The sun was still hiding when Lothian woke. He was the first one to do so, coming from a trait formed from habit. 

During his younger years, when he had been but a toddler, living with his mother in the grand tree, a tree that pierced through the sky and was thousands of meters tall, he never went up this early. But times changed. In the grand tree, the hired attendants took care of all his needs. They played and fed and patted him to bed, and even brought him out from the tree to his mother's favourite pond, where they let him play with Rulah.

However, as he got older, people in the grand tree began to disrespect him. He didn't look like other beasts nor like the ruler of the forest, Serena, and they disliked that. Seeing the harassment taking place, his mother could only stop it when she was present but knew that when she was away, the young boy would be bullied by the others living in the grand tree. So, in the end, she made him move out, into his own hut, and that's when he began to wake up before first light.

In his own hut, he was forced to get fresh water each morning, either for cooking or for drinking. Normally, he would eat nuts and berries for breakfast, sometimes a wild crop called potato which he let boiling in the cauldron. Together with the sweet syrup from Gonula trees that could be found in the outer area, the potato tasted very good.

To the contrary, If the potato was eaten without anything on it, then it would taste very bland; sometimes even slightly bitter. Also, each day, at lunch, he would have to go hunt if he wanted to have some meat. It was usually a rabbit or a dove, but sometimes a baby boar when mother boar was careless and left its child without protection.

The young boy, without waking the others, carefully trotted out of the hut. The moon was still shining as resplendent as always when he got out. He was stark naked, the leather clothing still inside the hut close to where he had slept, and his tall, lean but still muscular figure was very beautiful in the dim light.

He was taller than most beasts since he stood on his legs, but comparing his length with Raluh's, for example, was a complete joke. The golden bear was about three meters when standing on his hind legs while the young boy himself only stood with his meagre almost two meters, perhaps a bit less.

Lothian gazed up and felt the wind hit his face, blow after blow, and enjoyed as it caressed his face. It felt good to be alive – good to be here, soon taking the trials. Or, maybe the reason he felt good was because his face had been flushed red from the heat inside the hut and was now soothe by the wind, but that wasn't worth mentioning. Better to blame it on the explicit joy of life, he thought with a smile.

As he stood there, he silently made a decision. Now that he had formed his group, and was about to participate in the first challenge, he would give his absolute everything. Although his control and efficiency in terms of sprite cultivation, which a warrior's progress was called, lagged behind the other of his generation, what mattered was one's strength. The light sprites absolutely loved him for some reason, and that's why he was able to match the other powerhouses.

Telling himself this, the young boy turned around and once again walked into the hut, on his way to wake up the others. His heart about the first challenge was firm. He would crush it.

Once everyone had woken up, they prepared for the first challenge.

There was still an hour or two before they would need to gather at the centre, so they spent the time scurrying for some food. They found out that the place where food and drinks had been given out was now been replaced with a breakfast stall, serving nuts and berries of great quality. It was good that most beasts didn't eat as much as Rulah, the young boy silently thought as he saw his friend devour a dove with two or three bites, for then there would not be food for everyone. Zerki, on the other hand, was very little, and only ate a couple of berries.

                                                                                                                                            ***

"Three, two, one...!" Mogaro said, his the final word as the sun appeared from behind the mountains that divided the forest from the great beyond. His voice reached out to everyone's ears. There was one group who came just a couple of seconds late and even pleaded or everything they had. Yet, they were refused and therefore disqualified.

The reprimanding words of the forest dispatch's vice-leader still echoed in his head: "What if this was a real mission? Do you think an intruder would wait until you arrive before slaughtering your allies in cold blood? Huh? Oi, why aren't you listening? Ah, he fainted?"

"Please settle down everyone. He just fainted. A splash of water will wake him up soon."

                                                                                                                                            ***

"So, now that everything is cleared up, let's begin with today's mission." the shadow panther said with a sly smile.

"The first challenge is a test of your ability to work together as a group. You can say it's a sample. It won't be judged with points. However, you shouldn't relax because of that. Listen carefully now. The groups with good results from this test will have an advantage in the next challenge, in which there will be points, while the groups with bad results will be at a disadvantage. What I'm saying is that the better your score is in this challenge, the easier time you will have in the next."

Other magical beasts sat or were seated beside Mogaro on the raised platform. They all looked like battle-hardened warriors, and Lothian knew they weren't to be messed with. A single one of them was enough to beat him in the blink of an eye. That's right, they were the examiners, all part of the sacred orders sworn to protect the village and the queen. The forest dispatch.

"Today's sample challenge is very simple. You have until lunch to create a battle formation that suits your group. After this, you will be judged by how good you can fare against a forest dispatch member." 

As Mogaro said the last couple of sentences, the whole crowd was stunned breathless.

They, fight against a forest dispatch member? Wasn't that the same as suicide? Wasn't it the same as a five tiger cubs fighting a full-grown lion? 

Lothian felt his heart tighten. Just the sheer thought of going up against a protector filled him with fear.

Protectors weren't just beasts who had hunted small animals like him. They had killed. Slaughtered and protected the village from intruders, beings from outside the forest and even those from the great beyond, who had passed the mountain to come here. They had even killed those creatures... those creatures that looked like him. As it did every now and once, his mind got thinking about his origin. Though he refused to admit it to Rulah, the young boy knew he wasn't from the forest. He was from the outside.

The shadow panther suddenly laughed, leaving all of them staring blankly.

"The protector won't be fighting you seriously, he or she will just defend casually. Haha, otherwise this challenge would be impossible for you all." Then, with calm breath, Mogaro said in a firm tone. "Younglings, the better you can combine your abilities together, the higher score you will get, and the more advantage you will hold in the next challenge. Also, one last thing. Depending on your results, your group will be given a number. Naturally, the group with the best results in this challenge will be called group one."

"Now, disperse. Everyone gather here around in five hours."

The participants were startled, to say the least, but didn't complain as they heard Mogaro's voice. His word was an iron-clad law. Everyone properly left the field with their groups, on their way to find a secluded place where they could speak only themselves. Same was for Lothian's group. They walked into the forest and found a quiet place a couple of minutes away.

It was quite awkward between the group members now that they didn't know where to start. Except for Zerlon and Zerki, who didn't seem to really care, Rulah and Lothian were standing close to each other, both of them trying to think out a battle formation. Luna didn't really know if she should be with the boys or her childhood friend, so she was stuck a bit in between.

A battle formation was more or less a tactic which detailed how to move and attack and retreat with the highest efficiency. A great battle formation could increase a squad's success in a mission with over fifty percentage, and a bad one could even lead to the whole team crumbling apart. The crux was; each formation would need to be tailor fitted for each group. If one group member was changed, the whole formation had to be modified to fit the new team member.

Lothian noticed how they weren't coming anywhere, and so he said. "How about if we all explain our abilities first? So that we can decide each one's position in the formation?"

Everyone nodded, except for Zerlon, who still didn't give a jack about what happened.

"I'll start then, I guess." the young boy said, smiling faintly. He propped his chest up to seem bigger. "I cultivate light sprites and fight by imbuing my fists and legs with light particles. That said, I would do best as a front liner. Oh, and I can also heal lesser injuries if necessary, though I'm not very proficient in that aspect."

"As a golden bear, you can all probably guess how I fight." Rulah continued. "I stand in the front as well."

Feeling it was her turn, Zerki chirped. "I am best with long-range abilities. Protect me, and I will defeat all out enemies with thunder and fire! No matter how many they are, I will scorch them to nothing but ash and dust!"

Lothian turned to the star beaver. "What about you, Luna?" 

"This one is not so good in terms of offensive abilities," Luna said, her cheeks reddening and her tail pounding the ground like crazy.

It seemed pretty humorous to the young boy, but if he knew the reason behind it, he wouldn't find it as funny. Truth was that she wasn't used to talking in front of this many at once, and at the same time, she had always been a bit shy and humble with her skills.

"But if it's something, then it would be that I can help the team both offensively and defensively." she said. "This one is quite nurtured in the water elements, and her lineage allows her to combine the two elements to create moon particles. Moon particles are good because they can be used both as healing and as attacking. A bit like the light element."

Everyone's gaze landed upon the Arcane Jaguar lying lazily just like Rulah used to do. The patterns were quite clear now in the day and one could even notice tiny black dots between the purple and azure and dark gold fur.

"Oh, you're waiting for me?" Zerlon asked indifferently.

"Hurry up so that we can get started." the little bird said impatiently. She was curious to see everyone's face when she showed them her new super attack that she had together with her grandpa developed in secret.

"Fine, fine." the Arcane jaguar said. "I cultivate three different sprites. Water and darkness and fire. I have a lot of skills, but it wouldn't really mean anything if I told you since almost of all are single-targeted, used to assassinate others. The only one I have which isn't a single target skill, but a buff, is stealth, an innate ability that all Arcane Jaguars possess since birth."

Lothian and the other nodded. They had heard of the Arcane Jaguars fearsome innate ability called stealth, able to shroud them in the shadows and keep other's gaze from watching. Just like Arcane Jaguars had this, Starbeaver had their innate skill to create moon particles which could be used for both healing wounds and attacking enemies.

Rulah also had an innate skill– but that was something he still didn't have access to, a skill that would come when he matured in a few years.

The only two of the group who didn't have innate skills were Zerki and Lothian. On the other hand, they were blessed in their own way. Zerki's brilliant proficiency in combining fire and thunder, and Lothian's ability to be loved by the light sprites, made up for this.