Dungeon Prowler : One Man Army

Chapter 6: planning with dummies

Morning came and both Yunan and Leol woke up with the light of dawn well before sunrise, seeing the sweety foreheads on each other they laughed at each other for a good moment, they knew exactly what kinds of nightmares the other had and it was quite funny for them roommates to share both the room, the shame and the nightmares. The slowly growing friendship these kids are fostering is a good seedling if they could maintain it.

Today Yunan did not go for the usual heavy exercises, but chose to run some laps at a very leisurely pace, did some stretching routines and them meditated for sometime, after taking a quick bath, he headed to the cantina and had his breakfast with Leol, today's topic of choice was the eminent planning class and how could Bai possibly make another farce of something serious, it was Leol who started this train of thought.

"What do you think Bai will do to you today?" Leol asked while munching on a bun. "You won't come with me?" Yunan frowned, he thought Leols words yesterday were just after effects of the singing. "no" Leol answered "i don't plan on joining more classes with you, chanting and formulae are enough for me, besides if i do join you my teacher will be angry at me, he only allowed me those two days because he had too many kids to teach, besides some normality is a good counter balance to your instructor" he looked at Yunan with pity, he knew his pain.

"I guess changing teachers to the lazy maniac is insanity in itself, well you go enjoy the boring classes, tell me about it later, i need another world view to keep me sane" the two shook hands in agreement and then parted ways after finishing breakfast and headed to their own destinations.

When Yunan entered the library, he was greeted with a wide smile from the librarian, he was looking forward to the entertainment with childlike eyes full of expectations. Yunan just went to the back and sat in his usual table, hidden behind rows of book filled shelves. a few moments later, a loud yawn announced the arrival of instructor Bai, he looked at the librarian who instantly pointed to where Yunan was waiting and stealthily rose up to follow behind Bai and watch the spectacle.

Bai had with him pencils and stack of notebooks that he threw on the table, he sat heavily on a chair next to Yunan and said " you have half an hour to write down all the steps you take to plan out a camping trip with me outside the city walls, duration between a night and a week, i only provide you with safety, i care about my needs, you plan the route and the location where we camp" then before Yunan could answer Bai crossed his arms on the table and used them as a pillow and went to sleep almost momentarily.

While Yunan was thinking about drawing something on Bai's face for sleeping on the job, the librarian and a few others who also came to watch behind him turned around with disappointed expressions, on the other hand Yunan began writing down his plans and what to do for the camping trip. Soon an hour has passed silently, the library now had many more students and the librarian was getting bored from watching the kids read quietly, when a shout came from the back "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? IT'S A CAMPING TRIP!" immediately after another shout retorted "SO WHAT? ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN AT ANYTIME, PLAN FOR IT".

A few moments ago instructor Bai woke up as if by alarm after the hour had passed, he glanced at what Yunan wrote and then said with a grave tone "planing is the only ability that all successful adventurer share, you have a good head for planing from what i read here, now let's discuss your plans" with that he threw the notebook on the table and started with a simple question " do you have a travel bag ready for a moments notice?" Yunan simply answered "no, i don't have that since we are not allowed to leave the city when enrolled in the academy" , and here the class turns into a farce.

B: "Wrong, always be ready to move at a moments notice, now that you need a bag, what will you put inside it?"

Y: " I think a change of clothes, firestarter, a hunting knife, boots, rainproof cloak and maybe a blanket and a bedroll"

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B: "Let's put your bag to the test, we are going to camp"

Y: " Okey, while picking up my bag, i will pick up a bow and some arrows, change my clothes to travel gear and buy dry rations while walking through the city, i meet you at the east city gate"

B: "Why the east gate? any gate should do"

Y: "The east gate is the closest to a safe hill with a clean stream running by its shoulder"

B: "Good choice for the location, how about the route we take?"

Y: "We take the road east towards the province capital, then veer of to the hill, it takes about an hour to reach the hill from the road, and about a morning to get there from here"

B: " Any dangers on the way?"

Y: "Any bandits you will deal with, even though this portion of the road is the safest from banditry, as for beasts, we can butcher for food while camping".

B: "Alright, once we arrive at the junction leading to the hill, the weather changes abruptly and a downpour is inevitable, what would you do?"

Y: "Put on my rainproof cloak, i make sure i put it while having the bag on my back, i should have gotten a water tight bag"

B: "Good reaction but too late, the rain water is already soaking your items, thats why its called a downpour, it hits fast with enough water to drown you if you look up"

Y: " Since the bag and i are soaked, i still use the cloak to shield as much rain as i can before heading to the cave were the stream comes from"

B: "We make it to the cave and there are no beast there, what next?"

Y: "i empty out my bag to let my things dry,after that i go out for some wood, since its all wet, i chose some closer trees to cut branches and bark from, the faster we start a fire, the better"

B: "While you are trying to burn wood for fire i go out and bring back some mushrooms and berries from the surroundings"

Y: "Did you check if they are poisonous?"

B: "Why would i? it's just berries and mushrooms? the dry rations are soaked and not edible any longer, we need to eat something"

Y: "Maybe you don't need to check but i do, i am not an adventurer nor do i have any antidotes, i can't eat those!"

B: "Don't be a twat and eat them, i have to keep you alive somehow"

Y: "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? IT'S A CAMPING TRIP!"

B: "SO WHAT? ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN AT ANYTIME, PLAN FOR IT".

Y: " I am 10, you cannot expect me to live off poisonous berries, go kill a beast, an edible one that i can eat"

B: " I have to wait until the rain is over, it will wash off any traces left by prey, for now boil the those ruined dried rations, the soup should keep us alive for two or three days"

Y: "I did not bring a pot"

B: "Thats it, pack up, we return to the city now, otherwise you will die on me, try better next time"

And that is how the quiet library had a disturbance, Yunan spends half an hour trying to prepare for the imaginary camping, while bai sleeps, then when Yunan is ready, instructor Bai comes up with feasible ways to ruin the trip, the best Yunan could get was a three day camping without a hitch, before Bai started to use some silly and unreasonable reasons to fail Yunans plan, their bickering about an imaginary camping trip, was a delightful breath of fresh air to the bored librarian.