Class 1-B sets out, venturing into a nearby grove. Saiba drags his feet behind, disappointed at his swift loss of power. Gram walks beside him, patting him on the back and muttering,
"Th-There, there... It'll be okay, Saiba..."
He laughs awkwardly. Robbie shouts,
"There! A checkpoint!"
He points in the distance at a table. At the table, there's some items and a teacher waiting patiently in a chair. It's a male teacher with fading, gray hair and plain, brown clothes. As they approach he says,
"Welcome to my checkpoint! At this checkpoint, you have to find as many items as you can in twenty minutes! You will gain points based on the quality of each item you bring! You can begin when you're ready!"
As he finishes speaking, the majority of the class scatters and goes to find their own items. All that remains are Saiba, Gram, Rose, and Gordie. Saiba grits his teeth and angrily mumbles,
"Those guys! Running off just like that!"
Gram, trying to calm Saiba down, suggests,
"S-Since there's still some of us here... Why don't we group up and look for drops together? If we happen to find a strong monster, we can work together to defeat it..."
Rose replies,
"I have no problems with that."
Gordie just lets out a low growl. Saiba says,
"Why not... Let's go team!"
The new alliance wanders into the trees, looking for rare items. They search around, but only find greenery. Saiba asks,
"Do you know how much time we have left?"
Gram answers,
"S-Sorry... I wasn't paying attention..."
Rose says,
"9 minutes and 43 seconds remaining."
Amazed, Saiba replies,
"Woah. You have it down to the second. I guess you're the top of the class for a reason."
He continues,
"Anyways, that's less that half the time and we still haven't found anything."
Suddenly, they hear a pair of womanly shrieks followed by a manly voice announcing,
"Don't worry my fair maidens! I, Hanz Delavoise, will protect you from this foul beast!"
The four run to the source of the ruckus and spot three of their classmates standing in a clearing within a separate grove.
One blue-haired female, one black-haired female, and Hanz, a medium-sized male with flowing, blonde hair and sparkling, silver eyes.
He stands firm, large shield in front of him and kitted out in a full set of heavy, metal armor. His equipment is made out of the same shiny metal that looks similar to sterling silver.
Looming in front of them, a large monster poses menacingly. It's a hobgoblin with tan-colored flesh, accentuated hands and feet, a pig-like face, and a large wooden mace in its grasp.
It swings at Hanz, but he blocks the entire attack with his shield. Watching from behind, Saiba thinks,
"Woah! His defense is pretty good!"
The hobgoblin keeps attacking while Hanz continues to defend and absorbs each strike. However, Hanz doesn't ever seem to counterattack. Saiba mumbles,
"Oh, that's why his defense is so good... He doesn't know how to attack!"
Saiba goes in to support Hanz, but Rose is one step ahead of him. She digs her staff into the ground and says,
"Plant Magic: Sprouting Prison."
Out of the ground, thick, wooden roots come flying out, forming a cage around the beast. The hobgoblin struggles to break free of his binds.
While the monster is occupied with that, Saiba runs in and slash at the monster's limbs, disabling it as it falls flat on its face.
Gordie leaps in from the air and delivers a palm strike to the back of its head, finishing the hobgoblin off. Hanz, Rose, Saiba, and Gordie all receive a pop-up that reads,
[Level +2. ATK +2. DEF +2. SPD +2. Item Get: Hobgoblin Hide (x2), Hobgoblin Fang (x1)]
The two female-classmates say in unison,
"Thank you for saving us! That monster stood no chance against the Top 3 of our class!"
Hanz blushes while saying,
"I-It was nothi-"
He gets cut off by the girls who continue,
"Thank you, Rose, Gordie, and Saiba!"
Hanz has a speechless expression as he shoots Saiba a death glare and then quickly turns away. Saiba mumbles,
"What's his problem?.."
Gram answers,
"He used to be third in our class before you got here..."
Saiba pulls out a [Hobgoblin Fang] and shows it off while saying,
"How rare are one of these?"
Rose answers,
"In this area, they're only a little above being common."
Saiba sighs and asks,
"How much time do we have now?"
Rose answers again,
"6 minutes and 36 seconds."
Saiba replies,
"I don't think that's enough time to find a rare monster. And even if we do, I don't think we would have enough time to beat it and get back."
He suggests,
"I think it would be better if we just started heading back now and hope we run into something on the way back."
The other three of the group agree with a simple nod as they start walking back. Hanz and the girls split off from them to look for more items.
While walking Saiba realizes something while asking,
"Hey, does the item have to be something we found here?"
Rose answers,
"According to the rules, the item must be a monster drop and a non-weapon. There is no condition about where the item originated from."
Saiba wears a cunning grin as he mutters,
"In that case..."
The four arrive back at the table where the rest of the class has already gathered. Unfortunately, they did not manage to find anything on the way back. The teacher instructs,
"One at a time, you can present your items! I will rate them on the spot, so you don't need to wait to get your results!"
The class lines up as Saiba stays back and takes the final spot. Everyone begins presenting their items as they begin gaining points.
By the time it's Saiba's turn, they have eighty-six points. Students around him discuss,
"It's the last guy, I don't think he's gonna change much..."
"At least we got an above average score..."
Gram stands in the back and mumbles,
"What is Saiba planning? He was looking pretty scary back there..."
Saiba opens his [SI] and heads to his [Inventory]. He hovers over one of the options and taps, [Take Out 100] All at once, one-hundred [Basic Bones] appear from above Saiba and pile up on the table.
The students look in shock as the teacher asks,
"Where did you manage to get all of this!?"
Saiba grins again and answers,
"I'm following all the rules, right?"
The teacher mumbles,
"Y-Yes..."
Saiba thinks,
"Since it doesn't have to actually come from here, I'll just use some stuff I got from other places. I have like four-hundred of these, so it should be okay!"
The teacher finishes calculating the score and announces,
"Class 1-B has a total of 486 points! A new all-time record beating the last one by 385!"
The students rejoice as Saiba leans against a tree, all cool-like and thinks,
"This is gonna be no-problem!"