Unexpected Team Up?

He was sure that despite his withering age, he was countless times more powerful than this bunch of kids, yet he was not able to perform a task as simple as probing. He could easily sense the other children and their levels properly, but for some reason, he was sure that what Oliver was showing was not his true level.

Of course, he had no proof; it was just an intuition of his that made him believe that or think in that direction. Only a gut feeling.

Either Oliver was using an artifact beyond his years, or Sigfor's age was dulling his senses—a thought that both frustrated and concerned him.

If it was the artifact then it was too powerful for his own good.

Sigfor had spent decades battling demons, patrolling borders, and dealing with the deadliest foes. He had spent a major portion of life battling disasters of mankind, he was all too aware of what was and could be classified a danger.

He was familiar with the sensations when he fought such deadly demons at that time—it was still vivid in his heart.

And it was a sensation similar to that whenever he tried to probe into Oliver… a strange risk that he felt in his life that was subtle but present.

'Did Master not notice this?' he wondered, as he was sure that his master above the mountains must have felt this abnormality in the boy too.

Or maybe she was not obstructed like he was? He might have to ask her about it later to confirm his rising doubts and suspicions.

For now, he had to focus on training these kids and preparing them for a future covered with darkness. It took some days, but the group slowly got used to controlling their espera flow in the end.

The kids would often fail in their attempts, sometimes destroying the talisman, blasting it, or just doing something silly at the end step and having to do it all again.

All of them were seriously dedicated and never gave up trying.

"Alright, now I will split you all into groups of two. The serious things would start from now onwards. Try to complement your teammate. It will take time, but it will help you all the way later. In the battlefield, any human could become your teammate, so it becomes mandatory for you to learn to adapt to your team when your life is on the line."

Sigfor said in a very serious and eerie tone.

Oliver knew about this; in the battlefield against demons, any human you find becomes your ally automatically in the fight. The more allies you have on the field, the better your chances of survival.

"So, here's the match-up:

Daniel goes with Nadia.

Alphonso will go with Amber.

And lastly, Evelyn goes with Oliver."

He said sternly.

There was a momentary silence after Sigfor announced the line-up before Daniel could not help but burst out.

"What sort of terrible line-up is this?" he looked with widened eyes around before his eyes landed on the emotionless girl. He pointed at her as he said, "How did you even think that thunder and ice elements could ever be combined together?"

He turned to Sigfor, "Elder, have you finally lost it—"

Smack!

A loud smack resounded in the air as Daniel was sent flying backward, crashing into the desks.

"Pfft-!"

"…"

Oliver looked at Sigfor, who was red with anger and embarrassment.

He secretly exclaimed at how bold Daniel was. He could really provoke anyone under any circumstances without caring about the consequences.

This was the shamelessness one should strive for.

"Stupid little brat! You dare question me!?" Sigfor spat in anger. He roared, "You think I have gone senile!? I am still decades young before going crazy due to old age! Stop being ageist!"

Oliver blinked, somehow he found those words quite familiar.

He had to give it to Daniel this time. Although he interrupted and was disrespectful, his initial question was valid nonetheless.

Had he asked this more politely, perhaps Sigfor would have explained it deeply as well.

Alas, his tongue was loose and his mind was dense, so it could not be helped that Sigfor was furious.

After calming down, Sigfor stroked his beard once again, a force of habit now, as he keenly looked at the group with his sharp gaze.

"You don't need to think about it. The team I have assigned are correct; you just need to do it. There's no other way around it. Believe in yourself, you can do it. Also, if you act foolishly, you will suffer like that brat over there."

Sigfor harrumphed and left the group alone. He did not forget to leave them with some talismans, however.

These talismans were the real deal, waiting to be filled with the espera of an elemental attribute.

"Well…" Oliver looked at the lying Daniel and then at Nadia, "He should be waking up in a few minutes. You can think of what to do…"

Nadia had a cold look in her eyes as she gazed at the lying black-haired boy. She hated weaklings like him the most.

She preferred to do it alone, not with anyone; she was more than capable of doing it.

Her eyes turned frosty. This was all slowly turning pointless. She would rather have it that she was sent back to the ice chamber to hone her element more or just back to her clan.

But she did not want to be the first to complain or else…

She cast a glance towards Oliver, who had his back facing her as he was walking up to Evelyn.

She did not want him to have any thoughts. Not only was she older than him but also stronger; she could not act like that.

She felt a pang of hatred toward the old man for not pairing her with him instead.

Water and ice elements were alike; they were basically one element. The ice element was a hybrid element of the water element family.

She was a hundred percent sure that her compatibility with his element and his compatibility with her element was better than anyone present here in this group with them.

She was confident that as long as Oliver followed her lead, she could easily generate a very deadly attack. Using his element to enhance her own element's offensiveness, she could easily overpower everyone present with minimal difficulty.

But they were not paired together.

She turned around and left as well.

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"Hey, Evelyn…"

Oliver reached out to the girl standing next to the pile of talismans, looking at him.

"We're teamed up," she smiled.

"Yes. Combining our elements for an attack will be challenging," Oliver admitted, considering how the light element wasn't inherently offensive. His water element didn't seem a perfect match.

The light element was basically not an offensive element by its nature. At least not until the bearer of the element developed it later into killing arts.

For now, Evelyn was not in that league, so her light element was basically quite docile in nature, with healing capabilities, blinding effects, defense, and all.

Stuff like that with his water element, he was not sure what to make of it.

Nonetheless, his main goal was not to win the challenge set by Elder Sigfor but rather to shift his target to Evelyn from Nadia.

This was the best opportunity he could have gotten so far. He just needed to be in physical contact with her for some time before the system message appeared.

He just needed to somehow get in contact with her; he already had a plan to achieve that.

"Let's start by coordinating our espera. Then we can think about attack combinations. How about it?" he suggested.

"Sounds good. Let's get in tune with our espera first," she agreed, picking up a talisman and placing it on the desk.

"How should we do it? Hmm…" Oliver started as he said, "First, we should channel our espera into the talisman one by one and see if we can balance it out. If it does not work like that, then we can try it at once."

"Alright, will you go first?"

"Hmm. I will supply the talisman with water-attributed espera and fill it halfway. The rest will then be for you to fill. Not only that, but since you are going to be the second to fill it, you will need to balance out the already filled espera on your own."

He added, "Basically, you will be doing everything in this try individually. All I will be doing is just filling it up with my espera. In the next try, I will do it all, and you will just have to fill it with your light-attributed espera instead."

He finished with his little lecture and looked at her for a response.

Evelyn listened to his explanations and nodded, "I got it. Then fill it up with your espera. I will then maintain the balance afterward."