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Chapter 54: Tragic Students

Ain read through all the messages, but his interest wasn't roused.

He wasn't against forming a group for such activities, but it had to be manageable, unlike the large number of students planning on participating.

Furthermore, their goal was to hunt Beginner Rank-1 Spirit Beasts. If more than ten students went out to hunt together, especially in the plains near the city, it was unlikely for them to encounter so many Beginner Rank-1 Spirit Beasts.

Ain speculated that the purpose of this activity was to form connections rather than actual training and profit.

Another thing of note was that this activity wasn't organized by Frans Vaughan, who created the group chat. Frans had politely rejected the invitation with the excuse of personal training.

There were a few students from Ain’s class in the group chat, and Marius Varro, the one with the lightning-attribute mechanical spirit pet, was among the ones participating in the activity.

Finding nothing else of interest, he completed his meditation before playing with Nox, the cat, and the two pups.

…

In the next few days, Ain continued with his routine while also spending some time on the AMD research.

He could already cast Telekinesis and Spirit Combustion with proficiency and attempted to create Rank-1 Spirit Recovery Pills. With the addition of the spells, the need for tools and instruments slightly decreased, but they still played an important role.

His first attempt was a failure, which was within his expectations. Creating Rank-0 pills was no different from regular chemistry, hence his easy success. But Rank-1 pills required a more mystical approach. During the first attempt, Ain was unfamiliar with using Spirit Combustion and Telekinesis in the alchemy process, which played a role in his failure.

The Spirit Combustion had to be maintained for longer periods of time than any spell he had cast before. In some of the procedures, he was required to use Telekinesis simultaneously as well.

After the first failed attempt, Ain didn't immediately try again but focused on practicing the spells, mimicking the intensity from his first attempt. The practice paid off, and his third attempt finally succeeded, yielding him low-grade pills.

Although unsuitable for trade, they were safe for consumption. With his recent emphasis on using Analysis and Deduction during studies, these pills could relieve the burden of having to purchase the pills at market prices.

The AMD he ordered had also arrived the following day. After testing the device a couple of times, Ain slowly began to dismantle it, carefully studying each component and trying to understand the inner workings.

He began this endeavor with optimism, but reality didn't return the greeting. Even the cheapest AMD, which could only measure up to Rank-2 and was uncertain even at whole numbers, proved to be a harsh challenge.

Ain’s mechanical knowledge was above average, but it wasn't enough to effortlessly study the AMD. The time required increased as he began to refer to the mechanical knowledge freely available on Cyberspace. This knowledge was nothing advanced, but it was enough for Ain to study the AMD and draw his conclusions.

Of course, throughout all of this, his training was still the top priority. He was making steady progress in the Intermediate Rank-1. The spirit core branding was completed by almost a quarter.

As for the pups, they had graduated from crawling and walked about on their own. The roofless cage was placed near the table, and the bedding and blankets he purchased were placed inside. The pups were too small to climb out of the cage, but it was no trouble for the cat, as it jumped in and out at leisure.

When the weekend came around, Ain visited the Duskfield Forest once again, spending one night in the wilderness. This had been his most fruitful trip yet, having earned 720,000 star coins, bringing his account up to 860,000. After purchasing some medicinal pills and resources for Nox, his account was down to 780,000 star coins.

The nine Essence Heart Pills he received by reaching the top ten in the class competition had already been consumed, resulting in an obvious change to Ain's spirit energy quality. His spells were more effective, and so was his training.

After becoming a partner with Liberty Firm, Ain had found Essence Heart Pills in one of their internal auctions, but he ultimately failed the bid. The pills were sold in batches, making it impossible for him to outbid his competitors as his account balance was low after purchasing the AMD.

During this time, news about the Order of Blood Origin appeared occasionally. The incident at the tavern was reported extensively, as it was rare for a battle of that magnitude to occur within the city. It was also through the reports that Ain learned of the conclusion of the incident.

The Order suffered a complete defeat. No names or specific details were mentioned, as it had been censored, even for his 3-star access. But the report did praise the Law Enforcement Agency before mentioning that this was only a small part of the Order within the city and advised everyone to be more vigilant.

…

It was Sunday evening. Ain had just returned after exhausting himself in the park when his hololink alerted him of a message.

As he read through the message, there was a subtle change in Ain's expression.

The message was from Hugo, who informed him about the miserable death of several students from the academy. There was a group of students who joined together to train outside the city, but unfortunately, they were ambushed by the Order of Blood Origin.

The encounter was a tragedy, with more than half of the students dying, while only a few survived with injuries.

Ain quickly replied to Hugo before opening the “Red Oak Elite” group chat that he usually only checked at night.

As expected, the group chat was extremely active, and the ones involved were indeed the same students who participated in the group activity he saw before.

With six days of preparation, the group had reached fourteen members. They left the city early this morning, using large vehicles to head into the plains. The journey was uneventful and following their predetermined plan, they arrived at the marked location and began hunting.

As they sat down to take a break, spirit tamers appeared out of nowhere and ambushed them. The students were only at Beginner Rank-1, while some of the attackers had reached Intermediate and Advanced Rank-1.

In the chaotic fight, the enemy used a mysterious artifact to extract the Blood Essence from the students, which alluded to their identity.

When the battle began, some quick-witted students immediately used the vehicles to escape amidst the attacks, as others were left behind.

Out of the fourteen students, only five survived. The only person Ain knew in the group, Marius Varro, had also survived.

The group chat was filled with discussions as a couple of the surviving students recounted the incident.

There were various reactions among the students. Many developed fear towards the Order of Blood Origin. Some were aware of the organization’s infamy before, but only when their own lives were endangered did they truly understand it.

The ones who rejected the invitation rejoiced at their wise decision, while a student who backed out at the last minute couldn't stop trembling and thanked all his ancestors.

After looking at the group chat, Ain browsed through some local news. The students had returned just before evening, and in this short amount of time, the incident had spread throughout the city.

The Order had been active in the city for a few months and even caused many deaths, but this was the first blatant attack on a group of students.

There were various speculations, some saying that this was a form of retaliation against the city for the recent culling of the Order during the tavern incident, as others stated that this was their usual behavior, and that this was only the beginning.

Reading through all of this, Ain frowned.

As a young student, he was aware of his susceptibility towards being targeted, especially during his outings. Although he had encountered some hostile spirit tamers a few times before, they were just regular grunts, easily taken care of by him.

But if multiple people from the Order ambushed him, Ain wasn't sure of his chances.

Although his account balance was generous at the moment, he was well aware of how long it could last. If he stopped his trips, he would eventually lack resources, decreasing his training speed. Even his alchemy would stall if he had no materials to work with.

Ain hoped that the city would deal with the Order soon. The tavern incident showed that the city was already trying to root out the Order, but their actions seemed to be ineffective.

After thinking things through, he decided against stopping his trips. In fact, although the Order was causing trouble, the spirit tamers entering and leaving the city didn't decrease by much. Everybody was hoping that they wouldn't be the unlucky ones, the same as Ain.

Moreover, looking past their fierce reputation, most spirit tamers in the Order were recruited locally amongst the mediocre, and their strength reflected such. Unless there were schemes involved, or an overwhelming advantage, one couldn't be sure of the outcome of a battle in most cases.

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