In Blip's office, Lana felt like a child in the principal's office. It was getting late and she was shocked he was even working this late. It made her wonder if that was what she had to look forward to. Nate explained to Blip why he felt the need to bring this 17-year-old to him. Blip looked less than impressed.
She looked him straight in the eyes, "look, it's not my fault you guys have no interest in my ability nor in what I can do."
"What gives you that impression?" Blip said, clearly unhappy with her attitude.
"I don't know, the fact that you significantly handicapped me on my assessment?"
Blip sighed. "Look, we've never seen anyone like you before."
"Then why are you treating me like you have?" she took a deep breath and it was her turn to sigh. "I know you have the responsibility of keeping us all safe and we were all students, first-years at that but my team and I are different. We started training together almost day one. Duff was a late addition and he still has the wrong weapon… That is an issue for us to solve. If you are that concerned, tomorrow I will put Shalt in the system as my bodyguard, which he is, and Almin as Kattie's. You can join us and observe but only observe. I'll not have my team interfered with. I also don't want my departure delayed. As soon as breakfast and our meeting is done, we will be leaving. As for staying out overnight, we have done it before and it wasn't luck that we survived. If you're going with us, be ready in the morning. It's been a long day and we still need to eat before going to bed."
With that, she turned and walked out. Caser flicked his tail at the annoying people who upset his Lana. Shalt walked just a bit taller trying not to show the smile he held inside.
They stopped by a café where Lana ate more than she ever had. She then purchased enough meat to last a few days for her whole party. Next stop was to see Quinn and update him on everything. She chuckled to herself on the way from his room as she had made her weekly check-in into a daily affair. At least Quinn was starting to feel better about this whole thing.
Within five minutes of walking into Dobin's apartment, she was asleep. She had a nightmare that night but Caser wrapped her in his tentacles and she didn't even make much noise.
In the morning, she handed the luxury kitchen to Dobin. She carried the basic one. He raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything.
They met the whole crew for breakfast. Lana bought extra snacks and put those in the bag Dobin was carrying. She had been getting extra hungry and decided it should help her. She wanted breakfast over quickly because she slept in. Soon after the plates were clean, the leadership took the stage as they called it. It was a barely-elevated platform. He gave the morning briefing and ended with letting everyone know he and Nate would be going out for the day.
Lana sighed. She put a trip to the hypocens into the system for herself and her teammates. Just as she was finishing, three more card were added. They all were listed under "observer" status. She looked up and noticed Sam was with Blip and Nate. She rolled her eyes and gave a nod to Quinn as she headed out with people she really didn't want to spend the day with.
Since they were interested in saving time and have more of it for hunting, Lana decided they would rent a vehicle. Since she was technology-adverse. She asked for someone to step up and drive. Blip gladly filled the roll. On the way, she turned in her seat to address her team.
"Right now we can all one-shot the intermediate beasts we have met so far and I know this is boring. If we can get a hypolord today, we will but I want all of you to remember those things are still dangerous. I will do my thing to maximize our crystals. Once we are all Rank C, we'll have more of a challenge. We have seven people and two beasts. I'll put us into teams once we get to the hunting ground. I want everyone to try to work on team work. I know they are easy to kill but maybe have on hit each? Try new things. Use this as training. Someday, hopefully soon, we will have something more difficult and we need to be ready for it. Please ignore the extra people we have with us today. They are not here because of you but me. I'm going to leave it at that."
"Lana," Sam asked, "Why go after the hypocens again if they are easy?"
"There's a reason they are easy. The bugs we fought yesterday took too long to aggravate. The hypocens have the bonus of a potential advanced-tier beast which lends us more of a challenge. That's why we are going back. The potential for a challenge is better than not having that potential."
Sam simply nodded.
Right about then, they arrived at the hunting grounds. Lana directed him to where she left her willow up. There was a team already fighting there and she approached them. "Do you mind moving down a little so we can use the tree?"
"Yes, we do mind. We want to use the tree as soon as we figure out how to use it…"
Lana glared at him then walked up and withered her tree. She walked back to the vehicle and climbed in. "Go a little further down. I don't want to be able to see those people."
Blip, Nate and Sam all looked at her then Blip did as instructed. "What was that?" Nate asked.
"What was what?"
"What happened to the tree?" Nate asked.
"It was just my weak-arse ability…"
Kattie laughed.
"Right here, please. This feels secluded enough. Thank you, Blip." He stopped and they all piled out. Lana told everyone to stay by the vehicle until she was ready. She walked up to the river and grew her willow. She then put in three oak trees forming a diamond shape. She walked back to everyone for a quick safety briefing. "For those who were not here two days ago, the oak trees are dangerous. Do not go near them without prior coordination with me. That is the kill box. We need to divide into teams."
"The way this works is when you are ready, the willow will give you a hypocen to fight. You signify you are ready by waving your hand or simply call out tree and she will respond. She will give you hypocen only unless I tell her otherwise. I want Almin with Kattie. Alto with Duff, and Shalt with me. Dobin, you are on crystal extraction except in the kill zone. I also want your head on a swivel. Watch for potential dangers. Anyone have any questions?"
Alto asked, "Do you think we'll get rank C today?"
Lana responded, "the team won't for sure but some might. I expect if we come here every day, we will all be Cs in seven days. The next rank will be harder to get. My goal is B-Rank in a month. It's a big one but it needs to happen."
They all looked at Lana like she was insane. "Let's get hunting."
She turned and signaled the tree to start throwing hypocens to the oak trees while the people got into position. The leadership had no clue what they were witnessing. Slowly a smile appeared on Sam's face. "I would say they should be just fine sleeping out here."