Accustomed to waking up early, Alexander was the first to wake up. Ocean, who felt him awaken, soon got up. The movement woke Diana as well.

  When Alexander got up, the ice wall had already thawed and the air circulated freely through the cave again.

  Alexander was happy to have correctly estimated the size of the oxygen pocket he created—or he would have woken up in the middle of the night from lack of oxygen and still had to break the ice wall.

  Since that didn't happen, he even got a reference point in case he needed to do this again.

  With everyone who slept on that side of the ice wall awake, Alexander asked Diana to go ahead and wake up the others while he packed his things.

  He didn't take long to remove the most obvious dust and store everything.

  When he joined the other members of his group, they were already awake and giving Diana strange looks.

  "Don't let your imaginations run wild," said Alexander, who was closely followed by Ocean.

  The duo almost mocked Alexander's words.

  They very much doubted something hadn't happened—especially since he had raised an ice wall.

  However, as soon as they saw Ocean, they thought of another possibility and kept their judgment to themselves.

  "Your wolf evolved?" asked Mark, trying to contain his envy.

  "Yes," replied Alexander, indifferent.

  Even if Alexander was indifferent to the question, Mark and Stella weren't indifferent to the answer. Ocean didn't show the slightest desire to rebel, as was common when combat familiars evolved.

  "Let's go. We still have to buy supplies before going to Stellar Forest." Alexander's call brought the duo back to reality, and the group returned to the city to restock.

  While buying their supplies, Alexander made it clear he wouldn't give anything else to anyone and that everyone was on their own, with one exception: Diana's unrestricted access to any potion she needed.

  No one was crazy enough to contest the necessity of the healer's need unrestricted access to their potion supply. After all, no one knew who would be the next to "bites the dust."

  The deal seemed fair enough, so everyone agreed and returned to their shopping—which Alexander made a point of finishing particularly quickly. He had left Ocean waiting for him outside the city.

  Alexander did this to avoid dealing with the Guild’s bureaucracy for now, as they had already consumed a good part of the event period in the dungeons...

  When Ocean entered the city, he would immediately have to notify the Guild, as well as renew her information and change her identification.

  Gradually, the group gathered at the indicated location.

  The first to appear was Diana, but it didn't take long for Mark and Stella to appear sharing a horse. An idea to which Mark, for some reason, didn't object.

  Stella wasn't particularly happy with the situation, but didn't refuse. After all, Mark wasn't a complete stranger, and Alexander must have had reasons for giving them the idea.

  With everything ready, Alexander climbed onto Ocean's back, helped Diana so she would sit behind him, and they all headed for the forest at the fastest speed the horse could sustain over long distances.

  Even though Mark's horse wasn't the best possible mount in this world, it was still faster than most popular motorcycles on Earth.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Besides all the strength and endurance the energy of this world had granted it, its blood still contained traces of an equine beast—and there was no transition.

  By maintaining such a high and constant speed, the journey was almost uninterrupted.

  After half a day of peaceful travel, they entered Stellar Forest. But the group wasn't satisfied with this and didn't stop until reaching the place where the vegetation began to close in and become denser.

  "Stop and dismount," instructed Alexander. "From now on, we'll go on foot."

  When everyone dismounted, Alexander concluded: "From now on, being mounted unnecessarily will do more harm than good, because it will make us more visible and easier to hit targets. Besides, the increasingly dense vegetation would also hinder our progress with branches and vines."

  "Branches and vines?" mocked Mark, laughing while drawing his sword. "We can simply cut them."

  Alexander turned and gave Mark a strange look. "Are you really an idiot, or are you just trying to imitate one?"

  Mark was furious at first, but after thinking a bit, he realized his idea was indeed a bit exaggerated and didn't respond.

  Clearing a path would be easy, as most of them could knock down a tree.

  The issue was that cutting things would invariably and unnecessarily increase the noise they emitted, leaving the group even more exposed.

  Noticing no one else had another question, Alexander began explaining the formation they would use while inside the forest.

  "We'll use a (1 – 4 – 1) formation," said Alexander, making small marks on the ground to illustrate the formation. "I'll go in front, as a scout; Mark will stay behind, to protect the rear; and the horse, Diana, Ocean, and Stella will form the center of our formation."

  "Any questions?" asked Alexander.

  As no one volunteered, Alexander continued: "The central part of our formation should be divided to always leave Ocean and the horse on the outermost side of the formation."

  "Stella, you must hold the horse's reins and—regardless of the situation—never leave Ocean's side unless it's an absolute emergency. You'll be in much more danger away from her," warned Alexander.

  "Any questions?" probed Alexander once again.

  "Me," signaled Stella. "Why should I hold the horse's reins? I won't be able to cast my spells that way."

  "Excellent question," said Alexander. "But I have an easy way to solve that: Don't cast spells… To be more exact, we shouldn't even attack."

  "…" Stella.

  "…" Mark.

  "We’re entering dangerous territory. We'll be hunted just like those we hunt," explained Alexander, very seriously. "So the last things we need are fires, large explosions and/or the smell of blood—much less unnecessarily."

  "That's why we must, and will, refrain, as much as possible, from coming into conflict with any creature—even if it seems weaker than our group."

  After discussing a few more minor issues, the group began moving in formation to find a place to camp.

  After walking a bit, Stella asked the question that was on most of the group's mind: "I just thought about this, but isn't our journey being too peaceful for a group entering Stellar Forest?"

  "True," replied Mark. "But you don't need to worry so much. Our group is strong enough to face a 2nd evolution creature."

  "Keep thinking like that and you won't even know how you died," said Alexander, deadly serious.

  "It's true we defeated several 2nd evolution creatures in the dungeons, but that doesn't mean much here," warned Alexander. "Those creatures are almost made from molds and driven by their basic instincts. In other words, they can even be considered 2nd evolution, but they were far from showing the true combat power they should have."

  Upon hearing his words, the rest of the group swallowed hard, but Alexander didn't stop there: "Let's take Ocean, who just had her 2nd evolution, as an example. It's IMPOSSIBLE for you three to defeat her at the moment."

  "Hell. Even if all of us were against her, it's very likely Diana and/or Stella would end up dead under her attacks before we could finally bring her down," concluded Alexander.

  Even with these very "encouraging" new pieces of information, the group continued advancing, because they needed to find a place to camp. However, they became much more vigilant.

  After a few minutes of walking, Alexander seemed to remember Stella's previous question: "It's no wonder our journey has been peaceful, Stella."

  "There aren't many creatures in the outermost part of the forest willing to attack our group while Ocean is nearby," explained Alexander as he returned to Ocean's side and began petting her head. "This should change from now on. That's why I said to dismount."

  The group once again turned to Ocean and sighed with relief that she wasn't against them.

  However, after thinking a bit, Stella asked: "Then why are we advancing? Wouldn't it be better to camp where it's safer?"

  "If we were in a normal situation, you would be right," replied Alexander. "But all situations have exceptions… Just like the rule of not attacking any creature I mentioned before."

  As soon as he finished speaking, Alexander, who seemed casual, turned serious. Ocean, who was calm, bristled.

  It was evident both were in sync.

  Before the rest of the group could understand what was happening, a large ball of water appeared in Alexander's palm and transformed into an ice stalactite.

  With the stalactite formed by the |Water Cannon| spell and the (Frozen Water Heart) enhancement in his hand, Alexander locked his gaze in a direction, filled the stalactite with his energy, and launched it into the bushes.