Back at the tree, Lana made sure any food left in the storeroom was in her bracelet. This included the apple cider she made with those apples she grew while waiting for Pucket. She made quite a bit and was looking forward to sharing it with Blaine. He had been on "hazing duty" as they now called it when she processed the apples. In short, her storeroom was empty, no longer needed.
The couple spent the rest of the evening harvesting food. They put the food in the crates they used to transport the items to the market stall. These were stacked neatly in her bracelet. She needed to leave enough room for their backpacks, but she wanted as much food in there as she could fit. If she didn't have to grow it, that was less prep time which meant more hunting time.
Blaine reported to the doctor on the way back to her room just after the curfew warning went off. It had been a busy day and they both wanted to sleep. They were as ready as they were going to be. All they could do now was see what kind of challenge this event was going to present.
For this outing, only two-thirds of the students were going as some of the teams were deemed too weak. Blaine's teacher would be staying back with some of those teams. After breakfast, instead of marching to homeroom, those teams going on the outing marched over to the teleport room. There, they got their briefing.
"This planet will have beasts that are levels 1-6. The low-level beasts here are in herds. Unlike previous outings where you'd be able to fight one beast as a time, that won't happen on this planet. This planet has two suns and has all four seasons happening at the same time. The strongest beasts are in the desert and the mountains which are always covered in snow. You will not be provided snow gear. If you wish to venture there, you must purchase the gear yourself."
Blaine and his team was next to Lana and her team since her teacher was responsible for his team while out. He elbowed her gently and smiled. She giggled and continued to listen.
"You will be issued the standard rations, first aid kits, and that sort of thing as you enter the circle as it is standard practice. The shelter is smaller than on the last two outings and does get attacked by beasts sometimes. It is wise to not use up all your MC while fighting beasts in case you are called to join a fight in the night. It doesn't happen frequently so you might get lucky."
"Are there any questions before we start sending teams through?"
Someone in the back yelled out "maps?"
The teacher nodded, "maps and books on the beasts will be available. There is also a forger and several market stalls. Your basic needs will be met. You will be provided free meals in the military barracks, if you want them."
"Anything else?"
There were no further questions, so the teachers started moving students into the teleport circles. This time they were putting 2 teams per circle since there were less teachers going. Lana and Blaine planned it so they could go through together.
They all squeezed in since they had an extra person and the teacher sprinkled the powder saying the name of the planet at the same time. Within seconds the teams felt like their stomachs were trying to come out of their mouths. Their vision was a cross between prismatic lights and lines of light like old science fiction movies depicted.
As quickly as it started, it ended. They left the circle quickly to make room for the next set of teams.
The first thing they did was go to a stall and purchase maps of the planet and the book on local beasts.
After glancing through everything, they decided to head toward the mountain, thanks to Blaine's decision to be prepared for anything. It would take a few hours to get there through a small forest then some rolling hills. The portion of the forest depicted on the map said there were no beasts there because it was too close to the shelter.
The plains had a few options but based on their destination, it looked like they would encounter herds of a beast called nashorn. These were level-3. The book stated they were black rhino-looking beasts with red hooves, horns and tusks. They have red horns out the back of their back legs as well for additional damage if they are forced to kick with their hind legs. The texture of the fur was rough, like a toothbrush. They had deadly horn, tusk and hoof attacks and normally charge as their initial attack. They traveled in packs of five to ten.
There was potential to run into nasho which were an evolved version of nashorn, being level-4. The primary horn on it's nose was 4-feet long and very sharp. It communicated to it's herd by glowing and flashing different colors.
"Last chance to hit any stalls before we head out. We have a lot of supplies already but if you want anything specific… Light crystals, anything that fits in your bag, now is the time." Blaine was the one who spoke up. He was looking forward to having a challenge in the mountains.
Everyone looked at each other, not a single person said they needed to shop for anything.
Within minutes they were leaving the shelter. Once in the forest, they all handed their bags to Lana who stowed them in her bracelet, the same with the two kits the military provided. The contents of the previous two kits were in a drawer but she couldn't get to it right now with all the food in there. She would add the two bags once they had eaten it down a bit.
Soon, they were leaving the forest. It was actually quite a soothing place to Lana. The trees were happy and offered her greetings. She told them where she was going and they gave her some warning about the beasts up there. They could see several herds of these nashorn before even leaving the tree line. They seemed to be quite plentiful.
Lana allowed the teams to go fight the beasts while she observed. They were fighting level-1 and level-2 last time and were heading toward level-6. She wanted to see how they would do with level-3. Honestly, it went as well as she would expect it to. Lack of experience was showing and the newcomers were clearly not permitted to learn in their previous groups. Duff looked scared at first.
Soon he gained confidence. He used his ability to transfer strength and speed to himself based on how fast and strong he seemed to get and quickly defeated the beasts. Tobias was struggling as well. His wind ability wasn't high but matching the level of the beast made it an even split on how effective it would be. The others fared better.
Seeing Sven take down a beast on his own, Lana called out "Eat that one, Sven!" Not long later, Lana heard the sounds of a beast in pain. The trees informed her Sven was evolving. He was finally a level-3 beast.
He seemed to hear because he was soon seen with meat in his mouth covered in black beast blood. In an hour, four herds were down and the way to the mountain was clear, or so Lana thought.
Lana suddenly heard the sound of hooves bearing down on their location. She flipped in the direction of the oncoming beast putting on vine armor enroute. She leapt into the air and threw a whip around its throat with her right hand. She landed on its back with her feet then threw a vine around its neck with her other hand. She had always wanted to try horseback riding. Here she was standing while riding a wild enraged beast. Her smile filled her face.
Blaine looked back and was concerned. He started running toward her. She sighed and extended the 4-inch spikes through her feet to get the beast to rear up. She then channeled more of her white energy into the vines and pulled. She withered the vines and leaned forward so the headless body would fall in the right direction, on top of its own head. She released the spikes and allowed herself to slide down a little but didn't want to get any blood on her. She had managed to evade it somehow and wanted to see if she could get away without it. She didn't count the bottoms of her feet in this category. As she approached the bloody part, she flipped off the beast, landing on her feet.
Blaine ran up to her, "must you give me a heart attack?"
Lana giggled, "I was just having fun with my kill."
Kattie extracted the beast crystal for her and put it in the only bag being carried.
Next destination: The snow-covered mountains!
An hour into the mountains, it was cold enough, they decided to put their cold-weather gear on. Lana made sure to leave access to the wardrobe she put the gear in and quickly took everything out. It was worn over their current clothing so nothing needed to go back in. Quickest change ever!
Soon they were trudging across snow in shoes made for the task. Way up ahead, they could see spots of darkness they assumed were the caves the maps talked about. They were halfway there when the sky started to darken.
"Um…. Lana?"
"Yes, Blaine?"
"Get that shelter kitchen out. Fast."
She did as she was told while he used fire to create a flat spot in the snow to put it.
She went to open the bag and noticed Paul had put a fingerprint access on it.