Passed with flying colours?

The graduating class 'Field Trip' was not a standardized exam. There was no test paper, no questions, and no right or wrong answers. Naturally their grades would not be marked on their tests and returned to them. The students were graded based on creatures killed and time taken, if they were blinded by the thought of getting first place purely through hunting and returned later than the other teams they would conversely score lower. The goal of the test was to seek a balance between killing the enemies in their way and completing the task assigned to them promptly. The grades and ranking of each team would be publicly posted on the Academy's notices page. Each team would also be sent their grade, as well as a few notes from their teachers containing opinions and advice on various matters.

Jack was woken up on early in the morning on the day grades would be revealed. Initially according to his instinct, he began to head out to feed the pets that had awoken him, but he was further startled out of that state of being half awake by the thing that had really woken him - his ID bracelet vibrating faintly. Confused as to who exactly would be contacting him so shortly after dawn he checked his messages. All of the message notifications were from a new group chat that he wasn't familiar with. Opening it he saw it was composed of all of his teammates. There were at present only three messages in it and all of them were from Clay.

[Hey guys I set up a new thing here for the party so we can easily communicate.]

[So what rank do you guys think we'll get on the field test?]

[Hey should we all get together at Jack's 'manor' to check our grades?]

Seeing this Jack had a premonition that it was going to be a rather busy day once again. Or rather, since he became a part of this group he couldn't remember a day that wasn't busy. Deciding that this was one of his duties as a member of the party Jack extended a formal invitation.

[It's not my place. it's the school's.]

[but you're all welcome here any time.]

[ah bring your own snacks though, I don't have much food in the place.]

Message sent, Jack got up to fulfill his initial purpose. He quickly went to the kitchen and fed his pets before heading back to bed. Checking his bracelet one last time he confirmed there were no more messages before he drifted back off to sleep.

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He didn't get to sleep for very long. What felt like mere moments after he closed his eyes the doorbell echoed through the building. Jack, who was not even half awake at this point, gave a small grunt of resentment and rolled over, attempting to go back to sleep. He was met with a merciless barrage of doorbells and his bracelet vibrating. Giving up after a minute or so, he blearily got up and wandered over to the front door. He opened the door and half opened one of his eyes to examine his guest. It was of course Clay at his door.

"Good morning, Jack. And what a beautiful morning it is eh? Look at the clear skies and brilliant sunlight!" Clay assaulted Jack with noise from the moment the door was opened.

Jack, at this point realizing he'd be getting no more sleep today, gestured into the building, welcoming his guest. He led Clay over to the kitchen and vaguely gestured at the table and chairs before wandering back to his room. Picking up his bracelet he checked the time and groaned once more in exasperation. It was barely a half hour after he'd responded to Clay which implied that he'd come running over immediately after reading the message. Seeing the replies from the other members it seemed that their was really going to be a party today. Jack sighed in resignation and went to take a shower to wake up properly.

_____________________________________________________

Somewhat refreshed and considerably more awake, Jack walked back out to the kitchen to find that the number of his guests had tripled. They greeted him as he entered.

"Hey, there you are, Jack. I was starting to think you'd run off or gone back to sleep or something." Clay jabbed at him.

"Good morning, Jack, I hope we're not being to much of a bother." Amber said.

Iris' greeting was much less animated than the others, her mouth being stuffed full of food she merely nodded at him. Looking around a bit Jack didn't see Rust anywhere.

"Has anyone heard from Rust recently?" Jack directly inquired.

Iris and Clay shook their heads in denial. Amber gave a slightly more detailed response.

"I sent her a message yesterday about when we could discuss runes but I haven't heard back from her. It is rather unusual for her not to reply after so long, do you know anything?" Amber seemed slightly concerned.

"She mentioned she had to go back home the day before yesterday." Jack paused for a moment as he recalled what he said as she left, "I hope she didn't actually kill any of her relatives..." He muttered under his breath.

The atmosphere of revelry slightly cooled hearing that one of their companions was unaccounted for. Just as it began to truly dim and become serious Jack heard the front door creak as it opened and a voice drift to them on the wind.

'Sorry I'm late. I brought snacks and drinks though.' Rust's disembodied voice echoed in their ears.

Hearing that their last party member had arrived the gloom that had started to settle over the room was blown cleanly away leaving the atmosphere as clean as the skies. Jack went to greet Rust closely followed by Amber and less closely by Clay. Walking into the entryway they were greeted by the sight of a pile of bags. It seemed Rust had gone all out for their first party.

"Haven't you gone a little overboard with all this? We still don't know if we've passed and you've got a two parties worth of food and drinks. Not that I'm complaining about having food though." Jack asked.

'Of course we passed, and we'll be highly ranked as well.' Rust gave a mysterious reply 'Now someone carry these.'

Rust handed some of her bags off to Jack and Clay before they all headed back once more to the kitchen. As they walked back Amber questioned Rust.

"Were you rather busy yesterday? I sent you a few messages and didn't hear back. Jack said you were with your family?" Amber asked with a small amount of concern.

'I was indeed, those people are paranoid so they block outside signals at home. I didn't know I'd be stuck at home for a full day so I didn't mention it.' Rust explained.

Concerns eased with all members present the 'party of failures' relaxed and chatted for a few hours while waiting for the rankings to be posted. Taking advantage of the time they had Jack and Rust dragged Amber over to one side to test her essence control and advise her on her path. Her essence control was easily in the realm they were looking for. It had to be said even being a party of 'failures' their basics- their control of essence, battle ability, and compatibility as a team was well above average. The only real reason they were called failures was their insistence on walking paths outside of the predesignated 'most efficient' paths.

'I had been discussing with Amber about mixing her role and runes. One system to heal and another to attack. So that she's not defenseless like most healers are these days.' Rust explained.

"Mmm, that's not a bad idea. The current 'modern' healer curriculum focuses purely on healing and defense. If any healer were to be separated from their party they're basically screwed. Even if you can shield yourself from all attacks, if you can't kill any of the enemies you'll be besieged to death eventually. Any ideas on the specific method of attack?" Jack asked.

'She has a high affinity with plants, which was the reason we decided to make her a druid. I was thinking the Path of Awakening might be possible.' Rust said.

"The Path of Awakening?" Jack repeated, somewhat startled, "That's very ambitious. But I suppose it's not out of reach. If she really does have the disposition there isn't really a better balance between healing defending and attacking. I assume your thoughts were to start with the runes of lesser plant control?"

'Yes' Rust replied, 'it can directly be upgraded at Rank-4 when we integrate a system. It's the most efficient starting point.'

"The only downside is that her healing abilities will lag behind a standard healers." Jack commented.

'Well there's an easy solution to that.' Rust gave a half smile as she spoke. 'Just don't get injured.'

With that rather absurd but accurate remark they fell into silence for a moment. The silence was short lived. It was brutally murdered by Clay.

"Guys, grades are up! Let's see how we did and get this party started!" Clay's shouting was heard clearly throughout the building.

Jack and Rust walked back into the kitchen and gathered around Clay who had the Academy's homepage open. Seeing that everyone was properly present Clay clicked on the list for the Field Trip Ranking. The half second it took to load up felt far longer than it had any right to as they all looked at the rankings. It took them only a moment to locate their own party as they were right near the top.

Rank 3: Party #1,000 'Clay's Battalion'

Their was a moment of silence as the meaning of that one line of text sunk in. Then an explosion of noise swept through the whole building shaking it.