CHAPTER 15: PHASES
Aurora had met trainee heroes who came in under a recognized official hero or organization and worked for them, earning a salary and learning in the process, but they were all sophomores and juniors.
For that reason, she could not deny that the school activities of the freshmen surprised her. However, she was also interested.
After all, the teachers’ tests would allow her to better evaluate the students.
“It will be an interesting event.” Clémentine commented with a slightly excited expression.
Noticing Aurora and Alice looking at her, Clémentine smiled and murmured. “I’m actually quite bored with the academy... It’s true that we learn a lot of subjects, but in the end, I’d like to go out and help.”
“Have you worked before?” Aurora asked as she noticed the peculiar tone in Clémentine’s voice.
One that seemed excited but at the same time mixed with some personal experience.
Clémentine nodded and explained. “I’ve taken part in a few dungeon cleans along with some adventurer guilds that have a friendship with my father.”
“Oh, that’s surprising.” Alice commented, honestly impressed.
It wasn’t typical for young people under the age of eighteen to go out fighting, the main reason being that adults preferred them to learn and improve slowly, but the other reason was that there was no need to.
Some powerful adults could handle those dangerous tasks without the need to involve the youngsters.
That Clémentine had participated in actual combat before was undoubtedly impressive; after all, she was only eighteen and a year earlier; she was considered a minor in many countries.
“It’s nothing, the truth is that the adventurers always helped and protected mem” Clémentine said with a humble smile, and after noticing that there was quite a bit left to get to combat class, her eyes sparkled.
“Alice, I heard you were a mercenary. How long have you been working at it?” Clémentine asked with a look full of enthusiasm and excitement.
It was clear to Aurora that Clémentine was one of those ‘fans’ of Alice’s that were popping up so much at the academy.
“I don’t know,” said Alice, eating her chips and not caring about Clémentine’s excited look, she explained. “But with the group, we’ve been working for a few years. Especially in Zerzura City in Africa, where we have our headquarters.”
Clémentine’s eyes sparkled at hearing that.
While she had only taken part as an essential member in the guild and had faced some enemies, that was far from an actual situation... Clémentine knew that she had been being protected by the other adventurers.
Before asking any more questions, the group arrived at the training room, where they always met to practice.
Even though they had arrived early, Professor Miller was present, so they all approached, paying attention to him.
After all the students arrived, and it was time for class, Professor Miller looked at the students.
“With Director Vincent’s agreement, I have changed this year’s syllabus to one that is more suitable for you,” Professor Miller said with a slightly sly smile, and seeing some nodding and others looking distracted, he explained. “Over the past few weeks, we have been training quite hard. Some have improved, and some have found their own styles, but we have all made slight progress.”
“However, in this year we have B-Rank students and many capable C-Rank students who with enough encouragement could improve. It is for that reason that instead of devoting ourselves solely to training we will go further.”
With those words, Professor Miller looked at the proud students and stated. “First of all, you will face summoned creatures. Director Vincent has already brought in some summoning mages to handle the task of summoning. Let me warn you, the summoned creatures will be those that are strong against your weaknesses, so your first task is to improve by focusing on covering your deficiencies.”
The students nodded without feeling so concerned.
Fighting a summoned creature could be terrifying, but it was normal for heroes to face more terrifying monsters and, mainly for many, it was a chance to show how much they had improved.
Professor Miller had spent a good bit of time to help them cover their weaknesses, and for those who were just starting out, he helped them create their own balanced fighting style.
“Next will be practice. This phase consists of going into a dungeon and clearing it with your group. The professors will be watching to help you in case of an emergency, but that will be an actual situation and one in which you will have to act with caution, as no one can know what will happen inside the dungeon,” Professor Miller explained.
There were two types of dungeons that were most common.
The natural dungeons appeared because of the high density of magical energy that gathered in one spot and kept attracting that same energy from the environment, allowing monsters to be born inside and not in the surroundings.
Of course, if these dungeons were not thoroughly cleaned out, they could continue to grow and, at some point, ‘overflow’, leading to the ruin of the surroundings due to the monsters coming out of that place.
This type of dungeon could not be eliminated entirely, and usually, the guilds, mercenaries, or the state itself had to take care of the periodic cleaning.
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Then there were the ‘temporary’ dungeons, which were created when magical energy leaked through the dimensional barrier in large quantities.
Usually, this large amount of energy would not cause a dungeon to emerge, but rather many creatures, but in this case, the Goddess of Order helped humanity by creating temporary dungeons to imprison these monsters until humankind got rid of them.
Usually, these types of dungeons had top priority because if they were left free for too long, they would overflow, and the creatures would come out.
However, both dungeons were dangerous.
“As for the dungeon, you guys will be taking over. It will have to be seen in due time,” Professor Miller said, and looking at his students, he stated. “This phase has two stages.”
“The first focuses on clearing the dungeon in groups formed by yourselves and, in the second stage, your groups will be formed randomly. You need not worry if your groups will be unbalanced. I will see to it that in that regard there will be no problems.”
Aurora nodded at those words.
In the first stage, group coordination and trust would be evaluated by focusing on the cooperation and division of labor that everyone had to do to form a balanced and efficient group.
The second stage would test what they had learned in the first stage, focusing mainly on leadership, cooperation and coordination between ‘strangers’.
It was common to enter a temporary dungeon or an overflow, and the heroes, mercenaries, or adventurers had to fight together in order to achieve victory.
Among them, many did not know each other but had the experience to coordinate with other groups.
Learning to coordinate with strangers was something that all skill users had to learn in due time.
“As for actual practice...” Professor Miller smiled slightly and reported. “You students will either have to join an adventurer’s guild, be under an official hero, or join a mercenary group.”
Excitement erupted among the students.
They all wanted to be under famous heroes or join powerful adventurer guilds and even fight with experienced mercenaries.
Each profession was different.
Adventurers were in charge of clearing dungeons systematically, focusing on the profits they could gather.
Many people became adventurers because the powerful adventurers’ guilds had powerful individuals as leaders, but mainly because the guilds provided as much help as possible to their members with the sole aim of improving their overall strength.
On the other hand, Heroes worked for governments, charitable and international agencies or organizations, taking missions in different countries or in places where the guilds had no jurisdiction.
It was not that they took missions that no one wanted or that their pay was inferior.
Their pay was also high, and their status was also high; it’s just that these individuals were known to help everywhere.
Finally, mercenaries were a group of individuals known for their skills and expertise; unlike the adventurer’s guilds and heroes, mercenaries were independent.
The mercenary guild, an international organization, regulated them, but mercenaries had no obligation to any country or organization.
Mercenaries were known to accept missions for money to take on monsters of all kinds... Whether it was a terrifying beast or the most despicable and psychopathic criminal.
Of course, all as long as it was under international laws and regulations.
That was the reason for the excitement.
They had all entered the academy to become heroes, but it wasn’t wrong to learn how they were regulated and how mercenaries and adventurers acted.
“Please note that the available adventurer guilds, heroes and mercenary groups will be previously chosen by Director Vincent. You need not worry, as there will be variety among them, but mostly they will all be reliable,” Professor Miller stated in a serious tone.
There were major adventurer guilds with rumours of corruption about them; there were also heroes who in person were utterly different from what they revealed in public and not to mention mercenary groups.
There were mercenary groups that secretly accepted missions of all kinds and, in extreme cases, missions that violated laws.
That was the reason why only those most suitable for the education of future heroes had been selected.
******
Aurora struck quickly and precisely.
Her movements were agile to the point that the dummy facing her could not react and just take all the blows.
Her fists were reinforced with magical energy and gave her a strength that could knock the dummy down if she wished, but Aurora controlled her strength with precision.
Punching and dodging, without the dummy being able to touch her.
In the end, the dummy fell to the ground because of the cumulative damage produced by Aurora.
No matter how much she controlled her strength and how strong she was, the dummy would eventually take damage.
“She’s good...”
“Yeah, pretty good. But I don’t understand why she left her group in the test?”
“It must be out of fear. You know some people can not deal with difficult situations.”
Aurora ignored the murmurings of the students watching her from afar and turned to look at Professor Miller.
“How did it go?” Aurora asked, slightly interested.
She didn’t try to manifest her combat aura because she always fared horribly, but she demonstrated skills of a B-Rank, experienced and skilled.
“Very well done.” Professor Miller said, nodding slightly without too much enthusiasm.
Aurora didn’t mind the Professors look; approval was all she needed.
As it was necessary to face summoned creatures, Professor Miller set a standard to what everyone had to reach, and those who didn’t fit into that standard should train harder and stay for support classes.
That was the reason Aurora struggled to show her skills... She wasn’t interested in the support classes.
“Have you thought about changing your style?” Professor Miller asked suddenly.
“No.” Aurora stated immediately.
He had recommended she change her style; even though she was a skilled B-Rank, Aurora had been wondering about the reason for his insistence.
It wasn’t jealousy, competitiveness, eliminating a capable student or that he was a terrible teacher. Aurora was sure of it, but she couldn’t understand his intention.
“Did you at least sign up for the wrestling class?” Professor Miller asked with a slight frown.
“Well...” Aurora muttered hesitantly.
Truth be told, she didn’t have time to take another class... And she’s not very interested in them.
Not that she belittled the wrestling teacher, that teacher was very skilled and capable, but Aurora was on vacation... That and she was lazy.
In her defence, she was training hard for her master to invite his acquaintance.
“No.” Aurora replied as softly as she could.
Professor Miller just nodded indifferently and left to help other students, but Aurora could see the negative look he was giving her before he left.
He recommended she change her style, but Aurora rejected him and then, when he advised her to enter a specialization class for fighters, she also rejected him.
Aurora seemed like a stubborn student who did not want to improve.
That’s why she couldn’t blame Professor Miller for the image he had of her.
“Good job,” Alice said as she approached.
“Was I good?” Aurora asked with a smile.
Alice nodded and commented. “You didn’t screw up this time.”
Aurora’s lips twitched; it was clear that Alice still thought that the last time she failed in front of everyone; she did it on purpose.
“So, you want to join my group?”
At that moment, Clémentine walked up and asked that question in front of everyone.
Some people regretted it as she hadn’t approached quickly, and others looked with enmity at Clémentine, who had ‘stolen’ an A-Rank... Even when she still hadn’t answered.
Aurora’s lips quivered as, on the academy’s app, the video of Alice at the test had tens of thousands of views and comments.
Her skills still amazed the students and were eager to see her perform.
Alice nonchalantly looked at Aurora, and when the latter nodded, she replied. “Sure.”
Clémentine smiled rather happily at her ‘capture’, but...
“I expect you to give me several bags of chips,” Alice declared with a solemn expression.
It was clear that this was her price... No doubt she was a mercenary, albeit an out-of-the-ordinary one.