When Astrid opened her eyes, all she could see were trees and she could sense unnerving fear of the unknown. Mirage was the first to talk to her.
"Astrid! You all right?" She held her hand out to Astrid. Astrid stood up.
The three were in the middle of nowhere.
Mizuki settled down leaned against a tree. However, Mirage was not a fan of this.
"Mizuki! Why are you resting? We've got to go hunt monsters! We've only got 3 days!"
He yawned.
"Chill out. Believe me, we'll only need a few hours to collect the crystals."
"What are you talking about?"
The boy got back up.
"Nevermind. Let's just go."
***
In front of them stood a chimera. It's lion head roared to show it's dominance. Mizuki pulled out his iron sword. It wasn't as strong as the mana one, but he'd deal with it. But Mirage stepped forward.
"Let me deal with it."
She unwrapped the object on her back to reveal a large scythe. She grinned and in a blink of a second, there was another two Mirages right beside her.
"Charge!"
The three lookalikes enhance themselves with strength, and dash at the chimera. Shocked, the chimera stepped back, standing on its hind legs. This left it vulnerable and open for a strike. The doppelgängers slashed the chimera and instantly wiped it out. The chimera disintegrated and dropped it's heart crystal.
Astrid and Mizuki gave her(well, them) a round of applause.
"Woah! What type of magic is that?"
"Illusion and enhancement magic. Unfortunately, I only have a tier 1 mana core."
"You're still that strong? I have to give you credit for that."
Mirage flustered, then looked away.
"It's not like I care..."
They all shared a chuckle while Mirage's clones disapparate. Then, they continued to clear out monsters left and right.
***
It turned nightfall, and the first day of hunting came to an end. Sitting around a campfire, Mizuki, Astrid and Mirage began to feast on some meat.
"What's your reason for coming to this school, Mirage?" Mizuki ripped a chunk of his meat stick, curious.
"My whole family are part of the Seraphic Vanguard: the group of knights that are under Baron. They're under some sort of curse, because they don't see me as their relative anymore. I'm here to get stronger, so I can join the Vanguard. I want to find out more about the army because I want my family back."
"Welcome to the familyless group then!"
Mirage giggled at him, and took a bite of her own chicken leg. She then noticed Astrid fall asleep, which made her blush at a thought.
"Um...Mizuki....how do you know Astrid?"
"She's my friend, i guess? Why'd you ask?"
"No reason..."
"Welp, better get some sleep. We got a long day tommorow."
Mirage wished Mizuki a goodnight, before laying down and dozing off. Mizuki, on the other hand, took a stroll into the forest. He wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste.
"Hotaru said we need heart crystals. She didn't say how much." He continued to delve deeper into the forest. "If I collect over the average amount, then I can sell the rest for a good ton of money." He put the weights on his legs into his backpack and ran into the darkness. It looked like he just disappeared.
***
The second day of the first trial. Astrid woke up first. Mirage was sleeping soundly next to her, but Mizuki was nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes of searching, Astrid located Mizuki's bag on the floor. It looked looted, as it was found by bandits. His spare clothes, his iron sword, his snacks and his weights were on the floor. There was also a photo that she picked up. It was a photo of a young Mizuki and a young girl playing together.
'Is this his sister or something?'
She started to put everything back in the bag, but when she got to the weights, she couldn't pick it up.
'What's up with these weights? Why are they so heavy?" She took a closer look at them. There was a tiny number on it.
'What? Wait, that says 200! There's no units though.'
Before she could inspect any further, the owner of the bag came behind her.
"Morning Astrid! I was out for a bit training."
"Hey Mizu...Where did you go?"
"I went to fight a few monsters and visit a few people...Most people were sleeping so I swiped their crystals." He grinned.
"You cheeky little rat. Eh, I don't care anyways. But I wanna know how they hell you are carrying these weights on your legs and still running faster than me!"
Mizuki grinned again.
"A whole lotta training."
Mirage woke up and eventually came across the pair.
"Finally found you guys. So, we gonna go hunt again or what?"
Half an hour later, the trio walk out of the back of the forest. They came out in Block C.
"I still can't believe that you gained that many crystals in one night. Just how strong are you?" Mirage asked with a sense of inquisitiveness.
Mizuki lied through his teeth. "Not as strong as you think...But let's focus on the main thing right now. We need to sell these."
Astrid replied. "We also can't be caught by any guards. We are still supposed to be in the forest."
They agreed. Ducking and weaving through the streets, the three get to the nearest Adventurers Guild.
'Of course they have one of these in a reincarnation world like this.'
Once inside, Mizuki chucked a large bag on the front desk. "How much can we get for these? Most of them are chimera hearts, by the way."
The guild staff were very pleased with this and traded a similar sized bag of platinum coins for it.
They were basically rich.