Everyone stared at him in shock, yet it all turned into excitement in the blink of an eye.

"Great! Time to fuck things up! Where are our weapons?"

Mark chuckled, pulling out some rusty weapons from his inventory.

"These shall be your first partners. Choose whatever you feel suits you better. Now, wait a second, did you choose a class?"

They all exchanged glances, shrugging, not knowing what he was talking about.

"I’ll take that as a no. Now that I think about it, I did get the notification after killing some monsters. Guess classes have to wait. Now, go with what you think suits you."

They approached the pile of scrap, looking for weapons of their choice. Darius took out a waraxe and swung it around. The weight of the weapon was too much for him, so Mark had to create him a custom weapon. Compared to his first tries, this one was not glowing; it looked rather mundane.

Sebas took out two daggers and a short sword, one with a thin double-edged blade.

"Welp, I always liked assassins, time to become one, I guess."

He turned to Mark.

"You better teach me some magic to go with it.

"Do you think I know it all? Use your imagination and control the mana in a way that fits you."

Sebas nodded, going on to swing his new weapons.

Xandra and Alex were staring together at the pile. Alex was looking for a specific something, which he lifted in the air the moment he found it: a katana. Seemingly victorious, he started swinging it around in a frenzy. Xandra looked in there too, yet nothing seemed to stir her interest.

"What’s wrong, Xandra, you ok?"

She looked at Alex, then back to the pile.

"I’m fine, it’s just that I don’t think I’ll need a weapon. I’d rather focus on magic, to be honest."

"Sure, why not, but you at least need a weapon to protect yourself with, just in case."

He checked around the pile, then pulled out a thin sword, similar to Sebas’ blade.

Mark called out to all of them.

"Ok, now that you have chosen a weapon you like, I guess it’s time to start the training. Watch out, since these guys could still kill you if you’re not careful."

With a snap of his fingers, different goblins and skeletons spawned. Their numbers were a few times smaller than the army Mark had fought, yet they were something nonetheless.

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"Go ahead, try to defeat them without being hit. If you die, that’s it."

They tried to laugh it off, yet Mark’s stern glare made them sort of freeze—or so Mark would have liked it to happen. Instead, they all kept laughing, knowing that the reason he went on to fight on his own was to protect those he cares about.

All of them went on to attack, trying to devise a plan. Sebas ordered them around, putting Darius forward as a tank. Alex was to fight side by side with Darius, while Xandra provided magical support. As for himself, he went on as a backup, fighting side by side.

Xandra had a bit of a hard time trying to put her magic into practice, almost burning the whole team in the process, giving Mark another reason to laugh at them. It took her a few times to get it working, yet when she did, the enemies became nothing but playthings.

The three-man squad was going strong. Each one of them covered the other’s blind spots, but they too managed to screw up. They had a feel for what they should do, yet using that knowledge was way more difficult. Darius almost hit his mates, Alex had trouble with his blade alignment, and Sebas put himself in danger by getting too close and personal, trying to do fancy moves.

Mark spent the whole time watching from the sidelines, analyzing what they were doing. He was no expert in the field, yet he had a clue, a guiding light that gave him ideas and insight.

More to improve on teamwork, better control over their weapons, and learning how to use them to their full potential. We’re all in the same boat, yet I’ve had some luck with my rowing.

In just a few minutes, the monsters were turned into experience, leaving behind scattered corpses. They were all breathing heavily, except for Xandra. Being a mage had its advantages, yet she was prone to close-range harm.

"Good job, guys! You did it!"

Mark clapped, cheering them on.

"You have a few minutes to go around and loot the place. Quick warning: don’t spend your points, you still need to know what class you want to follow. For now, you train your basics."

"Man, *pant* let us breathe *pant* for a minute."

"You snooze, you lose. Better to hurry with the loot since it’ll vanish in five minutes at most. Quickly look around."

"Fuck you!"

Sebas was tired of this bullshit, yet hes still had a smile on his face.

You’re all enjoying this. HA! I knew it.

Before the items could vanish, they all found a better replacement. They were truly leveling, like in RPGs. Their weapons looked better, and they also found some armor to boot.

"Come on, man! Time for the second stage, let’s go!"

The one fired up was Xandra, who was literally fired up. She kept throwing fire at random around the whole place.

"Ok, just don’t blame me."

One hand movement, and an army of orcs appeared in front of them. They were low-leveled, even compared to the nine orcs Mark killed in a single attack.

They all stared at Mark, then back at the orcs, then back at Mark. Darius, seeing that one of the orcs was twice his size, gulped, as if trying to force his fear down his neck.

"Motherfucker, what is this!? Are you trying to kill us!?"

Xandra’s yelling reached him, piercing his eardrums.

"Just focus; I know you can do it."

The entire gang got together, and Sebas cooked up a little strategy.

"Guys, it’s simple. We stay together, and fight it. Darius, aim for the legs, try to cut them down. Alex, we try to grab its attention, and Xandra, try to find an opening to hit them. By the way, use something else other than fire."

They all nodded in agreement, all of them hiding behind Darius.

"Come on, guys, we got it.", Alex’ words were truly meant.