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Soul Venerable
Chapter 52 - Priority

Chapter 52 - Priority

< You are designated as a Support? > Asmodeus whispered from his Phylactery, surprise evident in her tone. < Shouldn’t you be a Specialist instead? You are highly effective in infiltrating and assassination, but you’re very bad at self-healing methods unless it is through killing. If you’re in a position where you can’t immerse yourself in slaughter for some time, you’ll regress into a useless piece of shit… >

Mordred ignored the demon king’s unsolicited comment while confirming the information that the seasoned professor had conveyed. Despite the wave of whispers from the other apprentices, he doesn’t seem to be bothered as he continues his lesson. To him, the Great Archmage is similar to a stranger from another continent, nobody worth his concern.

“Seventh, Control Tower! They are the brains of your team, the strategic maestro that oversees the battle from a vantage point, orchestrating the flow of operations. These individuals possess keen analytical skills, a tactical mindset, and a natural talent for leadership.”

He continued, “Control Towers are responsible for gathering and analyzing information, formulating battle strategies, and providing real-time guidance to team members on the field. They often used advanced communication methods to maintain constant contact with their team and used all sorts of slaves or their team members as combat resources. Additionally, Control Towers excel at deducting, adapting to rapidly changing situations, making critical decisions under pressure, and coordinating the effort of the entire team.”

“Their role is paramount in ensuring that the team operates with maximum efficiency and cohesion. By providing strategic direction and situational awareness, Control Towers significantly enhance the team’s ability to respond effectively to any challenges.”

The introduction video of this class begins with the appearance of ‘Beast Sniper’ Eleanora and ‘Celestial Siren’ Vladimirovich Yulsaria. While both of them have unique methods that make them different from one another, they share the same class.

“The Hunter Academy allows you to freely choose your path, but in the end, some kind of uniformity is required to streamline the process of education and resource procurement. After all, you only have a finite amount of time and energy. Effort is important, but knowing where to put them is even more so. In the future, you’ll form your own Hunter team with fellow apprentices. Ideally, each unit consists of at least seven members from each class, but some classes are more preferable than others, so each team will range from seven to twelve members.”

The veteran professor scanned the hall, observing the youth who had already begun making friends with one another, smiling. The academy will facilitate their education, so his job to rally their interest has been accomplished.

“For the first six months, you’ll be learning the general basics. You have to pick two out of the seven introductory classes but by the end of the first year, you are expected to be certified in one of the seven classes. This is why the Ninetail Royal Academy is separated into Seven Departments…”

After the first class ended, Mordred, along with Nagata and Kaishin, went to the cafeteria to grab a bite. The trio shared a meal while brooding over the previous lesson as it relates to their future.

“Which class are you going to specialize in?” Nagata asked as he devoured the food on his plate like the unsophisticated country bumpkin he is. His uncouth actions bring negative light onto the trio from the other apprentices who mostly come from high society, but the three don't care about how they are being viewed.

“Since I’m not good at combat, I might take Support as primary and Medic as secondary…” Kaishin answered while trying to be clean with her table manners.

Her home village’s main business was animal husbandry which specializes in raising goat-beasts and selling their product. As a caprine-beastman, she had higher compatibility with them and she had already thrown away her ambition to become a Control Tower after Mordred showed his ‘talent’, so being a Support might be a better choice.

“What about you? Have you thought of what you want to do?” She asked back.

Gulping down the red, saucy meat, Nagata answered straightforwardly. “Either Vanguard or DPS, but I’m leaning towards becoming a Vanguard.” He pondered for a second, his gaze went to Mordred. “Since Satoru will obviously become a Control Tower, we need to find other people who want to be our team members. Also, you should work on your words, people don’t like you.”

“Hmm, fair.” Mordred didn’t take his criticism too deep. It was all an act, he could simply change his personality from the presets in his repertoire. “I’m reserving the spot for a Medic, so don’t try to find one.” Unlike DPS or Defender, having an extra Medic on the team is redundant.

“You already have someone on your mind?” The two were surprised. They never saw Mordred interact with others, so they assumed that he was a loner who had no friends other than them.

“Adraste Delcroix.” Mordred uttered a single name, which shocked them.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“That Superior Elf?” Nagata traded a glance with Kaishin, confirming each other’s thoughts.

There’s almost nobody in the first year who doesn’t know Adraste Delcroix.

Much like most of the new students from super elite backgrounds, Adraste went through the orthodox enrolment method as it is typically used by them to compete and flex their abilities. The Delcroix clan is one of the Four Great Clans of Galatreon, so there’s no doubt about her competency. The reason why everyone knows her is because the orthodox enrolment method has two tests: theoretical and practical. In the practical test, she almost wiped the floor with the associate-professor responsible for the test.

At that point, the associate-professor was at a late-stage rank 0, while she, like all other apprentices, was at early-stage rank 0. Yes, some performance-enhancing drugs were being used, but that’s simply her combat style.

“Are you sure that’s wise? I mean, the Delcroix clan are no longer true dark elves after migrating to Galatreon, but to think that you wanted to get a Superior Elf species into our team…”

“There’s no rush.” Mordred gulped down, before continuing, “According to my calculation, her negative reputation as a dark elf will push out others who wanted her skills. Furthermore, if my deduction is correct, she’ll take the Medic-class, which will further push away any potential teammates.”

“A dark elven assassin being a Medic… ” Even Nagata could see that combination wouldn’t bode well for the team. “Would we be fine? Won’t she purposely replace our potion with poison? Since… y’know… I heard that all dark elves tend to be sadists. I don’t want my butthole to be explored for her medical purposes…” Nagata shivered at the thought, clenching his butt.

Mordred shook his head. As long as something is related to Galatreon in some way, it should be a resource that the Great Archmage had prepared for his post-resurrection arrangement. Modred deduced that Adraste Delcroix must be the agent prepared by Yellow Fragment to assist him. After all, Yellow Fragment is currently in the River of Time, she must be capable of divining and interfering with the future to a certain extent.

“Leave her recruitment to me, I’ll find a way.” Mordred assured.

Seeing Mordred’s unwavering conviction of his capability to recruit her, the two let him handle the Medic recruitment. “Then, about our DPS and Defender…” Nagata’s expression turned solemn. “The two classes made up around 60% of the students of the Royal Academy, but I have zero confidence that anyone is interested in joining our little group, considering we have you here.”

“No need to rush.” Mordred reiterates. “Although we are allowed to take apprentice-level missions from the Hunter Association next month, the pay’s a bit low. It’s best if we focus on getting our certification in a single Class first. We receive some allowance from Miss Shion, so we’ll have to be content with what we have. If you find your resources lacking, we can always trade with other apprentices, they are rich, after all. Only after expanding our clearance, we can take more bountiful missions, so recruiting team members isn’t our priority. Instead…”

Mordred rummaged through his belongings, took out a notebook and shared the content with the two of them. The pages are chock full of notes and pencil drawings, it was so convoluted with so much information that a layman will require some time to understand the context of the information. From this, Kaishin and Nagata were made aware that Mordred has been making deep calculations despite not interacting with others.

“There are various school events throughout the year, but I want our team’s long-term plan to focus on this one.” He pointed at a specific point in the notebook.

“The bi-annual hunting festival?” Kaishin raised her eyebrow. She lacked combat ability, so she tried to compensate them by gathering information. “In the 3rd and 9th month of every year, the academy will organize a bi-annual hunting festival, which is a competition. Each grade will have a different event, so we’ll be competing with the other first year.” She explained to Nagata. “But, the academy will organize various events to cater to all the tens of thousands of students, not just the hunting festival. So why are you infatuated with the 9th month hunting festival?”

“The 9th month hunting festival’s theme is ‘The Horned King Under The Moonlight Realm’’.” Mordred shared his thoughts. “According to my deduction, it should be an extradimensional expedition to a minor world, so I will do my utmost to prepare for this event. Do any of you have objections?”

“Nope.” Nagata instantly replied, “I don’t care where we’ll be going, as long as you’re fair with the distribution of rewards.”

At first, Kaishin wanted to object. Since she had spent some time in the library to browse some books, she was somewhat aware of what the ‘Moonlight Realm’ was. It should be a placeholder name for a minor world. Being a pioneer in extradimensional expeditions allows them to be rich, but everyone knows that doing so is also extremely dangerous.

However, seeing Nagata’s lack of opposition, she can only relent. “Fine, I won’t object. But, we need to prepare a lot of things, because it won’t be easy.”

“Correct. That’s why we should focus on our studies and offer help to each other if possible. I want to be the champion of the 9th month hunting festival and to do that, all of us need to be certified in a class before the event. Can you do it?” Mordred asked.

A Class certification means they have been officially acknowledged by the Academy and the Association to take on that class’ role. It is a requirement for first-year students to become a second-year student. Considering all of the students here are elites who can accomplish much more than the average Tom, Dick, and Harry, most would already be certified before the 7th-month. For Mordred to ask them to get certified before the 9th-month mark has been a tolerant expectation from his side.

However, unlike ‘most’ students who are elites, they do not have their kind of resources. They have to earn it through bartering or working for other people, which would cut off their time in the long run.

“I’m not so sur-” Kaishin’s words were interrupted by an Academy’s servant who brought a letter to the three of them. The three didn’t take the servant’s interruption to heart. They received and opened the letter while the servant departed after accomplishing his objective.

“It seems like the support from the Yukikaze clan has arrived…” Nagata muttered, questioning the next course of action to Mordred with his gaze.

“Right, we shall meet with our servants… Let’s meet again tomorrow.” Mordred announced.