In a different inn of the Kantos town, the other group was planning their mission as well.
The students sat in various places in the big living room, with professor Melissa standing near the map stuck on a wall.
While they were going through their plans, a brown haired student sitting on a table spoke.
"How about we unlock our Mystical Artifact first? I don't want mishaps to happen when our group is fighting against the Anomaly."
The idea was clearly well received as several students agreed to it.
Professor Melissa had a pensive look on her face as she thought about the proposal.
There was a box kept in the center of the room. Attached to it was a circular device.
It was a specially made box designed by The Human Federation to contain Mystical Artifacts.
Mystical Artifacts, similar to anomalies, came in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of abilities.
If a person wanted to use them, they had to go through the side effects which came with them.
Certain Mystical Artifacts were locked when a team applied to use it during a mission.
It was so that no one would have to go through side effects when carrying it with them.
Some of these locked Mystical Artifacts were bound by a sensor so that the box would only be unlocked when the sensor detected an anomaly nearby.
There were various reasons for such an arrangement, with one of the cases being when a Mystical Artifact was hostile to all entities, with increased hostility towards anomalies.
In this case it would only be appropriate for it to be unlocked in the presence of an anomaly where the Mystical Artifact would focus all its attention on the anomaly and not attack anyone else.
The main difference between Mystical Artifacts and Anomalies was that the former doesn't have consciousness, while the latter may or may not have it.
There was a common saying in The Human Federation.
'All Mystical Artifacts can be Anomalies but not all Anomalies can be Mystical Artifacts.'
Professor Melissa finally relented to the idea.
It was not because she was a weak leader but she knew how to consider the opinions of her group, and the student's point was indeed valid.
Adding on top of it was the fact that their Mystical Artifact was only locked because of the possibility of there being students in the group who could have ill-intentions towards it.
She had already read the information about the Mystical Artifact, it had no side effects when merely carrying it or any need of sensor lock. It had a sensor lock purely for the above mentioned reason.
There would be no problems if I unlocked it and kept it on me at all times. After all he is indeed correct, I don't want to rely on having it unlocked just before or during the confrontation with the Anomaly.
She looked towards the student who made the suggestion. She met his gaze, her piercing red eyes flashing a warning as they locked with his black ones.
She spoke. "Very well Rodrick, we'll unlock it before we confront the anomaly so that there's less of a reliance on its sensing mechanism at tense moments."
The student who made the suggestion, Rodrick, simply shrugged helplessly with a smile at the subtle warning directed at him.
*****
A few hours later after all four of them spent the day practicing or gathering extra information through their own means, they gathered in the inn's restaurant.
"Did y'all find anything impressive?"
Paulina spoke up after slurping on her noodles.
"I don't know if it can be counted as interesting but this information I got would've taken some time to find out. Kinda rare.
"It's about the mayor of this town. Apparently, his younger brother was invited to the Academy.
"This was one of the major things he relied on to win the elections."
Drakarion rolled an eye at her as he replied.
"I am pretty sure there are countless politicians out there who've got blood connections with the Human Federation or the Academy, what's rare about it?"
"Have some patience, would you?" Paulina exaggeratedly raised her eyebrows and deliberately made a haughty impression before continuing.
"His younger brother is in the other mission team which arrived with Professor Melissa.
"His name is Rodrick Altreck."
Eryndor raised an eyebrow at that as he responded with a smile.
"What are the chances of this happening? That the mission professor Melissa happened to choose was one where he was involved too? A rare occurrence—" He shot a look at Paulina "And rare information indeed."
They talked over dinner about a few more random topics, and their life before awakening before they finally retreated to their apartment.
All four of them gathered in the living room, their eyes on Eryndor as he checked the document.
"There are a few more people who are left to give their inputs, the mayor was really efficient with his task I must say."
"True, it would've taken us much more time if we individually visited the homes or asked the mayor to compile the information."
Valentina remarked.
Eryndor glanced at the document then at the clock.
"Let's wait a bit more so that all the people have given their input."
In this age, with the Anomalies and the Eight Outer Domains running amok, the common public had long realized that it was only the Human Federation which was willing to shelter them.
Therefore, when it came to important matters like dealing with the anomaly or even infected animals, the common populace took it seriously to respond to any demands of the mission teams.
They had enough common sense to realize that if a mistake happened on their end, they could very well die if the mistake held back the mission team from dealing with the threat.
Approximately half an hour later, all the houses situated in the Kantos town had given their inputs.
It was time to check the numbers and traits of the infected animals.