After Sorin reached tier 3 he slept for a few hours until it was time for watch. They rotated watches for the rest of that day as each of them worked on their paths and rested.

A few times, some animals tested their perimeter and one time a team moved through the area, but didn't spot them. On the day after team 5 rose and began moving toward the pick-up point. They only had a couple of days left, and they were completely recovered from the champion battle, so they figured it smart to finish moving within easy range of the pickup point.

They walked along the western edge of the pick-up point. Sorin kept his fire sense expanded all the way out as far as his absorption would break even with. His ability to draw in aether was significantly increased with the doubling of his previous mental power allowing him to see all the way out to 600 feet in every direction without losing any aether from his core.

He didn't say anything to his teammates about hitting the next tier, because why would he volunteer information? They found a ridge overlooking a wide plain that was their pick-up point. They could see the deactivated teleporter sitting in the middle of the field. They set the usual traps up coming up their ridge and settled in for the wait.

The next couple of days passed with no excitement. During the day, Sorin began showing his team how he manipulated fire into his firestream. He told them just enough information that they could achieve the skill but left out a lot of the information from his world. He trusted them to watch his back, but at the end of the day, being the smartest and strongest person in the room increased his chances of getting home.

They didn't want to work on the fire blast skill that Sorin used and didn't even mention his thermal ion cannon skill. They saw what it did and then did to him, an accident with that skill would be lethal and they wanted no part of it. That worked for Sorin. As for Sorin he began to tweak his barrier with his new mental stat. He expanded it into a globe almost touching the ground creating a true shield around him. He had only one problem...it sucked the air out form within so it would be a temporary thing and couldn't keep it up or he would risk suffocating which was fine as the battles he was going to be facing would only become faster.

He made the intensity of his new shield much higher causing it to burn white-hot and be even more solid.

To work on his overall control of heat aether by causing ignition points further and further away from himself. He was met with different success as the further away he was from the point of ignition the more it would cost as his aether had to influence the aether that far away. It also took a little longer depending on how far away. The laws of nature still applied and that aether that far had to have an external force act upon it.

He would create tens of orbs of fire and have them all rotate around him getting them to go faster and faster without having them go out. He then switched to the infernal binding technique and began to manipulate it in more and more intricate patterns even having it lash out like a whip and grab different objects. It became clear he could never lash out and grab something delicate as it scorched everything it touched.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Finally pick up day arrived. They were all awake and watching the entire morning and as the sun came up, they saw it activate and teams began coming out of the trees onto the plains. They watched how the teams interacted with one another. To their surprise, nobody attacked anyone. So, they made their way down to the point themselves.

They saw a few other teams coming with them as they began walking on the flat. They remained warry of them but kept moving.

"Sorin! Fancy meeting you here!" came a familiar voice.

He turned and saw Ardwyn making his way up with team 13. They seemed somewhat gaunt and tired, but alive and happy to be leaving finally.

"Hey! how did it go for you?" Sorin asked. "Horrible. Some team ran off with our gear before we could even reach that supply point."

"Yeah, we saw two teams doing that. We had to prioritize one of those teams, so we picked the one that had our gear. We gave them a "talking to." Sorin said making the air quotes.

"Bad luck for us then. We got pretty hungry for a bit until we were able to kill some beasts and always keep near the water so we could drink. We would go almost a whole day between water sources." He said as he began looking at the rest of Sorin's team. "You have someone else's pack?"

"Yeah, the same group we...talked to, decided to follow us. Some things happened and they ran leaving this behind, so we made out like a champ." Sorin said.

Ardwyn just laughed as they began to pick up the pace. "Let's get out of here and see if we can get washed up and somewhat more comfortable away from the bugs." They reached the teleported and all stepped on initiated the transmat. They were taken back to the large atrium room with all the crowds of people. As they stepped of the teleporter the soldiers began to move in and escort them back to the elevators and back underground.

"As you come in, drop off your weapons on the racks where you placed your wooden training weapons. Transfer any gained items from the ruck to your personal packs. Leave the gear that came with the rucks with the rucks including any unused healing droughts. If you are caught with one in your possession after today you will be severely punished." Came the command from one of the soldiers.

They followed the command given and after they were done, they saw Corporal Varris standing in their usual training spot. They made their way over.

"Had a little fun, did we?" She asked.

"Yes corporal!" They responded. "I could tell. I've had to answer a lot of questions concerning the three of you. Wrecking an eco-system and killing a champion causing not one, but two captains to come all the way down here to talk to Sergeant Agron. Anything you want to say?"

"No corporal!" They all said. They knew that there might be someone watching or some sort of repercussions from the cinderpaw champion or the destroyed lake, so they agreed to keep silent unless they were truly forced to talk about it. Varris narrowed her eyes.

"Uh huh...I'm sure." She said sarcastically. "Anyway, congratulations on your survival. Hopefully you did a lot more than sit around out there for a week. This week will be about making all of you civilized. So, in the morning you will train as you did prior to the survival exercise then you will be attending classes about etiquette for military, civilian, nobility, and royalty. You will learn how to conduct yourself as soldiers. When are in the service of the empire you will conduct yourselves accordingly. Any questions?"

"No Corporal!" They gave the required response.

Good. Get out of my sight and get cleaned up. Dismissed!"