Chapter 65: Through the swamp.

The group swiftly finished their breakfast before preparing to set out.

The uncharted area they had chosen was the one on the far east of the campsite, and they had until sundown to reach the place, scout it out, and return to the safety of the mana dome.

They all changed out of their academy uniforms to put on another set of hunting gear. Thomas and Julian’s customized battle gear had not yet been delivered from the forge, but Julian seemed to have that sorted on his own as he emerged wearing a polished silver armour layered with an emerald cape. Ryan was dressed in a standard leather armour he had managed to buy in the marketplace, and the same went for the girls. Lina had topped hers off with a cheap, tattered healer’s cloak, though she did not say where she had managed to get it from.

Thomas was the only one entirely unprepared. He wore his old casual clothes from the rural outskirts, dressed in a faded linen shirt and dark trousers with his worn-out shoes. Everyone in the group looked at him with a peculiar gaze, making him feel slightly uncomfortable under his mask.

"What?" he asked flatly.

"Nothing," they responded, swiftly taking their gaze off of him.

They quickly went to where the rest of their class was gathered, facing Instructor Sterling, who was barking out last-minute advice.

"Every single one of you will receive a runetech device that will act as your tracker and panic button in case you are met with great trouble," the instructor explained, his sharp eyes scanning the rows. "And one more thing. Do not, under any circumstance, wander off into the uncharted lands. Those places are so dangerous that you might die before one of us instructors can manage to rescue you. Gregory, here, pass this on to everyone else."

The instructor handed a prominent High-blood boy a basket filled to the brim with small, round devices inscribed with two distinct runes that glowed with a faint blue light.

Gregory handed everyone their runetech device, but when he got to the lessers, his face twisted into an arrogant scowl and he deliberately threw the artifacts onto the muddy ground. Thomas merely picked his up with a soft shake of his head, keeping his face smooth as glass. The moment his fingers made contact, the device latched onto Thomas’s hand and rippled, the material fluidly reshaping itself into a smooth ring around his finger. Looking around with surprise, it appeared as though the runetech did the same for everyone else.

"Now that you have equipped the device, please, be careful," Sterling commanded. "Remember, the more powerful the prey, the more points you get. And by any luck, if you discover a new form of beast, then the points you receive will increase twenty folds. Those devices also have a built-in storage unit that will be where you will place the beasts you have slain. They possess the ability to keep the carcass fresh for as long as it is stored in the space. The storage is limited to ten beasts, but if it is a larger beast, then that number halves. Godspeed."

Hearing the instructor’s words made Thomas look at runetech in a completely different light. He felt a sudden, deep urge to learn more about its mechanics, but that thought had to wait. After all, he and his team had to first survive the uncharted lands before he could even think of learning the secrets of runetech.

Before they left the vicinity of the campground, Thomas looked back towards the direction of the unsettling presence. Both of the deacons were standing near Thomas tent, their golden hoods drawn low as they faced their exact direction.

"Eyes forward, lesser," Julian’s words made him retract his gaze, his elegant voice carrying a cold, aristocratic authority. "It is a punishable offense for a lesser to stare at servants of the light."

"Easy for you to say that," Thomas said, his voice flat. "You are not the one being constantly gazed upon."

"You did bring this upon yourself by insulting a High-blood in front of many, so you have yourself to blame," Ryan added with a grin.

Thomas turned to look at his friend with a thoroughly baffled gaze. "Whose side are you on?" he asked.

"Oh, shut up, Tom."

The girls giggled behind their hands, and Thomas couldn’t believe it. It seemed Julian’s camp cooking had stolen his friends away from him. In the end, he ignored the burning gaze, and the group began their long walk out into the marshlands.

...

An hour had already gone by, and Thomas no longer felt the burning intensity of the deacons’ gaze. The environment changed drastically the further they marched from the dome. The marshlands were vast, wet, and oppressive. This was not a place suited for walking; in fact, Julian had mentioned that professional beast hunters used tamed mounts capable of traversing the deep wetlands.

The terrain was suffocating. Massive, decaying trees with twisted, bleeding roots choked the landscape, their thick black canopies blocking off almost all of the sun’s light. It felt like walking through a perpetual, dark twilight. A heavy, stagnant fog rolled over the black water, smelling of sulfur and rot, making the entire area feel scarily ancient and dead.

"If you had not been paired with us, I hate to say this, but we might have been screwed," Ryan spoke, trailing closely behind Julian.

Julian had a crystal ball emitting a soft, clear light hovering a few inches in front of his silver armour. It was because of the crystal ball that they could see their immediate surroundings, but even with the light, half of their bodies were submerged in thick, freezing mud as they forced their way through the muck.

"Like I said earlier, I have faced worse odds, so I am always prepared," Julian spoke matter-of-factly, his bare eyes scanning the black water. "I had research done on this place, that is why I was able to prepare for it so well. You all could have done the same. Especially him." He shot a stern look at Thomas, who was keeping watch at the rear of the group.

Thomas seemed to be the one suffering the most. He silently cursed himself for not preparing proper wilderness gear. His linen shirt and casual trousers were entirely wet and caked in foul-smelling mud, his worn-out shoes sinking deep into the swamp with every step. He felt like he desperately needed to take a bath.

"Cut me some slack, will you?" Thomas muttered, his voice carrying an unrefined grit. "Anyways, do you guys recall hearing the instructor talking about where we are going to bathe?"The moment the words left his mouth, the two girls instantly stiffened in panic.

"No, I don’t recall him mentioning that at all!" Mina panicked, her eyes widening.

"Hey, keep your voices down," Julian spoke sternly, his hand tightening near his blade. "We don’t want to attract predatory beasts that will end up wasting our precious time."

"Sorry," Mina replied, her voice dropping into a tense whisper.

"I figured that we were going to have to make a plan, you know," Ryan said with a grimace.

Thomas sighed heavily. ’Well, I will be damned.’

Suddenly, Julian stopped dead in his tracks and raised a rigid hand. They all froze. Julian aggressively grabbed the floating crystal ball, and the light went out instantly, plunging the entire group into an absolute, pitch-black darkness. The heavy fog seemed to roll in closer, swallowing their sightlines entirely.

"What the—"

"Shhh! Listen," Julian cut Ryan off, his elegant voice dropping into a tense whisper.

They all did as Julian said, holding their breath in the freezing dark. The only sound was the bubbling of gas escaping the mud and the distant, sickening squelch of the swamp.

"What are we listening to?" Ryan asked in a barely audible whisper.Julian didn’t answer with words. He responded by pointing his finger straight down into the black muck beneath their legs.

Before Thomas could even activate the Eye of Khepri to scan the floorboards of the swamp, the thick mud beneath Julian’s boots violently erupted. There was no loud roar or warning vibration—just a sudden, terrifyingly silent force. A massive, slimy tendril shot out from the abyssal depths of the mire, wrapping around Julian’s silver armour like an iron vice.

With a sickening, wet splash, Julian was violently yanked downward, disappearing straight into the black, suffocating swamp water before he could even make a move, leaving the group standing entirely alone in the blind, terrifying dark.