The hunts were progressing slowly but they were going steady. After the first day, there were no more incidents that required immediate medical attention.
The kids had toughened up and learned to deal with it. They still hated the killing part, but now every single one of them had at least four kills under their belt.
A month of relentless hunting had brought them thirty credits each. It wasn't much, but that was because their early days were quite messy. They could barely have four or five successful hunts and that was by utilizing the whole group.
Now they were confident enough to split up into hunting parties of up to ten people. And each party could complete at least ten hunts. They weren't getting stronger or faster, but their confidence in their abilities grew.
Ciaran also learned to be more tolerant towards them, even when their efficiency was still lacking. This was mostly due to the fact Mille did most of the interacting for him. His main job was to make sure they fell in line and to protect them if the need arose.
His presence was hardly ever needed because most of the kids looked up to Eddy for advice. The boy lacked power, but he more than made up for it in charisma. He was one of them, he struggled just like them, and he even talked back to the psycho who watched them from behind.
Naturally, it was all a front the said psycho had created so he could manage them without actually having to talk to them.
Mille was doing remarkably well. She led the most fierce group. Under her command, the group completed at least twenty hunts each day. She was hailed as the vice leader of their class, and also their most powerful member.
Of course, she wasn't at the top, but the last four didn't count. Rayon was never with them when they hunted, but they knew he was stronger than them. Just the fact the army was willing to pay for him to receive full credits, and not miss out on their training was enough for the kids to understand his worth.
The two girls were Rank One, and even tho they hunted like the rest of the children, they did so alone. Both Sunny and Clara had already fulfilled their quota and were now pestering Ciaran.
The boy was, without a shadow of a doubt the most dangerous of all of them. He had kept steady for the first week, but after that, he always disappeared for an hour or two, and then he came back with lunch.
They hadn't seen him in the forest, and what he brought wasn't Academy food, so he definitely went in deeper to hunt. The most frightening thing was that he still felt like a Rank Zero, but no one believed their senses when it came to him.
The boy was there one second and gone the next. He knew how to hide his presence so well, one time he was simply standing and educating a group on how to hunt more efficiently, but the rest never registered the fact he was there. Only later, did they all learn he had been back, and by that point he was gone again.
But they learned to be thankful for his presence. The other classes were doing much worse. They were overworked and had been pushed to the brink of exhaustion lately.
A month of relentless Maze Trials had driven them all into a corner. They eighter had to find more lucrative credit-earning schemes or they would be out of the competition.
And those were the lucky ones. The 'victims' were screwed. They could only earn points academically, and even that was if they were willing to stay inside the Academy, and not make use of the Library.
Each of those poor souls had less than ten credits to their name. Tensions were high, and the teachers were getting restless. All of the victims came from the same classes, and there were no exceptions.
"Eddy, go and invite one of the victims to join our class. I don't care who, anyone would do, as long as they are willing to leave their class and curse out their teacher for limiting their growth. Tell them if they join, they will definitely gain some credits." Ciaran said out of the blue.
Some of the kids wanted to protest, and some wanted to ask questions. But they didn't as their leader silently went, and did as he was told.
The kids understood the power dynamic, but they didn't like it. And neither did Clara and Sunny. Albeit, they had a different bone to chew. Ever since the first day, their friend had treated Mille better than he did the rest. Not as a friend, as he did with them, but as a subordinate, rather than a goon.
This was amusing to Sunny, and a godsend for Clara who was happy her idiot had finally made a new friend, but it soon got on their nerves. The boy never told them what changed, more precisely, he told them he promised he wouldn't, and if they wanted answers to ask the girl herself.
Mille just said she swore her loyalty to him and didn't expand on the issue.
"Ok Rony, but why don't you send your employee of the month as well? Surely she would do a better job."Sunny teased him, believing her friend had developed a crush.
He looked at her and shrugged.
"I bought him, so I can use him exactly for this. I want to make my investment worthwhile. And besides, Mills is still learning to lead and hunt. It would stunt her growth, and unlike that tool, she is not disposable."
Calling someone a tool was horrible, but the two knew how this social rejection looked on people. But calling someone irreplaceable was so out of character, they were worried if he wasn't being blackmailed, or something.
"What did she promise you, you sick bastard? What, did she give you her soul?" Clara asked, and when Ciaran gave her a knowing smile, she flinched.
He had promised Mille he wouldn't tell anyone about their deal, but he never agreed not to smile if they guessed it.
"She did? Seriously? Her fucking soul Ciaran?" Clara was furious. Her dreams of her brother ever having more friends were shattered.
"Technically, she just bound it to me, I never took it. And besides Clara, she made the oath of loyalty on the spot, before I got the chance to even speak."
Before they could banter some more, Eddy was seen coming back, and behind him, there were hundreds of children following him.
"I am sorry, they all agreed to your proposal and offered me everything they had," Eddy said, not knowing what to do.
Even Ciaran was taken aback. Not one student was missing, every single one of them had promised to leave their current class.
"Ok listen up! Here is how things stand, leave your class, and have it disbanded. Merge with the rest of the classes, and I promise, no more music challenges." Ciaran shouted at them, and they all looked with shining eyes, some even cried at those words.
"I will make it even sweeter for you. We have sixty-seven in our class, and we have a room for a hundred. Thirty-three spots are opened. Those of you who want to join can, just prove your usefulness to me, in blood."
"Either beat three people of the rest of the refugees within an inch of their lives, and drag them to the medical bay, or hunt down one Rank Zero pray. One carcass gets you one spot. You have until the end of today."
There was a riot. No one protested, they just fought. The melee was so bloody, the teachers had to come out and restrain their students. They even had to undo their dampeners.
It was a massive, proper mess. Children got beaten bloody. And the teachers who were still technically responsible for them had to bear the brunt of the responsibility. Having their whole class quit on them was going to get them demoted to Year One again, and they would even be suspended on unpaid leave. But after so many injured students, some of which almost died, the twenty-two lost their jobs.
Teachers from the Academy had the protection of the Emperor and the Royal family. That meant that no matter who you were, you would have a lot of issues seeking trouble with academics. They thought they were invincible, and over the years, they had gotten a lot of enemies.
Before the night had passed, all twenty-two of them had left the Empire. Some for the Desert, some for the North, and some for the afterlife.
In any case, Ciaran was happy the old bastards were finally out of the picture. Now even if someone had a problem with him, they would think twice, before having a swing at his benefits.