[Intergalactic: Online 5]

Creed stepped out of the lab and looked around the forest carefully. It was now the third morning since Creed had come to this world. The previous afternoon, Creed had explored a radius of about ten meters around the lab. There were no paths or landmarks, so Creed had no clue which way to go, so he decided to climb one of the large trees to get a better view of his surroundings.

Creed tied his spear and shield onto his back and then climbed up one of the massive trees. He did not go all the way to the top as that seemed a bit too dangerous, and so he chose to stop on one of its thick branches. Creed could better gauge his position relative to the surrounding forest from the high vantage point.

'That direction is nothing but trees...', Creed thought as he looked around.

'Hold on, is that a river over there?!', Creed thought in excitement.

People always needed water, so their settlements would usually be located reasonably close to water sources. Creed was confident that he would eventually find civilization if he followed the river downstream.

Creed decided on his path and was about to climb down the tree when he suddenly heard rustling in the nearby trees. Creed quickly pulled out his spear and then tightly wrapped his legs around the giant branch to ensure that he wouldn't fall off.

After a few seconds, a flock of small, three-winged birds flew out of the trees and into the sky while making screeching sounds. They sounded horrific but completely ignored Creed, which made him sigh in relief.

"Phew, a false alarm," Creed muttered as he felt how tense he had been over that shock. He quickly climbed down the tree and headed in the direction of the stream while making sure to leave tiny marks on the trees just in case he had to come back here.

A while later, Creed arrived at the small stream and then began walking in the direction of the river's current. Creed stayed hidden in the large shrubbery to not expose himself while he walked.

'Humans are not the only creatures that need water to survive, so I need to be as careful as possible...', Creed thought to himself as he took quiet steps. His travel time would undoubtedly be increased, but at least he would feel a lot safer.

As if reading his mind, a strange six-legged beast with soft-looking brown fur and a long trunk-like snout walked out of the shrubbery on the opposite side of the river. The creature immediately headed for the water and then started drinking. It used its oddly shaped snout like a straw, sucking up large amounts of water.

Creed immediately stopped moving and crouched to stay out of sight. He had no idea what the creature was and had no intention of wasting energy on unnecessary actions, so he decided to wait for it to leave.

After a few minutes, the creature turned around and walked back into the forest. Creed sighed in relief and then kept moving. He wanted to get out of the forest before nightfall.

After about an hour of walking, Creed started to relax subconsciously. He had encountered a few other creatures since the first one. However, most of them seemed to be herbivores more interested in the water.

The only creature who had shown hostility toward him was a massive rock creature that Creed thought was an ordinary boulder. So when Creed tried to relieve himself on it, the creature became understandably angered. Luckily, it was not too fast, so Creed could easily outrun it.

Once Creed was sure that he was safe. He calmed down and went over to the river to have a sip.

'Maybe I'm only now noticing this since I've exerted myself a lot today, but this body seems to be a lot faster and stronger than my regular body...', Creed thought to himself while looking at his reflection in the water.

This was actually the first time he had properly seen himself since he woke up in the lab. Creed was in his mid-twenties in the real world and figured that this body was similar in age based on his face.

"I'm much taller and a lot stronger than my real self. Is this the perk of getting transported into a game world?" Creed chuckled to himself when he suddenly heard the familiar sounds of weapons clashing, followed by faint voices.

"Damnit, there's too many of them!" Creed heard a man's voice as a series of familiar-sounding screeches echoed throughout the forest.

"Group up!" yelled a female voice from under the sounds of the constant screeching.

Creed crouched down and followed the sounds carefully. He was happy to have finally found some people, but their situation was dire by the sounds of things. Creed also wanted to be sure that they weren't the type who would try to kill him on sight, so he knew that he had to gauge the situation carefully.

Creed quietly crept closer to the sounds of battle and then crawled into some bushes. Creed saw three people fighting a pack of lizardmen jumping down from the treetops. At first glance, Creed counted at least six of the beasts, with another two lying dead on the ground. Creed watched as the beasts snarled viciously while moving around the three similarly dressed people.

They were all dressed in what seemed to be a set of grey military-style gear, coupled with black kevlar vests. However, despite their modern equipment, they fought with large combat knives. Creed watched the woman who was standing at the front carefully. She was relatively tall and had short black hair, with a pistol holstered on her waist. Creed watched her curiously as she fought with the large knife.

"Kill the leader, and they'll scatter!" the woman yelled as she ran towards the snarling group of lizardmen. She expertly dodged the jaws of the closest one by strafing left and then sliced at its relatively soft abdomen, and then stabbed it behind the neck, killing it instantly.

Before being surrounded, her two male companions quickly covered her flanks while waving their blades in large, swinging arcs to keep the lizardmen at bay. They were clearly not as skilled as her, but they served as good distractions.

Creed was impressed by the woman and curiously focused his eyes on her when the interface suddenly activated.

[Human-Female (F-Rank)]

[Path: Close Combatant (Novice)]

'Oh?, the NPC interface activated?...', Creed thought to himself in complete shock. The NPC interface was similar to the player interface. However, as its name suggested, it showed the details of NPCs.

Creed was shocked that the interface considered her an NPC despite how realistic she looked, but what surprised him was that she was ranked.

On average, most NPCs were (Un-Ranked). The system only gave ranks to NPCs who were powerful or had the ability to grow. These NPCs were commonly known as companions. Companions' ranks were based on their overall skills, paths, and potential.

This was why Creed was impressed despite the woman being (F-Rank). Creed quickly looked at the two men to see if they were also ranked but was instantly disappointed.

[Human-Male (Un-Ranked)]

[Path: Marksmen (Novice)]

[Human-Male (Un-Ranked)]

[Path: Navigator (Novice)]

'Well, that's to be expected. After all, It's rare enough to find one ranked NPC. I wonder if I can recruit her as a companion...', Creed thought to himself with a smile on his face. While he was scheming, Creed suddenly heard the sound of snarling coming from behind him.

He quickly turned around and found himself face to face with a lizardman that had stuck its head into the bushes.