Chapter 124

A Kid’s Life

At the end of the week every student was a.s.signed to a team and a teacher was also a.s.signed to oversee the team. There was 16 teams of 5 students and 9 teachers. Because of this, every teacher had a second team they oversaw and the 4 extra teachers guarded the camp. The schedule was the teachers would take their first group into the forest one day and the their second group the next day once the hunting started.

Talia, Sam, George, Sarah, and Jason were all part of team 4. a.s.signed to oversee their team was Teacher Alfred. Alfred was also a.s.signed to team 3. The schedule for when they started hunting was on Sat.u.r.day there would be a required cla.s.s. Sunday would be a resting day. Monday through Friday was the days to hunt.

Hunting wasn’t starting until two weeks from now though. First, everyone had to learn how to at least hold their weapon properly. Alfred took team 4 to the armory to pick weapons. Sam and Jason chose swords. George and Sarah picked spears. Talia chose a bow.

Alfred took them to the training zone the teachers had made while the students were in the cla.s.srooms. There, targets and dummies had been set up for training. The students were required to train while Alfred watched them.

Talia looked like she knew what she was doing. She strung the bow properly and had an armguard on. Her shooting was decent as well, only missing the target completely every twentieth shot. George swung his spear around pretty fluidly and was able to stab a vital spot like the heart or head every once in awhile. Everyone else was very nervous and awkward with the weapons they chose.

Alfred sighed. It seemed like he had his work cut out for him. For the entire week, Alfred taught the students how to thrust, parry, attack, counterattack, and dodge. He taught George and Sarah how to thrust forward with the spear and then swing the b.u.t.t end of the spear to hit an opponent trying to close in on you. He didn’t have a whole lot to teach Talia. Instead he gave her advice on what kind of targets to aim for and what kind to avoid.

Next he taught everyone how to use spells. Talia, Jason, and Sam were all excellent at using magic. Sarah was moderately good but George wasn’t any good at all. George hadn’t been a mage until Chu Shen awoke him so it was to be expected. Talia and Jason had ice mana. Sam had lightning mana. George had earth mana and Sarah had darkness mana.

After that week of training, it was time to hunt. It went as expected, disastrously. The first magical beast they met was the Scorching Horned Rabbit, the same kind Chu Shen and Lucas had hunted in droves before. They were quite lucky since they were rare to meet if one didn’t cheat and use a tracking program.

The rabbit jumped out, taking Sam down instantly with a surprise attack in the form of a fireball to the back. Alfred sighed as he watched George try to stab the rabbit with his spear. The spear missed and stabbed into the ground as the rabbit jumped out of the way. A fireball was shot from it’s horn and into George, sending him flying back. He had some serious burns from the fire and collapsed where he landed, writhing in pain.

Ice shot towards the rabbit’s leg as it landed, trying to trap it. The ice hit the rabbit but the rabbit melted it in less than a second with a stream of fire from it’s horn. Jason tried to strike it with his sword while it was stuck but missed. An arrow shot past Jason, inches from his arm towards the rabbit before sticking into a tree. 

The rabbit shot towards Sarah horn first. Sarah panicked and tried to get her spear up. Unfortunately, the rabbit kicked off a tree, adjusting it’s flight by less than an inch. That inch was enough for the rabbit to skim past Sarah’s spear and stab it’s horn into her shoulder, piercing her armor. Crying out loud from the pain, Sarah let go of her spear and collapsed.

Talia held her bow nervously. She was afraid of accidentally striking her comrades after barely missing Jason. The rabbit came after her next. She drew her bow instantly. She aimed at the figure of the rabbit as it hopped towards her. Jason ran over to a.s.sist her. Talia fired her arrow. It missed.

The rabbit was now coming straight at her. The horn was pointed right at her chest. Jason dove forward, thrusting his sword at rabbit. He was too slow. The sword missed the rabbit by a foot. The rabbit continued it’s path towards Talia’s heart. Talia tried to react by swinging her bow at the rabbit. The bow was. .h.i.t by a fireball and throw to the side as the rabbit continued straight at her heart.

Right as it was less an inch away, an earthen spear skewered the rabbit to a nearby tree. Alfred shook his head. Indeed these kids had a lot to learn. The next day, after Team 4 was re-equipped they were trained by one of the teachers that guarded the camp. Alfred couldn’t since he was taking Team 3 into the forest. All of them became extremely earnest in their learning after Talia had almost died.

It took many tries over the rest of the month but eventually they managed to kill their first Rank 2 magical beast. They sold it’s core to the store while they had their first meal in over two weeks that didn’t consist of dry biscuits and hard meat. 

By the end of the month, Team 4 had killed eight Rank 2 magical beasts and two Rank 3 magical beasts. Using the money earned over that period they were able to buy spells, techniques, and upgrade their gear. 

George still had his original spear but now he also had a s.h.i.+eld with a [Channeling Inscription]. Imbuing his earth mana into the s.h.i.+eld allowed it to become covered in earthen spikes. With his control over his mana, George could also launch the spikes like projectiles.

Talia now had her arrows with a modified [Burst Inscription] which allowed her to store her mana inside the arrows and then explode on impact. Her ice attribute would inevitably slow down their opponent, making them easy prey. She also had a short sword as well with no additional inscriptions in case her opponent got too close.

Sam had two short swords with the [Burst Inscription] which allowed him to fire bursts of lightning at his opponents. His lightning mana allowed him to move and react extremely fast, making his choice to become a dual wielder an excellent one.

Jason had actually not changed at all, keeping his original sword. Instead he used his ice magic to attack his opponents. His skills with it had become increasingly refined, surpa.s.sing everyone else. The others did become better but most of them had increased their physical prowess. 

Most didn’t focus as much on magic as Jason had. In his opinion, a physical body couldn’t travel as fast as a spell. The image of him failing to stop the Scorching Horned Rabbit from hitting Talia and then the earth shard killing it at the last second was seared into his mind. That was the reason he focused more on spell-casting then utilizing his warrior capabilities. Because a spell could save a live faster then a sword.

Sarah was the most mystical of the group. She was now equipped with multiple throwing knives, a dagger, and a crossbow mounted to her arm. Using her darkness mana she cloaked herself in shadows. The only magic she learned was called shadow cloaking, the ability to become invisible by melding with shadows. So long as she stayed in the shadows, no one above her in Rank could see her.

Using this ability, she became the scout of the group. In a fight crossbow bolts or daggers could be seen coming from the shadows themselves. It was almost impossible to dodge them. Of course, her ability to meld into shadows was of no use against Chu Shen’s spiritual sense.

After the first month, Alfred no longer went out on their expeditions with them. In his words, they were strong enough to not have to depend on him to save them. Instead they were given bracelets on each of their arm. 

The bracelets were made of steel and had a black square on the front. They were instructed to tap on them three times if they were in danger of dying and one of the teachers would be there shortly. This was, of course, an invention by Lucas. It would broadcast a homing beacon once activated that Lucas could then track down.

There was always a teacher on rescue duty who had a tracker. Once there was an alert, that teacher would go out and rescue the students while another teacher took over their job since there could be multiple calls.

On the third month their Sat.u.r.days were taken over by sparring. There was a compet.i.tion every Sat.u.r.day in which all of the teams would face off in a bracket style compet.i.tion. Whoever won would get a set amount of contribution points as a prize.

At the start of the fourth month, they destroyed their camp site and moved to a Rank 4 and Rank 5 hunting zone. It was a necessity as most of the students were now Rank 4 mages and there was a few that were Rank 4 warriors. Most of them were only Rank 2 warriors. This kind of power level was simply too much for that Rank 3 hunting zone to pose a challenge. 

This training continued for a whole year. At the end of the twelfth month the students had graduated to a Rank 6 hunting zone. This was the highest rank hunting zone possible and they were only allowed to hunt three times a month. They had already been there for three months. Most of their other time was spent cultivating their warrior capabilities or sparring. The Sat.u.r.day sparring had been replaced with team sparring. This was where at random the 16 groups would be split into 2 8 group teams and fight. It was preparation for when they would fight the Asura Sect.

As for their strength…. there was now 2 Rank 3 Warriors, 72 Rank 4 Warriors, 5 Rank 5 Warriors, and a single Rank 6 Warrior. Remember though, every single student was a battle mage, being both a warrior and a mage. 

There was 4 Rank 5 Mages, 41 Rank 6 Mages, 33 Rank 7 Mages and two Rank 8 Mages. Those two Rank 8 Mages were, of course, Chrissa and Aslo. After all, they already had a head start on everyone else. As for the teachers, all of them had become Rank 8 Battle mages, meaning they were a Rank 8 mage and warrior simultaneously.

These kids were no longer innocent and weak, hesitating or scared. They had scars from their fights with beasts, giving them a fierce aura. Their att.i.tudes had changed. It had changed into the kind of att.i.tude one gained from war. This att.i.tude contrasted sharply with their scarred, youthful faces. It was definitely weird but no one who saw how powerful they were would ever mock them for being such.

Finally, it was time to destroy those malevolent sects.