The first week of the examination passed by without issue, but the numbers in Xiao Lin’s camp did not increase and stayed with just seven of them. Everyone had lost the initial anxiety and uncertainty when entering the forests, since it seemed to be much safer than they had thought. Even though they would occasionally encounter attacks by wild beasts, most of them were just around the Black-iron rank. The low-leveled beasts around that area could not compare to humans in terms of intelligence, so dealing with them was very easy with everyone working together, on top of having traps.
Hunting was the main source of food in the following two days, but the chef had been changed. The person had said that he worked as a chef on Earth, and Xiao Lin’s cooking skills admittedly had a lot of room for improvement, even if Song Junlang did not mind his food. During their investigations two days ago, they found a salt-leaf tree. The leaves of that tree were very rich in salt content, so they quickly had a way to season their food.
Everyone had started to get more enthusiastic when it came to hunting because everyone had somewhat understood the goal of this examination, at least from their perspective.
The tasks said that everything obtained in the examination would be given to them in real life after the examinations ended. Of course, they could also choose to exchange them for redemption points. That rule was definitely very attractive. Someone like Xiao Lin who had too many redemption points would not care, but the rest of them actually cared quite a bit. Their redemption points were not at the level where they could spend it casually.
Everyone had been quite puzzled when they arrived at the forest since there did not seem to be anything valuable at the place. Surely they were not expected to cut down a tree so that they could bring it back.
Yet, after Xiao Lin and the rest of them finished eating the first wolf, they immediately understood. Hidden in the wolf’s heart was a faint white orb the size of a fingernail. On Planet Norma, that was called a beast core. That was the origin of their power, and to humans, beast cores had various uses. Be it as an energy source or as an addition to certain special tools, they were pretty decent objects.
There were many types of beast cores, and their values and compositions were different. A Wind Wolf’s beast core was of the wind-attribute, and they could tell that the beast core the size of a nail was of low quality. It was unfortunate, because the wind element was very high in purity. It was not like other beast cores that would be mixed up with too many impurities. At that stage, no matter how high the quality was, the uses would be very limited.
Xiao Lin, who did not really care about such a reward, had quickly shared it with the ones who had joined later on, earning their gratitude.
That was why everyone had been enthusiastically asking to join the patrol group. Xiao Lin did not fight them over it, and elected to be in charge of guarding the campsite.
They had no issues in terms of weapons, as mages could basically only rely on being empty handed, but thankfully wands and staffs only affected damage and accuracy, so those with low perception could only blame their misfortune.
The only one who had a problem was Lu Renjia. He was an archer, so he was the most affected by not having a weapon. In truth, it was not hard to make a bow; the problem was arrows, and they were not able to ensure the quality and damage ability of the arrows. Compared to improvising such a thing, using a steel club was even more reliable.
Xiao Lin had some thoughts regarding that. “The academy might be trying to make us understand the importance of secondary professions; it seems like we will be starting those classes soon.” Of course, it was merely speculation on his part, but it was plain to see that if they had someone who knew how to make equipment there, they would not be in such an awkward position.
...
“More and more, I’m feeling like we’re here to camp.” During an evening a week later, Lu Renjia remarked with boredom after everyone had returned to camp.
The others agreed. After solving basic problems like food and water, the conditions might not have been great, but compared to their earlier examinations, it was idle enough that it did seem like camping.
Xiao Lin shook his head helplessly, as he felt that it was strange as well. He turned around to look at those who went out searching, and seeing that they were empty handed, he asked, “Did you get nothing today?”
“Today was a bit strange. We widened our search area, but we couldn’t find any beasts.” The one who said that was a burly man, whose weapon was a steel club wrapped in cloth that they found in the campsite. The ones with greater physical strength felt more at ease here.
“It’s fine; we found some fruits, so we can just eat those.” The short-haired woman spoke, probably already tired of eating meat that had the taste of blood.
“It’s not poisonous, right?”
“Hey, how dare you say something like that even when you failed Basic Biology!”
“Hey, the pot is calling the kettle black. I remember you were only slightly better than me!”
...
Everyone had gotten friendlier with each other after a semester, and they basically passed the evenings by chatting. It was boring, but it still passed the time.
Xiao Lin listened in quietly, but he suddenly furrowed his eyebrows. He looked up at the sky that was obscured by the canopy, and it was darker than usual; he said, “There’s wind.”
“It seems like it; the wind is a little strong.” Xiao Lin’s words immediately became the topic of conversation.
“It’ll probably rain.”
“That would be bad, as that tent still has quite a few holes. What do we do tonight?”
“Let’s see what happens for a night, as we don’t know how long the rain will last.”
The dark sky past the canopy had dispelled everyone’s good mood as they started to prepare for the potential storm.
After eating the fruits they picked, the sky got darker and violent winds started to blow. The camp was not very sturdy after being abandoned for so long. The howling caused everyone to worry that it could be blown away at any time, so everyone decided to stabilize it. After the fire was extinguished, the darkness rendered them unable to even see their fingers.
They were certain to pass the night sleeplessly, but the anticipated storm never arrived; only the winds got stronger. The tents that had already been strengthened a few times could no longer handle it, and after two hours, it was finally blown away after a series of cracking noises.
“How unlucky! The wind is at least at level twelve!”
“You wouldn’t be standing here if it was!”
“Everyone quickly gather next to that tree. Don’t get blown away!”
...
Even if it was a little embarrassing, everyone only complained with a few words at most. After all, after going through several monthly examinations, a natural phenomenon of such a degree was not something they were too concerned about.
They surrounded a massive tree nearby, using the large trunk to temporarily block the wind. It was only after midnight did the wind start to die down a bit, and everyone started to feel tired.
Xiao Lin was still quite awake, and just as he was about to suggest that he would stand guard while the rest of them slept, a low cry reverberated in the forest.
Everyone’s sleepiness suddenly disappeared.
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