Soon after Emily left, the Acrider responsible for cleaning the training field told Lux to get up and go back, and even blamed Lux for scattering pebbles all over the floor (which Lux felt was unfair).

  Afterward, Lux dragged her tired body back to the inn. The old Acrider in charge of the front desk wasn't there; Lux didn't know where he had gone. Fortunately, the door wasn't locked, so Lux went straight to her room and slept soundly, a sleep so deep it felt like a temporary death.

  Later that day, Lux went out with her badge and crystal disk to find an equipment shop. This time, the Acriders standing by the roadside gave Lux directions as soon as they saw the badge on her chest. Lux quickly found the shop, which had a large sign that read "Tree Crown Armory." However, Lux couldn't read, so when she stood in front of the shop, she still asked the Acriders standing nearby, "Where's the weapon shop?" The Acriders gave her a "are you kidding me?" look.

  Once inside, Lux noticed that except for the Acrider guarding the door, all the shop assistants were elves. The elves glanced at the badge on Lux's chest and asked what she needed. When Lux showed them the crystal disk she was carrying, the elven shop assistants were quite surprised, saying it had been many years since an assistant mercenary had appeared.

  Then the shop assistant led Lux to the weapon warehouse. Lux was shocked to find that she couldn't afford almost any of the weapons there. Unfortunately, 500 points was too little. She would also need to buy a set of passable armor.

  Finally, after seeing the number of points on her crystal disk, the elven shop assistant showed Lux a set of wooden armor with simple flower patterns carved into it (it looked a lot like leather armor, but it was made of compressed wood and was very hard), and a set of wooden shin guards with knee pads, both of which could be adjusted with ropes. Lux tried them on and felt they were acceptable, so she chose them (though she didn't really have any other choice).

  For a weapon, she chose an iron sword with a black rope wrapped around the hilt.

  After Lux paid, the shop assistants ignored her, not even saying "goodbye."

  After that, Lux, with only a few points left on her crystal disk, went to the Green Training Field to continue practicing magic wrapping. Since the indoor training rooms required points to enter, Lux stayed on the outdoor training field lawn, swinging her sword. Occasionally, younger-looking elves would stare curiously at Lux. But Lux didn't mind. She continued like this until evening and then went back to sleep (the inn was free to stay in as long as you had the identity proof).

  The next morning, Lux arrived early at the city gate to wait for the other elves.

  "I didn't expect you humans to actually pass," was Sabrina's first sentence to Lux. "Looks like you're not completely useless after all."

  Lux wondered if this blonde elf knew that Emily had practically taught her the whole thing the day before. If she didn't know, should Lux tell her?

  "Short ears, your fashion sense is terrible," was Emily's first sentence to Lux.

  "Guess how many points I have left on my crystal disk. If you guess right, I'll give you all nine," Lux retorted, though she wasn't really willing to spend any more points on clothes. At most, she'd buy some more comfortable attire and a big, cool-looking sword.

  Emily didn't reply but stood there waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Soon, all the elves arrived – five male elves and three female elves, all dressed differently. Then, they began to sort out their supplies. Everyone (including Lux) received a bag containing a lunchbox and water, a long rope, and some tools. Lux planned to eat the food later, because Emily hadn't told her that meals were included. So Lux also carried a bottle of water and many of the cakes Sylvie had given her.

  While Lux was checking her supplies, Sabrina walked up to her. Her mouth was twisted, as if forcing a smile, and she leaned close to Lux. "Even if someone like you passed the test, so what? You're just a crude human woman," she said. Then Sabrina lowered her gaze, looking at Lux's shoes. "A human with dirty shoes."

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Lux was completely baffled. Did this elf have some kind of mental illness? Other elves, at most, would ignore her or keep their distance. But Sabrina was being openly hostile and getting way too close.

  "Oh really? Thanks for reminding me. Then let me shake the dirt off my shoes," Lux said, then stomped her foot hard on the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air. The dirt flew directly onto Sabrina's boots, which were decorated with sharp rose thorns. "Oops, I shook off the dirt with a bit too much force. Look, your boots got dirty. But someone as elegant and polite as you will surely forgive me, right?" Lux said with an apologetic expression.

  "You you you—" Sabrina said, pointing at Lux. Her face was flushed with anger, but that anger quickly subsided. Then Sabrina casually beckoned to a nearby Acrider carrying cargo. "Hey! Come here! Clean my boots!"

  The Acrider immediately put down the goods they were carrying, quickly knelt in front of Sabrina, and carefully wiped the dirt off her boots with a handkerchief from their pocket.

  "What's wrong? You dirty-shoed human, would you also like me to have them cleaned for you?" Sabrina said, holding her head high, one boot-clad foot resting on the Acrider's knee, letting the Acrider slowly wipe away the dirt, while placing her hands on her hips and addressing Lux.

  "Thank you, no. My shoes aren't as delicate as yours. They can't even handle a little dirt," Lux waved her hand in refusal.

  But Sabrina directly kicked the Acrider who was wiping her boots in the face, sending the Acrider sprawling on the ground. Then she said to Lux, "See? That human says you're not worthy of cleaning her shoes."

  The Acrider, after being kicked to the ground, was covered in dirt. He didn't dare look at Sabrina, who had kicked him, but stared at Lux with resentment.

  'What is going on?' Lux thought, feeling completely speechless.

  "Are you all done? We need to get ready to leave," Emily noticed the situation and urged Sabrina and Lux.

  "Yes, Captain Emily," Sabrina responded, then turned and walked towards Emily. But she suddenly turned her head and glared at Lux with the Luxe resentful look as the Acrider from before.

  'What is going on with everyone?' Lux thought helplessly.

  ————————————

  The elves were silent throughout the journey. Lux felt like she had joined not an elven squad, but some kind of silent, stuffy group. The only sound was the crunching of their feet on the leaves and roots.

  It was a completely different experience from her solo hiking trip of the last three months. So, after walking for quite a while, Lux asked, "What are we doing?"

  "You have to ask even that? Humans are so useless," Sabrina said. Lux chose to ignore her for now.

  "You'll find out soon enough. Just follow orders when the time comes," Emily's voice said, which wasn't helpful at all. Lux remained confused and bored.

  The other elves traveling with them either just walked in silence or spoke quietly in pairs, giving Lux no chance to chat.

  Lux felt like she should do something to break the monotony of this boring trek, like... compose a poem.

  Lux felt the sunlight, fragmented by the crisscrossing branches, the moss and green grass mixed with the scent of earth, and the gentle breeze that occasionally brushed her face.

  Sun is shining, bright and bold,

  Birds are tweet tweet tweet, I'm told.

  Wind is blowing, high and low,

  Trees and leaves go rustle, rustle, ho!

  People walking, feet go thud, thud, slow,

  My heart is feeling low.

  My head is buzzing, loud and long,

  Everything is going wrong,

  Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing.

  Luxa took a deep breath. She had finished her poem, "Jungle Trek," but she preferred to share it with friends she knew, so in this squad filled with mostly unfamiliar elves (and the two familiar ones weren't exactly friendly), Lux decided to keep the poem to herself and send it to Sylvie later.

  "Everyone, get ready," Lux heard Emily's voice. She seemed to have discovered something and was now crouching down to observe it. When Lux went forward to look, she saw Emily staring at a very large footprint. The footprint had five huge, sharp, spike-like claw marks, like five sword slashes etched into the ground. Lux felt that the creature who made this footprint could easily crush her into the earth with a single step.

  "Human," Emily said to Lux after examining the footprint. "Remember these hand signals."

  Emily placed her right hand against her left palm. "This means stop, be quiet." Emily held her fingers together and bent them. "This means prepare to move." Then she circled her finger. "This tells you to go around behind."

  "Got it?" Emily asked.

  "Got it," Lux replied.

  "And say 'Captain Emily'," Sabrina interjected, scolding Lux.

  Lux looked at Sabrina, placed her left hand against her right palm, and asked Emily, "This is the signal for 'please be quiet,' right, Captain Emily?"

  "You're using the wrong hands, and you only need to watch my hand signals," Emily said.

  Sabrina gritted her teeth in anger, but she said nothing, because as soon as Emily finished speaking, she immediately made the 'be quiet' hand signal and led everyone slowly in a certain direction.