"Just think of it like a field exercise, he says." Cire watched as her kit was reworked extensively.

  Ludere was not surprised that both women had packed poorly. He was surprised that they let him go through their things and repack them to his standards. He was less surprised that they didn't care if he did it.

  "You're really okay with this?"

  "Why would we have an issue with it. You've seen your girlfriend naked. I assume that means you're not going to have any issue with my personal effects."

  "She doesn't carry around a coconut with her wherever she goes. What do you need a coconut for?"

  "Do drink from of course," Mila said. "You didn't grow up with coconuts?"

  "How are you going to get it open?"

  Mila's eyes flashed black quickly then resumed their normal brown.

  "That's like... Killing a demon by attacking it with a human."

  "I suppose you want to use your spear or you have some other way." Ludere was unable to bring his spear for the field exercise it was specifically forbidden.

  They had been told specifically that they would be given tools and weapons and that these weapons were specifically for animals. He was highly skeptical of the rest of the classes. Based on the configuration of the packs around them, none of these students would have survived as the camp followers.

  "Isn't it strange that for the two of us we just accept what's going on here with the packing?" Among the women, Mila was the best prepared. Her pack was far and above exactly ready for a long campaign.

  "It's like they didn't grow up having to have most of what one owned ready to move within a few hours notice. That does something to a person. Some of the men on my floor were ridiculous about what they were trying to take and it was definitely going to be four days."

  "I know. Some of these ladies were complaining that their favorite products didn't travel well. I'm not saying that Cire did but I could see her doing it."

  Ludere handed Cire her pack.

  "You know that I am right here."

  "Try it out. Walk down over there and back."

  Cire complied.

  "It's not too loose. She'll do well with it. And it has room for whatever food she's going to carry. We're spreading out the food between the three of us. That is if they decide that we are getting our rations at some reasonable hour. I still don't believe that they're doing everything that they are doing."

  "That pack really looks like it's going to hold up to the challenge. Good work Ludo. Oh and here she comes."

  Cire looked like she was happy with her setup.

  Each of the teams had their own little area and with a bit of a queue, several Grammarians were going through and picking out groups one by one and sending them off. Ludere knew that they were getting instructions and their objectives but other than that he wasn't sure how so many groups could all get similar objectives. He was hoping for someone that involved getting far outside the walls and just going.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Inside the tall marble walls of the academy's there was space but it was like living inside of a big house. He had stalked The entirety of the place over and over again. Even in the loops he'd been through, there wasn't anything interesting that could access.

  When it was finally their term, they were called up to take their objective.

  " Your objective is to get 13 of these blue marbles.

  Here's your map of the island. Here are rough locations where they are. Each of the marbles responds to a special control marble which will hand you right here."

  As the group leader, Cire took the control marble.

  "Due to the size of the island, these have been spaced far enough that we think it should take you about three days. If you spending more than eight hours in between one marble and the next, you need to reconsider your calculations for where you are. There are three known points to orient you two outside there and you should be using those as a basis for your search."

  ---

  On dirait la hauteur marvels. The island might be large but they hadn't had a chance to explore outside before and there's lots of forest. Pine trees grew up and around everywhere. They plotted the course and looked for the three landmarks.

  With the academy in the southeast at the island, each of the marbles looked to be between twelve and twenty four miles away from the previous one. It wasn't just an objective with an easy path l, allowing quick movement. They had to orient themselves to the terrain and try to find a force approach to the various caches where they knew the marbles would be hidden. Then they had to deal with the brush itself.

  The fact that Noah was allowed on the island to clear out the under oath of the trees in the forest meant that this was an unspoiled area of wilderness. It stretched down for miles and miles. Several times, they paused searching for something else. The large knives, each one the size of a forearm, do that. It helped them to cut down some of the worst offenders.

  It took them only an hour before they referred back to the map. And at time they've had found several other teams, each one goes through the motions as they were. When Milla asked the group what their objective was. Was they were very cagey about it and had been giving out anything. The team had more than willing to do whatever it took. Whether that meant moving through the night or something entirely different, they were ready.

  It wasn't until they approached the area that they expected to find their first marble that things began to go wrong.