Chapter 69: Teams (Patreon)

AN: Slight edit to the previous chapter -- Cayden uses [The Moment] to time his grab of Ignar's blade in the final strike of their spar. Nothing major, I just forgot to include the activation of the skill

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uePF92hURe1qcRUyXwyZa3sLYZeQIKd2a3t9KeFQrB4/edit?usp=sharing

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“While individual power is good, being able to work within a team is one of the most important things that you will learn at this academy,” Instructor Blyre stated from the stage at the front of the auditorium. “As such, it is the primary focus of your first year. We have already assigned you into teams of four, based on compatible builds – as some of you know, these are your dorm room assignments. Before we proceed any further, please locate your roommates and split into groups.”

There was a beat of silence as all the students stared up at the stage, surprised that they were being asked to do something so quickly after her speech started. But then the first student stood and looked out over the crowd for her team, breaking the spell, and everyone else followed her lead.

At first, students were simply standing and peacefully looking to spot the familiar faces of their roommates. But once everyone was standing, that was no longer enough, and students took to more drastic measures.

Students, noble and commoner alike, yelled out names in hopes of locating their teammates. As the echoes in the auditorium increased, the yells got louder and louder, eventually culminating in a harpy screaming out several names that left Cayden’s ears ringing. Other students took more creative approaches to locating their roommates. In one corner of the auditorium, Cayden saw a light show of blue sparks floating near the ceiling spelling out three different names. A rogue scaled one of the auditorium’s walls, hanging from the rafters as they looked down for familiar faces.

In just a few seconds, the previously silent auditorium had transformed into absolute chaos – a surprising development for a school that had, hitherto, displayed respectable organization and coordination from its staff.

Cayden and Jeremy were slower to react to the instruction. As the auditorium exploded around them, they stayed in their chairs, looking at each other after a few moments.

“Good luck,” Jeremy said with a nod, and Cayden responded with a commiserating nod of his own.

“You too.”

Cayden hadn’t heard much from Jeremy about his roommates. He knew they were commoner adventurers, as they were in the commoner dorms, and from how little time Jeremy spent and talked about them Cayden figured they weren’t all the best of friends. But he didn’t know what they looked like and wouldn’t have been able to help his friend search. And so they split, each diving into the crowd in search of their own teams.

Unfortunately, Cayden had no skills that would help him locate his teammates, though an increase to [Inertia] along with the occasional activation of [The Moment] made it easier to navigate the crowds than it otherwise would have been. Students intending to bowl past him in their haste – Cayden wasn’t sure why so many of the other students were in such a rush, anyways – were surprised to find Cayden didn’t budge, and they were the ones bouncing back.

Cayden didn’t have a particular plan for locating his roommates, choosing to wander and hope for the best. Luckily, that strategy paid off in just a few minutes as he saw Velic standing next to a grouping of chairs, completely relaxed as the crowds of students parted around him like schools of fish around a shark. Marvenal stood just behind and in Velic’s shadow, his eyes twitching to follow each student that stepped too near.

“Ah Cayden! You’ve found us – I was starting to get worried.”

“Velic, Marvenal,” Cayden greeted each of the boys with a nod. “We’re just waiting on Delphia, then?”

The corners of Velic’s mouth turned up in a smirk.

“I am here,” a quiet voice said from right behind him, barely audible over the chaos, and Cayden jumped in surprise. He turned and found his fourth roommate standing close in his shadow – a mirror to how Marvenal stood in relation to Velic. But when he turned, Delphia shuffled backward several feet, almost tripping into the path of other frantic students.

Cayden reached out to help her, but this only made the situation worse. She dodged away from his hand, putting her directly in the path of two students. Luckily, her agility was up to the task, and she was able to narrowly evade the collisions. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the two students. Surprised to find the small, cloaked girl in their paths, they each tried to dodge in the same direction, banging foreheads and falling on their butts.

“...perhaps we should take a seat,” Velic proposed, still smirking.

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It took a bit, but eventually, everyone found their roommates and settled into seats near each other. As the last student rushed across the much-quieter auditorium to his team with the rest of the student body looking on, Instructor Blyre retook the stage.

“Look around at your three teammates,” she said, and Cayden glanced between the three chairs around him. Velic smiled at him, Marvenal stared back, expressionless, and Delphia did who knew what beneath her shadowed hood. “For the rest of your year at the academy, these will be your teammates. Their successes are your successes, and their failures are your failures. You will learn how to work together, how to cover each others’ weaknesses and trust in each others’ strengths. Your individual assessments at the end of the year will be closely tied to your team assessments. All for the purpose of teaching you, when you eventually leave this academy, what it means to work together as part of a team.”

Cayden grimaced. Even with his limited educational experience, he knew how annoying group assignments could be. He had no intention of being the same person he was in his previous life: the one who forced others to complete his work for him, content to ignore any bothersome complaints and skate by on whatever grade he was assigned. And he hoped none of his roommates were that type of person either. But he also enjoyed his freedom, and he didn’t appreciate being forced to rely on others to ensure his own success.

As if reading his mind, Instructor Blyre continued.

“Of course, many of you may not entirely appreciate the lessons we are attempting to teach you. We understand that different people are motivated by different things, and we wouldn’t want to burden any of you with teammates who are not properly motivated for success. So we have prepared the following rewards,”

She cleared her throat as Cayden leaned forward with the rest of the student body, ignoring a notification that popped up in the corner of his vision.

“The team that is ranked in third place at the end of the year will receive four enchanted items, one for each team member. The team that is ranked in second place will receive eight enchanted items, two for each team member.”

Cayden sighed and leaned back in his seat. Perhaps he had become too jaded by his time with Elise, but a few enchanted items – likely pre-made if they weren’t specifying that they would be created for the individual students – simply didn’t impress him. Between Elise’s skill, her boost-enchanting potions, and her knowledge of Cayden’s build, he believed his friend could make something better for him than anything the academy might provide. Of course, over the last year of delving she hadn’t yet made Cayden an enchanted item, a result of their dedication to pushing forward her research combined with the rarity of enchanting materials. But the fact remained that, should he ask, he believed Elise could make a better enchanted item than what the school could offer.

“And for that team which places in first place,” Instructor Blyre continued, and Cayden got another notification from [Mind is a Temple] as his focus returned to the stage. “They will get four skill-stones, one for each team member.”

And despite the grip the instructor had over the audience, whispers erupted as students couldn’t contain their surprise.

For his own part, Cayden just frowned. Hadn’t he just learned in his skills class how incredibly rare skill-stones were? Was that hyperbole to boost the impact this declaration would have? Or was the academy really that rich and powerful, that they were able to give away skill-stones as rewards for good grades?

He glanced at his teammates. While Velic remained relaxed and leaned back in his chair, Marvenal and Delphia each sat at the very front of their seats. Marvenal’s eyes, for once, did not constantly sweep back and forth in constant vigilance of his surroundings but instead stared hungrily up at the instructor. He couldn’t see Delphia’s eyes, but her hood was focused on Instructor Blyre with the same level of intensity. And even Velic, Cayden noticed, licked his lips and adjusted himself in his seat, belying the cool exterior he was attempting to maintain.

Perhaps…the academy had to have skill-stones as the reward. If Cayden, poor as he had been a year prior, wasn’t impressed with a few enchanted items, how much less would these nobles be impressed by the second and third-place rewards? Enchanted items were expensive, but have enough money and you could commission pretty much any enchanted item you might need. What would money mean to those who had parents who could provide everything they might ever need or ask?

If the academy was looking to motivate its students, it needed to offer something that the students wouldn’t be able to otherwise procure. And for those noble students, that list was likely short indeed.

“...I will not give away the exact nature of the skill-stones being offered, out of respect for the students who win them, but I can assure you that, between them, they possess skills that are viable for any type of build, with two of the skills being tier-two and the others being class-three tier-ones.”

Cayden frowned. He’d have to ask Elise what ‘class-three’ meant in regard to a skill. Instructor Blyre described it in the same way she described the tier-two skill, so a measure of its rarity or power, perhaps?

“Each team will be assigned an instructor and a time for weekly lessons, which you will find when you return to your dorms. They will help you to become the best team that you can become, to have a shot at winning the top prize – listen to them. They will help you improve in all of the different areas that we will be judging to determine the final ranking at the end of this year: your coordination, your creativity in response to surprises, your leadership and your ability to follow orders, and of course your power. One thing that is not as large of a factor, but will certainly have its weight, is your improvement throughout the year. As such, it is important that we get a baseline for the capabilities of each of your teams now.”

She grinned, a feral thing that revealed a long pair of wickedly sharp canines.

“Prepare yourselves, for your first test as a team is about to begin.”

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