Many class assistants passed by him, some not even noticing his presence. Some gave him a few looks, however doubtful they may have looked like.
Soon enough, most students had been paired in a group of three, and a class assistant stood in their vicinity.
Yoel found himself standing alone amongst numerous groups of three, he was not sure if he could live with this embarrassment.
Cole, Vasil, and Silenus had been paired together, none of them seemed to be bothered by it and were getting along quite well from what Yoel could see.
Brandon, Julia, and Loki were also paired together. It was a weird combination, but it could still work, given enough time.
Lilith had been paired with a few of her friends with whom she usually hung out. One of them seemed more familiar than the others, but Yoel couldn't quite remember, nor did he really care at the moment.
Come to think of it, Lilith started interacting with the group more and more after that initial conversation with Yoel, albeit it had been awkward at first, but the ice was slowly breaking apart.
While lost in his own thoughts, he didn't notice a group of people approaching him, not until they had been a few meters apart did he notice.
"Ah, ah! Here he is! Just the person I needed!"
A somewhat short man was running towards Yoel's direction, his hair had been of an auburn color, some of his hair tied into a single braid to the left side.
What confused Yoel even more, was the fact he had been dragging two other students seemingly by force. Students he had recognized.
A man's stoic and unshaken, or rather uncaring eyes settled on Yoel's face, a girl's gasp sounded once she realized who she was looking at.
"Connor…? Selene?"
They both responded with almost the same confusion, almost perfectly in sync.
"Yoel?"
Connor's short dirty brown hair and light blue eyes had become a characteristic that Yoel used to distinguish him from the rest since he never spoke much and never showed much emotion.
Selene's long hair which was in its usual twin tails always attracted a lot of attention since not many girls could pull off such a look, so it wasn't hard to recognize her.
Now, they were no longer getting dragged around by the short boy with the auburn hair, walking normally towards him.
"You already know each other? That saves me a lot of time! I'm going to be your class assistant from now on. Or well, your supervisor. My name's Evander!"
His lips curved into a bright smile, and then he spoke again.
"But, for convenience's sake, just call me Evan. No one's going to be able to call me my full name during battles."
Battles?
"I'll supervise you guys and create appropriate training plans and schedules for you guys according to your enigmas. We'll also be leaving the academy here and there so you guys can get a feel for how things are on real missions. You won't be sent out to do them yourselves or alone, but you'll closely watch your upperclassmen deal with them and learn accordingly."
"H-Hold on, this is happening a bit too quickly. Don't you guys operate based on some type of criteria?"
As he moved without any concern for Yoel's words, grabbing his hand and forcing him to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other two students, he replied casually.
"No? Not really. As long as we like them, we can supervise them. I was told a bit about you. Almost a zero percent chance to awaken, yet you still did. You might fail and die a miserable death, but it will be interesting to see you grow, if you do at all."
Well, that was quite harsh.
Before Yoel could say anything, another voice made itself clear.
"I see everyone has found a suitable group of three, and each class assistant has chosen their group. You will all be registered as individual groups on the cube shortly."
Not even a second after that, each of their cubes rang.
[GROUP "Z"]
[Members:
Supervisor: Evander Lugaid
Yoel Voldren
Connor Pryderi
Selene Alastor
Overall Ranking: F]
The cube hovered in front of Yoel, as if announcing his death sentence, it displayed his, Connor's and Selene's name on the lifeless, cold hologram.
"Training will resume as normal for this period, but do know that you will have to spend more time with your group members from now on. Teamwork between you is crucial and being provided different perspectives will help each of you get past the roadblocks you may face in your way. After all, humanity never got by alone, we are at our strongest when working together."
He let the words hang in the air for a moment, numerous other students were not happy with the groups, but they still let the man finish with his message out of respect.
"Trust your Class Assistants, they are only second to us. That is all, you may resume your lesson."
Cassiel turned around, his hair waving around as he did and he moved to somewhere out of sight, he was carrying a stack of paper, and a single Class Assistant followed him.
"Well, I hope we all get along!"
Evan said, with a cheerful smile stuck to his face. It seemed like reading the room was not his strong suit, or he just didn't care.
"Let's meet up after this! I want to learn more about all of your enigmas. I have heard many interesting things about each of you."
Without even waiting for a response, the short boy left Yoel, Selene and Connor by themselves as he happily exited the arena with a spring to his step.
They were left staring at each other, baffled for words.
What were they supposed to do now?
"So, uh."
Yoel looked at Connor, gesturing at him to strike up a conversation.
Connor replied with nothing but a stare and an awkward expression, it seemed as if he had something to say but he didn't have the courage to say it.
Great.
"Uh… weird situation we're in guys, isn't it? I think I'll leave you guys to speak it over between yourselves, meet at the park later, alright?"
Selene found a chance to excuse herself and escape the aftermath of what Evan had done and decided to focus on her training, leaving Connor and Yoel alone.
A sigh escaped Connor's lips, and his shoulders deflated.
"Uh, you good?"
Connor waved off Yoel's concern casually and hugged himself.
"I can't speak to her, I can't!"
Yoel almost gasped at the volume of his voice, he had never heard Connor in the past week raise his voice that much, let alone say more than a few words at a time.
So I'm on a team with a person who is unable to keep up a conversation with a member of the opposite gender, a maniac who only cares about my progress because of my awakening chance, and a girl who I have absolutely no idea who she is apart from her name.
Honestly, I shouldn't be surprised at this point. I've seen enough of this school to know that your average joe is hard to find.
"I.. I'm sure you'll be able to speak to her over the year. This won't be the last time seeing each other most likely. You can do it, man."
Connor looked at Yoel with a pleading look on his face and said nothing.
I feel like this guy generally can't communicate with any person.
Yoel remembered back to their last fight in that hellish jungle forest dungeon, remembering how effective his enigma was and how much mastery he had already had over it.
Silenus, Connor and Brandon made a great team, but what about Yoel and Selene? People he knew nothing about?
He can't have known Silenus and Brandon for long, we were only in the dungeon exam for a few days, at most.
Maybe my enigma and Connor's can pair well, Connor's is especially good for support, and mine is useful for spying, so what if he transported me through these water portals, then I proceeded to take the sight of the shadows in the vicinity? It could work.
Yoel slowly began to think of ways to mix their abilities without even speaking to Connor or asking for his opinion, thinking of various ways to use his enigma and his spear or dagger through those portals.
As his mind picked up on one thought after the other, he quickly forgot about Evan and Selene and as he fantasized about numerous ways to enhance his combat capabilities with Connor's miraculous enigma.
That's right, humans always band together, so technically I wouldn't be in the wrong for relying on another's strength to reach new heights, right?
'I've been quiet this entire time, amused at your thoughts… but remember that in the end, you're always going to be a single person. At the core of each of you beings, you're alone.'
Yoel ignored him, as even more thoughts replaced his irritating voice. If Connor was just the type of person to be naturally compatible with anyone…
Maybe he could grow even more with his help.