Cutest Scum.

The class was currently resting on a road between the fields. The wind blew over the golden fields, bringing along the pleasant aroma of late august. The sun was at it's zenith bringing light to the lands for now, and for hours to come.

The children were currently eating crackers, jerky, and some dried plums along with it. They had received them from Olivia. These were some of the most common military rations available, and Olivia wanted the students to get accustomed to it early. Christopher, and some of the now adolescent students readily agreed to the request.

The break soon ended, and the children were assigned to their squads. Edwin ended up without any of his close friends. His squad consisted of two older ranged fighters and one melee fighter. Of those he was familiar only with the oldest. His name was Mark, he was 13, and he was familiar with the spear. His father was a guard, and Edwin oftentimes sparred with him.

''Alright let's re-introduce ourselves. I'm Mark, a user of the spear.'' Mark said, while gesturing at the others.

''I'm Edwin, I specialize in the long-sword.'' Edwin introduced himself.

''I'm Maria, I use in the crossbow.'' Maria introduced herself as well. She was a rather short girl, being 1.41m tall, with a comically large crossbow on her back. Edwin had seen and talked with her, but couldn't quite remember her name.

''I'm Margit, the team leader and a spell-caster.'' Margit, the unreasonably narcissistic boy, introduced himself. He was known to be annoying among the older students, but Edwin miraculously never really had any contact with him.

''Who says you're the leader?'' Maria replied in a rather cold voice. She knew who's son Margit was, he was the son of a merchant that had permanently stayed in the village after falling in love with a local. His father had left the position as a head-merchant physically, but still had to do so mentally.

That was to say that both were rather arrogant, and believed Rotherlint village to be too small of a stage for them. After finding out that Margit had a B grade essence flow and essence capacity at the very peak of I, he became even more arrogant, further fueling Margit's confidence.

That was not to say that it was completely undeserved. Margit had ability and was near the top of the older students. His essence-flow, the default way one's essence would move when out of the body, was in a rather chaotic helix pattern. It had a high output, but the shape was holding him back from the ranks of A.

An essence-flow is like a gaseous cloud of soul-essence, flowing in a predetermined shape or pattern. The shape's practicality and output would determine the rank, and in Margit's case, the output was monstrous. The shape could be brought to a passable degree, if one were to give their all in molding it, and was ready to sacrifice a good bit of efficiency.

Mark frowned, and left his own remark. ''We can either vote or draw straws. I won't agree to any other form of selection.'' Both Edwin and Maria nodded, while Margit frowned.

''How about we just draw straws? We'll be much quicker than the others, and we'll be able to impress the new teacher.'' Edwin suggested. He was already tired of this group. He had a very ''subtle'' feeling that this would feel like a long expedition. The others nodded at Edwin's suggestion, and Mark ripped some weeds out at the side of the road.

Edwin drew the shortest, while Mark drew the longest. Although Edwin wasn't leader, he was still very happy with this arrangement.

Margit gave in, and agreed to be lead by Mark under the condition that he was going to be vice-leader. The squad was then briefed by Christopher, and assigned an area. (A/N Don't worry, this won't turn into a face-slapping xuanhuan type of novel.)

They were given a map with all the landmarks in the area, and some potential rat hideouts. They were assigned towards a northern patch that was positioned close to the main grinding-plant of the village. The plant was a large structure built over a river, it ground most of the crops in the area, and was responsible for about 6-7% of the borderline-line town's revenue.

They were to check for Root-rats below the grinding-plant, along trees, and in the wheat storage. The root-rats were copper tier I beasts that oftentimes eat crops, and build elaborate hideouts in which they would raise their young. They earned their name with the way they nurtured their young, they would dig below trees and feed the sap to their young.

They were commonly considered pests, and had a high reproduction rate, and were therefore a constant threat most villages had to deal with. Though there was a silver lining. This silver lining was the common backwater-lynx.

It had earned it's name due to it's reputation as a rat remover for villages that could not afford the necessary forces to deal with the rats. The only downside was that one could not safely leave the house at night, as the lynx was an Iron-ranked beast. This village in particular didn't have much to fear, as there was a mutual understanding between them in this particular region. The lynx would receive food regularly, and in turn wasn't allowed to attack any humans. This understanding had been in place for a generation now, and since then there had been not a single incident.

The four of them then went to the grinding mill, and checked the areas below trees along the way. They were greeted by some of the local farmhands, which generally were riding atop smaller horses, carrying this years' harvest. Edwin and the others always returned the greetings in kind, before moving on.

After about half an hour they met their first cave. The entrance was about 40cm tall and 50 cm wide, hinting at fully grown rats. To lure them out they were given stink-root, which was the nemesis of all beings that have a sense of smell. The small, gas-oozing piece wood was currently stored in Mark's index. He opened his index to the correct page, held the book over the cave before releasing it without even touching it.

An extremely cute furry creature shot out of the cave, ramming directly into Mark's shin before bee-lining towards Edwin's right calf. The rat bit into Edwin's calf. He had experience with copper ranked beasts from his recent encounter, and was able to slash the little bastard apart.