James and Gus appeared in an open space, a two storied structure stood in front of them. They could see people around here near the gates, probably going back.

This area was the base of the academy which was open only for academy personnel and students. The building in front had shops providing various items of need such as medicine, food and various equipments.

The ground floor housed the shops and a meeting area, where students could rest and meet up with others, while the second floor had rooms for various purposes. Most of the rooms where provided for the staff while 2 rooms were kept to house the injured or sick.

A wired fence ran across the perimeter of the entire base and a defensive barrier was put around it to protect it from sudden attacks.

James and Gus went inside the building and looked at the store selling medicine. The store had a sign which read " Medicine Supplies" and an old man sat behind the counter. Various types of medicines could be seen on the counter.

Looking at the various medicines available, James decided to buy the Healing Ointment. It was a small round brown bottle which had a white ointment inside. It could heal cuts and bruises in a short period of time and could be used to stop bleeding as well.

It was a basic healing medicine, which was commonly bought by cultivators and was priced at 50 silvers.

They both a few gold coins in their accounts given to them by their parents to spend. It was a sort of emergency money given to them if such a situation arises.

They got a bottle of ointment each and decided to head out for the forest. The forest was located 10 kilometers away from the base and after a short walk, they reached the perimeter of the forest.

They opened the forest map on their comm watches. A small holographic screen popped up in front of them, showing the map of the forest.

On each of their maps 2 dots, one red and one blue could be seen glowing which showed their location. They had linked each other's watches up, to keep a track of their position in case one of them gets separated at some point.

The Astia Mountains were divided in layers according to the dangers found in various regions. The entire area was a forested land covered with spirit beasts. The main or the core area located in the middle, where the mountain range ran, was the most dangerous area in the forest.

It was said that terrifying ancients beasts inhabited this place. After this layer came many layers containing beasts usually of a specific realm, with the perimeter of the forest being the last and the weakest layer.

The perimeter of the forest was known as the 1st layer. Not many beasts roamed this area and the layer spanned for only a kilometer. It was also the shortest layer.

James and Gus were required to visit the 2nd layer which contained 4th stage Form realm beats and early Azure realm beasts. Usually the Azure realm beasts found in this layer were a more powerful version of their 4th realm counterparts.

They were known as Horde leaders, the Feral Wolf that they had to kill was also a horde leader. It was mainly a 4th stage Form realm beast, however, a few of them often evolved to the Azure realm stage becoming the leader of their pack.

They took to the trees to traverse across as they jumped from one branch to the other. The sky was bright and the air was humid. Sweat dripped down their bodies as they traveled.

The ground was covered in dense shrubs while branches and vines covered the surroundings. The entire forest was like a maze and without a map, it was difficult to find a way around it.

As they moved through the perimeter, they could see various types of beasts going on with their daily routine. The deers were drinking water from a small pond, the squirrels ran on branches while the sparrows chirped. They were all beasts but were not spirit beasts.

The difference between a beast and a spirit beast was that spirit beasts could cultivate their bodies and absorb qi from their surroundings. They were also a more intelligent specie.

The higher the cultivation, the higher the intelligence of the spirit beast. It was said that sage realm spirit beasts were even more intelligent than humans.

They reached the second layer of the forest and checked their map. They needed to search for a feral wolf pack and the 4 petal lilies, both of which were said to be found in this layer.

The map on their comm watch had a separate legend for each layer, which showed the type of plants and spirit beasts that could be found on the specific layer.

This data was accumulated through countless expeditions taken up by cultivators before them. The comm watches could collect data and register it in a central database. This was done only when the owner allowed it.

A sighting of a specific plant or beast not seen in an area could be recorded by the watch and the information could be used in later expeditions. It could also display the rarity of the sightings of a specific plant or beast in the area.

The Feral Wolf was termed as a common occurrence in this layer but the four petal lilies were in the uncommon category. The lilies could be found near ponds and lakes while the four petal lilies floated on the water surface.

They looked around themselves from a tree top giving them a vantage point of the area. After a few seconds, James spotted a pond nearby towards their east and decided to head there to look for the lilies.

They reached the pond and hid themselves in a bush not far away, scanning the area carefully. The second layer of the forest consisted of early Azure realm beasts and they didn't want to attract one carelessly.

After looking around they found that a Fallow deer was drinking water from the pond. Fallow deers were Early Azure realm beasts however they were quite weak. Their main attack power relied on hitting the enemy with their antlers.

James remembered seeing a mission on the mission list which required them to kill a fallow deer. They hadn't taken it up as it didn't seem much of a challenge to them. They had decided to team up and face a stronger beast instead.

Seeing the deer now made James regret his decision, as it was an easy reward that they had missed. He suddenly thought of something and called up the academy through his comm watch.

A female voice was heard from the other end.

"Hello student James, how may I assist you? "

" Can you please connect me to the missions department?" asked James.

"As you wish. Your call will now be forwarded to the missions department. "

After a brief moment another voice was heard on the opposite end.

" This is the missions department. How may I assist you? "

"Hello, I would like to ask whether the mission to kill a Fallow Deer was still available."

After a short pause the voice spoke again,

"Yes, the mission is still available."

"Can it be added to my mission list, as I would like to accept the mission. "

" Your records show that you are currently in the Astia forest undertaking 2 other missions with a student named Gus."

"In this case I can confirm your request. Do you want me to confirm it? "

" Yes, please. "

" Request confirmed. Your comm watch has been updated. On completing you will be given 6 gold as a reward. Will that be all?"

"Yes. Thanks a lot! " said James happily. He had read the school's rule book and had seen there that missions could be accepted on request only if the student is away from the academy by calling the mission's department.

Gus understood what James had planned from the conversation. He smiled and nodded back at the idea. The deer would serve as a good initial practice for them.

They decided to distract the fallow deer and kill it with a sneak attack.

Gus went out of his cover and stood behind the antler. The fallow deer suddenly sensing a presence, stopped drinking and looked behind itself.

It felt the human's aura and found that the human was at the same cultivation realm as itself. It grew alert and watched the human's movement.

Gus waved his hand at the fallow deer and with a quick movement, he took out his spear and threw it at the antler aiming for its head.

The fallow deer dodged the spear with ease and looked at the human in front. It was enraged upon being attacked and decided to fight the human.

Azure aura enveloped the deer and it charged at Gus at a fast speed aiming to strike him down with its antlers.

Seeing the deer approaching, Gus applied his movement technique and with burst of speed, he dodged the attack barely missing the strike.

The fallow deer turned it's head to face Gus again, it's eyes staring at him with rage. As it readied itself to charge again, a sword came down on its neck, severing the head from its body.

James had kept himself hidden the entire time, waiting for an opportune moment to strike. As soon as the deer came near to strike Gus, he readied himself to strike.

When the deer turned to face Gus again, he quickly jumped over the deer from behind using his Wind Enforcer and killed it with a clean strike at its neck.

They had successfully hunted their first spirit beast together, also completing their first mission. Their watches registered the kill and they opened the corpse to collect the meat.

The corpse would bring the attention of other monsters, which is why James quickly searched the pond, while Gus collected the meat.

He found the four petal lily floating above, it was white in color and gave off a peaceful feeling. He quickly collected the four petal lilies and they dashed back to their vantage point.

"Hahaha, looks like we got 2 quests completed! " said Gus cheerfully.

" Yep! Only the Feral Wolf is left. It seems to be difficult to find, even though it's a common occurrence here." said James.

"They will surely come out in the night. Let's wait till then. "

" Yeah, we need to be careful now of scavengers roaming around this area. Let's hide and wait. " said James.

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Tomorrow's chap will be posted a bit late but not this late. I have to make a presentation tomorrow which is also the reason for today's delay. Thank you^^