Karina: "I think it's a day or two away, so can't do that ourselves. Could look at maps though."
Leon: "And we need to have you teach us that barrier, but we can do that tonight I guess."

[ Maps ]
[ Teach the spell ]
[ To the hotel Fred got ]
[ All three!!! ]
[ Other ]

The three of you head back to the adventurer's guild for now, and ask to see their maps of the area. The clerk gladly shows you to the maps and info on the region, and you grab a the charts you're interested and sit down at a table. Looks like the job will be on some forested hills to the east of the city, though nothing truly mountainous. The biological survey results are fairly rigorous for this region too. Let's see...
Animals are the normal forest fare; things big enough to matter are wolves and bears, and the occasional mountain lion. A lot of variety in birds, which makes sense with how close you are to the Air Lord's domain. Gunan is on the west end of Belus, which borders the domain on the west side.
No beasts to speak of, monsters are limited to small things with basic wind magic, thankfully. Mostly squirrels, but also various birds. The magic is mostly defensive or evasive, though there have been cases where they deal some nasty cuts. Sounds like leave them alone, and they'll leave you alone.

Satisfied, you head back to the hotel to relax and teach a spell. Two rooms, two beds each, shared bathrooms for the floor.
Upon arrival, Frederic informs that you and Leon will be sharing one.

You then sit down with Leon and Karina in her and Fred's room, to share the new spell with the others.
Leon: "Have you ever taught a spell to someone before?"
You have not.

Leon: "Cool, neither had I. It actually is as easy as they make it look, just keep forming the spell repeatedly.
That Enrique guy was a lot faster compared to me, though. Wonder if he's got a special technique or something..."
Karina: "C'mon, let's get learning!"
Leon: "Yeah, you're right, time's a wasting."
You lay your hand on the table palm facing up, and Karina and Leon put their hands above yours, close enough to feel any spell you form. Both of them close their eyes in concentration, as you begin forming the shield spell.


~~~


In the orange light of sunset, you see that before both their hands a small oval of distorted air appears. Karina gazes in wide eyed excitement, while Leon tries to remain stoic as he closely examines the shield.
Karina: "Cooooool! I've never had one that like, directly does things!"
Leon: "I'm just glad it's over. How long did that even take?"
Frederic: "'Bout three hours."
Leon: "Three hours... yikes. Learning spells at the academy only took a half hour at most."

Karina stretches and shrinks the shield, testing its size limits, before settling on a foot long thin oval, that she uses to lightly bonk Leon on the head. His head goes reeling down, nearly hitting the table, and Karina giggles.
Karina: "Hey! Leon! Teach me an attack spell!"
Leon and Frederic: ""No.""
Karina: "Aww, but-"
Leon and Frederic: ""No.""

She puffs her cheeks in annoyance as Leon rubs the spot on his head, then momentarily her eyes flick over towards you.


Frederic: "Alright. All prepped for tomorrow, and it's starting to get late. Let's get dinner, they serve food downstairs. Complementary with the rooms."

[ Skip to mission start ]
[ Go eat and converse about something ]
[ Other ]

You all head down and grab a free table in the dining hall, and soon one of the servers comes by to take your order, which is just the basic meal for all of you.
Anything you want to talk about?

Leon: "I think so. Did that bonk drain mana Karina?"
Karina: "Yup! It almost emptied it out."
Leon: "Wait really? That didn't feel as hard as the shots I was using when we were testing earlier, it almost emptied it? Like from full?"
Karina: "Mhm! Moving it took a bit too, but it was mostly the bonk. I wanted to do it again to see how it breaks, but then you stopped me."

Leon: "Oh they definitely exist. I know that we have elemental magic like that instead of universal kinetics cause spellmakers can make them more efficient by focusing on specific forms of matter, like solid, liquid, or gas.
I dunno if this shield works on the same principles as holding a matter barrier in place, so maybe they aren't comparable."

You spend a while chatting and eating. The food is surprisingly good, and before you know it it's dark out. You all retire to your rooms. Leon looks like he's meditating or something, so you just go to sleep.


~~~~~


The four of you head out to the stables by the gate, and see a group of men with backpacks laden with gear. Three, with two having big backpacks and the last with a smaller one. They look ready for a hike.
Small Backpack: "Ah, you the adventurers? We're the ones from Gunan Lumber, for the survey. I'm Jacik, these're Jace and Jason."
Frederic: "Good to meet you."
Karina: "Jays... jay, jay, and jay?"

Jacik: "We'll take a cart as far as we can, then hoof it through the hills. We've been through the area before on surveys, just that we're three normals and last year we saw a lot of bears. Including one mama and her cubs through some trees. Far enough that she didn't come after us, but still. Too many bears for normals."
Leon: "Sounds relaxing."
Jacik: "Hah! Excellent. Shall we?"

The J's lead you over to a horse and wagon with a driver, and a few words later they climb on, inviting you to join. The four of you get on, and you're soon on your bumpy way.


~~~


You're a couple hours on the road, about halfway there. The wagon is surprisingly stable for a land based vehicle, you expected a lot more bumps and jostles. The seven of you are packed in a bit tight in the back, but watching the scenery go by has been something of its own reward. At first it was mostly pastures and farmland, a few orchards, but those gave way to wide open fields, slow rolling hills, and a few dotted trees and forests. You sometimes see animals off in the distance, mostly a lone deer or rabbit.

Karina: "Orange."
Frederic: "Generous."
Leon: "Mm... Usual."
Your turn.