The soggy ground, and wet mush outside the cave was unappealing to everyone. The students made they're way towards the cave entrance, unwilling to go out just yet. They were forced into this situation, so why should they want to do any of this? Some students complained about the situation while other mumbled under they're breathe. Only a few students actually enjoyed this trip, including Kota. (What the fuck happened to these two. I never would've thought… any of this.) The two of them walked side by side with Kota while Aisha brought up the rear.
Hodge and Ms Yun were speaking outside, while the rest of the slower students found they're way to the cave entrance. Kota's group stepped outside first. "Damn this mud." Shina abruptly spoke. Her white shoes covered in mud. Kota chuckled under his breath. "What are you laughing at? These are new!" Shina yelled, as her fist made its way to his arm. (Well she hasn't changed on me). He had been grateful for that. They're eyes met, she still had that same sparkle. Her face reddened as her eyes darted away from his, not knowing where they should land. She was always Timid and embarrassed by her every action, while Amelia was a bit more blunt in her actions. (Opposites). He thought, while looking over at Amelia.
Her head slightly cocked sideways while locking eyes with him. She had no embarrassment written on her. "So? What do you both think of the class?" He asked trying to lighten the mood a little. "I don't plan to be a hunter, I shouldn't have to take this class." Shina said while looking towards Amelia for her answer. "I don't mind it. I don't know what I want to do in the future, and I get to go out. So I kinda like it." She spoke with confidence. "Ah I really like this class. I didn't plan on much for the future until I found.. Until I took the class." He corrected himself. Not wanting to reveal his secrets just yet. Amelia wanted to peruse what he was going to say, but she didn't want to pry too far.
"Don't wonder off too far!" Hodge yelled from the cave entrance. "Yes sir!" Kota hollered back, acknowledging his request. Just as they were out of distance of any ears, Kota finally asked. "So what was that all about… like last night and this morning?" The two girls faces reddened slightly. Shinda's eyes darted down, while Amelia tried to hold a smile. "Well me and Shina agreed to share you, if that's okay with you.." she spoke, trying to hold her confidence. "I guess I'd have to think about it. Usually only high ranking individuals and the nobles would have more than one wife." He spoke, struggling to unravel this situation. A question mark appeared over Aisha, she did not understand what was going on.
Chatter came from behind them. "Seems the rest of the class has finally caught up." Amelia spoke up. "Are you two not afraid?" He was puzzled as any of them could get killed here. "I feel safe with you." They both spoke in unison.
The class caught up to them as they traversed the path. Kota was asked to use his mana skill (diverse tracking) along the way. There was a few low ranked monsters that appeared, as Kota had no interest in them. He would let the class have fun in this exercise, since he had already been burned out from fighting the rank 8 monster.
"Around 2 more hours and we will be there!" Hodge spoke for the whole class to hear. "Let's take a break here. Make sure to drink plenty of water. We will leave in 20 minutes." He spoke up with authority in his voice.
Everyone in the class was exhausted as they sat down, almost in unison. "I'll be right back." Kota said to the group as he walked towards Hodge. "Hey teacher." Kota smiled and waved at him. "Hey. Do you need something?" Hodge asked, as he stood at the front of the path looking outwards. The willows covered along the sides of the path, as this looked more of like a romance scene in a movie. Slightly eerie as the sun was starting to lower.
"Can we talk for a minute?" Kota asked in a polite manner. "Sure, what's on your mind." He replied instantly. His interest in Kota had risen a weary suspicion in Kota's mind. "I was hoping you can go over the ranks of creatures and humans with me." Kota had pushed the later thought back, as this was more important to him right now. "Sure thing!" Hodge smiled, as if he was waiting for a student to take interest in his studies.
"Alright listen up. So as I stated previously, that monsters start out from ranks 1 through 10. These creatures are normally hunted by lower rank hunters or class students such as yourselves. What you fought the other day was a rank 8 monster named a Mosplie. It has claws like a werewolf, but six legs and a body of a distorted bear. A fun fact about them, they have gills like a fish, but never really use them, as they are usually found in dense forests." He chuckled waiting for a reaction. Kota did not display such a reaction he was hoping for, so hodge continued. "Anyways, after they surpass rank 10 then they categorized by a specific title. Each title has 3 grades given, similar to human classes. These titles are predator, catastrophic, awakened, stellar, and decadent." Kota had an interested facial expression, as he was listening too hard.
Hodge continued. "As for Human ranks, we grade ourselves on titles and 3 grades in between. Counting one through three. These titles include Aprentice, Disciple, Guardian, Master, and Legend. But no one has seen a Legend in quite some time now. There are a few of them rumored to still be left. Apparently your life span increases once you reach that rank, or at least it is rumored too. There is always dangers when advancing to the next rank, as for you." Hodge looked Kota up and down.
"You already have a grimiore and have made the contract, that would put you at Apprentice 2. As it seems your close to breaking through to Apprentice 3. Once you breakthrough, you will be able to materialize your mana. Well that's enough for today. It's almost time to head out." Hodge spoke as if he himself wanted to continue this lecture. "Thank you for the lesson sir."
Back at his group, the three girls were gossiping behind his back. They were teaching Aisha all sorts of things. "Thank you for the lesson sir." The three girls heard in a distance. They knew the voice, as all three of them shut they're mouths. Kota walked back to the group, as the three of them knew to start packing up. "Hey we are about to head… out.." As he spoke up he had noticed the girls had already started packing up.
"Alright, ready to go!" Shina spoke up, breaking the tension in the air. The four of them headed towards the path. "Hold it! We go together here." Hodge piped up. "Yes sir!" The four of them said in unison.
As hodge started moving, the class followed suite. Little chatter was heard through the groups. They had experienced monsters through this journey, and they knew how dangerous it was. Some students got cut up pretty bad already. On the bright side, the students came to learn that Ms. Yun has a unique healing ability, which has a 1 in a hundred thousand would be able to acquire.
A couple hours later they had reached what looks to be an underground temple. "This is the place." Kota mumbled. He felt the mana in the air. He had felt the immense pressure of this mysterious place. (What is that? Fairies?) he thought. He could sense and see they're formation of mana.
"Before we head inside, I will explain this place to you." Hodge looked over the class to make sure they all were listening. "There are rules of this place. If you do not follow them, you will be killed. Firstly, when you meet a spirit, you must bow before speaking a word. This is to show respect to the Ethreal world." Hodge took a breathe as the chatter around the class started. "Spirits?" A student said to her group. "We get to meet spirits! I'm so excited." Amelia said a little to loudly. In Kota mind he was thinking, (Spirits mana and Fairies mana have similar structure. I wonder if they would be close relative to each other.)
"Cough cough." Hodge looked to get they're attention again. "Secondly only 10 humans are allowed in at a time. If more than 10 go in, the doors close and don't open for another day." A student raised they're hand. "Yes Lukas?" Hodge reluctantly asked. "If the doors close on the students, what happens to them?" A serious question was asked, as the students perked they're ears up. "We don't know. It's as if they disappear." He took a pause for the students to digest the information at hand.
Kota looked towards the temple with an eerie feeling. "Anyways the third rule here is that under no circumstance will you use any magic in there." Kota worried since he pried into the Spirits mana formation earlier. The three other girls were locked in to the lecture. "Now once inside, assuming you followed all these rules, a Spirit may make a contract with you. Under this contract they will relinquish they're Grimiores to you to use. These grimiores are your first steps to climbing the ranks at apprentice 1." Kota had dozed out of the lecture. (So these are the creatures that Summon the contracts.) he's heard about this. But now it was time for him to see it himself.
A touch was felt on Kota's hand, another hand holding his. It was Shinas, as he looked her way, she had a fearful expression. He held her hand back tightly. Zoning back into the lecture. "Now I'll pass out numbers labeled one through 4. There is 36 students in this class. So group 4 will only have 6 students." Hodge grabbed a small basket sitting near the temple stairs. Kota was close to the front as hodge had come to him first. "Grab one." Hodge spoke as he made his way to Kota. He reached his hand in the basket and pulled out a small wooden tablet with the number 4 etched in it.
Hodge moved the basket to Amelia and then Shina. As he moved the basket around to the other groups Shina asked "So what's the numbers you two got." With a serious face, just messing around. "Number four." Kota said aloud. Shana's eyes grew bright, while Amelia's faded. It was obvious what Shina had gotten. "I got number 2." Amelia Said with a depressed expression. "It's okay. This will be over quickly." Kota re-assured her.
Hodge moved back over to Kota. "I'm not sure if you will get to meet another spirit as you already have a Grimiore, so if you don't want to go, you don't have to." Hodge spoke quietly, as to keep it all a secret. "Thank you sir, I will think about it." Kota was always respectful, as this man had taught him much over the time they had his class, and he had much more to learn.
"Let's sit down and rest before it's our turns." Kota said to the group. They turned around to go rest on the logs formed from other people sitting in the same spots. Hodge yelled from the back. "Group 1 inside." Some students were reluctant to go inside, but eventually they all headed inside.
"I'm so excited to meet a spirit, but the rules scare me." Shina said to the group, but Kota was lost in thought. (Materializing my mana. How would I go about that.) "Kota!" Amelia called. "What?" He replied quickly as his eyes shot up to meet hers. "We were talking about how Grimiores are connected with affinity's. I asked what you hoped your affinity to be?" She looked at him interested as if she were a cat looking at some tuna. "I don't have any idea what type affinities there are." He replied. "Like I said earlier. There is basic elements like Fire and Water, but there are also light and dark. And some more rare ones are lightning and sound. There are legends of a time grimiore appearing in history book. But that was lost in time." She explained interested in this subject. She couldn't wait to find out what her grimiore affinity is. "Hmmm. I don't know." Kota replied as if he was on auto pilot, but what ran through his mind. (What affinity is my grimiore?) "ohh yea, some have multiple affinities. The grimiore with the most affinities was recorded at 5 affinities. But only one of those have appeared in history." She kept going on her rant.
Knocking was heard on the stairs to the temple. It was foot steps, the echos from the stairs heading underground was loud. The first group had arrived. Now it is group twos turn. Kota looked over to Amelia. "Be safe okay." He sent her off with a smile.
Aisha was sound asleep in Kota's lap. He poked at her cheek as they sat there waiting his turn. She was cute and fluffy around the face with a white streak on her cheek heading towards her mouth. It contrasted well with her light grey fur.
Shina sat there about to say something as another student came over. "Hey your Kota right?" Lukas said to start a conversation. "Yea. It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand to shake. Lukas shook his hand. "Well the students were starting rumors. I just wanted to hear it from the source." Lukas looked at him waiting to see his reaction. When Kota didn't give him one he had continued. "Did the teachers hire you to travel with us?" He asked bluntly. "No im just a student, I've been training since I was 8." Kota responded with the truth. "Oh I see thanks to clear that up. Anyways what group are you in?" He asked. "Group four with Shina here as well." Kota tried pushing him off slightly on her. He was not the best in these situations.
"Nice to meet you Shina." Lukas said to her. She glanced his way and muttered. "Nice to meet you too." Kota could only smile at him. "What about you?" Kota asked. "Group 4 as well. Looks like we will be together." Lukas said. He was a quiet tall for his age. His short brown hair and long legs would woo most the women in this grade. Needless to say, he was more attractive than most.
The group sat and chatted until group 2 had come back. "So Amelia. How was it?" Shina asked excitedly. "At first it was dark and scary, then lights started appearing, but they were floating around, like little globes of light. Different colors and sizes. I heard a voice in my head after 4 minutes of wondering around. As we spoke I made a contract with a spirit. But I don't know my affinity?" She explained.
As Amelia was explaining she looked over at Lukas. "Who's this?" She stated bluntly. "Nice to meet you too." He said sarcastically. "That's Lukas, we just met him." Kota said scrambling to calm the situation. He saw the angered look in Amelia's eyes after he was being sarcastic with her. "Okay calm down." Kota said. She looked at him and huffed as she sat down next to Shina.
Group three had walked on, at this time Aisha woke back up. She sat up and wiped her eyes. Lukas had seen this and thought it was cute. He spoke in a soft voice as if speaking to a child. "Hello friend. My name is Lukas." His eyes gleamed towards hers. She looked at him with a straight face and back to Kota. Then she looked around to the other two girls as to catch her bearings. When she looked back up to Kota She asked. "Who's this creature?" Amelia burst out laughing. A clear visual of the anger on Lukas's face was evident, as if a vein was about to pop.