Chapter 74 - 74. Right Is Right
"What? No Wait I don't want another job!" Asher tried his best to argue back to get out of the chore of checking up on someone else's training. However, he did want more points…
"Great, you have the job. Glad to hear you are so enthusiastic." Garnet had already accepted that he was going to do it even though he was saying he didn't want to. "So what about you two? Starting camp now? Or will you just rest for a few days and take your own time?"
Jackson looked like he had already thought of an answer but was a little hesitant. "Can I still take the survival classes and such if I am not starting camp fully?"
"Yes, that is one benefit of being accepted early. You can ask any questions at the classes as long as you are self studying." Garnet knew that her parents would give him a hard time since they technically would not be working until all the students reached camp. However, she knew if a dedicated student showed they would force all their knowledge in the, regardless.
"Then I will wait until later and rest." Jackson was already planning his self study plan. He cared much more about wild plants and other survival skills than points and combat. If he could learn about the plants in the surrounding area he would not even need to ask for meals.
"I will start. I am going to go run the obstacle course then the hiking trail. How many points for reaching the climbing wall on the first try?" Laura was more excited to get things done instantly. She was practically bouncing up and down in place waiting for the word that she could run.
"You will get a bonus of six points for reaching the climbing wall. If you can climb it in one try then you will get ten." The words had no sooner left Garnet's mouth and Laura was gone. Thye could only look in the direction of the hiking trail. Garnet looked off at the trail then back at the other two. "Well unless either of you two wants to spar I am going to go and get the camp ready. I recommend you find a good place to sleep the night unless you can rack up some more points."
Asher was struck with the realization that he had been premature in starting his camp experience. He had been tricked in to getting some points right off the bat, but he was now stuck needing way more to get a roof over his head if he wanted comfort. The worst part was there were no other students around to challenge to a sparring match to try and build points. The Only person he thought he could spar was Garnet and he was sure he would get his butt kicked.
'I guess I need to go and try that hiking trail too, never tried rock climbing before.' Asher's decision was to attempt the hike first then if he failed he would try the obstacle course. The hike just seemed like it could give him more endurance training, not to mention he wanted to see if Laura got to the end on the first try.
Jackson had already lumbered off toward the cabin used for teaching. The entire way he looked to be mumbling about building a shelter and sleeping under the stars. 'I'll need to be nice to Jackson if I fail in getting enough points for a place to sleep.' Asher's mental note would not go forgotten.
With a back up plan in mind, he started off toward the hiking trail. Before he was even a hundred steps in to the hike he realized that it was definitely not one trail at all. The split in the trail gave him five options to travel down, and from his standing, he could see that two splits again just a few steps later.
Asher cursed his choice knowing that even reaching the wall itself could take hours of trial. This was the perfect challenge for someone like Laura who would need to burn a lot of energy to try the possible routes to get to the wall as well. It was a great measure to prevent those with super powers that gave them an advantage too much of an easy run of it.
"Off I go." Asher pepped himself up and headed down the right trail. He thought it looked like the least traveled one and recalled the saying to take the path less traveled. He was having a much easier time traversing the roots and mossy path since he was not jogging.
The trail looked the same with logs fallen on some sides and moss almost everywhere. Asher decided that every time he would come to a fork he would take the right side. "Right is always right." This small motto was one that came from a childhood comic character he had seen in passing on television. Since he had no idea which path would lead to the wall he decided he might as well wing it.
Before he knew where he was he came up on part of the mountain. The trail was losing its moss and giving way to rocky fround. The traveling was much tougher but not too tought to stop. The only reason Asher could tell he was in a trail was the fact that the center of the trail was more or less clear of most large brush.
The rocks on the trail were growing and growing making Asher needing to weave around the larger rocks and builders. The trail was getting slower and slower to move forward on. By the time Asher realized that he was nearly crawling up the mess of rocks and around boulders he could see the a flat clearing.
Asher stood up and realized he was over looking a massive forest for moles. He could see the river he crossed and even the place where he was dropped off to jog to camp earlier. "How in the world did you make it up here?"