This trip to the capital should take 4 or 5 days, the caravan speed is good for a caravan of this size, but comparing the speed it would take a small group to reach the capital is quite slow. Obviously, the distance to the capital of the kingdom is not small, in the caravan there is not even a normal animal, all the carriages counting the students and the carts that carry the groceries and tents are pulled by magical animals of level two or three for the carts that carry more weight.
If the caravan were equipped with deadly animals, it would take us more than a week to reach the capital, perhaps even more than two. Not only are magical animals faster and can keep moving longer, the bulls pulling the carriages are specially bred to be able to carry a large amount of weight without having their speed too affected, they are able to gallop at their speed. it takes about fourteen hours without stopping, but with the scheduled stops they start running in the morning and last until after dusk without a problem.
Traveling this way is quite expensive, but if travel wasn't a kingdom expense, I highly doubt we would be traveling with such expensive animals. According to Ingredi, it's very difficult to get this type of bull to level up, and that's why the price to rent one of these is so high and it gets to the point where it's very difficult to rent several of them at once.
"These carriages are really cheap, because the institute hasn't rented some better carriages. We're going to be shaken for days without stopping, I think I'm going to be sick."
Leaf is right about the quality of the carriages, but this does not come as a surprise to me, the moment I entered the carriage I realized that the person responsible for renting the carriages was the master. The kingdom must have only been responsible for hiring the magical animals, the mistress must have chosen this economic model, I wonder how much she managed to profit from this obvious abuse of power.
"Leaf doesn't complain so much, we're not going on vacation and we'll probably have to face even more discomfort than a carriage that rocks a lot during the next phase of the test."
"I still think there's something wrong with this carriage, I feel like someone did it on purpose and that's not part of the test."
Leaf's senses or intuition are really amazing, a lot of precision.
"That's ridiculous Leaf, what would anyone get for doing something like that."
Money, but now I feel Caliban is a little naive depending on the subject. He must not have studied economics much.
"Then? What are we going to do during this long trip?"
Leaf refuses to talk to me, and ignores my question.
"How about we talk about the next test, Ulric must have some good information."
"Where would I get good information from, Ingredi?"
"Are you really going to try to pretend the headmistress didn't tell you anything about the audition for you?"
"I had forgotten some rumors, but I had a hard time believing the headmistress had become her teacher, Ulric. And I'm saying this without the slightest intention of insulting you, but you can be an above average student but the requirements to become a direct disciple of the headmistress are really hard to meet, since she's taken up her position she listens to thousands of people who tried and failed to become her apprentice, I even heard reports of students dying because they risked complying with some absurd demand from the principal and ended up dead because they didn't have the power of a higher-level core warrior than theirs."
"That doesn't offend me Caliban, I was very lucky to become the principal's apprentice, but don't think it's a bed of roses and that my path is paved to success, if she caused deaths with her crazy tests for people who didn't were your students still, think about what kind of test I have to pass, it's not easy. During my second class I already had terrible injuries, if she hadn't deceived a friend of hers who is a very competent healer it would have taken me more than a week to recover from the injuries I had in class and my hands would never be the same again later. to be destroyed during class."
Not only did Caliban and Ingredi look at me in shock, even Leaf who behaved like I was a nuisance and for her was scratched at my words, I don't think either of them thinks it's normal to undergo this kind of training in their second class. Maybe I should say it was the first practice class, that might earn me a few more sympathy points.
"Don't make that kind of face, it was quite normal training, but in the end, I did something that even the teacher didn't think I would do. How about we get back to talking about the test?"
To my surprise the one who asked a question was Leaf.
"How about we start with what you know about the test?"
"Okay, I know he was advanced because of the cultists and maybe during the next month we get missions to be carried out. So, hunting cultists might be our new occupation."
"You must be kidding me! Examiners are lunatics, as they think we can go after these lunatics."
This elf is more expressive than I thought noble elves should be.
"Did you think training camp was just training? This is a deadly test, the word mortal is not just there to sound serious, during the test we are going to be risking our lives."
"He's right Leaf, I've heard this from the family before, the missions we're going to face will be a way for the examiners to test the group's capabilities and to see what the best combination is for the permanent teams. But I didn't know hunting the cultists would be part of the quests."
"From my family I heard that during the formation of the temporary teams there will be teams with specific roles and they were given a fixed list of tasks and challenges to see if the group formation is functional."
This I didn't know; it seems the master didn't tell me everything. What else did she leave out to screw with me, and how is she going to find out her prank worked? She must have one or more of the examiners under her control, she'll be amused by all my mistakes and throw them in my face after I get back to the institute or she'll send scary letters to rub my mistakes in mine. dude, right after i commit them.
"What kind of group do you think you'll be formed, Ingredi?"
"It will likely be teams with more unusual roles like infiltration, tracking, theft and execution. I don't think the examiners think that a more defensive, offensive or highly mobile group is a special kind of group."
"I agree with her, and that's one of the reasons I don't mind being put in this kind of different group, my style is fighting directly with my enemies on the front lines. Leaf is in a similar situation to mine, she is a life element mage who is focused on healing and empowerment, her place in the back of a strong team or in a safe place like a nursing home."
"Hey! I know how to fight too; I learned some offensive and defensive spells so I can defend myself. I'm not a dead weight that can only be healing from afar."
Looks like Leaf was taught to be a harmless healer, but now she wants to be a combat healer. This is a pretty dangerous profession as the healer on a team is always the target of the enemy, without great survival skills the healer can become the biggest weakness in a formation.
"If you are put on a frontline team you will die at the hands of your enemies Leaf, I saw your combat skills before we got into the carriage. They might be fine for a wizard of their age, but they're still too weak to take on difficult and dangerous missions like the ones elite teams will have to do."
"I can improve! During training I will show you what I am capable of."
Looks like Leaf is really well motivated to become a combat healer, hope she doesn't die too soon.
"Ulric, you must be the one most likely to join this type of group."
"I wouldn't be so sure; you could join an Ingredi demolition team. As far as I know you've begun to focus your study on runes and explosive arrangements and combine them with your magic you can become a source of massive destruction."
"I'm going to blast her stuffed animals to teach her not to be such a gossip."
It seems that Ingredi's studies are much further along than I thought they would be, before the previous phase of the test she wasn't very interested in blowing things up. Was I a negative influence?
"So, she was the one who blew up the walls of the fort during the last test."
This is a bad and dangerous way for our conversation to go.
"I think I might end up on the tracking or execution team, but I don't know if that's a good idea. But I also have no idea what kind of skills a person has to have to join something like an infiltration team, do you know what kind of skills are needed?"
And in that way, I managed to stall for several days and avoid when our conversations went in the direction of the confrontation, we participated in during the last part of the test we did. But during the trip, Ingredi and I managed to form a weak friendship with Caliban, but Leaf still doesn't like me, but she doesn't treat me so much like an enemy anymore.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any useful information about Caliban's shield, but some information the elves had about the test was useful, especially the part about the instructors who will teach us during the test.