"The solution is simple really, we should split off into our own groups and have shifts. For example group 1 goes off to hunt, whereas the other groups will stay here. When group 1 comes back, group 2 goes, and so on". Kimmy didn't understand why she was being gawked at, as this truly was a simple solution.
"But how are we going to decide groups?". Eve asked with the intention of almost testing Kimmy. Eve had a rough idea of who should be paired with who, based on their classes but also personalities.
"Again, that's pretty simple. There should be two groups, group 1 and group 2. For obvious reasons myself and Lee need to be separated. However, Lee's healing capabilities far surpass mine, so I need to be on Evans group so damage is concentrated onto one person making it easier for myself. There's 11 of us, so Grace should be on the group with the lowest numbers because of Violet".
Grace blushed at the mention of her name. She still felt awkward about the fact that she has the highest graded talent, although Eve has yet to go public with hers.
"Jackson and Lement may need to be separated due to those two being the main damage dealers of the warriors although Finn has yet to properly showcase his abilities. So far, Group 1 should consist of Eve, Lee and Lement. Group 2 should consist of Evan, myself, Grace and Jackson".
Kimmy felt distance for a second as she was calculating who should be placed where. Kimmy was hesitant in showcasing her thought process mainly due to not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings.
"Dexter and Grant should be separated also. Grant can use his wings as a scout, and obviously Dexter with Forensic Sight, but I'm unsure of who should go where. Rose should be in Group 1 no matter what though, as I still believe it makes more sense for Group 2 to have lesser numbers.". Kimmy for a split second shone a smile on her face as her thought process was eloquently explained, and no feelings were hurt which was confusing for everyone. Kimmy used to be blunt about her dislikes about everyone in her class, and often came across as too blunt.
A strange change, but a welcomed one.
Despite that, Eve felt like she should input.
"It would make more sense for Dexter to be in Group 1. As if Grant and Rose were in Group 1, there would be too many mages since I believe Dexter would benefit from having opportunities using the dagger he picked up to learn a new skill. Also, Finn should definitely be in Group 1, as everyone would be too reliant on Lement to block hits. To be honest, Group 1 is probably going to struggle as there is no designated tank but I guess if Finn is up for it he can do it".
Dexter was pleasantly surprised that he was mentioned. Since joining this tower, he was in a sort of limbo as he was the only one with an Archer class, and it probably didn't help that he had an F grade ability although it served its uses. Dexter could see himself falling through the cracks, and honestly had no clue how to catch up. Grace and Eve were making fast progress with their abilities. He just felt alone as he had no one to help him. Eve couldn't help him with mana as he didn't even have a skill that relied on, as he literally only had one skill other than Meditation (F) and it was Archery Mastery (F) which gave him mastery of the bow, but that was it. It's not like he had explosive attack power like Eve, or even consistent damage like Lement as he had to aim his bow and that took time, he needed confidence that he would be able to hit a moving target so he took his time preparing his bow.
He needed target practice asap, Dexter knew that but there just wasn't enough time as everything was moving at such a fast pace.
"Yeah, I'll try and be a tank I suppose but would it work If I kept aggro instead of constantly blocking? It theoretically would work the same but it limits what Lee needs to heal and he can attack instead". Finn swiftly agreed.
"That would work better even". Eve nodded her head. It would be great for Lee to be able to attack with the everyone else too.
"Well that's dealt with then, I propose we go in an hour as I would like to teach the basics of accessing your affinity. It may take a while, but it should be okay". Eve sounded confident, however in the back of her mind she was worried.
Eve was only able to gain a new affinity because of her innate talent. She was able to go straight from the mana in the atmosphere and didn't use the mana particles that people naturally exuded.
"Okay, so everyone watch me and look at what I do".
Everyone except from the warrior variations, Lee and Jackson didn't pay attention to this mainly because this was surrounding affinities, and they simply couldn't access it. Obviously Lee and Jackson could access their affinity, it's just that they already have access to their affinity.
Eve entered a meditative state, and opened her eyes.
"So in my view I can see mana in the environment, and also in my vicinity there are mana particles that radiate from myself. You try and give it a go".
With those instructions, all the students did so, and some were more shocked than others. For example, Grant and Rose wasn't shocked at what they were seeing due to already looking at all this before. Grant already had access to Rune Magic however he still hadn't cracked the code of how to access it, but he assumed it was different to other affinities, so he got up and meditated alone.
Eve saw Dexter alone, and she wanted to quickly see what affinity, or affinities he had as she hadn't looked at his. She wasn't very shocked to see that he had only had to access to one, however it seemed quite strong. There were tons of mana particles surrounding him, and Eve wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but they exuded some heat.
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Eve smiled and left it at that.
"Okay, now that you've looked at these affinities, look inwards to your mana core and see the mana streams connecting to the certain colours. Observe what colour you have the most of and it should resemble the same on the outside surrounding you. For example, Rose only exudes one colour, so there should only be one colour in her mana core".
Rose simply nodded her head with her eyes closed, obviously concentrating.
"Now, move the mana stream into the opposite direction of your mana core and extend it. This should come quite easy as it's just using the skill of mana manipulation which has already been embedded into our knowledge".
Eve was starting to sweat. Meditating and talking actually took a lot of concentration. It was exhausting.
Eve saw a mana stream extend out of Grace, Grace directed it into the one colour that was dominating the other two. Slowly, the mana stream turned a different colour, however it the stream disintegrated but Grace just smiled as she saw that actually, her mana stream had slightly turned a different colour.
Everyone had accomplished the same feat as Grace, but nobody felt downhearted, as this was simply the process.
Instead of progressing on their mana, they instead worked on recovering as one of the groups will be hunting in 30 minutes.
30 minutes were swiftly up, as everyone sat in a circle once again.
"Okay, so which wants to go first?". Eve didn't care whether they went first or not.
"It'd make sense for Group 1 to go first as they simply have more warrior variants". Kimmy added her two cents.
"Righty then, we may as well not delay anything and go now". Eve stated as they went off.
Everyone said their goodbyes, but it was a weird atmosphere. There was an elephant in the room that nobody addressed. What if they came across hobgoblins? Would they be okay?
Three deaths have already happened and they haven't been here long, so it was very possible that another death could occur.
Group 1 dispelled these thoughts as best they could, there was no point in jinxing themselves.
With that, Group 1 went straight north in hopes of finding goblins. This floor has been surprisingly kind to everyone, and everyone was able to have a good sleep, and some would think that hunger would start becoming an issue, however everyone truly was not experiencing hunger at all.
Finn took the lead followed by Lement who was next to Lee, with Eve, Dexter and Rose at the back.
Dexter kept his eyes peeled for any movement through the trees, learning their lesson from previous experiences. Thankfully they didn't have to look far, as finally they came across a group of four goblins.
Finn took the initiative and instantly charged at the goblins followed by Lement as Lee was preparing his Light Recovery on Finn. Although Lee purposefully held it until Finn got closer, so he could burn the enemies. Dexter readied his bow, and after a few seconds of Finn fighting and Lement starting the scuffle, vines were followed and trapped the feet of two goblins who were swiftly impaled by Lement and squashed by Finns blunt hammer.
[You assisted the death of a Goblin. Some experience has been gained].
[You assisted the death of a Goblin. Some experience has been gained].
A deadly smirk smiled across Eve's face as she heard the dings and bashfully took her eyes off the battlefield for just a second. She was still happy despite probably gaining less than actually killing them outright, but hey, Eve was in charge of nurturing the next generation, so who cares?
The other two goblins fell to a mana bolt by Rose, and an arrow by Dexter.
"Aye, I levelled up!". Finn looked pleased as he was now finally Level 2, catching up to Lement. It seems like a healthy competition has been formed between the two.
"Nice! But I'm starting to wonder why these goblins are rogue though? It's almost too easy, despite gaining level experience, how am I supposed to level up any of my skills?". Lement was a tad dejected, as these goblins truly didn't put up much of a fight, and there seemed to be no pattern in their appearence. They just seemed to appear randomly.
Eve knew this would become a problem, as everyone adjusted to this new environment too easily, there was truly no nurturing involved from the tower. The experience so far has definitely been traumatic for all participants, however physically there really hasn't been much of a challenge. These goblins were weaker individually and for the most part these goblins seem to be split up.
[11/20 Goblins slain
0/2 Hobgoblins slain].
They were making steady progress but it was still going at a snail's pace until Dexter suggested something.
"Why don't we hang around the dead goblins for a while? They may have heightened smell, so any goblins in the surrounding area may rush to the scene?". Dexter spouted out random words of wisdom as he crouched down to pick up another dagger from one of the goblins. He surely didn't need any more than two and put them into his quiver.
"Oh also, can you save one goblin for me next time? I want to try learn a dagger proficiency skill".
"That's quite smart actually, we should hang around for a while then and sure, if it's safe I don't see why not". Eve simply agreed as flowers sprouted around the group.
With that, Rose slowly sat down to meditate, and initiated what Eve liked to refer to as absorption. It wasn't fancy but it explained the process quite well as you are literally absorbing the particles in the atmosphere, or particles that you create naturally.
With that being said, 15 minutes past with Rose advancing the absorption process as well as Finn and Lement sparring with eachother trying to get a feel of their newfound powers. They felt their bodies grow stronger with every level, but it was hard to be certain.
Another 10 minutes past, and an unexpected visitor came.
It was something they had never seen before but eerily resembled a goblin. It was humongous, taller than Finn who by human standards was abnormally large for his age at 6"1. It had smaller ears than a goblin, and carried a hammer that had two spikes on either end. It looked like it could pack a punch. Although, the huge monster still resembled a cavemen in the sense that his armour was completely primitive and only covered genitalia.
Obviously, everyone recognised this thing as the Hobgoblin, and were instantly nervous. They hadn't expected for there to be such a huge discrepancy between goblins and hobgoblins, and to be honest they were nervous. Specifically Lement, who tried to alleviate the tense atmosphere with a joke.
"Hey Dexter, there you go your sparring partner, grab your daggers". Lement didn't even chuckle at the joke as he eyed down the hobgoblin as he got into position, except this time he was next to Finn instead of behind.
There was something at the back of Eve's mind and it was eating away at her.
It was a picture of Amy, except it was dead Amy with an arrow through her eye and head. Eve couldn't let these children die, she had to protect them at all costs.
She sighed, and Finn and Lement rushed in, slowly followed by Lee who felt like he had to keep a closer distance this time round.
This battle would be something they have never experienced before.
'How nerve wracking'. Eve shook her head and prepared her vines.