"
Torvyn asked with a perplexed and worried face, but there was no worry to be seen on Sundrin's features, in fact, he had an amused expression on his face as he looked at Torvyn,
"You were sleeping when the third elder was teaching this weren't you?"
He asked his friend with a wry smile, shaking his head yet again, not knowing whether to cry due to his tardiness or be amazed by his gall to sleep in the teacher's class.
A bright shade of red covered Torvyn's ears as he coughed out in embarrassment,
"There are three things you need to understand if you want to find a water body in a dense forest."
Sundrin said with a smile as he raised one of his fingers and started explaining,
"First, you need to closely observe the terrain of your surroundings. Water pools naturally form in lower terrain, so be observant."
His middle finger rose, and he started explaining the second thing,
"Second, places near a water source should have denser vegetation as plants thrive when near water."
Finally, he raised his ring finger and finished the explanation,
"And finally, Third, animals also need water to survive, thus, we can also follow animal tracks to a potential water source."
Torvyn was surprised, to say the least, by how much his friend knew about the topic. After all, one should know that the third elder taught many things, and to remember all of them was nigh impossible for everybody.
Only a handful of students could do this, and it was clear Sundrin was one of them.
Soon, the two kids started moving towards a denser part of the forest, which Sundrin had seen when he was observing from above the tree.
As they walked, both of them grew more and more amazed by how beautiful the forest was.
The green leaves upon which the sun shone, the cries of the distant birds, and the usual buzzing of the insects. All of this created a tranquil and relaxing atmosphere around them.
They continued to move with slow and steady steps for a moment they forgot that they were in a forest full of deadly beasts, but this atmosphere didn't last long.
Suddenly, Sundrin's eyes narrow as he stops and swiftly retreats back, but not before firmly gripping his friend's hand and pulling him back along with him.
A swishing sound occurs as a shadow quickly plunges where they had initially stood.
Sundrin and Torvyn step back and get ready to fight, and soon enough, they see what it was that tried to attack them. It was a wolf with a thick coat of brow fur.
But that was not all, soon enough, three more wolves came out of the bushes nearby and stood beside the first wolf.
Sudrin smiled, looking at the ferocious wolves, knowing that a blood-pumping fight was inevitable.