Chapter 30 - The wilderness

Mr. Patrick stood before his students with a neutral look on his face.

"Welcome back to school".

"Thank you, sir!" The students replied enthusiastically.

"Fat man!" Ramon cheered.

Ramon barely cheered when Mr. Patrick looked at him, then…

Snap!

Bam!

The ground underneath where Ramon sat previously cracked even as his wooden chair shattered to pieces, yet, Ramon did not flinch as he stared back at the wildlife HOD with a grin on his face.

Mr. Patrick's face didn't change. "I see you've become much stronger compared to the last time I subjected you to 10g gravity".

Snap!

Mr. Patrick added 10g more gravity after snapping his finger again, making it 20g in total as Ramon stood on his feet with sweat finally beginning to gather on his face, yet he had the same grin on his face as he stared at his HOD.

The students sitting close to this chair slowly increased their distance from him as he was subject to the HOD's punishment for the umpteenth time, the first time this new year and in the f*cking first class.

'He's so troublesome!' They thought.

Seeing his gaze, Mr. Patrick's face twitched. 'This brat!'

Snap!

30g more gravity!

Bam!

The ground beneath him caved in as Ramon was slammed to the ground the next moment. He felt like his innards and intestines were about to force themselves out of his body even as his face turned red from the strain.

Mr. Patrick's increase in gravity was just like natural gravity. The more gravity, the more weight, 50g gravity was crazy!

"Pwease…, pwease! I'm swowry!" Ramon begged.

"Humph!" Mr. Patrick snorted.

Ramon's punishment was kneeling at the front of the class while carrying a weight equivalent to 20g gravity pressing on his head for the whole class period.

Facing his classmates as the instructor was about to start his class behind him, Ramon stuck his tongue out to them and whispered. "Hehe, not bad, I'll hear him even better from here".

Chuckles reverberated round the hall.

Mr. Patrick's face darkened. "What happened?"

"Nothing sir!" 

He looked at the little boy kneeling before him, feeling a sudden urge to bonk his head from behind but he was able to hold himself back.

He opened a book the next moment as he faced his students.

"Unlike in your first year, we will no longer be dealing completely on theory, we'll be dealing more on practical as you go through the years".

"To truly understand wildlife and how to survive it, you need to face it".

"Unlike in your first year, we have only 2 wildlife classes per week for WLD 201, the class that I'm taking. One class will be for theory every week and analysis, while the other class will be practical".

"We'll skip the practical for this week and start from next week".

"To be effective with the practical though, some theories are essential. This brings us to today's topic, the Wilderness of Tiberia".

"Which of you have ever been to forests before?"

A lot of hands rose up among the students.

Mr. Patrick nodded. "In the non-user world, forests are normal but in the astral world, forests have another name, the tame wild". 

"Animals mostly reside in forests with few astral beasts, the ones who reside in forests are those with weak bloodline who awoke astral energy due to luck".

"Where astral beasts truly reside is called the wilderness".

"There are countless wildernesses across the world".

"The biggest and most dangerous wilderness in our continent is the Eastern Typhoon Wilderness. It is the home of the Lightning Typhoon Eagle".

The eyes of the students widened in amazement.

"Not even the headmistress has the power to casually step foot inside the Eastern Typhoon Wilderness, only 7th realm and higher astral warriors have the qualifications to survive the wild of the Eastern Typhoon".

"At your current level, wilderness of that level are off limits".

"This brings us to Tiberia's only wilderness". Mr. Patrick looked at his students as their attention was drawn. "It is called the Wheat Trye Wilderness".

"The Wheat Trye Wilderness is called so because of its ruling alpha beast, the only Transformation Stage Beast in Tiberia, the Drought Elk".

"Is that what beasts in the 4th realm are called? Transformation stage?" 

Everyone turned to look at him, including Mr. Patrick, it was Elmas. This was his first time speaking in a class since he entered the academy.

Mr. Patrick nodded. "4th stage beasts are called Transformation Stage Beasts".

He continued. "The Wheat Trye Wilderness is divided into countless territories all under the jurisdiction of the alpha beast, and each territory is under each of 4 levels".

"The first level is for beasts in the Legionnaire Stage, the second level for beasts in the General Stage, and third for beasts in the Commander Stage".

"The 4th level is the most dangerous area of the Wheat Trye Wilderness".

"Not even the headmistress can enter there".

"Apart from the Drought Elk, the only beasts who cultivate and hibernate in these forbidden grounds are peak tier Commander Stage Beasts".

"Only the Governor of Tiberia that was instated by the Lightning Manor has the power to enter these forbidden grounds alone and come out alive".

"For now, the forbidden ground is none of our concern".

"Our concern is on the first level area that is closest to Centerpoint City, that is where we shall commence our practical training next week".

Mr. Patrick used his gravity energy to trigger a magic crystal the next moment that started playing a video. "This is a recording of our target area's dangerous beasts, and things we need to look out for".

"This horned beast is called the Iron-Horned Rhino, the Diamond-Horned Rhino is a General Stage Beast".

"That is called a Dark Fate Sparrow, beware of it".

"And that bad boy is called the Berserker Bear. If you ever see one in the wilderness, run as fast as your legs can carry you".

"That huge Centipede is called the Rot Centipede. In Wheat Trye Wilderness, there are endangered beasts and some beasts with special properties that are under the Lightning Manor's protection laws".

"When you see beasts like this, help them if they need it, otherwise run".

"Never kill them, the penalty for this mistake is death".

"…!" Shock rippled through the hearts of the students.

"And even as there are beasts under the protection law, there are also beasts under the destruction on sight law," Mr. Patrick pointed at the video. "A Rot Centipede is one of the beasts under the destruction law".

He continued his exhibition. "And that is the…"

"This one is called…"

For the rest of the class, Mr. Patrick kept on introducing one beast or the other to the students till the period finally came to an end.

Finally relieved of his 20g burden, Ramon felt lighter than ever before.

"I'm beginning to love this punishment". He muttered.

"It feels just like training".

For most of the day, Ramon stayed at the sword sanctuary, a training hall for swordsmen as he honed his sword skills even as he tried to master his new astral sword technique but it was not as easy this time.

To master Mountain Block, you must master the special astral energy circulation pattern that the Immovable Mountain Swordsman created.

Mastering it was easier said than done.

Ramon tried so hard till he became so frustrated he almost cut one of his swordsman course mates to death, he apologized profusely. 

Returning to his room, feeling defeated, Ramon saw a writing on the door.

[There's a bucket of water beside the door, endeavor to wash your feet appropriately before entering the room, I hate dirty environments.]

[Also, there are 2 cloth curtains close to the bucket, one for each of you. Take one each and cover your territories in the room, I feel sick laying my eyes on your dirty parts of the room.]

[If you want peace, do this.]

The way the words were phrased were certainly provocative.

Trust Ramon, he was hot-blooded, the normal him would have reacted with anger but remembering last semester, he was able to calm down.

But, would his 3rd roommate be able to calm down?

Afterall, these were no longer Elmas' first year roommates, his 2 roommates this time were Specialists like him who had confidence in their power and their own pride, they would not bow to him easily.

Ramon barely had the thought when he heard it.

"How dare you boss me around like you're the leader here?!"

"This is my room too! We have no leader! We're all equal!"

"Even if we're to have a leader, it'd be me!"

"How dare you?!"

"Answer me! You're ignoring me?"

"How dare you ignore me?!"

Ramon's eyes widened. 'Oh no!'

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Rushing inside, he saw a cold-faced Elmas wrestling with a red-faced angry Aegon even as this handsome boy's white hair already saw shades of brown having been rubbed against the brown floor by his Evolver opponent.

"Stop!" Ramon yelled. 

"Stop fighting!" Ramon intervened, using his brute Evolver strength to separate both his roommates.

Aegon breath heavily. "Didn't you see his message outside? How dare he be so conceited when we're roommates?!"

"Calm down". The words felt a bit unnatural to Ramon coming out of his mouth but his instincts told him that they were perfect for the situation.

"Calm down". He said again.

"No!" Aegon looked at Ramon with disdain. "No".

"Calm down or I'll punch your face!" Ramon roared at his face.

Aegon smirked. "No".

BAM!

Aegon's nose caved in; he grabbed his broken nose in shock.

Ramon scratched his head. "Come outside, let's talk".

"We can talk in the combat arena for senior years".

Seeing Ramon's innocent face, a sentence repeated through Aegon's head. 'He punched me?'

'He f*cking punched me!'

For some reason though, he didn't protest. Glaring at Elmas one last time, Aegon swallowed his pride and followed Ramon outside.

After they left, Elmas looked round the room that was even more dirty now, then he grimaced. Without a word, he started cleaning the whole room.

He cleaned for more than 30 minutes before he was satisfied, after which he sat cross-legged in his territory of the room and started cultivating.

'A little more time,' He thought.

'Just a little more perseverance, and I can get my revenge!' He clenched his fists tightly.