Nike layed down on his side, thinking. The old man had no care for the children crowding near his body, nor did he have care for the sun which was getting lower and lower. The old man ignored any questions and kept his eyes closed, obviously waiting for something, or at least, obviously for Navy.

‘When I want to think, I’ll think. When I want to talk, I’ll talk’ was the vibe Navy got from his demeanor.

Personally, he found the goat dramatic. Just be an actor if you care so much about dramatic timing and putting on a show. He tapped his foo– hoof, yeah, hoof on the ground, as he stood there waiting with everyone else.

He felt the sway slightly taking his body as exhaustion from the long day began to affect him, and sighed. He looked over to his other teammates and saw them standing perfectly straight up.

Smiles were adorned on their faces and a slight impatience as they wanted for Nike to say their advantage in the next round. Navy honestly just wanted it to be over.

As proud as he was of his teammates he also felt a slight nagging in the back of his mind. A need. A craving.

This body wasn’t something that he would be able to grow well in. He thumbed his small horn as he waited, a tick he developed the minute Nike started talking about what horn size meant.

He liked to do little things like this. Remind him where he was. Keep his head on straight.

Children murmured it up.

“Flame, stop bouncing up and down.”

“What do you think he’s going to say?”

“Stop sleeping!”

“Ugh, why did I have to trip…”

Those in the successful branch murmured with excitement and those in the opposite camp did the opposite.

Navy found that demons were not only very expressive, but also a bunch of loud mouths. They truly did not shut up for anything. They were in the middle of the woods and were a bunch of kids, none of them caught that they weren’t Mr. Shadow man.

Most of them would be easy pickings if some beefy monster barreled out of the woods. Where did these kids find the energy/gall from?

He looked down next to him and saw Rhodney sitting down in a crisscross position while he was waiting, sucking in as much mana as he could before the next event.

Navy honestly should’ve been joining him. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t do much. Flame and Nike had commented on his skill, but they were naive.

He wasn’t all that special. If anything, he was worse. His trouncing from Flame during his tryouts didn't help him feel better. Because, in the end, Navy knew himself insanely well.

He had almost no mana.

His reserves were far worse than Rumble’s. His horns were little pin pricks, which showed to any onlooker just how little mana he actually had.

When he had fought Flame, he was only able to create one shield before getting absolutely ravaged. He shook his head.

This wouldn’t do.

Navy had to hope that this advantage was a big one. Flame had been growing more and more unstable, and the boy didn’t seem like the type to take slight after slight.

Sapients treat themselves like they were civilized, but in the end, they were truly no better than beasts.

Nike slowly got up, looking down at the groups of kids surrounding him. Gods, he was tall. Nav regretted standing so close. He had to crane his neck all the way back just to look the man in the face.

Rhodney attempted to do the same, but he failed to calculate the weight his horns truly had. He managed to fall backwards onto the ground, while sitting. Now that was… talent.

…

Seemed his tiny horns had some advantage.

Navy wondered what the old man was waiting for, who was just staring at them for a good thirty seconds, deep in thought. The internal debate making Navy more than a bit nervous.

“Just get on with it!” Flame yelled, probably feeling the same. The boy liked to act tough, but he reminded Navy alot like a younger version of himself.

Then, without any kind of explanation, he turned around, making his way to the tree line.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Everyone watched in confusion as they heard the man's heavy footfalls hit the ground.

He pulled the leaves out of the way, entering the woods without zero acknowledgement of the group and didn’t even give a single command, a stark contrast to any prior action he has done since they met him.

Just a *rustle* and he was gone, disappearing into the leaves.

We all sat there for a second in befuddlement.

“Where's he going?” Rumble asked, voicing everyone’s silent, inner question.

We stood there and felt the clock tick. As a group, we silently shrugged and agreed that it was probably best to just wait for him to come back. He didn't call us ‘cause he probably had to deal with something or find the right path back… Right?

They all felt the clock slowly move more. The sky slowly changed colors and went from a light blue, to a slight orange. Everyone's restlessness slowly turned into panic as they realized they had just lost their ride home.

It's been thirty minutes alone, and everyone already assumed they were stranded.

Any ruffle or sound from the forest automatically caused tens of balls of fire to be immediately lit. Any attempt or movement from the woods caused the same.

Navy wanted to lie and say that he wasn’t scared, not like these kids, but. He looked down at his tiny hands.

At the very least, he wasn’t confident of his chances.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

People were getting rowdy now. No one expected Nike to not come back after twenty minutes. At this point all of the children were starting to crave some kind of leadership. Navy watched as Rhodney attempted to get everyone to calm down, but the boy’s raspy voice and less than huge demeanor did little in terms of command. Poor kid.

Navy felt his heart squeeze as he had to ask, but this was important. “Rhodney, give me some of your mana.” He ordered.

“...My mana?”

Navy hated asking for things. He was more partial to giving and taking than trying to force himself to ask for help. It felt pathetic. You want something, you take it, someone has something you need, same deal.

He needed to use the boy’s magic so it only seemed logical. Misty gave him that side eye as Rhodney relented. She didn’t seem to appreciate Navy trying to lead the team. That didn’t matter to him. In his eyes, she was still replaceable, despite her small victory.

Rhodney looked at him confused. “Give how?”

Navy placed his hand on the boy’s back, “When I try to pull, just don’t resist.” He didn’t wait for the boy to nod, immediately pushing his will onto the boy’s vast stores of mana. Ever since he’d awoken, he had understanding on a level that left him wowed.

Perhaps it was arrogant of him to say that he impressed himself, but it was an incredible feeling to have such knowledge and insight into the strange workings of magic and mana.

Among the things his Blessing of Wisdom had taught him was that affinities were both a mix of knowledge being poured into the monster's mind and a natural talent with the brand magic. They were the huge separator between who could become a master and who could sit in mediocrity.

Magic was an expression of you being poured into the world. To some individuals, one’s affinities were respected even to a religious extent.

Navy flowed pure mana into his brain. The inside of his head felt like droplets of water were being poured into it and in continuing with this metaphor, it swelled with the oversaturation a sponge would have. Perhaps it could also be likened to the feeling of being bloated from a large meal.

It made his head feel heavy and full, and his thoughts became sluggish, slowing down his memory. It would seem like what he was doing was all disadvantages but for one thing:

Buzz.

Buzzzz.

BUZZZZ!

Like lightning, paths made themselves aware in his head. It was an intense sensation, his mind's electricity moving at a million miles an hour. Dirt paths, the shapes of trees, thick clumps of aura that sporadically moved around his mini map.

He felt it.

‘Expand.’ He commanded, and just like that, he lengthened the area he recalled within his mental map. This tracker skill had been very useful before. He smiled. He hadn’t used this technique in a long time. And he was far more proficient now that he had gotten the mana affinity.

Wonderful, but he had to stay focused. Navy moved his consciousness around within his suddenly vast mental space, feeling like a wispy spirit moving his vaporous body through the tall clumps of aura. The purpose of his exercise was clear: he wanted to see any odd, out-of-place shapes within this strange prairie of memory that he had created and owned.

Searching for the minotaur, he saw something curious. A long lanky shape that clearly wasn’t him. It was obviously distinct, composed of intense, irregular energy. The peculiar energy was matched by its strange physical appearance.

It had only one large arm that appeared creepily immaterial and a large, bulbous, oval head. Its silhouette of an arm muscles pulsed in and out with violent contractions, rearranging itself over and over while it walked off kilter.

He silently noted to himself to avoid that area.

Navy looked around more and, bingo, found the minotaur about a quarter mile away. Sitting in the bushes near a much shorter figure. A long spike jutting out from the sapients head, and the long shilloute of robes swaying in the breeze.

Navy, Immediately realized that it was probably that Shoji fellow. Was the next test to find them? He took his hand off Rhodney’s shoulder. “I found them.” He whispered to his group.

They looked at him and realized he was whispering for a purpose, silently thanking him. “Where are they?” Torrent quietly asked, probably the first time the girl had ever whispered in her life. Navy discreetly pointed right. “He must have circled around to throw us off the trail, but the next test could be some kind of locate mission.”

“A… luck-based mission?” Rhodney asked, confused. Yeah… that didn’t make much sense thinking about it. Nike had explicitly said to have three people on your team win, or have a disadvantage in the next round. But, Navy didn’t see any kind of disadvantage present.

Ehh. What can you do?

“I don’t know, but what I do know is where they are. So, how do you all want to move?” He asked his group.