Party Leader

It took quite some time before Thomas and Emily found the others.

"Took you a while!" Corbin greeted Thomas with a fistbump.

"Well you were not around any of our usual places!" Thomas replied.

They first looked for them back in the classroom, then in the canteen area and lastly at their usual place at the park. Thomas figured it was either one of the practice buildings outside, westwards of the academy or the dormitory at this point.

"Yeah thought we would get in some training and all… you know… practice as a party?" Corbin smiled.

Ashley took notice of Emily behind Thomas and recognized Emily by her cap.

"I see you recruited Emily! Always nice to have a second girl in the party!" Ashley welcomed Emily with a handshake into their party.

Emily accepted it and did not really say anything. She remained quiet and the five of them headed on inside after booking the building for an hour practice.

They stood in a circle starting with Corbin, then going clockwise, Tim, Ashley, Thomas and lastly Emily. All of them looked around and waited for someone to take charge of things.

"Emm… how about we decide on a team leader?" Corbin suggested, "I nominate Thomas!" Corbin mischievously grinned.

Thomas immediately turned to stare Corbin in the eyes and prepared to make his protest.

"Is that how you play it then I nom---!" Thomas attempted to nominate Corbin back in return.

"I second it," Emily interrupted and raised her hand on Thomas being the team leader.

The idea appeared amusing to her. This made Ashley smile and wonder while giving Thomas a certain look as to test him.

"Two nominees, they sure trust you," Ashley said suspiciously to tease, "Very well then, let's go with Thomas then! It will make for an interesting party," Ashley giggled lightly.

Ashley only joined Corbin with her giggling, since he was quietly laughing at the instance she agreed to nominate Thomas as well. In response Thomas sighed audibly to let everyone know how he truly felt about the matter firsthand.

"Alright… alright! I will do it! Unless Tim wants to…?" Thomas tried to pawn it off, but Tim vividly shook his head with utmost refusal.

Thomas took a second to ponder things and sat down on the floor, and for whatever reason the rest followed him. Sitting down quietly in a group did not really help with gathering any helpful thoughts.

Only one thought came to mind. The one thought being to select their party's formation.

"So… you guys know how there is a team leader, or center-point? I thought that would be me. Then we have to decide on two people in front and then one for the two in the back," Thomas chose to tackle their formation first.

"Why only one in the back? Who is the other one?" Ashley tilted her head in question.

Thomas pointed to his side to indicate with his thumb.

"Emily… Her skill set is perfect for backlining," Thomas lied without knowing any of Emily's skills.

"Ah…" Ashley responded with a hand over her mouth.

They discussed their options for a bit. Ultimately Tim was assigned to the backline alongside Emily and that meant Corbin and Ashley were up front. The reason for them being in front was their sheer power.

When Thomas secretly inspected Tim, it showed that he was only level 3. Judging from the look of things, Thomas chose to fully trust Corbin with his front and Emily blindly with his back. Luckily Ashley and Tim were easily convinced for Thomas' ideal formation in mind.

The part about lying about Emily's skill set was something Thomas thought of after analyzing Emily based on what he already knew. She was cautious, liked to keep her distant and seemed highly observant. That makes her ideal for backlining and he assumed her secret skills were part of it.

Before starting their practice there was one more thing. Sharing everyone's abilities to a certain willing extent. Thomas inspected Emily one more time.

[Name: Emily Moon Fae]

[Appearance: Long Silver Hair. Light Purple Eyes. 5'7]

[Race: Half-elf ??]

[Ability: Elemental, "Lost Magic"]

[Level: 5]

[Vitality: 25]

[Strength: 25]

[Agility: 25]

[Intelligence: 25]

[Stamina: 25]

As Thomas expected, upon leveling up he could now read Emily's stats as well and she was level 5, just like Alex and Olivia.

"Alright, as you guys can tell from the tournament, I use my sword to nullify things," Thomas went first and chose to omit his foresight ability.

Corbin was second and fooled around showcasing his water ability a bit. Tim went third and had earth ability. His main ability was to create things and Tim's earth abilities also contained healing remedies.

"I use Ice, I prefer to create a lance of some sort and use icicles and things to keep my distance when I am not doing close-combat," Ashley explained happily and casually shared both of her strategies.

"What about you?" Ashley turned to Emily who kept quiet after nominating Thomas.

Emily stood up and reached behind herself as if she was grabbing something. A quiver and a bow slowly crystallized on Emily's back which were previously shrouded with some sort of magic spell.

"I use a bow with piercing arrows, then two Elvish short blades," Emily vaguely explained and showed, then sat back down.

Afterwards they discussed some basic strategies and stood up to practice. Their practice was rather rudimentary of peeling backwards or using as a unit. There were some fake scenarios being created, a few being retreating, flanking or making use of Tim's healing skills to mend imaginary wounds.

The hour was up and they exited together and bid farewell to one another. Thomas and Emily had yet to reveal to their party that she was a half-elf. Both knew they would find out most likely later today if not tomorrow.

While their group split off into three separate ways, Thomas chose to turn around and stare at Emily's back. Thomas knew she was lying about only possibly using piercing arrows as her skills apart from the two Elvish blades.

The only question that remained for Thomas, was of what does "Elemental" even mean when it comes to magic?