Blood Queen Reborn

In a different part of the jungle, Cia was with her group following their teacher, Kaffin. He was a young man in his 20s, although it was hard to tell as he had a long gray beard and a black wooden staff. There were also his dark gray robes making him look like some kind of ancient wizard. The only ’young’ thing about him was his skin lacking any wrinkles.

"Alright, we’re here," Kaffin shouted in a booming voice.

They arrived in a spot that was near a muddy river, and was rather overgrown with foliage and colorful plants.

"Alright students, do not travel more than 200 meters from this spot, but if you do, your scanner will make a ping indicating you are too far, and will cease to work. For each new plant discovered, 5 points, for each new beast discovered, 20 points," Kaffin shouted, "Remember, this isn’t like the green portal planet, it is not about hunting beasts, but you can kill any beasts below advanced tier if you come across them."

Kaffin cleared his voice, "And now, your scanners should be on."

Every student’s scanners made a ding as he said this, and Cia pointed at a random direction.

"Come on guys, let’s get a good grade!"

The group all agreed, and followed her deep into the jungle. It was rich with foliage, overgrown, and they found themselves constantly tripping over the roots and vines.

"Hey, Peter," Cia said, as she took large steps over the overgrowth, "Can’t you use your ability to smooth the floor?"

"Huh, me?" Peter pointed at himself, "No, this is plants, not earth."

"Well yeah, but what about paving over the grass?"

"No... I’m only a level 2. I’d run out of MC before we arrive wherever it is we’re going," Peter said.

Cia sighed, and it felt like he was disappointing her.

She glanced over her shoulder to Sarah, "Hey, can you do some scouting for us? Where’s an area that has weak beasts, but there’s no other students there?"

Smiling, Sarah opened up a wooden woven box on her waist, and a bunch of bees started flying around. They buzzed loudly, startling Peter, but no one else.

"Aren’t you guys wondering why she brought bees to an orange portal planet?!" Peter questioned.

"Oh, don’t worry, these are my friends!" Sarah warmly smiled, then turned to look at the bees, "Can you all find us a place that fits Cia’s description? Weak beasts and no humans."

The bees bobbed up and down, strangely communicating that they were nodding, and they all flew off.

"Why do you have a bunch of bees?!" Peter exclaimed.

Micheal smirked, turning to Peter and pumped his fist, "She’s an Original, have you heard of the Beeswax family? They have the amazing power to communicate with bees!"

Howard rolled his eyes, dour as ever, "That’s nothing compared to the Bree. What would communicating with bees do for you when there’s a whole family that can control beasts."

Sarah’s posture drooped, "It’s true... before the war, my family owned a bee farm, but even though our ability wasn’t made for fighting, we were drafted for humanity’s sake."

Then a tear fell down her eye, "So many of our beloved bee friends died because of the dalki... and despite our best efforts, they’re close to extinction."

She perked up, sensing that the bees had returned. The group turned to the swarm of bees which formed an arrow pointing deeper in the jungle. They followed them to a small clearing near a rushing river.

They got to work scanning the area, discovering several new species of flowers. Sarah’s ability was really coming in handy as the bees somehow knew where all the undiscovered plants were.

The entire time, Garret decided to remain silent, feeling like an outsider. The only person of the group he knew was Peter, but it was clear that he didn’t want to talk to him.

"Hey, uh, Peter," Garret loudly cleared his throat, "Uh, can we talk real quick?"

Peter silently groaned, but he decided to walk over to him.

"Hey man, I’m sorry about what my team did you you," Garret began, "The truth is that my team was killed back on Caladi, and I don’t really have anyone to talk to."

Cia overheard, and shouted, "And? Sounds like they got what was coming to them, huh?"

Garret grimaced, and looked away in shame, "I know we’ve been bad to you before, but they’re gone now, and I want to apologize."

Peter just stared silently, which unnerved Garret, but he continued speaking, "If it’s any consolation, one of your team members, was it? The blonde one, she said something about you, and it wasn’t good."

"In case you didn’t know, she told Earl that she ’didn’t give a damn about you’ so if you’re thinking—"

Hearing Garret talk about his so called ’apology’ after getting swarmed and surprised attacked by his team, angered Peter more and more as he kept speaking. His fist clenched tighter on every word. How can he say he’s sorry when he worked with the same boy who tortured him?

"Are you lying?!" Peter shouted.

Was he just saying that Erin didn’t care about him so he could make himself feel better?

"I’m not, I swear, I wouldn’t lie about this kind of thing. I don’t lie about things, it’s not fair to do!" Garret shouted back.

Before Peter could say anything more, a vine from the ground rose, and wrapped itself around Garret’s leg. It lifted him into the air, unearthing itself to reveal a pink flower beast with yellow speckles.

"Peter!" Cia shouted.

She threw a spirit spear into the beast, and it flailed, but it wasn’t damaged.

"Hurt it now, Peter! I weakened it!"

Quickly forming a club, Peter smacked it into the beast, and it dropped Garret. With him now free, they ran over to Cia’s side, away from the plant beast.

"A sneak attack? That’s not fair at all," Garret complained.

Peter felt like punching Garret, but before he could, one of their teammates, Micheal had arrived.

He flung his hand up, and shouted, "THE FLOOR IS LAVA!"

The earth around the plant beast heated up, cracked, then boiled into a bright red, turning into lava. The beast fell in, engulfed in flames.

"Crisis averted," Micheal said with a smile, dusting off his hands, "Plants and fire do NOT mix!"

"You burned up the crystal inside," Howard monotoned.

The plant beast flailed wildly, turning into nothing but ash, no doubt taking its crystal with it.

"Oh."

"Damn, we couldn’t even scan it in time," Peter worried, "That would’ve been a good number for our grade."

Suddenly, Cia smiled, "How about this, we split up. Not too far of course. Micheal, me and Peter go in one direction, and Sarah, Howard, and Garret go in the other."

"W—what? Isn’t that dangerous?!" Peter shivered.

"The bees say they picked this area because beasts here are basic tier at best, and are mostly plant based," Sarah said as she nodded to a bee, "Micheal is only a level 3, but his ability is perfect for this area. His lava can protect you two."

"We can split up, and come back here after a while. My group can collect a bunch of unique plants because of my ability," Sarah said, "You three can use the scanner to can anything you come across."

Micheal pumped a fist in the air and said cheerfully, "Yeah! Divide and conquer! With the power of friendship, we’ll get a good grade in no time!"

At first, Peter felt like protesting, but Howard was a level 5, and Garret was a level 4. Even though Sarah’s ability was support based, she was capable of sending her bees to them if there was trouble.

After thinking hard, Peter eventually came to a conclusion, and agreed to split up, ’At least I won’t need to see Garret.’