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Time passed and days came and went. Oli, with the help of his Infinite Compression art, was finally able to break through to the peak novice level, becoming the last of his friends to do so.

But he wasn’t much happier. If anything, he got even more anxious to reach the adept plane.

Oli knew that the novice plane was by far the easiest to get through. By becoming an adept, Oli would at least be seen as a common cultivator in the rest of the world. Novices were always seen as too weak or too young or both, while young adepts were somewhat considered geniuses.

There was also a common belief about cultivation speed.

However fast someone could clear the entire novice plane would be equivalent to the time it would take to grow a single level in the adept plane. That same rule applied for every plane of cultivation as a rough estimate for average cultivation speed.

Hence, Oli was trying his best to enter the adept plane as fast as possible.

.....

In the meantime, the school trip was getting nearer and nearer. It was time for Vloz and the teachers to discuss the smaller details of the matter.

They all met up on the third floor of the library and gathered around Vloz.

“Thanks for agreeing to my proposal in the past,” stated Vloz. “Now, it’s finally time to discuss the trip in further detail.”

“Hmm... Are you sure you can’t go, Vloz?” asked Hurdo.

Vloz shook his head. “I’m sure. It’s better that I remain here since, otherwise, we would have no perennials from the clan in near the town. If Rathe were back, then I’d definitely go.”

“Don’t worry too much, Hurdo,” Klor chimed in. “Since Vloz already cleared out the neighboring territories of bandits, what’s the worst that could happen while we’re on the trip?”

Warlon added, “Yeah, with you and Ania we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

“Well, you’re not wrong, but it’s still better to be cautious when doing something for the first time,” stated Ania. “According to Hollen, the northeast jungle shouldn’t contain any perennial plane cultivators, but we should still be careful to not let any of the students get hurt due to recklessness. There is a herd of Wild Rhinocerous deeper in the jungle, however, so we’ll have to keep that in mind.”

With a nod, Vloz added, “You’re all right in this case. There shouldn’t be any issues but we should always remain vigilant. Problems tend to arise when we get careless, so let’s not be careless.”

“Makes sense,” agreed Hurdo. “So, what other details did you want to discuss?”

“I want you, Hurdo, to be in charge during my absence. Ania will be second in charge and watch over the novices specifically. Always stay with your students. We should expect to run into something we’re not planning for, at least at the elder plane,” explained Vloz.

“Hopefully fate doesn’t hate us and send a perennial beast after you guys. But so long as you stay together with the students, you’ll be able to hold anything off while they flee. I’m confident in your defenses to hold up to anything.”

“That we can do.” Hurdo smiled, a little anxious to have a good fight.

“When it comes to caring for the students, I’ve gotten a number of tents from a merchant in the past. Ania and Hurdo, you’ll be the one’s to keep those in your void rings.”

To the side, over a dozen bundles of thick canvas, rope, and poles appeared. Both Ania and Hurdo walked up and each stored half of the bundles for later use.

“For food, I want Klor and Warlon doing the hunting and gathering for dinner and breakfast. Let’s let the students handle their own lunches,” added Vloz. “That way they might learn to care for themselves, a necessary skill if they ever leave the territory.”

“Sounds alright to me.”

“Me too.”

Klor and Warlon both nodded and agreed to their easy responsibilities.

“As for night watch, I think both instructors should take shifts, but they should also work together with a few students each shift. We need to teach them as much as we can on this trip,” stated Vloz.

“Sounds simple enough. What do we do about the beasts that the students kill?” asked Ania.

“I’ll let you decide that. If you feel it’s worth storing in your void rings, then do so. If you feel that the beast is insignificant and has nothing worth harvesting, then don’t worry about it.”

“Keep in mind that we should let the students hunt in groups. I don’t want any students working solo, not even the advanced adepts,” explained Vloz. “They should have at least three to six people per group, three to four students for stronger groups and five to six students for the weaker groups.”

“Wow, you really are being cautious,” chuckled Hurdo.

“Always, that’s how I become a high perennial,” joked Vloz, keeping them from disagreeing. “I understand that some students will rebel and go off on their own or in groups of two, but let them off if you catch students acting as such.”

“If some students prove that they can handle themselves, then let them form two-man squads on the last day of the sun to test them.”

“Ohh, I see. I’m curious, are there any goals for the students to strive for while on the trip?” asked Hurdo. “For instance, a goal of defeating so many beasts and the one who defeats the most beasts gets something.”

“Hmm, that’s not a bad idea. Let’s do something like that. Any suggestions on a prize?”

Klor spoke up, “How about an advancement in seats?”

“That won’t do,” replied Vloz. “They would advance and then immediately lose their new seat in the tournament that follows after the trip.”

“What about a perennial grade cultivation technique, or perennial grade battle art?” suggested Warlon. “I’m sure most students would be excited about that.”

“That’s better, but what about the top seats? They already have a perennial grade technique and a perennial grade battle art that we gave them. What would they want?” asked Vloz, letting the other teachers sink into some deep thought.

“We can offer weapons and gold, can’t we?”

Vloz looked to Hurdo and nodded. “That’s definitely an option if we all think that would be best. I’d rather offer some peak novice and peak adept weapons than I would just gold. Offering gold might result in the clans and tribes just taking it from the students.”

“True, true...” mumbled Hurdo.

“What if we offered a chance to enter the advanced classes?” suggested Ania. “For the normal students, I think they jump at that offer.”

“So, are you suggesting that we offer different prizes to each class or to each plane?” asked Vloz.

“I think we should do both,” replied Ania. “By having a class prize, then we can guarantee to motivate the majority of people. And by having a prize for all students in the same plane, such as class against class, then we can have a friendly competition to motivate the entire class.”

“Ohh, so you want to offer a prize for the most successful class as a whole? I like that.” A smile crept up on Vloz’s face. “But what prize will motivate all the students equally?”

“Hmmm...” Hurdo grunted as he heavily pondered. “What if... the winning class got a formation?”

“A formation... Do you mean a formation inside the classroom?”

“Yeah. That way even the students who aren’t in the top three seats will have some boost to their cultivation.”

“That’s a great idea! And we’ll have the formation set up for a single semester till the school trip where we repeat the process and give the formation to the winner,” mentioned Vloz. “What do the rest of you think?”

“I’m totally down for it,” agreed Klor.

“I think that’s perfect,” replied Warlon.

Ania nodded. “Just one thing, are there separate competitions for each plane, or are all four classes competing with each other?”

Taking a moment to think, Vloz used his tail to scratch his head. “I think it would be best if each plane competed separately. It would give the normal students a proper chance to compete with the advanced classes. And since they have more students, the advanced classes will be forced to make up the difference.”

“Sounds good me. Anything else?” asked Hurdo.

Vloz shook his head. “No, just remember that, not including travel time, we’ll only be staying there for the time of a single sun cycle. That way everyone will be back in time for the end of semester exam and competition.”

“Great, then I’m off! I’ve got dinner to make.” Bowing slightly, Ania said goodbye and was the first to leave.

The other instructors followed her example and left one by one.

Vloz, now alone, looked to the sealed cultivation rooms on both sides. His eyes soon stopped on Oli’s room as he whispered to himself, “I wonder how you’ll win this one.”