"Show me." Zane responded as he pointed towards a training dummy before crossing his arms. Not the most formidable of opponents, but it could do with a bit of showing off. The only really impressive spell Nick had was Aqua Arrow. First Aid was useful but it wouldn't be flashy enough to shut him up.

With a slight movement of his hands, he started casting Aqua Arrow on to the dummy. While it wasn't something he had put into practice yet, Nick had an idea. His typical attacks consisted of him firing the arrow as soon as it had formed and repeating that action. Now, he would hold on to his arrows, accumulating them instead. The first arrow appeared in front of him, and another next to it, and another. He could feel the mental cost of holding onto spells in this way. It took a lot of concentration to keep the arrows from simply disappearing. A 4th, 5th, and even 6th arrow appeared before wordlessly firing at the target dummy's head.

A hole was left where the arrows had hit. It seemed like the overall lethality of the spell was compounded when stacked in this way, leading to more damage than he expected. Nick heard an enthusiastic clap as he turned around to see Max with a bright smile on his face. He had both a proud and impressed look on his face as he walked up and patted him on the back.

"See? I told you he was talented! He pierced a hole through that dummy like it was made of paper! No way you'd find a first year who could do that." Max praised as Nick scratched the back of his head. The rest of the group that was watching seemed to give approving looks, including Zane himself.

"Well, I won't say no to firepower like that." Nick was a bit surprised things had gone so smoothly, and was slightly convinced he was stronger than he gave himself credit for being. Though even with that said, a level of 4 was still really low. Actual monster hunting will hopefully solve that. He had regrouped with the rest of the team before soon after getting into a carriage with them headed to the gate in question.

~~~

"Put simply, we clear the easy gates around the academy. Gates have a grade that can be determined by the type and amount of mana they leak. A 3 is the highest this team is allowed to take. Though the academy also has a second, stronger team. To be more precise, it's more like we're the second team, and they're the first." Zane explained, sitting across from Nick.

Zane Alrich (Level 25) (Age 23)
Leader of Expedition Team 2
RS: 3

"The second team gets to clear any gates rated a 7 or below. It helps that their team is made up of some of the best students around. Last I heard they were a full team of 12 too."

Iris Riversong (Level 22) (Age 22)
Member of Expedition Team 2
RS: 4

"What about anything rated higher than that? I'm guessing the scale goes up to 10?" Nick asked his team members.

"Anything higher than a 7 needs a proper military team sent by the country. Those kinds of gates are rare, and not for students like us..." the blue haired girl shyly responded.

Raina Riversong (Level 20) (Age 22)
Member of Expedition Team 2
RS: 7

"It's not relevant to rookies like us, but you should know that the difficulty increases exponentially! So even if we beat a grade 3 gate, grade 4 would be a completely different story!" Max added to the conversation as the carriage made its stop.

Max Stoneheart (Level 24) (Age 23)
Member of Expedition Team 2
RS: 34

The team stepped out one by one, Nick being the last. He double checked that he had not forgotten any of the supplies he was given before they set out. A temporary sword on his hip, and a small bag with flares and a health potion. The team was a little lopsided unfortunately, with just Max on the frontline. The rest of them were either offensive or support mages, with he himself falling into the former category.

The team already had a well-established dynamic. Max would protect the rest and make space for them using his gauntlets and earth magic, Zane would ignite enemies with his fire magic, Iris would fan the flames with her wind magic, and Raina would trap enemies with shadow magic. They all worked well together and trusted each other to keep their eyes peeled.

Nick, being a newcomer, would try to do his best not to get in anyone's way first and foremost. Zane's specialty was AOE fire spells which were amplified by Iris. Water and fire didn't mesh well, leaving Nick to focus on single target threats. Anything that wasn't so easily cooked by his team would be his responsibility.

Though all the mages didn't intend for a close up fight, all of them were armed with a sword on their hip as an extra precaution. Max on the other hand had a pair of heavy looking metallic gauntlets that he did not want to be on the receiving end of. He almost pitied the monsters that would have to face him.

As the gate hovered in the empty grassy field, it looked very out of place. It was a weird yellow-brown colored inverted triangle a few inches above the ground. You couldn't even see into it, and the colors kept vibrating eerily. In fact, Nick could hear a soft buzzing coming from the gate that reminded him of a fly.

"Alright team, the gate is rated a 1.7, just like we were told. Should be business as usual today, let's get in and get out. I hate the air in there." Zane spoke, and the rest of the team nodded their heads. One by one, they touched the gate and with a flash of yellow light, they vanished. No one reacted, and Nick assumed that this was the normal way you enter a gate. Now it was just him on this side of the field, nervous but ready.

New quest!
Avoid their gaze. Do not enter the gate.
Reward: Your safety, xp to level 10, 50 gold coins, a higher grade magic item.

"...What?" Nick was speechless, and if he was being honest with himself, a bit terrified. The quests were usually something he had already planned on doing, yet this time it was specifically telling him not to do that?? The rewards were clearly nothing to scoff at either. He wasn't sure how much 50 gold coins was, but he knew enough xp to get him to level 10 wasn't something he could turn down without a thought.

What was he supposed to do now? And what did the quest mean by 'your safety'? More importantly, exactly who's gaze is he meant to avoid???