It only took a few minutes more for us to outline our talents. with him taking the lions share of the time.

His skill list was quite a bit longer, still his simplicity was refreshing, he was a purely an offensive caster. Very different to me.

His happiness of choosing me was further compounded when he heard my skill set. My powers and traits focusing on shielding and summoning was a perfect complementary piece.

Having such a team really added to our chances of becoming a powerhouse team within the Horde which the chance of doing that made my so called master very happy.

He needed to perform very well, that much was obvious , I didn't know why, he hadn't explained his life story or his goals, but he had made it very clear it was important to him.

So my skill set made him very excited for our chances in the future, his offensive strength mixed with my abilities would make a powerful duo.

We didn't get much more of a chance to discuss our respective futures and abilities. The leader who I learned was named Captain Ilkwell, called us into form.

"Are you happy with your choices of partners?"

He didn't give us any time to answer as he quickly moved on.

"Good, now you bunch of weak piss-ants and you legacy lot are going to have to get up to scruff as proper unit in a matter of months. This will not be easy and it will not be fun."

He punctuated each word by staring all of us deeply in the eyes in turn. The gaze froze me, the eternal power that I felt within that gaze scared me greatly, what the hell were the higher tiered mages like, if this simple captain had such extreme power.

"Now you will be drilled in the basic formations once you introduce yourself and your power-sets. Weakest to strongest team begin."

Any worry that had held Iirin back was long gone, he was proud to announce our abilities that meshed so well.

"My squire Micael and I are the perfectly matched team, my focus is on offense, while his skills lie in Shielding and Summoning."

The captain nodded, the grin that slightly lifted on his face told of his pleasure about our match-up.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The rest didn't have as great synergy, the next few weren't anything special, two offensive specialists, one healer and defensive specialist combo. Two defensive specialists so the rest of the teams apart from us and the strongest didn't have the synergy as a team. The strongest however made the grin of the captain turn into a full blown smile.

The Tier 5 was basically one of the most talented young people in the horde, the only reason he was in our cohort was some political reasoning far above our heads. His strengths lay in healing, enchanting and summoning, making him far more talented than me naturally

His head start was even more intimidating, mixed with his squires immense natural talent as a warrior and not an offensive caster made them a very terrifying duo.

"excellent their are some great duo synergy, as a whole unit we are a bit weak on offensive casters , but we can remedy that with a bit more creative tactics thanks to our two team members who are capable of summoning making us a very tactically strong unit, once all the piss-ants are up to scratch we will be in with a chance of winning the trials."

His change to a softer tone was startling, in seemed the fact we had the chance to reach whatever these trials were brought the captain a bit more hope than he would otherwise have.

"now we shall begin with drilling, going from the basics as a duo towards the form of the squad, even further towards the layout of an army, with you just being one of the insignificant cogs."

All appearance of softness quickly disappeared as he got back into the act of being the captain. I would like to get to know the real captain. Still that would not be possible anytime soon.

So we began what was possibly the worst day of my life so far.

Around six hours later I collapsed into the bed that had once been a hellhole but was now a great and welcoming presence. We had been run ragged, the more powerful natives of the horde could keep up easily, but us less powerful folk, struggled immensely with each and every form.

The relaxing grip of the bed was intoxicating after the day of hard-work and just a vast amount of discrimination.

It was really hard. I was exhausted. I couldn't sleep. Whatever had happened today was too much for me.

I couldn't move a muscle, my mind was cloudy with fatigue. Still the sweet release of unconscious wouldn't save me.

So after a few minutes of intense trying, I had to resort to cultivation. My body channels had already widened quite a bit today, so any more aura manipulation would only be marginal gains for a great amount of effort by this point.

Soul cultivation it is then.

Slipping into my inner world was easier than ever. One second I began cultivating, the next I was seeing through my astral form. I didn't even have to go through the normal tribulations of the winding paths of my soul. That was a good feeling, one great improvement, even if it was only useful when I was physically and mentally no longer fully there.

That was not the only thing that was a drastic change. My inner world was now far more solid than I had ever seen it before.

Going to the edge of what was possible for my body had brought great benefits to my growth. So I couldn't fault the captain for that.

Still my heart stopped when I saw what was lazing over in a grove of trees near to the village of grove-tenders, further punctuated by the grove-tenders cheers.

"Congratulations master, you have your first Tier 2 summon."