"Do you want to gather points in this outdoor training or not?" Souta asked his team members. He looked at their eyes with a serious expression. The challenges that the institute gave to them were easy. He could complete it whenever he wanted.
"I donât care about it. Iâll just go with the majority." Alice replied to him as she crossed her arms.
"I got it." Souta nodded at her and he looked at Yujin, Lynn, and Lumilia. He didnât need to ask Lumilia at all. He already knew her answer so that leave it to Lynn and Yujin.
"Itâs fine for me. I wanted to test my skills and fighting other students is a part of training too." Lumilia answered.
"M-Mila..." Lynn looked at her friend. She actually doesnât want to fight but it seems that all of her teammates wanted to fight other classes.
Lumilia looked at her and placed her mouth closer to Lynnâs ear. She whispered, "I thought that you wanted to fight beside Souta. Thatâs the reason why you started to train, right?"
"B-But... Iâm still weak." Lynn said with a downcast expression.
Souta heard her words. He looked at her and said, "Youâre not weak. Itâs just your fighting style isnât compatible with your talent. Youâll get stronger if you change it."
Lynn wasnât compatible with burst type mage. She was too kind and probably couldnât kill a person. She was suited more at support type mage or sensory type. If she trained her skills, she will become great in both types.
"R-Really?" Lynn asked with a doubtful expression. She thought that Souta was just putting good words so that she wouldnât felt down.
"Iâm not joking. Iâm going to explain it to you later." Souta said to her with a smile. He then looked at Yujin with a serious look.
Lumilia stood up and said, "Iâm going to get water." She walked towards the door and stopped. She turned her head and glanced at Lynn and Souta. She then opened the window and exited the room.
Alice was looking at Lumilia from the corner of her eyes. She followed Lumiliaâs line of sight.
"Hmm..." The corner of her mouth curved upward.
"Fine, weâll gather points," Yujin said with a sigh. He leaned his back on the wall and looked at the ceiling. "We have to get stronger so we have to do it."
"Good... Thatâs a good decision." Souta said as he couldnât help but grin. Thereâs another reason why he wanted to complete the task. And thatâs because several quests pop up in his system when he received the challenges and tasks of this outdoor training.
This was the reason why Souta like the special events in the institute. He could earn a lot of points by defeating other students. In this quest, he didnât need to place his life on the line.
Alice then opened her mouth and asked, "What should we do now? I already finish the solo challenge."
"Hmm...?" Souta rubbed his chin before he said, "Letâs make this place our base of operations to complete the other challenge. Then, everyone will go out to complete the solo challenge."
He looked at Alice and added, "If you donât want to go, you can stay here. After all, you already complete your solo challenge."
"Iâll go. I have nothing to do here." Alice shook her head and said.
"Okay." Souta nodded at her. "We have to do the challenges every day so tomorrow please woke up early in the morning. Weâll complete our challenge then defeat the other class."
"You make it sound easy," Alice said to him.
"Um... Souta is strong. He fought several classes on his own in the special test before." Lynn said to Lumilia.
"Haha, donât be like that Lynn. The other classes are training hard so we donât know if their improvements are high or not." Souta laughed and said to Lynn.
Lumilia then entered the room. She gave everyone a glass of water. Everyone thanked her for the water.
"Hu~"
Souta exhaled after he drunk a glass full of water. He looked at Lumilia and said, "Iâll tell you our plan. After I explain it, tell us your opinion."
"Okay." Lumilia nodded at him. She then took out a towel and gave it to Souta.
"Thanks..." Souta took the towel in her hands and wiped his face. He then proceeded to explain his plan to her which she agreed.
...
Late at night...
Souta, Lumilia, Yujin, and Lynn already finished their solo challenge. They didnât have a problem with it except for Lynn. Lynn was quite nervous when she fought a single ferocious wolf.
Lumilia, Yujin, and Alice were watching her fights while Souta was coaching her. He was teaching her as she loses her composure. Because of this the ferocious wolf almost injured her. Luckily, everyone was watching her so they managed to decapitate the ferocious wolf before it catches Lynn.
It took them almost three hours before they managed to complete their solo challenge. Well, they got delayed because of Lynn. Souta didnât blame her because he knew that she was timid. He patiently coached her on how to hunt monsters.
"I-Iâm sorry everyone you got delayed because of me." Lynn bowed her head in front of her teammates.
"Itâs okay Lynn..." Lumilia said to her friend with a concerned look.
Alice and Yujin didnât say anything. They just glanced at Souta who was looking at Lynn.
"Iâm going to say the truth..." Souta said as he massaged his temples. "Your performance was bad. Too bad. Your trembling in front of an opponent that you could defeat. You are not thinking of defeating it. You donât have any guards. Youâre full of holes."
Lynn lowered her head as she looked down on her feet. She felt her heart tightening every time she heard the words that came out of Soutaâs mouth.
"Youâre a mage, am I right? So you should know the basic fundamentals of being a mage." Souta looked at Lumilia and asked, "Teacher Bargan thought it to us, right class rep?"
"...Yes," Lumilia replied to him in a low voice.
"Youâre a trained mage so you could handle that level of monster," Souta said to her. He then sighed when he saw Lynnâs eyes getting wet.
"Okay, this is outdoor training. I donât want to hear any complaints coming from you. Iâm going to train you." Souta said and he turned around.
Lynn opened her eyes widely when she heard Soutaâs words. She lifted her head and saw Soutaâs back. She then smiled and said, "Yes, Iâll do my best."
When Souta was reprimanding her, she felt pain. Her heart was tightening. When she thought that Souta was disappointed in her, she felt like crying. Sheâs supposed to show her good side to Souta.
"Okay, letâs go back to rest," Souta said as he started to walk. He rubbed his chin and thought what class was compatible with Lynn. Support type or sensory type. Maybe, hybrid but it will become harder and it will depend on her talent.
He should ask her if she still has points. That way she could redeem some spells and skills that would compliment her talent.
âWell, self-defense comes first. She will not be able to complete this training if she didnât know some fighting skills.â Souta thought as he took a swift glance at Lynnâs direction.
Yujin looked back at the corpse of the monster that they hunted. He pulled it towards the village.
...
They entered the Ibish village and met Randolfâs group.
Randolf looked at Souta and said, "I know you. Youâre planning to take those points, am I right?"
Souta just glanced at him and didnât say anything. He walked away without saying anything to Randolf. Lumilia, Alice, Yujin, and Lynn followed Souta from behind.
"Haha, battles... In every big battle, youâre always involved. You canât hide it." Randolf laughed as he walked outside the village. He then added, "Be careful of this village..."
...
After one day...
Soutaâs group has already finished their challenges for today. Their challenge was the same as yesterday, the only difference was that they had to hunt five monsters today.
It was already noon when they finished their challenges.
"Letâs rest here for a while," Souta said to his teammates. Everyone agreed with him. Well, they knew that Lynn was tired and she needed to rest to recover some of her energy.
"Are you fine, Lynn?" Lumilia asked her friend with a concerned look.
"Thanks for worrying, Mila. Iâm fine. I could handle it." Lynn said to Lumilia with a wry smile.
Souta looked around. He noticed something so he asked Lumilia, "This is a large village, am I right class rep?"
"Yeah, why?" Lumilia nodded at him and asked.
At this time, Yujin opened his mouth and said, "So you noticed it too..."
"Yes, you could barely saw any people wandering around this village," Souta said.
"Youâre right. Iâm wondering too why..." Yujin said as he looked around.
"Now that you mention it... Weâre too busy yesterday to notice it." Alice nodded at them.
"Do you want me to go to the Adventurers Guild and gather some information?" Lumilia suggested to Souta.
"Nope, weâll all go there. The institute didnât forbid us from taking any quest. We could earn some money from taking quests there." Souta stood up and said, "Letâs take a look. Donât worry about the task. We can complete it anytime since thereâs no time limit."