“…That’s it?” Alnea said, looking at Yuri in a daze. “You don’t want me to choose the lineage of Death because you are specialising in it?”
“Not just you, but Cecilia too,” Yuri said, turning to include Cecilia in her glance. “Do you two know what a team means?”
“…It is the smallest structural unit of—
“That is just the standard definition, but a team is much more than just what those words let on,” Yuri said, controlling three of her Aspects to fly out from the rest of their pack, and rotate in front of her, forming a vertical circle. “A team is made up of a group of people who can trust their lives with each other. Who knows that their comrades will always have their backs. This is what allows them to always do their best, without any fear of death.
“However, to form such a team, just trust alone is not enough. All the members of a team must also have abilities that complements with each other, granting them the abilities to survive in all sorts of situations. For example, if the Arcanist focusses too much on attack, then we must have either the Scholar, or the Warrior focus on defence, while the other focusses on trapping enemies. Or, if the Warrior is focussing on attacks, then the Arcanist and the Scholar must focus on supporting the Warrior, while creating openings for the Warrior to attack.
“You should be able to understand what I am trying to say. But here comes the problem. All of us having the lineage of Night in our Roots have already made it so that some of our abilities overlap with each other. Like Cecilia’s ‘Dark Sense’, and my ‘Dark Resonance’. If we still end up choosing our lineages as Scholars in such a way that even more of abilities end up overlapping with each other, then would that not defeat the whole purpose of forming a team?”
“…Why does that sound so logical?”
“Because it is. This is how teams have always been formed.”
“Then why have I never heard of it?” Cecilia said, looking at Yuri with confusion. “I can understand why Alnea would not have heard of it, but with so many Wanderers from my clan going to the Grand Chasm all the time, I am sure I would have heard of something.”
“It is true that many Wanderers of your clan go to the Grand Chasm, but most of them just serve in the main army. Only the most elite Wanderers are capable of joining the expedition teams. And though there should be many elite Wanderers in your clan, they probably do not like talking about their days in the Grand Chasm… Forget about the others. Have you ever heard big sis Serena talk about her days in the Grand Chasm? “
“…No.”
“…Of a hundred Wanderers who venture into the depths of the Thrall Domains at a time, barely half of them can make it back alive. Most of them time, the survival rate is even lower. And that is despite the fact that only the elite Wanderers are allowed to be a part of the expedition teams. That is how dangerous the Thrall Domains are. And that is why Wanderers travel the Thrall Domains as a team. To increase their chances of survival.
“Even then, death is their constant companion. For the Wanderers venturing into the Thrall Domains, it is not unnatural to lose a teammate. Rather, for a team to survive as a whole is the most unnatural, and rare occurrence, one that occurs only in the most elite of the elite teams. However, teams like that… your clan is not capable of nurturing them.
“The Wanderers of your clan, those who have been part of expedition teams… even big sis Serena, must have had teammates who never made it out of the Grand Chasm. It is understandable if they do not wish to talk about such matters. Especially to you. When you left your clan to come with us, you had just laid your Roots. Do you think the people of your clan would have told you about such things to a girl who has not even laid her Roots?”
“Serena…”
Seeing a solemn, and worried look flash across Cecilia’s face, Alnea reached out to pat Cecilia on her shoulders, and said, “Don’t worry about big sis Serena. You were unconscious, so you did not see her when she fought against all those Enthralled Wanderers by herself. She is very strong. Besides, she has already been there once. This is here second time. I am sure nothing will happen to her.”
“…Who is worrying about that pervert?” Cecilia said, trying to sound as if just thinking about her sister was enough to disgust her, and she might even have fooled Alnea with her tricks, if not for the worried look in her eyes. He did not point it out though, and instead, turned towards Yuri.
“There is still something that I don’t understand,” Alnea said, shifting the topic away from big sis Serena to ease Cecilia. “I can understand why the teams are formed in a way that the Wanderers complement each other, filling up their weaknesses, while boosting their strengths, but aren’t the teams formed after the Wanderers reach the Thrall Domains? Does that mean that they hold off some key decisions of their paths until they become eligible to join the expedition teams?”
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“…Do you think that all Wanderers train with the aim of exploring the Thrall Domains?” Yuri said, shaking her head. “Though some of the larger, and stronger clans do train their Wanderers with the aim of developing them into teams, most of the Wanderers do not make their choice of lineages with the abilities of other Wanderers in their mind. Instead, they focus solely on themselves. When, and if, they become qualified to explore the Thrall Domains, and wish to do so, they form teams with other Wanderers like them, with the best combination that they can make.
“Of course, makeshift teams like these can never be as good as teams that have developed together from the very beginning. Forget about complementing each other’s abilities, they do not even have enough trust in each other to reveal all of their abilities. It is not for no reason that the casualty rate of Wanderers venturing into the Thrall Domains is so high. And if we too do not focus on the team as a whole, but just on ourselves, then let alone exploring the Thrall Domains, we would not even be able to handle Peak Stage Heterodox Wanderers. You do not wish for that to happen, right?”
Even if Yuri had not explained so much to him, Alnea still would have said no to her question. He was not even concerned about what other Wanderers did. As long as he could keep his Heart, and conscience Clear, it was enough. The only reason why he had asked that question was to help distract Cecilia a little. But it looked like Yuri had taken that question as his true thoughts, and answered it with all her seriousness. And so, he could do nothing but swallow his bitter thoughts, and shake his head at her question.
“Good, then let us discuss what lineages, and specialisation you two should choose from. Before that though, let me introduce my own Glyphs. As you two already know, I have chosen the lineage of Decay, and have engraved a total of three Intermediate Stage False Ranked Glyphs on my Spirit, ‘Arrow of Corruption’, ‘Wall of Corrosion’, and ‘Foggy Rope’.
“The ‘Arrow of Corruption’ can be lethal for some weaker intermediate phase Oren Beasts, and bring constant pain, and irritation to the advanced phase Oren Beasts. The ‘Wall of Corrosion’, on the other hand, can be used for defending, or trapping our enemies, while the ‘Foggy Rope’ will just bind our enemies for a short while. So, in a sense, all of my Glyphs focus on suppressing our enemies.”
“…A negative support Scholar?”
“…You can think of me like that,” Yuri said, looking at him with a weird gaze. “But that would also make you a negative support Arcanist.”
“…I think there are more important things for us to worry about than how to name our paths,” Alnea said, putting on as solemn a face as he could, taking the help of his Aspect to hide his awkward, embarrassed face. “According to what I understand, your Glyphs are focussed on suppressing our enemies, while your Arcanas are geared towards long range attacks. Your Martial Styles, on the other hand, focus on close quarter combat, giving you the ability to both, attack, and defend.”
While Yuri nodded along with his words, Cecilia frowned, and shook her head.
“There is no need to specifically mention Martial Styles in the way you did,” she said. “Aspects of the Origin Sea… they are much more flexible than its Mysteries. And so is the case with Martial Styles. Only those Wanderers who do not have firm foundations in the path of Warriors are not able to attack and defend with their Martial Styles. But none of us have such weak foundations, so we can skip that part, and focus on just the path of Arcanists, and Scholars.”
“…Or rather, just the path of Arcanist,” Alnea said, turning towards Yuri with a wry smile. “That is why we are having this conversation, right?”
“…Big sis Nyssa always said that you have a good head on your shoulders,” Yuri said returning his wry smile, with her own amused smile. “I did not use to believe her, especially when I learned for myself how reckless, foolish you are. But I am finally starting to see what she meant.”
“…Wait a minute,” Cecilia said, looking at Yuri in confusion. “So, are we going to choose our lineages as Scholar right now, or not?”
“Choosing your lineage as Scholars is going to be a very important decision, one that will affect you for your while life. Even I had to consult big sis Nyssa before taking that decision. How can I ask you to take that decision so casually?”
“…Then what was all the things that we discussed for?”
“…I guess you want us to think about our path as Arcanists first?” Alnea said. “From what you have said, I can see that our means as Arcanists is limited, and too focussed, even overlapping with each other to a certain extent. For example, most of my Arcanas can be used to boost us, or supress our enemies, just like your Glyphs. While Cecilia’s Arcanas are more focussed on boosting herself.
“We are not adequately equipped to deal with all sorts of situations. This is probably also the reason why we often faced difficulties when we fought against intermediate phase Oren Beasts at the beginning. And it is also what we need to address. We need to sort out our Arcanas, and decide a direction that we will develop in. And according to that decision, we can then think of what lineage to choose, or what kind of Glyphs to engrave on our Spirits.”
“You have the gist of things,” Yuri said, nodding along with his words. “You are already at the Intermediate Stage, Cecilia. And you are going to breakthrough soon too, Alnea. You two have gained some experience in Wandering, and it is now time for you to start thinking about your future as a Wanderer. About what paths you wish to focus on, and how two are going to supplement it with the other paths.
“At the same time, we, as a whole, need to think, and decide how we are going to develop as a team. Of course, this is also an important decision, one which needs pondered upon seriously, and with utmost care. As such, we are not going to come to a decision right away. However, we cannot just sit back, and hope that an enlightenment would fall upon us on its own. And that is why we are going to fight advanced phase Oren Beasts.”