Gon

After a few hours of walking, the trio still hadn't met anyone other than the transforming woman and the bandits whom the woman killed and some weak magical beasts along the way.

"Night is almost up and we still haven't found a place to stay" Leon said as he looked up at the sky.

"We can't just build a house in the middle of the forest unprotected. Let's just suck it up and find a cave, a large tree, or anything that can cover us" Rick said as he sighed.

''I should have learned the basic survival skills from my previous world when I had the chance' Rick thought to himself as he regretted not learning them.

They just continued walking until they came across the figure of a man lying on the ground.

'Is he dead' was the first thing that the trio thought of when they saw the figure.

The trio looked at the figure warily while keeping their mouths shut. Rick looked at them with a meaningful gaze as they backed away and kept some distance between them and the man

Rick then carefully approached the figure and noticed a faint breath on the man. He appeared to be unconscious.

Rick signaled Leon and Carla to come over and said "He's unconscious"

"Should we help him?" Carla asked with a faint frown.

"He's injured so even if he's a bad guy, he won't do much against the three of us... Unless he's so strong that even an injury like that won't faze him" Rick replied with a solemn tone.

"But at this point, we don't have any choice. We don't know which way is the Golden Gate Academy. He could be our only shot at this. Besides, what good does killing three good kids amount to?" Rick added as he sighed.

"That makes sense... or not, maybe to hide from his pursuers or evidence?" Carla as she raised her left eyebrow.

"You have a point... but we can't just leave him either. Let's set up camp here" Rick said as he looked at the surroundings.

"Do you know how to?" Leon asked with a curious gaze as he looked at Rick.

"Of course.." the faces of Leon and Carla showed some delight until Rick finished his words "..not. How would I know?" Rick said as he mischievously smiled.

"Don't tease us like that!" Carla complained with a pout.

"Let's just do our best to make one and make do with it no matter how bad it turns out" Rick said as he chuckled.

"What about his things?" Leon asked.

"Hmmmm, Leon, go scout our surroundings. If you spot anyone or danger, forget about anything else and rush here immediately" Rick said as he patted Leon's shoulder.

Leon nodded as he walked away to scout their surroundings.

Rick then checked their backpacks for materials they can use to set up camp and to help the man. He noticed that there were some unfamiliar clothes and other things that didn't belong to the trio.

'It's as if there were supposed to be more than just the three of us to be sent outside' Rick came to the conclusion but since he couldn't confirm it, he decided not to think too much about it.

'We have plenty of materials and food from our backpacks but it won't last very long. We have to find human settlements and this woman named Lisa fast' Rick thought to himself as he looked at the unconscious man.

Shortly afterwards, Leon came back and found a few useful pieces of wood. The trio washed the man's wounds gently with water created from Carla's magic and covered his wounds with cloth.

The trio then proceeded to make their own wooden tents to the best of their ability and complemented it with cloth. They then carried the unconscious man inside one of the wooden tents for him to comfortably rest.

When night fell, they debated on whether to set up a campfire for warmth or not because it might attract magical beasts but in the end, they decided not to do so as they fell asleep.

Of course they had someone be on the lookout for them as they took turns between sleeping and looking out for the night in case of any danger or the unconscious man woke up.

Eventually, morning came as the light from the sun illuminated the entire forest, everyone woke up except for the man. The trio then ate their breakfast and it was at this moment that the man woke up.

"Urgh..!" the man grunted as he grit his teeth and sat.

Leon and Carla picked up their backpacks while Rick just looked at him. The man noticed the trio's presence but didn't say anything as he went to check the surroundings first.

'Kids? It seems they somewhat rescued me' the man thought to himself.

"Mister, we found you unconscious in the middle of the forest with injuries. If it's okay with you, can we ask what happened to you?" Rick said as his expression showed a naive concern for the man while Leon and Carla just looked at him with wariness.

"It seems to be the case. The name's Gon, by the way. But before anything else, can you bring me some water?" Gon said with a calm voice. Rick then brought him a wooden cup with water for him to drink.

"Aaah. That was refreshing" Gon said as he put away the cup and looked at the trio.

"How are you feeling, Mister Gon?" Rick asked as he took the cup from Gon.

"Everything hurts but not anything I can't handle" Gon replied with a smile.

"Well, we aren't really good at things like that but we did the best we could" Rick said as he smiled back.

"My name's Rick. He's Leon and She's Carla" Rick said as he pointed towards Leon and Carla.

"What were you doing in this forest, anyway? It's not everyday you see kids this deep in the forest" Gon replied.

"We were just looking for my mother. Her name is Laura. She said that she had something to do in this forest and we had to find someone named Lisa from Golden Gate Academy" Rick replied as he lowered his head while his eyes flashed a sad look.