After leaving Lana and the others, Kattie, Almin and the rest of those with a lower ability level swiftly made it down the mountain, aided by the slippery coating of ice they would encounter periodically.
"If it weren't for beasts, this would be great skiing!" Sean proclaimed as they hit another patch of ice. He shifted his posture as though he were snowboarding. He went to yell out in triumph and joy but quickly covered his mouth in fear of drawing the wrong kind of attention.
Almin conjured enough metal to create skis and he glided down with a smile.
Kattie was slipping all over. Sven took flight and offered his legs. He quickly guided her to the end of the slick part, the last on their journey to the bottom.
Rene slipped and ended up going downhill head-first of her back. The sky is so beautiful from this angle. Too bad I'm going to die… She was willing to accept such a fate if her end was going to be this peaceful.
Marie stomped the ice in frustration. Her foot slipped out from under her. Soon she was on her butt, spinning in a rapid descent, ending up face-first in a snowbank near the bottom. She sat up and spit a clump of snow from her mouth.
Alto, Tobias, and Sam linked up. Alto threw out more water freezing instantly, extending the hazardous, icy plane. Sam stood between the two boys helping them balance by holding their jackets. Tobias fueled their speed by using his wind ability. The wind whipped at them and would have harmed any exposed flesh had there been any.
The group just managed to set their feet once more on the soft green grass when they heard a rumbling far up the mountain.
"RUN!!!" Almin screamed to all those he now found himself responsible for.
It didn't take any more encouragement, though, as those who thought they were tired and bruised from their treacherous journey, suddenly got a second wind. The beasts they were killing the day before, the zaykalas, started running passed them.
Kattie was the first to falter, "I can't…" huffing and puffing, "run… anymore," as her legs gave out just 10 minutes after their flight began. The rest happily collapsed at her side.
She looked up the mountain, "Lana…"
Duff chuckled, "do you think she's easy to kill?"
"Of course she's not!" they heard a voice and looked around. Approaching the group were Sergeants Rage and Tanaka.
Sergeant Rage was already calling. She didn't pick up, "Cadet Plantwell, when you get this message, please call me immediately so I know you're okay." He then disconnected the call. The sergeants began picking up the exhausted students. "Let's get you back to the camp. Rest there."
Sergeant Tanaka took some of the burdens from the students. "This will reduce your strain."
The students all looked at each other. They were on an outing for the first time without their leaders. Almin nodded to them all. "Let's get this stuff sold or traded. We can begin our mission once we have some better gear."
They made it to the stand of trees when they heard Sergeant Rage's watch resound with an incoming call. They all remained still, awaiting news with bated breath. It was Lana's voice. Nis smiled when he saw her hologram on his watch. Those traveling with her exhaled hearing her words. They were all safe.
Once the call was done, Almin spoke up. "Let's see how quickly we can get this done. Being so close to the camp we should be able to get some decent kills before night fall."
They got to camp not long after. Kattie was the keeper of the crystals and Sam was for his team. They registered their crystals for the three teams then found the local blacksmith. He was able to upgrade the speed on their existing boots with the crystals they got from the zaylalas. As for the armor and weapons they brought, some were very high level.
In exchange, they got 30 level-8 arrows, 30 level-8 bolts, 4 level-6 chest pieces and 4 level-7 Returning Daggers of Explosion. The blacksmith explained once these daggers penetrated the target, it sets off an explosion then teleports back to the thrower's hand. They were also given 200,000 credits for the old gear they no longer needed.
Once outfitted with better gear, each person getting at least one thing, the group spent the rest of the day hunting. Some felt sick to their stomachs watching Sven eat but Kattie was there to support him. Before the sun disappeared behind the mountain, Sven evolved. He was now a level-4 beast. By the time Friday afternoon arrived, Sven was level-5 and they saved the rest of the crystals from their hunt for the crystal count.
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When Lana woke the next morning, some achiness remained but she refused to lounge around in bed. They had things to do. Blaine had already fed Kent.
"Wait. How long have you been awake?" Lana asked him.
Blaine chuckled, "long enough to get some eggs and bacon from the bracelet and feed everyone. How are you feeling?"
"Ugh… I'll survive. Is there a plan yet?"
He nodded, "nothing is settled though until you approve it."
Lana pushed the blanket aside and started stowing things in her bracelet. She looked around the room to make sure everything was put away.
Blaine brushed her hair and put it in her ponytail while she worked. It was a little difficult, but he didn't mind chasing her down.
It didn't take long. As the plan was explained to her, Blaine made sure she ate. Only 2 and a half days of hunting remained They spent two nights just on this mountain. There were some caves at the edge of the desert which the map proclaimed to contain more level-6 beasts. It would take half a day to get there with lower-level beasts along the way.
Lana listened intently while eating whatever Blaine put in her mouth. She had already read the materials but was now examining the map while they spoke. With limited time, she wanted to make sure this was the right choice.
"Okay, if we go straight there, it means we will be spending the night there with beasts still alive. That will put us in unnecessary danger. At the southern tip of this forest," she pointed at a spot on the map, "there are some level-5 beasts. I say we head there, take those out. Then we camp here," pointing at a spot close to the area they wanted to go to, "then spend tomorrow taking care of business. This also means, on the way back to the camp, we can sleep here," she pointed to another spot, "and fight these duodendiles that are listed there. Level-4 but they look interesting. We might get some good gear or something out of them."
"Do you really think we can handle that pace?" Paul asked.
Lana looked in the faces of each person there. "I see no reason why we can't do this. We want that last outing. We all knew we were setting our sights high. Level-4 gear will be too weak, more than likely but in the absence of anything better, it will have to do. Also, we may get some interesting active skills off those creatures."
There were a lot of smiles. "Alright pack up and gear up. We leave this cold this morning!"
Dishes were set to wash as everyone else packed up. Lana made sure any leftover food was properly put away. She was also thinking they would be able to link back up with everyone for the day then break off again in the morning. At the very least she could check on the rest of the team visually then split ways.
As everyone stepped out, indicating they were all packed, Lana did her look around once more. She found a sock, picked it up and hit the button glad there wasn't more. Or worse, she was glad it wasn't someone's undershorts!
She hit the clean and fold button and stepped out. While holding the sock up high for the owner to claim it, Lana paused. Before her there were four toboggans made of ice. They looked like beautiful works of art and had a feeling they would sparkle in the sun once they left the igloo-like structure. Dobin came to claim his sock then grabbed a toboggan. Blaine grabbed one for him. Chekof rode by himself. Karlen and Dobin teamed up. While, Paul and Jessy took the last one. Paul didn't like the look of the brakes, so he added his own using oomlauts.
Lana quickly stowed the cube that was once a dome.
On the surface, they all placed their rides on the snow and Blaine assessed the surface of the snow.
"We go in 5-minute intervals, with me going first. Follow us exactly. I'll make sure everything is safe at the bottom and stop you with my telekinesis if something goes wrong."
Not moving from his spot until all the heads nodded, he got on his sled then placed Lana in his lap.
"I assume Kent is secure?"
She nodded, "I told him to turn around actually, so the wind doesn't take his breath away."
Blaine smiled, "with these it shouldn't take long. I don't want to risk any more avalanches…"
She nodded, "let's go," she said with a smile that was covered up by all of her gear.
Fifteen minutes later, Blaine was pushing against the trees with his telekinesis to stop them. Three more sleds later and they were all down, winter gear stowed and a message was sent to Kattie on where they were for the day. A message was also sent off to Sergeant Rage to inform him of the plan. It was time to go hunt some level-5 beasts.
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