After a couple hours of exercise all of the children were tired, but there was a glimmer of excitement in their eyes. All of them were relieved and happy when they were called to a central square. The central area was to one side of the fields where they had been training. It was resting behind the school, and was often used as the sports arena for the school.

In the center of the field stood a man with white hair and a lithe figure. Like many of the other teachers he wore eclectic armor rather than average clothes. It wasn’t anything too impressive, but they often saw the glint of metal from under his cloak. “Hello students!” He called out, voice booming and able to easily consume the whole area. “Welcome to another semester of school. I’m sure some of you are a bit rusty after winter break, but some of you are beginning to show the promise that we all know you have!”

There was a loud cheer from the audience, many of whom seemed slightly smug.

“Now now students, allow me to finish. As you know, this is the first time of the year when fourth years are given the chance to show what they have learned in live combat.” He paused for another cheer. “But what you may not know is that we have a talent scout who has arrived from Ironthorn. Over the next few months, he will be observing all of you as you complete training missions in the meadows. So be warned!”

The cheering died down to murmuring, whispers going between people. Most students looked confused, though a few students noticed and pointed out a suited man sitting in the bottom row who they had never seen before.

“I’m sure you have all formed teams. I would like each team to come to me in a group one at a time. Once you have, we will begin our first round of tests.” The headmaster stood down and grabbed a clipboard, sitting on a rock in the mittle of the square. Everyone from the crowd began to approach him.

“We’ve gotta go soon.” Triston said, grin beaming. His blond hair was slightly out of place in this crowd, mostly filled with darker haired folk. Still, he seemed intensely interested. “We need one of the first jumps!” He stood up without warning.

“Sit down you dolt. We’re in the top row. They’ll wait for us, it’s not just going to be first come first serve you know.” Claire pulled his tunic, making him sit back down. “I mean, come on. Haven't you noticed something? We’ve got high marks, and where are we sitting? Near the top. Five copper says that they ranked us on purpose.”

“True.” Mark said calmly, hood covering his face.

“Stop being so emo.” Triston said, slapping Mark in the back of the head. “Just because you're a rogue doesn’t mean you have to be all dark and brooding all the time.”

“Bah, what do you know?” Mark said, even though he did sit up and take his hood off his pale face.

The sign up took hours, but near the end the trio walked up and signed up together. They were unsurprised when they were given a scroll, though they might have been more shocked had they known its meaning.

“This is your quest.”

“Really? Just like that, no fanfare?”

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“No fanfare. Hop to it.”

As they walked away Claire unrolled the scroll and groaned, glaring back at the old man who was clearly giggling under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Triston asked.

“Rabbits. He’s got us fighting rabbits.”

“And he…” Mark started, trailing off as he got it.

“Told us to go with a pun, yes.”

The trio groaned and walked towards one of the unbroken meadows. The fields were cleared often, but at the very back of the fields were rough areas. This is where a few monsters, small and simple ones of course, still congregated. It was their job to do some clearing out, killing and claiming five rabbits.

***

The first rabbit was easy, taking it by surprise. The second was tougher, and they had to have Triston block it while Mark used his sneak attack. It wasn’t until they found a group of three that they were in real trouble though.

“Don’t put this on me, you and Mark are DPS!” Triston said. “I mean come on, I’m already carrying the team, do you have to put more weight on me? Sword and Board isn’t exactly the combination for taking out the opponent!” His hair was blond and his chin was somehow already perfect. Even his smile shined along with his bright blue eyes.

“Don’t you dare put this on me.” Mark said as he appeared from seemingly nowhere behind the group of enemies, large knives flashing in the sunlight and splashing in the blood. “I mean, come on, you're handsome already, do you have to play the martyr card every time we try to do anything. What do you think you are, the chosen one?”

“Boys, you're both pretty, but ya’ll need to shut the hell up.” the girl said. “Because if you distract me one more time I’m going to go all Thundere on your butts.” Lightning sparked around her. “I need to concentrate.” The pressure began to build as her robes began to move as if in an invisible wind storm.

“Claire’s right, you should shut your mouth.” Triston said, lifting his middle finger from his sword and gesturing at his friend. He grunted as he pushed another enemy forward.

“Get behind me.” The girl said, her voice rising above their bickering. “Three…”

“Oh shit…” Mark said. “Triston, move!” He jumped, doing a flip and tumbling behind his two teammates to get behind the caster.

“Two…” Claire said, her voice begging to tremble as power coursed between her hands like a Tesla Coil.

“Move! She’s almost done!” Mark said, trying to get his friend to get out of there.

“One…” Claire said, her eyes practically glowing like those of a storm goddess.

“Shield bash!” Triston yelled, slamming his shield into the crowd of enemies and using the backlash to jump behind the girl as the enemies remained stunned.

“Thunder Dart Storm!” Claire shouted, her sides panting as a series of small inch long darts made of pure lightning flew from her hands. Each one picked a target and slammed right into their throats, causing damage and incapacitating all of them. The steady damage slowly fried the brains of their enemies, making them into mush and finally dead.

The small group of rabbits died with squeaks on their lips, some of their meat charred and scarred beyond recognition. There were always rabbits in the meadow, they always came back, no matter that many of them died at the hands of adventurers like these three.

“So… do either of you have a looting Skill yet?” Claire asked, waving her hand at the enemies. Mark shook his head with a shrug.

“Not really…” Triston said, sighing. “We’ll have to do it the old fashioned way.”

“Well, I call not it…” Claire said, sighing and sitting on her ass. “Spells like that are draining as hell.”

The two boys glared at each other, looking ready to fight, and slammed their fists forward… only to do rock paper scissors, Mark losing. With a sigh the boy got down on his knees and began to skin the small pile of rabbits.