“Why don’t we all start by stating what our [melody] allows us to do? I’ll start, I can create ice from the water vapor in the air. The cold mist you see me release simply increases the speed and power of that ability. ” Sophia exclaims.

‘I see, she’s showing us her cards to entice us to do the same, it looks like she’s also set on winning this.’

I had my speculations on the guiding principle behind her ability, but it is nice to know for sure. The next one to speak up is Ugo who mumbles through his teeth after a glance from Sophia.

“...I can fly and manipulate fire.” He reluctantly says.

She disregards his act of omitting his flame’s special properties and then points to the Starforge heiress.

Nervously staring at the floor, she also divulges her abilities, and much more than that. “M-my body produces the seeds of various plants that I can bend to my will once they have grown. I can also do the same to wild plants, but sometimes they can refuse to listen. Some people think it’s weird when I say that because everyone thinks plants don't have feelings or desires but it turns out that they do if a plant refuses to listen to me it’s mostly because it’s doing something important or its scared but it's also not like it happens often you know it's actually kind of rare that they disobey it's just the especially powerful ones that can do that Oh sorry yeah plants also have levels of power to them have you ever encountered and [enlightened] plant? Well they exist and let me tell you you don’t want to run into them I speak from experience whe-.”

‘There she goes again…’

“Okay Next! Alden, Go!”

Interrupted, Camille gets the message, stops speaking and twiddles her thumbs anxiously. Her face drops resembling that of a beaten puppy. I do somewhat feel bad, but if she isn’t stopped she just goes on and on with no end in sight. I must say, however, that I did find the bit about [enlightened] plants quite interesting, I’d have to ask her about that later.

I clear my throat. “Uh, yeah. Hello, I’m Alden Thorn. My [melody] allows me to summon a durable shield to defend myself.”

“You think that’s enough to describe your abilities, you commoner!? It does much more than that and you know it!” Ugo shouts, agitated.

I scoff. “Well, you didn’t mention that your flames can’t be extinguished, did you? I thought I’d keep my secrets too.”

His face turns red. “You!!”

Sophia intervenes. “If you intend to fight, why don’t you do it for my hand, pretty boys?”

With her words, Ugo clicks his tongue and looks away. I scoff and drop the matter as well. It’s not like I had any intention to fight him either way, but it’s fun to see him be rebuked by Sophia more than once now. With a smile, Sophia continues.

“No? Too bad. In any case, I do think that, although hypocritical, Ugo makes a fair point. We don’t need to reveal everything, but that description is a bit too vague Alden, you’re not giving us anything to work with.”

This time, Ray shares his input. “I have to agree, especially that ability you showed against the Goldleaf heir. The details you can keep, but you could at least tell us what it does.”

I throw a glance at Sophia, and see her innocent smile, but I know what she hides behind it. Unexpectedly, she is quite crafty. It’s clear now that she had planned this outcome from the start, knowing I would omit information, and that Ugo would call me out. She’s taken our personalities into account.

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‘So that’s her angle, she must have been curious…’

I sigh. “Alright then. I can also move the shield in the air, making it an effective offensive tool. And that ability you’re referring to does have conditions, but it lets me empower myself or others.”

Confused, Ray then asks me what exactly happened to Peregrine if the ability I used is one that allows me to empower people. In response, I tell him that if he indeed did watch the Showdown, then he should have already heard the explanation. Nonetheless, subjected to four curious glances, with even Ugo looking at me from the corner of his eyes to obtain an explanation, I reiterate what I said, in a less menacing tone.

“Well, it’s simple really. Like I said, it empowers people, but your body can only take so much empowerment. It worked so well on Peregrine because he wasn’t resisting it, though. Plus, I’ll have a harder time doing it from now on.”

They do not all seem to be entirely satisfied with my answer, but it does not matter as I do not plan on saying any more than that. Even if they did ask questions, I would probably not be able to answer them. I still have much experimenting to do when it comes to crescendo and fundamental rhythms. Will the power-up be greater if I match the proper frequency, or will it lead to self-destruction faster? Why did it cause such damage if I was never at the right frequency, should it not have simply yielded no results instead? Can I increase the intensity of crescendo’s pureflow emission to match the developing trainees? There are many questions to be answered, but that’s a problem for the future me, right now I need to divert the focus of this conversation to someone else.

“What about you Ray, what can you do?” I ask him.

He turns to look at everyone. “Well, my [melody] is a bit less flashy than you guys. I can empower ordinary objects to the level where they can cause harm to the [enlightened].”

“What’s the use of that? You can make a stick capable of harming an [enlightened]? I can just wield an instrument for the same result!” Ugo boasts.

Ray chuckles and scratches the back of his head. “Haha… I see why you’d think of it like that, but I use my ability a bit differently. I wield a modified version of the blastpipe. It still amplifies my [melody] and forces me to be stationary, but instead of spreading it over a large area, it sends piercing shots of the projectiles I make. Even a pebble does the trick, so I never run out of ammo.”

“A sniper rifle…” I mumble.

Ray smirks. “Exactly.”

All of these people have fascinating abilities. Ice, fire, plant manipulation, and now an ultra long-range specialist. If it wasn’t for the conflicting personalities, I would say that this team is perfect. Curious about something, I ask Ray a question.

“Wait, what do you mean by modified? I thought we weren’t allowed to have personalized instruments yet?”

“You’d be right, that’s why I personalized it myself. I never expected to attain [enlightenment] so I worked at an instrument manufacturing facility for years. Who would have thought it would come in handy. My modifications are somewhat crude, but they do the trick.”

Something else bugs me. “How do you bring it with you into the virtual world? Can you not only use the instruments provided?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I just asked, since it was a result of my own skill, they agreed to reproduce it and make it available to me in the virtual world.”

“...Really?”

“Yeah.”

‘Who knew that even was an option.’

With the full introductions having come to an end, there isn’t much more to talk about for the time being. We set up several meeting dates in one of DaiKar’s reinforced training rooms in order to test our team synergy and decide to all go back. Since we are all from different academies, we all head in separate directions. This time, I do not take my time to return to the peak. The wind whistles on my journey through the forest. Streaks of green flash by me as I run in a haste towards my destination. Unlike the previous days, I am eager to train with Maestro Lauren. This competition has made me realize that I am still far too weak. I need to become stronger and I need to do it faster. I fully realize that if it wasn’t for Sophia, I would have failed the trial. She might think otherwise, but there’s no telling how that fight would have ended, especially with Ugo finally getting serious.

Then there’s the other matter. This Feyrin guy , although not nearly as frightening, unexpectedly reminded me of Soulweavver, and of the strange connection I have with that person. A connection for which I am not even entirely certain of the implications. He reminded me that I have no time for leisure, every second counts. I am well aware that winning against him is not even a concept within reach, but I need to be able to at least defend myself against that person as soon as possible. I cannot have what happened last time repeat itself.

It only takes me a few minutes to go from DaiKar to the top of the mountain. There, I see Maestro Lauren meditating in the lotus position with both of her eyes closed. She senses my presence and speaks to me.

“You can go rest kid, there’s no training today.” She says.

I bow and implore her. “Please spar with me.”

She opens her left eye to look at me. “I just told you there’s no training today, we’ll spar tomorrow.”

I bow even deeper. “Please!”

She stands up and dusts her pants. I notice a smirk crawling up her lips

“Ohhh, what’s gotten into you kid? Are you that impatient to suffer?”

I reply with determination. “I need to get stronger, much, much stronger.”

Scrutinizing me, a look of curiosity forms on her face. Without wasting a moment, she readies her stance in response to my resolve. “...*Sigh*...This was supposed to be my dedicated mediation time, but I’ll make an exception for you. Come at me, brat.”

I raise my arms and lunge at her. “Thank you!”

The rest of the month passes in the blink of an eye.