Awakening the Divine Spark-Chapter 143: First dreadtalons.

Thousands of disciples poured out of the rift, finding themselves right on a beach.

It was slightly chilly because of the cold wind, but the place did look nice. The wide yellow beach stretched to both sides as far as one could see and if not for the unruly ocean, many would’ve gone for a swim.

The green forest also fit well in the picture and if the arriving disciples didn’t know any better, they would’ve thought they came here for a vacation.

"A root! Elder Sister He! I found a Golden thread root!" One of the girls in Lee’s group shouted, attracting attention of every single person.

It was unbelievable someone had scored five hundred contribution points just like that and some people began to run around the beach looking form more. Others, though, immediately tried to use the chance.

Sister Meng, you’re incredible!

Sister Meng, it’s all because of your beautiful eyes!

Sister Meng. please teach how you did that! I’ll promise to protect you for the rest of the training with my life!

Tens of male disciples rushed to flatter the lucky girl, causing many others to become annoyed. At the same time the guys who reacted first tried to monopolize their right to pester the Meng girl and a fight would’ve broken out if seniors didn’t put a stop to it.

They quickly gathered their groups of fifty and led them down the beach in both directions. The idea was to make some distance between the groups so when the actual training began, there was no one large crowd and everyone got their chance to find roots and fight dreadtalons.

Someone finding a Golden thread root right after stepping through the rift gate filled the heads of disciples with delusional ideas of them easily becoming rich during the following months.

Lee’s guess was that it was highly possible that the root was placed there intentionally to ignite the reaction everyone had or the girl was hired to fake the find. Of course, he had no clue whether his guess was correct, but at least it was what he would’ve done.

The hunting part also seemed easy. The first group that rushed away first, found a dreadtalon pack after a couple of miles. There were around ten beasts and they were turned into minced meat in an instant.

The three feet tall size wasn’t scary and their greenish, thick scales also couldn’t protect too well against the sharp weapons everyone had.

But when youths began to cheer and laugh about the lack of difficulty for the upcoming training, senior disciples quickly reminded them that these were small packs and, more importantly, it was unlikely anyone would want to stay in large groups to share their precious loot.

The hype quickly died down, but the most capable outer disciples got fired up instead. They picked up on the implication that they were the ones who will get the largest benefits from this event since they could hunt in groups of two or three. Some even considered an option to go solo.

***

For the next day the groups of fifty continued to go further down the beach, creating distance from their peers.

Lee’s estimate was that they were taking starting positions approximately five miles apart, and while it was not a lot, people will surely spread even more the further they went. There was no telling how far one could wonder off in six months.

Many were concerned with how to find the gathering spot on the other side of the continent, but Senior Sister He Zhenzhu assured there were marks left no one could miss, especially the cliff at which everyone will eventually meet up in the end. Her implication was that the real worries of the outer disciples had to be about something else entirely.

This was what most actually didn’t want to think about, not that they didn’t know. The ocean and the beach were nice and pretty, if one ignored the never ending chilly wind, of course. But the lack of freshwater was a screaming problem.

Even the couple of small rivers they came across were murky and very few braved to actually taste the water.

After living for more than a year in Ashland, Lee had paranoia regarding food and drink. Before the departure he ran around the sect the whole previous day purchasing supplies, and spent an astronomical amount of two thousand contribution points.

Besides storing over a dozen large gourds of water, in addition to fruits, nuts and vegetables, they purchased spices, ropes, thin cloth that could work as a mosquito net, and other things. And while Xiao Lian was confused by his actions then, but now he realized that they should’ve taken even more supplies.

Lee, on the other hand, was upset because he was had to face the reality of his magic bag not being a bottomless treasure after all. Turns out that having a whole room of storage space was not enough.

***

On the morning of the second day the survival training finally began. With the sun crawling from the ocean from behind, most disciples rushed in the forest, looking for dreadtalons to kill and roots to find. Others took it slow knowing they will have enough opportunities during the next six months.

The continent was wide and the only thing everyone had to keep in mind was to continue to move westwards.

After he threw small handful of fungal spores under moss at the edge of the forest, Lee joined the impatient Xiao Lian. He never forgot the promise he made to the shroom lord in Verdaria Prime and was curious whether the guy actually could spread his seeds around the universe this way.

After a couple of miles they were lucky to stumble upon the first dreadtalon pack. There were seven beasts and two of them lost heads the moment Lee and Xiao Lian charged in. The remaining five quickly encircled them, but the two boys weren’t too bothered.

A couple evasive rolls and slashes later only three dreadtalons were left, but unfortunately this was all they could do.

Don’t worry, we’ll help!

Watch out! Try to hold out till we’ll get there!

We’re coming!

Nine disciples ran over and killed off the remaining raptors as if they were chickens. With straight faces they repeated words like good thing we made it on time! and you’re safe now, junior brothers! they cut off the claws of the raptors they killed, and left.

Xiao Lian was annoyed to no end, but Lee could only shrug. He was certain that situations like these will be common during the next six months and there was no reason to worry. In addition, with time everyone would spread out and there will be less interaction with other disciples the longer the training went.

For Xiao Lian, though, it was the matter of a principle. He wasn’t going to pick a fight over a couple of raptors, but he didn’t intend to allow anyone to steal his contribution points either.

He persuaded Lee they should try to outrun the rest and, in fact, the latter wasn’t against it. He had been stuck in a room for too long and welcomed the chance to stretch his legs.

It turns out that during the past year Xiao Lian had diligently practiced. Lee had no idea what caused the boy to work so hard, but he was forced to realize that he had seriously fallen behind.

His young friend was clearly stronger than Xie Wuking and much less timid compared to year ago, but Lee was glad to see that. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a useless coward.

Xiao Lian didn’t go much into what training he went through back in the clan, but only mentioned that he was already beginning to sense the elemental particles within. It was only a matter of time until he ignited his spark.

Lee did feel a bit sour about him not being able to follow his friend’s footsteps, but the current situation was completely his own fault thus there was no reason to sulk.

During the following day they were still running through the forest, killing the greenish forest raptors, but they managed to find a couple of Ironwood roots as well. That wasn’t much but improved their mood which was once again dampened the moment they stepped on the edge of the forest the day after.