After many beast waves Micky and enemies, friends finally made it to the valley that the instructors intended, or at least so they say because the class couldn’t make it any farther. Many of the class had already passed out. But those that didn’t could drop the wights. After moving around with the weights on for so long even Micky felt like he could jump mountains. It was actually only like two feet, but it was something.

Princess sat next to him and waited for the next phase of today's mission. It turned out to be survival. Micky was amazed that many of the ‘silk pants’ were still in the class. But even though they swore to quit yesterday, they were back today. And possibly with a few more bruises than when they left. The only reason they stayed until now, was because the instructors would beat them regardless of what they said. And now it was a test of survival. Apparently the class was supposed to find their own lunch.

After moving so much lunch was a much more important prospect. While it was technically true that a high level could survive possibly indefinitely without food or drink that was contingent on a few things. First, they couldn’t be doing anything strenuous. Second, they needed to have a high concentration of mana or aether. But at the same time, they needed to consume much more then an average person when they did eat. A normal meal that Micky would eat would just be a polite snack for them. This was the secret behind the ‘bottomless slime pit’ of a high levels stomach. They would convert all the food into mana.

So while the silk pants were ordering people to bring them food, the rest of the class got to work. There was actually a bet going on which of the silk pants was the noble. Little did they know, it was the buffer they had already chewed out. So trying to score browny points was a moot point now.

Micky traveled off to see what he could find. He and Prin had already survived well enough themselves, so they should have no problem finding some grub. Micky avoided the mushrooms that seemed to be popular with the rest of the class. Some had even gathered mushrooms with a literal skull on the cap. Micky just rolled his eyes.

He found a stream and filled a couple of water skins he bumed off of some of his class mates. This was on the condition that he make food for them as well. Of course they would also have to bring back ingredients or Micky wouldn’t cook for them. The DPS and such weren’t too happy with this but were too afraid of Prin to try and bully Micky into it. Of course, not all of his classmates were so uncooperative but Micky figured the halfway point from refusing them outright was better than having Prin beat the shit out of half of his class. This also set precedent for the rest of the transactions with his more reasonable classmates.

Micky pulled together some crayfish and some birds and other small animals. Together with Prin they were easily hunted after they were [Charmed]. Then they traveled back with the herbs that they had already gathered.

Many of the students had simply gathered mushrooms. Or they had gathered healing herbs that provided effects such as increased mana, or stamina, or would stop bleeding. Micky and Prin had excess so they traded for more of the interesting herbs, but they avoided the mushrooms. The dude with the skull mushrooms had a lot of extra but somehow he couldn’t get anyone to trade with him.

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Next the teachers had the students prepare and eat what they had gathered. It was necessary to know how to survive in the wild if you were going to be an adventurer. You couldn’t always survive on rations even in a dungeon with nothing but monsters polluted with mana.

Again Micky became popular. Of course several silk pants tried to get in on it. But Micky completely ignored their promises of taking him in as a sworn, or taking him up and beyond his current station, on a real adventure and out into the greater society. Micky already knew who what when and where, and these were not it. Besides, he himself was being carried to a higher realm by people that were far and beyond his reach. These little shits weren’t anything. And even if, say their clan was a higher level clan, these wouldn’t have any sway in the greater beyond. They were just hot stuff in the town and nothing more.

So Micky and a large portion of the class found their attempts to sway the public laughable. Even the instructors looked on them with strange faces, this further swayed a large number of classmates. But the silk pants were already gathering cronies. Micky wasn’t sure but he thought some of them had already become [Sworn]. Unfortunately for those that did, it didn’t matter what their prospects before this were, they no longer had any. By tying themselves to these useless low ranked masters they would cripple their potential. Of course when they realise that they are [Sworn] to a useless master they can likely abandon ship. But it isn’t something that can be done easily or carelessly.

Of course some of the high ranking members of the board had already been swayed thinking that if they joined early they would have seniority. But this would just force them into breaking their [Oath] later on. This would damage their prospects later and leave an invisible mental scare. It would stay with them for the rest of their lives and would damage their future prospects. Micky would still consider some of them though. After all, there were some important party members like healers and tanks that had been swayed.

The healers and tanks likely wouldn’t have taken an [Oath] yet. Unlike the DPS who are a dime a dozen the healers and tanks would be needed constantly, and thus not easy to sway. So the silk pants, being smart schemers already, wouldn’t push them. Instead they would take on more DPS and show up these hard to get party members. Then, when the lofty, far and beyond got nervous they would oblige them to take them in, out of the goodness of their heart.

The instructors watched this with a passive eye. It would be good for them to make these mistakes now, when the consequences were little, then later, when swearing and [Oath] can have massive effects on their futures. After all it was only six months till they would know that they had sworn an oath to the wrong master. By then they could either go back, or take these useless masters on as their true master. In addition, some of the smart ones swore their oath to their clan or their backers instead. These were the ones that hedged their bets that the silk pants they were serving might not be the real noble.

Of course the silk pants were also wary of each other. They all knew that they themselves were not the true noble. So they were also on the lookout for the true noble amongst them. Little did they know that it was just a liars village and it was all built on a lie. None of them were the noble.

So Micky and Prin looked onto the big joke with the twinkle of laughter in their eye. They knew the joke would get old someday but not today. Either way, Micky’s cooking business was on the rise. Of course he did have competition but they all knew that there was plenty of fish in the see, [Sea].

Of course, after the guy that had gathered the skull capped mushrooms ate a few and was fine he got a few customers. But when they all got knocked out with stomach cramps and massive diarrhea his customer base dried up. Later and instructor would ask if he had the [Iron Stomach] skill. He said yes, it was a family secret on how it was trained but his whole family had it. The instructor just rolled his eyes.

It was ‘no’ secret how to train the iron stomach. Just consume things that would normally cause you stomach problems. Then, when they no longer gave you stomach problems, consume things that were worse. Eventually you will be consuming things that are poisonous to others. It is a common practice in places with a large amount of poisons or low amounts of foods. After all the children might end up like this guy and eat things they were not supposed to, and who were the parents going to turn to then, hu?