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"Today, we'll have our first experience with arrays, and our first team exercise." Ku Fei declared. "You've all been split into teams, listed here…" She pointed at a blackboard with a list of names. "…and you'll challenge the monsters we've designated for your group to face. While victory would be preferable, what we really want to see is some teamwork. We recognize that this is the first time you're working in teams against a common enemy, so we’re not expecting anything too complicated. In fact, the most important part is that we’ll be able to provide feedback on what you did right and what you can improve on afterwards.”
One of the magic teachers, one Seraphiel didn’t recognize, was also attending the lesson and now stepped forward. "Arrays come in three basic forms. The first one is a basic spell array. These can be used to create certain conditions inside them. For instance, someone specializing in a particular element can enter an array that causes the area to be filled with that particular element. Or someone who would like to train their defensive Skills can enter an array that sends constant magical attacks at them, which they have to defend against. Notably, these arrays are easy to create even for a moderately skilled array master, but the downside is the fundamental lack of defensive features aside from the ability to turn the array off. However, if you enter a lightning array, for instance, the lightning inside is very real and could kill you. This is why you should be very careful when using such arrays."
“The second type are dimensional arrays. They basically create a pocket dimension of sorts, which can then be filled with whatever the creator desires. These are basically more advanced versions of the previous array but can be much more expansive. The third type is the one we’ll most commonly use in Knight track training, which is the reality array. These create a small localized magical reality within, and they are also a more advanced version of the dimensional array. What makes these arrays possible, and why they’re so handy, is because they imitate reality for the most part, but with a couple of changes. We can theoretically recreate almost any situation we want, but the more it differs from reality, the more power is required to run the array. If we want to pit you against monsters? That can be done. We want to create some extreme challenge? Easily doable. And most importantly, the thing about these arrays is that they are very safe because everything that happens inside is under our control, and most of the time illusory. We can even adjust the level of pain.” The mage gushed. The middle-aged man was clearly an array master himself.
“Of course, reality arrays don’t need to be illusory. They can just be used to create areas where certain special rules are in effect.” Ku Fei added. “Notably, the arenas often use a modified reality array, as do most inter-academy competitions. They can be used to limit stats or even Skill usage.”
“Right, right. The downside of reality arrays utilizing illusions is that the experience gained is limited since what happens inside isn't real. It's real enough that you can level and improve your Skills tremendously, but there's a fundamental difference between fighting a real monster and an illusory one when it comes to the System. Illusory arrays are still much more effective for leveling than whacking a training dummy. Just be aware of the limitations." The array master clarified.
“There’s also something you should keep in mind. A proper array master can set any rules they want in reality arrays, so be very careful when entering ones not controlled by the academy. I’m sure all of you can imagine how that sort of power could be abused, and once you’re in the array, you’re often at the mercy of those controlling it.” Ku Fei warned them seriously. “Now with that downer out of the way, group up!”
The other members of her group quickly found her. She hadn’t learned everyone’s names yet, but pretty much everyone that had started along with her knew her. That was just the natural result of her being the top student, although having high Charisma didn’t hurt either. She noted with interest that she’d been grouped with other high performers that she actually recognized.
Janira was an Asari specializing in spears and quick and hard attacks, a quintessential striker. She was clad in light armor emphasizing mobility. Laheel was some sort of an Oni type, and he was a heavy bruiser wielding a huge two-handed maul. He was almost unarmoured, only having some leather straps on his torso and simple pants. Seraphiel wasn't entirely sure of the race of the last member of the group. She looked a bit like the inhabitants of Mundus Magicus, a humanoid with small horns going around her head, and a skin colour that could be defined as well-tanned. Seraphiel recalled they were called Hellas. Her Gift of Knowledge confirmed the name and origin, although it seemed she was of mixed blood. Theo carried a pair of magical guns that looked like ornate and large pistols. Her attire was also more comfortable than protective.
"Well, it seems I'll be the tank of the group," Seraphiel noted as she was the most heavily armoured, wearing the armor she'd been given for competition use. She was simply using every opportunity to improve the Skill and get used to the armor.
“Agreed. Our group doesn’t really leave a lot of leeway for roles.” Janira, the Asari pointed out. “I’ll be the close-range striker with Laheel, while Theo is our longer-range fire support.”
"Fine by me," Laheel grunted simply. Not the talkative type. Gotcha.
“Agreed. I do have some basic supportive magic due to my Class, but don’t expect miracles.” Theo added.
"Well, let's see what they're throwing at us first," Janira suggested.
By the time they had sorted everything out, the instructors were already leading them towards the border between quarters, specifically the area where all of them connected, the arena. “Now, we have some arrays of our own, but since the mages manage most of them, they set up most of them near the arena as it’s a nice central location. I’d say because they’re lazy, but it’s also because it makes joint exercises easier. This time we’re going in with just Knights, but in the future, we’ll have mages and general track students along as well.” Ku Fei joked, getting a small chuckle out of the array mage.
As they lined up next to the arena, they could see several archways lining the bottom of the arena, which had been constructed in the classic Colosseum style. Each arch was lined with magical runes and seemed to lead into complete darkness.
The mage gestured towards the arches. "As we have so many groups and a limited number of arrays, we'll have to take turns. Luckily, time inside passes much faster than outside, so hopefully we don't have to wait for long. You'll all be assigned an array and an enemy based on your current perceived level of ability. These fights are meant to be a little challenging, but not impossibly so. Still, it is not a shame if you lose."
The groups were quickly organized, and Seraphiel’s group stepped through one of the arches. They found themselves in an open area covered with tall grass. The grass was high enough to allow something or someone to hide in the grass relatively easily, but not tall enough to really obstruct visibility. They didn’t have to go looking for their target though, as a large quadrupedal creature stood in the middle of the area.
The creature looked like an oversized armadillo with a large fish-like head with plenty of sharp teeth. “We’ll go with the original plan. I’ll attract its attention first. Theo, keep your eyes open and make sure nothing sneaks up on us while we’re fighting. Just because there’s one obvious enemy, that doesn’t mean there can’t be others.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
The other three nodded in agreement and quickly fanned out. The creature seemed rather sturdy and heavily armoured judging by the scaly hide and would likely be challenging to hurt. Seraphiel activated her regular buffs and closed the distance to the enemy with a psionic charge, but instead of blasting her surroundings with concussive force when she appeared again, she instead rode the force of that wave to give her own attack more power. Both Psionic Infusion and Raimeiken added to her already powerful blow and her weapon, shaped like a hammer this time, slammed into the front leg of the monster.
The scales cracked under the heavy blow, and she was pretty sure she heard bones shattering, as the creature screamed in pain and whirled around to slam its still functional front leg into her. She had managed to well and truly piss off the creature, which had been the whole point. She took the strike on her shield and got pushed back a bit before managing to stop the force of the blow. Physical strength was its forte, but defence was hers. It seemed like the creature was shocked that its attack had so little effect.
It didn’t have time to be shocked for long though, as her allies arrived and attacked the creature on both flanks, utilizing their own techniques. A shot of concentrated arcane magic came just above her shoulder, barely missing her and striking the creature on the already wounded leg. Janira seemed to be some sort of biotic warrior, increasing the weight and power of her strikes with her biotics, while Laheel predictably was a berserker of some sort as purple flames seemed to cover both him and his weapon. Both struck hard at the creature's flanks, though they didn't have an easy time getting through the scales either.
Seraphiel suddenly sensed mana gathering around the creature as the thing reared on its hind legs. "Take distance!" She ordered immediately.
Janira reacted instantly, but Laheel not so much, as he was getting lost in his rage. Seraphiel realized what was about to happen, and jumped into the air with the aid of Hohō and slammed her shield into the creature’s face just as it started slamming down, disrupting the attack. The attack still happened, but instead of a proper explosion of earth magic covering the creature’s surroundings, several earthen spears randomly shot off into the surroundings. One of them clipped Laheel but didn’t really hurt him too badly.
Seraphiel of course was slammed towards the ground as the weight of the creature hit her, but she nimbly and [Gracefully] rolled to break the force of the landing, quickly springing up to face the enemy again. A pair of magical shots distracted the monster long enough that she could easily recover.
‘Theo seems to be quite good. She provides great cover.’ Seraphiel nodded in approval while intercepting another swipe of the creature’s claws. ‘Though she does lack a bit in the power department.’
Laheel might not have been able to evade due to his rage, but in return he finally managed to crack the carapace of the creature, his strikes now finding the soft flesh underneath. The horrific scream was cut short as Janira, who had looped around, jammed her spear into the new opening, apparently hitting something vital as the creature suddenly went quiet and fell on the ground.
"Is it done?" Theo asked happily from a safe distance.
"It is," Seraphiel replied as a sudden burst of announcements bombarded her. She'd set it so the System would only give her announcements when the fight was over. Or at least when she thought combat was over.
[Congratulations! [Weapon Arts] has leveled up from 14 to 15!]
[Congratulations! [Graceful] has leveled up from 13 to 14!]
[Congratulations! [Psionic Infusion] has leveled up from 14 to 15!]
[Congratulations! [Fortify] has leveled up from 14 to 15!]
[Congratulations! [Raimeiken] has leveled up from 14 to 15!]
Nice. Proper combat really was useful, even if the combat wasn’t real. This was a pretty good group as well.
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“You made the group too overpowered.” Chao Lingshen complained as she watched the recording of the fight. It wasn’t uncommon for the teachers to help evaluate the fights and give feedback afterwards.
"Or the enemy too weak," Chachamaru added fuel to the fire.
“Look, the enemy was already forty levels higher than any of the other groups.” Ku Fei complained. “This was supposed to be a simple fight just to start things off, not some extreme test of skill.”
“Well, it was simple alright. It took all of what? Thirty seconds?” Chao checked the timer. “And that’s if we’re starting from the time they appeared.”
“While I agree that this was supposed to be an introduction, it’s supposed to be at least a little challenging.” Chachamaru continued piling on. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was having fun.
As the rest argued, Setsuna started rewinding the recording, before stopping it at place and taking the magical equivalent of screenshots of certain moments. It was Chao that noticed she was doing something a little odd. “What is it, Setsuna?”
“I’m not sure yet. Just…hear me out.” She pointed at the first two images where Seraphiel’s weapon was surrounded by a purple glow, and in the other one, she herself seemed to be surrounded by a similar glow. "The first one is clearly some sort of weapon infusion Skill. All Knightly types get one offered eventually. The second one is likely a defensive Skill. Maybe one that improves her Strength as well."
“Not one Skill? It looks similar?” Chao asked, mostly just for argument’s sake.
“For a non-evolved base Class? I doubt it.” Next, she showed another pair of images. One was of her charging in as if she had turned into a burst of psionic energy for a moment, while the other one was her striking the enemy with lightning sparking off her weapon. “The first one is obvious, a psionic charge of some sort. I’ve seen biotics use similar abilities, although it’s pretty rare. The second one is actually similar to one of my Skills, a powerful attack Skill designed against armor or heavy hide and scales.”
The others just nodded, and Setsuna moved on. “The next one is a bit nebulous.” The image showed Seraphiel withstanding the enemy’s attack without too much effect. “The attack she defended against was fairly powerful. She must have some other defensive Skill aside from the one she used in the beginning. There’s no way she could’ve taken the attack without being pushed back otherwise. She simply can’t have the Vitality for it.”
“I’ve noticed signs of her having some sort of Vitality improving Skill before.” Ku Fei piped up. “A fairly strong one at that.
“Then there’s this.” Setsuna showed the image of Seraphiel using Hohō. ”That’s a footwork Skill we’ve seen her use before. Very powerful. She also had some Agility ability that helped her when she was knocked down.”
“I believe I know that one. Graceful. It’s rare for someone without an evolved Class, but not unheard of.” Chao mentioned. “What’s this about?”
“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t quite add up. The first attack was too powerful, and her defences are too strong for her level. She also has too many Skills. Even assuming some of what we mentioned were not Class Skills, we saw her using at least six different Skills in this fight. We’ve seen her use many more during normal training, and that’s not counting the Skill Tax. She has to have an affinity Skill at least. I just can’t figure out how all this is feasible.”
Chao tapped the table they were all sitting around with a finger. “Could some of those Skills be a single Skill that is just wide in application?” She asked finally.
“Maybe? I can’t say for sure. But even then, her obvious Strength and Vitality imply supporting Skills. And they can’t all be Racial or Passive Skills.” Setsuna wasn’t sure herself what she was getting at, but she just knew this didn’t make sense.
“An extra Class somehow?” Ku Fei suggested, unknowingly hitting the mark.
“Maybe, but even then, it’s weird. Look, that monster wasn’t weak, and it was almost fifty levels above her, and she took a direct hit from it without flinching. The monster should have several times more strength than she has Vitality. Even accounting for defensive techniques, that’s a gap another Class shouldn’t be able to bridge. There’s something else.” Setsuna finally managed to vocalize what was bothering her. “Her first attack broke the defences of an earth-aligned monster focused on defence. Now, the berserker managed the same, but his Class is focused on attack power and even he needed several strikes to get through the scales. I'm pretty sure the Path of the Seer isn't known for their excessive attack and defence, even if she does have a different version of the Class."
“And this is just one more reason we should be happy she’s going to be competing for us. If she’s like this at level 15, then imagine her at level 100 with two Class evolutions.” Chachamaru said smugly. Now the others were starting to get an idea of what they were working with.
“There’s also that.” Setsuna tapped an image where Seraphiel was holding a shield and taking the monster’s attack. “We don’t have too many guardian type knights. It’s become a bit of a fashion for all knights to go for more offence-oriented Classes, and we get fewer guardians every year. It's a shame because in the beginning, a large portion of the appeal of our Pactio system was to pair guardians with mages. The combination of a striker and a mage can work too, but…”
“That’s because of the Champions.” Chachamaru commented. “There’s a very stark lack of Champions focused on defending. Especially defending others. Heck, even among the instructors, all of our original members are focused on offence or support. We had to hire trainers who could train guardians from outside. In the beginning we had plenty of knights that at least had the ability to function as guardians even if it wasn't their main focus."
“Most of the guardian types tend to go to other Academies, mainly because they become Paladins or something else just as specialized. We’re more of a magic academy, and faith really isn’t our strongest field of expertise.” Chao pointed out.
"Not sure if she'll take a guardian oriented second Class either," Setsuna said, pouring cold water. "Her current Class seems to be more of a jack of all trades and just happens to go well with a shield as well. I've seen her pull off the striker role as well. The reason she's been using a shield a lot is because she can see a gap in the role distribution and is taking advantage. Not so sure she’ll want to commit to it with her second Class though.”
“Mmm, that issue had been a problem in earlier tournaments.” Chachamaru nodded thoughtfully. “She can fulfil the gap for now, but she can’t fulfil it for the older students. We should look into acquiring some proper guardian trainers and maybe advertise both ourselves and the role more.” She took down a note. “Ok then. Moving on to the rest of her group…”