"We finally made it out of the city." Elane stated.
Despite being classified as a 'small' tier 2 city in the Origin Realm, it was still populated by hundreds of thousands of Awakened at any one time. A city of that size still took quite a decent time to cross, with the only convenience being that every newcomer spawned in at the centre, so making way to any of the four exits would only take half as long as normal.
"There's quite a few people coming and going. I didn't expect the Origin Realm to be this lively, if I'm gonna be honest."
The duo had made it over 5 kilometres out from the north gate of Erenhot, and yet they could still see a group of Awakened walking past them in the opposite direction every few hundred metres they walked.
Though in some sense, it did make sense. The Firestone Ants to the north of Erenhot were the best recommended beasts to hunt for newcomers, so it was bound to be popular in more ways than one.
Rohan had to admit, the Origin Realm sure was beautiful. Especially outside of the busy city streets. The path leading out from the north gate led into a lush jungle, with greenery covering the lands and hills for as far as the eye could see. It really was quite a spectacle, and if he wasn't bogged down for time, the Origin Realm would actually make for a good place for a vacation!
The place he and Elane were currently heading to was an area called Firestone forest, and the reason for that should be quite obvious, as the forest received its name from the very beasts that inhabited the territory. It was located about 20 kilometres north of the city, which in terms of scale in the Origin Realm, made them practically neighbours.
As far as they knew from the little information they had discern, the only beasts that could be found in Firestone Forest were the Firestone ants themselves, as beasts were extremely territorial creatures, so they tended not to cross each other's paths very often.
There were always exceptions, of course.
But the only real danger the two of them could possibly encounter would be a Firestone Ant soldier.
They were still F rank beasts, but they were considered Elite beasts. Aside from the generalised F-S ranking system of Awakened and Beasts, there were further classifications to separate them even further based on strength and power.
Weak beasts like the Firestone Ant workers, which Rohan and Elane were out on the hunt for, were just considered Normal beasts. They were the most common to encounter in the Origin Realm, and could be taken down by any average Awakened of the same rank in a 1 on 1 fight.
Above that were the Elite beasts, such as the Firestone Ant soldiers, which were a whole tier above. If Normal beasts were to have a strength value of 1, then Elite beasts would be on a 5 on the same scale, the difference was that big.
There were even stronger tiers of beasts, such as the Commander tier beasts above even Elite, but they were so far out of Rohan's realm that he barely knew anything about them. Besides, he wouldn't have to worry about anything like that in an area like this.
The strongest beasts in the entire Firestone forest were the Firestone ant soldiers, and they were scarce at that. There was one for every 100 Firestone Ant workers, so you could only consider yourself unlucky if you encountered one.
Or lucky, depending on how confident you were in your skills…
With no mount type Genetic Armament to either of their names, the duo of Rohan and Elane had nothing but their own two legs to carry them to their destination.
***
Another hour of walking later, and the surrounding scenery began to take on a noticeable change.
There was no need for any signs to be put up at the entrance of Firestone Forest to let people know when they'd arrived, as it was easy enough to tell.
Compared to the lush, vibrant greenery they had walked through to get there, Firestone Forest was in direct contrast in terms of visuals. The tree canopies were no longer different shades of green — they became bright orange and even red in some places.
The wood and bark of the trees themselves had taken on a greyish lustre, adding even further to the dramatic change of visuals. The forest's floor was carpeted with a light yellow grass, resembling open plains of fields dried up under intense summer heat back on earth — yet that wasn't the case here.
"I can see why they call this place Firestone Forest now." Elane remarked, seeming quite drawn in by this new environment's unique sense of beauty.
Despite looking as if a wildfire had torn through the area, the actual environment itself was as healthy and active as ever. The only 'fire' aspect of it was just how similar it looked to devastated forestry, when in actual fact this place was in full bloom.
"So where do we go from here?" Rohan asked. It was already established that Elane knew more about the Origin Realm than him, so he naturally let her take the lead on things like this.
"Well, my father always told me that you should always expect the unexpected when making a trip to the Origin Realm. Even though we came here to hunt the weakest beasts, we should always be prepared for anything. In essence — never let your guard down or become complacent."
Rohan nodded at Elane's words. That was the smart thing to do. Her father must be a wise man when it came to matters like this.
"Out here, the Firestone Ants can often be found foraging alone for any resources to bring back to the colony, but they also hunt in packs sometimes. Not to mention that they are very familiar with the terrain and have the home advantage. Fighting them isn't going to be a walk in the park just because they are considered weak." Elane continued.
"I think we should head deeper inwards if we want to find one soon, otherwise we'd be wasting our time searching along the outskirts. We aren't the only ones out here hunting them, after all."
Elane was right. Firestone Forest was over 120km in diameter at its widest section, so the chances of finding anything on the outskirts were slim.