The group headed out toward the next likely spot that Hawk had discovered, which turned out to be on the far side of a swampy riverbed. The river itself was shallow and slow moving, but the marsh didn’t look like a pleasant place to cross, and it would be the home to at least a few monsters.
[Hawk, how far is it to go around to a better spot to cross.] Karl asked as Hawk detailed the route.
[Far, but there is another good thing over there. It is further, but you can get it then come to this one.] Hawk suggested.
[Alright, lead the way.]
“Good and bad news, everyone. That marsh doesn’t look fun to cross, but Hawk found another spot. It will be a fairly long detour, and then we will come back for what he found here. Were there any other resources on your list that you absolutely need? We can make them a priority.” Karl announced to the group.
The warriors shook their head. “The moss was the essential one for us.”
Dana smiled and touched the Holy Stone that she had tucked in an amulet on a chain around her neck.
“The mages found something much better than they came here for. The Holy Stone can replace the original resources.”
“Excellent. I noticed that this next stop is near the train tracks, so we can pick it and then return to the Academy. There’s no need to go overboard when we can just apply to go out again. If the results are good, they should approve our second trip to the same area, and this is remote enough that not many will travel through here before we can get approval.” Karl suggested.
“But next time, we bring large sacks for all the extra loot. I’m already considering using my coat or the rain cover for my backpack to get more storage.” One of the warriors agreed.
The mages were a bit more reserved. They didn’t have supernatural strength. Even if they wanted to carry more, their packs were heavy.
The prospect of applying for another trip as soon as they returned, as a group which included proper leaders, was appealing, though. With Karl and Dana on the list, they might get approved to head out in the next few weeks for a second mission to get what they couldn’t this trip, and that would give them an enormous advantage over students who were still waiting to find a chance to head out on a field excursion.
That was the hardest part of arranging a mission as a Common Rank Elite. You needed an escort, and the escorts all had better things to do. Most of the Awakened Rank students would be looking for Ascended Rank students to lead them on more dangerous missions, while the Ascended Rank students would be petitioning to go out with teachers on their own training exercises.
Even if that failed, entire missions of Awakened Rank and higher students were an option, so the chances for the Common Rank students to get a leader were far lower than the number of students looking to go on an excursion.
The most common reason one would agree was because they wanted something in the area, and didn’t want the competition of a stronger group. Not out of altruism or a fondness for the new students.
It left all the junior students scrambling to find a senior in a good mood, or who needed something near the things that they needed. Sometimes there was an overlap, as some resources would be useful to nearly anyone, but that was fairly uncommon when viewed across the entire population of the Academy.
Karl followed an animal trail toward the next location, where Hawk was flying overhead, scanning for threats.
[I see some small creatures, but not mice. Nothing big and nothing powerful so far.] He informed Karl.
[There’s not going to be a bunch more of the small things hiding in tunnels, is there?] Karl asked, thinking about the Earth Mice and their hiding tactics.
[No, these are tree small things. Furry, kind of fluffy.] Hawk replied, as he didn’t have a name for them.
Some things, like the Earth Mice, his genetic memory instinctively knew, but these were unfamiliar, and while they were the same size, they certainly weren’t mice.
“Careful now. There are monsters in the trees, small ones, possibly squirrels.” Karl warned the others.
Normally, the magic enhanced versions of squirrels were like Earth Mice, and not a real threat to anyone, as they weren’t that hostile. But those were the ones near the towns, who were accustomed to humans. These, who might not have seen a human in generations, could be a different story. Like the common grade lap cat, who was known as a great house pet, but the feral versions were deadly.
They came up to the spot that Hawk was pointing out, and Karl couldn’t help but to smile. There was a single memory fruit tree here, heavy with ripe fruit ready to be plucked.
“Good news everyone. This is the memory fruit tree. I have seen this one before. You can only use these a few times in your life before they start losing effectiveness, but they allow for the perfect recollection of everything that you know for a short period of time.
As I recall, you can dry them for longer-term storage, but they should be used within six months to a year, even if dried and stored.” He informed the group.
“What use would that be? I mean, do they just let you remember things, you know?” One of the warriors asked.
The group’s druid thumped him on the back of the head with a smile. “Idiot. Yes, they bring back the memories of everything that you learned and then forgot. Do you know how valuable these things will be for the end of year written exams?
We might coast through the first semester exams, but the end of the year is both physical and written. If you want a good placement in second year, you need to ace both.
And if you have one of these fruits conveniently dried and stored away, you just need to cram study for a week before the test and then eat the fruit, and you’ll ace the written portion.”
The rest of the students looked somewhere between reverent and horrified. That plant was definitely cheating on the tests, a performance enhancing drug, but that wasn’t something they tested Elites for. In fact, you were silently encouraged to take things that helped you perform and grow.
Or not so silently, in the case of Karl and the other students on a curated training path.
That also made the other students wonder if there was some secret distribution system for bits of this fruit, to help the students who were chosen as the top of the class.
Karl and Dana were the top of the first year already, and they didn’t need this, but they were going to have it anyhow. It was almost enough to make the other students cry at life’s injustice, giving all the good stuff to those already fortunate, but today they got to piggyback off that good luck and get something exceptional for themselves.
“One a piece, as there are thirteen fruits. We will leave the last one here for any lucky person who happens to come along behind us.” Karl instructed.
The cleric girl laughed. “Can you imagine? Just walking through the forest and finding this, with one last lonely fruit on it, waiting for you. It would seem like a miracle, and they will never know that we were here and took all the rest.”
“But in a way, it is a miracle, isn’t it? Wouldn’t anyone else have just taken them all and sold the last one?” One of the mages laughed as she took a fruit off the tree.
