Chapter 5: There's a Scroll for that.

Jack firmly shook Clay's hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I look forward to working with all of you. As I'm sure you all know my name is Jack and I'm the party summoner. I would like to correct a misconception though," Jack channeled a trace of essence into the rune on the back of his hand, activating it. The rune glowed as the essence flowed through it and out of it drawing the true three dimensional image. A massive bull emerged from behind Jack as if it had been hiding in his shadow.

"My summon is not a cow, it is a double mutated Magick Beast and it will be serving as our tank for the duration of the field trip."

The double mutant was taller than anyone here by a full head, it was a heavily muscled bull with wickedly sharp horns and sharp fang teeth. It's hide was covered with somewhat thick fur dappled black and white. Under closer observation the battle cow bore several distinct differences to the common cow namely to it's build the shoulders, hips, and limbs more akin to a bear. The most striking discordance was the cows feet, instead of hooves there were large paws tipped with sharp claws.

The sudden appearance of such a large creature and it's ferocious appearance startled Clay a bit. Though he tried to hide it he only succeeded in resuming his calm appearance after stumbling back a half dozen steps. Amber was surprised as well but with her distance being several feet further than Clay's and having Clay in between her and the cow she maintained her composure much better. Iris didn't seem to notice as she was still eating rations.

The party took a few moments where they studied the cow before Clay spoke up.

"Well that certainly is a ferocious looking Beast. I suppose it'd be a waste if he wasn't on the front lines. So the marching order should be cow on the front Amber and I a step back on the sides Iris trailing and guarding the back leaving the squishy summoner and the mute mage in the middle. Everyone cool?"

Jack took a moment to consider while Amber and Iris directly agreed. After considering for a few moments Jack decided that it was an acceptable formation and agreed as well, Rust nodded her assent a few seconds after. Strategy was a main subject in the Academy and there were several classes associated with it, they had all been taught how to function as a party the field trip was simply to take that knowledge and engrave it as they would runes to learn through experience.

The clearing they were dropped into was more or less west of the Remnant but the nearest outpost was actually more to the southeast than directly east. The map they were given only had basic topographical markings as well as the landing zones of the various parties and the locations of the outposts serving as the end zones of the test. Since they didn't have solid information on the terrain they would have to be careful when moving forward but directly walking there without any major detours should take about three weeks leaving a full week of leeway, plenty of time to deal with any trouble they might encounter.

Party no. 1,000 formed up and headed southeast. The general surroundings of the landing zones were empty of Wild creatures as they were regularly cleared out. It wouldn't do to have a party get eaten while they were tangled up in their parachutes.

The Wild Region was inhabited in an almost backwards manner, the Wild animals who lived there stayed away from the outer border where the true wild was and were much more densely packed towards the Remnants outskirts. Originally the Wild animals were spread more or less evenly but over time when Magick Beasts intruded into the Wild Region and rampantly slaughtered and devoured all creatures in their path the Wild animals learned that it was safer the farther they were from the outer border. It was now somewhat uncommon for the students to encounter a Wild creature in the first week of travel.

Jack and co.'s first day was perfectly uneventful. They had a very pleasant hike through patches of deciduous and coniferous forest. They'd been dropped off in the late morning well before noon so they traveled for a good eight or nine hours with a few short breaks to eat and drink. As the sun set they stopped to discuss their next actions. Clay stepped forward and spoke first.

"We've made pretty decent progress today, you guys wanna set up camp here or shall we move forward some more?"

Jack and the others considered for a few moments. They'd been walking for quite a long while already and while they were all quite fit from the required exercise they got at the Academy and then the additional physique boost from achieving Rank 1 they were still tired. Jack voiced his opinion.

"We've walked quite a ways today, at this pace we would arrive as expected roughly three weeks from now. Of course as we get closer to our destination we'll have to move more slowly as we'll need to stay alert for Wild beasts. While we should still make it, if we encounter any other significant impediments we might not. Best to push as far forward in as little time as possible to avoid failure."

The group considered Jack's suggestion. The rest of them then voiced their opinions as well.

"Today is only the first day of the field trip, there's no real need to hurry today. The chances of us running into a situation that delays us so severely are minuscule." Amber wanted to rest.

"While such a severe setback is unlikely there is no such thing as too much caution to a rogue. Increasing our leeway as much as possible is an excellent idea." Iris approved of Jack's caution and wanted to press forward.

Rust didn't speak at all she merely gave Jack and Iris a thumbs up after they spoke. Clay then spoke.

"Ok then, while we are all tired we'll just have to push that aside. We'll move for a while longer but when it get's fully dark we won't be able to move very fast, unless out esteemed wizard has a solution?"

Rust nodded and Jack responded.

"Yeah, Rust and I both have a few basic light scrolls. They'll provide decent illumination while avoiding the chance of burning down the forest."

"We're all set then, let's hike till were all to tired to move, sleep, and hike some more. No reason not to move forward at full speed. The worst thing that happens is we get a better score on the exam." Clay enthusiastically announced as he turned back southeast and set off.

"Ah!" He suddenly stopped and turned around again, "we have to be careful not to go the wrong direction, not only will we lose time we might get lost entirely."

"I've got a scroll for that." Rust responded for the first time since the beginning of the trip.

Clay immediately asked for clarification, "A scroll to keep us from going the wrong direction or a scroll to help us if we're lost?"

"Yes" Rust did in fact have a scroll which did both.

"That's really useful." Iris commented.

Rust pulled out the scrolls of light and guidance and cast them both. A small bright orb shedding red light appeared and began floating ahead of them. The party watched it float by and then began following it. They walked for several more hours all of them unwilling to be the first to stop. At some point they stopped considering whether they were tired and merely followed the orb until they were all stumbling from fatigue and could barely keep up with the it. Just as they were about to lose the orb it went out. They all collapsed on the ground utterly exhausted, Jack slumped against a nearby tree and barely managed to tell the cow to keep guard before he fell asleep.

They woke up sprawled on the edge of a clearing when the sun crested the horizon. Jack blearily looked around counting.To his right Iris was sleeping in a tree, Clay was sprawled out flat on his back in the clearing, and Amber was sleeping at the foot of a tree using her pack as a pillow. He looked around again and saw the cow lying in the grass near Clay. As he woke up he started becoming concerned before he realized he couldn't feel his left arm. He looked to his left. Rust had passed out to his left against the same tree apparently, her head was leaning on his shoulder and seemed to have been for quite a while.

As Iris began to stretch and climb down her tree Jack tapped Rust's head. She didn't move or give any form of response. Jack tapped her head again and spoke,

"Hey, Rust it's morning wake up."

Rust still didn't respond and Jack decided to let her sleep awhile longer, they weren't leaving immediately. He carefully tried to slide away from Rust but it seemed she'd slumped over quite a bit while sleeping, as he moved over she started to fall as well. He thought for a moment and then carefully supported Rust as he slid sideways, when he was clear he then gently lowered her to the ground. Throughout the process she didn't seem to wake up. Jack nodded satisfied and stood up. Amber and Iris were both up and currently eating.

Jack was struck with a sudden thought and quickly checked his pocket. His hand came back out with a black spider and he sighed with relief He dropped Nox off on a tree so she could go get her own breakfast. As he pulled some rations and water out of his pack he walked over to his summon. The carnivorous cow was lying in a rather large patch of tall grass. There were bloodstains on it's mouth and the surrounding grass. As Jack looked around near it he saw the remains of a deer carcass. The cow had taken care of it's own dinner and quite possibly breakfast as well. Jack walked past the cow and over to Clay. He nudged him with his foot. Clay swatted at him and groaned.

Rust had woken up approximately the same time Jack had, but was terribly embarrassed to have woken up leaning on someone. She frantically thought back to when they stopped for the night. She only remembered walking until the light spell wore out and then dropping to the ground in exhaustion. Luckily it turned out to have been Jack, while it was still embarrassing enough to make her pretend she was still asleep at least she was more familiar with him. Had it been Iris or heavens forbid Clay she might've died of embarrassment.

Finally about an hour later the party was up and more or less ready to go. Before they set out again Clay took the chance to address them.

"Well we made quite a bit of additional progress yesterday, but I don't suggest we try to repeat it. Not sure what exactly came over us there but if we just collapse every day and don't make a camp or set a watch we might get eaten."

"Yeah."

"I agree."

"This could've ended terribly."

The rest of the the party agreed and they began to move out again. They made good progress on day two as they were mostly going downhill. When the evening came they pressed on a little bit past dusk before actually looking around for a suitable place and actually setting up a camp. The Academy's supplies did actually include Tiny TentsTM a single person tent that was manufactured using spatial runes and were strictly regulated, any damage or loss of equipment was required to be immediately reported.

They ate some rations, went to sleep, got up, ate some more rations, and began to hike some more. They had more than enough rations to last them a month but there was no way they could carry enough water they'd need to refill frequently. Luckily water wasn't scarce and Jack and Rust had both prepared scrolls to purify water.

The third day was a little bit more challenging, they had to go uphill which slowed them considerably.

Day four, five, and six weren't significantly different. They traveled through some forests, over some rivers (streams or brooks really), and through some meadows. The Wild Region had some surprisingly diverse landscapes.

Day seven they took slower as they should be approaching the territory of the Wild beasts. Despite the precautions though they didn't encounter any that day.

They encountered their first truly Wild beast when they woke up in the morning on day eight.