"Hmm… I don't want either of those paths." Calmly said by the elder Jun. Stroking his bear in the process.
The middle-aged Jun knitted his brow. When young Jun noticed that the middle-aged Jun didn't talk further, he asked, "Then what do you want? You can't just become a freeloader, wouldn't you?"
Young Jun paused for a moment, then spoke again, "Don't tell me… You got the lazy trait, did I guess correctly?"
The elder Jun looked at the middle-aged Jun while stroking his beard.
"What?" Said by the middle-aged Jun, confused about why he is looking at him.
After several seconds of silence, the elder Jun finally spoke, "I don't know, but I don't want to fight directly. What I want is to raise animals and plants."
Both the young and the middle-aged Jun looked at each other.
This revelation means only one thing: he inherits the stoner trait. But on the bright side, he also inherited the soft side of Jun.
"So you want to become a beast tamer and apothecary, and maybe an alchemist?" The middle-aged Jun asked.
The elder Jun answered, "That's right."
After several minutes of talking, the trio looks again at the panel, but nothing has changed, no skill as expected.
After reading the description and the warning, the trio reacts differently. But one thing is certain––if any one of them dies, the other two will follow.
"We're doomed." The trio simultaneously thought.
"Okay, okay. We should cooperate to increase the odds of us not dying." The middle-aged Jun said.
"Agreed, I don't want to die this early," said the young Jun, raising his hand. And the elder Jun nods in agreement.
"Then we should give ourselves a name, since I'm the original body, I'll take the Jun as my name," said the middle-aged Jun, looking seriously at both of them.
"No problem, I'll take the Junnix one because it sounds cooler." Said by the young Jun.
The elder Jun stroked his beard and said, "Then Xin it is."
Junnix and Jun looked at each other. They were very familiar with that name. That was his nickname in the underground.
–––
After an hour of back-and-forth discussion, the trio chose Jun as a leader.
Because of the separation process, the trio was hungry. But after checking the bag, they found no canned food, and the matches were damp.
"What should we do now?" Junnix asked. Hinting to the two that he was hungry.
After contemplating, Jun said, "We don't have any choice, do we?" Then the trio looked at the rubble.
"Is that even edible?" Junnix asked. The hesitation in his tone was unmistakable.
"I don't know…" Jun replied.
"But what can we do? It's already afternoon. We can't fish because we don't have a fishing rod. Also, the river was quite far; we can't risk it." Jun added with a forced grin. He was hesitating too, unsure if it was even edible.
Grumble… Junnix scratched his belly. "F*ck it! I'll gather dry woods."
Jun paused and said, "…Let me handle the meat," holding the knife, while stretching his arm. "Hey Xin, help me clear these rocks."
–––
After half an hour.
"Done?" Junnix asked as he dropped the dry wood he had collected.
"Yeah. Looks like any other meat available on earth." Xin followed, poking the meat with his finger. "Looks edible enough."
Sweat was visible all over his face. Jun skewered the meat and set it atop the bonfire Xin had made. While waiting for the meat to cook, the trio discusses what they should do tomorrow.
"I told you–we should explore this forest so we can figure out where we are right now," Jun suggested.
"We should find a road, or a wheel track." Junnix lay on the ground, using his hand as a pillow.
"How can we find them?" Xin asked while collecting flowers nearby.
"I don't know…" Junnix muttered.
"We are not even sure if we can find any human trace, let alone an actual human," Jun blew the burnt woods, then fanned it.
"Haven't you noticed?" Jun asked, looking serious.
Feeling the sudden heaviness of the tone, Junnix sat and asked, "Notice what?"
"Besides that tiger, we haven't encountered a single animal. None, not even the sound of a bird." Jun answered with a stern voice, eyes fixed on the meat that he was roasting.
Xin stroked his beard and said, "Now you said it, I've noticed that too. I was hoping to encounter some animal, but so far, I haven't found any–not even their shadows. Besides that tiger, of course."
"This is exciting, you know… We might be pulled into some grand scheme, or… we are already part of it." Junnix grinned; an excited tone was evident in his voice.
Hearing this, Jun's eyes narrowed as he realized how crazy Junnix really was.
–––
At last, after a dozen minutes of conversation between them.
"Ah. Finally, this seems cooked enough!" Junnix said, licking his lips in the process.
Jun sliced the meat and gave Junnix and Xin a piece.
After eating, Jun said, "It's almost evening already, we need to prepare for the night." Jun spoke again, "We should take turns. Even though we don't see any living beings in the surroundings, we shouldn't let our guard down."
"Who's first?" Junnix asked, cleaning his teeth with a stick he found beside him.
"I'll go first," Jun answered, grabbing the knife that was used to chop the meat.
–––
While Junnix and Xin are already asleep, Jun was lying on the ground, gazing at the night sky, contemplating. "So beautiful…"
After four hours of doing absolutely nothing, Jun does not encounter any mishaps while guarding. He only gazed at the sky, counting stars.
In this absolute silence of a night that not even a single cricket could be heard, Jun thought to himself. "Are any of these glittering lights galaxies? If yes, where's Milky Way? Am I still in my old universe, or am I transported into this world? It's not like I would want to go back; Hell, I'd even fight them to death if they want me to go back. It just feels surreal to think that I was given a chance to finally be myself, decide for myself, without someone acting as if they know my life better than I do." Gazing at the stars, Jun's thoughts wander.