Life is many things but fair.
Walking up to the corpse of the spider, Flynn began to chant a long spell. His mana enveloped the whole body, glowing. "Extract," he casted, a blinding flash lit up the whole room. The corpse of the spider crumbled, as it turned into dust. Extract was an essential spell for many mages that hunted Mana Beasts.
Extract could condense the Mana Beast's remaining mana and blood into small crystals, preserving its genetics and sometimes even its magic capabilities. However, the downside of the spell was that it could only be casted on corpses and the it was quite a complex spell. Since every Mana Beast was unique, the beast crystals from different Mana Beasts were rarely the same. Some of the skilled blacksmiths could even craft Mana Media that could manifest the Beast's powers. Like Andrew's flaming sword was likely crafted with a beast crystal that was extracted from a Mana Beast that could wield fire magic. The corpses of Mages could also be extracted, forming really powerful cyrstals. However, it was banned by Eternity for obvious reasons, only rogue mages would dare wield such weapons.
Beast Crystals also had a special use for mages that dabbled with genetics, such as Josh, who could mutate plants and even shapeshift into different forms. The mutated plants and his lobster claws were all based on the genes from beast crystals. Perhaps if he gave one to Josh, he could learn to shapeshifted into a arachnid, Flynn thought, trying to picture the funny scene.
Four crystals formed in Flynn's hand, he inspected them. They were blood red and radiating with mana, indicating that they were pretty good quality. Tossing one to William and one to James, Flynn kept the remaining two. James seemed to recognize the beast crystal immediately, indicating that he was perhaps not unfamiliar with hunting Mana Beasts. "Thanks," James said, sliding it into his pocket. A weird machine popped out of William's back, scanning the beast crystal. "So this is what a beast crystal looks like," William said. He knew about beast crystals, but he had never actually seen one in real life.
Having dealt with the corpse of the spider, Flynn wanted to leave the mine right away before anymore accidents happened. Andrew was still unconscious, even with Invigorate Flynn couldn't wake him up. Grabbing his ankles, Flynn dragged Andrew on the ground like a sack of potatoes. James played around with Andrew's fire sword, brandishing it as he enjoyed the flaming trail that it left. "Let's leave," Flynn said, not wanting to stay in the mine for a single second. "What a coincidence, I also want to leave," William said, his robotic arms quickly collecting the scraps of mana crystals that were still worth something. The exit was still blocked with tons of webbing. But with James wielding Andrew's Mana Medium, he easily mowed through the webs.
Inside a room located in the cavern system, Harry was watching several monitors. Seeing that the three were still in decent shape, he slammed his fist onto the table. "Why! That spider was a grade 3 beast!" he exclaimed, not believing that they beaten the arachnid with such ease. The rats that appeared ealier were weak mana beasts that even fail to qualify as a grade 1 beast, so Harry didn't really expect them to do much other than slightly draining their mana and stamina. The grades were determined by how many mages were required to kill or capture the Mana Beast in question. Because Mana Beasts were much stronger than normal mages, a Mana Beast is akin to three mages of the same level. So normally speaking, a grade 3 Mana Beast would require three grade 3 mages to defeat. Highschool mages were normally grade 1 mages, few could qualify as grade 2 mages. Flynn and James could definitely qualify as grade 3 mages if they took the necessary tests. William with his machines was also almost on par with a grade 3 mage. Andrew himself barely qualified as a grade 3 mage, so Flynn wasn't lying when he said Andrew was not a reliable protector.
Looking at Flynn, William, and James's ratings, they were clearly grade 1 mages. Hundreds of thoughts crossed Harry's mind before he came to his conclusion, Andrew was probably a grade 3 mage that was half a step into grade 4. Flynn, James, and especially William were all holding back against the first wave of rats. Never in his dreams would he believe that there would be so many prodigies in the same group. "Mission Failed," Harry said, reporting the current situation to an unknown person. "Did you blow your cover?" a hoarse voice asked, sounding quite discontented with the results. Although a grade 3 Mana Beast was not that big of a loss, it was still quite overkill for killing a grade 1 mage. Not to mention that Harry even failed to kill their main target. "Group up with them, but lay low," the voice ordered, ending the call.
Harry ruffled his own hair and slightly tear his clothes. Gritting his teeth, he conjured a Wind Blade and unleashed it on himself. Instantly, the Wind Blade left a ghastly scar on his his thigh, deep red blood flowing from the wounds. He slowly limped towards his teammates, coming up with a cover story on the way there. Because the cave where they fought the arachnid was lined with lead, he couldn't actually see them when they were inside, so he had no idea that he was already exposed. Seeing Flynn and the others not that far away from him, he called out for help. "Help! I was attacked by another Mana Beast," he shouted, limping towards Flynn. "Is he acting dumb?" Flynn thought, seeing Harry limp towards him. "What if he really doesn't know that we have the recordings?" Flynn thought, quickly shifting his expressions to a more compassionate and welcoming face.
"We were so worried, where have you been?" Flynn asked with so much genuineness that he wanted to shed a tear himself. The other two were confused at first, but they played along with the act. "We were looking for you," Willaim chimed in, finally realizing why Flynn was acting like this. Harry had no idea that he was already exposed, he grinned evily in his heart as he received healing from Flynn. "What Beast did you encounter? It left such a nasty scar," Flynn asked. "A large mantis, it cut my leg with its sharp reptoriales, I barely managed to escape," Harry lied through his teeth. "The mantis must have been very strong, since the wounds seemed to be quite cleanly cut open," Flynn said, trying to find a change in Harry's expression. "It indeed was, luckily I got out in one piece," Harry replied, clearly wanting to end the conversation.
As they left the mine, Flynn enjoyed the warm ray of sunlight after about three hours in the mines. As the bright sunlight irradiated Andrew, he finally woke up. "Spider!" he shouted, sitting up drenched in cold sweat. Seeing a lot of people staring at him with concerned expressions, his face turned bright red.
Taking back his Mana Medium from James, he headed towards the Colonel's tent to report the situation inside the mine. "A grade 3 Mana Beast? Why didn't you report right away when you originally encountered it," the Colonel said, demanding answers from the shaking Andrew. "The cave was lined with lead, all of our connections were lost," Andrew said. "Lined with lead?" murmured the Colonel, furrowing his brows. "Where is the Spider? And how are the students? the Colonel asked. "I'm not sure, I got knocked out by the spider, I was back at base when I regained consciousness. The kids are all fine," Andrew said. Pressing a couple of orders, he sent a team down deep into the woods to kill the Mana Beast.
Turning in the Mana Crystals, they were well over the qualifications. Most of the students were actually still in the mines, Flynn wondering if they would also encounter a powerful Mana Beast, which was highly unlikely. He was now totally convinced that someone was watching his every move, which was definitely not good. Playing with the beast crystals in his pocket, he patiently waited for his friends to exit the mine. He was sick of the mines, wanting to leave the camp immediately.