Chapter 242: Wilderness Survival Tutorials?

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"Love?" Lily called out to her boyfriend while she was sitting on the couch holding the TV remote with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Yes, Love? What is it?" Ren replied from the kitchen as he was plating their food.

"Why have we been watching ’wilderness survival’ videos?" she asked. "At this point, we’ve watched so many of these that the algorithm’s changed."

She heard his footsteps approaching closer. It didn’t take long before she saw him accompanied by floating plates with food—not a new sight in this house, to be honest.

"Because, Love, I want both of us to be prepared during the tournament," he answered smoothly as he sat next to her while arranging the plates of food neatly on the table before them.

The scent of food was alluring. Lily lost count on how many times she thanked the gods for having a handsome boyfriend who cooks good food.

"You really think we’ll need it?" She asked, looking at him.

He flashed her a small smile. He reached for her hands and began wiping them with wet wipes to clean them before they ate. After cleaning hers, he also cleaned his.

"I’m pretty sure we will." He sounded confident. "The secret realm only appears once every 100 years. The king implied that it’s filled with monsters. He also said that every human who goes there only stays for a whole year before being sent out."

"That means that we can’t expect that there will be people who would roll out the red carpet for us once we arrive there. The king said so himself; either we arrive at a relatively ’safe’ area after going through the entrance, or it might spit us in the middle of a monster lair."

"Although we still have no idea how the elimination or competition works, I want us knowing how to, at least, build a decent tent and start a camp, because I seriously don’t think that the secret realm would be kind enough to give us breathing room to adjust."

Lily couldn’t refute the logic behind his words. And now that she thought about it even more, she figured that this was really thoughtful of him.

It’s not as if the two of them are completely ignorant on how to start a camp. They do know the basics. They’ve been in the dungeons enough to learn how to.

But their knowledge was only a basic one—a temporary solution. They can make camps with the knowledge that they wouldn’t need it for more than a day or two, just useful for a couple of hours at a time. Anything beyond that was unnecessary since dungeons runs had never been required to go for longer.

That’s why Ren thought that it’d be wise to actually know how to make a proper camp, a functioning base, even.

If they were expected to survive in that secret realm for a whole damn year, then they might as well know how to make shelters so that they can be comfortable.

It shouldn’t be too hard to do that with 50 martial artists working together, right?

"Actually..." Ren paused mid-bite to speak his mind, "...my plan is for us to learn a few miscellaneous skills."

"I, for example, know how to make potions. With proper ingredients and tools, I can make good potions that could do all of things. I also know how to analyze terrain, and I know a little bit about farming and equipment repair."

"I can confidently say that I’m good at potions; I can also heal. As for the rest, I’m decent at best."

"If it was just me, I am confident that I can survive in that secret realm for a year, maybe even longer. I did just fine in the Sky Archon Trial Grounds; I can’t imagine the secret realm being any worse than that."

"But I can’t babysit everybody." Ren sighed and shook his head. "As the strongest representative of the Letter Kingdom, I’m almost sure that everybody will expect me to figure out ways to contribute to the ranking of the empire as a whole."

"I just know that I’d be busy with that, and that might need me to explore the secret realm for opportunities. I can’t be expected to bring all ten of us each time I do that, now, can I?"

Lily felt her heart sink for him after hearing that.

He was right. Ren was carrying heavier burdens compared to them. Being the first in the rankings places expectations upon him, and he’s expected to meet those. If he performed any less, then he’d disappoint not just Central City but the whole Letter Kingdom.

That’s an enormous pressure.

"I see, no wonder..." she muttered.

Now she can see why her boyfriend had been unusually attentive to programs since after the meeting with the king. This was him preparing as best as he could.

Of course, they’re still training their martial skills to not get rusty, but beyond that, he was also learning everything he can about surviving in an unknown location.

He wasn’t watching programs; Ren had bought books, manuals, and equipment already. He’d been putting his knowledge to test since then.

Lily thought, at first, that this was just another one of his hobbies. But as it turns out, it wasn’t.

When she realized this, Lily made a decision.

Since her boyfriend has been working hard to ensure their survival, she had no excuses not to do the same.

She’d try to learn whatever he’s learning. She wouldn’t let him bear the burden alone.

"Love, I think we should also inform the others about this," she thought for a bit before suggesting this. "By others, I don’t mean all the representatives of the empire. I’m talking about our group, from the Letter Kingdom."

Ren looked at her for a bit, and his expression was thoughtful.

"Yeah, that works. But manage your expectations, love. We can inform them, but whether they’d take it seriously or not is out of our control. Inform them and forget about it. We’ll see if they listened or not once we’re in the secret realm."

Lily nodded. One of the very important lessons Ren taught to her was managing her expectations. She can’t always expect goodness or absolute evil from others. Friends will not always have her best interest in mind, and enemies might not necessarily always think about killing her.

He taught her to be flexible and adaptable to situations, and Lily had remembered this lesson very vividly and has been applying it to her everyday life whenever he can.

So, she did send an e-mail to her fellow respresentatives, except Ren, of course. She made it sound professional enough and clued them into what they might expect once they arrive at the secret realm.

Whether the others heed her words or not, it will be seen once the tournament starts.

With that out of the way, she returned her attention to the program they’re watching. This time, she’s watching in earnest because she wants to learn.

**

Lily’s e-mail had been received by her fellow representatives. They’ve read it, gone thoughtful, and immediately got to work. Some of them sent a reply; others didn’t bother.

Darius Stormholt, Aurelia Valentine, Kael Ashcroft, Aria Carmichael, Adrian Arclight, Lucian Skyrend, Elena Frostmere, and Sieghart Fletcher—all eight of them saw the e-mail and reacted in various ways.

There were some who immediately understood the necessity—Darius, Adrian, Lucian, Elena, and, in his own strange way, Kael—were examples of this.

They’ve seen the picture and imagined what it’d be like once they get there. Sure, they are strong enough to, maybe, slay the monsters in that secret realm, but they can’t be expected to just kill and kill for a whole damn year.

They will get tired, they will be hungry, and they will be spent. They will be injured, exhausted, etc. They will need a place to return to, to rest, eat, sleep, heal, and recover.

And they can’t expect others to do all the work for them. They’ve got to contribute somehow. And this got them thinking about what exactly they could contribute, which led them to their rather embarrassing lack of lifestyle skills.

Fortunately, Lily gave them a heads-up. They have less than three months to learn what they can, and since they can’t expect another breakthrough in the martial realm before that, they might as well spend all that time learning useful survival skills.

Of course, there were also those who didn’t think much about it—Aurelia, Aria, and Sieg were in this group.

In truth, Sieg also thought that he should learn something useful. But his girlfriend convinced him that it won’t be necessary since she could just bring a whole damn villa—one that functions on its own and is entirely self-sufficient—with her in the secret realm, and he could just stay with her. She told him that the Pink Lady’s concerns were a waste of time.

So, he relented. And like her, he slacked off. Deciding to spend the next three months relaxing since their nerves were about to be pulled taut again.

Aurelia had the same idea as them.

And these three will come to regret it in time...