Elane’s eyes narrowed as she followed the direction of his gaze.

At first, she wanted to dismiss it. A man made trail all the way out here? Which idiot thought that was a good idea?

The two long ruts cutting through the undergrowth could have been some weird beast trail at a glance, especially with how overgrown the edges were. But the longer she stared, the more obvious it became that Rohan was on to something.

’But why?? What kind of reason could someone possibly have to create a trail this far out from any form of civilisation?’

"...Yeah." She slowly stood back up. "That’s not natural."

Eventually, she had to relent and face the facts. Someone had clearly been through here recently, and by the looks of the tracks they left behind, it wasn’t a small group either. The tracks across the trail suggested that there were at least a dozen carriages all in concession, which just made this discovery even more bizarre.

This path through the forest had clearly been forced open by whatever group was behind this.

Not recently enough that the disturbed undergrowth was fresh, but the forest had yet to reclaim the damages, so it wasn’t too long ago either.

Small bushes had been crushed into the soil, and multiple saplings on either side of the trail had been cut or snapped away to make the route wider for a carriage to pass through.

Most telling of all were the deep, parallel ruts carved into the muddier stretches of the ground which told the stories of the many carriages that had passed through here.

Rohan’s expression darkened.

"Who the hell brings carriages this deep into E rank territory?"

That was just asking for death to come looking for them. Not to mention the loss of whatever cargo they needed dozens of carriages to carry — it was stupid no matter which way you tried to reason it.

Elane was on the same train of thought.

She scanned the surrounding forest for every bit of sensory activity her talent could detect. If people had really been moving through this area in large enough numbers to open a route like this, then the lack of beast activity made sense.

"It looks like they came well equipped to defend themselves at least." She observed after informing Rohan of her theory for the lack of beasts they’d encountered since sunrise.

Rohan quietly clicked his tongue.

’Tsk, this just derails our whole plan for the day. Not only have we not found any beasts to hunt so far, but it looks like this trend is likely to continue thanks to whoever was behind this.’

But then he fell into thought.

There were people operating in this part of the forest regularly enough to make a real trail, and somehow nobody back in Erenhot had mentioned that. Or if they had, the information never reached the likes of them.

’Hmm, this is E rank territory so there’s no doubt the stronger Awakened wouldn’t bother spreading information to the lower masses that didn’t need to be spread.’

’Which also means that the people using this route probably don’t want others to know about it.’

Rohan smelled a scheme. But more importantly, a money making opportunity!

Whoever was behind this had to be there for a reason, and to involve potentially hundreds of Awakened in the operation was a very expensive ordeal.

Since they had taken away his and Elane’s opportunity to hunt any beasts in this area, and likely for over a hundred kilometres in any direction from this place, they’d return the favour and go snooping around this place they seemed to be hiding.

If a hidden group or force was really active out here...

The more Rohan’s suspicions grew, the more intrigued and interested in finding out more he became.

’There’s no use in trying to continue hunting now since we know all the beasts in this area have likely been scared off or taken care of already.’

He turned to Elane.

"Let’s follow this trail and see where it leads," Rohan decided after a few moments. "But carefully."

Elane nodded.

That was exactly what she’d been thinking.

***

The man made route wound deeper into the forest for several dozen kilometres.

At first, following it was relatively easy. The wheel marks were clear, the undergrowth had been repeatedly trampled down, and wherever the terrain got too rocky or steep, it was obvious that this caravan of carriages had gone through the trouble of clearing it enough for transport to continue.

But the farther they went, the stranger it became.

The forest started to change around them.

Before, everything felt vibrant and so full of new life — but now, the surroundings had a vibe of something more... ancient.

The trees looked aged, their trunks were more twisted and gnarled, with roots the size of a man’s torso coiling over the ground like serpents. Moss and hanging vines choked the inner branches, while the sunlight grew dimmer and dimmer: the canopy was just that dense.

And yet, still no beasts.

The whole forest was eerily silent.

No distant screeches, mating calls. Nothing.

Rohan’s earlier excitement at possibly stumbling onto a hidden beast rich zone had long since vanished.

In its place was a more cautious sort of tension.

After all, a force that could clear out an entire stretch of land of all beasts like this was not one to underestimate.

"I really don’t like the feeling this place gives me," Elane murmured.

Her senses remained stretched thin the whole time, and while she didn’t pick up any immediate threats, that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

The absence of something isn’t evidence for there being nothing.

Rohan never took his eyes off the path ahead even once.

"Same."

The two of them kept going anyway.

Whether they liked it or not, the route this path led through was the one they needed to take if they wanted to reach even deeper lands and find a place that wasn’t completely void of beasts, so they had to take it.

And by now, it felt less like following a trail and more like being led somewhere.

And eventually... 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

After travelling for dozens of kilometres down the trail, there was a change.

A rather big change, at that.

It led them to what looked, at first glance, like an ancient ruined town.

Rohan and Elane stopped in unison and took a vantage point from one of the tallest trees at the periphery of the town, overlooking a wide depression in the land.

There, nestled into the forest like some forgotten civilisation, stood weathered stone buildings swallowed by time. Cracked stone walls leaned at odd angles, roofs were collapsed in on themselves, and moss and vines covered much of the visible masonry, while several larger structures had a whole tree growing through them.

Honestly, it was a rather humbling sight. A perfect showcase of how even with all this power the Origin Realm provides to the human race, time is still its greatest enemy.

"How old is this place..." Rohan muttered, amazed at what he was seeing.

Elane didn’t quite have the same reaction as Rohan. She remained more cautious, as she knew something Rohan didn’t.

"My father never mentioned anything about ruins like this inside the Origin Realm..."

Rohan grew slightly suspicious, but still, he reasoned with her. "Maybe your father doesn’t know about them, either. After all, he’s not omniscient — not like he can know absolutely everything that goes on in the Origin Realm. Heck, even the human race as a whole has only scratched the surface of what’s possible in this place."

Rohan turned his attention away from her as he continued to observe the surrounding ruins.

"...This is what this whole trail led to? What good does an abandoned place like this do for such a numbers-strong group?"

Rohan frowned.

But even as he said it, something about this place felt wrong.

’Huh?’

Suddenly, there was movement.

It was barely noticeable, but Rohan managed to spot it thanks to his attention being so hyper focused on the place.

A door, looking like it was composed of nothing but rotting wood, opened slightly and then shut again.

That alone wasn’t an indicator that this place may be occupied, but the faint yellow light that filtered outside in that small moment was a certain indicator.

’That could have just been the wind, but it still revealed that there’s something going on inside. Even if it is just a small flame — it had to have been lit by a person!’

Quickly, he alerted Elane to what he saw and pointed her at the small building the door had just opened on.

With her senses, she was sure to notice even more detail than the small amount Rohan had just deduced.

"Your instincts were right. I can see some yellow light faintly escaping through cracks in the building’s stone walls. Either someone is inside there, or they were extremely recently."