Spirit Taming

Chapter 54: Quick Return

"Now listen here! We are not going back the way we planned. Instead, we are going to move as a group. Professor Wright is clearing the trail ahead of us. We will board the Cloud Whale and head home. Stay close and do not separate from the group.

If you do, you will be left here." Professor Brune did not hold back. The moment the camp had been cleaned up he was dropping this on everyone.

"Did we cause this…?" Maria felt that they had been the ones to set this in motion. She could understand that the loss of any students was a possibility. But the loss of multiple and the goblins acting up was an issue.

"It can't be. If we were the ones then they would have punished us already." Ralph scoffed at the fact that Maria believed they would be the cause of everything.

"We just added to the problems. The real issue is the demented hobgoblin we defeated. It's a mutated goblin. It shouldn't be here. It means that something is wrong with some of the goblins causing this random mutation. The area is an academy controlled wild set aside for training.

None of the goblins should be strong enough to easily defeat us. Unfortunately, that's not the case."

"We have deemed this area unsafe for the current training. There has been a large increase in the goblin's breeding patterns causing unexpected developments. Due to this, we are leaving so that the academy experts can come in and fix this issue." Professor Brun made way down the path that he had adjusted for their early leave.

"See? I told you they didn't blame us." Ralph moved ahead with his boar. He wasn't staying with them since they were not in a group anymore. However, Clark could see that he had relaxed a little. The worry that they were about to be in trouble was there even if Ralph had said otherwise.

"The real issue is that the goblins are also fighting more. Last night I went out with permission from my mentor to train additionally. I saw a large den of goblins that started to fight against multiple other dens. The goblin tribes are extremely violent right now." Since Clark had more information he openly shared it so that Maria could hear.

He knew that it was better to be prepared for anything the class might encounter while walking to the next area.

"This is so lame. I wanted to get more free materials. I even had the first years battling the weaker goblins so we could get a few more coins." The third year students had similar complaints. This had been an easy good grade and a way to make some more money.

While they walked, Clark was careful to pay attention to their surroundings. Devi was still exhausted and needed the time to rest. Clark could not rely on him to scout out the areas around them while traveling. Crim was also staying very vigilant while watching Clark's back. It made Clark proud to see that Crim was learning without needing to be told to do something.

Out of the corner of his eye, Clark spotted professor Brune's lizardman spirit beast. It has blood covering its claws since it had just crushed the head of a hobgoblin attempting to ambush the students. "Powerful." That was the only thing that Clark could think.

While many people would get a second tamed beast, those that put the priority on a single beast would become stronger faster. Since professor Brune was a teacher, he obviously would have a stronger beast than the students. Yet, the strength of the lizardman was massively different from the tougher goblin species.

It was easy to say that the lizardman could eradicate every goblin from this entire wild area.

Knowing that the lizardman was patrolling the space around them allowed Clark to slightly relax. It also allowed him to hear the rumors going around about how his group had narrowly survived being attacked by a mutated goblin. It was good that the rumor was focused on the freak appearance of a goblin that should not have been there. It would protect them as survivors and the Nova academy.

Not that it was impossible for students to pass away while going through education. The Nova academy was not a place a powerful family could corner.

It was only an hour's walk before they heard the familiar voice of professor Wright. She was standing in a large clearing. She had obviously cut down many trees to make room for the cloud whale to land. From what Clark could gather, she had faced many goblins on the way and temporarily been able to clear the area. Unfortunately, Clark could not spot her tamed beast anywhere.

He wanted to keep gathering more information.

Right before anyone got comfortable, the cry of the cloud whale came in to hearing range. It was not any different when it landed and they were all ushered in to it. The journey was slightly longer but now that they had all flown once, they were more comfortable. The cloud whale did give a blink of an eye when Clark thanked it again upon landing.

There was a feeling that the cloud whale and Clark could have gotten along well if given the chance.

"You will receive your grades next class. You may send your spoils to the auction house for a pay out of whatever you need. We recommend sooner than later to prevent any degradation of materials. You are all dismissed." The money they landed and the cloud whale had left, professor Brune sent them on their way. He had to report the results to the head master. There was no point in wasting more time.

"Well? Are you bringing that thing to the auction hall so I can get some money? Or are you going to keep it forever?" Clark heard Ralph's annoyed tone from behind him.

"I plan to let Crim eat it and the rest of the goblins. Here." Clark tossed Ralph a few silver to make up for it.

"Fine then. I'll go there anyway and buy what I need." Clark was sure that Ralph was going to buy things that would further toughen his steel haired boar. The fact that Ralph had lost to Clark was still eating away at him. He wanted to improve the defenses of his wild boar so that he would not suffer such a loss again.

"What should I buy…?" Maira was partially mumbling to herself but also somewhat asking Clark. She felt that it was too much to ask him for all the answers. Yet, she had the feeling that if she relied on Clark then she would have a very positive answer.

"Chainmail light weight but tough chainmail. You saw how the goblins easily broke through some of our combat uniforms. They were weak monsters that could still scratch us. What if they used poison?" Clark had thought of this for himself. The combat uniform that he had received from Alexander was better than the average uniforms but still lacking.

"Thank you!" Maria took the suggestion and rushed off full of energy. As much as Clark was still mystified by her, he could tell that she was more relaxed. The Cain family young master had not been threatening her or shooting her dirty looks. She had lost a serious weight off her shoulders.