97 Planning the School Trip (1/2)
From that moment on, the bullying came to a stop for the time being.
Time passed and days came and went. Oli, with the help of his Infinite Compression art, was finally able to break through to the peak novice level, becoming the last of his friends to do so.
But he wasn't much happier. If anything, he got even more anxious to reach the adept plane.
Oli knew that the novice plane was by far the easiest to get through. By becoming an adept, Oli would at least be seen as a common cultivator in the rest of the world. Novices were always seen as too weak or too young or both, while young adepts were somewhat considered geniuses.
There was also a common belief about cultivation speed.
However fast someone could clear the entire novice plane would be equivalent to the time it would take to grow a single level in the adept plane. That same rule applied for every plane of cultivation as a rough estimate for average cultivation speed.
Hence, Oli was trying his best to enter the adept plane as fast as possible.
In the meantime, the school trip was getting nearer and nearer. It was time for Vloz and the teachers to discuss the smaller details of the matter.
They all met up on the third floor of the library and gathered around Vloz.
”Thanks for agreeing to my proposal in the past,” stated Vloz. ”Now, it's finally time to discuss the trip in further detail.”
”Hmm… Are you sure you can't go, Vloz?” asked Hurdo.
Vloz shook his head. ”I'm sure. It's better that I remain here since, otherwise, we would have no perennials from the clan in near the town. If Rathe were back, then I'd definitely go.”
”Don't worry too much, Hurdo,” Klor chimed in. ”Since Vloz already cleared out the neighboring territories of bandits, what's the worst that could happen while we're on the trip?”
Warlon added, ”Yeah, with you and Ania we shouldn't have anything to worry about.”
”Well, you're not wrong, but it's still better to be cautious when doing something for the first time,” stated Ania. ”According to Hollen, the northeast jungle shouldn't contain any perennial plane cultivators, but we should still be careful to not let any of the students get hurt due to recklessness. There is a herd of Wild Rhinocerous deeper in the jungle, however, so we'll have to keep that in mind.”
With a nod, Vloz added, ”You're all right in this case. There shouldn't be any issues but we should always remain vigilant. Problems tend to arise when we get careless, so let's not be careless.”
”Makes sense,” agreed Hurdo. ”So, what other details did you want to discuss?”
”I want you, Hurdo, to be in charge during my absence. Ania will be second in charge and watch over the novices specifically. Always stay with your students. We should expect to run into something we're not planning for, at least at the elder plane,” explained Vloz.
”Hopefully fate doesn't hate us and send a perennial beast after you guys. But so long as you stay together with the students, you'll be able to hold anything off while they flee. I'm confident in your defenses to hold up to anything.”
”That we can do.” Hurdo smiled, a little anxious to have a good fight.
”When it comes to caring for the students, I've gotten a number of tents from a merchant in the past. Ania and Hurdo, you'll be the one's to keep those in your void rings.”
To the side, over a dozen bundles of thick canvas, rope, and poles appeared. Both Ania and Hurdo walked up and each stored half of the bundles for later use.
”For food, I want Klor and Warlon doing the hunting and gathering for dinner and breakfast. Let's let the students handle their own lunches,” added Vloz. ”That way they might learn to care for themselves, a necessary skill if they ever leave the territory.”
”Sounds alright to me.”
”Me too.”
Klor and Warlon both nodded and agreed to their easy responsibilities.
”As for night watch, I think both instructors should take shifts, but they should also work together with a few students each shift. We need to teach them as much as we can on this trip,” stated Vloz.
”Sounds simple enough. What do we do about the beasts that the students kill?” asked Ania.
”I'll let you decide that. If you feel it's worth storing in your void rings, then do so. If you feel that the beast is insignificant and has nothing worth harvesting, then don't worry about it.”
”Keep in mind that we should let the students hunt in groups. I don't want any students working solo, not even the advanced adepts,” explained Vloz. ”They should have at least three to six people per group, three to four students for stronger groups and five to six students for the weaker groups.”