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Auron looked at the other groups. One had the large commoner girl, The noble boy with the Turtogolin crest, and the other Yellow boy who fought him yesterday with the Peryton crest on his chest's right side.
The other group had two noble boys, and a girl Auron did not know anything about. Their powers, just like their personalities, were a complete mystery.
Marcus swept his eyes over the recruits, and Auron noticed Gregory walk out of the guild building. The two adults made eye contact before their trainer began speaking.
"You have five minutes to confer with your current teammates, and then we will begin. Everyone grab wooden weapons to replace what you would normally use in a fight. If you score a clean hit, one of the judges will call if it is fatal or not." When he finished speaking, four men walked out and stood at the edges of the large ring.
One of these men was Tim Devens, the archer from Gregory's party. Auron assumed from this that the rest of the group also used some sort of red mana to enhance their observation abilities.
Using his own observational prowess, Auron looked at their opponents. Just like Sylvia and Leon, none of them had a class equipped. After sharing this information with his team, they both laughed a bit. Sylvia laughed hard, and Leon barked a few nervous bits of enjoyment out. When Auron only looked baffled, Sylvia explained.
"You should not have a class this early, it is possible, but anyone with half a brain would not enter a dungeon before reaching level ten at least. If you have the funds, you pay the guild to bring you outside the gates to get you up to the proper level, and then you have to pay a party to take you into a dungeon where you can gain a class." She finished speaking, having regained her previous composure. "You are one of many people from the lower levels that risked death for your class and mana." Her voice took on a harder edge. "That is the leading cause of mortality in this kingdom. It is quite sad considering you can level up to ten without even fighting. You just need time, an experienced teacher, and the proper equipment." As she spoke, Auron sponged up in all the information, remembering the painful and bloody experiences he had. Their conversation was interrupted by Leon as he stuttered a few times, trying to get their attention.
"Gu...Guys. We need to focus. We know the abilities of those two guys on the left, but not the girl. I grew near her though, her parents own a mana gem store. Primarily selling Onyx crystals. She is most likely suited to be a tank, and she is tough as hell." As he spoke, he gained confidence, seemingly with every word. Leon's mind showed to be geared for tactics. Auron was left impressed by the young man and pulled his attention away from Sylvia, but he really liked the way her forehead crinkled when she laughed. With no interruption, and a nod from Sylvia to continue, Leon resumed speaking.
"With two tanks and a speed attacker, they would be able to hold a defensive line, while the guy at their backs could jump to their sides and get attacks in on us. "Auron, you have the stealth skill, right?" Leon met Auron's eyes, and the rogue responded with a quick nod. As the three made their plans, all of the teams took practice weapons from the racks.
The time they were given passed quickly, but even with their momentary distraction, Auron's team was ready when Marcus gave them the signal to fight. Standing in the ring, all nine of the recruits hesitated initially, their weapons held up defensively. Looking around at the opponents, Auron felt something stir in his chest. Nothing magical, no this was something he had beaten into his mind over the past few years. Was it all an illusion. He did not know. One cluster of memories he had not forgotten was the training Red had put him through. Though the jobs, locations, and faces all were a haze, he remembered the hand to hand combat drills she ran him through. Even with one leg, she put him on his ass more times than not. Strike quickly, end a fight before it starts. His body hummed with energy.
An eardrum aggravating clap coming from Gregory shocked them all into action.
Whether it was the fact he had been in life or death battles already, the lower stakes because of their weapons being wood, or his slightly frustrating loss a day ago to Sylvia, Auron activated his stealth right when Marcus began the fight.
Fueled by the muscle memory of his past training, he dashed forward. He had decided he wanted this win. As the clapping noise roused the others, Auron was already slipping between the two Tanks of the team they chose to target first. His stealth caused all attention to be concentrated away from him. The gazes of his opponents drifted toward the ground as if he was not right in front of them.
Auron could feel the mana infused eyes of the Judges for the match watching his every move. Their highly leveled perception skills overtook the paltry amount of mana his stealth was using. A slight smirk pulled at Tim's mouth as Auron swiped his wooden blade across the neck of the Noble boy with the Peryton crest's neck. "Fatal strike," Tim yelled after the attack.
The young noble did not even know what had happened when he was dragged out of the ring. His face turned red with fury as he realized what had transpired. Not stopping there, Auron used the last few seconds left of his stealth activation to jab the other noble boy in the back of his neck. "Fatal strike," Another judge shouted.
The guild members observing cheered at the two almost instantaneous eliminations. When Auron's stealth was released, the last remaining member of the party turned to face him.
Leon was not kidding when he said this one would be tough to take out. The girl had what looked like three times the weight on her than Auron did.
As the other group approached, Leon put his plan into action. Auron had given him an idea of how to use his explosive infusion magic. Running forward and scooping up a handful of dirt and small rocks, Leon threw them forward after pushing his power into the handful. Small explosions ripped forward in a line blocking the charging group's path and kicking up dirt and dust blocking their view. As they shied backward, Sylvia Ran ahead and tapped the commoner girl on the back. As she swept her one-handed mace back in a sweeping arc at Sylvia, Auron jumped forward. Jumping up, he struck down with his wooden blade. Slipping in between her neck and rusted heavy armor, he tapped the flesh near her collarbone. As he eliminated the last member of the three-man team. One of the judges yelled and declared the strike to be fatal.
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As she was dragged out of the ring to meet her other eliminated teammates, she screamed profanities at Auron's team. Now facing one group, Sylvia took the front as their tank, Auron the middle so he could attack when needed, and Leon at the rear. Leon's plan had worked perfectly so far. Unfortunately, they knew next to nothing about the next three opponents.
As soon as the particles in the air began to clear, they could see one of their opponents had both hands on the ground and was pumping glowing white mana with trace amounts of grey into the earth. The female noble on the other team increased the flow of mana. A rush of power moved toward Auron's unit and circled Sylvia's feet.
The ground beneath her looked as if it was turning to slush. As she sank downward, she could not get her feet out to escape the conjured quicksand. Rushing to her aid, Auron sped around and in front of her toward the enemy using the magic. As he did so, a large brute of a man charged forward with a massive wooden hammer. Auron, he looked at his small wooden dagger, mentally comparing it to the still deadly hunk of wood flying at them. Flipping the knife down in his palm Auron rose both of his fists ready to meet the man head-on.
As he moved forward, the man's legs increased in size slightly as they became infused with purple mana, and he leaped right over Auron.
Landing right in front of Sylvia, he whipped his hammer through the air and struck her head with it. "Fatal strike," one of the judges yelled as a sickening crack rang out. With her feet stuck in the ground, she took the hammer's full force and was knocked out instantly.
As he rose it again to continue attacking, Leon rushed forward and punched him in the face. The man bypassing Auron left the girl casting ground magic vulnerable, so he took her out with a quick faux stab. "Fatal strike," A judge yelled out as Leon and the large noble tussled, and Auron faced the last member of their team. Men rushed in and carefully pulled Sylvia out and escorted the ground magic girl out as well.
Auron and Leon were both furious at the overly brutal attack on their teammate. They both kept glancing toward her prone body as a specialist poured what looked like a black solution down her throat.
Auron could feel purple mana in the air clawing toward his brain. He forcefully rejected the feeling confused and terrified that he would be greeted by dungeon madness outside of a dungeon.
As Auron and his opponent moved clockwise while assessing each other, Auron was able to see Leon hold his own against the larger man. He watched as the nervous commoner dove under a hammer sweep. Satisfied that he could survive for a little while, he brought his full attention to his opponent.
The man also had a dagger and smirked wickedly as they assessed each other. Auron watched as he pulled trace amounts of purple mana to himself, and it flowed around him and into his surroundings. The ground and air around the man took on a fantastic quality. It really was fascinating. Auron was almost taken in by the intrigue when his eyes flashed with red mana. Sputtering the ability attempted to activated multiple times. The flashes of red felt hot in his eyes. After the more than ten attempted activations the mana settled.
Forcing himself to focus on his enemy Auron's eyes glowed brilliant red, and he heard a familiar noise. *Bing*
Congratulations. Your observation prowess (inspection) has improved from amateur to adept. You can now see the level of beings if they are less than twice your current level. You can pierce the cloud generated by stealth users if their mastery is less than your observational ability.
Auron dismissed the message, but the contents he understood as the information was sent directly into his brain. Watching the man in his attempt to sneak to the side of Auron, he tried to not snicker as he pretended to be unable to see his approach. As the other teams rogue stepped closer, Auron rushed at him and raised his boot and kicked him in the chest. The unexpected impact sent him tumbling out of the ring. Ignoring the announcement of his opponent's elimination, Auron turned and strode toward Leon and their final foe.
Leon was holding up reasonably well, but he did not have a weapon to fight with, and the one v one was turning in favor of the larger man with each glancing blow.
With a whistle, Auron alerted Leon that he would be joining the tussle. Auron stashed away his dagger and clenched his fists. He did not want this to be a quick fight. Now two verses one, Auron and Leon, took revenge for the brutality inflicted on their teammate. Dashing under wild swings of the man's wooden hammer, the two rained blows to his face and neck. Unable to keep up with the pair of opponents at once, the man eventually fell to a knee.
Thinking they were near victory, Auron and Leon continued their assault. As they stepped forward, the man smiled like a demon. Grabbing the head of his hammer, he used the shaft to smack Leon between his legs. As Leon doubled over instantly nauseous from the blow to his family jewels, the mountain of a man hefted him up and over his head out of the ring.
Auron's rage increased at the cheap blow, but he knew all was fair in this fight.
As the man spun to face the rogue, Auron was already reading a punch. Activating his strength runes, Auron's arm and shoulder muscles swelled to triple their original size. Swinging with all his might, he struck the man in the chest.
The mana infused blow caused the man to fly out of the ring.
Raucous cheering broke out as the Guild members watching all swarmed the various fighters giving them tips and playful barbs toward their respective performances.
An approving nod from Gregory filled Auron with a warmth in his chest that he did not even know how much he needed. Running over to Leon and Sylvia, he was pleased to see she was awake and well enough to celebrate their shared victory.
Quickly stepping in his path, a man dressed in black seemed to appear out of nowhere. The tall reedy man bent to Auron's ear and began speaking softly. "Excellent use of your stealth. Keep up the improvements, and we will be in touch." He spoke so softly, Auron had to strain to hear him, and before he could respond, the man melted back into the crowd. Auron did not have much time to think about the strange meeting as he was surrounded by guild members that thoroughly enjoyed the bout.