Late in the evening, we reached the camp with our haul from hunting while passing by many disappointed faces.

Without an exception, those disappointed faces were part of the ones who had stopped at the 10 fish pond.

Guessing what had happened with no difficulty, I looked at our own haul with raised eyebrows as I took in the myriad of monsters that hung between the large branches slung upon my shoulders as I walked bare chested.

Beside me, Sia glanced at me before she hesitated and remained silent.

Slowly , I said, “I know what you’re thinking. We’ll do it when we get back to camp.”

Studying my face for a moment, she then broke out into a smile and nodded at me.

Smiling back, I adjusted my load to a more comfortable place on my shoulders and then we were at the clearing where Sir Liam waited.

Staring at us in turn, his brows tightened before they eased as he said, “It seems many of you will be going hungry tonight. And for the next three days till your next hunting trip.”

Faces frowned, but no one said a word, though worried looks were thrown about as they fidgeted around, looking at their empty hands.

Continuing, Sir Liam smiled widely as he said, “That’s not the only thing you’ll be going without.”

Confused, we stared at him, only for him to walk away while leaving behind the words, “I’ll be back in 30 minutes. Make the best use of your time.”

Even more confused, the students stared at each other before vigilantly examining the surroundings, only to see the same person building the log houses as before.

As I looked at Sia, she shrugged and indicated she had no idea either.

Puzzled, we waited until Sir Liam came back, and seeing us, he had a disappointed expression briefly cross his face before he gestured at us to disperse.

Following the trail, we reached the clearing where our houses stood. Or where they once stood.

Because there was no sign of the houses anymore, and all the furniture was also gone.

Eyes bulging, all the students, including us, stared at the now empty clearing before a few rubbed their eyes to make sure that what they were seeing was real.

Except it was real. Painfully so.

Night had almost fallen and here we were without shelter, with most of the gathered students hungry and tired.

With a growl, the first person out of all of us to take action was the extremely slim boy who turned and stalked back to the previous clearing.

Suddenly, like a thunderbolt, it hit us as we realized that the solitary person building the logs was there for a purpose.

To teach us how to build log houses.

So we ran after the boy swiftly, only to see him standing pale faced as the solitary person blazed forth with a golden aura as he said, “You touch my logs, or you touch my houses, and you lose your hands. Am I understood?”

Nodding, we edged backward as the aura receded and he returned to being the ordinary person he was before.

Thinking, I suddenly asked out, “Is there any problem if we watch you build the houses?”

Glancing at me, the man said, “No.” and turned back to his work.

Nodding, I asked again, “What about the trees, can we cut them down?”

Without turning around, the man spoke. “You can do anything you want as long as you don’t touch my logs or my houses.”

Clenching my fists, I realized that this test was not only a test of us learning from the man, but something more. Something so basic, that I can’t believe I.. no, we forgot about it.

Glancing at Sia, I saw she was also thinking the same thing as her jaw jutted forward.

Observe.

Observe your surroundings at all times.

A basic lesson that had been drilled into us and yet, here we were, having forgotten the lesson and now having to suffer the consequences.

Consequences of not having a roof over our heads, and being unable to construct one quickly the way we were.

So we stood, and we watched the man make the houses slowly. We watched as he cut down the logs, debarked them, and then laid them one on top of the other with leaves, moss, and so on inserted in between them to hold them together.

Seeing him work, we quickly realized that it was not possible to build a house by the nights end and all of us had despondent looks until Sia stepped forward and spoke.

“Listen to me. If we work alone… we won’t be able to finish even one house till the end of the night. So let’s work together. Some of us will cut down the trees. Some of us will collect the leaves, moss, and such. Some of us will debark the trees. And others still will construct a single… just a single big house for all of us to take shelter in. Is that agreeable,” she ended with a shout.

“Is that agreeable,” she shouted again as she glared fiercely at the rest of the students who tittered underneath her gaze.

Stepping forward, I stood behind her to the side as I said, “I’ll be in charge of the food. All the food that the two of us have gathered will be distributed to everyone who participates in the building.”

Glancing at me, Sia shot me a smile before she turned back to look at the students, who now were whispering amongst themselves.

The extremely slim boy hesitated a moment before he walked forward and stood with us and, crossing his arms, he turned to face the rest of the students.

From the corner of my mouth I whispered, “Thanks,” to the boy, who just grunted.

Then I heard a word, and in disbelief I turned to the boy who said, “Marrok. My name is Marrok.”

Grinning, I said, “Nice to meet you, Marrok. Now shall we show these people what to do?”

Stone Faced, the boy, Marrok, grunted and then he walked over to a solitary tree and circulating his warforce, punched out.

Crack.

The tree swayed as Marrok’s fist left a clear imprint on it.

Pulling back expressionlessly, Marrok hammered another fist, and another fist into the tree, which shook intensely.

Finally, as blood sprayed from his cut knuckles, Marrok unleashed a final punch and the tree fell over with a loud sound.

Then, staring at the rest of the students, he walked back to us and stood.

Clearing her throat, Sia shouted, “Debarkers. Come forward.”

Hesitantly, one student, then another, and another walked forward and then approaching the tree; They took out the sharp stones and other implements that they had and began the arduous task of debarking.

Stepping forward and cracking my knuckles, I got down to my own work too as I set the monster corpses on a clean spot, and breaking off branches; I got a fire going.

Soon, the smell of monster meat wafted over the clearing as students furiously worked and salivated in equal amounts.

Then, the food was being passed around, and the students ate and they talked for the first time in a long time openly.

And I smiled as I looked at the night sky, and at the log house that was slowly taking shape.

Beside me, Sia came and spoke softly. “Thanks.”

Bemused, I looked at her, and said, “Is there any need for that word between us?”

Turning red, she punched my arm as she said, “You know what I mean.”

Chuckling, I replied, “Something so basic and you’re thanking me for it.”

Grinning, Sia spoke, “Don’t get cocky, Immortal boy.” and then she walked away to join the construction that was going on.

The construction forced upon us by the Academy, which I now realized was making us go back to the basics.

The absolute basics.

And strangely, I didn’t mind it anymore.

For we needed that.