Ivan wanted to get stronger.
He struggled to gain strength for a majority of his life, and now that an opportunity is with him--he did not want to waste it in vain.
And even though Grace did assure them that as long as they maintain a cautious nature in regards to this mountain, they could not fully prepare for the unpredictable.
Ivan looked at Anne.
"Let's do it."
Strength can not be obtained if they merely remain still; sometimes, risks and danger is necessary to obtain it. The chance of strength, as long as it does not sink you to the deepest depths of depravity, is worth it, Ivan thought.
Anne nodded.
To fulfill their ambitions, a leap of faith was necessary.
~~~
Ivan looked behind them.
"We should hurry getting the materials," Ivan pointed behind. "People are busy setting up tents and whatnot to sleep in. I mean... we aren't going to be sleeping anytime soon, right?" If they were going to do the plan that Grace mentioned then the time they had had to used efficiently.
Rufus sighed.
"His plan is rather strenuous. So while we do have to gain the necessary materials and food to be able to satiate ourself before others come and take the spoils--we can't over do it."
Anne asked, "And what would be the best course of action if someone tries steal our things?" Even though a majority of people were setting up their tents, some people were deciding to go ahead and jump into the forest dangers.
Rufus grinned.
"The only reasonable option! You take them out! This is a miniature survival simulation in the end of it. So fighting is inevitable. And frankly, I like our chances!"
Grace agreed.
"But if we do fight, we have to be efficient with it. If a fight turns out to be longer than anticipated, I'd advise to retreat."
Grace then changed his gaze to Ivan, and a thin smile appeared.
"Of course, this is merely advice. In the end, human nature naturally invokes a desire for victory. If you want to fight, make sure you win."
Was that... directed at me? Ivan thought. He wasn't necessarily someone who wanted to fight for the heck of it, but if it was a fight he thought he could win, then he'd like his chances.
"Let's split up in two," Ivan suggested.
"It's probably best for you and Anne to do it together because you might be more familiar with each other's style?" Grace asked, posing it as a question. In truth, Grace already knew that they had trained with each other at least once.
"Alright then," Grace stretched his limbs, loosening his body. "Let's disperse!"
~~~
The wide-arrange of animals was definitely something that deserved praise. Due to this place being utilized by the academy, they had to make the obvious choices of implanting animals due to the amount of students that come to the mountain-range every year.
Grace and Rufus stayed quiet, standing behind trees parallel to each other. Beyond them, within a little opening within the abundant forest, stood a deer with green fur.
Chewing away at the grass, it was oblivious to the sudden movements of Rufus. Peering further, Rufus' left hand charged with a fire spell. Due to them having to be conscious of their reserves, Rufus opted in using a basic fire spell that could get the job done in silence.
[Fire Bullet]
Reeling his arm back, Rufus pressed his hand forward, a thin line of fire piercing the air and barreling towards the Deer. The deer did not have time to react once noticing and the bullet of fire pierced its skull.
Walking out from behind the trees, Grace and Rufus approached the deer.
"Second one down," Rufus grinned. "It's unfortunate that we don't have a dimensional storage ring. The parts we can't have will be wasted." Grace had to agree--life would have been much better if they had a dimensional storage.
However, even for nobles... getting their hands on one would cost more than their allowance.
But... an Earth Deer... they shouldn't be appearing here. Had they not been stealthily moving around, then a battle with the Earth Deer would have ensued. While they were restricted to just basic spells due to the mana in the air being lackluster, had they faced it in a place with higher levels of mana--
Destruction was inevitable.
.5 star Earth Deer. Animals and mana beasts were graded differently than humans, with the formers being graded from zero to ten stars. With the highest being incredibly threatening to the world and the observable universe.
Obtaining the necessary parts from the Earth Deer, Grace turned to Rufus.
"We should regroup."
"For sure. Hunting further would be a hinderance to our movements."
BOOM!
From afar, a loud explosion could be heard. Birds flew from the tress and many animals began to scatter.
Rufus chuckled.
"Hey... uh... I have a bad feeling about who that is."
~~~
It was all so sudden, Ivan had thought. When a group of boys had emerged from the trees once he and Anne had took out a wild animal--he could see it.
The glint in their eyes that betrayed their words.
They would attack the two of them if they didn't agree to handing some of the supplies to them. However, the moment they had asked them about giving food to them, that was all he needed to hear.
In that split moment, Ivan leapt forward at incredible speeds for a Normal Grade 9. In mere seconds, he was seconds away from the group of boys.
His hand formed into that of a gun.
"You have no right," Ivan glared. "To take what is ours."
Fire began to blaze for the tips of his index and middle finger. Pouring a great amount of mana into the spell, Ivan directed the spell at the group of boys.
Fwoosh!
The boys had no time to react at Ivan's sudden sequence of movements. Their eyes merely widened as the fire spell Ivan charged exploded, sending the five boys away.
Within the smoke, all five boys got up and charged forward.
Anne grimaced.
"Ivan," Anne began, pushing them away with wind spell. "Pace yourself. There is no reason to be doing all that." Really, these boys were most likely at a much lower rank than themselves, so even a head-on battle would not take too long if they combined their skills together.
"Sorry... I just didn't really like how they thought they could force us to give something to them. Had they asked kindly... maybe I would have entertained it."
However, in that instance, he instinctually denied their request.
Anne shook her head, a light chuckle escaping her lips.
"We should go before we attract more attention. We got mostly everything we'd need for just a day of camping out."
Ivan sighed, nodding his head.
They ran away from the scene.
But they soon stopped.
"Wait," Anne paused. "Where are Grace and Rufus supposed to be at?"
Ivan's eyes twitched.
"Uhhh... maybe a bit further down?"
They never discussed it.