[Ariel's PoV]
We were deep in the forest of this uninhabited island. In front of me, Brian was chasing three students who had managed to get ahead of us to take the crystal stones.
"Get back here, cowards!" Brian shouted as he jumped onto a tree branch.
He hopped from tree to tree to catch up with the fleeing students.
Suddenly, I felt a strong gust of wind from behind. I turned and saw Valeria pointing her hand towards the three students.
A Shockwave shot from her hand, tearing through the air and toppling a large tree in front of them.
"Damn, our escape route is blocked!"
The students were trapped by the fallen tree, a result of Valeria's magic.
"Get them now, Brian!" Valeria ordered.
"Of Course!" Brian leaped towards the three trapped students. "Take this! Sunlight Fury!"
A bright yellow light erupted from Brian's hand as he struck one of the students. The light shot forward, hitting its target with force.
"Damn it! We need to beat him!"
The two remaining students started attacking Brian, but he dodged their attacks with ease.
"Such weak moves won't hit me!" Brian taunted, kicking one of the students in the face with a Flying Kick.
The student was thrown back and crashed into a tree, knocking him unconscious. A magical circle appeared around the fallen student's body, swallowing him up until he disappeared completely.
It seemed their Limiter had activated, automatically teleporting them back to the Main Ship.
"No way…"
Seeing all of his teammates defeated, the last student knelt, despair clear on his face.
"How can a Best Healer, a Best Wizard, and a Best Knight all be on the same team!?" he complained. "What team could possibly beat this team!?"
His body was suddenly thrown back into a tree as Valeria used wind magic to push him, rendering him unconscious.
After the students were taken down, Brian grabbed six yellow crystals and one blue crystal, which the three students had previously collected.
"With this, we've got 30 points already!" Brian exclaimed excitedly.
There were four types of crystals the participants could collect.
The first was the yellow crystal, commonly scattered across the island and worth one point.
The second was the blue crystal, which was harder to find and worth four points.
The third was the green crystal, quite rare and valued at ten points.
And the last was the red crystal, of which only ten existed on the island, each worth 50 points.
On the first day, Brian, Valeria, and I focused on setting up a base camp and finding a water source. We didn't rush to gather crystals because securing a strategic location for the seven days on the island was more important for our team.
"The sun's about to set. Let's head back to camp," Brian said, glancing up at the darkening sky.
"Yes, let's go."
---
[Raul's PoV]
I was walking through the forest at night. Earlier, I had ordered two of my team members to rest during the day and take shifts standing guard to warn the team if any other students approached.
"Captain, why are we acting in the middle of the night like this?" asked a short, brown-haired man.
He was Piers Morgan—one of the Discipline Committee members assigned to my team for this first survival test.
"Just follow me, Piers. I'll show you something valuable," I answered, glancing at a woman who had also joined my team.
Her hair was a blazing red, and her eyes gleamed like precious rubies. She was Scarlett de Jimena—Geralt de Jimena's twin sister.
She's one of the NPCs in the game who will play an important role in Chapter 4. Players can even marry her in the game, aside from the five main Heroines.
Yes, Path of Destiny has a Harem feature, suggested by the investors as a condition for funding our game. They believed that a game with a Harem feature would attract many male players.
To be honest, I wasn't thrilled about adding this feature, but our game wouldn't be finished quickly if I held onto my ideals.
"We're here." I stopped as I spotted a base camp set up by another team.
Five students were sound asleep while two others were on guard duty.
It looked like some teams had begun forming alliances. This was a good target.
"Alright, listen up, both of you." I motioned for Scarlett and Piers to come closer. "Piers, you're going to make some noise around their base camp, got it?"
"I understand, Captain. But why bother waking them up when we could attack while they're vulnerable?" Piers asked, confused.
He had a valid point.
But I had my reasons for making my team rest during the day and move at night in this first day of the test. During the day, students still had plenty of strength, but by night, they were exhausted after a full day of crystal hunting and fighting.
"First, look carefully around their base camp." I pointed at a few trees nearby.
"Huh, isn't that a Rune? They've set up trap magic around the area," Piers said, surprised.
"It would be troublesome to attack them with all those traps in place," I explained. "So you're going to make a ruckus to disturb their rest. If they chase you, lead them into our ambush. But if they don't, just keep disrupting their sleep."
This was a psychological tactic, wearing down their morale by denying them rest after a tiring day of battles.
"I get it, Captain."
I then turned to Scarlett. "You and I will attack the ones who lag behind. If they stay close together in a tight formation, use your fire magic to scatter them. I'll handle the rest."
Scarlett nodded in agreement.
From the start, she wasn't much of a talker. She often expressed her thoughts through action.
"Alright, move out, Piers."
Following my command, Piers approached the enemy base camp. He started shouting and banging two rocks together as loudly as possible.
The two guards began looking around for Piers, clearly confused by the noise. They exchanged a few words.
But Piers only got louder, even singing an off-key song at the top of his lungs.
Several students woke up, asking the guards what was happening.
One of the students, furious, seemed ready to charge at Piers, but his friends held him back. They likely realized that Piers was trying to lure them into a trap.
The team ignored Piers' antics and tried to go back to sleep.
Seeing his plan fail, Piers glanced at me as if asking, "What should I do next?" I gave him a meaningful hand signal.
Piers nodded, understanding what I meant.
"Look at this dumb team! Full of cheap, cowardly chickens!" Piers taunted them.
The team members turned their attention back to him, but still didn't move.
"You worthless idiots! That ridiculous hair of yours looks as dumb as a chicken's butt!" Piers shouted, then pulled down his pants, showing his ass to the enemy.
"You freak! If I had hair like yours, I'd kill myself out of shame!" Piers continued taunting, shaking his hips to provoke one of the students.
"You bastard! How dare you insult the hairstyle that my mom loves! I'll kill you!" The student leaped up, enraged, and charged at Piers.
"Wait, Jaden! Don't fall for it!" his teammates tried to stop him.
"I don't care! No one insults my hair and lives the next day!"
Four of the team members chased after Piers. I looked at Scarlett, who nodded, understanding my next move.
Scarlett and I positioned ourselves to attack.
Two of the students were trailing behind, trying to keep up with the rest of the group. Jaden, the one with the strange hair, was leading the charge against Piers. His teammates formed a protective formation as they ran.
"Ha! With that dumb hair, you'll never catch me!" Piers taunted Jaden again.
"I'll kill you, bastard!" Jaden shouted, activating Acceleration magic.
Meanwhile, I saw Scarlett chanting a spell and aiming her hand at the group chasing Piers.
"Fireball!"
A ball of fire shot from Scarlett's hand and headed straight for the group.
I rushed forward, ready to ambush them.
Boom!
The fireball struck right in the middle of the group, forcing them to scatter in all directions to avoid Scarlett's magic.
Seeing the opportunity, I activated my Acceleration spell, launching myself at one of the female Healers in the group and delivering a powerful Flying Knee to her head, sending her flying unconscious.
"No! Windy!" one of the team members shouted, clearly angry that I had taken down their Healer.
Wasting no time, I targeted the next opponent.
Stomping the ground hard, I leaped towards another stunned student and punched him square in the jaw.
"It's you, that filthy noble!" the guy shouted, throwing a right hook at me.
I dodged his punch, grabbed his arm, and slammed him to the ground using a Judo technique I had seen on social media.
"Arghhh!" he screamed.
Just as I was about to finish him off, a flash of light appeared from the corner of my eye, forcing me to dodge quickly.
Swish!
A Magic Arrow zipped past my face.
"Damn! I missed!" the Wizard cursed.
I ran toward him, seeing his face start to panic in fear.
"Radical Blow!" My right fist began to glow, and I struck the mage's stomach, causing him to cough up blood.
The mage's body was then enveloped by a magical circle that swallowed him, indicating that he had been defeated and teleported to the Main Ship.
I looked over at Piers; he seemed cornered, fighting two of them.
"I'll make you regret insulting my hair!" The man was about to punch Piers, who was struggling to dodge.
"Take thi—ugh!"
But just as he was about to land the punch, Scarlett suddenly appeared and struck his face with a flaming fist.
Not stopping there, Scarlett kicked the last remaining enemy standing with a Spinning Kick, hitting the student's chest and sending him flying.
"Thanks, Scarlett. You saved me," Piers said as he tried to stand.
Scarlett only nodded in response to Piers' gratitude.
"Damn it... We fell into the trap you set," the man I had slammed earlier said, trying to get back on his feet.
He was the only one left from the group we had fought.
"Piers, do you want to be the one to finish him off? You haven't defeated a single student yet this time," I offered him the Last Kill.
"Well... If the Captain allows it, I'd be happy to do it."
Piers then slowly walked toward the man.
"Don't underestimate me!" the man shouted as he ran toward Piers.
His right hand began to glow; it seemed he was using Temper magic to strengthen his punch.
But Piers remained calm, his right hand also glowing as he activated his Temper magic.
The two ran at each other and threw punches.
"Aghhh!" the man screamed in pain as the glow in his hand faded.
Piers then punched him hard in the face, sending him flying into a tree. The man's body was then engulfed by a magical circle that swallowed him.
"Good job, Piers!" I praised him, giving a thumbs-up.
After defeating this group, we then went to their base camp to retrieve the crystals they had gotten.