4/5/54

ALEXANDER GALDUR

I was sore all over, and my vision kept blacking out from my magical overuse.

After the final ended, we were attended to. Healers came in and took care of the physical pain; however, the magical and mental strain was something we had to get over ourselves.

While we all stewed in the gloomy atmosphere that came from our loss, Trainer Masako walked in with our five opponents.

“First of all, I’d like to say congratulations.” Trainer Masako greeted us with a genuine smile, “Ya’ll’ve passed training. Now, this isn’t the end of training for some of ya. A few will go on to become rankers, and at that point, ya’ll be getting some more specialized training.”

She continued, “Now, before I send ya on your way, I need to point a few things out.”

Pointing at Max first, she started giving him feedback, “Maximillain Wells, or Max as you preferred to be called, did quite well, but there are a few things ya can improve on. The first thing is your hesitance and anxiety. Ya could be seen panicking throughout the final which led to a decrease in focus, decision making capabilities, and performance ability. Now, I get that this is part of your personality, but these moments where ya freeze up can lead to death when on the battlefield.”

“In addition, when ya were being attacked by Rudy and Savanna, if ya had stopped and thought about it, ya could have impeded their assault with some clever runes. When ya were being choked by Rudy, if ya had made a rune to attack with, ya would have been able to force him to retreat.”

Max just shakily nodded, and you could see the cogs turning in his brain.

While Max pondered the criticism, Trainer Masako turned to face Henrietta,”Henrietta, ya did very well on the final. Ya took the lead with confidence and decisiveness, something other support members wouldn’t be willing to do. Ya listened to your teammates, and under your leadership, ya’ll came up with a plan. If I had to suggest one thing, I would say be more social. Less curt, more talkative. Ya have to earn your teammates trust.”

“The same could be said for ya Tomos.” Trainer Masako commented, “In addition, you need to have a better reaction time. Since ya couldn’t get your barrier up in time, Max had to take a direct hit to the chest from Jed’s attack.”

Tomos and Henrietta both nodded silently, not really attempting to become more social at the moment.

“Now, Fiona. You were the main offensive members on your team. Your job was to be a sniper; fast, accurate, deadly. Your arrows ain’t affected by gravity normally, but they can be if ya will it. That means ya can pull off shots that would be impossible for snipers or archers. With how your arrows can change how they work on impact as well, you turn out to be an extremely versatile ranged unit.”

“However, when your team needed you to be precise after knocking down the walls in the latter half of the battle, ya kept up an imprecise onslaught. This gave your enemies cover from all the dust and smoke, and they were able to sneak up on ya. Ya need to remember to pick and choose what type of attacks to go with.”

Fiona nodded and mumbled quietly, “Okay.”

Then, Trainer Masako looked at me, “Finally, Lucas. Ya served as the team’s scout and the other offensive member. Your job was to eliminate the enemy’s members while they were distracted. Now, in the first half of the game, ya did very well. You were quick and stealthy while both scouting and when taking out Jed.”

“Then, after your reconnaissance, ya’ll failed to notice the wind. This was an artificial environment, yet there was wind. Rudy was using the wind to pick up on what ya’ll were saying, and they knew all about your plans.”

“First, Charlotte could’ve held up her ice for significantly longer, but they lured you into a false sense of security. While the bombardment happened, she built defense that could hold against the assault. Then, Ameera used their vines and stretched them up the cliff face. While they prepared that trap, Rudy rushed in to distract you.”

“Lucas, if you stopped and communicated with your teammates, you might’ve been able to prepare a better attack. Not only that, but if you had been quicker when dispatching Rudy, you would’ve been able to help your team. You need to improve your communication skills, be more reasonable and cunning, and remember that you’re not alone.”

I took that last bit to heart, and a nodded my understanding with a small smile on my face.

After looking over us with a stern expression and a cold, analyzing eye, Trainer Masako then smiled brightly and genuinely and said, “Now, as a little congratulations for making it past this, I’ll let you go and rest after having your asses beat!”

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MIYASOTO MASAKO

After all the ex-trainees filtered out of the room, I walked over to the mini fridge, pulled out an ice-cold beer, and reveled in the feeling of drinking on the job while knowing I just helped some folks not die in the future.

That was probably one of the best parts of the job—knowing I just helped someone evade death, knowing they’re not going to die on the field because now they know what to do and how to fight.

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… That and kicking the shit out of newbies.

“So, what’d y’all think of ’em?” I asked, swiveling my head to see the five staff members standing at attention.

“Henrietta has potential. A lot of it.” Ameera stated matter-of-factly, not even bothering to hide the proud smirk that crept onto her face.

Jed sighed, “While I don’t disagree with you, I can’t help but point out that you two are sisters, so you might have some biases.”

Ameera met him with a piercing glare that screamed “bitch, really?” He shut up, and Rudy went next, “She’s definitely suited for leadership and I could think of a few ways her bio magic would be useful.”

“She’d be a good strategist. Hopefully that’s the training she’ll pursue.” Charlotte added.

Savanna noted, “Her magic could let her be a good assassin too.”

“Wait, how?” I asked; her magic seems specialized for support, not combat.

“If she used her magic to disrupt the body’s chemical signals while making other systems go rampant, she could really do some damage over time.”

“Huh, I hadn’t thought about it tha’ way,” I pondered, “How about Tomos and Max? Y’all actually fought them.”

“Tomos’s barriers make for an effective combination with Max’s runes. The two should keep that in mind in the future.” Ameera said, the smile from talking about her sister fading into professionalism.

“Agreed, but if Tomos wants to be effective in the future, he’ll need to either have a better reaction time or good intuition.” Charlotte thought out-loud, “If Jed had actually been trying, or if it was even a unit more lethality-focused like Fiona, he would already be dead.”

“On the subject of Max, kid’s got some good fighting skills and physical abilities for an ‘artist.’” Rudy begrudgingly complimented, “That water blast definitely broke his rib, and he still managed to get a few hits on me.”

“What did Max train in?” Charlotte asked.

Thinking for a moment, I replied, “Muay Thai. My plan was to let him control the battle and walk opponents into his traps. I noticed the limitations of his magic, and kept him to close-range fighting. This way, if anyone makes it past his runes, he’d be able to keep them at bay and just need to walk them back into his defenses.”

“Mmm, that’s what I thought. Yeah, he should stick to ambushes and only direct fighting when necessary. That seems like it’d be best for him.”

“That Fiona was pretty good. Maybe needs to work on her decision making and impulse control, but she should make a good ranged unit.” Jed pointed out.

“She would make a good archer or sniper. Could also focus in rapid fire from what she did in that last battle.” Ameera put forward.

“Okay, so that’s Fiona, Henrietta, Max, and Tomos.” I listed, “That leaves Lucas. How about him?”

Taking a moment to think about the kid, Rudy answered first, “He needs to work on his environmental awareness, though that could be said for any of ‘em. Besides that, he’s got a good punch, and he’s quick on his feet.”

“He’s surprisingly sneaky for a light magician.” Charlotte said, “Usually those guys are all flashy with extra pizzazz. Lucas really didn’t go for any theatrics; swift, silent, and only drawing attention when going in for the kill because of how his magic works.”

“On what Rudy put up,” Savanna halted the conversation for a moment, “He noticed that you and I were missing from the group, spotted us, and managed to warn his teammates. If he hadn’t done that, the fight would’ve been over in an instant.”

“Hm, you make a fair point. Okay, he needs to work on situational awareness, but he was arguably the most perceptive of his team. In addition, he fortunately differed from the average light magician. Any complaints?” I concluded, wanting to make sure I could finally get some sort of profile on the kid. That’s when I noticed the unnatural silence of Jed and Ameera and brought it up.

“Well, it’s just that he kind of gives me the chills.” Jed nervously admitted, “When he snuck up on me, he didn’t hesitate to attack or finish me off. Once I was blinded like that, I wasn’t able to help anymore, but I got the feeling that if it was a real battle, then I wouldn’t have just been blinded.”

Looking up after thinking about Lucas the entire time, Ameera followed up on that, “When I had him captured, I felt something. It didn’t feel right or good. Nothing happened, but I had the feeling that something almost did.”

Taking in what they said, I found myself thinking about their takes on the kid. At a first glance, he was relatively normal. Polite kid from off the streets meant his lack of physical and magical capabilities were somewhat consistent. Light magic would’ve made him a target to some, and a bad diet explained his muscle lack.

In the face of unfair circumstances like overwhelming debt and tough training, he shows obvious reluctance and distaste for it, fairly common amongst anyone, especially teens.

Then things come up like his unnatural talent for magic yet his clear lack of use of it. Things like his natural response toward hostility with quick violence despite light magicians usually wanting to end things peacefully. In addition, his talent in stealth is unlike other light magicians, and he’s inclined to violent bursts of emotion that flare up when pressured.

Then there’s that feeling. He just has this aura around him, and it feels odd.

“Um, Masako? Are you okay?”

Looking up, I realized I had been silent for far too long and had kept the five of them waiting.

“Right, sorry ‘bout that. Y’all may leave now.”

Nodding with only a little hesitance, Rudy got the door, and the five of them walked out singlefile.

Waiting around a minute or two, I exhaled in a tired sigh and made a call.

“Hey, I need you to run a background check on someone. His name? Lucas Greymore.”