"Let's fill Lucas in on the plan. It wouldn't hurt having one more member in our group."
After explaining the general idea, Lucas' face displayed his astonishment; his eyebrows were raised as his eyes widened. He could not fathom what he had just heard.
"Close your mouth, you don't want to eat an insect as your dessert," I said.
"Is it okay for me to be part of such an important mission?"
"Yes, there'll be plenty to share," Martin said.
"You don't have to wo-"
My sentence was cut short as muffled sobs reached my ears. Lucas' vision became blurry as tears filled his eyes and dripped down his cheeks; using the palm of his hands, he tried to wipe away the teardrops. I placed my arm around the orc in an attempt to recomfort him.
"I-I'm sorry- It's just that no one has ever done such kind things for me. Thank you guys so much."
His words moved us and made us feel emotional.
"Don't worry Lucas, you have friends now. Your situation is no longer the same," I said.
A couple minutes later, Lucas had calmed down and we began discussing our plan.
"Bedtime is at nine o'clock, however, teachers will continue to survey the area for another two hours," Adriana said.
"So we're leaving at eleven. How do we proceed from there?" I asked.
"We'll be looking for two rocks in the forest," Charlie replied.
"Oh great! We just have to find two rocks. That really narrows it down!" I sarcastically said which elicited laughs from the others.
"Stop with the sarcasm."
"The rocks were looking for are more like boulders and are crescent-shaped," he added.
"Do we have any idea of the approximate whereabouts of the inheritance?" Adriana asked.
"Yes, rumor has it that it's located at the foot of the mountain."
We set a meeting point before splitting up to avoid raising suspicion. As soon as the others were far enough away, Lucas grabbed my arm and dragged me into his tent before shutting the opening.
"What's the problem?" I asked.
"I have something I need to tell you."
"I have my doubts about this inheritance," he added.
"I also began questioning some things. I'd like to hear about your skepticisms first," I said.
"Firstly, the timing seems to be too perfect. Just as we go on a school trip, rumors spread about an inheritance."
"I agree that something is off about the timing, but something else is weird. If gossip about the location of the treasure has had the time to spread, wouldn't someone have already found it?" I said.
"And also, no one in the hunting party has not said a word about anything remotely close to an inheritance. There's no way that someone like Hunter would not have caught wind of the rumors," I added.
"Let's keep our guards up and protect each other," the orc said.
"You mean that you want me to protect you?" I jokingly said.
"You know what I mean," he yelled.
As night fell, the students went to sleep one after the other until silence reigned supreme in the clearing. The five of us had to wait patiently in our tents for the next two hours, but there was no way that I was going to waste such precious time. I sat cross-legged in the middle of the tent surrounded by pitch-black. The movements of the teachers were being closely monitored using the way of the wind; this time, instead of focusing on more details like earlier, I tried to increase the range as much as possible. After only an hour, sweat trickled down my squinting face onto my trembling body.
Using my powers for an extended period of time drained my energy really fast, but I still had to persevere as it was the only way to become more powerful. Hunter once told me that willpower was just as important as strength; someone with a stronger will would always beat someone with a weak mind despite being slightly weaker. The tiredness soon turned into pain as blood oozed out of my nose. Huffing and puffing, I bore with the torture until I felt like I was about to pass out; I could not afford to miss the rendezvous. A sigh of relief was heaved as I dropped to the floor due to exhaustion. I had twenty more minutes to catch my breath and recuperate some of my lost energy before I had to head out.
At exactly eleven, I quietly unzipped the opening and exited my tent. While looking around, I tiptoed to the meeting point. The night sky was picturesque; the glowing moon loomed in the navy blue backdrop, surrounded by millions of gleaming white dots. On such a breezy night, the leaves rustled constantly. As I got closer to the dark tree trunks I could see that Charlie and Lucas were already there, hiding behind some bushes.
"Where are the other two?" I whispered.
"We don't know," Charlie replied.
Five minutes later, we were joined by Adriana and Martin, who looked like they were about to fall over at any moment.
"Why are you guys so late?"
"We're sorry, we were sleeping," Martin said while yawning.
"Stop being so loud and let's move."
Following the barely visible path, we sauntered through the branches towards the foot of the mountain. With each step taken, the undergrowth crackled. In the distance, the peak was so high that it seemed like it pierced through heaven itself! Lucas kept tripping over exposed roots but I caught him every time.
"I'm sorry to be a burden once again Jett," the orc said.
"It's fine, we are also having a hard time walking. Just be careful and don't get yourself injured."
As the colossal mountain drew nearer, we could appreciate its magnificence and I could understand why Emperor Azule spent a lot of his time around here. Fortunately, the vegetation became less dense and the moonlight shone through the lattice of leaves to illuminate the trail.