"Wait...wait!" he says in his hoarse voice, "Men! Gather the essences!"

While Kairos' teams are still trying to support their wounded and carry their dead, Alucard's team went around to the Orc bodies nearby and started carving crystallised essences out of them.

These crystals are made from the refined culmination of a magical beast’s energy, depending on how powerful is the defeated creature.

Although it is also a kind of crystallised magic, it does not carry any life within them and is a different thing from the Orc crystal eggs.

Within a short while, Alucard's team collected five D rank essences, three E rank essences five F rank essences, ten G rank essences, and twenty-five H rank essences.

This time around, the archer had outdone the rest.

Many of the E and F ranked crystals found were from the Orcs that Edward had sniped. Additionally, two of the D rank essences from the Orc Captains were taken down by him while Alan, Jim and Tommy only had one each. The rest of the crystalised essences are taken from the Orcs that had turned into dust by the Starfire array. 

Of the seventy magical beasts that fought them, they managed to defeat more than half and drove the remaining into the forest, fleeing.

The bodies and splattered blood across the forest ground became a testament of the ferocity of this battle waged. 

The Orc Captains defeated by Tommy and Jim looked the worst. The former bloated like a sausage after the beating it received, the latter became a spiky porcupine thanks to Jim’s hidden weapons.

Alucard walked to Kairos and then handed him a bag filled with the essences. Kairos' teams defeated all the Orcs, and therefore the spoils rightly belong to them.

"Thank you for saving my men and me. We will always be indebted to you.

In the future, if you need our help, we will back you up no matter what!" Alucard said determinedly. They are only alive because Kairos and his teams are willing to risk themselves.

Kairos nodded his head without being inhibited. In his heart, he felt conflicted, because even though he saved five lives, they lost three friends in the process, and those all people he had come to know and care for.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts and said, "There's no need for thanks. If we did not come to your aid, I know that none of my team will be able to live through the fact that we could have done something to save you, but did not."

"Even so, we owe you our lives. Remember our family names. It might be of help to you in the future. I am of the Angelheart house, a family of Rune Masters throughout many generations." Says Alucard.

"I am Flora of the Blue Frost house, our family name has the frost word in it but we are actually a blacksmith family," A lightly tanned-skinned girl says with a smile.

"I am Lugh of the Light Rose house. We are a family of royal healers," A swarthy guy from the team says proudly. To use the word 'royal' means that they directly serve the royal family, Vestimore.

"I am Lan Lei of the Resounding Thunder house. We are a family of generals. I think my grandfather would love to meet Tommy. If you the time, you should come and visit us!

With your talents, we can probably train you to be a Great General one day. Ha Ha Ha!!" A short boy with a thunderous voice said, but despite his size when one looks carefully at him, they will see that he is covered with strong muscles from head to toe.

"And I am Fauna from the Northern Cross family. We are a family of inscriptionists. We usually work with the Angelheart family and Blue Frost family to create new weapons. When you are free, please come and visit us and I'll help you upgrade your weapons," a young girl with beautiful green eyes says, as she eyed the runic weapons that Kairos and his team carries.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Thanks, we'll take up on your offer when this training exercise is done. Let's part ways here. We are from different teams and really shouldn't be seen together by the instructors," Kairos says with a slight frown.

After this event, there are a lot of things he wants to ask the instructors, like why have they not yet stopped the exercise when so many students have been seriously injured.

Alucard nodded slightly, and with a small bow his group went off. Although some of them have broken ribs and arms, their movements are largely unhindered. They are definitely children from noble houses to know how important it is to protect their legs in battle. 

A wound that impedes movements only means death.

Clutching the bag of crystallised essences in his hands, Kairos knew that no matter what spoils it is, it can never trade for the friends he lost. Especially, when all three of them had died to protect him. It gripped at his heart, and he knows it will be a while before he can come to terms with this.

"Let's go back," Kairos said with a sigh.

The guys all nodded solemnly. The group walked back without a word, carrying the three that once walked alongside them. Leaving them here only risk being eaten by wild beasts or Orcs, their bodies will be collected by the staff of the Saint Cadets Academy and then returned to their families.

.....

A day passed by rather quickly and they returned in tatters.

Kairos was carried straight to George, and after a brief report on what transpired, the entire war tent fell silent. The Orcs' attack was too surprising, their formation and strategies are more intelligent and complicated than any of the Orc parties that people had faced for the past hundred years.

Although their injuries are horrific and there were even three deaths, George still felt truly amazed by how Kairos can keep the amount of damage they took to the minimum. As commander of the Red Team, he did not think to reprimand the boy’s decision to risk his team to save the Blue Team. In the end, they are all students from the same Academy.

"I would expect a group with Rank F and Rank G to be wiped out by either Calculus or those Orcs. Tell us, what you did to survive both battles?" some of the people in the war tent couldn't keep their curiosity down and started asking.

Kairos had not told them much about their formations as well as how he and the Snowdrifts managed to boost their abilities in battle with soul power.

Even George was genuinely interested in hearing exactly how they handled it, as his eyes sparkled with curiosity. But after looking at Kairos' condition, he stopped the others, "He can sate our curiosity after a good rest. We will set up a large tent with medical supplies for you and your teams. The tent will be partitioned so your group may train with no worries on leaking any cultivation secrets.

It's the best we can do for you right now," George says as he looked at Kairos with newfound respect. Not every captain can lead his men into battle and curve a path of survival out, but any that can have proven themselves to be worthy of his admiration.

Though what George had offered this group of brave warriors sounded insignificant, it is already the best accommodation possible within such a small base camp. 

The cultivation methods one practice is considered highly personal. Everyone wants to keep it to themselves, not only because of their value but also for the sake of keeping their weaknesses and forte secret. After all, what you practice determines what you can do.

During a training exercise, it is a luxury to have a private area for recuperation. Nevertheless, George ensured that the group would get their personal space for cultivation and recovery.

Wider space also means they could have more Heavenly Energy from the surroundings to themselves and use it to recover. It is known that cultivation helps one recuperate their wounds much faster, but the reason for this is not widely known. 

The actual logic behind it is, in fact, simple. To cultivate is to use energy drawn from the surrounding to increase the pool of life force and slowly enlarge its capacity. All martial arts, no matter internal or external, are powered by tapping into one's life force.

Therefore cultivating stimulates the lifestream within oneself, and helps recovery. 

When one's cultivation increases, their endurance will naturally improve, and they will be able to shrug off many injuries that would kill a lesser person and will never be sick again in their life. 

Also, their lifespan will increase because of this, and some monstrous people have lived well over five hundred years.

However, none of the practitioners of Gaia knows how to control one's life force properly or the existence of its active form, Soul Force. Compared to the knowledge left within the old tome that Kairos possess, the cultivation methods in Saint Empire are truly trash.

After Kairos left the war tent, he found everyone in his teams gathered outside a large and short square tent.

Now that they are back to the safety of the camp, the ones who had fought alongside together did not want the party to end this way. To ask them to go back to becoming rivals is too much.

After a short discussion, they decided to ask Kairos if they could also join the Snowdrifts and be part of them. Alan, Edward, Jim and Tommy stood nearby with a smile on their faces. Apparently, they already nodded, and only Kairos is left.

He smiled and said, "You guys are already my brothers and sisters-in-arms, joining the Snowdrifts or not is unimportant. Do you still wish to do so?"

"Of course leader! In the future, we will follow you unto death! Right guys?" someone asked. Everyone else nodded.

Seeing their smiles, and the determined look on their faces, Kairos can only agree.

The meaning of becoming a group is far more significant than just being friends that had fought together. It means they are now an organisation that has to take care of each of its members. 

For poor children like Kairos and his friends who had no funds yet values relationship, this is a heavy burden.

A flash of light shone in Kairos' eyes. Yes, they might be dirt poor right now, their cultivation ranks and training resources incomparable to any proper sects, but whatever obstacle they face, they will bring it down. Just like the foes they had fought.

With a renewed spirit, the first thing Kairos did for the Snowdrifts is to carve three small badges on wood, with the names of those fallen on them.

"If all of you are happy to join the Snowdrifts, then I'm sure the three of them would as well," Kairos paused and looked at everyone.

Their expressions acknowledged his statement, then, Kairos proceeded to carve on those three badges the words: "Of the Snowdrifts."

"In the future when we have our place, we will hang a badge to represent each of our members," Kairos says solemnly.

These words are both a promise, and, a hope, at the same time, and everyone knows that even in death, they will be remembered and honoured by those still living, like how Kairos has honoured these three who left before them.