Chapter 154 - New Regimen

It was here, at the edge of the foggy woods, that the group of mentors and students stopped. They were to have a discussion regarding how this year was to play out before they actually entered the forest. Jien and the others gazed at their teachers with solemn gazes, knowing that this was going to be anything but pleasant. The last year had been rough and they knew that their mentors would adjust the difficulty of their training as their skills and mindsets broadened.As expected, it was Lila, Bernard's rough looking huntress of a teacher that stepped forward to explain this time, the other mentors being unable to hide small smirks as she did so. Lila was the most uncommunicative of the mentors, preferring short instructions and much like Jien, to be off on her own in silence. She unfortunately had drawn the short straw, quite literally on their way through the fields of Dunn and thus was given this responsibility much to her chagrin.Lila heaved a deep sigh, wondering why her luck was so poor. She would rather be hunting a magical beast with high physical and magical prowess than be the one having to give this long spiel. "This year will be simple but harder than the others. We will do our best to match your level of skills and will interfere with your lives."She had completely stopped talking at that point and seemed to be on the way to turning back toward the other mentors. It was only Iris clearing her throat and giving the rough huntress a stern look, leading to another deep sigh that she focused back on her students before continuing. "To be more exact we will do things like attack you, attack your camp, set traps to ensnare you, steal from you if we can. All kept as close to your current level as we can. The purpose is vigilance and the ability to be so without actively being so."It was at this point that she actually turned back and no amount of stern looks from Iris discussed her. This lead to the prim and proper lady in an elegant dress to step forward while grumbling under her breath. "You don't need to be too concerned, we obviously won't go for the kill but if you are too lax in your handling of the situation you will all learn to regret it from the bottom of your hearts. Are there any questions?"The entire development had been beyond what any of them had expected. Their mentors were now taking on the role of enemies on the battlefield, bandits and any other obstructive role they could think of. This was far different than anything they had thought would ever happen. What happened to lessons regarding different subjects, what about ensuring their safety like they were supposed to in accordance to their parents' wishes for this training. It was like all their previous plans for this trip beyond the most basic had just crumbled to dust.Jien was the first to focus his eyes on Iris. "What would happen if you were to ambush us and take all of us down, even in keeping to what you feel would be within our grasp?" The question, though simple in nature would lead to a large shift in how they handled themselves. As the Controller and leader of the group he would need to understand to know how to manage his cohort for the best results.An elegant smirk appeared on Iris' lips. "Already planning for failure? That's not a great way to start such a mission." She stated this in a mocking tone, testing Jien's mentality, trying to understand if he would be driven to rash decisions in the field so as to exploit it to teach them how to be better.To her pleasant surprise, though still within her understanding of Jien's character a small smile broke on his lips and his eyes seemed to firm with determination. He wasn't particularly motivated, but he had been put in charge of this group, so he would take it seriously. "One should know the worst case scenario, or at least have a concept for it to plan ahead in case it occurs." he stated calmly.In response to his answer Iris gave a short round of applause. "Truly a good leadership mentality, hope for the best but plan for the worst. Truly admirable." Her expression softened a touch as she continued. "To answer your question it is simple. If we manage to take out your entire group we will watch over you until you are able to act on your own again in full, healing you if needed, before teaching you where you went wrong in your decisions and offering advice on how to shore up weaknesses. However, failure will not be without punishment, we will undo a fair amount of your work, whether stealing supplies, breaking shelters, ruining hunting grounds. This is to allow you to understand the loss of surviving an ambush but being able to protect yourself and your base of operation."The answer was more dismaying than they had thought it would be. The fact that their teachers would undo their work could set back all their preparations. It would get worse the farther along in the training they got as they would begin stockpiling resources to use over the winter months when the snow, fog and cold would cause most wildlife to settle into hibernation or a less active lifestyle. If they failed during winter itself, if they weren't able to recover quickly it could very well doom the rest of the training.They understood that this year was going to be harder than they had ever considered, and it chilled them to the bone to look at the cold eyes and smirks their teachers were giving them.