“Headmaster Grey? May I come in?” I asked, knocking on the door.

“You may,” came from the other side.

“Thank you. I came here regarding the field trip I wanted to go on with my class.” I explained. “My student Ryan has told me that when a class goes on a field trip, they have to gather food and water themselves and don’t get set rations from the canteen, is that true? Because I do not think many of my students have had to live in the wild before.” I continued.

 “Ah yes. Ryan has lived here for quite some time so it's only natural he knows how our field trips work, which is a bit of a shame since it was supposed to be somewhat of a ‘surprise.’ But yes, what he told you is correct; the students are left to fend for themselves. We do that so we can see what our students are capable of, and where exactly their limits lie,” he told me.

“I understand, Headmaster, but I worry that the students are not ready for this yet.” I said worryingly.

“Just put your trust in them. I will have Jei and Daniel come with you to help them in case something goes wrong.” Headmaster Grey assured me.

“Alright, I will. Thank you for your time.” I nodded.

I walked out of Headmaster Grey’s office and headed towards the canteen where I told Hazel and the rest to gather the class. 

“Thank you for gathering here. I assume Ryan has already told you about the field trip?” They nodded in confirmation. “I just asked the Headmaster about this and yes, during the field trip you will have to gather the same resources I told you to gather here, this time on your own.” I explained.

“Yes, Mr. Sylvester?”

“Nothing Sir, I was scratching my neck.”

“All right, now with that is out of the way, you are dismissed. Come to me if you have any more questions.” With that, I sent my students off to enjoy their time before the trip.

_____________________

3rd Person POV:

“How are we supposed to find food and water in the wild?!” Hazel complained, clearly showing she was not ready for something like this.

“Hazel, you're a water mage right?” Ryla asked calmly, upon receiving a nod from her, she continued, “You should be able to sense water nearby you, and by extension sources of water.” 

“R-Ryan and I can look for berries to eat.” Regulus added. The situation was not as bad as Hazel made it out to be.

“Or we could just hunt small animals to eat, unless any of you fancy boar meat?” Ryoto suggested prioritizing meat over berries.

“Wait, shouldn’t that count as cannibalism for you guys?” Zach pointed out, worried about their morals.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Ryoto was genuinely confused by Zach’s question. Why would this be cannibalism? It’s not like he’s eating foxes.

“I think he’s referring to us eating meat from animals.” Ryla cleared up his doubts, “To answer your question, Zach, it’s not cannibalism unless we eat the same race as us. For Ryan, it would mean eating foxes, for Zaiden, lions, and for me, dragons.”

“So it’s okay for you guys to eat animals not from your race? Interesting…” Zach muttered, fascinated by their customs.

“Moving on, Hazel can look for water, and Regulus and I will hunt beasts and look for edible berries. That’s our rations issue solved. Now, don’t we have other things to address? A certain A-Class item to be exact?” Ryoto tilted his head, implying the need to find a certain A-Class monster to beat.

“Are we really going after that behemoth of a monster?” Hazel asked, still uncertain about the idea.

“Come on, we’re more than capable of taking it on. And extra points wouldn’t hurt.” Ryoto shrugged, trying to convince Hazel.

Hazel sighed, “Did you at least inform the masters?”

“Uh,” Ryoto began sweating, “Maybe?”

Hazel sent him a deadpan look.

“I-It’s fine, I’ll do it.” Regulus cut in, not wanting them to get into another fight.

“Thanks cuz,” Ryoto exclaimed, his brows furrowing in thought. He would need to do something about that stutter; it wasn’t that bad before the incident.

“We should prepare for the trip.” Zach reminded them. He had yet to find a storage container.

Ryoto shrugged, “I’ve been ready for it for days.”

“Well some of us haven’t, and need to get to it, fast.” Hazel shot back. She needed more arrows, two bundles wasn’t nearly enough.

“Nobody’s stopping you,” Ryoto pointed out, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Hazel ignored his snark and walked away from the group, she needed some time to prepare.

“We’ll be going too then I guess.” Zach said, an apologetic smile on his face.

“See you later then.” Ryla bid him goodbye as she too moved away.

“Go-goodbye Ryan.” Regulus stumbled on his words, cursing himself for doing so.

Ryoto turned around, waving them goodbye as he wandered the hallways aimlessly.

________________________

“Hey there Ryan, what are you up to these days?” 

I glanced at the black-haired boy from the edge of my vision, “Nothing much, just getting through my classes somehow. What about you Noah, I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Hehe, sorry about that. I was busy gathering the materials for the trip,” he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

“Come on, all we need is a storage container and a weapon, I’m sure you still have your grimoire with you.” Unlike most others, Noah was a pure spellcaster using nothing more than a simple grimoire. If that book could be considered simple at all. 

“I had to learn some new spells if I wanted to take on a Starscorched Minotaur. It took me longer than expected.” He smiled sheepishly, “Not everyone is a monster-slaying badass like you, you know.”

“I wouldn’t exactly describe myself as a ‘monster-slaying badass.’” Regulus or Ryla would be better candidates, I don’t use as much brute strength as them.

“Compared to the rest of us, you are.” he stated, reminding me that the five of us were at a higher level than the rest. Especially so given the special training we receive.

“Can’t argue with that,” I relented. “You’re paired with Deyah right? Fire and water huh, not exactly an ideal combination.”

He shrugged, “We’ll have to work with that. What about you? You’re paired with the shy guy, who's an earth mage. Fire and Earth don’t exactly mix well either.”

“Contrary to what you believe, Noah,” a smile creeped up my face. “I’ve already thought of multiple ways they could.”

Noah chuckled out loud, “Of course you have, it is you we’re talking about after all. You’re sometimes more cunning than the foxkin back in Zaseon you know?”

Oh you have no idea, “Now that’s just flattery.”

“It’s not! You’re legitimately the most cunning person I’ve met in my life.” he persisted, shaking his head.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” 

He only grinned back in response. 

________________________

“I’ll be seeing you on the trip then,” he waved at me as we parted ways.

“Keep your eyes open during the trip will you?” I reciprocated the gesture. Forests are always treacherous territory, unless you’re an elf, that is.

“I would say the same to you, but you’re probably stronger than anything the Eletril forest can throw at you.”

“Well, there is the Electrovile…” I trailed off.

His smile faltered, “Please tell me you’re not going to fight that thing.”

I smiled wider, “Night, Noah.”

He sighed, accepting my decision, “You’re way too stubborn for me to change your mind, so I won't even bother. Just don’t fight the thing alone, okay?”

I didn’t reply to him, choosing to walk away in silence instead.

________________________

The first thing I did the next morning was to check the sharpness of my daggers. After that, I proceeded to don my combat outfit: black trousers along with a purple shirt and a long black overcoat with purple borders. I know, the same color scheme every time. But this particular suit held some… sentimental value to me. It is the last thing I have from home, apart from the ring Dad gave me. Over the years I asked Master Dan to modify it to suit my combat necessities. He even added an enchantment on it so that I never grew out of it.

Moving on, I grabbed a few vials of extremely lethal poison from my shelf, which I would definitely need when we fight the Electrovile. Next, I grabbed a gray bracelet, enchanted to sustain the shroud over me. There was a high chance I would lose concentration during a battle, and I’d rather not face the consequences of revealing my identity yet.

With that done, I opened the door to my room and walked out. Once I reached the main hall, I instantly began scanning for familiar faces, and I found exactly who I was looking for. Regulus was standing at the corner, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

He was dressed as a wanderer would, a cream-colored shirt accompanied with beige pants and a tattered cloak which hid his face.

I walked up to him, not bothering to hide my presence at all, “Heyo Zaiden, ready for the trip?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m ready. But we still need to w-wait for the others to ar-arrive.”

I sighed, “Your stutter is worse than ever before; you need to fix it. Especially with your ‘authority.’”

“I’m tr-trying. It’s just that I don’t want to…” his voice quieted down enough to become inaudible. 

“You don’t want to…?” I echoed.

He shook his head, “N-nevermind… look, the others are here.”

It was blatantly obvious he was trying to change the topic, but I played along, “Morning people.”

“Good morning Ryan,” Zach greeted. “Should we stick together for the duration of the trip?”

“I don’t see why not.” I glanced towards another duo approaching us. It was Ryla and another elf girl with an uncanny resemblance to Deyah.

“Good morning guys, this is Alaya, Deyah’s twin. Alaya, these are Zach, Ryan, Hazel and Zaiden,” she pointed at each of us while saying our names.

 

“I know Zaiden already, and it’s nice to meet the rest of you. As Ryla already said, I am Deyah’s twin sister. if you're wondering how I know Zaiden, well he sits next to me in Avernian History; I tried chatting with him and it looks like he is not a man who talks a lot, but I guess you guys would know that the best.`` This surprised the rest of us, especially since Regulus usually tries not to appear to others. 

‘I still need to think of a way to fix that stutter,’ that is something I have thought about quite a lot recently. 

“You talk a lot. I like that! it’s very nice to meet you.” Zach said with a wide smile.

"Course you do, Zach." I retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he protested.

"Nothing, keep going." 

"Enough." Hazel stomped on my foot, hard.

"Ow, ow, ow! Why did you…" I hopped from one leg to another, trying to abate the pain. "What did my poor leg ever do to you?" I complained, making her roll her eyes in response.

“Your leg did nothing. You just keep being rude to everyone.” she shrugged.

“You are a devil, a sadist. Hurting people in order to control their personality, tsk, tsk, tsk.” I tried making a frightened face but couldn’t keep it together.

“T-that is enough guys,. We should find the rest of our class, we’re l-leaving soon.” Regulus said.

“Oh shit, I forgot about them.” I internally panicked, before realizing that we could probably catch up to them even if they had left.

“Hey, language!” Zach ranted.

“Let’s just go now, shall we?” Ryla suggested.

________________________

“All right. Is everyone here now?” Professor Jonah yelled over the incoherent murmur of the students.

“Let me say one last thing before we get on our carriages. First off, good morning everyone. I hope you have enough energy for today. Also, do not worry, if anything goes wrong we have Master Jei and Master Daniel to help us out. However, they will only help if something goes horribly wrong, so don’t expect them to just help you out with everything,” he projected.

“Now, off you go. Into your carriages.”

As soon as he was done talking the other 22 students scurried into their carriages with Deyah, Noah and Alaya joining us.

“This seems like it's going to be an annoying ride, so I’m gonna sleep, night.” I said, taking the most comfortable spot in the carriage and closing my eyes, allowing sleep to take over me.