System's POV
chapter-475-2

After bidding their goodbyes to each other and parting ways, Thirteen faced the thirty-four teenagers who were looking at him with anticipation and smiled faintly.

"Okay, first thing's first—who among you have received training to fight?" Thirteen asked. "Please raise your right hand."

Among the thirty-four Wanderers, only six people raised their hands.

"Good. All of you go to my right side." Thirteen pointed to his right, and the six excited Wanderers didn't hesitate to stand beside him.

"Now, who among you have received survival training?" Thirteen inquired. "Who among you knows how to cook?"

Thirteen asked more questions, dividing the Wanderers into separate groups.

After a series of questions, ten people remained in their spots. Thirteen labeled them as complete civilians who didn't receive any martial art or survival training.

He didn't plan to give them a free ride. Doing so would hurt their growth in the future.

With this in mind, he assigned every group a task according to what they could do.

As for the ten people, he planned to have them assist everyone and shift around the other groups, except the Hunting Team who received proper Martial Arts Training.

The Wanderers, who now had a sense of purpose, were feeling excited.

They had seen how Zion Leventis commanded the Allied Armies and believed that as long as they followed his orders, they would be able to survive their First Wandering without fail.

Seeing their hopeful gazes, Thirteen smiled back at them to give them some encouragement.

"Alright. Now that it's settled, let's all start preparing for our journey to the west," Thirteen said.

He then reached out to his Dimensional Storage and took out a few things.

Among them were axes, short swords, spears, bows and arrows.

The Hunting Team happily took the weapons they were proficient in, feeling more confident about surviving.

"Let's go to the valley first and look for a cave or anywhere suitable to settle in for the night," Thirteen stated. "We will only leave this place once we have stocked up enough food and other essentials for our journey.

"Our mission has no time limit, so let us proceed slowly but safely. Survival is always the top priority, so just follow my orders and make sure that you don't wander alone on your own. Do I make myself clear?"

""Yes, Sir!""

Thirteen chuckled seeing the teenagers were acting like soldiers. There were even some who threw him a playful salute.

He saluted them back and took the lead to start their hunt.

Tiona, who was coiled up on Thirteen's neck, summoned her clone and asked it to scout the surroundings for Monsters to ensure their group wouldn't encounter anything dangerous in the valley.

The last thing Thirteen wanted to happen was to have casualties on their first day, which would definitely lower the morale of his team, potentially leading to consequences that he wanted to avoid at all costs.

He was confident that he could train them to become a competent party as long as he was given enough time to do it.

Meanwhile, the members of the Cygni Faction were also headed toward the valley to also hunt for monsters.

"It would have been better if we joined them," Heidi commented as she walked beside her retainers. "My parents told me that I should form a good relationship with Zion if I meet him here in Solterra."

"We are all headed to the same destination, so there is plenty of time to do that," Sean replied. "Besides, I don't like working with a big group."

"Just say you don't want to carry extra baggage," Leon commented. "I checked them out earlier, and only a few of them looked somehow competent. The rest are just ordinary people."

"Well, if they survive until we arrive at the Stronghold of Wenpolis, I'll change my impression of them," Natalie stated. "But until then, I'm siding with Sean on this one. I don't like carrying extra baggage."

Heidi giggled because she also felt that way.

In fact, it was very shameful if any member of the Prestigious Families and the Monarch Clans failed to survive their First Wandering.

That's why all of them were trained at a very young age to excel and survive in Solterra.

That said, they believed that their team was enough to handle most threats, so they decided to separate from Zion's team.

"Even so, we need to acquire weapons as soon as possible," Leon stated. "I hope we find some weak Rank 1 Monsters so we can farm them for equipment."

The group nodded their heads in agreement.

Even if they were trained, their training would be useless if they didn't have any weapons.

"Looks like their team is finally moving," Natalie commented as she glanced in the direction of Zion's team, which was also headed to the valley.

Sean threw Zion's group a sidelong glance before shifting his gaze back to the path in front of him.

As a scion of the Griffin Clan, he knew how much their Patriarch valued Zion Leventis.

He even ordered all of them to treat him with respect and assist him in every way if they were to meet in Solterra.

Sean also had a good impression of Zion, but seeing that they were of the same age, a sense of rivalry burned in his heart.

He believed that if given the chance, he would also be able to show his own strength and make his name among the next batch of Rookies.

While he admitted that the Supreme Commander of the Alliance was a better leader than him, he wanted to try leading his own team as well.

If it didn't really work out, he could always reach out to Zion once they traveled west to look for the Wenpolis Stronghold.

Suddenly, the group encountered their first monster, which happened to be a Rank 1 Boar.

Instead of being afraid, the Cygni Faction became excited. Not only did a low-ranking monster approach them first, but there was also a chance to gain something from killing it.

Although they didn't have any weapons, they were confident that if they all worked together, it was only a matter of time before they were able to bring down the threat in front of them.

Meanwhile, it was not only the Cygni Faction that encountered their first monsters.

Zion's team was also faced with four wolves, who thought that the children were easy pickings.

But unlike the Cygni Faction who didn't have any weapons, Thirteen's team was sufficiently armed to handle the wolves.

A few minutes later, four dead wolves lay on the ground, increasing the morale of the Wanderers, especially the ones who had managed to get their first kills, as well as their first items, on their first day in Solterra.