The Squad

Finding that Alex was waving at them with a big smile on his face and unharmed, the squad was stunned and took an abrupt stop. It made him more certain that these four were expecting him to be dead, however, he was pretty much alive and well.

If not for their helmets, their soured expressions would definitely show.

Shaking his head, the one at the center snapped out of his trance earlier than the others.

"Hail the cosmos! I thought you'd slipped into the void, Xander!"

With a deft press of the button on the helmet's side, the face shield ascended, revealing a man with light brown eyes smiling confidently. Malik, exuded a charismatic aura as the squad's leader advanced briskly through the thick snow followed by the others.

"How did you survive that beast? I don't know you had it in you like that"

"I somehow managed to escape from it, but I burned through the plasma pistol rounds"

Alex decided to play the same fool in the squad.

Despite having connected to the Null Star already and possessing mana, he still couldn't fare against Malik and the others, it would be bad to get on their bad side now without the strength to back it up.

'Until I'm able to use the Aura spell, I need to act like this'

Listening to this, Malik laughs vibrantly and taps him on the shoulder, "No worries, it's fine"

But the more Alex looks at Malik, the more annoyed he gets.

Malik's adept concealment of his inner emotions irked Alex, prompting a disdainful click of his tongue. This was the very person who had directly led to Xander's demise. 'What a cunning snake, he didn't even show remorse for using me as bait by abandoning me who couldn't keep up with them with all the things I was carrying to divert the Type-1 beast's attention'

Just then, a man with a small frame on the right, Casper stepped forward meekly.

Surprisingly, he bowed his head a little apologetically.

"I'm sorry for abandoning you back there, Xander..."

"What are you saying? It's only a joke, I'm sure he's strong enough to deal with the beast"

Despite the fact that leaving him behind to be prey to the beast might cost him his life, Malik played it off as a joke and even had the audacity to add a sprinkle of manipulative comments on top, putting Casper on the spot.

"Aren't you going too far, Malik? I think he could've died there"

"But he didn't. Leave the past in the past. In the end, he's fine"

Malik then glanced back at the other two, seeking support from them which he received. Both of them backed him up and said that it was a harmless joke. It appeared that playing with someone's life is nothing but a jest for them.

On the other hand, Alex was eyeing Casper and nodded inwardly, 'This one is not that bad...'

"Don't worry, Casper. I'm fine" Alex said with a light smile.

Upon hearing Alex was agreeing with him, Malik'smile blooms even wider in response.

Casper was not expecting Alex to say that, however, he decided to nod his head knowing that there was no use in pursuing the matter, "If you're fine with it, Xander, then okay..." he replied which put an end to this problem.

A moment later, the five entered the forest and found a place to camp.

It was a deep crevice between small and flat hill formations that had higher ground and a vast open view which would help them to defend themselves and keep a lookout if there were any life forms approaching them from the forest.

Following the squad as a carrier, Alex learned something from their conversations.

Aside from the regular banter between them, Malik and the others talked about scouting the area tomorrow to map their surroundings and learn the terrain before started hunting for beasts since this was still the first day of the trial.

Doing this not only for food and finishing the assigned task but also for academy credits.

Seems like the environmental suit could detect when they killed a beast.

'Now that I think about it, I think I gained 10 points from killing the beast from earlier'

Due to being stunned earlier, he forgot about that.

However, it became evident that the trial wasn't solely designed by the academy to evaluate the aspirants' survival abilities. It also served as an opportunity for the aspirants to accumulate academy credits.

These credits could later be exchanged for a myriad of valuable rewards and resources.

Naturally, Alex was drawn to this as he could be certain that he could buy energy sources through the academy credits. 'I better master the Aura spell as soon as possible, getting rid of these bastards is the first priority right now'

A heartbeat later, the once aureate sky had transformed into an expanse of darkness.

In contrast to the typical night, the darkness on this planet was intensified due to the moon being quite far away, casting an even deeper shroud. The chill of the night air was also influenced, permeating through the protective layers of the environmental suit.

Moreover, the eeriness of nighttime was amplified by the howling sound of beasts.

Casper and Alex take the first shift of the night watch.

Sitting on a cold rock, Alex is channeling his replenished mana throughout his entire body, practicing to cast the Aura spell, a battle spell that would increase a mage's overall physical strength.

Neutral spells were abandoned when mages reached a certain point of power.

But the Aura spell prevails the longest.

It prevailed compared to the other neutral spells because of its simplicity and also the fact that it led to a stronger spell, Battle Aura, and eventually, Zenith Aura which provided an even greater effect and was relatively easy to master.

'Then again, I don't have an affinity, so neutral spells are all I can do' Alex pondered.

However, this is not an entirely bad thing.

Alex is now within the sprawling dominion of the Hyperion Empire, a galaxy that lies entirely under their sway. Here, the deployment of any spells would not go unnoticed, and certainly will not go unpunished.

Vigilant advanced vassals have sophisticated detection, leading to a relentless pursuit.

But that only applies to elemental spells.

Neutral spells harness the very essence of the Null star, a state of formless mana untouched by universal elements. Their unique quality lies in their elusiveness, able to avoid detection by the Hyperion Empire's surveillance systems.

This is why spies and agents under the Adudal Principality only use neutral spells.

Due to that, Alex will be undetected as long as he remains a neutral spell user.

'I don't know whether the element provided by the Nanomancy will differ from the regular elemental spells, I need to test it later' Alex thought while still circulating his mana in training.

While he was doing this, Casper stole a couple of glances at him.

Standing up from his spot, he then musters the courage to approach Alex from the side.

"Hey, Xander. Can I sit beside you...?"

"Hmm? Oh, there's no need for you to ask permission, go ahead"

Casper smiled in return before he sat down on the rock, gazing onward into the darkness.

None of them wears a helmet as there's a device generating a barrier that provides a sterile atmosphere for them to breathe easily while they are sleeping, and the same goes for Casper who has his face exposed.

Upon closer inspection, he looks to be very young with curly brown hair.

In addition, his gentle and unassuming smile lent him a youthful appearance, perhaps it was also the reason behind others thought that he was a pushover. "Do you have something to say to me, Casper?"

"Ah- Am I being too obvious?" Capsed replied, scratching the back of his head. "Yes..."

Pausing for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to articulate the words swirling in his mind to Alex, he inhaled deeply, finally deciding to just go for it. "Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to belittle you, but... I'm genuinely grateful that their bullying attention shifted toward you. Otherwise, it would've been me and I might not survived"

Listening to this confession, Alex was quite surprised.

"If it were me that was chased by that beast, I wouldn't survive like you" He added.

Alex offered a faint smile and shook his head, grappling with a mix of emotions. Casper's unexpected gratitude for him taking on the role of the squad's bullied kid made him feel conflicted inside.

He doesn't know what he should feel right now.

"It's fine. Anyway, you don't have to worry. I'll take care of it" Alex replied.

Casper was confused, he felt that the latter words meant differently than he thought.

But the assuring smile on Alex's face made him decide to keep silent and not ask about it.

A couple of days passed in a frenzy.

No beasts have crossed them in the last few days, and Malik has been instructing them to separate into different directions in order to map the terrain. It's better to prepare backup plans first before starting their hunt.

"Casper, massage my legs. I'm fucking tired" Malik commanded overbearingly.

In return, Casper could only smile and do as he was told obediently, clearly afraid of Malik.

Enjoying the relaxing moment, Malik's eyes then shifted to the side, at Alex who was minding his own business in silence. "Xander, go and map the south" Malik instructed with an irrefutable tone, pointing to a direction.

Upon hearing this, the other squad members laughed in hubris.

"Are you serious, Malik? It's like you're telling him to die to go to the southern part"

"But it's Xander, he'll obey like a dog. Just watch!"

"Hey, hey... We still need to map the southern part, and he's expandable. So it's only natural"

Alex was in charge of mapping the south from the hill formations alone.

Clearly, the south part was the more dangerous spot judging from how Malik and the others were acting. However, he didn't complain even once, solidifying his meek persona. 'I'll play along with these fuckers, it will only make the payback sweeter'

On top of that, he was also tasked to grab purified water for the squad like a servant.

Despite being told to come back when the sun is about to go down, he has been coming back late to train in solitude, and now he was almost accustomed to the Aura spell which would be his first breakthrough.

Brak!

Clenching his fist tightly, he launches his fist to punch a nearby tree.

His punch was able to scrape a good portion of the tree trunk easily, showing his increased strength, 'A little bit more and I would've mastered the spell, then I could get rid of these annoying people as payback. But how should I do that...? I can't kill them directly since the suit will detect it'

Traveling onward, he continues mapping the southern part using his navigation device.

But it was then that Alex felt a warm sensation on his wrist.

Gazing down at his wrist he finds that the warm sensation comes from the energy bars, and it fluctuates when he moves his arm. 'Did it detect something...? Maybe an energy source that I could absorb?'

Finding a handy feature, he decided to follow where the warm sensation led him.

It didn't take long before he arrived on a glade.

Judging from the torn and devastated forest canopies in this area, it became evident that this place was no natural glade. However, Alex's eyes lit up with exhilaration as he spotted a wrecked battleship at the heart of it all.

He couldn't contain his smile upon seeing this, 'Looks like I'm right, an energy source...'