"Exactly!" Vargas smiled after hearing their conversation with a nod of satisfaction, ""Blot"… a dangerous poisonous substance that comes out by using magic. For normal circumstances, your Magical Pen will absorb your blot. But, if you don't have it on you…. The blot will directly gets into your body if you use magic. Not only unique magic, detailed magic will also put a big burden on your body."
"Ugh, so annoying…" Ace groaned, "You mean we can't use magic then."
"Hmph…" Sebek sneered, "It's so like Vargas-sensei. So it's only muscle, no magic! Then the more I feel I won't lose!"
"I'll take it on if it's about stamina." Deuce responded confidently.
"I'll have your Magical Pen and Smartphones." Crowley responded as he magically confiscated their phones and pens, "Don't worry, I'll return them to you once you complete "Vargas Camp"."
"Now let's move to the place we'll build the tents. Don't get lost!" Vargas announced as he made his way to the open fields.
"I'll return to the campus now, let's meet again here on the last day." Crowley waved as he watched them leave, "Good luck~!"
As he watched them disappear after Vargas, he looked to the phone that he had just also confiscated from Lotus and frowned, "Now's the perfect time..."
.....
"Ooh~! It's so spacious here!" Grim cried out as he stood before an even larger clearing than the one they had just seen earlier.
"This is the campsite where we'll stay for 3 days." Vargas announced and he gave out the instructions, "I've prepared many 2-person tents, so get enough for your club and start building them. I'll give you a 60 minutes time limit. Don't think it's too much for the time limit. The place you sleep is very important to protect your body and to rest your muscles. Should you build it near a tree to block the sun and wind… or should you build it in a flat surface to prioritize your sleep… Each club should determine it. I've prepared the tools too, so take them if you need it. Now then… start!"
As the timer began, Sebek rushed over with their strongest guys to carry back enough tents for themselves as Riddle had calculated.
"What do we do next?" One of the freshman spoke up hesitantly.
"He said to "protect our body", but is this forest dangerous?" Sebek muttered in disbelief.
"I wonder, but it's better if we put caution." Riddle responded, "Let's build our tents near each other so we can handle anything easily if anything happens."
"Understood, but where do we set it…" Sebek hesitated.
"On the way here, I saw a flowing river." Silver said.
"Then it's better to build our tent near water resource." Sebek stated confidently.
As they neared the waters, Riddle frowned in deep thoughts, "Why not build it near the lake?"
"That won't be a good idea." Silver hesitated.
"Remember in science class?" Lotus whispered to Riddle trying to hide such an obvious fact, "At night, the gravity is much stronger pulling the waters closer to the shores than normal. Our tents and ourselves could get pulled away by the waves and drown."
Hearing this, Riddle nodded with a grimace, "That's right! I can't believe I've forgotten such an obvious thing! Then, what about the rivers?"
Lotus hummed in deep thoughts before turning to Silver and Sebek, "Tell me what do you think in regards to the whether? Do you think it will rain?"
"This is hard to tell, but I don't believe there will be any sudden pours." Silver responded, "You are worried about floods."
Lotus nodded, "It's not bad to build a tent near the water source, but let's not build it too close and keep a safe distance. If we want to build it on higher ground, let's build it away from trees incase of lightning and earthquakes. The first to catch fire or hurt us would be the trees otherwise. We won't be able to avoid all the dangerous, but it'll keep us out of the more dangerous ones. We'll talk about other precautions after this challenge. It'll also be chilly at night, so we should keep the tents more closely together, especially if something happens and we need to wake up one another."
Riddle inwardly sighed in relief. As he had expected, having Lotus's insight during times like this is a saving grace amongst all of the unfortunate turn of events that have occurred to their club for a while. Had he really set up the tent there, he might put his club members in mortal danger as well.
"We only got one hour left." Riddle frowned, "Split into groups and start building the tents, then."
Lotus turned to Riddle, "May I set to the organizing of the dorms?"
"If you can do it in less than five mins." Riddle sighed.
Lotus nodded and hurriedly called the members up by name before she continued, "Pick members for your groups of four. Since you are either able to understand the instructions better or have camped before, I'll leave you to instruct them. Let the stronger ones do the digging if they can or have two work on them together. Waste no time. One hour isn't long enough to dilly dally. If you are confused with the instructions, don't wait and find someone who knows or me. If I don't see you half way done by the half hour mark, you can forget about having marshmallows or meat by dinner. Unless, you all forgot who it was that made me cook of this dorm."
"Y-Yes..."
They hesitated while feeling rather regretful. After hearing how good her cooking skills were from Grim and the others who tasted it, those in their club immediately agreed to nominate her the cook yesterday. As a result, they have no way to rebuke for their current circumstances!
"He's really into the marshmallows, isn't he?" Riddle noted rather impressed.
"Is that really something to be impressed about?!" Sebek cried out in disbelief but looked even more so when he heard the club member's response.
Who was the real one in charge of this club here?!
As Riddle went off reading the instructions, Lotus quietly walked to the forest and whispered with a silver bell in hand, "Are you not going to greet your princess?"
It was then that a group of nature fairies hesitantly appeared from behind the trees and branches as they reached out to her in tears, "Princess! You're finally here!"
Surprised by their appearance, her eyes widen in bewilderment, "What is wrong? I didn't think I'd be missed this badly."
"Milady!" The chief woodland fairy flew to her.
"You're-!" Her eyes widen in surprise and nostalgia upon seeing the small fairy, "Uncle Fern! It's been so long! How are you and Aunty Ripple?!"
"You still remember me?" The chief woodland fairy looked to her with teary eyes, "I heard that human children's memory aren't very clear at a young age."
"You know this human, Chief?" One of the fairies timidly responded.
"Of course!" The chief nodded with twinkling eyes, "Back when I was visiting the king and queen, I had the fortune of meeting with their adoptive daughter and the first human princess of faeland, Princess Peony. Why, she was just a young little thing back then! No bigger than a small cub leaving it's den! Ah, how the time flies! It's only been a decade and look how big you've grown! Tell me, dear. How is it that you can still remember me?"
Peony chuckled, "I might not have remembered what you looked like, True. However, a good alchemist and doctor also needs a good sense of smell and other senses. I remember you very well. You treated me very well and are kind to me since I was a child and you were there for a conference with mother. I'd never forget you or Aunt Ripple, Uncle Fern. In fact, I even tried to find you two a few years back for a visit. However, the smell of this forest's ferns never resembled the other places I've been to and the mana in bodies of lakes I've been to was never as strong as what was coming from Aunt Ripple. It makes sense now since the forest in dwarf's mine is raised on strong mana so the scent is far better than all the other places. As I was a child, I couldn't find your place or Aunt Ripple's place very easily although you gave me permission to stay with you for any period of time before you left."
Back when she was still struggling to gain the respect from the fairies and a place of her own in this society she came into, Uncle Fern arrived with another chieftain after a dispute over territories and floodings. During their quarrel, she was struggling to use her magic and created an explosion in the castle! The fairy maids were not very fond of her and neither were the alchemy instructors who the king initially assigned to teach her. In truth, their teachings were flawed and they purposely taught her it knowing the methods were wrong. Then, there was the maids who purposely tempered with her ingredients and results to give her a bad rep. With the maids and instructors against her, she struggled to focus on her studies so much so that she decided to just sneak into the library on her own instead. Yet, that explosion could not be avoided. Her cauldron exploded and sent her flying out the windows. She thought she would leave the place as it did not needed her. However, it was Aunt Ripple who saved her and kind Uncle Fern who used his knowledge to examine her self studies. Had it not been for these two showing up when they did and proving her in the right, she would've left the royal family as abruptly as she came. In fact, after she left her calm state of mind during her growth, she was even more eager to visit this kind Uncle to take a breather from the crazy life she was dwelling in. However, with the absence of his whereabouts to her, she continued to live her dangerous life with great caution and could only feel calm around her family and Granny. Her calm state also never returned to her mind since then disrupting her sleep and flow of thoughts.