It was another day of operations class.

“Today we will be talking about squad duels. Squad duels are very common, and the tactics used in the duels are commonly used on the real battlefield. Squad duels are generally set as a 5x5 battle. As hopefully some of you know, multiple wars have been fought and decided by squad duels. The famous duel of Carthage for example. Two small countries that had insignificant armies but a lot of money. They both felt they had a claim for a piece of land and had a squad battle to determine the rightful owner. There are many benefits to working in a team. Today we will be covering some basic squad formations and elemental combinations.”

“There is an entire class on squad tactics and squad fighting in the third semester. For now, we just cover the basics. We will go through some of the more commonly used formations and combinations. A favorite by many is the 3-2 formation. This formation involves 3 offensive-minded users in the front with 2 supports in the rear. This formation is one of the most used due to its general strength and flexibility during certain situations.

“Another common formation is the 2-1-2 formation. This is a bit more of a general formation that is strong in both offense and defense. You will see this formation used most on the battlefield and is a favorite for the Andrian Empire. Today we will be going to watch a second-year class. The class is having practice squad duels and we will be watching firsthand what it can be like. For this duel, neither squad will be given access to any weapons. They are practicing pure elemental combat.”

Two squads stood facing each other. They both took different formations. The first years were on the side watching from an elevated platform. The squad that was on the left side of the arena, took the formation of 3 in front, one stood slightly behind in some sort of support role. And the last teammate stood much further back. The squad on the right side of the arena took a weird formation in Jack’s eyes. They lined up in a column facing the other squad. They stood reasonably close to each other and looked extremely pleased with their weird formation. Everyone else seemed to know something Jack didn’t, because they all seemed satisfied with the abnormal-looking formation. The teacher looked at both squads who nodded their heads. Then he blew his whistle, and the battle began.

The girl in front of the squad on the right instantly sprouted a huge stump from the ground. And that’s when the formations started to make sense. The squad on the left with the 3 in front and 2 in support started blasting elemental shots toward their opponents. The three in the front had basic elements and would focus and create the element in front of themselves. Once fully formed they would launch it toward the enemy. Two of them had the Light element and shot incredibly fast-looking projectiles toward the enemy. The middle was wielding the dark element, the dark element seemed much slower but had a far greater impact when it struck.

It didn’t seem to matter though, as all the shots impacted the other squad’s shield. The stump was quickly being obliterated, but it gave that squad a chance to initiate the next part of their plan. Creating the stump seemed to exhaust the girl. She dropped to her knees in pain. The boy behind her seemed to have an even weirder element. He had crystal, Jack remembered from his book that that was a rare element. The boy created two simple crystal shields and handed one to the girl behind him. The girl behind him looked incredibly strong, and she smiled as she grabbed the shield. Next, he made two simple crystal swords. He handed them to the last two teammates. Once they were equipped, they shifted out from behind the tree in a tight formation. The two with shields walked in front, while the two who had been handed swords walked closely behind. The other squad continued to blast their abilities non-stop, not allowing the squad behind the shields to even pop their heads out. The boy right behind the three-shooting seemed to be casting some sort of spell on his teammates in front of him, his hands were held out in front of himself, and they were emitting a green aura that the three boys in front appeared to be absorbing.

That must be the Life element Jack thought. Fineus had told him that because mana was just your body’s ability to handle eternal magic, that you could temporarily allow yourself to take more mana as long as you were able to heal the body. “This squad must be doing something like that.” Jack thought. “These squads are so advanced.” The last squad mate on the left was standing farther back and had both his hands in the air and was slowly creating a huge ball of lava in the air. It was already the size of a normal person and was still growing. Gant and Fineus had tried to train Jack as much as possible for the Academy because they knew all the other children had been training in school for years preparing for the Academy and knew a lot of stuff Jack didn’t.

But apparently, the squad on the left didn’t know as much as the squad on the right. The squad on the right kept approaching with their shields up which blocked any view of them. The stump they had started behind had been badly destroyed but the girl with the wood element was still hiding behind it. She seemed to be doing something with the ground. As the squad with crystal weapons approached the firing squad, the next part of their plan occurred perfectly. Roots shot out of the ground and wrapped around the feet of each student. Things happened really fast after that. The crystal squad charged forward and smashed into the three who had been firing. They charged fast, bowling into the other squad. The strong girl must have the power element because she casually grabbed two of the boys, one with each hand and threw them down hard. The other boy with his crystal shield smashed into the third boy, knocking him over. The boy standing in the back with the life element panicked and tried to run, but the two with the swords quickly charged in and attacked him.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The two with swords didn’t make their elements known as they easily dispatched the life element user with their crystal swords. Once someone had taken enough damage their safety pin would instantly teleport them out of the dueling area. It happened fast with a weird buzzing sound and a high-pitched pop. The last one in the back with the huge lava ball was the only one left. The roots had him stuck and it looked like he wasn’t able to deal with it because he was holding the giant lava ball above his head. The other squad slowly spread out and approached. One of the guys with the crystal sword suddenly utilized his element. It was super-fast. A tiny beam of fire launched from the tip of his sword. The boy tried to block but he was still holding the huge lava ball and was hit directly in the chest. A moment later there was a loud pop and he disappeared. The team on the right had won. The duel was over. Jack couldn’t believe what he just saw.

Afterwards, he was asking some questions. “How come I didn’t see anyone using two elements?”

“Ah, that is because only a few actually absorbed a second element type. The few that have must now start from the bottom with that element. They wouldn’t have been able to do what they were doing with multiple elements so soon. Out of the people you saw dueling today, only 3 of them had more than 1 type of element. The ratio of someone picking more than one element to picking different elements is probably something like 5 to 1. The power and control gained from absorbing more than one element of the same type is comparable to 10 to 20 years of extreme training. Some people choose the multiple element type because they believe they can reach the same level by training. Few ever succeed. The most famous 4 element user alive today is Darius Angevin, he is famed for his mastery of motion, power, metal, and air. Some say it doesn’t count because motion and power are a easier elements to master compared to most. But it is still hard to argue due to the fact that metal and air are some of the most complex and difficult to master.” Jack scoffed in his head thinking; they should try electricity. “I will be taking you to a third-year practice duel next week. You will most likely see some student wielding two elements then.”

After class everyone was happy as they left. It had been extremely exhilarating watching the duel and Jack had to admit he had a little bit of envy and wished it was him in the arena. He had never felt anything like that before. After spending so much time on mastering his element and his martial arts he wanted to test himself. He wanted to see if he could best them. He frowned as he put his hand on his chest. His heart was racing. He was absolutely energized. “I gotta go practice.” Jack spent the rest of the day training. He pushed himself harder than he had in a long time. It felt good. Jack had gotten used to the burn and started to enjoy it. It was satisfying and was able to help him burn off steam also. By the end of training he was panting, his shirt was soaked and he coughed as he walked over to a drinking fountain to grab a drink. After a very satisfying chug, Jack stood up and let out a long sigh. “ahhhhhh. Fuck that’s good water.”

“what does fuck mean?”

“ahhhhhhhhhhh.” Jack screamed. The scream was high-pitched and he put his arms up in a very weak guard. After a moment he collected himself and looked at the girl who had somehow approached him. it was the white haired girl. Jack had found out her name was Ariel Rambova. He had not really spoken to her, just Chad, and Chad had spoken to her. “holy cow, you scared me, how long have you been there? Where did you come from?”

“oh, I’m sorry. I was training in the room next door, I came out to grab a drink. What is a fuck?”

“Oh. Uh.” Jack’s eyes slowly widened as he realized he had no easy way out of this. “it’s a swear word.”

“what’s a swear word?”

“Huh? Like you have never heard a swear word before?

“no” she looked at him blankly.

“o.k. well its just like a bad word your not supposed to say and it feels good to say it.”

“Hmmmm. That’s weird.”

“uh yah, maybe a little. But everybody does it. I’m surprised you have never heard a swear word before?”

“oh, uh, I’m not from around here.” She looked down at her feet.

Jack laughed out loud. She looked up hurt and slightly angry. “Oh god, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. It’s just, that’s what I’ve been saying to everybody since I got here. I’m from a small industrial town called Carcas, I don’t know anything about the big city and this place.”

“I know of Carcas. Do you know of Angelpoint?

“uh.” It took him a minute to remember. Gant had taught him all the important geography of the country and he was trying to remember. After a moment he realized it was an area of the uncharted lands to the far west. “oh. Ya. That’s a lot father than me. I didn’t know they had anyone living out there?”

“I come from a village of nomadic people, we travel the lands and have a history of sending our young to the academy.”

“oh, wow, that’s pretty cool. Uh. I’m Jack Warwick, we haven’t like officially met.” He held his hand out to shake.

“I already know you name.” She just stared at him blankly. Jack just slowly lowered his hand in awkward silence.

“ok well uh I’m gonna get back to practice.”

“ok, goodbye.” She went over to the fountain and had a drink. Jack went back to his training room and tried not to think about the weird interaction he just had. After a while of training Jak went back to his room and quickly fell asleep.