Chapter 5: Group Formation

Cedric slowly lowered himself to a half bow before talking.

"Hello! I was wondering if you were interested in joining our group for this class." he beamed a smile.

Surprising me, his words were direct and sharp, not wasting any time with formalities or introductions.

The boy stood up from his chair before giving a nod. "I'm Leon, pleasure to meet you and about that invitation, may I ask why me?" His predatory gaze ate into poor Cedric, but he stood his ground and gracefully answered his question.

"I've heard that you were a talented protector with a personality befitting of the role. We've already assembled 2 members but are now looking for our third." He said matter of factly.

Leon's eyes fell on Cedric, inspecting his somewhat toned figure before flicking to me. He was examining me like a lab rat, but I persevered as I knew I couldn't act rashly.

He took a moment to think of his answer. "I'm sorry to inform you, but I'm not entirely keen on this, maybe give me some time to think about it?"

My eyes glared at him and studied his appearance. He had a large, tall figure, much like the kid from the Practical Magic Class, but his muscles were smaller and more compact. His legs were tree trunks, yet looked nimble at the same time. His long thread-like hair was neatly tucked behind his ears and gave the appearance of a lion's mane, fitting his name perfectly. To top it off, his ruby coloured eyes hung like two spheres of burning light.

Even from a glance, I could tell he was calculating and observant, cold but also caring at the same time. His character was full of contrasts, even so, his personality seemed trustworthy and chivalrous, for once in my life I felt like I could happily leave my life in his hands.

This was not someone you would stumble by every day.

Before I could make my move, Cedric held an arm in front of me. He glanced at me to say he had an idea.

"How about a wager? I think that my friend Valen here can beat you in a duel in under thirty seconds. If he wins, you have to join our team." He asked, pointing to me.

Leon took a step forward, seemingly interested in this. "What's in it for me?"

Cedric looked at me hesitantly before winking at me and mouthing a sorry. "Valen is from high house Cynrad, I wonder if the Grayliff family would be pleased to hear that their second son has made the Cynrad firstborn his slave?" He pondered, scratching his chin.

Cedric you filth.

Clenching my fists, I felt the irresistible urge to give Cedric what he deserved, but I also knew that this might be the only way.

I mean, if I couldn't defeat this guy in under thirty seconds what have I been doing with my life?

Still, my ego shouted at me to pull out.

"Cyndrad house?" Leon asked whilst looking at me like I was some golden egg-laying chicken.

I swear I could see him lick his lips.

"How about it then?" Cedric smirked, knowing that Leon had taken the bait.

Jeez, Cedric is becoming as devious as me! I knew acting as cool as I am would eventually brush off on my friend, but this was too soon.

"I accept," he grinned. "But does your fiend Valen consent to this?"

I Reluctantly nodded and followed Leon to the open area that looked like a battle testing arena where students cleared, knowing what was about to go down.

On the way to the duelling area, I noticed a boy with light blue hair and a devilish smile hand Leon a gold and silver longsword before sitting back on a chair nearby and proceeding to eat snacks.

Maybe I would have to use my own sword?

"Let's get this on with this. Weapons need to be dulled with mana and if you can force me to give in before thirty seconds, total victory goes to you." He grunted and started stretching but soon twirled his sword in the air and dug into the ground.

"Cedric, start the countdown from ten five seconds," I said while opening the palm of my hand and focussing all my mana into calling upon my sword.

Then, with a flick of light and slow buzz, a long but thin majestically shaped sword materialised into my hand. The action drew the attention of everyone present in the room as they all stared in awe and envy at the mighty weapon I now wielded.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could even see Alice rise from her seat in shock, unable to comprehend what I had just done. Shooting her a wink, I turned my attention towards the bulky, defined lion that stood in front of me. His face didn't even twitch and instead looked more eager.

"A-Alright then, I'll start the countdown." Cedric fumbled as he slowly began his count.

Seconds trickled by but both of us remained dead still, calculating the possible options and gauging the strength of the other.

With the flap of hand, Cedric started the match and Leon darted towards me, smoothing the ground with his earth affinity and sliding towards me in a striking position ready to release when he was in range.

Imbuing fire instilled mana into my sword, I let forth a fury of slashes from a distance with otherworldly speeds, forming ten consecutive arcs of fire that flew towards my enemy.

His jaw clenched and a rock shield sprouted out from his forehand. The arcs of fire were relentless as they bombarded his strong, but breakable shield as cracks emerged from the remains of the four air slashes that hit him.

Knowing that he couldn't match my aggressive power, he dug his sword into the ground and used to swing to the side, keeping his momentum and running at me with monstrous speeds.

Only seven seconds had passed, but we were about to engage in our first physical clash. He reached me in no time and flung his heavy sword towards my neck with frightening speed and accuracy, only giving me enough time to use his monstrous strength against him as I raised my blade upwards to redirect his strike.

With a shark clank, both swords struck in a battle of precision, not power as his sword flew towards the sky in an uncontrollable manner. Taking advantage of the opening, I pulled my sword down from its elevated position above my head to the side before bursting horizontally into the ribs of my opponent.

The blow caught him completely off guard as his instincts betrayed him by telling him to shield his head from the attack above, only to fall into a feint and leave him with no chance to parry the actual slash.

Leon spluttered and fumbled a little before regaining his fighting stance and putting some distance between us.

"Oho? You realise you can't win so you try and run away now?" I taunted, shaking my head.

A fit of laughter broke out from the quiet crowd as the blue-haired boy wiped his tears from his cheeks. "You tell him! He's a big wuss isn't he?".

"I'd like to see you get up here and fight him yourself!" Leon snarled as he turned to face me.

Ten seconds remained but that was all needed.

Channelling the mana to my fingers, I released a large and bright arrow of light that was the size of an arm before charging in behind it.

Leon, too busy trying to see past the blinding light, swung his rock reinforced sword at the fire, hoping to extinguish it quickly and trace where I was.

As soon as the fire dissipated against the slash, I slid under, barely missing the blade as I saw it flash past my eyes. Now in a position right under his large figure, I pressed my left hand to his chest and released a torrent of red flames that passed through him forcefully and escaped out his back. A burst of flames appeared and the force sent him flying towards the border walls in a crash that shook half the room.

The students burst out in a roar of entertainment and surprise, their emotions flurried by the spectacle they had just watched.

The blue-haired boy that was eating the snacks finally put them down and flung himself over the row of chairs that separated him from the field. His relaxed demeanour soothed the crowd as he sluggishly moved towards his friend with his hands in his pockets.

"You alive?" he asked dryly and averted his gaze from the hunched man leaning on the wall.

"Barely. No thanks to you Tyrus." Leon barked before picking himself off the ground using Tyrus's hand as leverage.

"Tyrus?" Cedric echoed before stepping forward and confirming his suspicions.

"Yeah, that's me! You want an autograph or something?" he said before receiving a hit on his head from Leon.

"Didn't actually mean that, I'm only joking y'know." Tyrus muttered before patting his head and whimpering like a wounded dog.

Walking over to Leon to check if he was ok, I could feel the presence of someone powerful watching over me. The hairs at the back of my neck stood up while my eyes rummaged through the crowd of observing students who were all bombarding me with questions like how I was able to get a materialising sword.

It's definitely not a student. Maybe a passing teacher?

The aura wasn't frighteningly so, but it had a refined intensity like it had been brewing over the last few years.

Ignoring this irregularity I released a hint of my own bloodthirsty aura before coming face to face with Tyrus.

"We were just about to look for you after recruiting Leon, mind joining our group as well? You're both friends so it makes sense if you stick together." I declared with a toothy smile and exerted even more of my presence.

"Uhhh yeah sure - but it doesn't seem like I've got much of a variety to choose from." He said stumbling backwards and waving his hands in a surrendering motion.

"So you're in? Welcome to the team!" Cedric pressured as he blocked the way of the fleeing Tyrus.

"Yes, he's in. It's the least he owes me for the number of times I've saved his scrawny ass." Leon muttered.

***

After assembling most of our Trial team, Cedric and I headed straight for our dorms since Tyrus and Leon still had to clean up the mess left in the room before heading back as well.

The dorms were located on the north side of the campus so it wasn't too far from our class, maybe a five minute walk give or take a few seconds.

The actual building was massive, much like everything else in this academy, and the walls had the same creamy tint. The only difference on the exterior was that there were three arched entrances, each large enough to allow a waggon stuffed goods to pass by.

Inside, it was much more decorated with plots of trees and streams going along the borders and dividing parts of the building. The reception room looked like a utopia as it was the perfect blend between architecture and nature. The ceiling was covered in green vines that hung down with yellow luminous tips that added to the otherworldly feel the room gave. Crossing over the pink bridge, we looked down at the fish splashing around in the aurora-like essence that streaked along the dazzling water.

After finally shaking our awestruck faces and encouraging our legs to move, we found ourselves meeting with the receptionist who was patiently waiting behind a marble table with vines and roots extending upwards and making a booth.

"Welcome. If this is your first time checking into your dorms, please tell us your name and give us a form of identification before we hand you the mana card that can be used to access the room." the receptionist's soft voice called out.

"Valen Cynrad." I croaked before handing her the student ID that I received along with my uniform.

"Is the person by you, your dorm mate?" she asked, grabbing two cards in case.

"Yes, I'm Cedric Yate. Do you need a form of identification as well?"

"No, that will be fine," she reassured, handing us the two cards that read room two hundred and five.

"C'mon Cedric, my legs are giving in already." I moaned to my oblivious friend who was admiring the design of the card.

"Sure, sure Mr. Athletic." He clicked his tongue and put his card into his side pocket.

As soon as we opened our door, we were greeted by a rather large room that had two floors, one slightly elevated than the other, and two king-sized beds on each floor.

Much like the reception room, beautiful vines trickled down the walls on the further side of the room and a small waterfall with a bathing pool was hidden around the left side on the first platform, only noticeable by the window like hole that was left on the wall beside the door leading there.

The room was very naturistic and the theme was most likely based on the luxury houses in the Elf's kingdom.

Another benefit of the alliance I thought. Since the formation, they practically shared everything they had, I'm guessing it included building designs.

Torches hung on the halls and burned a fiery, warm orange that lit up the dark room. The windows were shut, but it was nighttime anyway.

The whole room was open so privacy would be little a problem, but knowing the academy, our roommates would be male as well. Still, the question tugged at me. How would our roommates be? Friendly? Arrogant? A mix of both? Too much was left unknown to me and the thought of spending years in the same room as someone I could possibly dislike didn't sit well.

Regardless Cedric and I started unpacking and checking out our room before he pulled his equipment out of his interdimensional storage bracelet. In a blur of different objects and colours, all of his necessities such as clothes, personal belongings, and books came warping out and landed softly on the ground below.

Storage devices were a peculiar thing that some random challenger stumbled on during a Trial. It was believed to be an artifact and the unnamed challenger was compensated for finding it and a few years later, some genius scientist managed to duplicate it.

How exactly it worked was left unknown, but his invention changed the continent massively. Hemdor from high house Grate. His name was well known and fell among the greatest minds that Ephrais had cultivated.

A soft hum echoed around the entrance as we both turned to face whoever was walking in. We heard bickering outside before a loud thud and a string of curses.

The door burst open as two boys wrestled into the room. One was hanging off the back of the other, larger one whilst screaming profanities and flaying his legs.

The fighting continued until both boys fell on their backs in a crash that shook the room before they rolled over and stared at the ceiling on their backs.

"I swear my head is going to carve in if you keep hitting it like that." The smaller boy scowled while cradling his skull.

"Won't make a difference, you're brain dead anyway." The larger one grunted while breathing heavily.

"Uhh.." Cedric said hesitantly, drawing the attention of the two boys sprawled on their backs.

"Nice to see you Tyrus and Leon?"