Phases.

Aurora had met trainee heroes who came in under a recognized official hero or organization and worked for them, earning a salary and learning in the process, but they were all sophomores and juniors.

For that reason, she could not deny that she was surprised by the school activities of the freshmen; however, she was also interested.

After all, the teachers' tests would allow her to better evaluate the students.

"It will be an interesting event." Clémentine commented with a slightly excited expression.

Noticing Aurora and Alice looking at her, Clémentine smiled and murmured. "I'm actually quite bored with the academy... It's true that we learn a lot of subjects, but in the end I'd like to go out and help."

"Have you worked before?" Aurora asked as she noticed the peculiar tone in Clémentine's voice.

One that seemed excited but at the same time mixed with some personal experience.

Clémentine nodded and explained. "I've participated in a few dungeon cleans along with some adventurer guilds that have a friendship with my father."

"Oh, that's surprising." Alice commented, honestly impressed.

It wasn't typical for young people under the age of eighteen to go out fighting, the main reason being that adults preferred them to learn and improve slowly, but the other reason was that there was no need to.

Some strong adults could handle those dangerous tasks without the need to involve the youngsters.

That Clémentine had participated in actual combat before was undoubtedly impressive; after all, she was only eighteen and a year earlier, she was considered a minor in many countries.

"It's nothing, the truth is that the adventurers always helped and protected me." Clémentine said with a humble smile, and after noticing that there was quite a bit left to get to combat class, her eyes sparkled.

"Alice, I heard you were a mercenary, how long have you been working at it?" Clémentine asked with a look full of enthusiasm and excitement.

It was clear to Aurora that Clémentine was one of those 'fans' of Alice's that were popping up so much at the academy.

"I don't know." Said Alice eating her chips and not caring about Clémentine's excited look, she explained. "But with the group we've been working for a few years. Especially in Zerzura City in Africa where we have our headquarters."

Clémentine's eyes sparkled at hearing that.

While she had only participated as an essential member in the guild and had faced some enemies, that was far from a real situation... Clémentine knew that she had been being protected by the other adventurers.

Before asking any more questions, the group arrived at the training room, where they always met to practice.

Even though they had arrived early, Professor Miller was present, so they all approached, paying attention to him.

After all the students arrived and it was time for class, Professor Miller looked at the students.

"With Director Vincent's agreement, I have managed to change this year's syllabus to one that is more suitable for you." Professor Miller said with a slightly sly smile, and seeing some nodding and others looking distracted, he explained. "Over the past few weeks we have been training quite hard. Some have improved and some have found their own styles, but we have all made slight progress."

"However in this year we have B-Rank students and many capable C-Rank students who with enough encouragement could improve, it is for that reason that instead of devoting ourselves solely to training we will go further."

With those words, Professor Miller looked at the proud students and stated. "First of all you will face summoned creatures. Director Vincent has already decided to bring in some summoning mages to handle the task of summoning. Let me warn you the summoned creatures will be those that are strong against your weaknesses, so your first task is to improve by focusing on covering your deficiencies."

The students nodded without feeling so concerned.

Fighting a summoned creature could be terrifying, but it was normal for heroes to face more terrifying monsters and mainly for many, it was a chance to show how much they had improved.

Professor Miller had spent a good bit of time to help them cover their weaknesses, and for those who were just starting out, he helped them create their own balanced fighting style.

"Next will be practice. This phase consists of going into a dungeon and clearing it with your group. The professors will be watching to help you in case of an emergency, but that will be a real situation and one in which you will have to act with caution, as no one can know what will happen inside the dungeon." Professor Miller explained.

There were two types of dungeons that were most common.

The natural dungeons appeared due to the high density of magical energy that gathered in one spot and kept attracting that same energy from the environment allowing monsters to be born inside and not in the surroundings.

Of course, if these dungeons were not thoroughly cleaned out, they could continue to grow and at some point 'overflow', leading to the ruin of the surroundings due to the monsters coming out of that place.

This type of dungeon could not be eliminated entirely, and usually, the guilds, mercenaries or the state itself had to take care of the periodic cleaning.

Then there were the 'temporary' dungeons, which were created when magical energy leaked through the dimensional barrier in large quantities.

Usually, this large amount of energy would not cause a dungeon to emerge, but rather a large number of creatures, but in this case, the Goddess of Order helped humanity by creating temporary dungeons to imprison these monsters until humankind got rid of them.

Usually, these types of dungeons had top priority because if they were left free for too long, they would overflow, and the creatures would come out.

However, both dungeons were dangerous.

"As for the dungeon you guys will be taking over, it will have to be seen in due time." Professor Miller said, and looking at his students, he stated. "This phase has two stages."

"The first focuses on clearing the dungeon in groups formed by yourselves and in the second stage your groups will be formed randomly. You need not worry if your groups will be unbalanced I will see to it that in that regard there will be no problems."

Aurora nodded at those words.

In the first stage, group coordination and trust would be evaluated by focusing on the cooperation and division of labor that everyone had to do to form a balanced and efficient group.

The second stage would test what they had learned in the first stage, focusing mainly on leadership, cooperation and coordination between 'strangers'.

It was common to enter a temporary dungeon or an overflow, and the heroes, mercenaries, or adventurers had to fight together in order to achieve victory.

Among them, many did not know each other but had the experience to coordinate with other groups.

Learning to coordinate with strangers was something that all skill users had to learn in due time.

"As for actual practice..." Professor Miller smiled slightly and reported. "You students will either have to join an adventurer's guild, be under an official hero, or join a mercenary group."

Excitement erupted among the students.

They all wanted to be under famous heroes or join powerful adventurer guilds and even fight with experienced mercenaries.

Each profession was different.

Adventurers were in charge of clearing dungeons systematically, focusing on the profits they could gather.

Many people became adventurers because the powerful adventurers' guilds had strong individuals as leaders, but mainly because the guilds provided as much help as possible to their members with the sole aim of improving their overall strength.

On the other hand, Heroes worked for governments, charitable and international agencies or organizations, taking missions in different countries or in places where the guilds had no jurisdiction.

It was not that they took missions that no one wanted or that their pay was inferior.

Their pay was also high, and their status was also high; it's just that these individuals were known to help everywhere.

Finally, mercenaries were a group of individuals known for their skills and expertise; unlike the adventurer's guilds and heroes, mercenaries were independent.

They were regulated by the mercenary guild, an international organization, but mercenaries had no obligation to any country or organization.

Mercenaries were known to accept missions for money to take on monsters of all kinds... Whether it was a terrifying beast or the most despicable and psychopathic criminal.

Of course, all as long as it was under international laws and regulations.

That was the reason for the excitement.

They had all entered the academy to become heroes, but it wasn't wrong to learn how they were regulated and how mercenaries and adventurers acted.

"Please note that the available adventurer guilds, heroes and mercenary groups will be previously chosen by Director Vincent. You need not worry, as there will be variety among them, but mostly they will all be reliable." Professor Miller stated with a serious tone.

There were major adventurer guilds with rumours of corruption about them; there were also heroes who in person were utterly different from what they revealed in public and not to mention mercenary groups.

There were mercenary groups that secretly accepted missions of all kinds and, in extreme cases, missions that violated laws.

That was the reason why only those most suitable for the education of future heroes had been selected.

******

Aurora struck quickly and precisely.

Her movements were agile to the point that the dummy facing her could not react and just take all the blows.

Her fists were reinforced with magical energy and gave her a strength that could knock the dummy down if she wished, but Aurora controlled her strength with precision.

Punching and dodging, without the dummy being able to touch her.

In the end, the dummy fell to the ground due to the cumulative damage produced by Aurora.

No matter how much she controlled her strength and how strong she was, the dummy would eventually take damage.

"She's good..."

"Yeah pretty good. But I don't understand why she left her group in the test?"

"It must be out of fear. You know some people don't have the ability to deal with difficult situations."

Aurora ignored the murmurings of the students watching her from afar and turned to look at Professor Miller.

"How did it go?" Aurora asked, slightly interested.

She didn't try to manifest her combat aura because she always fared horribly, but she demonstrated skills of a B-Rank, experienced and skilled.

"Very well done." Professor Miller said, nodding slightly without too much enthusiasm.

Aurora didn't mind the Professor's look; approval was all she needed.

As it was necessary to face summoned creatures, Professor Miller set a standard to what everyone had to reach, and those who didn't fit into that standard should train harder and stay for support classes.

That was the reason Aurora struggled to demonstrate her skills... She wasn't interested in the support classes.

"Have you thought about changing your style?" Professor Miller asked suddenly.

"No." Aurora stated immediately.

He had recommended her to change her style; even though she was a skilled B-Rank, Aurora had been wondering the reason for his insistence.

It wasn't jealousy, competitiveness, eliminating a capable student or that he was a terrible teacher, Aurora was sure of it, but she couldn't understand his intention.

"Did you at least sign up for the wrestling class?" Professor Miller asked with a slight frown.

"Well..." Aurora muttered hesitantly.

Truth be told, she didn't have time to take another class... And she's not very interested in them.

Not that she belittled the wrestling teacher, that teacher was very skilled and capable, but Aurora was on vacation... That and she was lazy.

In her defence, she was training hard for her teacher to invite her acquaintance.

"No." Aurora replied as softly as she could.

Professor Miller just nodded indifferently and left to help other students, but Aurora could see the negative look he was giving her before he left.

He recommended she change her style, but Aurora rejected him and then when he advised her to enter a specialization class for fighters, she also rejected him.

Aurora seemed like a stubborn student who did not want to improve.

That's why she couldn't blame Professor Miller for the image he had of her.

"Good job." Alice said as she approached.

"Was I good?" Aurora asked with a smile.

Alice nodded and commented. "You didn't screw up this time."

Aurora's lips twitched; it was clear that Alice still thought that the last time she failed in front of everyone, she did it on purpose.

"So you want to join my group?"

At that moment, Clémentine walked up and asked that question in front of everyone.

Some people regretted it as she hadn't approached quickly, and others looked with enmity at Clémentine, who had 'stolen' an A-Rank... Even when she still hadn't answered.

Aurora's lips quivered as, on the academy's app, the video of Alice at the test had tens of thousands of views and comments.

The students were still amazed by her skills and were eager to see her perform.

Alice nonchalantly looked at Aurora, and when the latter nodded, she replied. "Sure."

Clémentine smiled rather happily at her 'capture', but...

"I expect you to give me several bags of chips." Alice declared with a solemn expression.

It was clear that this was her price... No doubt she was a mercenary, albeit an out-of-the-ordinary one.

Aurora looked at the large building in front of her.

It was a fairly tall building with a novel architectural design.

"Is this the place?" Alice asked, eating her chips.

Aurora watched the words carved into the centre of the building.

Taranis Company.

One of the tallest buildings in the city of Atlantis was the headquarters of the multinational company Taranis, which produced and designed all kinds of weapons of war.

Focused on technological advancement, together with the help of mechanics and other important technological development companies, the Taranis Company became one of the most important companies today.

"Is Leslie's last name Haillet?" Alice asked curiously.

"Yes, I think it is," Aurora replied after remembering a little.

"The owner of the Taranis company has the name Haillet." Alice declared, and then they both looked at the company again.

Since they were in a group, they had decided to meet outside of school hours to practice together, and Leslie had mentioned that she had a 'decent place to train, so they had agreed to meet here... And it ended up being the headquarters of a big company.

They were surprised, but they weren't acting shy about coming in; their main reason was...

"Where are we going to train?" Alice asked, eating some chips slowly.

Workers were constantly coming and going in the building; it seemed the whole place was focused on office work.

It was hard to imagine that in a place like this, there would be a training place.

"I guess in the basement," Aurora commented at random.

That was the first place that came to mind for a training place.

They both kept looking, and it didn't take him long to notice that Clémentine was walking up to Nicole.

"Sorry, I'm late," Clémentine said after greeting the duo.

"It was my fault. I'm new in the city, and I don't know the place very well." Nicole commented with a shy, slightly embarrassed smile.

"It doesn't matter that we just arrived," Aurora replied without being upset since they had been waiting for them.

Clémentine and Nicole nodded gratefully, then the four of them entered the building.

"Leslie was fixing up the room, she said she'd send someone," Clémentine reported, and as she had pointed out when a secretary came in, she stepped forward.

After a cordial greeting, the secretary led them to the elevator, and when they entered, there was no need to press a button as it began to descend.

Aurora could see that Nicole was nervous, perhaps because she realized what kind of companion she had.

Entering an impressive building, being greeted by a secretary, and then entering the elevator and descending several floors lower than a 'typical' basement was beyond what the average person would expect.

Of course, the fact that Alice kept eating her chips as if she didn't care that the elevator kept going down made Nicole feel better.

After descending what appeared to be several floors, the door opened, and Leslie was out front waiting.

"I'm sorry I didn't come to meet you!" Leslie exclaimed in a high-pitched apology.

"It doesn't matter." Said Clémentine, and looking around the training room, she commented. "It seems you were busy."

Just as Clémentine had said, Leslie had been busy.

This place was a relatively tall and large training room, much like the academy's training room, but it was more crowded here.

Dummies of all kinds were set up on one side; some seemed capable of casting spells and others performing psionic attacks.

Some used different weapons, and among them were some large dummies which seemed to be able to withstand the blows.

"Is it all right to train here?" asked Nicole shyly.

Anyone who saw it would realize that this training room was too expensive.

Just looking at the dummies that seemed capable of casting strong spells left the value of every part of this place.

"Sure, sure, that's why I've been preparing it," Leslie responded with an emotional tone that was very different from her typical performance; she touched a few buttons on her holographic watch, and the surroundings began to change.

The floor became green, and the ceiling became a boundless sky; some trees began to appear while the dummies started to take human forms as if they were thugs and others took the form of beasts.

A small green and lush plain were revealed to all.

"This is the latest technology the company has designed. An immersive training room!" Leslie said excitedly, and using her holographic watch, she explained. "It uses space magic to extend the area, and hologram technology to change the appearance of things, the rest is created from shape-shifting material and other technological and magical devices."

When she finished her words, the green environment disappeared, but she left the trees and the small plain in sight, only this time it wasn't green, it was a greyish colour.

"Do you like it?" Leslie asked with an expectant tone.

"Yes, quite nice... And quite realistic." Alice replied without leaving her bag of chips.

A smile appeared on Leslie's face, and then she coughed to signal to the table next to the elevator.

"I also brought what you asked for..." Leslie pointed, and Clémentine nodded her thumb up.

This time it was Alice who smiled like a hungry predator who had been on a diet for years.

Aurora felt her friend was being overindulged... But she couldn't say anything since she also liked to eat.

******

"To the right!" Clémentine shouted, and Nicole moved.

Reinforcing her body with magical energy, she hit a wolf jumping out of the bushes on the right side.

Despite the wolf's ferocious appearance, Nicole was able to maintain her nervousness and land her blow without losing strength.

"GRhhh..."

The wolf growled weakly when he was defeated by Nicole's blow, and she sighed in relief but happy to see that her move had not failed.

"Don't get distracted in combat."

Alice's voice rang out on her back, and before she could react, another wolf suddenly attacked Nicole.

That wolf jumped from Nicole's blind spot trying to attack her with his claws, but before he could move, a black arm caught him by his tail and then threw him into a tree.

The blow broke the holographic effects and destroyed the material the wolf had been created with.

*Bang*

*Bang*

From the front of the group, there were shots and animal grunts.

Leslie was firing a gun that glowed with a faint golden light.

Her shots were accurate and fast, but the wolves were smaller than Nicole faced and larger in number.

Each time she finished her load, Leslie reloaded nimbly and fired again.

"Grrr..."

When a wolf approached and sacrificed his partner in the process, Leslie did not panic and reloaded his gun.

Before the wolf could touch it, the combat armour Leslie was wearing glowed, and an electric shock was fired at the wolf, paralyzing him completely.

*Bang*

Then Leslie shot him in the head and immediately looked at the other wolves that were starting to surround her.

"Coming!" cried Aurora and fell on another wolf knocking him down completely.

Her entire body was reinforced with magical energy making her extremely heavy and powerful.

Still, she maintained her speed and began to attack the approaching wolves.

Her fighting style was not only focused on fists like some fighters who were boxers, but it was a fast style that used her legs and feet to knock down her enemies.

Sometimes she used the ground in her favour to dodge or defeat her enemies; other times, she used the same wolves; it was a varied and undefined style.

Her opponents were many, but all of them would be classified as C-Rank creatures, which made them relatively weak for a B-Rank like her.

Unfortunately, it was a large number of weak wolves that were carrying her group, and Aurora was only a fighter.

"I'm going to start!" Clémentine shouted, and Aurora immediately retreated.

Clémentine, who was in the centre of the group, opened her arms and felt her surroundings.

The 'branches' began to creak, and the earth began to move at her will, transforming itself into sharp arrows.

Her ability to control objects was exceptional, and she demonstrated it.

When all the arrows were shot, they hit most of the wolves that were surrounding the group.

Some were able to flee, but Clémentine's arrows were in pursuit of them when she detected their presence.

That was one of her skills that she had developed on her own.

When it was all over, Clémentine began to breathe heavily.

"This is amazing!" Clémentine exclaimed in an emotional tone, and when she calmed down, she said. "I felt I could control the trees, the land, and the surroundings at will as if everything were real."

The surroundings began to lose their green hue, and when the grey trees came into view, they fell to the ground and returned to a flat training room.

The same thing happened with the wolves.

Leslie just laughed merrily at Clémentine's exclamation.

"I'll ask my father to buy me one of these rooms," Clémentine commented with emotion, and looking around, she murmured. "I have the model of the academy, but this is a great evolution from the previous one."

"Yes, my father wanted to offer it to the academy by the time the tournament starts at the end of the year... He says it will make it popular." Said Leslie nodding excitedly.

Hearing that conversation, Alice looked at Aurora with an expectant look, but... Aurora completely ignored her.

Alice was already spending too much money on her meals; adding a training room she would never use was not on the priority list.

Seeing that she was rejected, Alice put her head down and went to the table of chips and other snacks as if she wanted to drown her 'sorrows' in food.

"I think that was a very good workout," Clémentine commented by wiping her sweat.

Aurora and the others nodded.

They had started out having some teamwork problems, but these were covered up by other teammates.

Usually, Alice was the one to protect the whole group and act as a support; that was because she was too strong, and the group didn't want to depend on her entirely.

With Professor Miller's training, Nicole was able to overcome the difficulty of getting too nervous when fighting, but she still had some problems when the nervousness accumulated in long-lasting battles.

This made her drop her guard when she defeated an opponent.

Leslie was a skilled mechanic and attacked with rapid-fire weapons enhanced by her skill, and in case of danger, her armour could attack or defend her.

She had also had experience like Clémentine, so she didn't make as many mistakes, and they coordinated well.

As for Aurora did her best to help with her skills, supporting and covering the others.

This was the seventh training session today, and the group had synchronized with each other thanks to their personal experience.

—As one would expect from the Heroes' Academy, each one of them is an exceptional student.

Aurora couldn't help but agree with the words of her system.

The students at the Heroes' Academy not only learned fast, but they also improved fast.

The complicated registration process that only allowed capable and skilled students to enter made it possible for all of them to be individuals with an excellent capacity for improvement.

There was only one Heroes' Academy in the whole world, but in the period of adolescence where students would meet in high school before the 'Great Cataclysm', they were now within different academies that could train their skills.

In this world, there were all kinds of academics, whether they were mages, psionics, swordsmen, or fighters, who helped their students improve and taught them what they needed for their regular education.

There were even academies specialized in one type of magic or one type of sword style among them.

The Heroes' Academy supported capable individuals who came out of these academies with scholarships and allowed them to enter the Heroes' Academy after passing the regulations of the academies.

Even public school students could enter the hero academy if they tried hard enough.

That was why it was customary to meet individuals who were making rapid progress.

The dedication and hard training was something Aurora had been impressed to see in the students.

"I'm going to go rest for a moment," Nicole muttered, and Leslie followed just as exhausted.

They both entered a door that led to a relaxation room, whose pleasant armchairs healed the 'soul'.

Aurora only drank a cool drink as she watched Alice eat her chips and bathe them in all available sauces.

There was no doubt that Leslie had made an effort to bring all kinds of food and sauces, indeed knowing Alice's gluttony that everyone at the academy already knew.

Alice was the only one who hardly moved at all because it was unnecessary to do so... either because of her strength or because there weren't so many mistakes.

"An impressive performance," Clémentine said to Aurora, and when she looked at her, she explained herself. "No one would think the student known for running away and hiding in a closet was so skilful and so fearless."

Aurora smiled slightly, and wanting to change the subject, she asked. "Why did you invite me? I thought that after I left the group you would have a little resentment towards me."

She had changed the subject because it was her mistake to give up that illusion to hide, ruining her own image... But she was still curious about Clémentine, who had invited her to join her group.

"It was simple... Because even if you 'blocked' yourself again and couldn't react, you wouldn't affect the group." Clémentine said sincerely, and looking at Alice, who was still eating, she whispered without hesitation. "Even I wonder if I'm necessary for the group."

Aurora didn't know how to respond.