Chapter 100: First Mission-II
The small mud house, has a eight small rooms and there is a circular common place for everyone to sit together.
The rooms aren't big. Just enough to fit two large people. If two people lay on the floor, the room will be full. Since, everyone has a room for them individually it would be sufficient.
By the time they were done, they observed that the other people in the crowd are also moving around and they are also building the houses. But they were not like Sam and others.
They started building big and comfortable rooms and more than one third of the area of the rectangular zone is occupied with the houses.
They didn't care about the spiritual energy as they have one thought in mind. They thought that, they will be provided with the food and they don't have to worry about it.
By the time everyone settled down, it is already evening.
Sam suggested that they go to sleep early and just as they were about to go to sleep, someone came to their place and all of them are from the Blue flame city members.
There are four people who came and all of them have haughty looks. Clearly indicating that they are from the noble families.
"Jasmine, why are you staying with them, you can come and stay with us." One of them said completely ignoring the remaining members.
Jasmine didn't talk to them and just walked inside and went to her room. Her master said to listen to whatever Sam said and since Sam said that they need to sleep she didn't want to waste any time and went inside.
Just as they were about to enter, Sam blocked them and said.
"You aren't allowed to enter. If you want to talk to her, you can do so when she comes out."
"Then call her out." One of them said impatiently.
"And why do you think I would do that?" Sam said a bit coldly. Just that guy in lead was about to retort one of the guys whispered something and four of them stopped in their tracks and left without speaking anything.
Sam didn't care much and went to sleep.
The next day all of them didn't see any changes at all. There is no sign of the food that was supposed to be sent in and there is no sign of any mission. They just spent time idling around, since they can't even cultivate.
Days passed, and they didn't do anything. They started to feel tired and Sam's team is the only thing that is faring better. Even the weird trio who used wood to make a small cabin are having a better time as they tried to make it as humble as possible.
The remaining teams started feel the tiredness as they spent the most energy in making the camps.
On fifth day afternoon, they saw a bunch of bird type beasts flying over the field. Everyone came out as they looked at them.
The bird types beasts lowered their altitude and each of them dropped a package. All of them are puzzled and moved to catch them.
"Everyone, try to catch one. Don't go for extra package. Catch only one parcel. If you cannot catch one, immediately ask nearest team member for help."
Sam said and immediately moved. The rest of the team also started spreading.
When the packages reached a certain height, the speed of the falling slowed down.
Sam climbed a tree and leapt towards the sky. He reached onto one of the packages and landed. Everyone is trying their best to get one.
Sam looked around and as he saw that Jasmine and Kelly are having trouble to get one, he immediately caught other two.
The wind element really came in handy this time. The other team's wind elementals mages aren't idling either, they are also doing their best to catch more.
After everyone caught one, they came back to their camp.
Sam and his teammates sat down and opened the packages.
All they could see is some kind of boiled meat paste. But they could feel one thing. It is filled with spiritual energy.
"Dig in as fast as you can. Don't even think about saving up. There will be a commotion soon."
And they didn't need him to say that as they ate in rapid pace as they felt hunger and tiredness due to lack of spiritual energy. After using their energy to catch the packages they were only left with a last bit of spiritual energy. If any person even an acolyte in late stage comes back, they would be able to take one of them down.
When they are halfway through their meal, they could already feel their body's spiritual energy replenishing. But at the same time, they could hear a large commotion outside. When they wanted to go out, Sam said.
"Finish your food first." They didn't understand why he insisted, but they just followed and completed their food. After that they just left the containers there and immediately went outside.
"Hey, did you find any packages that are dropped away?"
"No, there are no packages. Seems like all of them are caught."
"What should we do now?"
"Someone might have caught extra packages. How could our packages be missing?"
As soon as Hawk and others came outside, they heard a bunch of people discussing this. Hearing this they also felt puzzled. They also thought that someone might have taken extra packages and felt that it is unnecessary as one package is enough to fill their spiritual core. They even felt that it is a bit more than they needed.
"There is a deficit of packages. They only sent hundred of them." When Sam said this, they immediately got shocked.
"You guys might not have concentrated as you are fully focussed on the packages, but I counted the number of birds. They even sent them in ten rows and each row has ten birds. That is why, I asked you guys to catch one immediately."
By the time, Sam finished, there is already a fight between some people.
Those who didn't get any box started attacking some people who hadn't started eating yet. The people who used built the houses were the ones, that aren't able to catch anything and there are twelve people.
The remaining eight people are the ones who delayed.
Many people still haven't eaten yet and these twenty people started wreaking havoc.
Even though, their spiritual energies are low, the people who caught the packages didn't have much energy left as well. they are in the same level now and those who didn't eat yet became the targets.
Now Sam's teammates understood why Sam asked them to eat faster. If not, they might have been the targets for this fight.
As time passed the fight grew intense. And finally, all of them came to truce and shared the food and that is not enough. But at least they were able to get half of the spiritual energy.
Sam looked around and saw few people observing the situation calmly.
One of them is Luther. Sam knew why they are looked like that, because, they are also the ones who moved as fast as him to get the packages. They also must have counted the birds.
Only these few felt that the situation is odd and the first ones to find that out.
Sam's initial guess was right. The test here is not as simple as it sounded. Even before they got the first mission, they were already having trouble and internal fights.
That night, not only Sam's teammates a lot of people weren't able to rest at all.
They already got some inkling of the situation and they knew that this special branch isn't what they imagined at all.
They got really nervous. They didn't know what will happen tomorrow.
The next day nothing happened but this made them even more uneasy, they felt like they were on pins and needles. On the seventh day, they finally saw, what is coming.
A majestic voice announced their first mission.
"Attention all candidates, your first mission had been decided.
A total of 10 tokens have been sent into the Special branch zone by using ten beasts.
The candidates have three days to catch the beasts. The ten token holders at the night of the third day will have the right to choose, who can get the next meal.
Each token holder can choose other nine people and a total of hundred people will be getting the meal. The remaining twenty people will not be served with any meals.
From this moment onwards the first mission starts."
As soon as the voice ended everyone became alert and started moving. They never expected the first mission will be suddenly announced and they only have 100 spots for food.
The remaining twenty people has to suffer and nobody has absolute trust in the people they were with. The first meals sent by the bird types beasts made them suspect everyone and they don't want to place the trust on other people. If they could get the token themselves, then only they would be guaranteed with a meal.