(Rukaru POV)
We let some time pass in preparation to go outside. There’s not a lot that could be done within the classroom, we’d have to open the doors eventually.
Shohi had been experimenting with his thermal magic, while Sorazu continued recovering the mana he had spent in teleporting things around.
Shohi found a balance where the mana consumption was low enough, but still kept everyone warm. He no longer had to take a break. At the very least, he only needed to keep it so that his mana could last the night.
After that, he tried seeing if distance affects mana consumption, but it was, in his words, “distance doesn’t affect it, it looks like”, he said, having tried warming us up by staying some steps farther away than usual.
And in turn, there was a conversation about how good Sorazu’s spatial magic would be if it didn’t consume more mana for the distance covered, though Toukai, who was the analytical type, didn’t say anything, and Sorazu hadn’t tried it, stopped by the need to recover.
Afterwards, Shohi found that he could see in heat vision, explaining that with the idea of a sphere, he could get a reading of the area. That, it was the best he could do, saying that it was difficult to maintain it when he tried covering for his whole field of vision.
He also thought aloud that sensory magic didn’t appear to consume mana. Toukai also didn’t refuse this. Sorazu agreed with it when he got his way of seeing things spatially, and he had said, “it’s quite trippy to see this way… I have to concentrate to limit what I see… not so useful for combat yet.”
And with having learned to do sensory stuff, the two of them spent some time surveying the surroundings, apparently seeing through the classroom’s walls as well.
Reshidou had also learned to see in his aptitude’s sense, saying: “I can’t really see anything though if there’s no movement”.
According to the two, Shohi and Sorazu, we were safe, and we spent a while just staring through the glass to see for ourselves.
Nothing really happened. Nothing notable popped out.
We three aside from Shohi and Sorazu heaved a sigh of relief. I wonder if I should compliment the two on how nonchalant they were in this situation.
Sensory magic seems quite handy. It would be interesting if I could also try seeing things in a magical way.
“Welp, I’ll be done recovering in a few seconds.” Sorazu announced.
A good portion of the moon is now visible through one side of the classroom. The moon came from above. We’ll probably see dawn in at most three hours from now.
“No second moon, huh.” Sorazu and Shohi had silently spoken.
“Alright, let’s get going”, Toukai lifts herself from her seat, “Rukaru and I will be the ones to go outside… while the three of you will stand behind the door.”
From some of what we talked about earlier, I’ve been given some confidence in me having the best chances of surviving an attack, and since I have some sort of invisible sword, I can defend myself.
As for Toukai, she was the most eager for going outside, despite the darkness, though it isn’t really dark, I suppose, just that it was the time of the moon.
I remember… “What if I just set a fire and let it spread. We won’t be attacked that way”, Shohi had said jokingly.
“No”, Toukai had simply refused.
I take my first step outside the classroom and into this world, following behind Toukai.
Sweeping with my foot, I see that the grass has been cut at its root, it gets brushed off.
Around the classroom, the ground is covered by a thick layer of cut grass. And, well, there are some grass-less spots, looking like shallow craters.
It took us less than 10 seconds to reach the desk and chair that was teleported by Sorazu.
There were books scattered nearby, the desk probably had them in its storage part. The desk’s two slices were now split apart.
And, I silently apologize, to whoever owns the books.
It took us less than 20 seconds to reach a corpse, at which point, we’ve entered a few steps deep into the grass that stood tall and intact in comparison to before, forming some sort of circle of cut and uncut grass around our classroom.
The height of the uncut grass looked to be at the level of our waist.
If we ran, we’ve got around 10 seconds to get back to the classroom. It could be fatal.
“Hm…” Hearing Toukai briefly murmur, I also put my focus on what she’s looking at. She’s looking at a dead corpse, and then she pokes its fur with a finger.
I felt myself alerted, reaching my hand out, I wanted to ask: “is it okay to do that?”
But I calm down shortly. Reminds me of how I poked at the dirt mannequin. Is it normal to poke a finger at something they don’t know?
If anything pops out, I should be able to magically slash it. On this note, I look around.
My eyes fix themselves onto the only notable thing aside from the numerous dead corpses present here: the classroom.
Though from the interior the classroom looks fine, from the outside it looks like a ruin, like it was ripped out. Well, that’s probably what happened.
Anyways, I go back to the concept of my role being like that of a bodyguard. So, I should be looking around at our surroundings more.
The grass sways uniformly. It’s visibly windy, but not by so much.
I observe Toukai, she seems to be unperturbed, looks like Shohi is doing a good job at maintaining our temperature.
From what I can feel, though Shohi’s warming and [Health Regulation] is on top of it, the outside is colder than the inside, even if by just a tiny bit. Well, I can’t really tell with two different powers keeping me warm. I might just be feeling it because I’m feeling the wind.
“A clean cut.” Toukai silently spoke about how it died.
When I look at it, I think of how gruesome of a way it was done. The corpse was cut in half horizontally, from the head to the back, instead of vertically, to have the slice just be in the middle, stomach area.
“A power like yours, but…” Toukai looks up from the body and at the surrounding, “the same thing was done to most of them.”
I focus, and it is apparently not all of them that were cut in half, or, well, they weren’t as cleanly cut apart as the others. I can’t really describe it. As if they died by some explosion?
“Uh-huh… You’re saying most of this could be done by the power I have…” I said. It’s a bit troubling.
“Well… It looks like it.” With Toukai having said that, I’ll have to be aware with how scary this power could be, huh.
“Hm… They are starting to rot?” She put her attention to the dead corpses. “The wind is blowing against them, in a way I can’t really smell anything.” She mumbled.
Well, all we can really do is take a look at stuff here. I look back at the classroom. It seems like Reshidou and Sorazu couldn’t help but take a step into the outside as well to start looking around.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything useful here, there’s not a tree…” Toukai had a quiet tone. “If we walked, how long do you think it would take us to find civilization?” She passed me a question as she spoke of her thoughts.
“Uh… Not sure.” I chose an honest but lazy answer, so I decide to add, “we could wrap around the classroom. Though, I guess that’s not necessary.” Yeah, I’m still rather unsure.
Walking 360 degrees around the classroom doesn’t look like it’ll do anything but confirm that we are probably like whoever knows how many steps it takes we are from reaching civilization.
In terms of getting to meet with people other than our classmates… The only thing I can think of for sure is that it’ll probably take at least a day of just walking to see a person from the moment we start walking in whichever direction.
“What do you think we should do for food?” Toukai passed me another question. This one is quite important.
I could only look at the corpse that Toukai said was starting to rot.
“That?” I asked, in terms of something to eat, this is the only thing of note that’s eatable…
“Well… Maybe.” Toukai accepted it as a possibility. She said it only started to rot. From the looks of it, it still looks healthy.
Toukai continues, “we could have Shohi cook it for us, but it does look quite stiff and cold. I wonder if we could even get more of these… Fresh.”
“Hm…” putting aside the rotting issue, “I guess I could be a butcher?” I imagine myself having to cut things up as Shohi cooks it up.
“Perhaps.” She answered my questioning guess. “Well, if we manage to find more meat, we could probably have you cut them up, but first we’ll have to somehow make a pot of sorts to cook them in. And, as for water…” She looked around, “there doesn’t seem to be any nearby.”
“That’s a big issue.” I agreed with the water issue. The only notable, good thing here was the classroom and its contents, while the outside just consisted of the view of the sky, and a grassy plain devoid of trees, which was also unfortunately devoid of water, it looks like.
“If… magic…” She started thinking, then thinking aloud. “If someone was able to collect water vapor”, she looks at the sky, “or the rain, then maybe that could be good for us. And, we would need a container…”
“If it’s about a container, there are lunch boxes and water bottles.” I mentioned.
“Right. Then, we’ll need to have a way to disinfect them. How to do that?” Toukai asked. “Actually, this is how a survivalist would think, but it’s certainly not going to be so great for them to share it.” She criticized.
“Well…” I don’t have much words for resolving these issues, “there doesn’t seem to be anything here, should we just go back?”
After a short silence, “let’s go back.” Toukai agreed .
Our looking at the outside was rather uneventful, it seems like all we gathered from it was that we’re alone out here.
For now, it didn’t seem like we were at risk of an attack from wolf-like creatures, and bulky birds.
“Well, nothing out there?” Reshidou asked as we approached closer to them who were standing outside, in-front of the doorway, and thus we in turn also stay outside.
“Well, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything left alive. We didn’t get attacked. Apparently they’re named demonic wolves, and demonic birds.” Toukai answered, sharing what her [Evaluation] told her of the creature’s names.
“That’s some nice, simple naming.” Sorazu commented.
There was a pause, and Toukai sighs, “we might be stuck for hours without having a proper place to sleep, along with the problem of food. And, more importantly, water”, she expressed worry.
The only thing I could do much of is look at, and re-confirm the emptiness of the area we’re in.
“Uhm…” Shohi walked over, saying: “It’s faint, but the ones in the back still have a little heat in them.”
“Oh?” Toukai expressed her surprise quietly. “So… there’s still fresh meat, huh.”
“Should we go there?” I asked.
“If it’s alive, you’d have to fight.” Reshidou cautioned.
“They are not very hot. Like, if I don’t concentrate, they blend well with the cold bodies. They’re probably as good as dead”, Shohi denied the possibility of a fight.
“In that case, it’s okay to go and check them?” I look back at Toukai.
“Even if we got it fresh, we would need to keep it fresh for the days to come.” Toukai said, and I guess we’re still stuck with the issue of food.
She looks at Shohi, and after a short moment, “yeah… I probably can only keep it cold for at most eight hours from starting at full mana, like with how long I can keep you guys warm”, he surmised, replying to her analytical gaze.
Her eyes turn between each of us, probably thinking up somethings, though she just silently looks back at the line of dead creatures…
“If it’s about preserving the meat, I have this thing called [Subspace Inventory].” Sorazu spoke up, “It’s worth an experiment?”
