After that day, any confidence we’d built was shattered broken like a dam bursting. But it made sense.

  Blindly charging something so much stronger is suicide.

  Even though we can fight opponents above our level using strategy and tactics, it means nothing if pure overwhelming power renders all of it useless.

  I wonder what today’s lesson will be.

  Bennett made his way to the sparring center, as usual, before receiving a notification from the instructor:

  "Report to the classroom instead."

  He arrived last.

  "Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up. Anyway, take a seat," the instructor said without missing a beat.

  Bennett quickly found his spot.

  "Now, I wonder… has any of you noticed that I’ve been testing each of you individually? Anyone have a guess why?"

  Aiko raised her hand, and the instructor nodded toward her.

  "Oh! Oh! It’s to test our combat skills, and for us to see how each of us fights so we can improve teamwork, right?"

  "A good guess, Aiko but only half right."

  "Eh? What did I get wrong?"

  "Simple. I’m not only assessing your combat abilities. I’m making sure each of you can fight solo."

  Ayaka raised her hand.

  "Yes, Miss Ayaka?"

  "Why are we being trained to fight alone? Isn’t teamwork better?"

  "Ah, good question. Inside the city walls, yes teamwork works fine. But the moment you step outside those walls, being in a group becomes a liability."

  Bennett raised his hand next.

  "Yes, Bennett?"

  "Why’s a group a liability outside the walls, but it’s okay inside?"

  "Good follow-up. The reason is life pulse. Every living being emits a life pulse. Beasts are extremely sensitive to it and the more people gather in one spot, the stronger that pulse becomes. But here’s the kicker: it doesn’t scale linearly. It spikes.

  One person emits a manageable pulse. Two? That risk doesn’t just double it quadruples. That means more beasts, and more frequent attacks."

  "But wait..." Ayaka muttered, frowning. "If that’s the case, why aren’t we being swarmed 24/7 inside the city? We’ve got so many people… wouldn’t every beast in the region be drawn here?"

  "Oh my, Miss Ayaka. Aren’t you sharp?" the instructor said with a smirk.

  "As for why the city is safe… that’s something I can’t reveal just yet. Your current ranks are far too low for that kind of information."

  "Aww, I was hoping you’d slip up," Aiko said with a playful pout.

  "It’s top-secret. Only those with the rank of 'Experienced' and higher are cleared to know. Until then no spoilers."

  The instructor walked over to the desk and lifted a black bag for everyone to see.

  "Now then supplies. You’ll each be issued one of these."

  She held it up. "This is a specialized field bag. Thanks to a combination of magic and tech, anything placed inside is shrunk to one-tenth its original size. The side pouch here is a six-slot pill bottle holder."

  She pointed to it.

  "This design minimizes bulk and helps you carry back more from the field like herbs, beast materials, fur, fangs… even meat."

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "If you're interested in learning how to properly harvest materials, we do have instructors for that. Otherwise, you'll need to pay someone to do the carving after hauling the whole body back which I don’t recommend."

  "Learning to carve and process beasts properly means more profit, better use of space, and less wasted materials."

  "Now, let's talk about pills. The five most recommended types are:

  1. Mana Regeneration Pills for obvious reasons.

  2. Restoration Pills boost your natural healing.

  3. Nutrition Pills one of these contains all nutrients needed for a full day. Doses vary by individual.

  4. Strength Pills temporarily increase your strength, mana, and durability by 10%.

  5. Spring Pills satisfy thirst like water. Cuts down your need to carry bottles.

  The sixth pill bottle slot is entirely up to you choose what suits your needs."

  "Do not overlook pill purity. Low-purity pills may give you negative side effects or statuses."

  Kaeris raised his hand.

  "Yes, Kaeris?"

  "Teacher… why do we even need to collect beast parts and meat? This sounds like scavenger work."

  The instructor raised an eyebrow.

  "A fair point. But it’s more than that. This serves multiple purposes. First, you’re eliminating threats near the wall, making the region safer. Second, it provides a steady source of income or you can trade what you collect for better equipment, pills, or even information, depending on what you need."

  More importantly, those materials help our blacksmiths and pill-makers create better gear and medicine."

  "That’s why these bags are standard issue to make transport and collection easier."

  Kaeris continued, "So basically, we clear out dangerous beasts, collect useful parts, maybe grab herbs if we see any, and do that until our shift ends?"

  "Exactly, Kaeris. That’s why while we’re soldiers of the city, we also double as its hunters."

  "You must also remember the lesson I taught yesterday," the instructor continued. "If you encounter a beast that you can't defeat, your priority is to evacuate at all costs. Even if you can't escape completely, as long as you get close enough to the walls, an elite guard will be able to save you. But that’s only if you’re near the walls."

  The instructor paused for a moment before adding:

  "And lastly, regarding the earlier subject don't forget to always collect the beasts' materials and store them. In the end, it all contributes to our survival. Your contribution may not seem like much at first, but over time, it adds up. And that’s it for today’s lesson."

  The instructor gave a small nod. "You’re all free to go. If any of you want to learn how to carve and process beasts, I’ll send you the location shortly. Have a good day."

  Soon after, each of us received a message with the location.

  Bennett looked around at the others.

  "Anyone else going?"

  Ironfang shook his head. "Nah, I’d rather focus on training."

  Ashbane nodded. "I’m joining you. I wanna see how they process meat since I normally just " He drooled a little, " eat from the source."

  Aiko nodded as well. "I’ll join. Looks fun, and I can save some money. Plus, I can use that for more pranks!"

  Ayaka gave a quick nod. "It’s a useful skill to have, considering what we’ve learned. And I refuse to carry any useless parts in my bag if I can help it."

  Kaeris shook his head. "I won’t join. I need to get back to basics after that embarrassing failure. I need to restart and make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again."

  His arrogance was nowhere to be found after the battle lessons where he had failed spectacularly.

  Bennett waved at them. "I’ll see you all later, then. I’ll go and take up a job for now since the lessons won’t start for a few hours."

  He left, but his mind was deep in thought, rearranging the information he’d learned. He wondered what kept the city from being overrun with beasts and why there weren’t portable versions of whatever it was that protected them.

  He snapped out of his thoughts when he overheard a nearby conversation that sounds from the hallway thats strictly used by staff members only.

  "Hey, got assigned to the stabilizer again?"

  "Yeah, it’s... pretty boring though..."

  "Of course it is... stabilizer duties are always..."

  "Yeah, but it's not like there's any... real excitement. Just sitting around... doing the same..."

  "I guess, but... you gotta do it... it's the stabilizer..."

  "Yeah... sucks to be us, right?"

  "Yeah... but what can we... we're stuck with it..."

  The voices faded away. Two instructors were clearly talking, but what was this "stabilizer"?

  Bennett shook his head to dismiss the thought. Too little information and it sounded too casual.

  A few hours later, he headed toward the lesson about carving and processing bodies.

  Once he entered the room, he saw the others and joined them.

  "This should be an interesting experience," Bennett muttered to himself.

  Aiko suddenly hugged Bennett's arm, making him blush.

  "Aww, you're cute when you blush," she teased.

  "W-well, it's cau-"

  "Ow ow ow ow!"

  Aiko giggled, releasing her hold on his arm. Bennett noticed that she had an electric buzzer in her hand.

  "Ugh, I should have realized something was going on when you did that," Bennett facepalmed, realizing he'd been pranked.

  Soon after, an instructor entered. His name was Kuma. Upon seeing the lack of students, he scoffed in disdain.

  Bennett, noticing his attitude, decided to question the instructor.

  "Sir, why do you look so disappointed after seeing us?"

  The instructor looked at him and grinned.

  "Oh ho ho, it's 'cause a bunch of brats think my lesson is useless. The fact that most of the elite students came and none of the normal students showed up means they’re missing out."

  "This lesson I do is normally a paid lesson, but those idiots aren’t taking it. Wonder how long it’ll take until they realize it... hohoho."

  Bennett and the others sweatdropped.

  Ashbane laughed, as his family was professional at handling meat they were Wendigos, after all.

  "Anyways, let’s get started," Kuma said, focusing their attention. He demonstrated how to carve a beast: separating the fur from the skin, getting the fangs, collecting the fluids, and processing the meat.

  They thought it was over after that, but then Kuma brought in another beast, a different species with a unique body structure. The carving continued for the rest of the afternoon. The instructor explained how each beast had its own unique body type, and how he adjusted his tools accordingly. Kuma made sure to cram as many techniques as possible into their heads.

  The lesson ended when he ran out of beasts to carve.

  "Alright, brats, make sure you remember all this," Kuma said, standing up. "If you want more lessons on carving, it'll cost you. What it’ll cost depends on your offer money, beast bodies, herbs... whatever you can give."

  He left shortly after.

  "So what do you all think?" Bennett asked.

  Aiko suddenly woke up, yawning loudly and stretching.

  "God, I didn’t think it would be so boring I’d fall asleep."

  Ayaka poked Aiko with a smile.

  "I knew you’d fall asleep. So I made sure to write down the details on how it’s done in my notebook. We can study it together."

  Aiko hugged Ayaka.

  "Yay, I knew I could count on you!"

  Bennett looked at them both in disbelief.

  "Wait, you both know each other? It didn’t seem obvious earlier. Hell, you two didn’t even seem to know each other."

  Aiko and Ayaka blushed.

  "Uh... crap. We were found out," they muttered in unison.

  Bennett rolled his eyes.

  "Whatever, I won’t pry into your relationship... heh."

  Aiko laughed.

  "Oh, you. If we ever hear a peep about our relationship being exposed, we know who to go to."

  Bennett panicked as the laughter, while innocent, radiated pure horror.

  "Oi oi oi! Ashbane is here, too! I won’t reveal it, no matter what, I promise."

  Ayaka giggled.

  Aiko pouted at Ayaka.

  "Ayaka, don’t laugh. Plus, as you can see, he's lost in La-La Land." Aiko pointed at Ashbane, who was currently in a daze, seemingly dreaming about meat.

  "Oh, I didn’t notice that," Bennett said sheepishly.

  "Anyways, are you lesbians?" Bennett asked nonchalantly.

  Aiko screamed.

  "What?!?"

  Aiko smacked Bennett’s head.

  "Absolutely not! Me and Ayaka are just friends. The only reason we're normally cold to each other is because Ayaka is too shy in public."

  Ayaka smacked Aiko this time.

  "H-hey, don’t expose me like that!" Ayaka protested, her face turning red.

  Bennett started backing away as the two began arguing, but it seemed to escalate playfully. He didn’t sense any real distrust, just teasing and embarrassment.

  Taking this chance, he quickly left the room and returned to his dorm before freshening up, relaxing and, going to bed.

  Hopefully aiko dosent prank me tomorrow.

  Chapter 8 End