Chương 123: Autumn Forest
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Towards the end of the semester, Professor Peach gave all the first year students the task of collecting red sap from the trees in the Forest of Eternal Autumn, the sap was like maple syrup with a thyme flavour, and besides being delicious in itself, it was also good for curing colds.
Getting the sap was easy enough, you made a cut in a tree, put a sap container under the cut, and while the syrup slowly dripped into a jar, you had to fight off the Grimm, for there were no fewer Grimm in the Forest of Eternal Autumn than in the Emerald Forest, where the freshman initiation took place.
During the excursion to the Forest of Eternal Autumn the students were accompanied by Glinda Goodwitch, she was a combat instructor and it was easier for her to lead the students into dangerous places.
- Now, students, each of you must retrieve one jar of red sap from the trees deep in the forest, there are quite a few Grimm out there, but I hope you've all brought weapons with you, anyway, I'll make sure you don't all die. Well, you can split into teams and have fun, just remember to fill up the juice cans. - said Goodwitch.
- Well, I hope there are a few Goliaths in the woods, or Leviathan came out of the sea to warm his belly, then I'd really have fun. - I said.
- Inkston, you'll have fun hunting super-dangerous Grimm after you finish Bikon, and here try to be satisfied with the usual Ursa and Beowulfs. - replied Goodwitch.
- Well, I'll try... - I went with my team deep into the forest, and next to me was Ruby's team, somehow we always stick together, which is not surprising, because our rooms are located next to each other, in the dining room we eat at the same table, and at lessons we try to sit at neighbouring desks.
When we came to a convenient clearing where we could start collecting juice, we immediately met a few Beowulfs, a couple of Urs and a trio of Wepreys.
- Burrow, break all their legs! - Shouted Emerald and started shooting at the Grimm.
- Aye, Captain! - Burrow replied cheerfully, and activated her hammer and quickly scattered all the monster wolves, monster bears and monster boars, - Done, Captain!
- Great, Burrow, as a reward you can drink a couple of cans of red juice. - Amy said.
- I was planning on doing that. - Burrow said.
- I know, but this way it'll look like it's with my permission. - replied Emerald.
- Clever, Captain. - Burrow pointed at Amy.
- All right, let the juice build up and I'll check something out. - I thrust my sword into the tree trunk and placed a jar under the end of the blade, where rivulets of syrup began to run down the blade.
It had been more than five months since I had entered Bicon, I had created an Earth Chakra in the first month, and after that I had created a Water Chakra, a Fire Chakra, a Lightning Chakra and an Air Chakra, so now I could be called a Elemental Mage... a weak Elemental Mage to be precise. The quantum photonic computer in my brain has also managed to grow, but that Elemental Chakra, that computer needs to be developed and learnt to use effectively.
My status now is as follows:
≪Status≫
Aura 33,136/33,136/3015 per hour.
Ashes:
Gravity 5789/3.7 per hour
Earth 2225/1.88 per hour
Water 2171/2.51 per hour
Fire 1240/2.15 per hour
Lightning 868/3.01 per hour
Air 20/2.1 per hour
Characteristics:
Strength 1960
Dexterity 2170
Endurance 2233
Intelligence 748
Soul 5113
Now I am almost completely independent from the mined Ashes, now my soul and Aura produces elemental energy, only I can not generate Time Ashes, and it is very useful, but to create Time Chakra you need initially quite a lot of Time Ashes, and I understand it is not extracted at all, but somehow synthesised from Solid-Light Ashes in the laboratory of Atlas. It would be nice to get the technology of this synthesis, although I myself am trying to develop a magical seal to create Temporary Ashes.
Now I decided to test the next version of the Eight Trigrams Teleportation Seal, this is the twenty-third version, and after each test I have to add new elements of the seal to achieve the desired and safe effect of movement. The last version was already almost working, only when teleporting it disrupted any electronics, and I have a quantum computer in my head right now, and on my wrist computer I have a lot of different information that I don't want to lose.
My magic seal of teleportation is always created in two copies, the entrance is created near me, and the exit seal at the given coordinates, also the exit seal checks the safety of the teleportation zone, so I am not threatened to teleport directly inside the rock or into the volcano, though in the initial versions of the seal it was quite possible. For the test I create two seals not far from each other to check the result at once. The seal itself looks like a blue symbol of eight trigrams, decorated in the middle with a Yin-Yang symbol, rays of all directions of light, and some other elements that allow you to navigate in space.
- Ray, what are you doing? - Blake came up to me as I placed several Test Scrolls in the centre of one seal.
- I'm testing the Teleportation Seal. - I stepped away from the two seals and activated them, causing the objects to move between the seals without any special effect, just one moment the Scrolls were in one place, and the next moment they were in another place.
- Was that a success? - Blake asked.
- Let me check. - I began to switch on the test Scrolls, and out of six samples only one failed, - Well, almost successfully, we need to improve it a little more, and you can quickly and safely move around the world in a few moments ... more precisely, we need to test the seal on humans, and that on the lab rats everything worked, but people are a little more complicated than rodents. - I answered, and looked at the juice jar, which was almost full, but Burrow quickly emptied it, and the process of juice intake began again.
- Burrow, that's the third jar, you've had enough, if you keep emptying them, we'll never finish our task. - Burrow was scolded by Amy.
- Well, one more, please? - Burrow asked.
- Just one more. - Amy said yes.
- Thank you. - Burrow hugged Amy and kissed her, 'How sweet is that, Commander? - Burrow asked the mulatto.
- Yes, sweet... I want more. - replied Emerald and kissed Burrow again, only for a longer time.
- Hey, what the hell are you guys doing?! - Weiss was outraged, at first she was standing next to me and Blake watching the teleportation seal, but then she saw how passionately Burrow and Amy started kissing, -Stop them! - Weiss looked at me.
- Why? - I asked.
- Oh, yeah, it's okay. - Pyrrha commented on the situation, -In our team we all kiss in the evenings to make our team even closer. - she said calmly.
- What's that? What do you do in the evenings? - Yang asked, clearly not understanding the situation.
- Well, we kiss, for example, me and Pyrrha. - or Pyrrha and Burrow and me and Amy and Amy and Pyrrha and me and Burrow. - we demonstrated to Team Ruby, our team kisses.
- Are you... are you guys crazy or something? - asked Weiss, looking at our team with a shocked look on her face.
- I don't think so. It's just that Burrow suggested that we turn our team into a family somehow. I mean, Burrow lost her parents when she was a baby, and so did Emerald. I was abandoned after birth, and Pyrrha was raised by only one mother, her father was a Hunter and died on a mission when Pyrrha was only a couple of years old. Anyway, all of us basically didn't have a normal family, so the idea of turning the team into a family was a very tempting option for us, which we decided to pursue... and, I don't regret anything, like, I'll have three beautiful wives now, I'm just incredibly happy. - I replied, and looked lovingly at Burrow, Pyrrha and Emerald, the girls looked back at me the same way... although there was a look of regret in Amy's eyes.
- This is so great, you're such a good team. - Ruby looked at us dreamily, 'It's a pity we don't have such an idyll in our team.
- Huh, are you suggesting that we kiss too, to unite our team? - Weiss asked.
- That's not such a bad idea, you should try it sometime. - I suggested.
- Pfft, I'll do it now. - Weiss took the jar with red juice and went out of the forest.
- Don't you want to try some? - I looked at the remaining Blake, Yang and Ruby.
- Maybe in a more private setting. - Yang looked at Blake, 'Well, you two... just kissed, nothing more serious? - Yang was curious.
- You're so nosy, but that's our family business. - I replied.
- Oh-oh, it hurts... - Yang answered with a slight offence, - Ruby, Blake, let's go. - Yang took the can of red juice.
- I need to ask Ray something, you go ahead. - Blake replied, and stood next to me.
- Well... okay. - Ruby and Yang left.
- Blake, what did you want to ask me? - I looked at the girl with the bow, who at first took me a little away from the other girls and then awkwardly started talking:
- It's... I wanted to ask about the book... when is it coming out? Usually there was a sequel every four months, and now the fifth month is coming to an end, and there is no new book. - Blake started looking at me expectantly.
- Oh, the book... I haven't had time to write it properly, though I did get twenty chapters done in class... okay, I'll make this book one and a half times the size of the usual one and it'll be the last in the series, because I don't have enough time to write, but it's no good leaving the series unfinished. Anyway, there will be a book in a couple of months.
- Oh... can I read something that's already written? - Blake gave me a pitying look.
- For a kiss, I think I can let you read a draft.
- A kiss? - Blake interjected, 'Would your team mind? - Blake looked sideways, and there Burrow was first drinking some nectar and then kissing Amy and Pyrrha, making the kiss sweeter.
- I guess it won't. - I pressed Blake against the tree, and enclosed her lips in a kiss, and the girl began to reciprocate with all the passion and diligence she could muster, trying to use her rough tongue vigorously,' Well, I'll send a draft to your Scroll now. - I said, licking my lips after kissing Blake.
- Thank...sibo. - Blake awkwardly replied when she saw the draft she received.
- Enjoy your reading. - I kissed Blake again and she happily returned the kiss again and when we finished it, Pyrrha, Burrow and Emerald were staring at us, but they didn't say anything, so Blake calmly went to her team and the girls kept staring at me.
- What? Trying to expand our family. - I answered, and I heard the sounds of fighting in the distance, -Can we go help? - I nodded in the direction the sounds were coming from.
- Questions about expanding the family, we should all decide together... but, we'll discuss it in our room, but now let's go help. - Burrow replied. We took our juice cans and headed out of the forest, and on the way we came across a battle where Ruby's team was fighting Urses and Beowulfs. In general, after us, the strongest team of freshmen is Ruby's team, four of them can easily cope with the superior number of Grimm.
Yang and Ruby were sisters and fought together harmoniously enough not to interfere with each other, Blake realised that it was better not to interfere with her teammates and tried to exterminate the most extreme Grimm.
Weiss was the one who really got out of the rhythm of the team, she used Ashes and Glyphs to deal with large crowds of Grimm most effectively, but quite often her attacks hit her teammates as well, as it happened now. Weiss used a large amount of Ice Dust, and in just a couple of moments froze all the Urs and Beowulfs into ice shackles.
- Weiss! You bastard! - Yang shouted, shackled in ice, she had to use her Manifestation to quickly free herself from the ice captivity.
- Eh... the juice cans froze and burst. - Blake said, not very cheerfully, as she freed her foot from the ice.
- Weiss...' Ruby wanted to say something.
- Shut up, I beat the Grimm, and the fact that you froze and the jars burst, that's your problem... and anyway, we'll get new jars and fill them all up again, don't make a tragedy out of it. - Weiss said proudly, she realised that she had made a mistake, but she was not good at admitting mistakes.
- I'm afraid kissing won't fix it. - Yang said, glancing irritably at Weiss.
- All right, let's do it all over again. - said Ruby, also looking at Weiss with annoyance.
- Thank you, Weiss. - Blake said melancholically.
- ...' Weiss said proudly and went with the team to Goodwitch to get more empty cans.
- Well, they're not exactly lacking in cohesion,' said Nora. - Burrow remarked.
After the excursion to the Forest of Eternal Autumn, there wasn't much to do for the rest of the term. But as an exam for the first term the teachers decided to make an obstacle race, the route of this race was laid through the whole territory of the academy, as well as through the Emerald Forest. Each teacher was responsible for a part of the course and had to fill it with various obstacles, in fact, the red sap we collected from the Forest of Eternal Autumn for Professor Peach, she used for the exam.
The Emerald Forest was home to Rapier Wasps, just very large wasps with very large stingers, these insects loved red juice, which is why the main obstacle on Professor Peach's section of the track was these wasps.... lots and lots of them.
Peter Port caught all sorts of Grimms for the exam, which then attacked students in the Emerald Forest. Professor Bartholomew Ublack prepared a labyrinth where at the forks you had to guess riddles on history, each answer corresponded to a different passage, and only by answering all the riddles correctly you could pass the labyrinth. Ann Grinn, together with Harold Mulberry, created a room filled with traps, which had to be passed through very carefully so as not to activate the traps. Glynda Goodwich created an obstacle course with lots of moving elements that hindered the students' progress during the race. In general, they approached the exam quite creatively, the winner of this race as a reward was to receive some rare book from Principal Ozpin's collection, which he himself would give to the first person who crossed the finish line.
Weiss was very keen to win this race and she tried very hard, but she only came second, I came first, for I was curious to know what book Ozpin was giving as a reward.... it was a book of ancient tales and legends. There was a tale of two dragon brothers, a tale of the Four Seasons Maidens, a tale of Jin and the Lamp, a tale of the Wizard of the Emerald Forest, a tale of a man with two souls.... I gather that the tales and legends here are those that have a definite basis in truth.... fun prize. but Weiss was a little too upset that she didn't get first place in that race.
In the evening, after the race-exam Emerald decided to contact her 'mum'.
- Emerald, it's been a long time since you called, I was getting worried. - Cinder answered the phone.
- I just didn't want to arouse suspicion from my team... - Amy answered uncertainly.
- Well, tell me, how's it going? - Cinder asked.
- Umm... well, we've started dating Ray, and we've already kissed more than once... maybe soon, we'll sleep together... here. - Emerald was clearly not telling the whole truth.
- Great... just, Amy, don't really fall in love with him, and definitely don't betray me and Salem because of this guy. - Cinder warned, 'What about the collateral damage? You couldn't find out where Ozpin might be hiding the Autumn Maiden, or where he's hiding the Relic at the Academy?
- To be honest, I've only seen Principal Ozpin a couple of times, he's always sitting in his office at the top of the main tower of Bicon, so maybe the Relic is somewhere there, but I don't have any clues about the Maid of Autumn, but I suppose it could be at the Academy, there are plenty of places to hide it. - Emerald replied.
- Well, the Headmaster's office is the first place I'm going to look for the relic, I just need to kill all the Hunters in Bikon and take over the Academy so I can search the place. Well, Amy, go on with your tasks, and I'll get everything ready for the takeover of Bikon. - Cinder's off.
- I didn't think this task would be so difficult...' Emerald said frustrated, 'What am I supposed to do? Tell the crew the truth... and they'll hate me... or keep quiet until the end, but in the end the truth will come out and they'll hate me anyway... and why didn't I meet them sooner? We really could have been a family... and now... now I'm betraying my family... what an idiot and a fool I am... and I don't want to be hated...' Emerald said frustratedly to herself.
If she tells us the truth in the end, it will mean that she is completely on my side, and if she continues to keep silent, it won't change anything in the end, I already know everything. I've been keeping some information from Burrow, Pyrrha, and Amy, too, and that's why I'm so comfortable with Emerald's lies, because I'm not completely honest myself.
Now, having overheard Amy and Cinder talking, it's clear that in addition to the Relic, they're also looking for the Maiden of Autumn, who, according to them, should be hiding in Beacon.
I have access to a lot of the academy's systems, but I'm not allowed access to those places where there isn't much to hack into and where everything works on more primitive technologies, but in general I have an idea of the structure of the academy, and now I know for sure that there is a secret vault under the Bicon, where the Relic and the Maiden of Autumn can be kept. This vault can only be accessed by using the special lift from the Headmaster's office... or by using my teleportation seal... which still needs a little tweaking. Though it's odd that this secret lift hasn't been used once in the last nine months, and that slightly contradicts the claim that someone could be hiding in there... though I won't know for sure until I check.
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