The Excursion (1)

Arlo arrived at the courtyard at 7:45. Most students had already arrived. Everyone was wearing their combat uniforms and equipped with weapons. They were instructed to leave all electronics before they arrived, or they would be destroyed.

At 8:15, The teachers marked the names of all the students who attended.

To no one surprise, Alexia, Shivan and Chloe were not there. In fact, every other student from the five classes had arrived. Arlo was left completely alone.

Looks of pity appeared on the student's faces. Arlo requested that he be allowed to change groups, however it was denied. All the other groups were filled and nobody wanted to be on the infamous trio's team.

This excursion was a trip to the Hollow Forest. The Hollow Forest was a forest owned by the school, which contains abberants. Therefore it was covered in a dark fog and served as a training ground for students.

Due to the dangers the aberrants posed, only students accompanied by teachers or fourth-years given special permissions were allowed to enter.

Due to danger, this class required all four team members to be present. The danger this forest posed was the reason why a champion rank mage was the principal. It may be risky keeping such a danger in the middle of civilisation, but it was a risk Palentia was willing to take.

Arlo sighed as he expected this. He went around and asked a nearby group to join their group.

But before he could do so, another student approached him.

"Hey, want to join our group?" He spoke, wearing a friendly smile on his face. When Arlo turned around, he nearly froze in shock. Being surprised was an understatement.

It was Ryan Coeruleus, the number 1 prodigy of the school. He had S+ potential and was rumoured to be even more talented than Seraphina Astra, the strongest mage of all the six nations.

For some reason, he invited Arlo, a random student with a barely passable in terms of aptitude for thaumaturgy.

"Uhh... ok..." Arlo barely was able to mutter a response. It wasn't every day he would be able to team up with the strongest group.

While Arlo walked towards Ryan's group, he could feel the envious stares of the students around him. 

When Arlo reached where Ryan was taking him, he noticed the other members of the group staring at him.

Tobias Gravonide was looking at him with disgust. Tobias was extremely tall, with black hair and silver eyes. Arlo felt goosebumps run down his spine just by experiencing his glare.

"Why'd you bring a weakling Ryan? He'll just drag us down." Tobias sneered, obviously looking down on Arlo.

"Well... I don't think it'll be that bad. He's trying to become a mage as well, so we should get along." Fiona Wilde responded quietly.

Fiona had dark skin with long, blue hair, tied in a ponytail. She was also tall, being the same height as Arlo and slightly shorter than Ryan.

"Shut it, Tobias. I felt bad for him, so I asked Ryan to invite him over. He has to deal with Alexia after all." Jeanne Terrano spat in response to Tobias.

Jeanne was the shortest of the four but was still above-average height for a girl. She had brown hair, tied in a braid. Her eyes were also brown. Arlo couldn't help but compare Alexia and Jeanne. Though they shared facial features, in terms of beauty, Alexia was superior in every way.

With Arlo temporarily joining Ryan's group, being called Diamond 1, the classes went to the Hollow Forest. It was a short bus drive away.

Immediately after the bus, the atmosphere seemed to darken. The place they were in was heavily guarded, with soldiers posted all around the barrier around the forest.

Arlo felt a slight tingly feeling as he approached the barrier. He quickly deduced that the feeling came from the trace amounts of dark mana escaping the barrier.

Before entering the barrier, all the students were given several warnings to ensure they wouldn't be exiting the designated area.

Leaving the area risks the lives of the students and could result in fatal wounds. Even Tobias listened in intently.

This was going to be the first time everyone would meet aberrants in the wild. The ones in testing facilities didn't compare.

Arlo was simultaneously extremely nervous and excited. He was nervous for obvious reasons. He was excited because he would be able to prove to himself and his family that he could become a mage.

One of his teachers said, "You can only call yourself a mage if you can kill an aberrant in the wild."

It was the first step of his goal to become a Champion Rank mage. Arlo truly believed he could reach that level. It was his goal he was going to achieve at any cost.

It didn't matter if his potential was only B rank. He would surpass his potential and reach the exalted rank.

The students were also given different spots in the area where they could hunt, depending on the group's total combat power.

Since Diamond 1 was by far the strongest, they were allowed to go to the most dangerous areas.

Group by group, the students slowly entered the barrier. With the opening of the barrier, dark mana seeped out, though it was immediately cancelled out by the mana of the teachers nearby.

As Arlo entered the barrier and into the forest, he felt an oppressive feeling come onto him. His body felt extremely uncomfortable and he felt weak.

The density of dark mana in the forest far surpassed what he had experienced at the examination. 

He immediately covered himself in a layer of mana. As Arlo tried to control his mana, he realised that his mana response was sluggish.

It felt over 5 times harder than normal and it took several minutes to cover himself in mana that protected him from the dark fog.

Looking at his temporary teammates, he discovered that he was the last one to protect himself, as everyone had done it within a couple of seconds. Tobias was glaring at him in annoyance.

"Tsk." Tobias clicked his tongue. "Took you so long. Don't hold us back." 

Arlo couldn't blame Tobias for looking down on him. He was holding back the rest of the team.

They were given 4 hours to explore, hunt and kill abberants. Teachers stationed were watching the students closely. And an ace mage whose gift related to detection was on standby in case of an emergency.

Conventional forms of technology such as phones and such didn't work in the black fog. The fog eroded technology nearly instantly and made it unusable within an hour or so, depending on how complicated it was.

Ryan led the group through the forest, keeping an eye out for any aberrants nearby.