章節 31: Wilderness
"You want to go to the wilderness?", Lores asked as if he had heard something funny.
"Yes!", Beta answered with a serious face.
"Do you have any idea how reckless that is? You are talented indeed, but that doesn't make you immortal. The wilderness is a dangerous place even for professional explorers, not to talk about someone who just started practicing!", Lores said while laughing.
"Don't make a face like this now. Initially, I was going to announce it at the end of class but I guess I can do it now. Next week, all of you will be going to the wilderness. However, it will only be the outskirts and the areas will be cleared of beasts that are too strong for you to handle. As long as you fight as a team, there won't be anyone who will end up dead.", Lores explained with one of his eyes closed.
The girls admired how suave their teacher was, the boys wondered if he was paralyzed on one half of his face and looked at him weirdly. But still, each one of them understood the seriousness of what he said. Even though they were all able to magically produce arrows out of nothing, they are still weak. Nevertheless, the thought of going on an adventure excited all of them. At the same time, they were already making preparations in their heads. If they went there without having any antidotes, they may actually die to some poisonous plant! How depressing would that be? Therefore, none of them listened much to what Lores had to say that day which made him sigh.
"That's why I wanted to wait until the end of class... Oh well, class is over!", Lores finally said.
Only then people woke up from their daydreams of slaying powerful dragons and conquering the lands. A few were even drooling without anyone knowing why. As they left the classroom, they were talking about what they could possibly do in the wilderness and how they would prepare for it. Beta had different thoughts though.
"Brian, we won't buy stuff for preparation."
Brian was a little shocked, but he believed in Beta's judgment.
"I will make the necessary medicine with the herbs there, so you don't have to worry about that. I just think that we should start with the hardest training possible from the get-go. If we ever get separated, we need to be able to survive, even without any help. The most important thing though is that we don't have enough money to even buy a tent...", Beta added.
At first, Brian was thinking that Beta had their training in mind. But when it came to the last part, he knew why he had decided to act like this - they didn't have much money. Brian made a dry cough but still didn't expose Beta's obvious thoughts. They headed to their rooms where they trained themselves for one week until it was finally time. Everyone arrived at class much earlier than usual. A few of them had huge backpacks on their backs, others had small ones but were wearing thick armor instead. However, the biggest change was reserved for the girls.
Instead of their usual dresses with frills and other ornaments, they were wearing bulky leather clothes that protected their vital areas. No one expected to see such a change in them since they are usually very conceited and proud of their looks, but it seems like they were more serious about it than some others. Beta and Brian for an example. They still had on their black cloaks. The only change about them was that they were wearing small backpacks now. Looking at how deflated it was clearly showed them that there wasn't anything in it. When they looked towards Damian after that, they saw that he wasn't off much better. He, too, was wearing a robe and a small backpack. But he at least had some things in it. This brought one question to everyone's mind; Are they simply that poor or are they overconfident? However, no one dared to voice it out.
At this point, Lores entered the room and already started talking, "What are you still doing here? Follow me!"
No one dared to dally around now. They all followed him to a stable. There was a black horse for every one of them. As they saddled it, some were clumsily trying to not fall down while other experienced kids, easily accomplished this feat. Beta and Brian had some problems at the beginning, but soon got a feeling for it. When everyone was able to ride more or less steadily, Lores lead the way on his white horse. He rode on it elegantly as if he was a knight in shining armor, letting the girls' heart jump. The boys were fortunately too focused on trying to balance while riding and some were too excited dreaming about their adventure, to notice the girls' reaction. Due to this, Beta enjoyed the peacefulness on their journey. "At last, my classmates are behaving normally..."
Their journey wasn't anything special. They followed Lores through the lands and saw farms, little forests, and some villages. Only after three days did they finally appear at their destination. It was a little temporary camp, not too far away from a small river. It was surrounded by high trees and lush bushes for protection and concealment. In the far distance, they also were able to see a single towering mountain. The place looked safe and accommodating enough to handle their number. A bit cozy with a bonfire in the middle and a heated pot hanging over the fire. Seems like it was prepared beforehand for them as they arrived.
They rested there for a while before getting ready to go into the wilderness. Though it was quite strange that there wasn't any welcoming group to receive them nor even people to speak with. Within that whole camp were just the students of class 1-S, isolated and far from the city they're used to be at. Still, they couldn't suppress their excitement and wanted to head out as soon as they can. But, before they could go out, Lores stopped them.
"You are allowed to go out but you must always remember that it's dangerous at night and beasts are lurking all around. You are to come back within two weeks, if not, we will assume that you are dead and head back. Only then, will we send out a party that will search for your whereabouts. So, are we all clear on this? Well now, go and have some fun!", Lores said with a laugh without even asking or answering any questions they had in mind.
Seeing the indifferent attitude their teacher gave off and the abrupt dismissal, it made them feel reluctant and view their teacher as irresponsible. But then again, their teacher has always been like that so they couldn't help but sigh and shake their heads. Well, their teacher did say that they can go now so that's a good thing. They've been waiting for this moment after all.
Everyone swarmed out into the forest. They all had already set their own goals in this excursion. Trying to reach the steep mountain and heading into the deeper parts of the forest were the ones that got chosen the most as a first move. Beta and Brian, on the other hand, chose to follow the river. Their goal was different from the others and that was to hunt down beasts. Since every creature would get thirsty at some point, they decided to stay near the source. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about their own water to run out either. Before they got far though, Domian caught up to them.
"Hey! Can I go with you? The others don't want me in their teams and I think that going out alone would be inefficient.", Domian said with a wry smile.
"Oh? Why would they not want to team up with you? You're ranked third in our class at the moment, so you should be able to provide them with quite a bit of confidence and safety after all.", Beta answered.
"They say that I'm a part of your group and that it should stay like that. They don't want me to steal their kills and are afraid that I will take all the benefits..."
"I guess being strong can be a burden as well... Alright, you can come with us.", Beta said while chuckling and patting his shoulder.
Beta had a good impression of Domian. He seemed to be a hardworking fellow who just so happened to not be that well off either. Brian agreed as well.
"The more the merrier!", Brian said laughing.
Although they were kind of rivals, it was just a friendly rivalry. They actually quite liked each other because they had a similar character. Plus, they both think that it also boosts their determination when competing against someone stronger. The desire to be above than the other made them practice even harder and passionately. Thus, they somehow felt like they were some kind of soul brothers and have a strange connection.
As they walked along the river, they kept chatting about their lives and what they had lived through in the past few weeks. Passing time like that seems more fun and mind blowing for Domian who kept on getting shocked from the words that came out of Brian's mouth. He couldn't believe they're both the same age and yet their experiences were so different. Beta on the other hand just listened and added some input in their conversation but most of the times, he was more focused on finding tracks and clues on their surroundings.
But then their talk got cut short as they finally found a beast. It was a lower beast, just like the green Lynx they had beaten before. But this time, it was a beast that looked similar to a wolverine. It looked very ferocious and spotted them right away as they saw it. It was about to attack them but their reaction was a lot faster as they tried their soulpower arrows on it. The moment they fired off their arrows, they realized the difference in strength between the three of them. Beta's arrow hit its head, directly dematerializing it. Brian set its body on fire, frying it to a crisp and lastly, Domian pierced its heart very accurately. They finished the beast within seconds with no sweat at all.
"Err... Wasn't this a bit too easy?", Brian asked as he looked at the wolverine's dead body, unsure if it really was a beast they just defeated.
"Looks like we got much stronger... Well, I guess should head in deeper into the forest. If we only fight small-fries we won't get any stronger.", Beta agreed.
"Deeper in there will be more dangers too though, so we can't get reckless just because we encountered a weak one now.", Domian chided in.
Everyone agreed to that, so they continued following the river into the deeper parts of the wilderness, warily watching their surroundings this time. But then Beta suddenly stopped on his tracks while looking at a certain direction. His eyes were somehow glowing and he seemed to be excited.
"Huh? Hold on a moment guys... I found something really good!"
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