Out of the one thousand or so students, only about three hundred chose to participate in this event. Although some students who didn't participate were reluctant to cooperate with others outside their tribes, not all of them felt this way. They knew their limitations and understood that taking on these kinds of missions could be fatal. Staying in the academy and training there was the right choice for them.
As for the three hundred students who chose to participate, all of them were strong enough to take care of themselves in the forests and mountains of the region, or at least they believed so. After all, the missions offered by the alliance were merely the leftovers that the tribes' teams didn't want to take on.
'These missions shouldn't be too difficult.' Rue Bu thought. 'We shouldn't have any problems completing them in teams of three. But I wonder how the teams will be formed. If it's left to us, it would be very biased—the strong students would choose other strong students, leaving the weak ones alone. It might even result in some students getting killed.' Rue Bu reflected. Not all three hundred students were fighters, they were divided into defense, offense, and support roles. The support students included reconnaissance, healing, and various other classes.
It wasn't something they could control, it was due to the limited amount of time they had. They had only started cultivating a little less than three months ago and couldn't refine more than three gu worms in that time, even if they had the primeval essence stones required. If three support class students ended up on the same team due to biased selection, they would likely end up dead in the wild. Even if their mission didn't require fighting, there were many beasts and monsters out there.
'Most likely it will be at random, and they might even tamper with it somehow to ensure every team is balanced.' Rue Bu thought.
"I thought you were going to chicken out as always. Hahaha, you might die out there, Rue Bu." an annoying voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Hahaha, Rue Gang, you're so funny. If I die out there, it means no one in the Ma tribe's academy is strong enough to survive, including you." he declared.
"Hmph, just because you won some tournament, you think you're invincible now? How naive. Life-and-death situations aren't like all those fights you won." Rue Gang retorted, clearly unhappy.
"Aren't you guys cousins? Why are you so hostile towards each other? You should band together. All of us here are from the same origin, we should be more friendly. But those fancy children and grandchildren of the tribe elders are the real threat." Ma Chao said, carefully choosing his words but still labeling them as "threats."
"What are you talking about? They're just a bunch of wimps. Rue Gang could defeat all of them with his eyes closed." someone else chimed in, causing Rue Gang to laugh.
"You should be more careful with your words." Rue Bu cautioned. He didn't care what might happen to Ma Chao if someone heard him, but he didn't want to be implicated.
"Ahh, I didn't mean to..." Ma Chao tried to explain, but Rue Bu interrupted.
"Do you understand?" Rue Bu asked, staring straight into his eyes.
"Y-yes." Ma Chao stammered, nodding his head in an attempt to fix the situation.
'God damn it, I thought I finally managed to get close to him.' Ma Chao cursed silently after Rue Bu looked away, gritting his teeth.
"Anyway, guys, how do you think the elders are going to split us into teams?" someone asked, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Hmm, two hours have already passed, and the elders are still not out of the building. What are they planning? They should just do it at random if they're not going to leave it up to us." someone else responded.
Meanwhile, in the office of Elder Ru Da, the three elders were drinking tea in peace. "You were right, Elder Ru Da, this is amazing. I've never tasted anything like it before." Xin Xiao said.
"I shouldn't take credit for it, Elder Xin Xiao. It was Master Fang Hua who created this recipe, and it would be even better if she were the one who prepared it." Ru Da replied regretfully.
"Hmm, she wasn't just a beauty but also a genius refiner. If a person like her were born once every hundred years, it would be a blessing to the refining path." Elder Xin Xiao said.
"It is truly a shame that she went missing. Sigh. I wonder if she is still alive somewhere in the world." Lin Lou sighed.
"I doubt it. The world is so vast and dangerous. If we haven't heard anything from her for this long, she has most likely died somewhere in some unexplored territory or was even assassinated by someone who had a grudge against her. It is truly a shame indeed." Ru Da said, looking even more saddened.
"Well, speaking of geniuses, are we in agreement on the teams?" Lin Lou took the opportunity to change the subject.
"What? Absolutely not. How can you put our tribe's only talented student in such a weak team? It's unacceptable." Xin Xiao rejected immediately, showing no regard for the elders by calling their students "weak."
'It's not like he is wrong, though. I don't understand what Lin Lou is thinking. Putting Shui Jun in such a team is no different from killing him.' Ru Da thought.
"Elder Xin Xiao, can you please listen to me first?" Lin Lou paused, looking at him.
Xin Xiao calmed down and nodded. "Thank you, Elder. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but the "geniuses" of the alliance aren't really that amazing. Including our own tribe's students, most of those with good aptitude this year only have that and nothing else, except for one or two students." The elders nodded, finally understanding his point from the beginning of the meeting.
"So you want to put them in weak teams to make them even stronger?" Ru Da asked.
"Exactly, Elder Ru Da. If we put them in a safe environment, they won't learn much more than any other student. But putting them in these weak teams will not only make them stronger but also temper their personalities, preparing them for leading roles in the alliance in the future." Lin Lou explained. "Our tribe has already decided to place our more capable students in "weak" teams, regardless of what the other tribes decide. So please, elders, don't feel like we are targeting you. It's the opposite." He finished speaking.
"Hahaha, Elder Lin Lou, you were just teasing me, weren't you? Couldn't you have started with this instead of just saying you were putting my Shui tribe's students in such teams? Anyway, it's a good idea. Elder Lin Lou, no need to explain yourself to us. We are in the same boat at the end of the day." Xin Xiao said, feeling better after Lin Lou explained his thoughts.
"Hmm, and if they end up dead on such easy missions, they wouldn't be of much help to us in the future anyway. Our tribe will use this method too, Elder Lin Lou." Ru Da added.
"Excellent, then it's decided. How should we go about it? Should we just provide them with a healing and a reconnaissance student, or do the elders have any other ideas?" Lin Lou said, while thinking. 'They were ready to attack me a while ago, and now look at them, all happy and smiling. Humans are really strange creatures.'
They continued to discuss the teams for a bit longer, deciding how "weak" the students should be and what classes they should have. They ended up mixing and matching their "geniuses" with appropriate teams based on their weaknesses and strengths. It took them over three hours before they finally emerged to announce the teams.
"After careful discussion and analysis with the other esteemed elders, to ensure a fair opportunity for all of you, we have decided that the teams will be formed at random. A group of you will choose two names at random from these three boxes." Each box contained roughly one hundred names from a single tribe, ensuring no students from the same tribe would be on the same team. Of course, not all the teams would be truly "random" as the elders had already made some decisions.
In this manner, the three hundred students were divided into roughly 100 "random" teams, ensuring no team was without a student who could fight. Surprisingly, some teams had more than one fighter. Unsurprisingly, some students were unhappy with their teams, especially the more talented ones. They complained internally, thinking. "I am the only good member in the team." or "I'm basically alone here." They couldn't voice their dissatisfaction openly, as they knew their elders were likely behind this. However, one student was more outraged than anyone.
'This old fool, does he think I'm stupid? I know he did this. Look at all the other students from the other tribes, they are in the same situation. Why would he listen to those other elders and put me in a team like this? Or was it his idea in the first place? Do they want to get rid of all their good students? I will make sure to destroy them in the future.' Shui Jun thought, outraged. He didn't understand the reasoning behind the team assignments, assuming it was just the elders being "jealous" of the talented youth.
'What other reason could there be? Should I just kill these peasants and force them to put me in a different team? Hmph, no, I will show you that it doesn't even matter what team you put me in, I will make sure this whimsical team rises to the top of all these other clowns, hmph.' Shui Jun resolved to prove the elders wrong, inadvertently doing exactly what they wanted—demonstrating his "resilience and capability".
Looking at his team, Rue Bu smiled helplessly. 'Was it a mistake to show off so much in the rankings? Sigh, I guess they want us to prove that our aptitude is not the only thing we have. But seriously, what can I do with these guys?' He glanced at his two team members: a boy with white hair and almost blind-looking white eyes, frail and clumsy, which made Rue Bu curse the elders even more. The other student was a girl with long yellow hair and round brown eyes. They looked ordinary and nervous at first, but when they learned about Rue Bu from the whispers of the Ma tribe's students, they got excited. Life returned to their eyes, and they looked ready to take on the world.
"Hi, my name is Ma Rue Bu. It's nice meeting you." He said, sighing internally but putting on a smile. "We should get to know each other first if we are going to rely on one another in the future."
"Yes, yes, yes. I-I'm Shui Tao. I'm still in the initial stage and have one gu worm, the rejuvenating water gu. It's not as amazing as its name though, haha." he laughed awkwardly, introducing himself as if his life depended on it.
"I'm Lin Chen Huan. I'm also at the initial stage, and my gu worm is the Jumping Spider gu." Lin Chen Huan said, sounding disappointed for some reason.
"Oh, you don't need to be so disappointed in yourselves. Even though the Rejuvenating Water gu consumes a lot of primeval essence, it has excellent healing capabilities. You are going to be a lot of help in dangerous situations, Shui Tao. And the Jumping Spider? Hmm, I don't know anything about it. Can you please educate us, Chen Huan?" Rue Bu tried his best to praise them, aiming to make the team more cooperative. Shui Tao, not used to such praise, was feeling good for the first time in a while.
Meanwhile, Chen Huan explained. "Ah! Sorry, the Jumping Spider is a reconnaissance type gu. It also has a big primeval essence consumption, but its effect is amazing. It gives me 360-degree vision, turning everything black and white but highlighting any moving creatures in its range by giving it colour back. Isn't it amazing?" She sounded more excited while explaining the effect of her gu.
"Yeah, you basically can see any moving target in all directions." Rue Bu summarized, making the gu worm's effect seem more mundane, which annoyed Chen Huan a little.
"Anyway, I'm at the middle stage and have two gu worms—an offensive one and another defensive one. I'm B grade, with my aperture filled up to 79%. Ah! I didn't mean to brag, haha, sorry. But we need to know that much about each other too." Rue Bu said awkwardly, aware that they would likely have weaker aptitudes.
"Haha, no, no. It's okay, Rue Bu. You are amazing. I'm ashamed, I'm only a D grade with just 39% primeval essence in my aperture." Shui Tao said, praising Rue Bu.
"What a coincidence! I'm also a D grade, with 39% primeval essence." Chen Huan exclaimed in surprise.
'Coincidence my ass. You are basically the weakest among the students who participated. If there were weaker students than you, I'm sure the elders would have given them to us.' Rue Bu cursed the elders again and continued. "Hmm, alright then. According to our collective strength, we should take an easier mission first to familiarize ourselves with our "fighting" style." He knew that if they ended up fighting anything, they wouldn't really participate in the fights, but just provide support. Still, he wanted to see what they had to offer and choose their future missions depending on his analysis.