"No, we aren't," Blaine stated with surety. "But I'm not leaving her side. I'll get us out of here once she's back on her feet."
Feeling like she could breathe again, she withered her plant and resumed work on the bleeding. She then withered that plant and worked on the torn muscles, knitting them back together. Once she felt her injuries were dealt with, she withered her plant and put the pot way. She pushed herself off the floor and stood with a great deal of pain from the trauma her body had been through. She didn't treat the pain. They were still on the mountain and not in a proper shelter.
"You need to rest a bit longer." Blaine told her quite firmly.
"You need to open the cave mouth so I can tell the teacher we are okay. If not, they will send out a rescue party." She replied just as firmly.
He picked her up slowly to reduce how much he hurt her and carried her to the front. The others followed. He set her on her feet but leaned her against him.
"Put your arms around me." His tone made it clear it wasn't a request.
She grinned and did so.
Blaine switched to Kyle who put his hands out, palms facing the entrance. A fireball blasted out from both hands melting all the snow in front of them. A tunnel was formed which didn't go very far. The heat melted quite a bit, including the roof of the would-be tunnel, leaving a trail that was quickly becoming ice in the sub-zero temperature.
Blaine felt a hand on his shoulder, "Brother Blaine, are you sure you're a level-6? I no longer think I can compete with you. No wonder you got the girl!" Jessy stood beside him smiling.
Lana smiled, "he doesn't like to show off…"
Blaine kissed the top of her head, "we need to find a place to put up the shelter. We are done for the day. You are not cooking."
"With the number of people we have here, I won't need to. Let's just get the shelter up and I can get us served up."
Given the circumstances, Blaine decided the shelter needed to be placed inside a snow bank. He quickly discussed his idea with Kyle then stepped outside to get to work, holding Lana close to him while alternating between fire and ice.
Lana decided while he was busy, she needed to make a call. It was answered on the first ring.
"Sergeant Rage! You answered so quickly, did you miss me?" she smiled at the hologram.
He laughed, "I'm sure you know I'm concerned about that avalanche."
Lana smiled at her teacher, "we got lucky. We were in the cave of that third beast. Blaine got us out of there and is now preparing a site to set up the shelter so we can safely rest. We will be near that third cave over night if there are any issues."
"Sounds good. I don't want to sound over protective but we have lost many promising students…"
Lana chuckled, "no one is complaining about having a teacher who cares about his students. I'll keep you posted of our movement while we are up here. I'll update you once we know where we will be next."
"Rest well, Cadet!"
Kyle smiled, "you have a more caring teacher than I do."
Lana smiled back then looked at what he was doing. Kyle essentially created an igloo using fire, ice, and water. The shelter could be put inside and be safe from beast attacks.
He picked Lana up and carried her up three steps then six steps forward around a slight curve. Next, Lana didn't count how many steps went down. He set her on her feet once again and pulled out the shelter.
"I need someone to set this up in the center, Please."
Paul took it, "gladly! This thing is getting tested quite nicely. I think we will need to market a few models."
Lana giggled, "it's definitely handy up here."
Blaine held her close to him but not so tightly it would increase her pain. As soon as the shelter was up, he took her to the door to open it. Inside, Blaine helped her remove her winter gear. Paul pulled out a bunch of oomlauts and they formed a camera. He filmed the entire inside then set the camera down. Lana had removed a bunch of food, cured meats, raw vegetables that didn't require cooking, fresh breads, even rolls stuffed with a variety of goodness such as meats, vegetables, potatoes and cabbage.
"How does this taste so fresh?" Jessy asked,
"I think there is no passage of time in my storage bracelet. I found it in a cave. It is now serving my team and I, and yours as well since we are traveling together," she grinned.
Jessy smiled, "is that how things keep appearing in your hand? Does he access it?" He nodded his head toward Blaine.
"Of course. He helps me a great deal throughout the day."
"Speaking of which, this is Kent's last bottle. We'll need to make him some more food," Blaine said, pulling it out to feed their furry friend.
Lana nodded. "We can do that in a bit." She turned to the others, "Is everyone done? I was thinking of a blueberry pie? I didn't make this so I don't know how good it will be. I bought a few things from other stalls to help support them as well. Life is just so busy and I wanted to make sure we'd be able to spend as much time hunting as we could."
Paul chuckled, "well, pie sounds good."
Lana pulled it from her storage. She paused as she looked around her food stores to make sure they would be okay. They were all working up an appetite and she was feeding four teenage boys who were still growing plus a werewolf and a vampire.
After serving the pie, Lana and Blaine got up to cook Kent's formula after putting the uneaten food away. She left some bread out at the request of the boys. Apparently, the cheese and meat bombs she made were a hit.
Blaine insisted on doing the work, her job was to lean against the counter and instruct him. He was getting better at it, Lana admitted to herself. When they first met, he didn't even know how to hold the spoon to stir the food while it cooked.
While the formula cooled, Lana removed the dirty jars and bottles from storage and set them in the sink, hitting the clean button. Once it was done, Blaine refilled the water tank using a water ability. They heard a commotion but didn't pay much attention. They needed Kent to be able to eat.
"Lana, how did you know Kent wasn't going to hurt you when you were wounded?" Blaine asked while they waited for the dishes to clean.
"Well, it's something new but I can talk to beasts now. We are still working on it. He's a baby and I'm not used to guttural words and such. It often sounds like growling in my head. With him sitting on my shoulder he can make the sounds quietly so only I can hear him and we can learn to understand each other."
"So, you asked him to help you?"
She shook her head, "no. He asked if there was anything he could do. I told him it felt like something was lodged in my wound. He asked if he could inspect it closer so I told him he could. He didn't ask if he could remove it, he just did."
"He's a smart little guy."
Lana smiled, "he sure is."
They both heard a gentle purring coming from her shoulder. Blaine decided to put some soft music on his watch and dance a small bit in the compact kitchen. The cleaning was done but the formula wasn't quite cool enough. Lana winced a few times and he stopped but they still enjoyed themselves. They put the formula away then went to shower.
As they rounded the corner to pass the beds on the way to the shower, they stopped in their tracks. There was now a room in between beds, four on each side of the room. Standing in front of the door was a tall boy who was grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Do you like it?" Paul asked, "Please, go in and check it out."
Lana grinned, "what did you do?"
"That couch looked uncomfortable. You need your own space," Paul continued to smile, "so, I modified it so you'd have it."
Paul heard a ding sound in his head and checked his notifications. He smiled.
[Quest Updated: Progress toward friendship: Blaine Abel 100%
Quest: Make friends 3/3]
"I'll leave you to do your own thing. I want to lay down and rest for a few minutes," Paul excused himself to be alone in his head to check what rewards he would get after so many months of hard work.
[Rewards Granted: New Skill: Nanotechnology Implants: Create and program a device that can be implanted subcutaneously, subskill of Build Machines.]
[Reward Granted: +10 skill points]
[Reward Granted: Laser Weapon Implant: This weapon fires laser energy at designated targets. Weapon uses MC to power the laser. Self-implants. Place on the desired spot and hit the button and implantation will take place.]
Since one shoulder had his rocket launcher, he felt it only seemed right to place his laser weapon on the other shoulder. He screamed in pain and the weapon embedded itself into his flesh then passed out with a smile on his face.
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