Drach Hunting
At 11:40 a.m sharp as they had been told by their homeroom teachers, the students of Class A and D marched out of their classes in the towers of the main building until they were our in the open field.
"Wow! Going BEHIND the school into the magic forest. It sounds like a sure-fire way of getting yourself cursed." Luz commented.
They marched out uniformly and in uniform, although some vibrant students decided to partake in races with each other on who would get to the destination first.
The Homeroom teachers led them away from the Academy and stopped when they were about seventy feet away from the forest which from the outside looked like a regular forest. Although magic tended to condense closer to the centre so the deeper they went, the more they would realize it was not just a regular forest.
"Alright! Listen up because I'm only going to say this once." Class A's homeroom teacher, Nex began instructing his pupils. "The Hunting Grounds are split up into three ground. The Crimson Forest which consists of mostly land creatures. You will know it when you see it."
"The Aqua Forest which is more marshy and swampy and contains semi-aquatic creatures in its population and the Bronze Forest which is made up of flying creatures."
"The Goal is to take out three Drachs each and retrieve their Valuable Items. Once the Goal is completed, you will return back here. You may be allowed to keep one Valuable Item."
Hearing this, Serena's eyes grew wide. Most Drachs had Valuable Items, special objects that were attached to certain parts of rheir body and were key ingredients for the creation of potions, energy sources and weaponry. It went without saying that they were very important and hence named Valuable Items as they came in all different shapes.
Drachs upon death would usually leave their Valuable Items behind. However, only skilled Hunters could carve out a Valuable Item from a Drach without turning their body to dust.
"You have fifty minutes." Nex and Kento finished informing their students and the members of each team quickly assembled and were assigned the forests which they could hunt to.
The male teachers had also informed them of an important rule which under any circumstances were not allowed to break. The policy was that the person to deliver the final blow got to keep the Item in order to prevent squabbling among students. It also went without saying that the students were not allowed to engage in fights with each other.
Arina's team had been assigned the Crimson Forest and after the signal was given, all teams rushed forward into the forest.
After about a minute, Kento pulled out white spheres from one of his Compartment Bag and so did Nex and released it into the forest. They were surveillance orbs that only reacted to danger in case a Drach proved too difficult for the students. Although it was highly unlikely as the forest was almost completely populated by Drachs between Stages one to four.
* * *
Arina and her team composed of her classmates; Serena, Luz, Raine and Zane quickly made their way through the forest and they quickly discovered why it was named the Crimson Forest.
The tree leaves and flowers of the plants were a deep red with some exceptions and the ground had a slight tan of orange and red to it in certain areas. It wasn't very dense as there was a lot of open space to move through but the tall trees grouped their leaves together so it was a bit difficult to see the sky above them. However, decent light penetrated through, allowing them to see.
Arina, Serena and Luz seemed to be one of the few people in their own Class to be at Stage 2 even though it was supposed to be the most popular stage to start off at. Raine was also at Stage 2, however, Zane was at Stage 3.
"Zane, you never told us what your Casting Trait is?" Luz asked and he gave them a mysterious smile while shrugging his shoulders.
"Let's just say it's a surprise." At that moment, he purposefully took his Charm out of camouflage mode which was simply a wristwatch or a kind of bracelet but it had six hands and four buttons around it which were probably his Gems of which two had been opened.
Leaving that matter aside, they continued wandering around the forest, jumping over bushes, helping each other go over thorns all while still looking for a Drach.
"Ah, finally." Luz exclaimed which got everyone's attention. She pointed in a particular direction to which they all faced at and gasped. Having a subject called Drach Science, they were able to recognize common Drachs and the one a few metres away from them was one of them.
"It's an Icemander!"
The Drach looked like a large and long salamander with ice blue skin and spikes of ice along its back. It was only about three or four feet tall and it opened its mouth, revealing a set of sharp teeth but not only that, something was building up inside its mouth
Once they had caught sight of the Icemander, the group activated their Charms.
"Picture Casting: Color sphere!" Luz acted swiftly, forming a barrier made of colorful magic around the whole team, defending them against the beam of ice that had been designed and launched at them by the magical, hostile creature.
"Thanks, Luz. Now it's our turn to act." Serena stated. Arina stuck her hand down below their feet and formed the Light Board which Serena had gotten on.
Luz seized the Sphere for a second, allowing them to pass through before closing it back up again.
"Mech Casting: Speed Suit!" A suit of silver metal wrapped around the female Caster's body and she jumped off the floating platform while the Light Caster began firing light balls.
The Icemander moved to the side, avoiding the first two before releasing a blast of ice and countered the last one, prompting her to dodge as the rest of the attack came her away.
Meanwhile, Serena dashed around the Drach before throwing an enhanced punch at the ice creature. Unfortunately for her, it had reacted on time, grabbing her fist with its jaws and it began to freeze up her suit and freeze her physical body.
"No!!!" The three girls screamed.
"That's my cue to act," Zane raised his hand into the air and a green glow emanated from his body up to his fist, "Checkpoint Casting: Rewind!"
* *
"What the- How am I back here and what just happened?" Arina thought as she found herself within Luz' Color Sphere again which like last time had defended them against the ice beam. The others also had perplexed looks on their faces as they were having immense déjàvu.
Serena snapped her fingers, turning to Zane otherwise known as the Checkpoint Caster, "So that's your Casting Trait. You can create a save point in time, just like a video game."
Zane gave her a thumbs up with a goofy smile, "Yeah, but I don't get more than three chances for some reason so we don't have the privilege of just doing a do-over every time."
This time, they changed their course of action. Serena and Raine got aboard the golden platform and made their way out of the Color Sphere.
Serena got off the Light Board in her Speed Suit like the first tims around but this time, Arina had the Water Caster's help in distracting the Drach.
"Water Casting: Water Slash!" A slash of pressurized water was launched at the Icemander, however, it simply leapt to the side but its actions were similar to the first time so Arina knew it would move in that direction.
She released two balls of light and hit it away, doing almost no damage to it but stunning it just enough for Serena to swoop in from behind and deal significant damage with a hit to its head before moving away, not wanting to relive what she had gone through before.
Luz felt confident enough to remove the Color Sphere and used another one of her acquired Spells, "Picture Casting: Past Encounter!"
She launched the attack. Zane's Rewind Spell was not the only one in his arsenal as he used another one to support the Picture Caster.
"Checkpoint Casting: Rebound!" A perfect re-creation of Raine's Water Slash had been produced by the Caster and released, adding to Luz' attack and utterly obliterating the Low Stage Drach, turning it into a puff of magic smoke but that was not all.
In its place, three ice crystals remained. Arina walked over, picked it up and looked over to Luz, Raine and Zane.
"You guys can keep these." Arina tossed them over and they placed it into their Compartment Bags.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get back to hunting." The Light Caster said and as if in sync with her words, more Drachs could be seen approaching them.
* * *
Meanwhile, Yuri also moved with his team but through the Bronze Forest instead of the Crimson Forest. His team comprised of Ayato, Kuro, a boy from their class named Zake and another girl named Staria.
Zake stood tall, he had orange slicked back hair and was bespectacled. He had a black shirt on with brown trousers and the uniform over his neck. Instead of an uptight aura, he actually exuded a more laid back and open to anything. Kind of like Ayato but minus the impulsiveness.
The girl on the other hand was like the poster girl for the stuck-up, entitled, rich kid archetype. She had long blonde hair, wearing a pink shirt stripped black horizontally and a short skirt of the same design. It seemed that the skirt was a part of her uniform but she had personally modified it to fit her style. She also branded pink glamorous glasses jn the shape of hearts.
The latter was leisurely twirling her hair in boredom while the former held a book in his hand which he seemed to be reading while scoping the area with little difficulty.
Yuri, Ayato and Staria led the way while Zake and Kuro stayed a metre or two behind, all looking out for any signs of Drachs.
"Uhh..." Staria's voice ringed through the Shadow Caster's ear and he felt a vein about to bulge on his calm face, "Why is this taking so long? It's always impossible to find something when you need it, right?" She said, not speaking to anyone in particular.
The Fire Caster sighed, "Yeah, I agree. We've been walking for like ten minutes and we haven't found any Drachs."
Yuri's vein bulged even bigger but then he diverted his attention away from their moans of complain and looked in another direction and it was as if he could feel some presence coming.
"Quiet, you two." He halted them, gaining the whole team's attention, "I think I sense a Drach approaching."
In preparation, Yuri's group, every single one of the teenage Casters activated their different Charms.