Planning

After crossing the river, Sam and the other three separated to scout for a while to find a temporary safe point. After finding a safe point, where they can avoid the both teams, Sam and others sat in a circle as they discussed the plan.

"There is an open field which has to be crossed to arrive at the cave of the opposing teams. I think in a while after the first batch of the scouting teams of the seniors' team returned to the base after they searched their territory, the main attack force and support force will move to take advantage in the dark. There is a narrow pathway which is the only route for entering and exiting the path as the trees are denser and the other two sides are territories of two beast packs. One side is the lair of the Dark wind wolves and the other side is the territory of the Myriad illusion snake." Sam said as he started drawing the outline of the map of the on the soil. The other three had serious expressions as they are trying to comprehend how to utilise the information. Well, at least two are trying, while the other one is already speaking as soon as Sam finished.

"Oh Sam, your drawing skills are good. Even though they are not as good as mine, they are okay" Shawn said with a narcissist smile. All three of them looked at him with speechless expressions.

Sam looked at the calm and collected Jack and then looked at Shawn, then said to Jack in a pitying tone. "It must have been hard on you to handle this guy." Jack first time had a change of expression as he looked at Shawn and then at Sam. His face was filled with helplessness as nodded his head.

Sam then abruptly stood up and kicked Shawn who sat on his left side on his butt. Shawn fell face first in to the soil as a lot of sand went straight to his mouth through his cocky grin.

"Sam, that's a bitch move. What has my handsome bum has ever done to you for punishing it? You must have been jealous of my butt. Seeing that yours is bony." Shawn stood up and roared at Sam furiously. Sam didn't say anything and instantly disappeared and kicked Shawn on his butt again as soon as he appeared behind him. This time Shawn is a little prepared and avoided the face first fall as he supported himself with his hands.

Just as he was about sigh in relief another kick landed on his bum and Shawn rolled on the ground.

"Pfft." Melisa couldn't hold on anymore and laughed as Sam kicked Shawn repeatedly on his butt. Meanwhile, Jack is looking at Shawn who actually felt quite vexed and helpless. 'Seems like I need to employ the same method in the future.' He thought.

"Truce, Truce. I will hear you and won't speak for the rest of the plan." Shawn immediately told as soon as he understood why Sam literally kicked his ass. Sam nodded and then moved towards the drawing he drew and continued.

"Actually, Academy arranged the layout of the cave vicinities almost same. For our freshmen team cave, we have to pass through a narrow path inside a bamboo forest. The both sides of forest are also occupied by two beast packs. One is Black mane gorillas and the second one is the Wind tailed panther." Sam said.

Listening to this information the three felt surprised. Previously, when Harry explained the plan, he also pointed out the lairs of the various beasts. But they didn't notice this peculiar similarity between the layouts. Ignoring their thoughts, Sam continued.

"The thing is, the academy wants to see how the participants are going to face the situation when we have to face the enemies head on from a single direction. When the team members move from the cave and cross the narrow path, they will enter the open field I mentioned. Between the two open fields, there is a complex forest which is equally divided in to two halves."

All of them nodded as they understood the basic layout now.

"How are we going to proceed in the competition? Are we going for the sphere or for the kills?" Jack asked the question. Melisa also nodded as if she also wanted the answer and looked at the Sam's Handsome face. Sam had a mischievous smile on his already devilishly handsome face, which gave him a unique evil charm.

"Of course, we are going for the kills. Even if we manage to get the sphere from the senior teams, we cannot reach our team's sphere and merge them ourselves. The entire team is against us." Sam said as if it was obvious.

The three have very different expressions. Jack nodded as if he expected the answer and Shawn had an expression as if he trying to listen everything with an incredible concentration. Melisa was surprised by the decision. Sam then looked at her and explained.

"Even though you might think that stealing is a better method as our numbers are low. You are forgetting something. What matters to us right now is points. The more points we get the higher the ranking will be. the elders won't expect us to win the battle anyway." Sam said with a faint smile.

"At least in this way, we will have our individual rankings a bit higher." Sam finished.

"Okay what is the plan?" Melisa asked.

"The thing is, the senior team has an advantage in the cultivation level and they clearly know about the beast territories and won't take any measures to defend there. Same goes for the freshmen team. But the Senior team don't know that we are completely by ourselves and they won't expect to act against the norms.

What we will be doing is that we would set a very basic trap at the exit of the narrow patch way from this side and conceal it with the concealment formation. As far as I know, some noble family candidates who saw performance may be cautious against me using the attack formations. But we are not going to do this." Sam paused and then turned towards Jack and spoke.

"You have to guide Shawn to do something according the instructions I will give, as I will leave along with Ms. Melisa to get something. You guys have to be careful." Jack agreed and Shawn only nodded his head.

"We will move as soon as the Main force and their support leaves the ground. We will lay the trap and flush the defence team as well as the defence support outside towards the trap."

"How are we going to do that?" Melisa asked Sam.

"You will see. But first go and get your hands on as many bird type beasts as you can. You have to kill it in a cleaner way as I need their blood. I will collect some necessary herbs." Sam said and moved; the rest of the teammates also moved.

After an hour Sam and others met at the same point.

"Shawn make a pit of two feet deep and one metre wide." Sam said and immediately took out some odd-looking grass like herbs which are in red colour. Shawn made a pit and Sam started crushing the herbs and the rest followed suit and a red coloured fluid came and poured them in the pit. After crushing all the juice from the grass, Sam said again.

"Extract blood from all the birds and fill the pit."

Everyone got to work and started filling the pit with blood. When the work is done, Sam gestured them to get back from the pit and started heating the blood and plant juice mixture with the golden flame. After some time, a pleasant fragrance came from the pit making all feel strange.

"Don't breathe, hold your breath" Sam's shout made their minds clear as they immediately held their breath and tried to calm their minds. Soon Sam finished and collected the liquid of this in a big leather bag used to carry water. He stored all of it inside various bags and kept them way in rapid pace. Then only all of them released their breaths in relief.

"We will be going, by now the main attack team will be gone. We need to move as soon as possible, before they take any preventive measures." Sam said and moved. The rest hurriedly followed even though they have many questions they wanted to ask.

At the viewing platforms,

"What are the four kids doing? They are hunting bird type beasts and that guy is collecting that weird grass."

"Oh, they finally met."

"What are they doing? Are they making any concoction or something?"

"What is the mixture? Judging from their looks, that seems to have some weird effects on them."

Everyone is discussing the weird actions of Sam and his group. Only a few people who are knowledgeable are having some thoughts about Sam's plans. But even they felt a bit confused.

Actually, Sam got this knowledge on how to use this grass from the beastuary as it is something only available near the Myriad illusion snake territory. Not many people know how to use it more effectively. Sam and others moved fast but stealthily as they finally reached the area near the exit of the narrow path. They could faintly see the tracks left by the attack team and the support team. Sam guessed that there are at least forty people moving.

Sam and others halted and checked whether there any traps or ambushes left by the team. When they found that there are no traps, Sam felt that something is not right. Then suddenly Melissa spoke. "Actually, it is not common to use basic traps in battle, as the cultivators can sniff them out easily. That is the reason, I am also waiting for the kind of trap you are going to set up." Sam nodded and started his command.

"Shawn, you have to dig pits at least 12 feet deep in all the points, I am going to mark. The pits should in circular shape, with at least one-meter diameter. We have to finish it as soon as possible. If I am not wrong, the next batch of scouts will be coming in search for the tracks of the main attack force of the freshmen team. I will lay down the concealment formation. Then you guys can proceed."

Sam finished laying the formation in a few minutes, this speed dumbfounded the other three, especially Melisa. She saw this speed only when her father laid down a very basic first rank formation. But her father is a rank 2 formation master. When Sam is done, he ignored their surprise and said with a faint smile.

"You guys should proceed. Jack cover for them. Melisa, as soon as Shawn finished a pit, you use your water element and make a swamp inside. The swamp should make them struck at least knee deep when they fall from this height. Melisa, after you are making a swamp, you should drop all the liquid inside the pit. Shawn after you are done with this you are going to close the mouth of the hole with a very thin layer of soil. It shouldn't even have any traces of being dug out." Sam finished saying and Melisa immediately asked.

"Sam, do you really think these common traps will work?" Sam smiled and didn't answer her immediately, then he looked at the dark sky and said. "Ms. Melisa, when a person thinks he got stronger, he starts ignoring the most basic threats. Now, the seniors will be thinking they are stronger than us and in fact it is true. So, it is natural to become a little complacent. We are going to use it against them. They wouldn't expect us to use these basic traps. They might even think that we may use an attack formation as they knew about me. But they wouldn't expect me doing this. And the concealment formation is of visual type. So, they can't see any difference and all they can see is the area before we set the traps. You will understand when they come." He paused and then addressed all three. Out of 10 pits we dug, total four are mine and the rest are yours." They nodded their head. Actually, they are not really counting on these traps.

"Okay, Shawn and Melisa, please finish this as soon as possible. Jack do you have any long-range attacks at your disposal?" Sam asked. Jack nodded his head and didn't say anything else. Sam also didn't pursue and started making preparations and took out another type of plant and started making juice out of it. They didn't ask him anything and just let him be.

Shawn and Melisa are efficient and completed this in half an hour. Sam also finished his preparation and said. "You guys hide in the trees and stay away from the pits for some time. I will lure the people out as soon as possible." Sam said and was about to leave.

"Will you be able to do this alone? If you want, we can help you." Melisa asked and Jack also looked at him. Sam just shook his head and left with a smile. Melisa fell in to a daze as she looked at Sam's handsome smile. Sam didn't notice and started moving towards his next destination.

Meanwhile at the viewing platforms. All the spectators also quite puzzled as they saw the actions of Sam and his group. One of the noble elders sneered. "These guys are still too naïve to think that these common traps would work. They really think that they can win themselves. They are too cocky to leave young master Harry's leadership. This guy is one of the elders from the city lord mansion. City lord also nodded and said.

"They really are naïve. Particularly the young man in black named Sam. He is strong, but if he can think that he is strong enough to take on all the people at the senior team with his little group, he is really foolish. I don't really think he is fit enough to join the Starwood academy with that thinking of not joining a team." City lord spoke as he looked towards the Starwood Academy's viewing platform.

All the nobles immediately caught on what he is implying. The city lord wants to deal with Sam and wants him to not enrol in the Academy. If he gets into academy, he will be under the Academy's protection and making a move against him is provoking the entire academy. All the nobles immediately started singing the same tune as City lord and said.

"City lord is right indeed. This guy is ruthless and ambitious at the same time. He left the team to gain all the credit himself. He really is unfit to join the academy. The Crimson flame family head said.

"I think the City lord is right."

"Me too." All the noble family heads agreed. Only the four tower heads and the Evergreen family are just watching in silent.

"I wonder what the Principal thinks." City lord asked all of a sudden and everyone became silent. All the nobles who spoke earlier are waiting eagerly. The Principal didn't speak and just watched the projection. Seeing this City lord said with a much colder tone.

"I hope the Principal will make a wise decision." This is a hidden threat. All the people understood that city lord is quite serious.

"It is not your place to decide who should or shouldn't join the Academy. Isn't is right City lord?" The Principal directly spoke after City lord threatened him. Everyone who spoke up earlier immediately shut their mouths. City lord just snorted and didn't speak either.

"Look, he is entering the wolves' territory." Someone spoke from the crowd and everyone immediately turned their attention back to the projection and were quite surprised.

Sam is indeed entering the Dark wind wolves' territory near the senior team cave area. The Dark wind wolves are of Dual elemental attribute. Darkness and Wind. Sam is going to use these wolves against the senior team.

Sam waited for some time and moved as soon as sky brightened a little. Dawn came. He moved deep inside the territory and soon found out the main lair of the wolves. Sam hid his aura completely and observed the wolves from a hidden corner. He is saw the alpha of the pack which is at the Late stage of level 2. All the wolves are close to it.

All the wolves are just waking up one by one slowly as dawn broke. Sam looked at them and immediately took out several small glass bottles which are filled with a green fluid. This is the plant juice Sam made while setting the traps. Sam gave an evil smile and started his preparations.

Meanwhile at the freshmen cave. Harry and only another person were left in the cave as he sent everyone else outside. He walked towards the platform and took the Silver sphere and kept it inside a leather pouch and hung it to his belt. He then turned towards the other guy and said.

"Build a thick earthen wall." The other guy was quite nervous and just nodded his head. After that he used a spell and an earthen wall was formed in front of the platform hiding the platform. After it was done, Harry nodded and said. "You better keep your mouth shut." Then he walked outside along with the other guy.

When they came out all the other freshmen candidates are waiting outside for them for a sometime. Mathew looked at Harry and asked. "What is the delay for?"

"Nothing, we were building an earthen wall as an extra defence." Harry said casually. No one doubted him and Harry along with another thirty members including Mathew started moving together. They were the attack team of the team and the scouts' team and ambush teams already left. There are only twenty people left at the Cave. Even though many objected that twenty is very few and are not enough, Harry didn't listen and just kept them here and another twenty people are left at the edge of the open field and remaining people are scouts and ambush squad.

Harry didn't mention the sphere at all to the others. Because he has another motive. The points for merging the sphere are fifty, which exceeds another people by large number if he did it. He didn't really trust his team members that they would let him do it that is why he took the sphere along with him. If his team members know, they wouldn't agree as it is dangerous to take it outside and it would help the senior team if they knew. But the senior team knowing is quite impossible. Or so he thought.