99 Campgrounds

"How much longer till we--"

"Yeter, we're almost there! You can stop asking," shouted Ania. "We'll reach the campground in about an hour."

"Really?! Finally!" Yeter smiled wide as he happily trotted.

"Even after three days and half days of walking, you're still that happy?"

"Well yeah, Oli, why wouldn't I be?" laughed Yeter. "Now we get to fight different kinds of beasts and get stronger! I won't just be hitting a dummy or cultivating quietly. I can finally let loose and go all our against something."

"I guess…" Scratching his head, Oli looked ahead toward the jungle in the distance. "So that's the northeast jungle… It's definitely wild, that's for sure."

Alongside Oli, Netra, and Yeter, Karos chuckled, "The headmaster said that it was a good thing for us to this and make sure that there aren't too many beasts going wild in the jungle. It helps us maintain peace and travel routes for merchants, while also giving us students practical experience. He's quite the thinker to come up with such a plan."

"Yeah, Vloz is a lot smarter than I remember at times," joked Oli. "He's way more calculating than I am."

"Really?" mentioned Netra. "I find that hard to believe."

"Really. I try to plan and always be prepared for things but he's always a few steps ahead of everyone else, especially his enemies."

"Yeah, but you're just as calculating, just in other ways, like how you cultivate."

Oli shrugged. "I guess you could say that."

"What do you mean?" asked Yeter.

"Nothing," stated Netra.

Karos also asked, "No, really, what do you mean by that? What's different about how he cultivates?"

"With a sigh, Oli answered, "What she probably meant was how I'm constantly trying to reshape the battle arts and cultivation techniques that I'm using. A good example is how I recreated my Earthen Hammer battle art. I think you can figure out why I did that."

Karos nodded. "Hmm… Reshaping battle arts and cultivation techniques… That sounds difficult."

"It is, but if you're successful than you'll have better control over your essence and will better understand your abilities. That alone helps a ton during a battle," explained Oli.

"Ohhh!" Yeter nodded, acting like he completely understood. "I see, so I'll have to step up my cultivation to catch up and surpass you, Oli."

"Didn't you already realize that?"

"Yes, yes, of course!"

"Heh… Whatever…" Oli sighed and looked back to the other students around him. "What do you guys think, will we be able to beat the other class?"

"We'll definitely win!" shouted Yeter.

Netra nodded. "I think we've got a good chance, but we'll have to really try."

"So long as us four give it our all, there's no way the other class will be able to compete," Karos laughed, confidently looking back at Oli.

"I agree, but it'll be hard work for sure," added Oli. "I hope none of you slack off because we'll find out what the jungle is really like in no time. And knowing my mom and Vloz, they only agreed to the contest because they genuinely think it'll be a close contest."

"I'll keep that in mind," stated Karos.

"Yeah, we'll win easily!"

"Yeter… Did you even understand what I said?"

Netra and Karos both laughed as Oli tried to reexplain himself to the stubborn stallion. By the time Yeter finally understood what Oli was talking about, the students had reached the border of the jungle.

"Alright, novices will follow me and adepts will follow Hurdo further into the jungle. Don't get lost and stay together. If you do, it might be too late for me or the other teachers to save you," shouted Ania, scaring the students enough to follow instructions to a tee.

As the novices were finally on their own, they traveled along the edge of the jungle for the next half hour.

"I think this looks like a good place to make camp. Everyone," she paused as a few bundles of tarp, rope, and poles appeared beside her.

"It's time to set up camp. Oli, Klor, and I will be in charge of setting up these tents with the help of the frogs and foxes. Lynxes, stallions, and wildebeests will be in charge of clearing this area of trees and stumps. Get to work!"

Everyone started to handling their responsibilities.

Yeter challenged Karos to a competition, seeing who could clear the most trees by the time they were done, which Karos gladly accepted.

While those two were competing with one another, Netra was helping Oli set up a few tents without too much rush.

In less than an hour, over fifty trees were cleared and pushed to the side of the clearing for firewood. Also, Karos managed to barely beat Yeter, clearing seven trees while Yeter cleared six.

A total of ten tents were set up and being filled with students.

Both teachers got their own tents, but Oli decided not to share a tent with his mother. Instead, he shared a tent with the males of the advanced class.

Each of the large tents could hold up to ten beasts inside, and they were divided by class and gender.

While the students were getting cozy, Klor left to go and catch a few beasts for dinner. In the meantime, Ania set up a large fire pit to use for dinners and breakfasts.

Once Klor returned with meat, it was quickly prepped and roasted over the fire. The sweet aroma of meat filled the camp, bringing all of the students around the fire.

"Since you're already here, I'll explain a few things while you wait for dinner to finish," laughed Ania. "First off, we'll only be handling breakfast and dinner. You'll be in charge of your own lunches, but can ask for some guidance in cooking and prepping food from either of us."

"Second, you'll spend the bulk of the day either cultivating or hunting. I'd recommend that you do both each day. Some people might like to hunt first and then cultivate based on what you learned while hunting and some might prefer doing the opposite," explained Ania. "Either way, make sure you don't forget to cultivate and apply what you learn each day. It will help you advance immensely."

"Some of you will make some major advancements because you all lacked proper experience, which you'll now gain. Use this to your advantage. I want everyone to try and make breakthroughs, especially those at the peak of the novice plane."

Speaking up, Klor added, "And don't worry too much about running into opponents you can't handle. The further into the jungle you go, the stronger the opponents. So the early and low novices should stay close while those at the peak should get some distance."

"Both me and Ania will be here at camp, but we can easily reach any of you that might need help in case you find a beast at the adept plane. If you need help, just shout using your essence and we'll arrive very shortly," explained Klor. "Any other questions?"

"How do we keep track of how many beasts we kill?" asked Karos.

"Try and pile them up," answered Ania. "We'll also be taking into account what level each of the slain beasts are at when deciding the winning class. If you're too tired to continue and have a small pile, you're welcome to bring back the corpses to camp. If there are too many to count, then either me or Klor can come and pick up your pile."

"So what would be best, to kill a few high level beasts or a lot of low level beasts?" asked a student of the normal class.

Klor replied, "That's a good question. In theory, they can equal out if there are enough low level beasts. But it can go either way in reality. I'm guessing that those in my class will be able to kill the most beasts overall, but it'll still be a very close competition."

"Right, there's no telling who will win at the moment. Just do your best and stick to a strategy after you've decided one. If you keep changing your mind, your results will be affected," added Ania. "Now, who's ready for some food!"

Everyone formed a line and each took a portion of roasted python.

Oli and his friends gathered up, trying to decide on their strategy. Netra asked, "Oli, what do you think we should do?"

"For the first day, I'm going to test myself more or less figure out what level of beasts are where," answered Oli. "As for what I do after that, I kinda want to hunt some adept plane beasts."

"Really?!" Yeter looked at Oli with pride. "Of course you do! Let's all do that!"

"Calm down Yeter, I'm not sure that would be best for each of us," added Oli. "Maybe Karos could do it, but I'm not sure. I won't be hunting only adept beasts, not unless I feel confident in doing so after beating my first one. Plus, both me and Netra have already defeated adepts."

Karos smiled and gave Oli a strange look. "What do you mean by that? What are you trying to suggest?"

"I think we should hunt in pairs. You and Yeter could definitely handle an early adept beast while Netra and I would do the same."

"Hmm… Not a bad idea, Oli," laughed the lynx.

They then focused on Ania's delicious food. All of the students were happy to discover that Oli's mother was an amazing cook.