Chapter 9
----------------------------------------
John POV
----------------------------------------
Two months fly by just like that. We trained and studied even more than in our previous life. Our strength has now somewhere reached C or C+ for our best talent. The instructor was pleased with our growth. But the other student’s eyes grew disgusting instead. Even if the kingdom tried to hide it, some stalker or peeping tom still spied on our training. They were utterly disappointed when they saw our powers. Our environment quickly grew uncomfortable. It is pretty much like bullying. Some even spat in our direction. Some said out loud that we were fake heroes. Some even harassed us, trying to pick a fight while proclaiming that they were better than us.
“Hey, look, that fake heroes have come!”
“I saw it with my own eyes when they battled our instructor. They are no better than rank B. Even my brother was better than them. How lame!” your brother was 2 or 3 years away from us while we only studied here for 2 months. What did you expect? Sorry if this is not your template OP heroes at the start with cheating abilities. I wanted to complain too, you know. I already heard from our group meeting about freelancers who seemed a lot like an adventurer. I asked about it, and Parker explained them in great detail like he was already there. We occasionally hung around town when it was Sunday, but I dared not go alone. Even though I am an adult, this city was dangerous. Not only that, I fear some political implications may occur if I act rashly. Even if I am the oldest, my mind is still weak. I just let Parker handle everything. I am still a worthless otaku even after transferring world. My inferiority complex can’t be easily cured, huh?
“Well, they haven’t got their faith crystal yet. I heard they can grow to an SS rank if they have that?”
“No way, faith crystals at most add 2 ranks, you know. It is impossible for some c minus to become an SS.” The other boy said it out loud. Parker and the others just walked past them without paying any mind. I was impressed. If I were the same age, I would cower in my bedroom, looking for help from my parents. And then my parents will complain to the school. The bullying will stop, but I will no longer have friends. How pathetic.
“Hmm. I can’t wait for the next week.” Parker said with a hum.
“Yeah, I am truly bored with all of that theory. Let’s go kicking ass!” Hart raised his fists. Yesterday, our instructor said we would have some actual combat practice. We are going to go camping for 2 weeks in the woods while hunting monsters. Of course, they will be present too, but most combat will be in our hands. Honestly, I am pretty afraid since I never see myself as strong compared to them. In addition, I am a magic type. Unlike Hart, who has a steel body, I might die if some monster jumped from scrubs and attacked me. Besides me, there are also Nita, Stella, and Will, magician types. But being the lowest in ability here scares me. I am still at the bottom of the totem pole here in this group.
Even though I am the oldest. Especially Stella, her talent is already considered B+ or A- even though she hasn’t received her crystals. Why can’t I have a cheat like her? But having amnesia is terrible too. She can’t use some knowledge from the other world. Sometimes I pity her. She seemed unable to mix into the conversation and was left alone reading books, just like me back then.
Well, I am not reading books but playing games, though. The group was compassionate enough not to mind it, but the gap was not lost. This girl called Nana tried to strike up a conversation with her sometimes. Still, with Stella’s lack of knowledge, she couldn’t develop the conversation further. You can’t ask her what denim, tank top, or high heels is. All fashion, TV shows, games, and everything else from our world are incomprehensible to Stella. She doesn’t even remember her hobby. It must be hard. But, despite that, she has the most information about this world. She is a genius. Her reasoning was perfect, and her memory surpassed humans. I never saw such a genius girl, just like in mangas. The only flaw might be her amnesia.
And there is Parker, our de facto leader. Everyone just gathers at him. Why my schooldays can’t be like that? Even now, he has the most reputation among us heroes. He will intermediate any critical discussion. How enviable he is. Everyone consulted him with any problems or information that they found.
Looking at his talent, he is like Stella but a warrior type. B+ of all warriors, even without crystal? Is it a joke? That ability is enough to catch 2 or 3 arrows or block them with swords. Unlike Stella, who still has drawbacks with her missing memories, Parker is perfect. He is smart, he is handsome, and he is rich too on Earth. He is a total cheat! No good, my habit of hating anyone better than I resurfaced again. I need to calm down. Even though I am like this, I should be around A rank when I received my crystals. No matter how you see it, it is way above average. I can survive in this world, and that is what’s important. I have learned my lesson in my workplace that there is always someone above you. It is useless to envy others. It will just bring you unhappiness.
“Next week, huh? I can’t imagine we have already been here for almost 3 months. We will officially be here for 3 months when we go on this school trip.” I tried to strike up a conversation. Thanks to my working environment, I manage to gain somewhat tiny conversational skills.
“Yeah. Let’s kick some zombie or goblins ass.” Hart was fired up.
“Isn’t this the template where we are supposed to fight weak mobs, but a mid-boss suddenly appeared?” The twin asked. Now that gives me a chill. In most light novels and virtual games, That template has become mainstream.
“Yeah, that’s right.’ The other twin nodded
“Riko, please don’t jinx the quest. Now I am afraid to fight even a single goblin.” Nana gives a glare at those two.
“If a mid-boss appears, I will hold both of you responsible. I will cut your leg and leave you as a sacrifice for the rest of us to escape.” Chloe gave off a dark aura. Thank goodness it wasn’t me who said those words.
“We are sorry, Chloe!! Please let us off.” The other 2 bowed their head immediately. Well, I knew they were just kidding, so there was no seriousness on both of their faces. They are even smiling when bowed their head. After that, everyone chuckles. It was pretty incredible. If it were me in the past, I might kneel to her in fright and create an awkward atmosphere between us. How do you read that kind of atmosphere? How did you know you would not anger the other party if you apologized without seriousness? Some of those questions still lingered in me. Even in my workplace, I pay close attention to jokes. Some of my coworkers told me that I was too polite. I am at a loss at that time.
“Heya, guys.” Und wave at us. Richard, Bane, and Fay were standing nearby. “Today, we will teach you about party roles in preparing for practical combat.”
“We have been learning this subject for 3 weeks now. Is this really important?”
“I must say that this is extremely important. You are supposed to learn this for another 5 months before going out for real combat. I knew how boring it was. When I was in class, I often dozed off in this lesson. But in real combat, I finally realized its true worth.”
“So, are we going to formations like yesterday?” Parker asked
“In the past, we teach you formations, but why are those formations created? What are they for?”
“To let strong warriors protect the weak mages in the back?”
“It is true, but how you said it irks me, Parker. You know we are not exactly weak regarding firepower,” Will defended himself.
“So, am I a mage or warrior?” Nana asked.
“This is why we apply for party roles. “Richard said. “Just as you said earlier, there are attackers and defenders on the battlefield. But various roles exist within a party. For example, I am a vanguard defender, Bane is a Vanguard defender, Fay is a magician, and Und is a rear guard. Of course, other parties have a different composition.”
“And, in other cases, there are vanguard magicians.” Fay looked at Stella and me. “But, it is infrequent and very inefficient.”
“Vanguard magician?”
“Let me show you. A magician isn’t that weak. We can deploy a mana barrier in exchange for armor and body strengthening.” Fay said as a semi-sphere started to form around her.” With this, a magician is pretty much like a fortress. Hart, try to hit it with all of your strength.”
“Okay. Be prepared!” Hart took a stance and focused his energy. An aura unique to body strengthening enveloped his body. “Hah!!”
BOOM!!
A loud booming sound was followed by a shockwave towards us. It is not enough to blow humans like mangas, but it s enough to send a gust of wind and ringing your ears.
“Whoa, we just a bit more, and we would have seen it. You should punch harder, Hart.” One of the twins said while looking at Chloe. Her skirt isn’t exactly short. It is knee length, so even if you sent more gust, I doubt it will reveal what’s underneath. But let’s stop thinking here. If I unconsciously speak, I might be killed.
“What did you want to see?” Chloe gave a murderous glare while her hand iron clawed Riki’s face.
“I already punched it with everything I got. Any more, and it will be painful.” Hart replied. While he asked with an innocent face.” And what would be shown if I punched harder?”
“Don’t ask!!” Chloe threw a small stone packed with weapon Edge towards Hard. He dodges, and the rock hits the sphere with a loud boom, But the barrier still holds.
“Hmm, quite powerful. If you doubled your power, you might breach my barrier.” Fay assessed us. “However, as you can see. It is inefficient. I can’t move at high speed like Richard. This place might be used for temporary respite, but it is complicated to do in the middle of battle. And if you hit it many times, it will break eventually. So a warrior is more suited for vanguards.”
“Alright, enough sidetracking. Let’s return to the topic.” Und signaled us to pay attention to him by clapping his hands
“Let’s try the traditional roles for a party. Since you have 10 people, want to form a single party or 2 parties? If it is a single party of 10, you would usually have 3 to 5 vanguards, 1 scout, and 1 rearguard; the rest is either defensive mage or offensive mage. If it is a double party, each party would have 1 or 2 vanguards, 1 scout, 1 rear guard, and the rest is mages. Discuss it now.”
“No healer, huh? This is unlike games.” Harts whispered. Just as he said, there are no healers’ roles in a party. Someone can use healing magic. But it is worthless in combat. Its casting time is incredibly long and isn’t instant heal but a slow regeneration.
Moreover, it only works on bruises or shallow cuts. For others, such as deep cuts, torn limbs, poisons, or petrifications, you would need some kind of catalyst, or your magic will only hinder the process. This magic is still vital for mages, so we still learned it since we will need it after every fight for vanguards to heal their wounds or wait for reinforcements.
“So, how should we split roles? Who is going to be a tanker?” Will asked. Everyone looked at Parker.
“Alright. Who is going to be an attacker?” Will ask. Everyone also looked at Parker.
“And scout?” everyone also looked back at Parker.
“And rear guards? Defensive mage? Offensive mages?” Will continued while sighing. Everyone looked at Stella.
“Don’t joke around. This is a party of 10. Why did Stella and I take all of the roles?” Parker gave his protests while Stella gave a depressed expression
“But, what can we do about it? In magic, Stella surpasses everyone. In close combat, you surpass everyone. Even if you lack a little body strength compared to Hart, combine it with your Weapon Edge talent. You surpass him.” Nana gave a very logical answer. Cheaters have it quite rough. Accept it. Talented people in society will always be worked to the bone.
“Even so, we should split the roles if we go on like this. You can’t train.” Parker tried to deny his fate. But his statement is also logical. As expected of a politician’s son
“To keep things fair, we should form 2 parties. 1 consists only Parker and Stella while the rest is on the other.” Nana and Chloe smiled gleefully while saying that.
“Why such an unfair distribution?” Parker gave another protest while being shocked
“It isn’t unfair. You two would overshadow our show if we were at the same party. You know it, right? You need to be matched with people of your caliber to be called fair. If you were at our party, you would take all the show, and our score will decrease.”
“This is discrimination! Stella, We are being bullied here. Say something.” Parker tried to gain support
“.......” Stella only gives an awkward silence while giving a cramped smile. She is tongue-tied. Huh? Don’t worry Stella, I know perfectly how you feel. An unsociable person like us will always find speaking challenging in public. Even now, I still feel it sometimes when doing a presentation or reporting to my boss.
“Stella...” Parker’s shoulder dropped.
“Alright. That’s settled. A prodigy hero team and ordinary hero team.” We will send the list to our instructors. Let’s give it our best, everyone.” Nana smiled while arranging the team. Parker and Stella went into some corners like a bullied child to discuss their strategy.
“So, we have Hart here obviously as a tanker. The rest of the warriors is the attacker. For mages, we have Will, Nita, John, and myself. I will become a rearguard, Will attacking mage. And the rest is close combat mages.”
“Wait a second, I accept myself becoming a vanguard. But why did Nana become a rearguard? “Hart protests. Nana, you just made a big mistake. A leader should not pick the easiest role in a group, or You will get a lot of complaints. I am speaking from my experience.
“Yeah. You have an A in every part. Why don’t you become a tanker like Hart? Your talent is multipurpose, right? You are the same cheat as Parker or Stella. You should stand in front. You are wasting your talent watching our back.” Riki gave a complaint
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“And if we look at it more closely, isn’t Nana more suitable to become a tanker? Hart has a berserker aura around him. His talent is good for that. But he lacks weapon edge. So, his attacks might not be as powerful as we hope.”
“Wait, what are you asking a frail girl to become a tanker? I don’t want to become a tanker!” Nana tried to deny it with all of her might. I understand your feelings, Miss Nana. Only an M will want to become a tanker.
“Are you frail? Chloe is more suited to become a rear guard, right?” Riko countered Nana’s reasoning with perfect accuracy
“Chloe....” Nana turned to Chloe and everyone else for help with teary eyes. But everyone just turned their heads away from her. Nana, you learned something new in society now. Learn that
traitors are everywhere, Miss Nana.
“John, any advice? You seem silent since the beginning.”
“Hmm, if I have a say, Hart becomes the primary tanker. Nana will be a secondary tanker and attacker. Riki and Riko scout and attackers. Will is our artillery wizard. I will become an attacking mage, and nita will become a Defensive mage. Chloe can support us from behind by using bows. She is also tasked with protecting our rear. It is perfect for her talent.”
“That’s logical. So what should we do specifically?” Riko and Riki asked
“Hart’s role is clear you are to prevent any enemies from approaching the rest of us. For Nana, it’s a jack of all trades. She plugged a hole in any of our formations. That’s why she must be versatile for any condition and be placed in the center of our formation so she can help others quickly. Riki and Riko, Your talent is more like an assassin or thief. Your attacks and dexterity are good. Your job is to finish scattered enemies.
Try to fight no more than one opponent at the same time. If you get hit, it will become a serious matter. For me, I will try to spam some magic at our enemies. Will will deal the finishing blow with magic. Nita, try to hinder our enemies and protect our allies with your quick casting. That’s my suggestion.”
“That’s good enough. Okay, we will go along with it.” everyone agreed. Even Nana, who looked like she was still very reluctant to be called a tanker, agreed to the roles I distributed. This is the advantage of having age on your side.
“We have spread out our roles. Let’s see the genius’s show, okay? Looks like they are ready.” Riki said while throwing a glance toward Parker and Stella
“A duet, huh? Though I can’t recommend it. But on the battlefield, you must be prepared for any situation. It reminds me of the past when I was dumped with a rookie to break through a labyrinth” Richard smiled while looking at them.
“A party of 2 isn’t that rare. But it is dangerous.” Fay gave a wry smile
“Well, no matter what your party is, we will have a match. Be prepared. Of course, we will go easy on you. But not that easy. Prepare yourself!” Bane said while holding her training sword and taking a stance. The atmosphere changed all of a sudden. In a flash, the instructor set their formation and took their role. Und was in the back with Fay, and in the front was Richard, with Bane supporting him from right behind. Stella and Parker took a similar stance, but they were lagging in speed.
“Let’s go!” Richard and Bane dashed towards them. No matter how I see it, the bullied children are outnumbered. They will go down in mere seconds. But Richard and Bane said that they would go easy on them. But they didn’t look like they will at all.
“Stella. DA close combat.” Parker shouted some signal. Stella quickly fired a fireball toward Richard while he moved back and tightened their formation. Hmm, their coordination is perfect. It’s like what you see in a single-player RTS (Real Time Strategy) game. Parker is a total tanker. He is just taking blows all the time while Stella dishes out counterattacks using magic. While Parker blocks Bane’s attack, Stella dishes out attack magic to Richard, which he dodges or blocks with great effort. Then, they switched roles. Stella attacked Bane while Parker tried to block Richard’s counterattack.
Their formation is stable, but they are slowly being pushed back. But damages gradually accumulated to Richard and Bane. If this keeps going on, they might win. But Richard and Bane are taking it easy to some extent. This one isn’t their full power yet.
“Not bad! But remember, in a real battle, you must adapt even against more significant numbers. Fay! Und! “
“I feel like bullying,” Fay said while raising her staff.
“Better by us than some monster out there in the jungle,” Und replied, readying his bow.
“Stella. DD,” Parker quickly added another signal. Amazingly, they can reorganize such tactics in that short of a time. I need to ask parker to teach us that formation too. The arrow and magic were deflected by Stella’s magic.
“Now, smart boys and girls are surely different. I wonder what that code is about.” Bane smiled as he dodged an attack from Stella.
Hmm. I think I figured out what that code just now means. Stella’s magic changed its behavior. Before, she was focused on attack. But she now changed her magic to hinder enemy movements or block them. Her aim was different.
“You can’t win if all you do is dodge and parry, you know,” Richard said as he unleashed another attack against Stella, which was parried by an ice attack.
“How about you guys lower the difficulty first before asking that.” Parker retorted as barrages of arrows and magic were poured on him. But he managed to dodge them by a tiny margin.
“No can do. It’s your fault that you approached us with only 2 members.” Bane said.
“I guess this is it. You guys put up a good fight but not good enough.” Richard gave a decisive upward blow. Parker’s sword was thrown away, and he put his sword on his neck. Bane also did the same to Stella after she parried an arrow and magic from Und and Fay. I never thought they would win anyway. It was unfair from the beginning.
“Alright. This guy loses. Go get a bench and watch the other team.” Bane shooed the lonely team with a smile and invited us to battle.
“Hmm. They are not bad at all. The formation was pretty.” Richard was mumbling to himself
“Losing is losing. Blame their lack of power. In the very end, power is everything. Alright, you guys. Come here and try to entertain us.” Bane speaks carefully. He was in a good mood today. We showed the results to them, so he was contented.
“Let’s go, guys.” Nana drew her training sword. We tried to form a standard formation like Parker and Stella, but our stances were stiffer since we had more people.
“Richard! Get your ass here. Fay and Und. Gave them an opening fire!” Bane shouted.
“I am the leader, dammit. You get your ass over here. Fay prepares a large spell. Und, tried to pick the rear. We will play defensively. They have more numbers than us. Tightened our formation.” Richard belays Bane’s orders. Whew, if it was Hart that said such a thing. I would just follow his orders. I didn’t have the guts to deny the flow and invented new strategies instead. That Richard has both charisma and skills to command his team.
“You and your dull command. Alright....” Bane quickly followed his orders while grumbling. Their formation was settled promptly, with Bane and Richard at the front while Fay and und were at their rear.
“Nana. What do we do? Chase them?” Hart asked
“Ehh, I am the leader?” Nana asked surprised
“Who else?” Riko and Riki commented
“Alright...” Nana resigned herself, “We will not chase them. We will go into defensive stance just like them.”
It was a standard practice in RPG that you went into defensive first. Surprisingly, even this faith academy also taught the very same thing. What Nana just said is textbook practice. After grasping your opponent’s strength, we will whittle down our enemy’s strength.
“They didn’t chase us. Man, how boring. They are just like you, Richard! They are very dull.”
“Don’t mock them. Aren’t they smarter than you and your stone head? They are properly practicing what they learned in books. Even if they have superior numbers, they properly gauge our strength. Watch out. Their spell will come to rain us down. If this keeps up, Fay and Und will be overwhelmed. They have more mages. If we get closer to them, we will be surrounded without support. They have at least 4 specialized warriors. Nana and Hart will block us while Riki and Riko will defeat us from our blind spot.”
“So, what are we going to do? We are getting quite cornered, aren’t we?” Bane said while raising his halberd to defend himself from a stray spellshot.
“Bane, defend Fay. Fay prepares large spells. After that spell, we will assault them.”
ß------------à
“Hey, Nana, is this alright? We will get no-shows if it goes on like this.”
“This formation is written in our book as the one with the highest survival ability. We have more mages than them. It should be okay, I think...” Nana said with a fluster. She certainly can’t take any pressure from leadership. Even though her tactics are right. We have Will, myself, Nana, Chloe, and Nita as the long-range attacker. That is 5 people. While our warrior is hart, Riki, and Riko. While Nana can also function as a warrior making it 4 melees. She wasn’t confident enough to clash with a force with more skills than her. Her tactics aren’t as good as Parker, but she wasn’t that bad.
“But I will not get any points like this, right? You can use magic, but I am a pure warrior.”
“Yeah. We too. It is boring.”
“Um... well, they are teachers. I do not think we can win even if it is 4 against one, right? They can’t possibly be beaten by such standard tactics, aren’t they? Maybe they will come to us instead.”
“Watch out! A big one is coming!” Will screamed as he looked at the sky. It is advance level magic.
“Everyone. Dodge!” Nana screamed.
*BLAAR!*
An enormous crater was created by a large thunder aimed at the center of our formation.
*cough*
“Everyone okay?” Nana said while standing
“I am fine,” I answered. I can still fight. Just some bruises on my legs. Now, how about the others? “Watch out, Nana! They are coming!”
Nana quickly turned around, and her weapon clashed with Richard’s. Bane soon followed with his attack. Nana was quickly pushed back, but Hart came to the rescue. His big axe opened a distance between them. And he began reforming their formation with Nana, Riki, and Riko.
“John! Watch out! Their mages are coming from the rear!” I heard Parker screaming from outside of the training field. I quickly turned back. To my surprise, Und is already at our behind, with Fay following him on his behind.
“We are attacked.” I raised a scream while trying to chant out a magic spell, but Und’s arrow was a lot faster. Even though we are newbies, they didn’t pull any punches. The dull arrow hit me with a loud thump. It was just a training arrow, but it can get quite nasty with weapon edge. I lost consciousness in an instant.
“Are you awake?” Nita called out
“How about the fight?” I tried to massage my head. I think I got a bump here. Damn, what if I get amnesia like Stella. They need to put safety protectors when training!
“Well, we lost. We just finished resting. And Richard summoned us.”
With that, I headed out from the infirmary to the training field. Today was quite fun even though I lost. It feels like I went into a club in high school I never went into before. I am already an adult. But experiencing playing with schoolmates is like a dream I can finally realize. They are significantly more mature than me in the past. Even though I am the only adult, they didn’t rely on me. That’s quite reassuring. I am weak to pressure. With this group, I am pretty eager to have actual practice in the next 2 weeks.
----------------------------------------
Parker POV
----------------------------------------
“Well, let me reassess your capability. For Parker’s group, your cooperation with Stella is excellent. But your cooperation with others is questionable. It’s a pity. Why did you spread out your party like that?” Richard made a wry smile while assessing me. Damn it, that Nana. If only we have 4 or 6 people. We will definitely crush those arrogant teachers.
“Well, just take it as a lesson, brat. Even if you both are a prodigy, you can’t win alone. Try to rely on others a bit.” Bane smiled mockingly. A vein popped from my forehead while I clenched my fist, trying to hold it out. Stella, as usual, only stares at him in a daze. She didn’t reveal any anger. She reviewed the mistake our group made, huh? That blank look is sometimes a bit creepy, even to me. I can’t guess what she is thinking at all.
“Alright. Next is Nana’s team. Your party just lacks the experience, I think. I want to be rough, but seeing that you only studied here for 2 months. It would hurt my heart if I were to scold you.” Richard said, also giving a wry smile
“Take more risk, idiot! You can’t be like him, who thinks unnecessary things. And also your mages and archers. They are super weak. Just because they usually attack from afar doesn’t mean they do not need close-range training.” Bane also smiled mockingly at them. Who is the one forbidding them to warrior train in the first place? This battle isn’t fair. Remembering chants are complicated. Except for Stella with her god-like brain, we only remember 4 or 5 chants this whole 2 months, with 1 mid-tier spell and the others a beginner spell. Why the heck you stormed them with an advance tier spell?
“Bane, if you talk any more, I will have a word with you in the office,” Richard said coldly.
“Sorry, sir.” Bane was quickly tamed, and he went obediently.
“So, that is all that I can say. I hope that you will continue to polish your skills. Humanity will need your strength someday. And don’t forget to prepare for the next real combat practice. We will watch from a distance. We will not help you until you are truly in a pinch. So be careful. These real combat exams have the most casualties out of all other exams.” Richard gave a warning.
“This one is serious. We will not help you until you are half dead. Even with that, there are many instances where you get instantly killed. Please watch your back.” Bane gave a glare. He isn’t joking on this one. Even if we are heroes, our abilities are only around B’s with zero experience. It is still suitable to put caution on this quest. If I take a look on notice boards in the freelancer guild, our team’s ability barely passed the requirement to pass into forests where the real combat exam will take place, which is B-
And so, we were dismissed. We were given 50 gold plates by Richard. It is to be used to buy all of our supplies. An official plate by the empire can’t be doubted, so 50 gold plates equal 500 grams. Now with this money, what should we buy?