As we all find ourselves in a circle, I turn towards Beatrice and Antonio to ask about their combat specialties.
Dorian:"Alright you two, what skills do ya got? We may be powerhouses but I'd still like to know what we're working with." I say while first pointing to Antonio.
Antonio:"Well I'm your standard tank, I can take a lot of hits and be fine. I can also set up barriers against magic attacks and redirect their force into my own melee attacks. I can also hunt and set up shelter if need be." Good skill set. Most tanks focus only on the physical damage aspect of tanking instead of being well balance in magic as well.
Dorian:"Good skills to have dude, we'll make sure to take you into consideration for a group battle. Sadly the closest to a tank in my group before this was me. I don't like getting hit either so that made the job a bit harder. Granted a tank doesn't have to take a hit, just be the focus of the enemy." Now I point to Beatrice.
Beatrice:"I- I'm a specialist in stealth and ambush tactics, I c- can mimic my surroundings and create traps. I can also use healing magic for if anyone else is hurt. Sadly du- due to my nature as a slime, I'm weaker to magic."
Dorian:"You have a good skill set Beatrice, especially since we're in a forest at the moment, I suggest that we find a good place to hole up and fortify with traps. Possibly a canyon or a dense copse of trees. Hopefully we don't encounter and dryads or spriggans... or wendigoes." I say with a slight shudder at the word wendigo. I played until dawn and I know many legends of wendigoes.
While they may be civilised in this reality, that still doesn't change the fact that wendigoes are creatures made from malice, desperation, and cannibalism.
Lilith:"That's a bit racist don't you think Dorian? You act like all wendigoes had a choice in becoming so."
Dorian:"I'm sorry but while many are forced to become wendigoes in bad situations, that doesn't changed the nature of what they have become. Besides it's a legitimate thing to be scared of and keep and eye out for. You havnt seen a feral wendigo, I have."
Dag:"Can we get going? We are exposed here and for all we know there are wildcreatures in this forest as well. I wouldn't put it past the school to do so."
Dag has a point.
We all start walking and after a half hour still find no one, not even through my Force Sense.
Eventually we stop at a stream and rest to get water. I see fish in the river and instantly know that there are definitely other things besides students in the forest.
As Antonio goes to drink some water, I stop him and stare at the water. Something doesn't feel right.
I send out a force pulse and feel no one.
I then send a bolt of force lightning at the water, electrocuting the fish inside.
As I do this I hear a scream coming from the water as it forms into a humanoid shape and convulses repeatedly.
Thia:"Holy crap that's an elemental! They're impossible to find in their elements."
Elemental:"You asshole! What was that for?"
Dorian:"Don't give me that bullshit, you were waiting for us to let our guard down and drink some of you so you could force us out of the Battle Royal. But guess what, I'm a paranoid sonnuva bitch, your shit wouldn't have worked on me."
Antonio:"Thanks Dorian, if you hadn't stopped me, I might be choking to near death right now.ç
Elemental:"I'm still here you know."
Dorian:"Not for long." I say as I send out more lightning and shock them into unconsciousness.
Next thing we see is Renagoth come by and pick up the unconscious elemental guy and give us a nod.
Lilith:"I think now is a good time to get a drink, and now we finally took someone down after a half hour."
Beatrice:"I think that maybe we're in a magic barrier that makes time run differently, otherwise we would have been force to end up in front of all the other groups."
We all nod and agree to that conclusion. Time dilation seems to be a very plausible answer as to why this is allowed.
We all rest and eat and drink. We eat any of the fish that hadn't washed away and Julian cooked all the food and boiled the water.
If anything, now that I can create lightning with mana and the Force, I should have an easy time figuring out how to create fire.
As I think this and watch Julian create mana fire, I force my mana and ki into the air and start forcing the air particles to move around in a circular shape at incredible speeds. This friction in the air in the circle compared to the outside air, causes a spark and small explosion.
Eventually the smoke disappears and I see a circular fireball.
Congradulations, you gained the Mana- Ki Pyrokinesis skill.
Due to your scientific insight into how fire is formed, this skill is at Apprentice 1.
Stolen story; please report.
Due to your previous fascination with fire, you gained the Pyro title.
This gives you a 2% resistance to fire and a plus the 5 to the fire affinity. You are also more likely to set things on fire. Smokey the Bear will be watching.
Really system? Really?
As I finish looking at the notifications, I feel something on the edge of my Force sense.
It's a group of five that appear to be running from something.
As I realise that they are running towards us, something else comes into range.
Something big, and with many legs.
From focusing I can tell it's centipede and get a shiver up my spine at remembering the centipede scene from Tokyo Ghoul where Kaneki is getting tortured.
Fuuuuucckk.
I tell the others to get ready for battle and to wait in ambush.
I get in a tree and use the Force to pull leaves to me and help me blend in.
I see Lilith use earth magic to create a ditch underneath a bush and see her and Thia climb in.
Dag and Julian both use light magic to create a distorted area where light will bed pass them, effectively making them invisible.
Antonio goes underneath the shade of another tree and uses dark magic to blend with the shadows.
Then finally Beatrice seems to turn funny and she goes towards the water to hide and blend in with it.
I'll be dammed if it doesn't seem like my team isn't a group of professionals.
Holding back a smirk, i then use all three of my energies to blend in with the surrounding energy. Effectively making myself unsensible.
Congradulations, you have learned the skill One With The World. This skill helps you to blend in with the natural energies that surround you, making you all but invisible to any sensory abilities. This will synergize with any stealth skills you have making them more effective.
This skill cannot be leveled, only Evolved.
Holding back my shock at this skill, I wait silently as the group getting chased by the centipede gets closer.
I finally see a group of five humans and a wolfkin come into the clearing with panicked looks on their faces.
They then quickly ford the river and all start resting to quickly catch their breath. The centipede quickly shows up at the other side of the river and stops, squealing and chittering in rage. It then goes back in the other direction, having given up the chase.
The Wolfkin, who seems to be the leader turns to the others and says,
Wolfkin:"What the fuck Charles!? I told you not to go into the cave. I told you it smelled of death in there. Why didn't you listen?"
Charles, a blondehaired teen, turns to the wolfkin and says,
Charles:"You told me to find an ambush spot not far from the main battle, I had to check the cave. Besides, if anything, we just found a good ambush spot here. Let's rest and then hide in ambush. People will want water and food and this is a good place to get it. Maybe after the battles back the other way will have ended and we can wait in ambush for the other teams." Smart guy, but we already beat them to it.
I mentally connect with Lilith and tell her to connect everyone else in a group call.
Dorian:'Alright everyone, we wait for them to get into their ambush positions and then on the count of three, we attack. We ambush the ambushers. It's like a inception thing.'
Everyone else:'What's inception?'
Dorian:*mentally sighs*
After 10 minutes of them finding spots to hide, we wait another ten to let them feel relaxed.
Dorian:'Alright, One.... Two.... Three!' I say telepathically as I use the Force to reveal the enemy positions and we all strike.
I drop down on top of the Wolfkin and force him down while bringing the 'Crow' off my back in AxeSword more and swing down on his head and watch as a translucent barrier stops the clearing damage, turning it into blunt force and knocking him out cold.
I look up to see everyone else having taken care of their assigned targets.
I even see Beatrice suffocating the blonde guy, Charles, with her slime body.
I always wondered this, but does that mean that he is technically "doing" her since he's inside her?
Or is it not sexual because she isn't having the whole nervous system thing and the fact that slimes are asexual.
Then what about interspecies relationships between slime people and others? Can the slime person choose to feel sexual arousal on a whim? The anatomy questions going through my mind cause Lilith to look at me angrily and everyone else to look at me with weird looks on their faces. Beatrice looks like she's gonna die of embarrassment.
Shit, we're all connected telepathically still.
Lilith:'Yes... We are.'
Dorian:"Then you know full well that this isn't a question as to whether I want to do it with her Babe. I am genuinely curious as to the anatomical science behind this."
Lilith:"I know but it's still rude."
Thia:"You've caused the poor girl to overload Dorian. Look at her."
I look at Beatrice and realise that she is avoiding all eye contact with me.
Dorian:"I am incredibly sorry Beatrice, it was rude of me to think those things, even though I didn't really mean to let them across telepathically."
Beatrice:"I- i- it's a- alright D- Dorian. Y- you had no idea and you were not meaning any I'll intent." At least she is a reasonable person. Most girls probably would have screamed and hit me.
As we get apologies out of the way, Renagoth comes along with some second years and the pick up the unconscious students.
Renagoth then comes over and says,
Renagoth:"Well done you guys, ya won."
Antonio:"What? But we didn't get to fight any real battles."
Renagoth:"Oh but you did, battle isn't only about who is the last one standing with the most corpses at their feet, it's also about strategy and playing to your strengths, plus the other teams all got taken out by each other and the creatures of the forest. Besides one other team, you guys are the last standing."
As he says this, we teleport back to the colosseum to see people in the stands clapping and cheering along with a giant betting pool and board.
Renagoth:"With this, class is over, head to next period and get out of my hair. I have to organize the transportation of the unconscious students to the infirmary."
With that we head out the colosseum and got to out last classes.