"So much for 'nothing special'! Please, tell us all about it. For some reason Lith has been quite evasive, to use and understatement."
They didn't have to ask twice. Phloria told them how he single-handedly repelled the magical beast on the first day, how he found and built them a safe haven.
She put particular emphasis on the trick with the Clacker's venom and on how he taught them how to survive in the wild with first magic.
"You wouldn't tell at first look, but shorty here is a monster!" She said patting energetically his back.
The last word forced Lith to remember his encounter with the Scorpicore, sending a cold shiver down his spine. He didn't like the idea of being somehow related to Abominations, even less how close he had got to die.
Luckily, his stiff expression blended perfectly with the others. Everyone at the table was shorter or barely taller than Lith, despite being older. If he had to be considered short, what were they supposed to be? Gnomes?
"An artificial cave! How could I not think about it?" Yurial held his head between his hands in frustration. Being a Warden, things like that were supposed to be his specialty.
"Finding the hill was just a stroke of luck." Lith dismissed the whole thing with a wave of the hand. "I'm sure you would have done the same if you had the chance."
"Wow, I never pegged you for the humble type. In your shoes, I would brag about the exercise for at least a month." Friya said, looking at him in a new light.
"Phloria exaggerates things too much. Yes, I did my part, but it was a team effort. Visen actually made the cave stable and habitable, not to mention providing the outhouse and supporting us in battle with his arrays.
Phloria herself had a rocky start the first day, but she learned from her mistakes, and saved me from the Clackers. She turned to be an excellent leader, and it's only thanks to her plan that we managed to survive the second day.
She is the one that managed to envenom the Ry, I just gave her the means to.
Belia, well, she clearly lacked Visen's confidence or our battle experience, but she rose up to the occasion and did her part splendidly. I, on the other hand, am incapable of leadership, and proved to be short fused, often venting my stress on my teammates."
Lith resulted really convincing, mostly because he had been sincere. He had underestimated too many dangers, and lost control of his emotions more than once.
It was hard to draw line where his mana core issues ended and his anti-social behaviour started.
He knew he had a problem, but no idea how to fix it.
"Whatever." Quylla said. "Next time, I want to be in your group. Things would be so much easier."
"Dream on." Friya sighed. "There are only thirty-four healers for over two hundred and fifty students. Hence at least sixteen groups had no healer during the exercise. It's impossible for us to ever end up together."
"Maybe, and maybe not." Yurial said. "After the first trimester, students can go to the forest during the weekends, to collect precious herbs and materials for themselves or exchange them for points. Not to mention, it's all experience."
Lith felt that his plea for help had been lost in conversation, but the topic was quite interesting.
"Is mandatory a group for the forest? And will we be under surveillance again during our training?" He asked.
"No, there is no need for groups, one could go alone or with twenty friends. Although a five men group is highly recommended, especially for fourth years. And no, there will be no surveillance, we would be on our own.
The only safety measure is a panic button, very similar to a Ballot, but with only one function: a distress signal to call for help in case something bad happens."
- "Interesting." Lith pondered. "I could go alone to vent my stress, or with them as a shock therapy. Two days are too little to make me snap, but more than enough to steel my feeble social skills." –
"Isn't your team one member short? It would be a pleasure and an honour to work together with the top students of the Light department." Phloria's request hit their egos in all the right spots.
"How could we possibly say no to someone Lith holds in such high regard?" Friya stood up and shook her hand.
Since things were spiralling out of his hand, he decided to get the best of it, and ask Phloria's help too. But that was the wrong moment, his companions were too happy from having found a kindred spirit, and he was too tired to bring them back to reality.
Lith decided to postpone his request for swordsmanship lesson after the four days break. Because of the private lessons he had imparted them about first magic, he had never got the chance to get back home during the weekends.
It was time to correct that situation.