House of Amarin

When the first day of spring arrived, everyone knew it was also the starting day of the yearly Egg Hunt. Those groups who signed up were already at the edge of the forest, gathering at their assigned entry points. Because the Misfits signed up as different groups, not all of them were entering the forest from the same place. Lia was paired up with Raufon's lot, while Sion was a few kilometers away with Koa. Aurora was also at a different spot, getting ready to enter, accompanied by a 3rd-year student's association. The sun was halfway up when all of their bracelets pinged, signaling the start of the Egg Hunt, and they were let into the 'arena.' 

"We should head to the point we discussed yesterday," Lia said, raising her hand and displaying the detailed map of the giant, dense forest. It was placed on a grid they made themselves, marking the L12 rectangle as their meeting point. Before going to search for any supposed golden eggs, they would regroup first and go from there.

"I tried to contact Koa, Sion, and Aurora," Raufon spoke up as the two were followed by their subordinates. "No response."

"We were warned that regular communication will be blocked. Until we exchange information willingly, we can't use the System to contact each other." Shishi added, watching her own map as they walked forward. 

"Keep to the plan!" Lia said, and Keily and one of Raufon's men quickly nodded, rushing forward, scouting their route ahead. 

They were equipped with enchanted boots, making them silent and speedy. Being the fastest in their groups, they were tasked to act as their scouts. The whole competition was not just about finding the golden eggs but about 'surviving' a week, relying only on themselves. Besides the danger of other groups, the beasts living here posed another threat. Usually, it took a day or two before the first people were disqualified and transported out by the System before they would die of their injuries. But this time, the Egg Hunt would be different.

"Group Emerald Wind has been eliminated." A voice spoke up from all of their bracelets, making everybody jolt in place.

"Huh?" Lia raised it, checking the information, and it was the same group that entered alongside Aurora, containing five 3rd-year students. "Hehe, I think they tried to do something to Aurora~ Bad choice~!"

"Well… Watching her train the others… I would not want to mess with her!" Raufon gulped while the three brothers in Lia's group smiled proudly. 

On the other side of the forest, Kafka was surprised as he read the information, standing with his own group of the same size as Olivia's.

"This may be the fastest someone was thrown out… This year's Hunt is going to be unique." He smiled, looking at his people, "We came for one simple reason. Let's go, find those Misfits!" As he said it, Olivia, at a different part, said the exact words at the exact same time.

"And then, make sure they remember who we are!" Palvina added, standing beside her and their 12 men group.

…

….

……

The first to arrive at the marked area was the groups of Koa and Sion. Surveying their surroundings, it was the origin point of a small creek, coming up from the ground, defying gravity before flowing away merrily.

"This is not natural," Koa murmured, watching the clear water flowing and twisting around itself while they were waiting for the others to arrive. 

"Of course not," Sion added, sitting on one of the thickest branches of the hundreds of trees surrounding them, blocking out the sun and casting an everlasting shadow onto them all. "This island was created by multiple 9th-tier mages after the Dark Ages! Everything is artificial, even the gravity that keeps it in the air! A small creek like that is not weird."

"No, that was not what I meant." Koa shook her head, crouching down, gently touching the water that was exceptionally cold, and she could feel the dense mana circulating inside of it. "This water is being pushed out from below us. Even if the island is magical, it should not affect water like this without actively interfering with the laws of our Realm."

"You are the water expert," Sion answered, looking at the source, trying to get a feel for it, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. "But I still can't see anything weird with it."

"Look." She stood up, stretching out her palm as a magic circle appeared around her wrist, but nothing happened.

"Um…? Koa?" Sion looked at her and then realized. "Wait! You can't manipulate it?" He jumped off the branch, walking close as their groups looked on curiously while still scanning their surroundings for other groups' spies and scouts.

"Yeah, I can't. Weird!" She nodded, watching the ground where it was breaking onto the surface. "I wish Raufon would be here and see if he can manipulate the earth around it!"

"We don't need him for that! Roro, come here!" Sion whistled, and a young-looking guy rushed there with a bright flash, wearing a 3rd-year student's uniform. 

"Yes, big bro?" He asked happily, being a classmate and friend of his for years. 

"Time to exercise your secondary element! Try raising the earth around the creek!"

"Eh…" He flinched, rubbing her short, brown hair with a twitching mouth. "You know I suck at using it… but here goes nothing!" He waved his hand but then… True to his words, nothing happened. "That… is weird!" He murmured, surprised, "If nothing else, the ground at least trembles or turns over!"

"There is a magic here that trumps all others or cancels out ours," Koa explained, walking circles around the land, trying to feel the source of it.

In the end, with her Twins' help, they determined that from the creek's origin, in a 10-meter wide radius, nobody could influence their surroundings, and any spell they tried to conjure went haywire. It was as if something was generating an invisible field of magic, disturbing theirs.

"Okay, this is truly weird!" Sion said, looking serious, earning the nods of his men. "Start digging!"

Soon most of their group was turning the earth up with their bare hands, which turned out to be easier than they expected. After ten minutes, a meter-deep hole was around the base of the creek, and they could see the water rise up in a twisting column, guided by magic. 

"No. Way." They said in a union as they saw what was producing the water. It was a head-sized, deep-blue egg. Looking at it, it was like its whole body was one giant sapphire, emanating such strong fluctuations of water-based mana; no wonder it overwrote every other spell and interfered with theirs. With their current proficiency, they couldn't tap into it and control it. Its robust and vigorous mana reminded Koadriana of her grandfather and when he displayed his true powers. 

"Well… I thought that they would be… golden or something." Koa said, stunned that they had already found one. 

"Every year is different." Sion said, watching it, wiping his forehead, "Last year, they were fist-sized, golden, and they were enchanted. They would escape to who knows where if you did not hold onto them strongly. This is a first for me too." He explained, seeing the water still flowing upwards from the tip of it like some kind of magical fountain.

"Now, what are we going to do with it?" Jellybean asked, watching his leader, waiting for her decision.

"Let me try to put it into my holding bag." Koa reached down, touching its surface, which was cold as ice, "Brrr! It hurts!" She shivered, quickly concentrating on putting it away, but nothing happened. "Now what?" She looked around after trying multiple times but failing with every attempt.

"Bury it?" Roro asked with an uncertain voice, "Come back for it later?"

"I don't like the sound of that," Ash spoke up, hearing his idea. "If our Boss managed to sense it, other water mages who are keen to notice its aura could do the same. Not to mention, someone wanders here and realizes that spells won't work! Nothing like that happens without reason! Searching a little would expose it!"

"And burying it now would still show that the earth was dug up previously. We can't use magic to rebury it seamlessly!" Sighed another subordinate of Sion.

"We are taking it!" Koa decided, reaching down and pulling it up with two hands.

As soon as she did, the water flow from the egg stopped, and it flashed with a blue light, letting Koadriana raise it up easily. Before she could put it down because of its freezing aura and the pain she was feeling holding it, all of their bracelets made a loud noise, sounding like a chime of a giant bell.

"First egg has been obtained by the Misfits of Water. Eight to go." The Sytem voice echoed, making Koa simply drop it with a heavy thud, and water started to come out of it once again, now bubbling out towards all directions. 

"What the?!" Many cried, and as they brought up the school artifact on their wrists, to their horror, the map showed a blue egg marked on it. 

"Let me guess!" Sion sighed with a pained voice, "It is not just us who can see this, eh?"

He was absolutely correct. As soon as Koa raised it out of the ground, every participating mage received the news and the exact location where they were. Or, more precisely, where the egg was at the moment. 

"Oh." Lia stopped, watching the news. "I think we should hurry up! This is going to be… harder than expected!"

"This is a big problem!" Raufon moaned as they picked up the pace, hurrying to the meeting point, watching their map, sawing the egg to start moving, and heading deeper into the forest. 

…

….

……

"Tsk… they are on the complete opposite side from us!" Palvina grumbled, clicking her tongue.

"Doesn't matter. They have become the target of any groups that are nearby them." Olivia replied as they were traveling leisurely, but from others' perspective, they seemed to be running at full speed. "If other groups chip off their numbers, that is also good. I hate dealing with fodder!"

"True!" Palvina laughed with the rest of their members, who were uninterested in the Hunt itself. They had enough CP for anything and were known well inside the Academy. Their sole purpose this time was to find and beat them per their leader's request. "It seems this year's Hunt is even helping us!"

"If I didn't know the Headmaster well enough," Olivia answered, "I would think you are right. But he is more eccentric than anybody I have ever known! This is nothing but a coincidence. A welcomed one! But a coincidence."

"Whatever it is, we just have to hurry, and they will be out by next dawn!" One of the other 4th-year students chuckled grimly, running along behind them.

"Keep your eyes peeled!" Olivia warned them, looking back over her shoulders, "Kafka joined in too. I know him; he will try and stop us from interfering with our plans! He is a bastard centrist fuck who never takes sides and always goes about balance this balance that!"

"Geez, I never knew you hated him that much!" Palvina giggled at her sudden outburst.

"He is an idiot who always opposes me when he thinks I'm overstepping my boundaries!" Olivia snorted, "He never beat me, and he won't walk over me now, either! I just don't want him to stall us enough for another group to finish off those idiots!"

"Roger!" Palvina winked at her, "If we run into them, you focus on Kafka, and we will keep the others off your back. Break a few bones, and then he may even miss his graduation! Ahaha~”

"That is… not a bad idea!" Olivia grinned, her eyes dancing with fire, ready to burst out anytime. 

Above the forest, high in the air, Lucian was sitting on a swath of clouds, watching them through a giant screen. He was leisurely eating some salted nuts, watching the group of Koa’s carry the egg, passing it around their people as it was painful to carry it for an extended period.

“Now that you have become the target, let me see how long you can keep at it!” He chuckled happily, bringing up a second screen, watching a different group, soon intercepting Koa and Sion. “This shouldn’t be a real problem. The question is, what will Olivia do in the end? I’d hate to expel her….”