My group stood in a large, open field under the morning sun.
The instructor's voice echoed as she explained the rules of the test.
Everyone seemed tense but focused.
This was our first team trial, and we needed to prove our skills.
Liam Brooks pulled out his bow, checking the string and adjusting his quiver.
He tested his aim by drawing the bow and pointing it toward a distant tree.
The arrows in his quiver rattled softly as he moved.
"I'll be your support from the back,"
he said confidently.
"Let's see how many monsters I can take down,"
Carter said with full confidence too.
Followed by Sofia Hayes , she said.
"A clean slash is all I need. Even rank 3 monsters won't stand a chance if I time it right,"
Then I added by saying :
"I'll keep the team safe. My Ice Magic has got us covered,"
Finally, Aria Collins cracked her knuckles.
"My fists are my weapons. Just stay out of my way, or you'll regret it."
Looking at Aria in her full-body armor, it was clear she was built for the tank role.
Her fist-fighting technique made her the perfect choice to take the brunt of the monsters' attacks.
In this way, me and my teammates started to go through the training ground.
All the positions were fixed with two attackers, one tank , one long-range attacker and one supporter.
This really gave me hope and confidence to attack those monsters furiously.
As we were walking and walking, in between we saw two different paths so we got confused.
"Which path should we go for"
Sofia Hayes inquired.
" What do you say Aria?"
Liam Brooks asked Aria as Aria was our team captain for the now.
"Let us go through the right path as I feel like we will meet a lot of monsters in this direction!"
Aria Collins commanded with full arrogance in her words.
At first we all got really doubtful with her answer as this was kind of her assumption and we didn't really appreciate that.
However, just like the Referee is the king of the game, she was our referee and we were like the players.
So there was no option but to take the right direction.
After walking for a long distance and driving deeper into the forest, I could see tall big trees and muddy stream water with some small pebbles.
By looking at some of my teammate's expressions, I could tell that they were probably exhausted after walking for a long time.
Fortunately, in that forest one of my teammates found some spring water under a big rock and some wild edible fruits where we all drank the fresh water and ate those fruits.
With these fruits and spring water , we regained our energy and started to move forward.
-ROARRRRRR
Suddenly from our near distance we could hear the monsters roaring as they might have sensed the presence of the human.
As the monster was approaching near and near to us.
We took out our weapons and were ready to fight back.
"Finally, here it is. haha !"
Aria said with full excitement.
We finally encountered a creature.
"In front! A creature detected. It's coming alone,"
Liam Brooks announced.
The beast stepped into view, baring sharp fangs and glaring with glowing eyes.
It was a creature known as a Shadowfang.
A rank 3 beast, Shadowfang was known for its stealth and speed, which could rival that of a rank 4 human.
"Shadowfang!"
"Get ready to fight!"
"Let's ROCK AND ROLL!"
I gripped my Magic Wand tightly.
A Shadowfang should be manageable for five students at rank 1+, especially with me as rank 2.
We had the upper hand, or so I thought.
My teammates spread out, their nerves on edge, preparing for battle.
"This will be easy,"
Aria Collins said confidently. She leaped toward the Shadowfang.
"Burst Strike!"
Whoosh!
The Shadowfang darted out of the way with incredible speed, dodging the attack completely.
Sofia and Liam Brooks followed up with their own moves.
"Piercing Slash!"
"Fire Shot!"
Their attacks came in quick succession, but the Shadowfang slipped through every strike, moving like a shadow in the dark.
"Rrrrghh!"
The Shadowfang growled, its body coiled like a spring, ready to attack.
Instead of focusing on the three in front, it shifted its attention and charged straight at Liam.
"WHAT THE **** COME HERE AND ATTACK ME !"
Just as the monster was about to attack Liam, I distracted the monster by yelling at it.
The monster got distracted and shifted its attention towards me.
"Rrrrrrrgh"
"Ground Freeze"
Right after the monster jumped towards me, I freezed it into cold ice.
"WoW! That is so great of you !"
Liam said in both excitement and fear in a cold voice.
At that moment, we didn't waste anymore time and together we attacked the monster and chopped it into two pieces.
This Shadowfang would earn us 5 points.
On top of that, we could sell Shadowfang's body to the academy's research department.
They often bought monster bodies to study their anatomy or extract rare materials like fur, claws, and teeth for crafting.
These materials were used to create weapons, armor, or even potions.
In the Academy, research credits worked like currency.
We could trade them for new skills, Arts, or other resources available at the academy.
Unfortunately, Shadowfangs didn't carry monster cores, or the price would have been far higher.
Having killed the monster, some of them were surprised to see my Skill to freeze the 2 rank monster without any hardship.
"How can you do this? It is so amazing!"
"I love it and indeed very much!"
Both Sofia Hayes and Ethan Carter were astonished by my skill.
"Huh! It is just a 2 rank monster. Nothing to be celebrated"
I could see Aria Collins filled with jealousy for my ability to freeze the monster.
Having said that, We continued walking deeper into the forest.
Soon, we came across a group of Shadow Hares.
They were small Rank 1 monsters, but their agility and numbers made them tricky opponents.
With 10 of them hopping around at high speed, even Rank 2 humans could struggle.
For us, though, it wasn't much trouble.
Aria charged forward, making loud noises to draw their attention.
The Shadow Hares scattered, trying to confuse us.
That's when I used my spell, Ground Freeze, to freeze the ground beneath them.
The slippery ice made it hard for the hares to move, and we quickly finished them off.
After two more hours of exploring, we faced another Shadowfang and several groups of Shadow Hares, each with 12 to 15 of them.
By now, we had gotten used to their movements and worked together smoothly to take them down without much effort.
Hurrah!
Everyone shouted as we could defeat and kill a lot of monsters that could help us to upgrade our rank position.
Specially Liam and Sofia were so happy to have achieved so many points upon killing those monsters easily.
"Huh!I didn't expect that a low ranked student like you could be so useful in our team. After all you are really good at freezing those monsters"
Aria for the first said something that was really nice to hear but still than mentioning low ranked students was an insult for me somewhat.
Haha! Anyways I could tell that our team work was far beyond our expectations.
Only one hour remained before we had to return.
We were all eager to see how many points we'd earned.
After walking for 40 minutes, we hadn't encountered a single monster. It seemed like the forest was finally quiet. Just when we thought we were safe…
"Incoming attack!"
Liam's warning came too late.
"What?"
An arrow targeted at Aria Collins.
We were stunned, shocked—not just by the attack, but by who had fired it.
Emerging from the shadows were two men dressed in rugged gear, holding bows and weapons.
-Poachers.
They smirked when they saw us hesitate.
"Kids wandering in the wrong part of the forest, huh?"
one of them sneered.
Before we could react, one of the poachers raised his hand and cast a spell.
"Flame Burst!"
The flaming wave of the spell was too big to dodge as it burst toward us.
"Ice Wall!"
I quickly summoned a thick wall of ice in front of us.
Boom!