Nadrina looked ready to argue, but Lilianna shook her head discreetly. They had indeed made a deal, and arguing might risk that. More than likely, Nadrina wanted to ask if the professor had been in the Golden Workshop guild with Instructor Balrus, but Lilianna wasn’t too sure about that theory. Nearly every member of that guild had gone on to prestigious positions of power or fame. Why wouldn’t they have heard of such a talented sorcerer by now?

“By the way, if you two don’t contribute soon, I’ll have no choice but to fail you,” the professor said lightly, looking at the setting sun meaningfully. Before Lilianna had time to process that, Nadrina dashed over to her, grabbed her by the wrist, and hauled her off to find their classmates.

~~~

AFTER AN HOUR HAD PASSED and more than a few panicked arguments, everyone had gathered materials for shelter and fires. Professor Aldric finally took pity on them and taught them how to build a makeshift shelter and gave them flint and steel to start a fire, though he still forbade the use of magic. Nadrina had volunteered to get the fire started, but Codrin kept insisting that he could do it. The others had figured out making shelters before he could even get a good spark going.

“Come on, put more force into it. You won’t get anywhere if you just gently caress it like that,” Volmar commented.

“Don’t do that! You’ll just break the flint,” Cira interrupted. She kept trying to grab at the tools, but Codrin would just bat her away.

“I’m hungry,” Alek added unhelpfully. He was lying in a makeshift bed of leaves, nursing his bruised knuckles after his and Volmar’s tree punching antics.

Nadrina just stood nearby, looking like she wanted to help but not knowing how to interject. To be fair, Lilianna wasn’t much more useful. She’d tried her best to learn and not hold anyone back, but she could tell that her upbringing had made tasks like this difficult for her.

Ever since joining this class, she’d been determined to learn whatever she could. It was rather petty of her, but being so inept at something frustrated her to no end. She found herself actually jealous of Nadrina’s simpler lifestyle sometimes.

Apparently, Codrin shared her frustration. “This is ridiculous!” he exclaimed, looking like he wanted to throw the tools in anger but knowing they only had the one set. “I understand the idea of an emergency, but is learning this really a necessary part of our curriculum? What if I don’t even want to be part of a guild?”