"Never let your guard down. Even if this is a mere camping trip, you never know what may appear out of the wilderness. That is to say nothing of the possibility that this school may allow us to fall into danger in order to cull our numbers, allowing only the strong to survive."
Walking forth alongside two other elven men into their sector of the forest, Trevor glanced from side to side with suspicion.
"Is.... is that really true? You think we might be attacked? Or even worse?"
Raphael, the timid wood elf who had been assigned to the 3rd division, asked this question as he gripped the crossbow on his back.
The three had been given a selection of firearms from bows to crossbows to primitive versions of modern guns, of which Trevor had selected a sniper rifle. The other boy with the two, Charles, had selected a classic bow, clearly confident in his own archery skills.
"Do I think we might be attacked? It is almost certain. As a matter of fact, we will assume that to be the case. And as for our attackers.... well, I suppose the 9th tier should be an acceptable assumption as far as their strength, taking a factor of safety into account."
Trevor begun to run calculations in his mind, however the assumptions which he made were too much for the two beside him to comprehend.
"Whoa whoa, wait a minute!! 9th tier!?!?! They would never send anyone of the 9th tier to pursue us!! The commander of the 1st division is only of the 8th tier, and he is the strongest person in the Alliance right now. And there's no way they would get him to come after us personally for some exercise.", Raphael said.
Trevor glanced to the side with a grin as the boy said this, waving his index finger back and forth.
"If you are not prepared for a scenario even worse than the worst case, then how do you expect to survive on the battlefield?"
These statements caused the two boys to stop in their tracks, looking at Trevor in shock.
"You don't truly believe that, Theo.", Charles said while keeping up his high class demeanor. "If you were always planning for something like that to happen, then you would lose all your hair in no time over nothing. We should try to be practical."
"Practical?"
Trevor merely laughed at the word.
"There is no such thing as practical in this world. There are only winners and losers. And the winners just so happen to be the people who are insane enough to prepare for that which they never could have expected."
Grabbing his own sniper rifle, Trevor lined up a shot in the scope.
'It would seem that I can apply a soundproofing spell on this..... one which I learned of from Melody, in fact. That should prevent our location from being leaked through the shot alone, though the glint of the scope and the flare of the shot might cause a visual queue. Therefore.....'
[Eliminate sound]
[Absorption of light]
Taking a silent and flareless shot, Trevor smiled as he nodded to himself.
'Though, the cries of the animal would be impossible to control. Perhaps we should wait to see if any predators approach the carcass...'
"Come. I've just taken down our dinner. Let us move towards it."
The other two nodded firmly as the three snuck through the brush.
"Hey, is it just me or is the ground not making sounds any more?"
"Hm? You're right. When I step on the ground it doesn't make a sound. That's strange."
The two noticed the phenomena, however Trevor ignored them as they continued forward to witness the carcass of a fallen deer.
"Excellent. It would seem our dinner has been located. Now if only we were able to light a fire without alerting anyone... it is required that we cook the meat to reduce possibility of disease.... however lighting a fire would give away our position..... ah. You two. Go cook the deer. I will stand watch in the event that any outsiders approach us."
"Outsiders...", Raphael muttered.
"You really are taking things quite cautious, beyond reason. Are you always like this, or do you truly not trust the school this much?", Charles asked.
As he jumped up to a nearby tree, landing with the flutter of his coat, Trevor fixed his appearance before responding.
"Allow me to get one thing straight. It is not that I distrust the school this much. It is that I distrust every being in existence. For there is nothing that I should allow myself to be unprepared for. That is what it means.... to be an opportunist."
----
"So we have to survive out here all on our own..... and the fact that we're all members of division 2 means that we don't really have any means to attack anyone..... will this be alright? I mean, we were classified specifically as support magic users. What if we run into a bear or something?"
Natalia spoke with concern as she walked alongside Samantha and Serina.
The three currently walked together through the forest, each carrying their own share of luggage on their backs.
"A bear? Hah. How funny. Natalia, sweetie, don't think that I would lose to something as pitiful as a mere animal."
"Eh? What do you mean by that, Sarah? Bears.... can be pretty dangerous, right? And I mean.... what can we do against something like that with mere support magic?"
Rolling her eyes, Samantha walked forward, turning around to face the two girls.
And then, bringing her hand up, she flicked the forehead of Natalia, leaving a red mark.
"Hey!! What was that for!?", the girl shouted out as she held her forehead.
"I just felt like doing that. It annoys me to see people who are so unconfident in themselves. Although, it annoys me even more to see people who are arrogant beyond their own ability. Listen up, and listen well."
[Come to us, shithead. Right over here. That's it. Mhm. Left at that tree. Now take a right. And..... you're here.]
It was at that moment that an enormous bear bursted through the trees.
Standing up on it's legs, it appeared to be 3 times as tall as the girls, and it roared out with a bellow.
As this happened, the two girls next to Samantha were so shocked that they fell back in fear, landing on the ground with teary eyes.
"Wha....."
"A bear.... actually appeared....."
The two were trembling, but Serina made an attempt to lift her arms.
"D....d.....debuff...."
[Debuff has been applied to bear. Speed reduced by 10%]
As she did this, she made an attempt to get up, grabbing the hand of Natalia.
"We..... need to run!", she shouted.
However, Samantha stood perfectly still, staring the bear in the eyes as if it were a mere insect.
"Run?"
Letting out a mature laugh, Samantha covered her mouth with her hand.
And then, she flicked her fingers.
Shards made from a transparent yellow substance formed, floating in the air like blades, forming a revolution about their owner.
[Planetary collision]
And then, these shards all shot forward, piercing the bear and flying straight through it, only to turn around like a boomerang and pierce it in another location.
There were around 20 blades in total, and as if gravity were attracting them towards the bear, they continued to fly towards it, completely shooting through and turning back again it until it was filled with hundreds of holes.
Blood sprayed everywhere, and before it could even take a step the bear fell dead on the spot with an enormous thud.
"Running is only for those who will lose if they stick around to fight. And it is perhaps..... what that bear should have done. After all.... running is the only option for the weak. If they do not take it, then they are nothing more than arrogant fools."
Walking over to the bear, Samantha stood above it, placing her foot on it's head in victory.
"Isn't that right, weakling?"
The two girls could do nothing more than drop their jaws at the scene.
"W-wait!! I thought that you were a support magic user!! How can you make weapons with your magic!? And how can you move them around with your mana like that!?", Natalia shouted in shock.
"Yeah! That's.... were you misclassed?"
"Misclassed? Nothing of the sort, darling."
Taking out a knife from her satchel, Samantha begun to skin the bear as blood sprayed onto her- a task which she never would have been able to perform in her previous life.
"All I did was form a barrier to protect us. Ah.... but you know, barriers which are unbreakable can be pretty sharp. Hahaha....."
----
'What the hell.... why did I have to be the only girl to be placed in the 4th division?? I shouldn't be here!! I should be in the first, or at least the 2nd!! Anything but the 4th! Now I'm stuck with these meatheads! Although.... I guess it's better because they can do all the work for me...'
Hailey walked behind Garett and Oliver, who were getting along surprisingly well.
"You've already learned how to hunt, so it looks like we pulled the easiest straw here.", Garett said.
"Ah.... well, hunting has always been a passtime for me. My parents didn't really want to see me around the house, so I would often go out on my own. The outdoors are more of a home to me than the mansion I used to live in."
As he said this, Oliver placed his hand on a tree with a light smile, reminiscing his own past.
"You.... how can you just accept it like that?", Hailey asked. "We.... we're elves. An elf who can't use magic is just pitiful, don't you think?"
Oliver looked back to Hailey with a bitter smile, nodding his head no.
"I don't think that's the way it is. That's just the way everyone sees it. But just because everyone sees things one way doesn't mean it can't change. We've all got our own talents, and I really don't think that anyone should be discouraged from honing their own skills and making them useful."
Hailey looked at the built elven figure, biting her lip as she looked down to the side.
"Do you.... really believe that?"
"If I didn't, then what would I have to live for?"
Widening her eyes, the girl let out a light laugh.
"I guess that's right. If we really are just useless, and if it really is impossible for us to make something of ourselves.... then I guess we really wouldn't have anything to live for. But look at you!! You're built for athletics! What about me!?"
While Hailey was not thin or scrawny by any means, she was still a girl, albeit more muscular than usual. To say she was a bodybuilder would be an enormous stretch.
It was purely her lack of magic- and not her proficiency in athletics- which had landed her in this division.
"I'm different than you. I'm here because I have no talent!!", she pleaded.
"Is there anything wrong with being good at nothing?"
Garett spoke up, interrupting the emotional outcry of the girl, to which she turned to him.
"Of course there is!! If you're good at nothing, then you'll never be good at anything!! I'll..... I'll never be able to make anything of myself! There's no chance! It's..... it's almost as if...."
The girl's voice trailed off as she choked up with emotion, unable to handle the truth.
"It's as if there was no reason for me to be born in the first place....", she whispered with a squeak.
"No reason to be born?"
Closing his eyes, Garett frowned.
"I know a girl who was completely talentless. No.... even worse than that. She tried her hardest at everything.... she worked hard, was able to achieve a mediocre amount of success, but was never able to get past that. In the end, she failed at everything. Do you know why?"
Thinning his eyes and speaking in grave tone, Garett spit out the words in his mouth.
"Because she had a weakness which was so great that it soiled everything she tried to do."
Turning around, Garett began to walk in circles around the two as he spoke.
"No matter what she did, it was failure after failure after failure. She tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried. But no matter what she did, this weakness kept biting her in the ass. Because of this weakness, she was never able to succeed."
Stopping in his tracks, Garett let out a sigh.
"And.... then what happened?", Oliver asked with curiosity.
"Ah. Then she left the world. Story over."
"Wha!?"
Hailey shouted out in desperation at hearing this horrible story, devoid of a happy ending.
"So what you're saying is that I might end up like that girl!?"
"Mmm.... well basically, yeah. It's entirely possible for you to live your entire life without doing shit."
"Hey, why do you have to say such harsh things? Aren't you supposed to encourage her in a situation like this?", Oliver asked with serious expression, eyeballing Garett.
"I don't like deluding people into thinking that working hard will solve all your problems. As a matter of fact, the people who cheat their way through life often find a much easier solution. But let me ask this- to both of you. In the end, we're all dead anyways. So do you want to live your life cheating your way through it, or do you want to live your life having given up, sitting in a room doing nothing all alone?"
Turning to Hailey with a grin, Garett held up a hand with a gesture.
"Or would you rather die at least trying to do something about the shitty position you've been put in?"
Turning around with a smile, Garett laughed as he walked off.
"Are you saying that.... unless we take a dishonorable path in life, there is no guarantee of success?", Hailey asked with thinned eyes.
"Mmm..... cheating your way through life is a risk too. Especially if you get caught, though it's pretty hard to get caught. After all, for all those bureaucrats, it's basically impossible to call them out on their bullshit. Even if they get caught, they'll weasel their way out of trouble. Let me ask again then. Which path are you gonna take?"
The expressions of the two became filled with resolve as Garett asked this question.
Hailey stood up straight, wiped the tears from her face, and spoke with confidence.
"Fine then. I'll give my all. And if that isn't enough..... then I'll die trying."
"Don't use the word die so casually.", Garett snapped. "After all.... most people who use that term don't understand what it really means to die."
And with that, Garett turned forward, a grin on his face.
"But it looks like you two have resolved yourselves. So let's not die. Let's survive."
----
"I'm sorry guys. I wasn't able to..... catch....."
Griffen approached the campfire to see the other five members feasting on a bundle of fish which had been gathered and cooked.
"Wha? Where did all this fish come from!?"
"Eh? You didn't catch it, Griffen?"
Vivian looked to Griffen with confusion as she ate her own cooked fish, surrounded by the others who were doing the same as they huddled by the fire.
"No? I didn't catch anything. It's really hard to catch anything without a rod. I tried using my hands.... but as you can see, all that happened is that I got wet."
The boy was soaked from having waded into the waters, attempting to catch fish with his own two hands. Approaching the fire and sitting down to dry off, he began to warm himself.
"Ah, I caught them. They were just sorta swimming along so I grabbed em.", Ashley said without a hint of emotion as she ate another fish whole.
The people around her looked at her with both confusion and surprise, but it was Vivian who then let out a laugh.
"Pfft.... haha...."
"Hm? You making fun of me? I'll rip your heart out and roast it for dessert.". Ashley said without a hint of anger or irritation in her voice, completely monotone.
"No.... I just thought it was kinda funny..... we all thought that Griffen brought the fish here, but it was you? How did you do it?", she asked with curiosity.
"Ah? I just used magic to grab em. Floated em out of the water like I did the weights. Like this."
Drawing a line with her finger, Ashley lifted another few fish out, plopping them down into the pile.
"Whoa...."
"That's....."
"You really are something....."
Alexa, Victor, and even Edward were shocked at the skill which Ashley could use with such ease.
It was astounding.
To be able to sense the fish in the water, grab hold of them, and move them outwards, and to have the mana to do so, was an enormous feat for any magician- one which would take years of practice.
"Where did you learn magic, Ally?", Vivian asked.
"Learn it? Uh..... let's see.... I guess I just taught myself? I was sorta forced to learn how to control mana, or else I'd kill everyone around me."
"EH?"
Everyone around Ashley was taken by surprise as she made this terrifying statement.
"Kill...."
"Everyone around you?"
It was then that a horrid smile drew itself across the face of the wretched girl.
"Well, yeah. If I were to let everything flow freely out of me without controlling it..... then everything around would be enveloped in calamity."
The students looked back and forth to one another with worry, wondering just where the limits were on their classmate, who had already well surpassed their expectations in more ways than one.
"Ally..... your parents weren't present at the ceremony.... did.... something happen before?", Alexa asked with a crooked frown. "Didn't you say that you were..... already thrown aside?"
Looking up with a blank face, Ashley nodded.
"Yeah, that's about right. My parents saw me as completely useless. I was a loser who couldn't do anything right. I couldn't get good grades, couldn't get a job..... couldn't do anything but sit around and do nothing. But then one day, I was forced to get up and actually do something. So I thought to myself..... why don't I try to destroy everything around me?"
As she said this, the students around her laughed lightly, however there was a tinge of fear in these laughs.
"Haha...."
"Ah....hah...."
They were truly unsure whether the words of this girl were a joke or not.
And this filled their hearts with a tremendous terror.