"Everyone, in formation!"
Lhian shouted and all the students followed, getting in order. Lhian was in front of all of them and Mares was a few steps behind her, watching with crossed arms.
'How many there are?'
He asked Esen to satisfy his curiosity.
'Eighty-five.'
She replied without batting an eye.
'I see… this could be harsh, and I am guessing I am the only one that was hired. I am starting to think Qiulei's presents were barely enough.'
He had the mental conversation with Esen while looking around, not paying much attention. Lhian was calling the students, name per name, but he wasn't putting effort into really remembering or recognizing them.
There were all types of students, but almost none remarkable for Mares. They seemed weak, and not trained. If anything, they actually did resemble students, the type Mares vaguely remembered from Earth, more than warriors. He at least had to admit that Lhian was making a good job as a leader, she seemed to remember everyone's names and their exact position.
While she was calling the student's name by name, in what Mares assumed was a check-in to make sure everyone was there, his eyes wandered around. He wasn't sure what he was doing, maybe just looking for someone that would look interesting or that would be more than a simple student.
He did find those.
They were on the back of the formation. For some reason, Mares thought it was fitting. It was a group of five that were side by side.
To the right end of the group was a boy, just a little bit smaller than Mares. He had dark spiky hair and a completely humanoid figure, with a pair of animalistic ears, that looked like those of a wolf, on the top of his head and a tail waving around behind him.
On his left, there was a girl with short green hair. She would be able to pass as a human if not for the pair of wings on her back. They were retreated but were still visible. The pair of wings resembled bat wings though they were dark green.
'Wings, huh…'
Mares thought to himself, as he sensed a tickling on his back.
In the middle of the five was one that had gray skin and eyes with two pupils each. The lower half of his face was not visible, as it was blocked by what looked like a metallic mask, though Mares noticed that he seemed to have something similar to gills on his neck. The silver-eyed also noticed that this one's sclera was of a darker gray.
The fourth of the group was a slim man, with light green skin. He had long dark hair, dark enough to look like oil. He had four thin arms, and six fingers in each hand, and on his forehead, there was a pair of antennas that seemed to slightly move from time to time.
The fifth and last of the group was a girl of average height. She had short chestnut hair, and in general had a human appearance, the striking detail being the third eye on her forehead.
The thing that made Mares look at those five as a group separated from the rest of the students was the metallic necklaces they used around their necks. Each one of the five had one, all of which were identical.
And different from the other students, those five looked rougher around the edges. Not that they looked like warriors or fighters, but Mares was confident that this group could handle most of the students, with the only exception probably being Lhian. Though she didn't give the same "rougher" impression, he could sense that she was not a pushover.
"That's all sir."
Lhian finished counting everyone, and Mares only got the names of those five he paid minimum attention to. The boy with wolf ears was Luo, on his side was Winna, the middle one of the group was Calon, the fourth was Venissino and the last one was Clest. When Lhian asked that question Mares was still looking at the five, who noticed his gaze.
"Watcha looking at?"
Luo was the one who spoke after noticing Mares' gaze.
The students around him, those that were not part of the quintet, flinched. With the corner of his eyes, Mares noticed that some professors either flinched as well or had unpleasant expressions. Except for Qiulei, who had a plain expression. He also noticed Lhian's frow, she seemed to be about to say something when the gray one, Callon turned his head to his colleague, with a grin.
"He is looking at you, shithead."
Even the silver-eyed had to hold back the chuckle that almost escaped his lips.
"You fucker!"
Luo screamed as he moved fast, getting Callon in a headlock. Though the actions seemed a little violent, anyone could see that the one with wolf ears wasn't putting any strength into it.
'They seem to be good friends.'
The other students walked away from the group of five, in which the other three members were laughing at the situation, and the professors seemed mostly annoyed or enraged by what the two were doing.
Then a shining blue dark stone went flying and hit Luo on his forehead, making him stop.
"Please, consider your surroundings."
Lhian said as she lowered her right arm.
"Hey-"
Winna, the green-haired, seemed to want to say something, but Luo, who was rubbing his forehead, put his arm in front of her as a sign for her to stop.
"Sure, chief."
Those were his words, and while he seemed annoyed, his group was clearly ready to start a fight at any point.
'What a loyal bunch.'
The silver-eyed was almost interested in seeing what would be the outcome if a fight broke out. Though Lhian seemed like she could hold her own in a fight, he was pretty sure she would not be able to fight the whole group at once. And from the look in their eyes, he doubted they would give her the chance.
"I believe you all should get going, no?"
And then came Qiulei's voice. It wasn't loud, it was as if she just said that while next to everyone. But she wasn't, and while her tone was the same as always, all the students, even the group of five and Lhian, tensed for a moment.
"Y-yes, teacher! Everyone, formation to move."
After that, there was no hesitation on the students' part. They rapidly entered the formation, this one in a triangle format, with the head being the one that would enter the forest first.
'She is effective in scaring them.' Esen said.
'Can you blame them?' Mares was looking at Qiulei as he said that. Though she was right there, less than a hundred meters away, he could not feel her presence or aura at all.
'Not really.' The white-haired simply said.
"Are you going to follow Mars?"
Lhian asked in a low enough voice that only they could hear. It did give a good impression that she was trying to keep her promise of not letting others hear about his name.
"I will follow behind you."
Lhian almost couldn't contain her happy expression, though it was fairly obvious that Mares wasn't the only reason. She had a lot of expectations. Of course, she was nervous, she probably was one of the students that had a better grasp of what they were trying to do. Most were seeing it as a trip, almost camping, but she knew that it was a test, and though she also doubts there would be deaths or any serious injuries at all, she was rather nervous about how she would handle everything, as the leader. At the same time, she was eager to prove herself to her teacher.
And having someone she came to admire, someone that was around her age and still seemed to be capable of so much more than her, was probably the best fuel she could have.
None, not even the silver-eyed, quite knew what they would pass through in this forest.
[…]
If anything, Mares would admit the forest was interesting. The ground was rocky, there didn't seem to be any type of soil, and still, that didn't hinder the vegetation growth.
'Hmm, Mars, I recognize these types of plants!' Esen suddenly said, noticing the vegetation through Mares' eyes. 'They are very different from the ones on your home planet, they use a pheromone that is released at night to produce their energy. The pheromone comes from the ground, and those types of plants can only survive in the environment we currently are in.' Mares heard each word, noticing the tremendous focus the white-haired was making.
At the moment an array of information was passing through Esen's spirit. The sheer amount of data and the speed at which she passed through it, would put to shame the most advanced computer on Earth.
'The climate, the two suns, the plants, and…' Through Mares, she extended her senses and paid attention to each tiny detail of the plants. 'This signature…, I believe I know where we are Mars!'
If one were to look at Mares' face, even besides the mask, one would not notice any difference in his eyes. Internally, however, he was very much surprised.
'I thought your register had nothing about this planet.'
Esen sighed.
'We had, but it was outdated. And well, you know, I wasn't there when they would update it…'
A sour feeling came into Mares' mouth.
'Sorry.'
Esen shocked her head with a tranquil expression.
'You have nothing to apologize for, silly. Either way, we got sidetracked. The register we had about this planet only goes back to a thousand years ago, so there was nothing about a coliseum or any of the sort.' Mares mentally nodded to the explanation as Esen continued. 'There were changes from what we had registered, after all, it has been more or less a thousand years, but making some fast calculus I am sure I know our exact location.'
'I see… I suppose we aren't…'
He didn't voice what he was thinking, but he knew he didn't need to.
'Yes, at least, according to the register from a thousand years ago, there is no big empire around here. I don't believe this would have changed.'
There is a moment of silence between the two before Esen goes on.
'Just in case you are wondering-'
'Believe me, I am dying with curiosity.' His tone couldn't be sarcastic even if he tried.
'Aham…' Ignoring her beloved's clear irony, the white-haired went on. 'We are on Ol'un-tain, in the galaxy Ovurm.'
'Any idea how to make good use of this information Es?'
Esen made a proud expression before replying.
'Not even the slightest clue yet.'
Mares felt that a big drop of sweat was running down his forehead thanks to what Esen had said.
'Hey, this is still better than nothing!'
Noticing his slightly disappointed reaction, Esen pouted.
'Heh, sorry little bunny, you are right.'
She kept potting, but a smile threatened to form in the corner of her lips.
'Well, at least this way, whenever we manage to get out of here, we won't be completely in the dark.'
Mares said, trying to have a more optimistic view.
'Hihi, exactly.'
All this time they were talking, the large group of students moved slowly. Lhian was not in a hurry, and she was making good use of her knowledge about the students to send the best ones to scope out their surroundings from time to time. They would move and stop in regular intervals, only moving again when they were clearer about what was around them.
Everything was working out until now, but Lhian didn't allow herself to relax, contrary to most students that were treating it all very casually. Interestingly enough, besides Lhian, the ones that seemed most serious were the quintet from before.
Almost everyone was sitting on the ground and talking casually, while the silver blued haired looked around attentively, both waiting for the scooters to come back and trying to see if she herself would notice something.
Finally, the scooters came back, all of them had relaxed expressions and were talking as usual. A sigh escaped Lhian's lips, she was ready to give the order for them to move when she noticed a fast figure, that passed unnoticed by almost everyone, approaching the group from the top of the trees.
It was only by luck she manage to notice the creature, that she had no doubt it was a void beast, coming in their direction. It seemed to be one of those that exceeded in being stealthy.
'I hope this means it isn't good in a frontal fight.' She thought, before starting to relay her orders.
"Void beast at the northwest, approaching from above. Retreat and reform!"
Most of the students seemed a little lost, before understanding and noticing what was happening. Instead of keeping calm, most of them, noticing the monster that was now closely near them, panicked. They didn't manage to keep the formation, and most of them run away scared.
Lhian knew that part of her was expecting that reaction, but it was still frustrating seeing them acting like that.
"Mars, do you have any-"
She turned her back and was about to ask the silver-eyed if he would have any advice for her, but instead of him, she only faced an empty spot. The masked was nowhere to be seen.