Everyone turned to stare at him when Karl made that announcement.
“Say that again? Did you just say that you’re in the first year? As in, you’re planning to make Ascended during the end of your first semester’s exams? When did they even test you to Awakened? It’s not midterms yet, is it?” Bob asked.
“No, we’re still not at midterms. Actually, I think I will miss them because of the mission. But I was tested to Awakened three weeks after I got to the Academy, when Hawk started to really grow in potential. Rae and Thor joined us a few weeks later, but they’re growing fast.” Karl explained.
“They’re growing exceptionally fast if they’re already this size and were infants when you got them. At least, I assume that they were newborns at the start of the school year?” Bob asked.
“Eggs, actually. I got them all as eggs, and I’ve raised them from that.” Karl agreed.
“I think that I see now why the bureau is so excited to get their hands on you. You’re growing at an insane rate, and that always comes with an extra dose of good luck.
Now, some people will look down on the luck factor, but luck is very real.” Bob replied.
“Tell me about it. The Church even gave me a good luck charm when we stopped by there to pick up a cleric after my last resource gathering mission.” Karl agreed.
“You got a lucky charm from the church? What the Dragon is the point of that? Anyone lucky enough to get one of their dragon scale luck charms doesn’t need the bloody things anyhow.” Doug laughed.
The whole group laughed as Doug pulled a lucky dragon scale from under his robes, and then the others all did the same.
“Alright, maybe they’re not as rare as I might have thought they were.” Karl corrected himself.
Bob laughed. “No, they really are. But like Brother Doug said, those with good enough luck to get one don’t need them. How did you think we all ended up together to form a super team? Pure blind luck. You really couldn’t ask for a better group at our power level.
I’ve got much stronger than usual defensive abilities for a warrior, we have both a barrier and a golem mage, plus a nature priest and a beast master, whose team not only includes a tank and an ambush attacker, but a flying scout.
Compared to the average five-person team, which might not even have a competent cleric, as they just send whoever is available, our group is living it large.
We don’t even need to sleep on the ground, Rae made us this lovely treehouse, and Doug will have a hot meal ready in just a few minutes, since priests of the Green Dragon are capable of creating all sorts of food, and not just the simple rice and beans.”
Doug tapped his cook pot with a wooden spoon. “Speaking of which, there is food ready now. Just a simple veggie board, but that should hold you until I’ve got dinner cooked. Do Hawk and Rae need anything?”
“I have meat stored for Hawk, and he doesn’t really like anything else. Or at least I’ve never seen him interested in eating vegetables. Rae likes all sorts of things, from blood to insects and small monsters. But if her guess is right, she will be able to gorge herself on what comes to the webs tonight.” Karl replied.
“In that case, just give this to Thor if you can.” Doug agreed, and handed Karl an armload of what looked like herbs.
Karl passed it into the beast space for Thor, who sniffed at them carefully, then picked them up and mixed them into the mass of plants he had been eating.
[These are tasty.] Thor mumbled as he tested the new concoction.
“He says they are very good, thanks.” Karl relayed.
“Excellent. It’s a spell that I don’t get to use often because we’re usually travelling by helicopter or car. It is intended for a mount, but it should be good for Thor as well.” The cleric explained.
Thor laughed at that, and Rae sent Karl the mental image of the cleric riding the Cerro and waving around his club. Karl couldn’t resist laughing, and the group gave him strange looks.
“Sorry, they send me mental images, and some of them are funny. Rae was thinking about you riding Thor with your club flailing around to attack goblins.” He informed them while trying not to keep laughing.
The mages snickered, and Bob made his best “gallant Knight” expression.
“Have at you, foul beasts. Brother Douglas and his noble steed Thor are here to smite you down.” He joked.
Doug got a pensive look on his face. “You know, he’s nearly shoulder height. I bet I could actually ride on his back. But he might be slippery without a saddle.”
Karl shook his head. “Quite the opposite. His scales look shiny, but they’ve got the surface of a drake scale, and they would tear your clothing to bits when you shifted.”
The group looked a bit confused, likely because a Lightning Cerro normally had smooth scales, but they didn’t question how that had happened.
Doug passed out plates of what looked like steak and potatoes with mixed veggies, and Karl gave his dinner an appreciative look.
“That’s a mushroom, not a steak, but they taste pretty similar. Nature priest doesn’t actually eat meat most of the time.” One of the twin mages informed Karl.
“I won’t argue. Good food is good food. If we can avoid eating the ration packs, I can avoid the internal chaos that they cause.” He replied.
Bob chuckled. “Reducing toilet usage in the woods, you see. But you’ll need a gallon of prune juice and some heartburn medicine when you get back.”
“We will take the watch in order of age, so you’ve got the early morning shift, Karl. Can you cook at all?” Doug asked.
Karl’s sad expression told them as much as his words. “Not much. I started to learn after the last trip, when I realized how useful of a skill it is, but I don’t know much.”
“That’s fine. I am the oldest, so I have first watch and I will wake up with the dawn if there are no other issues. Is Rae good for the evening? She’s still outside somewhere.” Doug replied.
Karl sent a thought out to find Rae, who was setting up webs near ground level to trap roaming monsters. She had already caught a few small monsters, but that wasn’t enough for a full meal, and she was looking forward to the nocturnal monsters becoming active after she linked all her webs together.
[I only sleep an hour or two a day. If I rest in the space tomorrow while you walk, it is fine.] She replied.
“She says she’s good for the evening, and she will sleep in the morning while we look for monsters.” Karl told Doug with a glance down to where she was working.
Not many things would pull her away from setting up her web the way that she wanted it, but Karl was certain that the sheer volume of webs in the area would scare any of the smarter monsters away from their position.
Or, it would when the sun came up and the monsters could see them again. Rae was becoming exceptionally skilled in making her webs blend in with their surroundings, where her early work had all been plain white silk.