Let's suppose you were to work together with some people. Naturally, the first thing you would do, even if you were out of your comfort zone, would be to attempt to break the ice. Would this not be the case for a group that would supposedly be together for the foreseeable future?

Nope, not Team 68.

Aside from the initial glances he received, no one but the brown-haired boy paid Kaiel any extra attention.

Kaiel had walked into the room and sat over in the corner of the room, a comfortable distance anyway from everyone.

As for the rest of them in the room, the dark and silver-haired boy that Kaiel had just encountered a week ago was leaning back on his chair and balancing it with his eyes closed. Judging from the light snoring and the rise and fall of his chest, he was, yet again, asleep.

The girl with blonde hair and a beautiful appearance had her feet propped onto the table and was twirling a strand of her luscious hair.

Lastly, the most restless of the group was the brown-haired boy. He was a tall boy who gave off an energetic vibe. He was fidgeting around while sneaking glances at each of his future comrades. Even before Kaiel entered the room, he had been doing this nonstop.

At one point, he grew so restless, he stood up and started pacing around the room.

His disruptiveness starkly contrasted to the peaceful atmosphere created by the others. Yet, despite this, no one bothered to address him.

The boy stared at the clock in the room.

Fifteen minutes had passed, and not a single word had been uttered.

He sat back down on the chair and closed his eyes.

As for why they were waiting, they were told to wait for an instructor to appear. That instructor would be the supervisor that would induct them through the process.

Finally, the boy's patience ran out.

"Ah. I can't stand this no more."

The brown-haired boy suddenly stood up, sending his chair backwards. He placed both hands on the table and, with an energetic voice, said, "We're supposed to be teammates. So the least we can do is introduce ourselves, right?"

No response.

But the boy was not discouraged, "I'll start everyone off. I am Langris Blazarc."

The silence was deafening.

For a second, Langris thought that he had only said everything in his head and not aloud.

Don't worry, Langris. It's not you. It's because your introduction was too simple. They don't know how and what to answer. Let's try again, but this time with more enthusiasm. His head bobbed up and down as he reassured himself within. With the brightest smile he could muster, he introduced himself again, "I'm Langris Blazarc. I come from Nolsar, the northern district of the Capital. My goal in the Academy is to become one of the strongest members of the Academy by the end of my time here, and I can't do that without your help, so I look forward to our time together for the next three years."

But again, there was no reply.

Langris crouched down and covered his face. He felt embarrassed. He did not imagine it. They were really all blatantly ignoring him. While he was not one of those who shied away from social interactions, this was a first. He had never experienced people who wouldn't even acknowledge his existence. But even then, that was okay. His mental fortitude was robust enough to withstand something like this.

He had initially thought that everyone was waiting for someone to initiate the introductions. How wrong he was. No one was waiting for anything. They just didn't even have the basic decorum to introduce themselves. Or at least, they didn't care for it.

Kaiel looked at Langris weirdly but finally decided to cooperate, "Kaiel Dreyar."

Short and succinct. At this, Langris stared at Kaiel intensely with hope in his eyes. This made Kaiel look away in discomfort.

Langris waited and waited. But Kaiel did not have anything else to add to his greeting. Although he was disappointed, he moved on to the next person.

The blonde-haired girl still showed no reaction and continued what she was previously doing, "..."

This one is definitely a lost cause. Langris looked at her helplessly, but maybe because she could sense what he was thinking, she narrowed her eyes at him for the first time. He averted his gaze hurriedly and started to think about something else, anything else.

"Then you must be Faye..."

Langris figured, by process of elimination, that the remaining girl was Faye Luvisol.

"Wait. Faye... where did I hear that name recently?

Langris brought his hand to his face and looked up as he tried to recall the familiar name.

His eyes lit up a few moments later, "Ah. You're that rumoured student!"

The bright eyes soon transitioned into ones full of gloom.

Kaiel was shocked that a person could go through so many mood changes in such a short span of time.

However, this wasn't simply a case of making friends, and thus, he felt like crying on the inside. He mumbled despondently under his breath, "It's hopeless. I'm screwed. It's over. Goodbye, my prosperous Academy life..."

Kaiel was curious as to what he was talking about. Seeing this, Langris did him the favour of explaining.

"She's rank 2nd in the combat rankings."

Kaiel felt the urge to roll his eyes. Everyone knew that.

Langris continued, "But aren't you curious as to why someone like her was part of a random assignment?"

Indeed he was.

"You see, rumour has it, she acts--"

A voice laced with malice interrupted him, "You better shut up, or I will make sure you never utter another word."

Langris' voice faded as he felt a murderous gaze directed at him. Sweat started to pour down his back as he instinctively zipped his mouth shut.

The blonde-haired girl did not have a pleasant expression on her face. If looks could harm, she would have probably killed Langris by now.

With everyone else's introduction, that left the last boy in the corner, but the boy was asleep, so nothing came from him. Well, he did get an answer. If you counted snoring, that is.

Langris was content. That appeared to be the best he was going to squeeze out of them.

He collapsed into his chair, sighing deeply. If it took this much effort to get them to simply tell each other their names, then...

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

He shuddered at the thought of the trials and tribulations of what was to come.

The sound of the door opening caused all of them except the sleeping boy to turn their heads.

Kaiel was startled to see who it was. Out of all the instructors, he didn't expect it to be one he knew. Walking through the door was Silva. She glanced at them individually, raised her eyebrows when she realised everyone was present and nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Everyone is here. I'm your supervisor, Silva."

Unlike with Langris, everyone gave her their full attention, even Faye.

"There are quite a few things to talk about and explain to y-

She was interrupted by a loud snore.

She ignored it and continued, "I'll do the explaining second. The first thing you guys need to do is-"

Again a snore.

Kaiel was impressed the boy could actually sleep through the ruckus that had been going on.

While you could not see it on her face, they could all tell Silva was pissed off. She continued speaking as she stepped towards the source of the disturbance, "You guys need to fill in some documents for the Academy."

Silva's smile did not fade at all, even after she was interrupted several times.

She motioned for Langris to move out of the way. He was confused but did as she requested after he realised he was blocking her from her target. Then, with no more obstacles separating her and the boy, she held her hand to the side of his head.

The boy was sleeping peacefully. Usually, one couldn't bear to wake up someone who seemed to be enjoying their sleep so contently.

Understanding what the instructor was about to do, everyone else quickly covered their ears and backed up as far as they could.

Silva snapped her fingers.

A low boom sounded out, and a mini shockwave seemed to radiate outwards.

The sleeping boy's face seemed to vibrate, and his face rippled comedically.

In response, the boy flailed his arms and legs around like a fish out of water. Needless to say, he fell off the chair. His handsome face scowled as the pain from his ass assaulted him. Then, in the next second, he abruptly stood up and got into a fighting position. He looked left and right with his arms held up and stayed in that position. But nothing came.

Does he think he's under attack? Kaiel felt that it was a suitable reaction.

The boy grew confused as no attack came, but that confusion only increased when he saw the expressions on everyone in the room, "Ah damn. What the..."

He cursed under his breath, upset someone had woken him from his beauty sleep. He wondered why everyone looked at him like he was the lead performer of a circus. He waved at them with a silly grin, but they all watched him speechlessly, unsure what to say.

He scratched his head in confusion. He felt uneasy with the way they were all gawking at him. He turned to the side and saw a face he didn't want to see. He rubbed his eyes, doubtfully unsure whether he was still dreaming, but unfortunately, he was wide awake. And so, he braced himself, "Oh... Hi Flore-- Geuhg..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was struck on the head. He clutched his skull in pain. "Ow. What the hell was that for?"

"You piss me off. That's why."

"Is that really something an instructor should say to their student?"

"Of course."

"Flo-"

He caught himself from making the same mistake again the moment he saw her raising her hand again.

So he coughed and corrected himself, "Ahem. Instructor Silva."

Silva was fed up with him, so she chose to ignore him now that he was awake,

"Look. Your comrades have already finished introducing themselves. It's just you now."

With a light-hearted grin, the boy gave his greetings, "Hmm. Nice to meet you all. I'm June Veldra."

Silva read the contents of the document she held in her hands, "Hmm. Team name... leader..."

"As I was saying, you guys need to fill in this form, look at it yourselves, and if you have any questions, ask."

She threw the form onto the table, and they crowded around to look at it.

The sheet slid on the table, and June stopped it and picked it up. With a hand propping up his chin, he read through the contents with half-open eyes, "Team name...? Why is this that important? Can't we just stay as Team 68? Wouldn't that be easier for the Academy?"

Kaiel agreed with what he said.

Silva brought a chair out and sat down while observing them, "Something about promoting union and camaraderie and imparting a sense of belonging, team spirit and increasing motivation."

June smiled, "Heh. That sounds amusing, something a bunch of kids would do."

Silva said, "And it's a tradition since, in the future, there will be a lot of competitions and assessments that require something like a team name. But if you really want to, you can just name yourselves Team 68."

Kaiel was okay with the idea. It would save them a lot of hassle of thinking of a name.

Langris, on the other hand, was appalled by the notion of going with the name of Team 68. He grabbed the sheet from June's grasp and held it to his chest as if protecting it from being tainted by the wicked, "Hey! This is important, so stop joking around. We need to think seriously about this. You could say this team name is the most important thing we need to consider as of now."

Faye looked at him in disbelief, "Clearly."

Langris ignored her comment, slammed the paper onto the desk and continued to speak passionately,

"Coming up with a half-baked name is unforgivable. We need something cool, outlandish, something memorable, and, most of all, awe-inspiring. It needs to make people turn their heads when they hear our name and ask, is that THE Abyssal Knights or THE Almighty Monarchs... the ones that beat so and so... I can't believe I'm meeting them in person. Please give me your autograph! This is our chance to come up with something striking that acts as our unique identifier, our trademark! This is our team's very first hurdle! Isn't that right?"

As he spoke, he made exaggerated motions and altered his speech to match the fans' voices.

He asked for Silva's opinion with eager eyes. Silva lazily nodded.

Langris' glowing eyes now became blinding as he received support, half-hearted and careless it may be.

He excitedly looked at everyone else, "See?"

June chuckled. He found Langris to be a funny person, "What are we, some famous mercenary organisation or adventurer group or something? We're just students, you know, who in their right minds would ask us for autographs..."

Langris "Same thing. And we might not be famous right now, but with time, that'll obviously change."

Silva had to admit, Langris was amusing, "Most of what he just said is dumb, but he isn't wrong about the unique identity part."

June hooked his arm around Langris' shoulders, "I like it. Since you're the one who is adamant about this, do you have any suggestions for some names?"

Langris felt happy in his heart. There was another person who was on his side. He had to re-evaluate June. He wasn't like those other two who were uncooperative and silent.

Silva warned them, "Well, whenever and whatever you decide, just write it on that paper. But make sure you are absolutely sure. You only get one chance. Once you write it on that magical piece of paper, it'll be recorded in the Academy's records. As with any of the other details you fill in."

Kaiel looked at the piece of paper and saw that it was not ordinary and was most likely a scroll. These were enchanted documents that served a variety of purposes. While they were mainly used and served as binding contracts, they could be used to keep records.

June and Langris could not hear her and were fervently discussing the possible names they could take.

They started to write down the list of names on the board and even asked the other two to vote on them, but they were... impressive, to say the least.

Faye glowered as she listened to their suggestions.

"What the fuck are these names? Are you trying to kill our opponents by making them cringe to death?" vulgar words came out of her mouth.

"You come up with something then?"

"I don't want to. But I can't bear you wasting my time with these shitty names anymore."

Langris didn't like the way Faye expressed her opinion. Still, he did consider her words and seriously contemplated the board's names. Still, he couldn't find anything wrong with The Crimson Warriors or The Eternal Void Stars.

June was just chuckling at the side.

After doing a double-take and not able to see anything wrong with those names, Faye was aghast at whether he was just pretending to be stupid, "I wouldn't want to be caught dead being called any of those."

Fed up, Faye grabbed the sheet before them and started writing something.

"Ah. Ah. AAH. What are you doing?!", Langris was slow to react.

Before he could stop her, she had already written something for their team name. The words on the paper glimmered with a light, briefly signifying that whatever she had written had been recorded.

Langris looked like he had teleported as he hurriedly snatched the paper out of her hands and read the words,

Faye's Goons.

His face looked like someone who had just eaten crap, like someone who had just lost something that meant the world to them. Langris pleaded at Silva with her eyes, but she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head with a smile, indicating that there was nothing she could do about it anymore.

"What kind of name is this? Goons??"

"Is that not what you all are?"

She pointed at June, who, despite being so enthusiastic before, was unperturbed about the forced name submission, "Sleepy idiot."

Then at Kaiel, "Quiet idiot."

Kaiel had taken fire even though he hadn't spoken a word to her yet.

One thought was going through his mind right now: her speech did not match her appearance.

She gave the impression of a refined, stunning noble girl but vulgar words came out of her mouth.

I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. Next time, he would keep an open mind so he would not be shaken.

And then at Langris, "Stupid, dumb, idiot."

She smirked, proud of herself, "And since I'm the team leader, what better team name is there than that?"

When did we decide that? Both June and Kaiel were dumbfounded at her forceful decision.

Langris was shocked but asked anyway, "Why the hell do I get three words?"

"Because you're special.", she said with a genuine smile.

Why does that not sound like a compliment? Langris felt like he was being mocked.

Still, he was unconvinced, "You're the one who said my names would make the opponents cringe to death! Are you not embarrassed by having that as our name?"

"I don't think it's too bad. In fact, hopefully, it will make them laugh to death." she was unapologetic.

Langris stood there with a gaping mouth, and the sheet fell back to the table.