Jien turned to Mark with a questioning look in his eyes before asking calmly "Why use mana manipulation instead of a spell to gain acceleration? Wouldn't the aftermath be less prominent?" He lowered his gaze to his mentors' legs as if to accentuate the point. They had started to at least stop swelling, though they had turned a slight shade of purple as if bruised. Mark didn't appear to be in pain as he continued to massage his legs, not looking up as he answered.

"The answer is simply control." Mark answered in a tone loud enough for everyone to hear but much like Iris' clap the noise didn't leave the chamber. "I could have used a spell to accelerate but while I would have gained more initial speed turning would have been much harder. Secondly it would be more likely that I would have damaged my legs, leaving me not only as a burden to the rescue effort but also as a mentor in these coming days."

His words and reasoning were clear as day to everyone. The short-term gains would have been great in that he would have saved them faster, but the long-term consequences would be troubling. Right now, his legs were looking worse for wear, but the truth was with a little more attention and a first aid spell or two over time he would be back at his peak overnight or by late morning. His muscles were just overworked, though they would ache for some time there would be no long-term dangers.

With the answer given Iris passed her cool gaze over each of them to see if anyone else had a question. This time getting a response from the ever-peppy Rosalind. "Why designate a rear guard when we are sure that nothing was behind us? Would it not have been wiser to designate two to the rescue effort?" This time she had directed the question toward Iris as the controller of the group.

Iris gave a slight smile that gave her stoic features a slight hint of warmth. "Excellent question!" she stated as if a teacher in a classroom commending her student. "The answer is similar in nature to Mark's but different in context. Control of a battlefield will always be first and foremost in your training both here and the academy." With that she pointed to Julian and David. "If I had designated them to go and gather you but a magical beast had heard the noise and charged down the cave at us our backs would have been open."

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Bernard raised his hand as if they were in a lecture hall to get a nod from Iris to speak. His question was simple, "My mentor Lila is in front with the horses at the moment, are you saying that she could not have stopped such a beast?"

The response was simple, clear and quite a bit icier when spoken. "She was not present and while we are responsible for teaching you and keeping you alive, we are not tasked to babysit you entirely." This answer sent a chill down their spines. Did this mean that their mentors would leave them be as long as they were able to handle a situation, even if they were to be injured? The very thought made their faces pale once more. Unfortunately for all of them none of the teachers rebutted the statement, making it clear that they weren't there to watch every step their charges made but to assist them in learning how to walk on their own.

After a few moments of silence Iris spoke once again, this time her tone taking the stern edge of a military instructor, something Barret recognized immediately. "Now for your lesson." she spoke matter-of-factly. "You seem to have decided on rough positions as a group, but your understanding is still loose. Usually, we would have waited until after you were settled to start your lessons, but this is an opportune moment for this one in particular."

"Your formation was an interesting choice and could have some functionality, but you left your back open. The main positions for any situation are Scout, Vanguard, Controller, Knight, Healer and Rearguard." She paused at that point so that they could absorb what she was saying. "These positions are fairly explanatory but how you use them can be diverse and have an impact on the end result. In our situation we used Mark who could be considered a Knight in this context as a rescue party, Johnathan as a Vanguard to act as a shield and myself as the controller, managing how we acted in the face of changes in the battlefield."

"In your case you had Jien as the controller, likely a wise choice due to his leadership role among you. However, you focused too heavily into the position of Knight, having everyone but Bernard, your Vanguard, assume responsibility for taking on your foe. In some cases, such an action is reasonable as long as you are assured of your victory and already are fully cognizant of your enemy, their numbers, their abilities, and their position. In your case this choice would have led to your deaths."

Her statement was blunt, but they only heard a lecturing tone in her voice. She was pointing out their mistake like she would the mistake on a written paper that she had handed back to her student. "In this case if you had used a scout, either Jien or Barret likely being the best options you may have noticed the danger before engaging and decided on a different course of action. Starting tomorrow, along with lessons on how to set up your camp you will be taking turns in each of the positions to ascertain what you are most attuned to."

With that the lesson plan was set and the group huddled in the cavern to rest, assigning one to be on watch and consuming some of the rations and water they had brought from outside to forest to keep themselves energized for what was to be the start of a long bootcamp.