A Tuesday afternoon found me dropping down to the table my friends were eating lunch. We had just finished another theory lesson on Mana Techniques, and I was reflecting on just how far we'd all come in only three months.
I had successfully shortened the chant and heavily reduced the mana cost on both my fire spells while decreasing the cast time of Void Bubble. I still haven't been able to shorten the chant, but I was close to the speed requested before we were allowed to learn other spells.
Mason had been spending all his time on his other elements and was at the same stage of those spells, whatever they were, as I was with mine.
Our other friends had kept their spells closer to their chests, but they had made significant progress too. It was shocking that this group of friends that spent all our free time together honestly didn't know much about each other. The majority of the conversation was about progress, familiars or class; I would have to change that soon.
In much more exciting news, to me at least, is the growth of my Haru, Hoshi and Aspen's familiars, doubling their sizes. Clin and Kats Kitsune hadn't grown larger but were clearly stronger; Clin could even control how much venom he used, having the ability to paralyse for a short time instead of kill.
After some experiments and reading about the venom, the victims, for lack of a better word, were killed by their circulatory system being infected with a paralytic and their mana core being attacked with Void Mana; the lesser version just contains the paralytic.
We had only worked that out that morning, and I was explaining it to my friends.
I looked around the table to see only Ivy, Aspen, Haru and Hoshi paying attention. Everyone else had glazed eyes; I sheepishly smiled and laughed before apologising.
"Well, since around half the table stopped listening, let's change the subject." I continued.
"Who's keen on the hunting trip this week?" I asked.
This got everyone's attention. Our Manabeast hunting class was going on our first ‘Mission'. The manabeast in the forest near the academy had been getting more aggressive recently, so we were being sent to reduce their numbers.
Some higher years students were in charge of the mission, while we were only there to get some practice hunting.
"I heard that we might have to work in pairs, not picked by us either; Peterson will decide." Mason chimed in.
"Hopefully, he doesn't split us up. I'd rather not be teamed up with Cage's friends after ragging on them as much as I have." I replied.
It didn't take a genius to predict what someone like him would do to us, and I could never figure out if our instructor was trying to torture or train us. I'm sure he would go on some lecture about managing expectations of having to work with people antagonistically disposed to us for the greater good.
Peterson was always a font of "wisdom" for quotes about the Greater Good. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to mostly tune them out.
"He will, most likely, team us up with someone whose abilities are the opposite of ours. Making it harder to work together seamlessly." Ivy chimed in.
We all lapsed into thoughts after that.
I already have a terrible feeling.
The rest of the week blurred together as excitement and a little bit of fear mounted. I had never killed anything other than one Dark Wolf and wasn't in my right mind then.
Killing an animal, even one mutated by mana, was a strange experience for me, someone raised in cities during the 21st century. The thought of taking a life with my own hands would have terrified me before I came to this time, but now it was only a bit of fear for my safety. I was different than I used to be. All that time that I was in the void or mana itself had changed me physically and mentally. Then there was the battle madness or bloodlust, whichever you want to call it, from my beast affinity; who would I be in another year of this world?
As I was mulling over my thought and worries, I realised I had made it to the meeting point for our weekend trip. About half my class was already standing in front of the admin buildings, and off to the side, another thirty people I didn't recognise.
Being his usual social butterfly, Haru strolled out of that group and made his way over to me. I noticed his cheek was a bit red, but I figured it was a smarter move not to ask.
"You here alone, or is everyone already here?" I asked.
"Oh, you know me, a whole new batch of girls to flirt with. Everyone else is somewhere in a pile over there." He answered, pointing towards the mass of people.
Since he brought it up, I wanted to tease him a bit.
"You know you are going to, actually, get your ass kicked one of these days. Mason and I can't always be nearby when some girl's boyfriend comes looking," I said, nodding at his face.
He just laughed before responding.
"It's just the raw sex appeal they're jealous of!"
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I continued before he could say anything else.
"Find out anything from them?"
"Turns out, and I quote, other than materials, they don't want anything from us crazy combat bastards."
"Nice of them.." I quipped.
"They're our prospective alchemists, blacksmith, enchanters and leather worker apprentices. Production skills of all sorts, this lot are the ones who don't trust us to harvest the beasts properly. Some of us must protect them, and the rest will stay back in the base camp." Haru explained as he led me to our friends.
His ability to gather information will never cease to amaze me. Between Mason, Ivy, the twins and me, there is less than half the charisma Haru showed when not trying to flirt. He reminded me of a less murdering version of a character I enjoyed reading once upon a time; he didn't care for rank or attitude. He fits in everywhere.
We got to our friends just as I heard a shout,
"Now that everyone is here!"
"I wasn't last, was I? He's definitely gonna mess with me if I was last!" I sulked as we all turned towards the voice.
As expected, nothing was there when we looked towards where the voice came from. Almost a second after, the tell-tale shimmer of a Light Veil being dispelled appeared as a pair of buses we all walked past were finally shown. A half dozen people looking very ninja-ry, completely covered in black, stood behind Peterson.
"I hate when Peterson does that." A voice muttered behind me.
This got a laugh from us all.
"Everyone file onto the buses; we have several hours until we reach the Hunting Ground. I'll explain more when we arrive."
I followed Haru onto the bus, surrounded by my friends. We talked about nothing, free from the nervousness I knew would surge back once we arrived.
*
Barely three hours later, the buses stopped in a forest clearing. A few buildings that looked like workshops were spread across the area, with a stack of unbuilt tents in a pile near us.
"Welcome to this year's first Hunt. I expect much from you! I have explained this to most of you, but some people may not have been listening to me the first time. Sergeant Peterson said.
“You are here to put everything you have learnt into practice. The Mission is to clear as many Manabeasts out of this area as fast as possible. You have 48hrs.”
You will enter the forest in pairs to hunt; you will be given a beacon to call for help if you find yourself in danger. I will fail any of you who use this beacon. This is your chance to be seen as big boys and girls.
“Why does it always feel like he's being condescending?” someone whispered.
I couldn’t help but agree with whoever said that.
“You may find the world outside your bubbles more dangerous than you imagined.” Peterson ominously added before finishing.
"Since we still have a lot of daylight left, I will call out the pairs; you WILL build your tent, and then I WILL have a beast core in my hand before you get your dinner. Now.."
He started listing names; my friends slowly disappeared, wishing each other luck as they left. Finally, I was the last person there. I chose not to look around, worried about who I would see.
"And finally, I have two of my favourite students. Boys, this is your chance to reconcile your differences; I'm tired of the bitchiness from your groups of friends at each other. Now go build your tent; you have three hours before dinner, and I'd hurry." He finished as he did his usual disappearing act.
I turned to find Cage glaring at me.
"Fuck." That was all I could say.
*
An agonising half hour later of watching Cage try and put our tent together, refusing my help, since he had declared,
"Don't need the help of a leech."
I had already watched other pairs spend their time figuring it out, so I knew how to put the tent up.
"Cage...Cage...CAGE listen to my god damn it!" I had to tell before he looked at me.
"I know you don't like me; I'm not a big fan of your fucking judgemental attitude either, but just fucking listen to me!" I started.
Clearly, no one has ever really spoken to him like I do because there was more surprise than anger from the swearing.
"I've watched a dozen others put their tents up while you've refused my help; there should be a mana chip near the doorway. Infuse it with mana, and the tent will expand. It is hidden under a flap, this was a test of teamwork, and we failed." I finished.
Without a word, Cage turned back to the tent, did as I said and less than twenty seconds later, we had a tent to sleep in the next two nights.
"Now I want to eat tonight, so I need you to set aside your disdain for me, and let's go hunting," I said.
I didn't like getting confrontational with him like this, but I didn't want to miss a meal either. It was pointless hating someone you essentially pitied.
Not talking, we picked a direction deeper into the trees and started walking. It quickly became clear that neither of us had any experience actually hunting, making so much sound to my enhanced hearing. Unfortunately, because Cage had a Nature affinity, he wasn't having the same problem as me. I cringed every time I heard fabric scrape against bark or the crack of a broken twig as it was stepped on, and Cage looked at me every time.
We were told that in this area of the forest were non-elemental animals, Dark Wolves and some Fleeting Deer. Deeper were other manabeast that were stronger and more dangerous. With the time we had, our only option was to try and lure out a Dark Wolf or two.
"You're why can't we find anything! You're too loud. You need to learn to use your other form properly." Cage hissed.
I felt an emotion that could only be described as mockery from Clin, cementing my earlier thoughts, a hunter I was not yet.
A crazy plan sprung into my head; stupid might be a better description, but I thought it might be worth it.
"Cage, I think I have a plan." I softly said.
Upon hearing my plan, his only response was,
"You're insane."
*
Fifteen minutes later, we huddled inside a Void Bubble, watching Clin curled up in the middle of a cleaning; blood that I donated to the cause lay in splotches around him.
Somehow he had withdrawn his aura or mana signature; I hadn't been taught what it was called yet, and he appeared to be an ordinary snake.
I was in combat form and flexed my hand, feeling the rapidly healing cut across my palm pressed into the handle of my knife.
I caught Cage looking at my hand as it healed,
"I can't believe you're crazy enough to cut yourself for this stupid plan." He declared.
"Better than me stomping around the woods like a drunk elephant, with any manabeast within a kilometre knowing exactly where we are," I answered.
Clin let me know something was coming long before I heard anything. A pair of Dark Wolves slowly stalked into the clearing towards Clin.
"You take the one on the left, Clin and I will get the other one," I said to Cage.
"Wait for them to get closer to the snake before dropping the bubble." Cage answered.
I had only seen him cast one spell, Tangeling Vines, but I hadn't heard the chant. I wanted to avoid using fire in the forest, potentially lighting the trees on fire, so I would have to rely on my martial abilities and Clin.
The Dark Wolves were just about to pass us as they stalked around Clin when Cage tapped me on the shoulder and started to chant.
"Grow and desist," he said as I dropped the bubble.
I leapt forwards, grabbing my knife and ordering Clin only to paralyse my Wolf.
I couldn't help but be impressed with Cage, already dropping his spell to such a short chant. I might actually like the guy if he wasn't such a dick.
As the vines grew out of the ground, trapping the other Wolf, Clin shot towards our prey, my mind connecting deeper to him as we fully entered combat. It left like we were slow, but it probably took a couple of seconds before I slashed the wolf's throat, and I heard a whimper next to me as Cage did the same.
Neither of us knew if the body was useful for anything, so we dug out the cores, washed our hands in a nearby stream found by Clin, and Cage led us back to camp.
As we walked through the tents, everyone else was eating, having beaten us back. A voice yelled out as we passed one group; I looked to see Cage's friends glaring at me. He looked back at me with an expression I couldn't read for a moment before approaching them.
He threw his beast core over to me and said,
"Hand that in for me, would you? I have more interesting things to do."
I gritted my teeth at being talked down to in front of his friends, destroying any chance of resolving our differences during this trip. If he was going to be an asshole, I didn't see the point in trying to be civil.
I threw it back.
"I'm not your blonde-haired bitch, have him hand it in for you, my Lord," my voice dripping with venom.
I immediately knew I'd gone too far with the response; I was just so done with the shit from these idiots. I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet they kept snipping at me, trying my patience. They were too self-absorbed to know when to stop; if I were as bad as them, I would have already asked Mason to use his rank to drop him down a few pegs. He already wanted to try, but I told him not to bother. It wasn't worth calling in any favours for such a pointless act.
While I was in my head, Rio took the opportunity to approach me, getting right up in my face.
"What was that peasant? Still thinking Mason will protect you?" He snarled.
All of a sudden, his antagonism made more sense. He thought I'd done a better job of finding coattails to ride up. He'd spent all these years kissing the ass of a Duke, and here I was, arriving at the academy with a Prince.
Cage might not see it, but I'd met people like Rio before, stroking the ego of those in a higher position to gain more "power". People sure were annoying.
Before I could open my mouth and make it worse, Cage spoke up.
"Rio! Not worth it." He ordered.
I left quickly, not trusting my mouth. I handed in the beast core, got myself food and returned to my tent to cultivate, not looking forward to the next day.