Morning Breakfast

The warm rays of the morning sun came through the thin curtains, casting a soft golden glow across Noah's room.

His eyes fluttered open. Stretching his sore arms, he slowly sat straight.

"Ugh, fuck, did I overdo my training yesterday?" Noah muttered while flexing his arms, remembering the intense training he did yesterday.

Noah took a deep breath while rubbing his face before going to freshen up and take a bath.

Soon he returned to his room and wore his old clothes, which were already looking worn due to yesterday's hunt.

"Haa… I don't know how long these clothes will last." He sighed before putting on his shirt and pants. His gaze landed on his longsword propped against the wall. With a determined look on his face, he stood and strapped it to his waist before heading downstairs.

As he slowly descended the creaking wooden stairs, the sound of conversation came from downstairs. The smell of freshly baked bread and roasted meat wafted from the tavern's kitchen, making his stomach growl.

'Looks like we can finally eat,' he thought before hurrying downstairs. Soon, he entered the main hall and saw his team already gathered around a table near the corner.

Leah waved him over with a smile. "Morning, Noah. You're up later than I expected."

Noah chuckled, taking a seat beside her. "I might've overdone it yesterday. Needed the extra sleep."

Daniel smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Practicing your swordsmanship in the dead of the night, eh? Your grunting was loud enough to reach the second floor yesterday. It really pumped me up to train as well."

Victor shook his head with a chuckle. "Stop your bullshit. You went straight to sleep as soon as we got here."

Daniel's eyes twitched. "You can keep quiet, and no one will think you're mute."

Emma, sitting quietly at the table, gave a small nod. "I-I saw you practicing too. It was... inspiring." Her voice was soft but filled with determination, a stark contrast to her usual timid demeanor.

Noah turned his head to Emma before giving her an encouraging nod. "You should practice as well. We need to improve as much as we can to survive in this accursed world."

The rest of the group nodded their heads as their expressions turned serious.

Noah raised an eyebrow as he saw the atmosphere shifting. "Anyways, what's for breakfast?"

"Good enough to fill our stomachs," Leah said, passing him a plate of bread, eggs, and a strip of smoked meat. "The tavern is quite generous with their food. The meals are enough to power a hunter throughout the day since the meat is from the beast we killed yesterday."

Noah looked at Leah in surprise. "Oh? You got the meat of that beast? I thought Garrick took all of it."

Victor shook his head. "No, he only took the payment for dismantling the wolf without destroying its precious parts like claws, teeth, and other things. He came to give us our part in the morning."

Noah's eyes flashed with surprise. "Oh? That's quite generous of him."

As they ate, Victor cleared his throat. "We need to make plans for today's hunt. We barely survived yesterday, but with that success, we can hunt a beast like that much more easily. We need more Soul Energy if we want to reach E Grade as soon as possible."

Leah nodded, her expression growing serious. "Agreed. The outskirts of the forest were manageable, but we need to push deeper if we want to face stronger beasts."

"Deeper means riskier," Noah said, chewing thoughtfully. "We barely managed with that wolf yesterday. If we run into a pack or something stronger, it could be the end of us. And we have yet to know what level of beasts are there in the forest."

Daniel shrugged, tossing a piece of bread into his mouth. "We'll just have to be smarter. Stick together, plan better. Besides, we're already stronger than we were yesterday, thanks to that Soul Energy."

Emma fidgeted with her fork. "M-maybe we should stay near the outskirts a little longer? Just to be safe."

Victor gave her a reassuring smile. "We'll take it step by step. We're not going to rush deep into the forest."

Noah finished his eggs before exhaling a breath. "Let's set clear goals first. We need to decide how many beasts we need to kill before heading deeper into the jungle. I remember Garrick mentioning that beasts also have grades, and E-tier beasts can be multiple times stronger than the one we faced."

Leah pulled out a rough map the villagers had provided. "Here's the forest layout. The outskirts are marked in green, and the deeper zones are in red. I say we hunt at least three more beasts before heading further into the red zone tomorrow."

"Sounds reasonable," Victor agreed. "We'll focus on killing the lone beasts on the outskirts first, then retreat before nightfall."

Daniel grinned. "Perfect. This will help us grow strong enough to face beasts at the outskirts of the red zone."

Emma hesitated but finally nodded. "I-I'll try my best."

"Good," Noah said, standing and placing his plate aside. "Let's finish up and get moving. The sooner we start, the more kills we can get."

The group nodded in unison before quickly finishing their meal. They double-checked their weapons and supplies before heading out.

All the passing people looked at them with shining eyes.

"Look! That's the first group who returned with a Soul Beast," one of the crowd members muttered while pointing at Noah's group.

"Yes, I heard two more groups returned with a successful hunt," a young man said with admiration in his eyes.

"But I heard the bearded man, another lean man, and the muscular woman who left alone never returned. Most are saying they died inside," a villager said with a look of pity on his face.

"Yes, but the young man who went solo returned alive, albeit barely and heavily injured, but he had successfully killed a weaker Soul Beast," another one shared an astonishing piece of news.

Noah raised his eyebrow, hearing the villagers' words. "So those guys died, huh?"