They all came. Nassor said, “I need to plead my case with the professor. To do that, I need a good showing in the astral space,” he clapped me on the shoulder, “You are my only hope, mate.”

The week flew by. In addition to the formations and strategies introduced by Jaha, I incorporated things I thought would help. We will see if they do.

“This is the last chance to back out,” Jaha said as we stood in front of the portal to the astral space.

We didn’t think we were ready, but this was a common feeling among the first years. A lot of the bravado had gone when the mirage chamber exercises showed how difficult it is for fresh iron rankers to operate in a magically saturated bronze zone.

“The portal changed location half an hour ago,” said the staff member in charge.

Jaha nodded. Seeing no one backing out, she said, “Follow me,” and stepped through.

We were geared for an immediate fight. Monsters in the portal area were not unknown, and the first through had to clear them. The Academy did discourage them with traps, but they did not stop them. I am not sure you could stop them. If you built a fort around the portal, monsters could still manifest inside the fort, and that could be worse. You would have to have powerful rituals to control the magic, and that might interfere with the portal.

I stepped through. Nassor was next, followed by the mages and Melor. Our three best fighters first. When I arrived, I was dizzy for a while, but I was relieved Jaha was not fighting. The others came through, and we took stock of where we were.

“Shit,” Jaha said.

It wasn’t the isolated portal in the swamp. It was then the next one back from it. Magic density was solid mid-bronze. To the left of the portal, I could see the start of the swamp. The land was a muddy jungle. The humidity and wetness favoured our water mages, but it was mid-bronze, and we were fresh Iron rankers.

“First decision time,” Jaha said. “Should we go back and wait for the portal to change or push on?”

“We push on,” said Nassor.

“We will have to be extra careful and avoid fighting if we can,” I said, “but that was always our game plan. We will move to the next portal, which is that way,” I said, pointing opposite to the swamp. “The density will reduce as we go. The hardest part will be when we are fresh. What do you guys think?”

“Slow and careful and avoid fights,” Akemi said. “I will follow your lead.”

The other two nodded in agreement. It's all on me, huh? How did it come to that? “Let's go and explore the area and see what's out there,” I said.

The three Kais dashed into the bush.

“Lets go with Forrest camouflage,” I said.

Everybody got out a poncho in mottled forest colours. We had three ponchos, Forest, Stone, and Sand, made by Melor. I also wore one as my Blend skill was not good when I was moving. What was really going to sell it was Saskia’s Create Image Skill and her Aura, which interfered with the perception of enemies. Both were from her Mirage Essence and projecting the image took less mana if we looked close to her image of the forest.

“The first section is free,” I whispered. “Slow and quiet, and all auras contained except for Saskia.”

I led them out. I had the connection to the Kai’s and had the experience of moving quietly in the forest. I tried to choose a simple route with soft footing. They had practised moving in single file with their feet going in the footsteps of the one in front. We didn’t have anywhere to really practice on campus, but we tried.

Only twenty meters in, I signalled to stop and crouch low. We waited quietly. Two minutes later, a river hydra with four heads slithered by. It was bronze rank and way beyond us. Lots of poison and regeneration. Akemi was the only one with a Dilute Poison Skill, and she could only use it on herself at this level.

We waited for it to go out of Kai’s sense range, which re-emphasised the plan's importance. We cautiously moved forward again. My hearing was picking up all the sounds they were making behind me that might give us away. I had Hunter Step, which quieted my steps, but they did not have anything like that. The worst was Jaha. I don’t think she had moved quietly in her life before.

We moved forward slowly. I veered left and signalled danger ahead. We carried on like this for an hour, stopping as needed. Once I gathered everybody together, we covered ourselves with a large brown cloth, which Saskia made look like a log, and waited for ten minutes straight. The Kais were scared. Something was out there and suspicious, and I picked up the scent of a large cat several times. I never saw or heard anything.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I could tell Nassor was ready to say something, but I urgently signalled to be quiet. They were doing well for beginners, but I would need to find somewhere for them to have a decent break. Eventually, I signalled to start quietly, but I angled more to the left, leaving the direct route.

Half an hour later, they were starting to make more mistakes. I found a huge hollowed-out log and we used the entrance of it to rest. I set up nets of Cutting Web over the end to give us some warning.

I went further in to check, and there was nothing nasty. I picked some bronze-rank mushrooms and found some rot quintessence. I didn’t know what the mushrooms were, but I figured they would sell fine.

“We can talk quietly,” I whispered. “Have a break and something to eat. How is the mana Saskia?”

“I was about to ask for a break.” We had decided that nobody should use more than half their mana pool if possible, even in fights. It was the unexpected that killed you. We had managed to get more mana potions. Melor is a craftsman, and he can earn good coins even at iron rank. The group would pay him back out of the proceeds of what we collected before divying up to everybody else.

Our haul this far is meagre. Some random plants I thought were herbs, mushrooms, and rot quintessence with some plant quintessence and that was it. It was all Bronze rank, but it was still not a lot.

“This creeping around is hard,” Nassor complained too loudly for my liking. “The tension of not knowing what is out there is too much. Why the ten-minute stop?”

“A big cat was hunting the area. It is also the reason we can’t go back anymore. Only forward, even though we are not far from the portal,” I replied.

“Tree Panthers,” Jaha said, “I saw their scratches on the trees. They usually hunt in pairs. Fast and agile.”

“Is that what those scratches were? Thanks, I will know next time,” I said.

“Shit,” Nassor said, “I don’t think I can do this.”

I decided to let my aura loose a little to strengthen everyone's Spirit Attribute.

“This is a first for me,” Jaha said. “I have never been the sneaky type.”

“How are you others holding up?” I asked.

“Ok,” Akemi said, and Melor just nodded to me that he was OK. Saskia and Melor had contributed the most so far. Melor in material and Saskia in mana.

In the end, we waited almost an hour for Saskia’s mana to refill before setting out again.

Then I missed something. I froze everybody when I caught a whiff of it, but we were out of cover, and the Kai’s could not be everywhere.

A huge boar must have heard something, and it rose from its resting place. It was taller than Jaha at the shoulder and had massive bulk. I felt the ground shake as it took a couple of steps to try to find what it heard. It was dripping black saliva, so I think it was a Rotboar. They had poor eyesight but good hearing and smell. I am not sure how it smelled anything over its own stench.

I saw Jaha ready her shield and a charge and urgently waved for her to wait. We were crouched, trusting in Saskia’s iron rank mirage to fool a bronze rank beast with poor eyesight. I let my aura loose a little to strengthen people’s spirits, as the boar was not known for its aura senses.

It stepped closer, and the tension racked up. I could see Saskia working hard. I didn’t want to make any movement, but I really didn’t want to fight. The agreement was that unless we were surprised and a monster started a fight, everybody would wait for my signal before engaging in a fight. I really didn’t want to fight this monster. Wait, wait, wait, I mouthed.

Suddenly, a small black creature darted out of the trees and between the Rotboar’s legs and then back to the bushes. This got the boar's attention, and he started off after the small Kai, who was leading it away from us. It thundered into the bush after Kai, and I signalled quiet movement in the other direction. I wasn’t very worried about the small, agile Kai getting away from the lumbering monstrosity.

We quietly moved back into the bush away from where the RotBoar was resting. When I judged us far enough away, it signalled a guarded stop. This meant Saskia could rest, and Jaha and I would be on watch, but we were not safe. I saw Akemi handing her some food, and she took an iron rank spirit coin. This would help her recovery.

Jaha started as Kai darted out to me and dropped an item on the ground. It was an awakening stone and looked exactly like the Mighty Awakening Stone I used a few weeks ago. I patted Kai in praise, and he darted off again. He was raiding the Rotboar resting place while the boar was gone. I showed the others silently with a big thumbs up, as this would pay for all the prep. Nassor and Melor both gave me big grins. Melor was worried mostly about the expenditure he had gone to, but that was now covered. Nassor just loved spending his coin, and I am pretty sure most of it went into donations to the temple of Lust.

Then Kai came and went a few more times, dropping things at my feet. It was Quintessence, but I was not sure what type it was. It was bronze rank so it was worth it. I stored it all away.

We would need a longer break soon. Saskia could not keep this up. We needed somewhere we could rest for at least an hour, for everybody. Once Kai was ready again, I signalled that we would continue.

I was searching for a defensible place but couldn’t find one. Where I thought we were reasonably safe, I signalled for Saskia to drop the mirage for a while, to give her some rest.

Suddenly, I signalled the unsafe stop signal, and everybody drew together. Jaha stepped forward, senses alert. I peeled off my poncho. “I need to go and check Kai,” I whispered.

Her face showed she was not pleased but did not protest. Akemi stepped up to help watch. She had Magic Eyes from her magic essence, and she could see magic to a limited extent. That would help.

I crept forward to where one of the Kais was trapped. I needed to see what type of creature it was and then decide whether to fight or run. Keeping the risks manageable was the key. I was using Blend like mad to hide and my Hunter's Step to move quietly. I had a shield on one arm and drew my axe with the other. I settled and let my Blend hide me as I studied what had happened to Kai.

Shit. There is no getting Kai out of that without alerting the monster. I looked up into the trees and saw a leg of the monster. It was waiting there. It looked like we were in for our first fight.