Scale of Reality

Beginner Trainees: Final

Muji POV

"Alright listen up babes."

We all rode in a massive carriage as we headed to our destination. We were provided with weapons and armor if we didn't have any already.

And I was one of those people.

"Today is the big day. The one you've all been practicing for has now arrived. Nervous? You should be, because you can die out here if you do something wrong."

Ms Shinmon grabbed a sheet folded paper from inside her pocket.

"Now usually I get to decide what goes down, but the upper echelon bit my ass and took my shit."

Mya snorted and buried her face in my arm, laughing. It made me chuckle a bit but it wasn't that funny.

"What I mean is, they made the parties you all are going to be in. Meaning they picked the groups. They did it themselves this time because you all are considered a "blessed bunch" and are beyond average expectations."

She looked at the groups on the papers before sighing.

"I'll announce the groups later, but right now I need to explain something. The goal of an actual hunt is to wipe out the monsters in the area, we have magic devices devoted specifically to locating them. Normal hunts normally last at least a week and can end up lasting as long as a few months."

Many people in carriage grew surprised, it was a surprise to me as well.

"A few months is crazy."

"The normal goal of trainees such as yourselves, especially children, is to survive for a short period of time. You won't have the locators, due to it being a survival task instead of a hunt. Unfortunately the higher ups expect a lot from you all, so we've been tasked with lasting inside of the blood moon forest for a week. Don't panic though, we've got lots of rations for each group."

After about five hours we arrived at our destination, causing the carriage to stop. We all got out of the carriage and stretched our legs before we turned to Ms Shinmon.

"Alright listen up, I'm not very happy with it, but these are the parties you'll be with for the next week inside of the blood moon forest. "

Ms Shinmon grabbed the letter again.

"The first team includes Jax, Zeke, Sky, Mya, Vas and myself. Of course I'll be acting as party leader."

"The second team Lacas, Ray, Chris, Adjest, Xander, and Fei. The party leader will be Adjest."

"The last team includes Lapis, Iris, Mari, Mateo, Shanna, and Muji. The party leader will be Muji."

I sighed a bit, I was always party leader.

"Everyone head over to your groups. My group come to me."

I looked to Mya, she looked down sadly.

"I wanted to be in the same group as you Muji. Guess it can't be helped."

I nodded before flicking her forehead.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Stop being a baby about it, this was bound to happen eventually."

Mya nodded before laughing a bit.

"Yeah you're right. Hey Muji, promise me you won't die."

"Only if you promise not to."

We connected our pinkies as Mya smiled and walked over to Ms Shinmon. I felt a hand smack my back, causing me to turn around.

"Don't worry Muji, I'll make sure nothing happens to her."

It was Jax.

"Thanks Jax. She's a strong girl but only mentally. I'm counting on you."

Jax nodded and walked away as I let out a sigh and turned around, my team had already gathered.

Mari and I had become friends, so I knew she was a good person and she was easy to work with.

Iris was also a friend of mine, so I trusted her.

Shanna and I knew of each other, but it's not like we were friends. Even if that was the case we still held a mutual level of respect for each other.

Mateo was a- forgive my profanity, a hardass. He was a perfectionist who believed if it wasn't his opinion, it was wrong.

But he listened to logic and reason.

The real problem here was....

"Lapis..."

He was a blank page.

Even with all the times we had each other as party members during practice all I could really gather was he was always listening and he followed directions well.

If he wasn't asleep.

But he woke up when it mattered, so it was like having a joker card in a deck.

A wild card.

"Mateo can you go get our squad provisions?"

"I shall."

Mateo walked off as I began to think.

"We have two guardians, two assassins, a mage and a healer. There are very few party formations that don't involve a knight, but I can just make some up. We wont have much practice with it but it'll have to work."

Mateo came back with our rations and handed them to me. It was a massive book bag, but it wasn't very heavy.

"Alright listen everyone, there aren't many party formations we can use so just follow what I say. I know that this sort of defeats the purpose of our training but rather than results I choose survival."

Mateo pushed his glasses up with a nod.

"Understandable."

"Are you all ready?"

Mari nodded.

"I trust you Muji."

Shanna also nodded.

"Ill also trust you."

Iris smiled and nodded as I turned to Mateo, who just gave me a small nod. I looked at Lapis, who was asleep.

"Lapis, wake up we're about to head out."

Lapis slowly opened his eyes before groaning.

"Whatever."

I sighed as I looked over to Ms Shinmon, getting a nod.

"Alright, let's go."

Without any more delay, under my leadership, group three advanced into the blood moon forest.