Blue found himself being teleported along with his pawns as his vision shifted rapidly.

He found himself in an environment filled with green trees, thick vines and damp plant overgrowth all over the place with thunderclouds overhead rumbling ominously. The temperature was very humid which made one uncomfortable.

Insects littered the ground and those kept trying to find ways to climb on the body to bite. Birds were chirping loudly over trees and there were multiple presence from all directions that was eyeing them with a hungry gaze.

“Thundering Rainforest of the south? Everyone, battle formation.”

He ordered and they swiftly moved to put the mid-long range and support class members into the middle while encircling them to guard them from close quarter attacks. The twin defenders stood left and right of those four in the center while the two Paladins, with him, formed a triangle that made another layer of protection. The remaining close range striker moved about the formation gaps to cover for unexpected attacks as well as to strike in opportune moments.

This was the battle formation that they had strategized in case of a terrain like this rainforest where dense overgrowth hindered big movements and also served to cover for the opponents before and after engaging.

A suitable tactic for their current self.

Blue used the skill Plagued Beacon to check around them since most of his perception was blocked by the trees and vines all around them. He did pick up many venomous insects, dangerous aether beasts and some carnivorous aether plants with mobility within the sensing range that was closing in on them rapidly.

“Let's clear out the surroundings first. Get ready for battle. I have marked them up so each member tries to eliminate the priority targets swiftly. We need to move as we fight. Though I haven't found a good place for a base, hmm, let's just head northward for now. Central plains direction should be the general goal for pretty much every student in this early stage.”

“Blue, I sensed a clearing on the northwestern side. It is perfect for the temporary base in this forest.”

“Oh? Alright, let's head there then. Darwin, start divination. Dawson, look for any suspicious points that have been overlooked towards that direction as we make our way there.”

He gave continuous orders as the hostile wildlife came into view. He wasn't surprised that Luna was able sense so far ahead that she directly found a good place to set up the base when he found nothing but dense trees in that direction.

The students had learned in this month how to differentiate the direction by reading the flow of aether directly. There was no need to resort to mundane methods anymore. A player party that can't even do such a thing wouldn't be able to survive out there in a disadvantageous terrain.

A three horned bull, two steelwinged hawks, serpentine purple vines and numerous ten tendril centipedes were in his direction.

Now that he was level 15, his base stats and three attainments had naturally improved adequately. It was a good time to take this chance to further refine his aether vein. For the next week he needed to cherish this time to steadily keep gaining experience as he needed a lot of refinement to be able to level up to 16 as higher levels required longer time for completion.

He had drafted a simple plan where he would strive for the targeted rewards while not backing away from any combat opportunities as long as it wasn't an overly disadvantageous confrontation where his pawns were too outnumbered or bitterly overpowered by the opponents.

Steelwinged hawks had reached him the fastest among the adversaries. This aether beast had wings as hard as steel and with a wing strike they could crush their prey by going for the vitals from the get go. An aether beast was more smart than a common animal found anywhere.

Of course, they couldn't come even close to holy beasts who had sentience equal to and sometimes even higher than many races that's firmly established in the void but obviously, equating an aether beast with a holy beast was akin to comparing a monkey with a mortal human.

Stolen novel; please report.

Two were entirely different species.

Blue thrusted his bident to parry the wing strike before sidestepping by using Blight Sense skill to avoid the other hawk. As his bident had the offensive skill Drain Touch's effect on it the hawk felt its stamina depleting to zero in a near instant. With the vast level difference such a situation was unavoidable for it. He had sensed that these foes ranged from level 8 to 11 with the three horned bull being the highest among the fray.

Even that paled to his level 15 self thus his skill effect was devastating for it even when he was not showing his true attainments of skill proficiency. The hawk dropped on the ground and fainted on the spot before getting its neck crushed under his boots as he moved to diagonally slash at the other hawk.

The remaining bird also met a swift demise as its head was severed from a follow up strike.

Blue used Wailing Sanctum on the centipedes to halt them in place. Currently, this skill had a good attainment that he publicly showed which allowed him to prevent the affected foe from leaving it without having to follow the rhythm of those trying to exit it desperately. Now that the centipedes were locked up the three headed bull had become the closet opponent with the serpentine purple vines way behind it.

It was rushing at him to impale him with its three horns and because of the large size and ferocity this aether beast had he was unwilling to clash with it in a close quarter. Though he was higher level, it wasn't big enough to offset the strength an aether bull possessed compared to his human body.

Yet another big weakness of humans.

Anyways, now that he wanted to engage in mid range combat he didn't necessarily need the Wailing Sanctum skill. He kept the Drain Touch skill effect on it and then used his space element attainments to make it imperceptible before he threw it with added strength from Contagious Spirit skill that had linked up with Hearty Meal's aether absorption effect to enhance his arm muscle strength.

So much stacked buff instantly impaled the thick hide of that bull as the invisible bident penetrated one of the front leg muscles which made it crash on to the ground violently from the sudden break of that reckless charge. Before it could understand why it was not able to impale the prey in front of it the bull sensed that the pain from its injured leg had suddenly started draining its stamina. It also felt the uncomfortable thing that was lodged in its injury disappearing suddenly.

Blue had teleported the bident and made another throw which aimed for the left eye of this weakened bull. The fact that it couldn't see and sense what was attacking it because of space's imperceptible aspect plus the sudden depletion of its stamina had managed to down this tough opponent that would have made other students experience bitter hardship.

With the bident successfully impaling it and causing damage to the brain the bull tried to do a desperate rush but unfortunately for it the stamina drain had also compounded the effect with this second strike so it could only die indignantly.

With only the vines left he took a cursory glance and saw that his pawns were performing well. Luna seemed to show an increase in her performance and it seemed that she was planning to keep the act of being a top prodigy like him continuing for the future. This earned a thumbs up from him which she didn't get to see as it was more of a mental gesture.

Anyways, his party was filled with young prodigies and also two absurdities such as a top powerhouse abyss spawn from Inner Area of the Abyss and a titled player from the mysterious Core Area of the Jester's Domain in Tri Domain Union.

Such settings were enough to ensure a stable journey throughout this competition.

So, he decided to make quick work of those pesky vines as he used the previous combo of skill effect buffs to continuously throw the bident in a set pattern. Half a minute later, those vines had been shredded to pieces while the previously stuck centipedes had all died within the Wailing Sanctum from the incessant sound attack through the entire duration of this first combat.

His pawns had also finished up their share as the red arrow marked and yellow arrow marked enemies had all fallen. Luna had taken an active stance to actually down the remaining purple arrowed targets which garnered some exclamation from the pawns. He told them that she had adequate three attainments to quell their inquiry about her sudden burst in strength.

Luna also confirmed and chimed in here and there to establish a good story. It seems that she had sensed more enemies approaching so she took the initiative to quickly end the battle despite bearing the risk of being inquired later by them who were obviously unaware of reincarnation. This was why he had got her to realize the truth of her identity when she was still naive thus allowing a more smooth communication between the two of them.

Anyways, understanding this indirect message from her, he didn't loiter around and ordered the party to head to the clearing at a steady pace.

Thus the Azure Sun party successfully made its way to the glade and set up the temporary base within the first hour.