The week went by without any trouble. Yuki went through his daily routine at school, sometimes conversing with Yuna whenever she started a conversation. Then at night he would return back home and work on whatever he felt like working on. Some days, he would go to the guild house to check on how things were operating and help wherever he could. Other days, he would go out with Akira to raid trucks that were coming from Mason Inc.
“Our raids are working,” Yuki said, lying on his bed.
“What do you mean?” Akira asked. She was on a tablet that Yuki had bought for her reading what looked to be a novel.
“You noticed how there are guards now in each of the trucks?” he said. “That means that they’re starting to care. And since it’s not working, we’ll be seeing some more drastic measures in the coming future.”
“So we won’t just be raiding trucks soon.”
“That’s right. Once things start ramping up, we can be more intrusive so to speak,” Yuki said. “We’ll need to prepare for a bit before that happens. But things will be getting more exciting soon.”
“Mmm. Speaking of preparing,” Akira started, putting down her tablet. “How are things going with the school assignment. Are you guys prepared enough?”
“It’s hard to prepare for what you don’t know,” Yuki replied. “We’re probably as prepared as we could be. Not that that says much.”
“Well, what have you done so far with your team?” she asked.
“We met together to discuss strategy, except I don’t think any of them besides Yuna know anything about strategy. I don’t know much about their skills or techniques either. So this assignment might prove to be a bit difficult.”
“Well I’m sure you’ll be able to manage,” Akira smiled. “Besides, you really have a seven person team. I’ll be with you throughout the whole thing.”
“I know. I’m not worried about this,” Yuki said. “I just wish that this wasn’t necessary. There are things I would much rather be doing then this.”
“Well, we don’t always get to decide on what we want to do. Are we going to sleep or is there something else we need to do?”
“No, not today,” Yuki replied. “Good night then.”
He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Yuki woke up the next day and started to get ready for the assignment. It was Saturday and the scheduled day for the hunting mission. Based on the instructions he had received a few days ago, he was to meet up with his class at the front gates of the Academy at 8:00.
‘That gives me about one hour to get ready and go to the Academy.’
Akira had just woken up and was laying in bed with sleepy eyes. She glanced at Yuki and rolled out of bed, stretching and yawning.
“Let’s get ready,” Yuki said to her.
Yuki cooked breakfast for each of them, leaving a plate out for Erika who seemed to have taken a liking towards Yuki’s cooking. Then they washed themselves and Yuki double checked his bag to see if he had put away everything that he might need. Akira disappeared back into Yuki and he headed out, waving bye to Erica who waved back sleepily. She had just woken up, her hair sticking out in different places.
Once Yuki arrived to the transporter station, he waited a few minutes and then he was in Junction a minute later. After that, he went to the Academy and waited at the gates. There were quite a few people gathered there already. Yuki’s whole team were some of these people.
“Hey, Yuki,” Jared greeted him. “Ready to do this?”
“Sure,” he replied, waving back at Yuna. “Do you have your supplies ready?”
“Yup, everything we decided on right here in this bag,” Jared said proudly as he brandished a duffel.
Yuki looked around at the other students in his team and noticed that none of them brought any bags of their own.
“How about everyone else?” he asked. “Why didn’t they bring anything?”
“Because I brought everything,” Jared said. “I told them that one bag would be enough. We’re only going to be in the forest for two days.”
Yuki stared at him for a bit before sighing and shrugging his shoulder.s
“I guess we’ll have to work with limited supplies,” he muttered.
‘I was pretty sure that I told all of them to bring a bag full of supplies,’ Yuki thought.
[You did. I think Jared convinced them otherwise,] Akira replied.
‘That’s nice.’
“I see that everyone is here,” Mabel said loudly, quieting the noisy students. “I will now be sending each of the teams their objective. If should be in your mail within a few seconds.”
She tapped on her smartwatch and Yuki felt his own watch vibrate. He looked at his notifications and clicked on the newly received email.
‘Oh, we’re hunting trolls,’ he read. ‘This shouldn’t be too difficult with this team. Yuna and I could probably wipe most of the nest out by ourselves.’
Yuki fought trolls before when he was out hunting with Akira in Fenrir. Most trolls range from rank C to the bottom of rank B but that was selling them a bit short. Though their overall rank was quite low, their physical stats were on average on par with that of rank A monsters. The only reason why their overall rank was low was due to their low intelligence and their weak aptitude for using magic. By themselves, they weren’t a threat to Yuki. It was only when they were grouped together in a colony Yuki had some difficulty.
‘But as long as we can organize and create a plan, we should do just fine.’
“I’ve never fought a troll before,” Joseph said. “I don’t know much about them.”
“I heard they’re pretty stupid,” Jared replied. “They should be pretty easy to kill.”
“I didn’t know you were a troll.”
“Shut up,” Jared said, pushing his brother lightly. “But this seems like it’s going to be pretty easy.”
“What rank are they?” Natalie asked. Yuki wasn’t sure who she was directing the question to.
“Rank C, I think?” Jared said.
“Ha, that low? This shouldn’t be hard then,” she laughed, looking relieved.
“That’s what I’m trying to say,” Jared smiled.
‘I take back what I just said,’ Yuki thought. ‘I’m starting to get worried.’
[Good luck,] Akira said.
‘They don’t seem to know what they’re getting themselves into. You should be wishing them good luck.’
Erica likes Yuki's home cooking eh? How cute, he's cooking for the ladies that adore him, only poor Yuna is left out (for now)
Jared is being a pig teammate already...wrecking their supply situation from start...Yuki probably has spares and will share with Yuna if need be, but it'll be annoying for him to have to carry the team alongside Yuna. Let's just hope the C squad doesn't completely crap themselves once they actually encounter the trolls
The only thing more dangerous than stupidity and ignorance is overconfidence. It is a slow and insidious killer (Darkest Dungeon anyone?).
@Blacklight110 I personally believe evil dungen is a more fitting name it's so cruel
Thanks for chappy!
Thanks for the chapter
I've been thinking, how does the whole 'store items and people as mana' thing work? Does everything have a unique mana signature or is data about the item stored alongside the mana? The point is what it would take to make an object out of mana that wasn't originally said physical object. Either editing an item like turning two identical ropes into one twice as long rope or creating an object from scratch with a 'blueprint' of an item that was turned into mana.
Also, is turning objects to mana something common that a lot of people has researched the possibilities of?
When items are converted into mana, they have a unique signature that Yuki can read. Even if you have two ropes that look identical, their signatures will be slightly different and can’t be combined. The people thing is more complicated. Spirit beast are converted into mana that has a unique signature and is independent from their partner. Akira does something similar but also has the added benefit of being able to stay within Yuki’s mana dimension. Also, turning things into mana is a common occurrence. It’s how storage works in this world.
@FriendlyDragon Guess that means it is impossible to replicate a mana signature... Let's just go with 'magic', cause I'm not even gonna try to think about what implications that has on a molecular level...