Chapter 274: Stepping Into the Unknown
Reivyn tightened the straps to his pack, folding the loose ends over and over before tying them in place. Everywhere on his body that there could be a loose strap of any kind had been shortened and secured to reduce bouncing and noise.
There was no need to have metal clasps jangling all over the place while walking. That would just ensure he was making more noise for things to notice his passing. His Divine Sense was to a sufficient Level now where its range was much greater than any tinkling noise he could make, so he would notice any low to mid-Level monsters close enough to hear.
That was the point, though. They weren’t heading to a low to mid-Level range area. It was incredibly unlikely they would encounter anything above Tier 6, but there was a precedent. A monster of that caliber would hear any little noise well outside his own Divine Sense range.
He looked around the barracks courtyard at the others that were to accompany them. Only Teilon was of the sneaky sort. The others would be making quite a bit of noise each while traversing the Wilderness, and all of them together were bound to make a veritable cacophony. Even so there was no reason to add to it unnecessarily, and there could possibly be times where Reivyn had to move on his own, too.
He had instructed everyone to tie up their loose straps, and everyone was making final adjustments to their gear while giving a helpful once-over to their neighbors to make sure nothing was misplaced.
The expedition had grown to a much larger size than Reivyn had initially anticipated, but after reading the accounts of various elders who had personal experience in the Wilderness and the Tier 5 Regions, he understood it was a balancing act.
They needed enough people to cover each other. They needed enough people to set up watch in the evenings while allowing everyone to get a decent rest. They needed enough people with a variety of Skills to cover any unexpected situation that might arise.
However, they also needed to keep the numbers small. They couldn’t take an entire army and March through the Wilderness. Such things had been attempted in the past, and it inevitably led to drawing unwanted attention from monsters and beasts that were too much to handle without casualties.
The core of the Party was Reivyn, Kefira, Serilla, Refix, Ameliyn, Teilon, and Kimberly. In any situation, such a group was well-rounded to tackle almost anything that could be thrown at them. Multiple people in the Party could act as vanguard, close-quarters combatant, ranged combatant, and Caster.