Fortunately, although Millo was weak, he was also overweight. So, he didn't float or fall from his seat like the minors, he was able to keep his feet attached to the ground and his butts stuck to the seat.
Unfortunately, however, Millo was drinking water from his cup at the time. So, he choked on it and found that half a cup of water spilt over his trousers, making him look like he had just peed himself.
"That'll do a good joke." Millo laughed at himself.
But right now, he was in no mood to clean himself, and there seemed to be no time for him to change clothes. Just like the other anxious students, Millo looked out of the window with growing fear.
The loud BANG and BOOM sound that came from the carriages ahead of theirs made them suspicious. And although the bus was soundproof, they could still hear a faint ROAR that somehow also made its way through to reach their ears, although it sounded far far away.
"What happened? Why have we stopped in the middle of nowhere?" A dark-haired boy pinned himself on the surface of the window, trying to get a good look at what was happening outside.
"Not sure. I can't see clearly!" His partner also reacted, squinting through the leaves and the distance.
"Did you hear that sound? Is it a monster or a mutated beast? Did it come for us?" A girl with brown hair and eyes asked mischievously, pretending to be brave and courageous as well.
"Oh no!" Hearing this, the first boy let out a mournful howl, not wanting to believe what the girl had suggested.
"That's not a funny thing to say!" Another boy with a stern-looking on his face protested, "Besides, I heard the guides are very strong. They'll solve the problem."
"Hope so." The girl smirked, her head wobbling like it had no bones for support.
Everyone in this carriage was on their feet by now, peering through the windows and wondering what had gone wrong. Questions emerged one after another, non-stopping.
Millo inhaled deeply as he looked in the direction the bus was heading continuously.
Flashes of light shone now and then, while leaves and other strange stuff that was far away from where they were, flew into the sky and floated up and down as if the law of gravity had suddenly lost its power.
Faint sounds could be heard once in a while, but it was getting harder for them to catch every minute.
Just as Millo was wondering whether the battle between the beast and the guides had come to an end, a gale-force wind swept across the wasteland, making all the rubbish shoot in the bus's direction, causing billions of leaves and uncountable sand to twirl and twist fiercely in the middle air, pulling out hundreds of trees and casting them across the gap between. But within a few seconds, those that couldn't stay on the ground were all grained into dust.
Soon a mist came down and blocked Millo's vision.
At that very moment, the bus started shaking like crazy, bumping up and down, wobbling left to right. During the chaos, Millo and the other students on the bus rocked backwards and forward uncontrollably.
"Ouch! Someone stepped on my fingers!"
"Shit! Get off me!"
"Ah! My nose! My head!"
Millo couldn't help but consider himself lucky as he had kept his distance from the others. So, apart from the influence of inertia, he was safe from bumping and crashes with other students.
The wall and windows rattled loudly for a few more seconds before it gradually come to an end. Millo prayed that they won't break into pieces. Otherwise, death was their only fate. None of the students could stand the power generated by high-level beings.
Luckily, silence fell in soon and no great damage was caused. Before long, students from all the carriages were asked to get off the bus to clear the battle site.
This was a kind of minor mission given by Bus Guides after a battle had occurred so that passengers could help collect useful materials that have survived the battle and therefore speed up the process.
As long as the beasts have been killed and the guides kept an eye on collectors during the clearing and collecting, nothing too bad could happen normally.
The students got off the bus quickly and soon divided themselves into small groups of three as they had been taught how to act in situations like this at school.
Survival is a main course at school.
According to what they had learnt, one of the group members should take care of spotting useful materials, distribute them in different containers and then put them in a basket.
The spotting was the easiest part as anything that could survive the graining force was most likely useful, not to mention there was a special spotting tool that turned out to be handy at the job. It could help the person holding it to inspect different items.
However, sorting was a much more professional job, since any mixture of incompatible elements could mean danger, big or small, depending on what kind of elements got mixed together by accident.
So naturally, students who did well in Materials would be in charge of this part.
The second member had to carry the basket and make sure nothing spilt out, causing any disaster. Any student who had good control of muscles could do the job.
The third member was to stand guard and be on the alert of any potential danger, in case any unexpected monster emerged and attacked suddenly. They were also responsible for sending up a firework in an emergency.
Millo, who was left behind, eventually ended grouping up with the smirking girl, whose name was Nana, and the stern-looking boy, who was called Robey.
It seemed that these two guys weren't popular as well.
Millo, who got the highest mark in Material among the three, became the collector and was given a Spotter and other basic tools by one of the guides, who have all got off the bus along with the students.
Nana got a basket and Robey was given a Warning Firework and a Defending Board.
Elion seemed to be the leader of the guides and the students could see her standing on the top of a crooked tree that had luckily survived the wind and the battle, although it was just as leafless as the other trees, due to the gale.
Within time, everyone got their equipment and they soon spread out and started clearing the site in the morning sun.
As Millo follow his group members, he saw Sicilia and the other two went in a different direction, which made him feel relieved.
After a few minutes of searching, Millo spotted a shiny item that was at least 2 inches long. It was black in colour, adorned with silver spots.
[Scanning in process]
[Material Name: Glandulous Eagle's tooth]
[Material Main Features: Splendid and Flexible]
[Recommended Use: Create Grade E weapons such as arrows and bows. More to be discovered.]
[Material Grade: E]
[Other facts: **********************]
Millo gasped.
Just as Millo got his fingers on something that looked like a backbone, his scanning ability started up automatically.
"What's wrong?" Robey questioned immediately, his stern-looking even more sterny.
"Easy, easy. No big problem. It's just that I have never seen such a big tooth in person before. It looks much bigger than the image Mr Boye showed us in class."
Telling half the truth, Millo explained as he pretended to use the Spotter on the tooth.
It was true that he had never seen it personally. But he didn't gasp involuntarily because of how large it was. Instead, he gasped because he had accidentally found out the use of his only and sole Scanning ability!
He wasn't sure what other functions it could perform, but at least now he knew that he could scan objects and find out what they were and what value or use they held, making the Spotter look a bit superfluous.
Robey said no more and accepted Millo explanation. He then turned around uninterested to watch out.
"Hurry up, will you? Lazy bastard. It's dangerous out here, so don't linger on such nonsense!" Nana snapped, pushing Millo hard on the back.
Millo nearly fell but held steady soon enough. He frowned with detest but didn't say anything and got back to work.
Millo roughly cleaned the tooth and then wrapped it with a piece of cloth before putting it in the basket that Nana was carrying.
On the way, Millo spotted another item and pretended to be using the spotter on it, but in fact, he was using his ability.
[Scanning in process]
[Material Name: Mutated Spider's Yarn]
[Material Main Features: Fireproof and Waterproof; Sticky]
[Recommended Use: Create Grade D weapons or instruments. More to be discovered.]
[Material Grade: D-]
[Other facts: **********************]
Millo had learnt about it in Mr Boye's Material class too.
So, after pretending to use the Spotter to inspect it rapidly, he quickly picked up a stick and rolled the yarn into a ball and wrapped it with tinfoil before placing it carefully in the basket.
Millo collected a few more materials on the way, including Boxing Cat's Tears and Index Cow's Bowels, which were all Grade D+ materials. To Millo's surprise, he found he was able to use the Scanning Ability with relatively more ease as he used it more frequently.
[Basic Ability 1: Scanning (Skill improved +10; 10/100)]
'Superb!' Millo murmured delightedly to himself as he tried hard to memorize the information he saw on the screen of the materials.
Time passed by quickly and before long, they had gone through most of the site.
Now that it was lunchtime, the students were told to have a break and soon all of them quickly took out the fast food that they had picked up on the bus earlier before.
Millo found a stone nearby and settled on it. Robey and Nana also did the same, but with their back turned on Millo. It was quite obvious they didn't want to have a chat with Millo, who didn't feel at all upset. In fact, he was grateful that they left him out.
With the Defending Board at work, and Elion and the other guides floating above watching out for them, Millo felt quite safe and had a quick bite at peace.
Millo quickly swallowed the little packing bag of man-made compound meat and vegetables in several full bites. He was still hungry after he finished, but that was all he had. He decided to have another bite once they get back on the bus.
Just as Millo was licking the sauce on the packing bag emotionally, a small black ball snuck and appeared at his foot, glowing right at the point. Two round eyes flashed open and looked up at Millo with intensity.
'What the hell is this?!' Millo retreated in alarm, the hair on his back stood up.