Returning

The party awoke promptly at dawn to the calamitous crowing of a rooster the size of a dog. The monster rooster finally stopped crowing after several minutes. It was almost silent again save for the breeze through the trees, the sound of animals moving around, and the groaning and muttering of severely annoyed and rudely awakened students.

It was several minutes more before the party was more or less up and about. While Clay and Amber were both ordinarily morning people, there was a large difference between waking naturally and being rudely awakened by an oversized chicken. As such everyone was somewhat grumpy and groggy. However since they were already awake there was no reason to go back to sleep. Instead it was best for them to eat something and get ready to keep moving.

It only took a few minutes to eat a pack of rations, by which time Clay and Amber were fully awake and Jack, Rust, and Iris were slightly less asleep. Before they tore down the camp and set off they had a short discussion.

"So, with what we learned last evening, we've decided to do our best right? So are we just heading straight back to the finish line or do we want to hunt some to get some more points?" Clay sought the opinions of his comrades.

"I have no problems killing things if they attack us, but I would really rather not kill these creatures that are so friendly." Jack answered.

"Seconded." was all Iris contributed. Rust nodded and lastly Amber agreed as well,

"It's not right to kill these creatures who have no intent to harm us."

"Alright, straight back it is then." Clay concluded the meeting.

Decision made there was no need to delay, they packed up camp and started walking. They were still a few days worth out from their destination but they had plenty of time to get there, barring some tragic accident there was very little possibility of them arriving late.

The days journey was uneventful, they hiked through the rest of that patch of forest and crossed a fairly extensive meadow. The sun began to set partway and by the time it was fully dark they were at the border of the meadow and a new patch of forest, this time wholly coniferous. The forest edge was as good a place to stop as any. The trees here were quite large, soaring far above their heads. They would provide quite a bit of shade, though both less shade and less protection from rain than a deciduous.

The day had been completely clear and the humidity was low, however it had been rather hot, so they decided to forego the tents and sleep on the tarps under the branches. The wind blowing the branches, the gentle creaking of the forest, and the sound of the surrounding animals making themselves at home gradually lulled the party to sleep.

The next morning they were not awakened by a monstrous rooster, but by the sun's rays filtering through the needles and branches of the tree above them and the gradual warming of the day. They once again got up, ate, packed up, and moved on. During the field trip or more accurately during the past week or so they had noticed that the wild creatures following them were 'cycling out'. Everyday new animals would join them while ones that had been with them for a while would go back the way they came from. It seemed they were more intent on staying in their territory than on following the strange human who had attracted them.

These patterns continued during the next three days of travel. Get up, eat, pack up, march, animals leave, animals gather, dusk arrives, stop, set up camp, eat, sleep, dawn, get up... As monotonous as the routine might seem the variety of scenery, both flora and fauna alike, made the journey plenty interesting. They also had no lack of topics to talk about should they find themselves so inclined. Overall it was a truly peaceful and pleasant few days.

But everything ends eventually, and today they estimated they would reach the outpost before evening. Judging that he should be able to make it back to his dorm before midnight, Jack picked some wildflowers and put them in a ration box with some water. The bumblebees would certainly be pleased with these.

They made good time and arrived at the outpost a few hours before sunset. Along the way all of the following wild animals wandered back off to their own territory. The guards who were stationed at the outpost were still surprised to see them however.

"Oh, students from the Academy huh? You're a couple days earlier than we expected. First we've seen this year too." The man in charge greeted them. He was an older man, about middle aged and from what they could see somewhere around Rank 3 judging by the complex rune on his left forearm.

"Yeah, we made good time since there wasn't much rain this month." Clay explained. "Also we more or less charged straight back without stopping to hunt."

The outpost guards' expressions warped a bit, after all arrival time was enough to get a passing grade, but the real points came from hunting.

"A little impatient to get back, huh?" The outpost leader commented, "Well, better than arriving late I guess. Alright scan your ID Bracelets here."

As he spoke he held out a scanner. The party scanned their ID devices one by one, 'checking in' and in doing so starting the automatic calculation of their grade. The outpost leader waved them on through the gate with a few parting words.

"Well you might not get the highest score, but you'll get to relax for a few days as the rest of your classmates trickle in. Enjoy it while you can!"

The party walked through the small gate and back into the Remnant. Once inside they headed to the nearest subway stop. The Remnant was too vast for them to conveniently walk across and to get back to the Academy, but there was no need with the advanced state of public transport in the Remnant. More importantly all forms of public transport were free to members of the military and the Academy.

At the current time of day the train wasn't crowded full but there were still a fair number of people. Seeing the uniform of Conquest Academy, they shot glances mixed with respect and envy at the party.

While traveling by train was certainly faster than hiking through the woods, it was also quite a bit more boring. To stave off the boredom somewhat they chatted about various matters until Jack brought up an important question.

"How much essence does everyone have stored up? Ah, and also do you have concrete plans for your runes over the next few Ranks?" He inquired.

"About half full, and I hadn't even decided what to make my third rune." Clay answered.

"Enough for my second rune. I've been discussing with Rust but we hadn't finished deciding a path quite yet." Amber replied.

"I'm almost ready to try my second... But I think perhaps... I might need some more professional advice before I try again." Iris hesitated to admit.

Rust's response was the simplest out of all of them- simply a thumbs up. Jack considered this for a few moments before speaking.

"Alright then, since we have a few days before our grades are announced, and then a week to prepare for the final exam, shall we gather at my abode and do some planning about your cultivation directions?"

"Eehh, maybe tomorrow?" Clay's response was hesitant, "I wanna relax for a day since we're back."

"Mmmm. I have a lot of cleaning and various other things to do tomorrow, so maybe two days later?" Amber countered.

"I'm free anytime." Iris' answer was swift and simple.

"Then we'll help Iris tomorrow, Clay the day after, and then we can all get together during the week of prep time." Rust concluded.

"Sounds good to me." Jack agreed.

"Yep"

"Mhmm."

"Okay."

The rest of the party agreed in short order. As the best rune theorists in the party Jack and Rust were determined to help their friends down the optimal path, and keep them from both crippling themselves and walking into a dead end. The rest of the train ride was brief, and they arrived back at the Academy around dusk. They all parted at the gate due to living in different dorms. Jack wandered through the well maintained forests in the back of the academy grounds towards the 'abandoned' dormitory thirteen.

Arriving just as the sun fully set and it became night he unlocked the door and entered. He was immediately greeted by a cataclysmic yowling and a storm of buzzing.

"I'm home!" He declared loudly as he walked towards the kitchen, "I have some fresh flowers here like I promised Dandelion."

He walked into the kitchen to find an absolute mess. He'd left food dishes behind for Lynxet and Hops. What little was left of their food was scattered all over the kitchen floor and the walls were all sporting new claw marks guaranteed to make one doubt the structural stability of this whole area.

"Uuughh, what have you done to this place dangit... I told you I'd be back and to behave didn't I" Jack was truly upset, the mess all over the floor would take at least half an hour to clean and the claw marks were simply impossible to deal with at the moment. His pets' joy at seeing him back quickly turned to shame as they were scolded.

As Jack fumed for a few moments, he heard an irritated buzzing as Dandelion crawled out of her nest and flew over to him.

"Ah, Dandelion there you are. I know you tried, it's just... Yeah I can't deal with this today. I'll clean tomorrow." Jack gave up entirely, "Oh, here you are. Wildflowers from the Wild Zone, freshly picked a few hours ago."

Jack handed over the flowers and then walked out of the kitchen and headed upstairs. He hadn't had a shower in weeks and he was far too tired to deal with the mess in the kitchen today. He quickly cleaned himself up, put on some pajamas, and went to bed for the day. It seemed like tomorrow was going to be even busier than expected.