"Wu!" Lera shouted, her body dashing through the air and propelled by spontaneously forming platforms created within her Cast Array as she leaped towards him. Wu nodded in acknowledgment, blasting himself through the air and catching \Lera's body before spinning around in a circle, launching her further forward like a discus.

As Lera moved, the massive Cast Arrays around her also recycled itself and moved swiftly with her, the influence of her Void Domain covering even more areas. Then, she gestured her hands forward, the book of Casts ready at her helm before a massive Wave blast was fired off, smashing the floating target far out in the distance.

Lera smiled slightly, landing softly and retracting her Cast array back in to conserve her reserve of Wave before Wu landed with a superhero post right next to her.

"How did that feel?" Wu asked, approaching her as he unbuckled his gloves and let it dangle off his wrist. He wanted to hug her so bad, but she seemed to be focused on her internal thoughts, so he just kept his hands in the air and waited. After a little while, her eyes looked focused again, and she glanced towards Wu before smiling and nodding.

"You can hug me whenever~" Lera smiled as Wu came in and wrapped his hands around her. He kissed her lightly on the cheeks much to her chagrin before pulling back, "I think a combination of Cast compartmentalization and recycling Rapid Layering worked...that means I can move around quickly and have my Cast array follow me around."

"That moves you from an immobile utility Caster to one that can move and fight with the rest of us far more efficiently than before..." Wu smiled, "Ooooh...this is gonna be good."

"I think so too." Lera said, looking around at the trees before she wiped the sweats away from her forehead.

Summer is already here without people realizing it and the Summer Selection is just around the corner. To make sure that they can still practice in peace, Wu and Lera had made it a morning routine to wake each other up early and train in the forest down below, though that also meant they can't be too preoccupied with their late-night 'activities'.

"Wanna head back?" Wu asked, "Get some food before we meet with the squad later today?"

"And I am gonna need a shower." Lera said, hopping onto the Chariot parked just overhead.

The meeting for their squad was held in Fatera's residence, as per usual, and Ver actually made a big breakfast for everybody. So one can only imagine how upset she felt when Wu and Lera came in with full stomachs. Fortunately, Fatera was always there to sweep up all and every ounce of food and drink, with Augen being coerced into helping her.

Despite his protests, it appeared that following and living with Fatera had helped him gain some solid weight, as his arms and body were thicker and more masculine than before and he moved with more power and explosiveness in each step. Though if you had to ask him, he would criticize Fatera's exercise and diet regimes to no end.

"So here's a quick recap of how Summer Selections works, for those with poor short-term memories." Wu said alongside Lera as they pulled out the same board they used to plan the heist on the Union library from way back, "And also, what our roles will be.

"The Summer Selection, on the highest level, is just a squad-based battle royale game with tactical elements of capturing and defending strong holds." Wu said, glancing around the room, "When we were back on the island, we all started with three sets of strongholds each, though that was just to let us practice how to attack and defend strongholds. Not the best practice back then, I'd imagine, but you get the idea."

"Sorry." Fatera put her hand up, and Wu waved her off.

"Past is the past. Anyway, the catch for the actual Summer Selection itself would be the shrinking circle that is just the must-have for every battle royale thing ever." Wu said, "That meant strongholds that are already captured AND outside of the shrinking circle will count towards our points total. And that there is then a gameplay tradeoff of fighting against others to secure points on the outer strongholds, or leaving the outer strongholds and taking down the inner ones before anyone else gets there and starts consolidating the defenses."

The room was silent when Wu finished, and he glanced around to make sure that what he is saying is, at the very least, not nonsensical.

Out of all of them, Augen seemed to have been asleep, though it is impossible to judge through the white bandage around his eye. Ver seemed to be nodding along, her fingers playing with a miniature Sky Splitting sword. Fatera's busy cleaning up the plates, though she was also nodding along.

Wu sighed lightly before he looked towards Lera. She shrugged before an idea came into her head. Just talking is no fun, everybody knows that, so let's make it more interactive.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Fatera, you got a chess set here?" Lera asked, and Augen actually answered before she did.

"Does she seem like a chess player to you?" Augen chuckled, reaching under the table and taking out a set, "I tried to get her to play it during the break, but it was torture for her."

"Ah, this will do." Wu squatted down, examined what seemed to be a mix of Chinese and Western chess with pieces of varying shapes and a...spherical chessboard? Now that's interesting...

"So, the board is the battlefield, and each of the scattered pieces here is the individual strongholds, currently neutral, and waiting to be controlled." Wu said, sprinkling the pieces all around the board as the group watched, "For our purposes, I do feel like we should at least secure some points early by conquering the closest strongholds to us and defending it until the circle closes in."

"But how about this?" Ver asked, "Why don't we use our superior agility and quickly control as many strongholds as we can?"

"Because it's not really about who has the most points at the start of the game but at the end." Augen explained, "Having a fast start is balanced by the fact that you are now everybody else's enemy."

"Though there are still advantages to conquering the strongholds early, because we certainly want a base to operate out of." Wu said, picking up one of the pieces and holding it in between his fingers, "There are supplies, shields, defenses, and even some beds..."

"Just...keep it in when we were there, you two." Ver joked, and Wu and Lera laughed awkwardly before brushing it off.

"Anyway. That was the overview." Wu stood up, "Let's get some practice in with all of you using the anti-Void Domain!"

"Finally! Some action!" Fatera cheered, putting the last plate down, "And that means the dishes are to be done later!"

"Nope." Augen stood up and grabbed onto Fatera's hands, pulling her towards the sink as she kicked and screamed to try to get out of housework duty.

"BUT I DID ALL THE EATING!"

"That's not supposed to be a labor!"

By the time the group went through their training routines and began getting used to the way Lera's Cast array moves with the squad, Lera and Wu were finally ready to have a meal with the squad. Then suddenly, her book of Casts started glowing, and a puppet made from folded paper emerged from among the pages before it waddled its way onto the dining table.

"AH!" Ver screamed and jumped up before she swung the mini-Sky Splitting sword and swiftly beheaded the bizarre puppet monster. The piece of paper plopped onto the ground, and Wu leaned in close to see the writings of the letter ‘J’ over the strange monster's eyes.

That was when someone knocked on the door, and Wu started to wonder if he is stuck in a horror movie. All this happened right as Lera is in the toilet too...Is she going to be okay?

"Strong presence outside." Augen said, his voice sharp and lowered, "Two exceedingly strong, one mediocre."

"An...attack?" Fatera hopped up from the sofa, "Here? Guess today is just that kind of a day!"

Wu gritted his teeth together, and he swiftly activated his One-shotter before walking towards the door. A single knuckle appeared on the door, and it was about to knock when Wu slid the door open and looked through the tiny gap. A smooth white hand grabbed onto the frames of the door and swung it open as Wu stepped through, One-Shotter at the ready when he instead saw the King, Joseph, and Jolyne Atlas standing across from him.

"Oh~ Wu!" Jolyne jumped up happily before coming in and hugging him. However, due to his surprise, Wu had lost his footing, tripping on the carpet before Jolyne pushed him to the ground.

"An attack!" Fatera shouted, dashing across the room towards the King before Wu can respond, and Joseph flickered his body, blocking her way as their hands crashed into one another.

"...Joseph Atlas?" Lera came out of the toilet with a yawn when she caught the ruckus. Joseph's massive palms easily contained Fatera's initial charge, though she was resisting easily against him, preventing herself from being pushed back, "My King? What are you doing here?!"

"Sis said she wanted to surprise you and Wu." Joseph replied, tilting his head towards Jolyne who's examine Wu's face closely. WAY TOO closely for Lera's liking.

"Aww?" Sensing the inner turmoil within Lera, Jolyne smiled playfully before running her finger along Wu's jawline and sitting back up on top of him, "I apologize, Wu and Lera."

"You didn't have to spring it on us like that..." Wu said, rubbing his head before Lera came by and bonked him on the head again.

"You looked like you were enjoying that." She said with a deathly glare in her eyes before she turned and greeted the king. Then, she turned around, gesturing towards the group in the room, "This is the King of Varous and the Twin generals, Joseph and Jolyne. And these people here are my squad mates."

"You are pretty strong." Joseph nodded towards Fatera, who seemed a little pissed at how she didn't even budge the man-mountain that was Joseph.

"So are you." Fatera said, "But I am sure I am actually stronger."

"Maybe~" Joseph smirked as Fatera walked back into the room.

"Well...I was not expecting the whole squad to be here, but now that you are, I suppose a feast is in order!" The King said, smiling brightly before he placed his elegant jacket over the unused coat hanger.

"I never realized how good-looking the red-head twins were..." Ver murmured to Augen, who shrugged with indifference.

"All I know is that they are strong in the Wave...ridiculously strong."