Teaming Up

[Transporting...]

A bright light engulfed the entire participants and the environment changed as they were transported from the exam centre, the original location they initially were to a whole new location.

They found themselves standing within a huge enclosed space with five holes corresponding to the space's size in front of them. If one had to guess, they were transported into a cave. Now there were five paths and a total of 700 participants within the cave.

"What are we going to do now?" Selena asked, they were sent in without any instructions or any notice of what they were to do in order to complete the first stage.

"Well there's not much I can say, but one things for sure given what we are presented with. This is a teamwork charade." Rai replied her as he stared at all the nobles who murmured, they were very much as confused as Selena on the next step to take.

"Five holes, multiple different choices of who to follow." The man from earlier approached Selena and Rai once again. His persistent was a bit tad annoying to Rai but given the situation he decided to cooperate with him just this once.

"If it was that easy then it wouldn't be much of an exam now will it." Rai responded, crafting a smile on the man's face.

The murmurs got louder as time passed, no one had moved since they all got here.

"That's enough!" A thunderous voice echoed through the walls of the large cave, a woman donned in a cropped top armor breastplate and trousers which had armor on it stepped forward. Her hair was white and silky, her brown eyes representing her fiery gaze.

"Listen up!" Her thunderous voice echoed through the walls of the cave once again.

"Wait... isn't that.." A murmur arose from within the crowd.

"Yeah.... that's the crowned princess of the Ronowa empire, Princess Abigail." Another voice added to the continuous murmur.

Princess Abigail was the second born child of King Julius and unlike his other daughters, she was one of a kind. On a standard basis, a princess was never allowed to partake in the Essenmages exams or any other affairs which involved combat and risks of losing one's life. But in the case of Abigail it was entirely different, she was regarded as "Slayer of paradoxes or Paradox Slayer in simpler terms". During her younger days when she was around the age range of 12-13 years old, she engaged in combat training with lower ranked Essenknights all over the kingdom and eventually she managed to defeat them all. She requested for Essenknights of an even higher rank but out of shock and concern, her father declined her request.

Driven by the hunger and thirst for battle and strength, she left the kingdom and ventured into the wild where no protection from her father could reach her and from time to time she came across a horde of Paradoxes.

After six blissful years had passed she returned to the kingdom, her essence had grown and transcended beyond anything the kingdom or any other kingdoms have ever seen. After watching her purge a whole bunch of paradoxes she was branded as "A beast that surpasses human understanding." Realizing how useful she could be to the kingdom's forces, she was asked by her father to partake in the Essenmages exams.

"We are going to split up into a team of five and each team will travel down a path. There's no telling what we will encounter down the line but as Ford beautifully said, you wouldn't be here if you weren't willing to risk your life to fight. Within those five groups will be a fearless team leader who will lead the team, do not attempt to go for such a role if you don't possess the necessary willpower. I will be the leader of team A." Abigail proclaimed, as swiftly as she spoke she began searching for her own teammates.

Given that the total number of participants was 700 and they were to split up into teams of five, that meant the maximum number of participants in a team was estimated to 140 participants.

Abigail approached the three individuals, Rai, Selena and the man who spoke to them. "I choose you." She said referring to the man.

The man sighed with relief, being selected to be on Princess Abigail's team was more than enough assurance that his survival was ensured.

Abigail stared at Rai and Selena from head to toe, after a few moments of observing them she scoffed and turned her head the other way. "I can barely sense any essence within you two, you will be nothing more than a burden and a useless contribution to my team." Abigail couldn't care less if they were nobles, royalty or a commoner. All she cared about was if their essence level was high.

She walked away in search of her final 20 members. Asides Abigail, the rest of the team leaders she appointed to lead team B,C,D and E were nobles and they completely detested the idea of a commoner joining their team. The team leaders of team B,D and E passed and completely ignored the two commoners not even daring to glance at them. This teams had already chosen their 140 members and moved into their respective holes.

However when all hope seemed lost, the team leader of team C approached the commoners being Rai and Selena. "Why don't you join us?" He requested with a smile on his face.

"Really!?" Selena exclaimed, she had already began losing hope that they'll be abandoned.

"Yes, it appears we cannot pass through unless we were up to 140 or more. So not just for our sake but for yours as well, join us." He requested once more.

"Yes!" Selena agreed almost immediately and moved towards team C.

"So it wasn't because they wanted to that they chose us, its because they had no choice but to choose us huh?" Rai pondered on this very thought as he sighed moving along with team C into the last and final hole.

As the last member of team C came out from the last hole, it closed up instantly and darkness quickly engulfed them.

"What's happening!?" They began yelling as they had no idea what was going. Three large red eyes appeared high above them and a loud gnarling sound echoed throughout the dark space.

"What the hell is that thing!?" A member of team C exclaimed.