[You owe me five bucks.]
Reading this message Clay's expression warped. He could swear he felt a stinging sensation across the side of his face. The entire argument he was making collapsed a layer and no longer looked near as grand. Taking advantage of Clay's mouth pausing Amber ended the discussion.
"Well, since Iris scouted ahead for us, shall we go in as well? Or would you rather stand here and talk to the wall?"
Not waiting for a response Amber went ahead and walked back into the kitchen. She joined Iris who was starting to cook some of the meat Rust had brought. Seeing this Amber tossed an inquiry at Jack,
"Hey Jack, do you have basic ingredients somewhere in this disheveled mess of what may at some point have been a kitchen?"
Hearing this Jack's brush paused for a second before he replied.
"I'm not sure what all you consider basic ingredients. But I do have sugar, flour, yeast, eggs, and butter. Among a few other things. Ah don't go into the cupboards near the hive, you might get stung."
"Okay, is it fine if I make some bread?" Amber continued
Once again startled to stillness Jack replied after a short moment.
"Sure. Just be careful of the bee cupboards." Jack continued painting only after seeing that Amber wasn't going to ask anything else.
Clay walked back into the kitchen, past Jack and Rust after seeing Amber questioning Jack. It was clear to him that his snooping would bear no fruits that day. He entered the kitchen and began snacking on a bag of chips.
With everyone either cooking or otherwise occupied Jack finally finished painting the shielding rune on the back of Rust's hand. Rust had finished a few seconds before him, her advantage in time almost negated by the complexity of the rune Jack had altered. Confirming that they were both done they adjusted themselves into more comfortable positions in preparation to engrave the runes into their very flesh.
Having achieved the most comfortable position possible in an old wooden chair, Jack closed his eyes and began to circulate his condensed essence. Just before he moved it to his arm to begin the process of engraving he paused due to a tickling sensation drifting across his neck. Opening his eyes he looked down to see Nox crawling down his chest.
Ordinarily, for most people, the sight of a black spider the size of an apple crawling on them would elicit various forms of horrified screeching and swatting. Certain people with particular dispositions or personalities might more or less calmly pluck said spider off of themselves and deposit it elsewhere.
Jack was none of those people and Nox was not some intruding pest. They were family. It wasn't uncommon for Nox to appear on Jack's person, a fact which had ingrained in him the habit of checking himself and any surface he was preparing to sit or lie upon for black spidery objects.
Seeing Nox on him Jack took it in stride. He held his hand before her in her path down his shirt. She quite naturally crawled onto his hand. He then returned to his previous pose. With his hands cupped in his lap, he prepared once more to engrave his next rune.
Engraving his second rune quite naturally took more time, concentration, effort, and concentrated essence than his first. Jack was determined that every rune he engraved should be more difficult than the last, making the most of the limited surface area his body had. Engraving was an almost purely mental challenge. Essence was not moved by muscles, but willed into the proper shapes and configurations. The process put a lot of strain on ones mind, and the closer it was to complete the greater it would get. But the result, the result was worth it.
The instant of the runes completion all of the essence that was oh so carefully maneuvered into the intricate design rushed back into the body. The essence rushed through his bones and muscles strengthening his body as a whole with a pleasant tingling sensation. The feeling of his body rapidly becoming stronger was much more distinct than when he engraved his first rune.
His work for the day complete Jack opened his eyes back up and took a look around. Rust had finished engraving at some point and had gone into the kitchen. She seemed to be trying to clean up everyone else's messes. Iris had cooked most of the meat Rust had brought and had haphazardly piled it onto a platter. Clay was also eating with Iris. Amber was still in the process of making bread. Nox seemed to be taking a nap and was comfortably nestled in his palms.
Jack sat still for a few moments soaking in the chaotic yet warm atmosphere. The whole building seemed to be full of warmth, light, and life at the moment. Jack enjoyed these things that he hadn't experienced for a number of years, in silence. His break was quickly cut short as Rust noticed that he was done engraving.
'Jack, since you're done come help me. Iris made quite a mess of this place while she was cooking.'
With that Jack was pulled back into the maelstrom of energy and noise. The rest of the day went by in a blur. There was plenty of cleaning, eating, drinking, talking, and more cleaning to do late into the night. With less than a week until the final exam on the day of the new moon, there was a lot to do. Everyone needed to get used to the new abilities granted by their runes as well as their bodies new strength. They also needed to continue refining and condensing essence in preparation for their next runes.
One week is neither a short nor A long period of time. This particular week certainly felt short however, as it was packed so full. However there was only so much that could be done in a week. Clay, Amber, and Iris all reached Rank-2 before the final exam. Jack had only half the essence needed to engrave another storage cell and while Rust had enough essence to engrave most basic runes those weren't enough to satisfy her.
The final exam was a challenging test of each parties combat ability and teamwork, two of the indispensable qualities that would keep them alive out in the wilds. Most Academy graduates were Rank-2 at the time of their final exam, not because it was required, but because the student's of the Academy were the best of the best from the whole of the Remnant. Those few who didn't make Rank-2 were mainly lazy and didn't spend much time cultivating. Jack and Rust were rare cases who's ambition slowed them down a fair bit. They were completely different from those who didn't cultivate diligently, however from the outside they would appear rather similar.
Even looking similar, there was no comparing their combat strength. The complexity of Jack and Rust's runes meant that nearly twice as much essence had been used and thereafter absorbed into their bodies as compared to those lazy students who engraved the most simplified runes. Jack and Rust could rather comfortably defeat a whole party of those type of Rank-1 slackers, even without the battle cow.
__________________________________________________
The day of the new moon and the final exam dawned a brilliantly sunny day. The whole party gathered at Jack's hovel before setting off together for the exam grounds. The Academy had built a special 'grounds' for the final exams, a massive arena stood at the southwestern corner of the Academy grounds. The arena was divided into dozens of separate 'exam rooms' but due to the sheer number of students it would take the entire day to test them all.
The final exam had a very simple pass/fail system. Only those parties with remarkable results would even be reviewed let alone ranked. Reaching the top ten was always an achievement but this year it would be a true mark of excellence setting one apart from their peers forever.
At 10 AM the Head of the Academy personally exited the arena to explain the situation of the final exam to all the students present.
"Attention all graduating students of Conquest Academy! A good morning to all of you! Today is the day you prove yourselves, either true Conquering sons and daughters of the Remnant or babysitters doomed to sit on the walls and keep vigil over the squabbling mass of children the Remnant is composed of! The final exam is very simple, as is your objective after you graduate! Very simply, KILL!! Kill until there is nothing left to kill! Kill every single last beast before you! That is all we ask! Now, Begin!"
The Academy Head's speech was short and to the point, but it was filled with his hundred years of experience on the front lines. The response was thunderous, as all students present roared in support of the speech.
The exam really was as pure and simple as the Head had described. All they had to do was kill. They would face several waves of beasts starting with Wild beasts and culminating in a Magic beasts fight. They would pass if they managed to kill a predetermined but undisclosed amount of waves and those who reached the final Magic beast wave would be ranked. A brutally simple test with the potential to be fatal. Each party would be given the option to stop the exam at the end of any wave, they would not be allowed to stop the exam in a wave even if a student was injured.
There had been deaths before and would be again, but the Academy was not a place to carefully raise delicate flowers. The Academy was a place to forge the blades of the Remnant who would go forth and slay their enemies. The Remnant lacked everything but manpower. The only thing stopping the Remnant from a full scale human wave assault was the disparity in average strength between humans and the beasts who ruled the wilds.
With the Head's speech the final exam officially commenced. The first group of parties filed into the colosseum. The party of failures was scheduled to take the exam towards the end, so their day would be spent waiting outside for the most part. That being the case they walked away from the colosseum a ways and found a tree to sit under. With that done they just had to hurry up and wait.