Chapter 227: Chapter 204 : Bonding (Part 1)

February 10th…

For the most part, first-year students were confined to the Academy grounds save for a few exceptions. The Stranded Event was one such exception.

Monster Islands were self-explanatory, islands where monsters resided in mass. There were around fifty islands which held this identity, scattered throughout the northern hemisphere.

Monster Islands came in two kinds. The first kind was no different from regular Monster Zones, used by Adventurers, often referred to as Forbidden Zones. The only difference between regular Monster Zones and Monster Zones that were Monster Islands is that, while public, one had to meet certain power requirements. Monster Islands were notoriously unregulated, so only high-ranked psionics was allowed to visit them.

The students wouldn’t be going to this kind of Monster Islands - no they went to the second kind, private Monster Islands. The Pillar factions had twenty Monster Islands under their control, with half being used to study monster behaviour in their natural habitat and the other half being used for special events, mostly Hunter Academy-related.

The duo was currently heading to one such island. Through a random drawing, they had gotten Muchabula. The island was in the far east, in the Marovi Ocean, a hundred kilometres off of Inis’ most eastern tip, far removed from any other landmass.

Last night, the duo boarded a four-propellor black plane that resembled a modern-day Heavy Bomber. Joining them were Lane and Skye, along with a few Assistants, who piloted the mechanical beast, psionically.

They passed the time with Psi games and regular games, letting the Assistants join in on the fun as well. After nearly ten hours of flying, they arrived at their destination.

[Okay boys, this is your stop. We’ll pick you up in a week. Stay safe and have fun, also don’t forget anything behind. Now, off you go.]

The plane didn’t bother to land and merely opened the large backend. The boys took their cue. Following the instructions, they tightened their grips around their baggage and one after the other leapt out of the moving plane with ‘good lucks’ sounding in their wakes.

Free-falling for a bit, the boys deployed their Psi Parachutes, Skye using one courtesy of Ralf. The group glided earthward, led by the Transmigrator, to land on the top of a rocky hill.

“Crawww!”

“Kreee!”

“Raarr!”

The group was given an electric welcome. Deafening roars and shrieks filled the air as the plethora of monsters registered their human guests. A sea of green flames ignited in the dense forests below.

“Urgh, so loud, I forgot how annoying these things are,” Skye complained, watching the trees become dominoes before the monsters' mad rush.

"Hm, I don't know. Kind of missed it. Nostalgic, I'd say," Ralf said, garnering a weird look from Skye and a blank one from Lane.

"There," Lane said, pointing to a body of water at the base of a distant mountain.

"Indeed, we'll set up our base there," Ralf said, dropping his baggage. "Before that though, a thorough clean up," the Transmigrator conjured a Psi blade in his right hand. "Lane, you handle everything in the east, I'll handle everything in the north. Skye, you stay here and guard the bags while taking care of everything in the west and south. Also, just use wind attacks. A forest fire would be a pain.”

"You don't have to tell me twice," Skye said, a vortex of air swirling atop his palm.

“Okay then, let’s get to it boys.”

A round of nods later, the trio went about performing their respective tasks. Ralf and Lane leapt off the hill in their assigned directions to meet the wave of approaching monsters. They opted for Psi blades and both effortlessly dispatched monster after monster, leaving a trail of sliced-up corpses in their wake.

Meanwhile, Skye summoned dozens of tornadoes to do his bidding. With a half-kilometre Psi range, both near and distant monsters fell victim to his deadly winds. Monsters were sliced into segments by highly compressed air blades or swallowed up tornadoes only to helplessly flail about before being smashed into the ground at high speeds.

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Ten minutes later, the group ceased their slaughter. Every monster within 3 kilometres of their would-be base had been killed; Ralf confirmed this fact. By flying up several hundred metres into the sky, he could spy on the distant monsters with his enhanced eyesight without triggering their soulndetection and the insatiable hunger it invoked.

Once confirmed, the group spent the next twenty minutes doing a cleanup. The monster corpses were gathered up in a large pile and Skye incinerated them in one great blaze. After doing so, the group moved to the body of water mentioned previously and began constructing their base.

There was no pause or confusion in their operation. The steps they took were steps discussed at length, not on the plane ride over, but at the Academy since more than a week ago.

First, they uprooted the trees near the lake to make a wide-open dirt clearing. Skye smoked the area with his flames to clear out all bugs and whatnot, before vanquishing the toxic smog with clean air. Ralf stepped up next. Using the previously uprooted trees as materials, the Transmigrator skillfully and swiftly constructed a large wooden cabin. The final product was impeccably neat, to the point where one could see one’s reflection in the wood at the right angle.

In preparation for the event, Ralf had polished up his carpentry skills. Noteworthy, the design used wasn’t an original but instead a template he had borrowed from a book in the library. He didn’t stop at the cabin. He added a few basic pieces of furniture and even a large bath.

For the bath, he didn’t use wood, at least not for the actual tub. Lane rolled over a boulder he had carved out of the mountain. After cleaning it up, Ralf carved an onsen-sized bath out of it and neatly placed it in the rectangular hole in the ground. While he was doing this, Lane made a simple tunnel system from the lake to the house. After being passed through a Psi filter and boiling session, the water would eventually fill up the tub.

Done with that, the group finished setting up the rest of the house, unpacking their bags and filling the cabin with their personal touches. For this Event, students couldn’t bring too much, but they could bring along essentials, like sleeping bags, knives and basic hygiene products. Also, for sustenance, students could bring along potions. There was animals and monsters present that could be eaten, though, usually students tended to err on the safer side. Ralf’s group was the same and enjoyed their high-quality stamina potions with some jerky and juice he had brought along.

Around the fireplace, on a makeshift couch, the group played Psi games and chatted. Ray joined them around this time and naturally slotted into the fray. No complaints were levied about his absence - only the opposite. Upon arrival, he unveiled ten new Psi games to play that would keep them busy for the next week.

The Stranded Event, while dangerous in its details, was meant to be one of the more easygoing Events, meant to facilitate bonding between students. Playing, chatting and bathing together; the duo and the boys did just that over the next week.

The duo’s pseudo Automatic Aura was the star of the show. With it to act as an alert and defensive system, as well as maintain the soft beds, the group could sleep easily.

The week passed by in a flash, the group much closer than before, all happy about the experience.

***

Rewinding the week back…

The boys hadn’t been the only ones away from the Academy, Charlotte and the Mimics were out as well. This was, of course, no coincidence. Not wanting to stay away from the duo/Babel for more than a week, the two groups made sure to sync up their days.

Where the boys went far east, the trio of girls headed far north. The island of Icemetri was closer to the north pole than Inis, and its landscape reflected that. The entire island was coated in white. Compared to the lively reception the boys had got, the girls were welcomed with cold shoulders, well comparatively.

After landing, they followed a plan more or less the same as the boys, again, no coincidence. One difference was that they didn’t care to set up their base near a water source. They had that covered. Using Violet and Yuki’s power in tandem, pure water could be made with ease.

Charlotte assumed a role similar to Ralf, leading the construction efforts. She too had made efforts to learn carpentry in advance for the Event, so while not as impressive as Ralf’s cabin, Charlotte’s was perfectly adequate; sturdy, neat, spacious and most importantly warm. Violet made a fireplace and lit up several makeshift braziers, which decorated the cabin at regular intervals.

One noteworthy addition to the girls' setup was the presence of the ten-metre-tall ice walls that encircled the cabin. These constructions were meant to act as hurdles for any approaching monsters, though, they wouldn't see any use over the next week. Where the boys had the duo's pseudo Automatic Aura, the girls had Charlotte's authentic Automatic Aura to keep monsters at bay.

Once everything was set up and organised, Charlotte and the Mimics traded accomplished high fives. The Onic Master then voiced her intention to relax in the bath.

The bath was onsen-style as well, carved from a cleaned boulder until smooth enough. It was already filled with warm water, steam rising with a pleasant scent thanks to the Onic Master’s added salts.

Importantly, as she was voicing her desire, she made sure to offer an invitation to her fellow companions as well. To her soul’s delight, they readily accepted the offer. And so, like this, the trio moved towards the bath, clothes falling off their person as they did.

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