"Ah-Then we will leave the scouting to Ariota."
Kyle looked at Veldic whose body had slightly tensed up as he spoke to the girl.
"Remember not to target level 3 androids or level 3 beasts until we are sure that we have collected enough points. We will stay clear of them for the time being." Veldic, who had been tasked to lead their group, continued.
After all the tasks were assigned, the group entered the forest. After Walking some distance inside the forest, Kyle felt a wave of energy pass through him.
He turned around to look at Ariota whose pupils had turned green while she emitted a wave of greenish energy like a sonar.
Ariota felt Kyle's gaze and was surprised. It was very difficult to sense this energy which made it perfect for scouting purposes. So, Kyle being able to sense it was an unexpected surprise to her.
A wave of energy spread around a range of hundreds of metres with Ariota as centre.
"There are no beasts in the surrounding two hundred metres, but there is a second stage Android towards that direction."
The group immediately started walking in the direction pointed by their scout.
"Should I handle it?" A boy with spiky orange hair and a muscular build asked while cracking his knuckles.
"Those androids are made to test the combat abilities of level two ascenders. Their combat power is definitely at the peak of level two, so I don't think that we should take them lightly." Ariota said.
"Then.... Veldic, come with me. The two of us can definitely turn that thing into scrap metal." The boy said while patting Veldic's shoulder.
Since there was no reason to reject, Veldic nodded his head. It was better for the two of them to do it together rather than the boy charging by himself.
As soon as Veldic nodded in approval, the boy charged straight at the android. A bright orange flame covered his fist as he directly leapt towards the android while punching at its head.
"Clang!" The punch was easily intercepted by the android. The boy twisted his body mid-air and kicked at the android's chest.
The android was pushed back by the impact of the kick. Veldic suddenly appeared behind the android and cut at its chest with his sword.
'Clangg!'
"Haha as expected of you. You are good." The boy laughed and charged towards the android once again.
Veldic's sword attack had left a big dent on the android's chest. Veldic smiled at the boy's complement and kicked towards the android's chin.
"Clang!"
"Boom!"
Veldic's attack was intercepted, but the Android's side was left unguarded. The boy kicked at the android's side and a miniature shockwave was created.
"A level 1 beast is coming towards us from the south." Ariota who had been standing next to Kyle said to him in a low voice.
Kyle knew that she just wanted to test him, but he nodded and walked towards the south. Veldic and the other boy had the situation under control, so there was no need for him to just stand there watching the one sided fight.
[Hoard cricket]
[HP: 8/8]
[MeP: 10/10]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 7] [Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 7] [Endurance: 5]
[Intelligence: 8] [Energy affinity: 4]
Kyle looked at the insect which was around the size of a dog and drew out his sword without any change in his expression. As soon as the cricket leapt towards him, Kyle made his move as well.
Kyle appeared just below the cricket and swung his sword in a vertical arc. The cricket's head was severed from the rest of its body while it was still mid air.
[Hoard cricket ×1 killed]
[+50 exp]
Ariota, who had been tracking all of Kyle's movements, was shocked. One move wasn't enough for her to guess Kyle's combat ability. But she was sure that if it was her, she wouldn't have been able to do it even at the time just before her Ascension to the second floor.
"We should know about the capabilities of our teammates..." Ariota had expected Kyle to question her once he returned, so she had already prepared a justifiable answer for him. But Kyle just ignored her.
Ariota was stumped. It felt very strange to be completely ignored while she was still in midst of her justification.
'Humph! This person is definitely a friend of that Veldic guy.' Ariota turned to stare at Veldic.
Veldic, who received the stink eye without knowing the reason for it, could only smile wryly to himself and focus back on his fight.
'Clangg! Chii'
Veldic's sword cut through the neck of the android. The light in the android's chest dimmed as it fell motionlessly on the ground.
Veldic bent down on the ground, picked the android and put it in the special storage provided by the school.
Kyle also handed the insect carcass to Veldic and the group made their way towards another direction.
"A level 2 beast is charging at us from the right..Oh there is another similar one with it."
Everyone in the group immediately perked up after listening to Ariota's warning. Soon, they could hear the sound of hooves hitting the ground.
Ariota pulled the string of her bow while aiming towards the direction of the incoming beast.
'Moooh!' A loud bellow was heard just after the arrows were released.
"It's here." A silhouette dashed out of the forest.
"Take this.."
A bison that was the size of a calf was tossed into the air by Noah, the orange haired boy. Veldic also blinked from his position and appeared near the bison while slashing at its forelimbs
"Alright, you can take it from here." Veldic said to the group of level 1 ascenders in their group.
The beast was already fatally wounded, so he and Noah changed their positions to intercept the second beast.
The beast which had lost both of its forelimbs stumbled and fell on the ground.
It let out a loud bellow and an illusionary silhouette of a huge bison appeared behind it.
"Don't worry! The silhouette is just like a magnified projection of this beast. It won't be able to stand up as well." Kyle said when he saw the others hesitate upon seeing the large silhouette.
Just like Kyle had said, the silhouette manifested without its forelimbs and crashed down to the ground.
Kyle dashed towards the beast and swung his sword at it.
The bison was able to protect its neck by twisting it so that Kyle's sword hit its horns. Kyle pulled back his sword and slashed it downwards once again. At the same time, someone from their group shot a bullet at the bison.
Kyle paused for a second and let the bullet hit first. Feeling pain from the bullet piercing its hide, the bison instinctively turned its head to cover the wound. Kyle swung his sword at this moment and cut through the neck of the bison in one swoop.
"Kyle, you should be able to ascend to the second floor soon, right?" Veldic asked after finishing off the second bison.
"I don't think that I will be ascending anytime soon." Kyle said while looking at his status screen.
[Name: Kyle Zehern ]
[Ascendent level: 1]
[Life tokens: 2]
[Status:]
[HP:10/10]
[Mana equivalent: 20/20]
[Exp: 680/100]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 24(12)] [Agility: 24(12)]
[Stamina: 24(12)] [Endurance: 24(12)]
[Energy affinity:24(12)][Intelligence: 24(12)]
[Skills: tap to expand]
[Abilities: tap to expand]
[Equipment: Doppelganger blade]
[(Sword/mortal/tier 1)]
Kyle's base stats had already crossed 10, which was the known limit for the first floor. At this point, anyone else would already have integrated with a fragment and ascended to the second floor.
But Kyle received no such system notifications and his stats continued to grow beyond ten, so he was clueless about his own ascension.
'Humphh! What a lier! Just trying to show-off.' Ariota said under her breath. She had witnessed Kyle's strength only recently, and this show-off said that he was still far from ascending to the second floor...
"If you say so. By the way, should we take a break or do we continue?" Veldic asked while changing the topic of the conversation.
"I think we can take a small break. It has already been four hours since we entered this forest." One of the girls in the group said.
"That's good too. Let's find a good place and take a break."
"Yeah. I also think that a break is needed."
Since there was no opposition, the group decided to take a break.
"This place seems to be good. Let's put up a portable shelter here." Ariota said as she walked out in a small clearing while being followed by the rest of the group.
"Alright then. This place seems to be good. We can place the shelter here. We will rest for some time while we can take guarding duties in groups of three." Veldic also agreed with Ariota that the location was perfect to set up the temporary shelter. As the leader of the group, it was his responsibility to allocate the responsibilities to the members.
"We won't be taking too long of a break, only an hour or so. This means that we can have three groups who will guard the perimeter for twenty minutes each. Kyle and Volt along with me will be taking the first shift." Veldic said before the group entered the shelter.
"Hey, don't we have a shelter that has an inbuilt surveillance system?" A girl from the group asked.
"No, shelters with surveillance systems are not allowed for the duration of any assignments or examinations." Veldic replied in a matter of fact tone.
The girl sulked a little before walking inside the shelter.
One hour passed in the blink of an eye. Just when the group was preparing to leave the shelter, the door at the entrance was kicked open.
"Guys, we have to run away.." Noah had a pale face as he barged in.