Boot Camp Time

Seth felt pretty full after the fruit. He looked around and saw Spencer on the ground, looking for bugs. He tapped Spencer's shoulder lightly. When he turned around, Seth felt sorry for him. Spencer's face had rashes on it and his lips were swollen, he must have eaten a poisonous plant. Spencer grumbled and hid his face in shame. Seth didn't know what to say so he just walked away and looked for Spencer's food. Seth didn't find any new food, not even a leaf of something edible was left. Spencer couldn't eat anything and had to just sit and wait for everyone to finish their lunches.

The teacher came back soon after everyone ate lunch, they were here to issue the next task. The next thing the students had to do was to find a way to get water without using any magic. The teacher left the students alone once more. A few students wanted to take the lead but they started fighting for the position. Seth, Spencer, and Jack decided to go off on their own. Seth knew that although telling water elementals to create water wasn't technically using magic, it wouldn't slide for the teacher. Seth also knew that there was water somewhere close by as he could see a large group of water elementals in the distance.

Seth dragged his friends over the mass of water elementals, finding a small lake. Seth knew he had to purify water to drink it, but he didn't know how. Luckily for Seth, Spencer knew from his wartime in Vietnam. Spencer started a fire with sticks and string, only for the wind to blow all of the fire on him. If the fire was normal it wouldn't have done anything, but a large number of fire elementals appeared out of nowhere and caused the fire to strengthen abnormally. The fire raged so hard that it completely burned through Spencer's clothes and started burning his body.

Seth told all of the water elementals in the lake to produce more water, only to find that they had all disappeared. When Seth looked back at the flames that had swallowed Spencer, he saw that the fire had water elementals mixed in it. The fire was eating all of the other elementals and growing in strength. Seth tried to use pure magic power to suppress the flames, only for them to eat his magic too. Spencer ran as fast as he could, the flames already reaching his bones in some areas. He circulated his magic power as fast as he could, but it didn't work. Just like Seth's, Spencer's magic power was consumed by the fire instantly.

As Spencer was being burned by the flames, Seth noticed something odd happening with the elementals in his body. The elementals weren't being consumed by the fire but seemed like they were consuming the fire instead. The elementals in Spencer's body were now all different colors and they were attacking the elementals in the flame. In just a few seconds, the fire died down and the elementals in it had disappeared. Spencer's body was burnt to a crisp, nearly completely gone. Spencer was still alive though, his magic body formation had saved him.

Seth healed Spencer to the best of his ability, though it took nearly ten minutes for him to be fully healed. Spencer shakily stood up once he was healed, he dusted himself off and Seth handed him a set of clothes from his inventory. All three of the boys had a few sets of enchanted clothes in Seth's inventory for safekeeping. Spencer put the clothes on and lied on the ground. Spencer coughed a bit and Seth saw a few random elementals fly out of Spencer's mouth. Seth was weirded out by that but he figured it was probably a side effect from eating the fire.

Seth looked to the lake, only to find that it was completely empty. The fire had caused it to disappear and now there was no water for the students to find. The fire had also caused the students to come over, though they were slow and would take a few more minutes to get there. The teacher hadn't appeared though, which caused Seth to feel a little anxious. Seth pulled Spencer from the ground and the trio left the newly formed clearing. They hid in the forest, out of sight from the students.

When the students found the clearing, they were amazed by the sight. A huge, raging fire had completely burned everything, even the dirt! The teacher had also come along with them, he had been watching the group and hadn't noticed the boys slip away. Seth felt more relaxed when he saw the teacher, nothing had happened to him. If something had happened to the Peak Mortal teacher then the entire class would be in jeopardy. The teacher saw the empty lake and sighed. He waved his hand and filled the lake with water. This water was too pure though, so he dirtied it with soot and silt remaining on the lakebed.

Seth and his friends snuck out of the forest and reconvened with the class without anybody noticing. The boys grabbed some water and Spencer started another fire. This one didn't burn out of control like the last one, so the boys soon got their fresh, purified water. Seth decided to put some fresh water and a fire starting kit in his inventory just in case. Most of the class kept some water with them so they don't get too thirsty later.

The teacher soon appeared in front of the students. The next task they issued was to find their way back to the camp. Most of the kids in the class had good memories so everyone found their way back to the camp in under an hour. By then, the sky was getting dark and the sun was setting. It was almost time for dinner and to go to sleep. But first, the students had to find more food and make fires to cook it. The students would have to start hunting.

Seth, Spencer, and Jack all snuck away from the pack of wild animals that was their blood-lusting class. Spencer soon found a large animal that looked a lot like a moose. The animal was instantly killed by Seth and the boys now had their dinner. Just as before, Spencer started a fire. The fire was put out by a strong wind the moment he lighted it. Spencer sighed and tried again, only for the same thing to happen again. After trying a few times to no avail, Spencer relinquished the homemade bow and stick to Jack, who got the fire going on his first try.

Seeing how well Jack was doing, Spencer looked into the night sky for a few moments, drying his tears on the wind that blew his fire out. The boys ate the moose and met back with the rest of their class, who were all feasting on small animals. The boys went into their tents and got ready for bed. Both Spencer and Seth knew that they would be woken up in the middle of the night and have to fight off some bandits or something, that was just how these sort of things went. The bandits would be revealed to be teachers after the students barely fought them off and they would go through a few more trials before going back to the castle. A boot camp without a mock battle couldn't be called a true boot camp. The boys soon fell asleep, two of them ready to be woken up at any moment.

Seth heard loud shouts from outside, he knew that it was around one. The "bandits" had attacked and the students would now have to fend them off from the camp. Seth stepped out of his tent, meeting a calm Spencer and an agitated Jack. Seth looked to the "bandits" and saw that they were all wearing cloaks with fire elementals. They were spouting flames from their hands and burning down tents. Seth Inspected one of the cultish bandits and saw that it was a teacher. He heaved a sigh and Inspected the others, they were the same.

The flaming eyes on the cloaks reminded Seth of a certain explosive he found in a forest a few miles from the castle. Seth finally figured out why he had deja vu when coming to this place with the class. It was where he had found the explosive. The trip that everyone had gone on was likely made to set up for the boot camp and the bandit attack. Though, a group of evildoers had probably also used the time to set traps and cause problems in the background. Seth felt much safer though, he also felt that he should replace the bomb that he removed.

Seth reconnected to his magic sense again, finding the spot where he had taken the bomb from in just a few seconds. He couldn't talk to the elementals that far away though so he couldn't get the explosive there without going himself. Seth told his friends to wait for a few seconds. The notice still didn't take away from the shock they felt when he was swallowed up by the ground right in front of them though. Seth took the explosive out of his inventory when he reached the place and he placed it down immediately, messing up the dirt around it so it seemed like it had never been taken away.

Seth could sense a pair of footsteps coming closer though, presumably to set the bomb, so he left as soon as possible. Seth popped out of the ground in front of Spencer and Jack. He nodded to them and they walked to the robed teachers. They were going to fend them off with an average Peak Mortal power and see what was going to happen afterward. The teachers weren't hurting the students very bad so Seth didn't hurt them. The teachers were pushing the kids back to the place where the bomb was, so Seth didn't try to make them move.

Eventually, Seth could feel a teacher behind him moving to attack him. Seth dodged the attack and hid back in the crowd of students. He looked for Jack and Spencer, he didn't want them to be on the offensive when the bomb went off. Seth soon found them and dragged them back into the crowd. He waited there for a few minutes, waiting for the bomb to go off. When it didn't, Seth was confused so he reconnected his magic sense and checked the bomb.

There were multiple people at the bomb site, arguing and fighting each other. Seth told Spencer and Jack what was going on so they knew what to do. He disappeared back into the ground before appearing at the bomb site. Some men seemingly blended in with the darkness, Seth couldn't see them very well. Seth could see that the teachers were fighting men whose bodies he couldn't see, they were probably using cloaks painted with something that blocks magic. Seth knew that these people weren't teachers, they were probably the attackers that gave him a bad premonition.

Seth didn't leave his hiding spot, he wouldn't be much help in the fight anyways. He went back to his friends and told them what he found. Spencer decided to tell the teachers about the new attackers. He ran over to one, just to be shot down by a fireball. Spencer blocked the fireball and yelled at the teacher that the bomb was compromised. The surrounding teachers were shocked but they looked in the direction of the bomb and sent a few to see if Spencer was truthful. The teachers that were sent out returned with the news that Spencer was right and most of them left to help the others.

The remaining teachers took off their robes, stopped attacking the class, and calmed down the students they were fighting.