"How much experience do you have om fighting four-legged opponents?" Reed asked aloud, walking in the middle of the pack with Rorde, Blot, Rina, and Layla in front and the rest behind him.
"None, I've never fought anything besides my trainers." Rorde answered without looking back, and Rina nodded. Blot puffed up a little.
"I have killed a few wolves before, My dad taught me how to deal with them." He seemed proud of that fact, but Reed stopped his dangerous thoughts.
"Was they one by one at different times? Or did you fight a pack of them?"
"It was one-by-one, why?" Blot seemed it think it made no difference whether they were in a pack or not.
"Because, fighting a pack of wolves is different than fighting a lone wolf. Against a single lone wolf, even an average untrained man may be able to deal with it."
Reed took in a deep breath.
"But a pack is different, you have to keep track of all of them, and focus all around you to make sure that one doesn't come up from a blind spot, not to mention that fighting against many means that you will have to deal multiple attacks from multiple directions at the same time."
"Isn't that why we are in a team?" Blot asked. "To cover for each other?"
"You are in a team at the moment, but what if you weren't? How were you going to cross this floor alone?"
Blot remained for a few seconds.
"Can't I just find or hire a team to go with me?"
"What if you're stranded alone, separated from any help?"
"How would that happen?"
"Who knows? Maybe a powerful enemy, maybe a collapsed wall, maybe illusions, there are too many ways to separate from your group."
"What then? If you recklessly rush into anything, you may just find yourself in great danger. It is important to evaluate your opponent and formulate strategies to deal with them."
"For example, if you're fighting alone against multiple opponents, try to limit the area that they can attack you from, using obstacles to reduce their effectiveness."
"But be careful, those same obstacles may also provide them a chance to take you by surprise."
"Now get ready." Reed gestured into the trees, from where they could hear the wolves as they drew closer. He stepped to the side, far enough to not interfere, but close enough to provide timely support.
Blot stepped in front, sword in his left hand, he raised his right arm and cast a fireball into the trees.
"HA!" He exclaimed, Reed frowned and let out a hum.
Rorde and Rina did the same, while Porret raised a wall of rock.
They did not fight melee this time, just fired spells whenever they saw a wolf appear.
It was over quickly.
"Nice!" Blot exclaimed with a wide grin on his face.
"Really?" Reed spoke, with a disgusted tone of voice, and turned to Mordhal. "Have they ever had combat training?"
"This IS their combat training, they won't be allowed to graduate until I think they're qualified."
Mordhal replied with a calm, even tone.
"And what do you think of this 'battle'?"
"Exceedingly horrible."
"Hey!" The voice of complaint was Rina. "What do you mean? We did well didn't we?"
Mordhal turned to Reed.
"Do you want to tell them?"
Reed raised an eyebrow in question.
"Are you sure? Aren't these your students?"
"They are, but I want to see what you have to say."
"Very well."
Reed gestured for them to gather around.
"First of all, can any of you tell me how many wolves there were?" he questioned, and Layla responded.
"How many? There were... 4, no, 5 wolves."
"How do you know that?"
"Because we killed five of them."
"But, there were 11 spells fired, why was that?"
"Because..."
"Because the three of you fired blindly in the beginning, without locating a wolf." He gestured to Blot, Rina, and Rorde.
"In fact, you were the first to attack, even though you didn't see the enemy, which resulted in you wasting a part of your mana."
"One of the most important things to do when fighting, is to determine the number of enemies and their abilities. In this case, the number of wolves, which you clearly didn't know."
"Not knowing how many enemies there are can result in you being surrounded, or taken by surprise, which is why you must clearly identify the number of enemies."
"Secondly, you have no teamwork, which is why the other 3 spells were wasted." He gestured to Porret and Lark.
"You have no experience working together, so you hit single targets with multiple spells, when it could have been done with a single spell."
"Thirdly, you have no actual combat experience, according to Mr. Mordhal, this is your first training, so that can be improved in the future, along with you teamwork. It will allow you to make quick decisions and react faster to changes in the heat of battle."
Reed did not speak in detail, but just gave a brief summary of his thoughts, then he turned to Mordhal.
"Anything I missed?" He asked.
Mordhal shook his head.
"Well spoken Mr. Reed." He turned to his students.
"Take his words to heart, they are completely correct. I will be expecting a better performance in the next encounter."
"Now, let us continue." He started to walk.
"One last thing." Reed said, and Mordhal paused and turned.
"It is in your best interests to choose a leader for yourselves to take command in battle, preferably the one with the sharpest mind, and not one who fights melee, but that choice is up to you."