Exploration

When Ken arrived at the outside of the meeting room, through the window pane he saw Egas already there, with his head lowered stoically reading something on his ID-watch.

Sensing a person's gaze, the alpha lifted his head and noticed the beta. He gave a small smile and waved for Ken to come in.

Though reluctant, Ken went in and said a brief "hi" and then sat in silence.

Now it was the alpha's turn to be confused. Their relationship was developing finely these past few days. The beta responded well. He thought he could make the next move.

Communication was key. So he reached for the beta's hand from across the table. Ken resisted and tried to pull his hand back, but he was no match for the alpha. He was truly finding the alpha to be thick-skinned.

Egas gently asked, "Did someone upset you?"

The beta didn't respond.

The alpha guessed, "...Is it me?"

The beta didn't respond, but the brief tremble of his hand gave him away.

'So there was an issue,' the alpha thought. Analyzing what he did for these past few days, nothing was turning up. He sent messages as usual, except added a little spice.

Nothing was sensitive or appeared out of the ordinary.

Of course, although Egas didn't know what he did wrong, clearly the beta was upset because of him and he had to figure something out.

He pulled the beta's hand to his mouth and gave it an earnest peck, "If you tell me what I did wrong, I won't make the mistake again."

Ken finally spoke, "You're overstepping the boundary again. Treating me like I'm yours."

The alpha received the signal. The beta didn't want to romantically associate with him. This was a rejection. Egas was a person who could pick himself up pretty quickly. He respected the beta's honesty.

Letting go of the beta's hand, he apologized, "Sorry, I didn't know you hate it so much." The beta turned his head away and rubbed his hand.

Egas stared a bit and seeing Ken was not giving him another look, he turned back and focused on his work.

Their awkward silence didn't last for long as the others joined them. Krisa, being the emergency healer, was part of the first scout team. Then the rest were all alphas.

Egas was a lot more serious in their presence. It was a side Ken haven't seen in a while.

As for the team makeup, Ken felt it was based on elements.

Ron, a seven-star S-Rank awakened with enhanced sight and earth attribute. He was the main scouter.

Maze, a seven-star S-Rank awakened with mutated blue flames.

Daan, an eight-star S-Rank awakened with an ice ability.

Then there was Rick, who was part of the usual first scout team, but Egas switched with him so he sat out this time.

Everyone except Ken already knew the drill. Egas clarified his main role was to protect the beta. If the situation turned grim, the priority was to bring Ken back to the spaceship.

Although the growth of his ability was currently unknown, there was no doubt it was still a rare one that they might not see again for a thousand years.

Egas explained, "Ken had been training for the past two weeks and although he memorized the energy of many plant species, there is not enough variety or time to expand his knowledge. For this scouting mission, his main goal is to familiarize with our procedure and gain some experience."

Once the meeting was over, the six changed into the reinforced exploration suit and set foot onto the land. Their spaceship had already circled the planet and used their detector to scan the geography. Their usual focus was on the locations where their scanner could not pick up something.

Usually, at those locations, there would be mutated flora or beasts which could disrupt the energy Nd prevent their investigation.

In the dark forest where they landed, trees were dense and tall enough to block the light from shining in.

Ron placed his hand on the ground and spread his energy. He said, "No beasts in the vicinity. Sensed a stronger energy in the three o'clock direction."

Maze led the way towards that direction and he clicked his smart glasses. It would detect the surrounding and separate known species versus unknown species.

As they walked for an hour, many of the plants were similar to the ones already discovered, but the team stopped many times for Ken to examine the species he had yet to have seen before. It was a great learning opportunity for the beta.

Krisa also marked some of the more uncommon plants' locations for the scavenging team later.

Again, Ron placed his hand on the ground and sensed the area for ground movement. He concluded, "Leader, there seems to be a life source at the six o'clock direction. Based on the heavy steps, large in size and in a pack.

He led the way but this time they did not stop and set their destination straight to the life source. As they neared, a dull and heavy cry could be heard. The beasts had tails the color of flames and head the look of a bird.

Daan looked at his smart glasses' analysis, "Seems to be four-star beasts."

Egas grabbed Ken and jumped up one of the sturdy trees leaving him there in safety and ordered, "Watch from here."

Ken looked down and saw the rest of the team jump into the herd of beasts and attacked. Though Krisa was not a combat type, as a five-star S-Rank, she could easily handle the beasts.

They hunted them for meat and beast crystals but left half alive for repopulation. If they encountered a high-ranked seven or eight-star beast, then they would have no choice but to kill it. If they let it grow, it could endanger them in the future.

The team tossed their spoils into the dimensional storage and went on their way.

Ken was not able to do anything, so Krisa comforted, "It's ok. Once we return to the imperial capital, you will have more training."