99 Campgrounds (1/2)
”How much longer till we--”
”Yeter, we're almost there! You can stop asking,” shouted Ania. ”We'll reach the campground in about an hour.”
”Really?! Finally!” Yeter smiled wide as he happily trotted.
”Even after three days and half days of walking, you're still that happy?”
”Well yeah, Oli, why wouldn't I be?” laughed Yeter. ”Now we get to fight different kinds of beasts and get stronger! I won't just be hitting a dummy or cultivating quietly. I can finally let loose and go all our against something.”
”I guess…” Scratching his head, Oli looked ahead toward the jungle in the distance. ”So that's the northeast jungle… It's definitely wild, that's for sure.”
Alongside Oli, Netra, and Yeter, Karos chuckled, ”The headmaster said that it was a good thing for us to this and make sure that there aren't too many beasts going wild in the jungle. It helps us maintain peace and travel routes for merchants, while also giving us students practical experience. He's quite the thinker to come up with such a plan.”
”Yeah, Vloz is a lot smarter than I remember at times,” joked Oli. ”He's way more calculating than I am.”
”Really?” mentioned Netra. ”I find that hard to believe.”
”Really. I try to plan and always be prepared for things but he's always a few steps ahead of everyone else, especially his enemies.”
”Yeah, but you're just as calculating, just in other ways, like how you cultivate.”
Oli shrugged. ”I guess you could say that.”
”What do you mean?” asked Yeter.
”Nothing,” stated Netra.
Karos also asked, ”No, really, what do you mean by that? What's different about how he cultivates?”
”With a sigh, Oli answered, ”What she probably meant was how I'm constantly trying to reshape the battle arts and cultivation techniques that I'm using. A good example is how I recreated my Earthen Hammer battle art. I think you can figure out why I did that.”
Karos nodded. ”Hmm… Reshaping battle arts and cultivation techniques… That sounds difficult.”
”It is, but if you're successful than you'll have better control over your essence and will better understand your abilities. That alone helps a ton during a battle,” explained Oli.
”Ohhh!” Yeter nodded, acting like he completely understood. ”I see, so I'll have to step up my cultivation to catch up and surpass you, Oli.”
”Didn't you already realize that?”
”Yes, yes, of course!”
”Heh… Whatever…” Oli sighed and looked back to the other students around him. ”What do you guys think, will we be able to beat the other class?”
”We'll definitely win!” shouted Yeter.
Netra nodded. ”I think we've got a good chance, but we'll have to really try.”
”So long as us four give it our all, there's no way the other class will be able to compete,” Karos laughed, confidently looking back at Oli.
”I agree, but it'll be hard work for sure,” added Oli. ”I hope none of you slack off because we'll find out what the jungle is really like in no time. And knowing my mom and Vloz, they only agreed to the contest because they genuinely think it'll be a close contest.”
”I'll keep that in mind,” stated Karos.
”Yeah, we'll win easily!”
”Yeter… Did you even understand what I said?”
Netra and Karos both laughed as Oli tried to reexplain himself to the stubborn stallion. By the time Yeter finally understood what Oli was talking about, the students had reached the border of the jungle.
”Alright, novices will follow me and adepts will follow Hurdo further into the jungle. Don't get lost and stay together. If you do, it might be too late for me or the other teachers to save you,” shouted Ania, scaring the students enough to follow instructions to a tee.