Upcoming tempest

After one day fueling the campfire and waiting patiently for the arrival of more people, Dean finally had the first contact with humans ever since he stepped on that simulation. For a while, he really began to think that he was the only person in that place and that the first trial was individual.

The first person to appear was Arwin and a group of five other people. They climbed that cliff in some minutes and appeared very early in the morning.

He had that usual chill smile on his face, even though he was wearing straps and didn't have the best looks overall.

"Oh, Ares! So you were the one doing this kind of signal... We thought that it was some warning of the higher-ups or something...", he commented once he approached Ares. He didn't greet him or something. He was very straightforward when talking to others, which kind of pissed off the red-headed boy.

"Yes. I kept in mind what that Guardian said. We need to be together if we want to survive these trials. For this, we needed to gather as fast as possible. That's the most practical way I could find to gather everyone, though I wasn't expecting to find a cliff so soon," he admitted.

"So, you gambled on both, finding someone while walking or then a cliff. What came first would be good, anyway," one of the other trainees asked, raising one brow. People still enjoyed acting like Ares was a mindless person.

"No. Actually, I saw that this forest has the same peculiarities as highlands, and some places have accentuated relay. It was obvious that I would find a cliff sometime, I just didn't know when," Ares explained, not bothering to pretend that he was glad by justifying for a wimp like that arrogant weakling in front of him.

"Good idea, man! I didn't think about something like this during all this week. I bet that it will bring a lot of people," Arwin decided to cut the tension on the environment by laughing and tapping Ares on the shoulder, agreeing with his point of view.

He was fully aware of Ares' personality, so he needed to do something about it.

'I prefer to maintain things working together and controlled, even if it means to step on my pride a little bit. I also think that his plan is kind of reckless, but I can't really complain about it since it worked, right?' He thought to himself as he pretended.

"Well, everyone, since we are already here, and this place seems to be peaceful and safe, why don't you just rest? We are walking for several hours straight just to reach this cliff, after all."

"Did you need to walk this much to reach where we are now?" Ares asked, frowning.

"Yes. We needed to do as such. This forest is very dense, and we were quite distant from this location. If we went in a slow-paced rhythm, I bet that we would need to travel for an entire day to get here. I can't even believe that we could see this smoke from so far away."

Once Arwin said it to him, Ares bit his lips. He was feeling quite insecure about his plans right now.

Arwin noticed that reaction and knew already that Ares came to the same conclusion as him about the campfire plan.

"It won't work in this dense and big forest, right?" Ares asked, looking at the horizon and not seeing an end to that intense green of the tree leaves.

"Yes. It won't work. I bet that there are other groups who could see it, but we are not sure. If we are the first ones to arrive, then we were the closest ones, most likely. If it was difficult for us to spot this smoke, others will have a way harder time."

Ares nodded his head, crossing his arms and staying quiet for some time. He was walking to the sides and murmuring with himself from time to time.

Arwin could comprehend that behavior.

"You are probably worrying about the same thing as me, right?" the white-headed boy asked, brushing his white hair to the side. "You noticed the timer that they put on this simulation."

Ares nodded his head.

"Yes. I am concerned about finding others. I don't know what will happen when these clouds finally arrive. Also, this earthquake is intensifying."

Arwin shrugged, sighing a light sigh.

"We just got to wait right now and see what will happen. If my guess is right, these clouds will only reach us after one week more. Two weeks in total. If in one or two days the other trainees don't appear, we will need to find another way to contact each other."

Ares agreed with him.

"Well, I bet that we might be the biggest group out there right now unless someone came up with a better plan or was lucky," Ares tried to be positive about the situation.

"In my case, I was lucky. I found a lot of people by chance, also because of one of my Mystical Arts, but I am running out of mana and I can't recover it properly due to the lack of nutrients and energy on my body."

Ares wanted to ask about that Mystical Art, but it was pointless and wouldn't make any sense at that moment. They needed to think about their next step after waiting for a while on that campfire.

The red-headed boy looked at the horizon again, turning around.

"Well, one thing is for sure: they want us to avoid the tempest. To avoid the tempest, we need to walk in the sun's direction. Your group came from est, going to the west. I can only suppose that everyone appeared at the est part of the forest, so we are all walking in the same direction right now. The key is to keep going and not delay. One time or another we will find each other, like what happened now."

Arwin pondered on Ares' words, then nodded his head.

"Yes. Everyone is trying to avoid this upcoming tempest and is wary of this earthquake. There is no reason for them to delay or walk in any other direction. This tempest will siege us until we are in a place where it is impossible for us to be separated. For now, let's wait and rest. Tomorrow we will see what happens."