Nyx looked around curiously. It was her first time outside of the academy. At least since she became my companion. I still did not know entirely how she came to be. If she was a sealed undead, she might have had a life before. Regardless, she seemed to enjoy the trip so far. Unlike Helena, who kept glancing at the sun and grimacing.

“Do you know anything about the Korrah Forest?” I asked my friends.

“It has trees.” Helena said with a straight face.

“No? Really?” I replied, trying to pretend to be shocked.

“It does have a large timber industry.” Skadi explained. “The forest has some magic, the trees grow faster and the wood is of very high quality. It’s also regularly patrolled to keep workers safe.”

“Most likely we will hunt down some weaker monsters. That way we gain real world experience, while being mildly useful.” Helena added.

“What kind of monsters?” I wondered.

“Maybe goblins, or forest wolves. They could also pit us against bandits, if some are around.”

“Why would there be bandits in an area with regular patrols?” I wondered.

“Because there is money.” Skadi explained. “Some of those trees can be really expensive. No matter how many bandits get crushed there is always someone stupid enough to think they will succeed.”

“A bandit camp would be nice, we could burn it down!” Cassie suggested.

“I am not sure if fire is a great choice inside a forest…” I cautioned.

“You all have a water affinity! You can contain some explosions. I believe in you!” Cassie said.

We all looked mildly concerned.

“I might be able to create a small ice projectile but putting out a forest fire is beyond me.” Helena said. “We have a long way to go for that.”

“It’s fine.” Cassie waved off our concerns. “Think about the benefits of fire! Koyuki will have nice clean skeletons to work with!”

“Maybe you should try the smoke potions you were working on…” I suggested.

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“Oh yeah, it would be good to find a test subject for those.” Cassie agreed.

The caravan travelled until midday. Then it pulled away from the road for a stop. The wagons parked on the grass and we awaited further instructions. Torben approached us.

“Students, this is our lunch break. You can get food from wagon four. We will rest here for about an hour. You can also refill your water skins at the river.”

“Yes sir!”

The food we got was simple, dried meat and bread. Afterwards we went to the river.

“We will have to purify the water.” Helena said. “The Jinso is not the cleanest river out there.”

“It won’t kill you but you might get sick if you drink too much.” Skadi added.

“Why didn't they tell us this?” I wondered.

“It’s probably part of the training. If you feel ill for a day, it’s a great lesson about survival in the wilderness.” Helena theorised. “Many nobles are only familiar with the water coming from the pipes in their homes. But that has been cleansed.”

“Ok, what is the plan? Use our water affinity to draw out clean water? We can do that, right?” I asked.

“We can just boil it!” Cassie said. “Heat is a great cleanser.”

“What about ice?” I wondered.

“No, ice preserves stuff. Fire cleanses it.” Cassie explained.

“We could draw water from the river, we learned to use existing water for our magic. But I am not sure if that would clean it.” Skadi said.

While we discussed things, Nyx investigated the river. She stood next to it and stared into the water. Suddenly, there was a loud splash. Nyx had moved with incredible speed… and caught a fish. It was dangling from her mouth. Then we heard a squelching sound as she consumed her prize.

“It just dissolves as she chews it. Seeing a skeleton eat is weird.” Cassie said.

I scratched my head. “It’s called a devouring. But I thought she would only go after magical creatures. She can consume mana, but that was just a normal fish…”

“Well, she is a cat…” Skadi said.

“You have a point.” I conceded.

Nyx ignored us. She was too busy looking smug.

“Anyway, back to the water.” I said.

“We do have a small pot in our backpacks, right? Let’s use those to boil the water. We will just make a small fire here on the shore.” Helena suggested.

“I have something to help any wood burn quickly!” Cassie said with a bit too much enthusiasm.

“Sure. I will just take a step backwards while you use it.” I said.

Cassie pouted.

There was enough wood nearby to start a small fire. Some of the other students had similar ideas. Cassie’s mixture allowed us to use wood that was not completely dry. The initial flame, that was about one metre high, quickly shrunk to a reasonable size. There was a lot of smoke though. Regardless, it worked to boil our water. It also drew a lot of attention from other students.

“You can’t even make a fire properly. What a joke.” Archibald said. His team consisted of five people. Florence, Eva, Jack, Simon and himself.

“How far the Ashburns have fallen.” Florence said mockingly. “You are an embarrassment to the family.”

“The family? Are you related to her?” I asked Cassie.

“Well, she is an Ashfield. So sadly, yes. She is the daughter of the duke. But she won’t inherit. Just like Archibald. They are both irrelevant but have delusions of grandeur.”

“You bitch!” Florence hissed. “Wait till I tell your mother! She will beat some sense into you.”

Then she stormed off. Archibald sneered at us and they left.

“Was that wise?” Skadi asked. “Can’t she create some problems for you?”

“Oh, my mother will be furious. She wants better ties with the Ashfields and increase the influence of our little branch family. And Archibald is still a duke’s son. Our group has Koyuki, who has power, but ultimately she falls into the royal faction because the princess sponsors her. And my mother thinks they are too liberal. But I am an adult and an only child. My mother can’t do anything. Well… she can cut my funding for alchemy.” Cassie did sound slightly worried.