The time had come, the team was assembled, everyone was ready and Kai was getting ready to give a speech to everyone as he was the only one who knew what was truly happening in this detestable forest.
At least, that's what he would've liked to have done, he had the whole plan in his head, but that went down the drain almost instantly.
Having gathered everyone in Failure's cabin, which was empty due to the charismatic man being out doing something probably essential to their wellbeing in the war, Kai watches as everyone distances themselves from each other. Umbra was the only one who would rotate between each person so she could get pet.
There was an extra person in the cabin along with the original four though. Sitting in one of the armchairs was a burly man, about six foot three and had short, black hair. His muscles couldn't be hid by the fabric of his gray bodysuit, instead the soft cloth seemed to only make them pop out even more.
"Everyone, this is John. John, this is Noelle, Sofia and you already know Umbra."
Kai points out everyone to the man, who seems to be having time of his life sitting in the cozy armchair beside the fire.
I was the same when I first got here...
"Nice to meet you all." John smiles as he gives a small wave. Noelle frowns slightly and turns towards Kai.
"Are you sure about this?"
Kai nods.
"John's a good guy, and he has a daughter whom he wants to see. If this were a movie, you would obviously want the guy who wants to see his child in your team, they would probably be the most driven in the group... After you of course."
Kai catches his error and corrects it. Noelle has a goal so extreme that this is the only time she hasnt been training, fighting or sleeping since their arrival in the Dome. Kai couldn't even begin to fathom what the hell Rashik had done to piss her off, but he's just thankful he isn't the ire of Noelle's wrath.
Noelle's frown lessens but she still doesn't seem convinced. Sofia moves a strand of hair out of her face and speaks.
"I agree, the father is always the one with the strongest will, just look at Taken, Liam Neeson did great in that. Also, Noelle is sceptical as she hasn't really seen a lot of movies."
The olive skinned woman glares slightly at Sofia, but then looks down at the wooden floor of the cabin and mumbles something under her breath.
Since Kai is the glue that held this rag tag group together, it's obvious he should be the one to get the conversation started.
Damn it...
"Alright then, if we are going to be a team and hopefully not die in the next week, we should get to know each other better so we can work together. Now, how about we share what our innate abilities do, everyone here has one after all. Noelle, you go first."
"No."
"Okay then! John, you're up." Kai claps his hands, hiding his exasperation well. Honestly, making this a team which can function well will be harder than anything he's ever done before.
John sits up straight, a hint of nervousness in his expression.
"Well, it just says that whenever I stay standing after being hit, the next time I get hit it will impact me less, and that it can stack up to twenty times. Oh, and I have to get hit at least once every five minutes otherwise it resets."
Damn, that seems pretty strong, but how strong is the effect though? Would it be miniscule or would he be unmovable if he reaches twenty stacks?
"Alright, thank you John, even though its a one aspect innate ability it still sounds powerful.
Now, I'll go next. One aspect allows me to use my Luck stat to command people up to five levels and the other allows me to temporarily borrow the power of monsters."
Noelle's nose scrunches, a curious expression on her beautiful face.
"Aspects?"
Kai blinks a few times before remembering he is probably the most informed out of anyone in the tutorial.
"Oh, aspects are the amount of abilities your innate abilities have. Like John's has one and mine has two. It's pretty simple... wait, no its not, I forgot that innate abilities can evolve and unlock other aspects... yeah, I'm not suited for explaining this, you'll find out everything soon anyway. Sofia, you're up."
Quickly changing the topic before he gets a headache from too much thinking, Sofia blinks, then answers.
"Uh, mine only has one aspect, I think, but its kind of weird. It says I can use the power of twelve constellations, but the only one it let's me use is Saggitarius, which is the one that enhances my speed and-"
Suddenly, one of the doors of the cabin bursts open and out comes a weary looking Failure. The sudden loud noise causes John to jump out of the armchair he was sitting in.
"You" Failure says as he points at Sofia. "Repeat your aspect again."
Sofia flinches at the interruption and is about to ask something, but Kai stops her and explains the situation.
"Yeah, this is Failure, he's the one who owns this cabin, and he's also probably stronger than everyone we know, bar maybe Aldred and the Demon."
Sofia frowns slightly.
"If he's that strong I don't think it's a good idea to call him a failure."
Kai blinks a few times, then says in an exasperated tone:
"What? No, his name is litteraly Failure, and Sofia, just answer the question."
Sofia opens her mouth, as if to complain about something, but in the end she relents and answers.
"It allows me to get buffs based on constellations, but the only one I can use is saggitarious-"
A laugh escapes Failure's lips as he runs a hand back through his shaggy, brown hair.
"Oh my, Kai, you got someone with a growth type innate ability? Truly, you really are going to cause a lot of problems in the future."
Kai's jaw drops, he then waves his hand and is about to give out to the tired looking man, but Sofia beats him to it.
"Growth type?"
Failure turns back towards Sofia, as if he forgot she was there even though he only spoke to her a moment ago.
"Yes, growth type, one of the strongest types of innate abilities. The simple overview would be that it grows along side you instead of randomly upgrading sometimes. But you're innate ability though, if you manage to survive long enough you could hypothetically have up to twelve innate abilities combined into one. Maybe you're the true Catalyst of this tutorial."
What? True Catalyst? What about me?
Offended, Kai opens his mouth and points at Failure, but just as he is about to speak, Failure smirks and speaks first.
"I'm kidding, my dear Kai, I won't lose faith in you just yet, I'll wait until next week for that decision."
Noelle catches something ominous about the charismatic man's choice of words.
"Next week?"
This time, it's Failures turn to stare blankly. After a few moments, he speaks up.
"Has Kai not told you yet?"
Kai scoffs.
"I was getting there, but you had your 'grand entrance' before I could even reach that part."
Failure grins and claps his hands.
"And you never will, no offence, my dear Kai, but you're not really suited to be a leader, someone like Lady Noelle would be much better suited for that role."
Noelle flinches slightly at the sudden praise as Kai's shoulders slump.
What? He called her Lady Noelle but I get called my dear? And I think I was doing a pretty good job of leading... kind of.
"But as I was saying, I'll take over from here and summarise."
Failure take a deep breath, the sight of his chest puffing outwards enough to draw the eyes of everyone in the room. Just as it looks as if he's about to begin the longest story known to man, he says.
"We are all probably going to die in the next week, unless we kill the Demon that is."
Silence.
Silence which is broken by the sound of Kai smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand.
"You could've worded it nicer."
Failure waves his hand dismissively.
"That would've taken too long."
Kai sighs and looks towards the group, gauging their expressions. Unlike him, none of the others possessed a skill which helps remain calm in stressful situations, even if that skill is the dodgiest skill in existence.
Not to my knowledge anyway.
Noelle had a frown on her face, as always, only this time it was a little darker than normal. Sofia looked lost in thought, but quickly snapped out of it as she felt Kai's gaze on her. John was slumped in the armchair, counting his fingers for some reason.
Whatever helps, I guess..
And Umbra, Umbra was... sleeping beside the fire place.
Sighing, Kai turns back towards Failure and glares at the man, he then nods to the side towards the group, silently telling him to fix the situation.
Failure rolls his eyes and claps his hands again, gathering the attention of everyone in the room.
"Of course, there's also the much higher chance that we don't die and we win, valiantly killing the Demon of the dark side and you fine humans moving on in the tutorial and leaving poor old me behind."
Kai stares blankly at the man for a few seconds. Over the course of the last few days, he had forgotten he would only be in this forest for a month, maybe even less now. Failure was one of the natives of this world, meaning there was a high probability Kai would never see the charismatic man again. Honestly, Kai would miss him, Failure was a good person who was much wiser than anyone Kai ever knew, he also seemed to have many secrets and harbour many regrets, but all that only made him even more interesting.
Noticing that everyone else in the group won't day anything, Kai inwardly sighs and speaks up.
"Well then, Failure, since I'm such a bad leader I'll leave you to explain what's going to happen."
Failure grins.
"Gladly."
He then clicks his fingers and the air around them distorts and starts to shimmer. Not even half a second later, everything is back to normal, only that each member of the group has something they didn't have before.
"But first, what sort of leader would I be if I didn't arm my troops? Since Lady Sofia and Lady Noelle have already been to the treasury, I only gave them one item, meanwhile I gave you, Sir John and Moon wolf Umbra two."
Kai's right eye twitches slightly.
Lady Sofia, Lady Noelle, Sir John, Moon wolf Umbra and then 'you'. This guy...
Kai wanted to be upset, but he was an easily bribed person. He gave one last glance up at the smirking man, feeling his gloating and teasing gaze on him. Kai felt his face heating up so he scowled and said.
"Go over the plan first, then I'll look at the items."
"If that's what you want, my dear Kai. Where shall I begin... It all started when Aldred was born, from there-"
"Start at the part about the team of outliers"
Failure teasingly grinned.
"Well then, you should have specified."
He then turned towards the group again and spread his arms wide.
"All of you are going to be part of team three, also known as the outliers. Each of you have the ability to turn the tides of the war, well, I don't know about Sir John yet, but if Kai picked you I'm sure you'll do fine."
John blinked.
"Thanks?"
Failure smiled.
"You're welcome. Now, back to what I was saying. Team three will have the most important jobs. Handling areas of the battlefield which need assistance, supply running, sometimes even leading the attack, it all depends on the person.
Of course, the reason we have a team of outliers is not to do the jobs the moon beasts could do themselves. We, the outliers, are going to be the ones to react to any surprise threats or problems which could affect us negatively if not dealt with."
"So we're basically the special forces?" Sofia speaks up.
"Yes, whatever that is." Failure nods. "There will be more details once the teams are fully decided, but for now... Enjoy your gifts!"
And with that, Failure dissapeared. No warning, no possible hints about what was going to happen, he was just gone. Kai blinked a few times before sighing and saying.
"Well everyone, I guess its time for an early Christmas... or maybe it is Christmas, who knows?"