Chương 13: Putting Together A Team

Ray had spent the day with Frangle, and by the evening he and the large teen seemed to have built a good rapport. He went to sleep happy, knowing he had worked things out with his new teammate. Ray wasn't sure what Frangle had meant about the whole 'reminding him of a Beast' thing, but he was glad they had squashed it. The next day, he found himself in one of the private rooms in the common area with four other teens. There were, of course, Phora, Frangle, and Jerome.

The fourth teen was a green-haired young woman wielding a small rod. The rod was made of wood with a white crystal on the end. Her battlegear was obviously made for Intelligence, and she exuded a confident aura. Phora welcomed Ray when he entered and told him to start the introductions.

"My name's Ray," he said.

"The generalist, right?" the green-haired girl said.

"I heard you were a looker, but my goodness. You look like a Soldier straight out of a movie." Ray's mouth opened in shock, and before he could speak, Phora interrupted him.

"Yes, Kiara," she hissed.

"Ray will be our group's Captain, so show him some respect."

"Sorry, sorry," Kiara replied.

"He's just so handsome. Anyways." She tossed her hair and smiled brightly.

"I'm Kiara. I use Light Mana, and I specialize in Intelligence. So far, I have a healing and ward Ability."

'Healing?' Ray thought.

'Good going, Phora.' Kiara gave Ray a wink and sat back down. Jerome stood next and introduced himself.

"Hello, everyone. You all know me, Jerome Emberfell. I specialize in Agility and use Fire Mana. I hope to offer the team a high level of burst damage, meaning I may need to lean on you all for defense at times." Phora and Ray were both surprised at Jerome's humble introduction. Kiara grinned, seemingly amused by his humility. Only Frangle seemed to take him seriously, speaking after he stood and shook Jerome's hand.

"I'll be sure to have your back, Jerome. I'm Frangle Ballord. I specialize in Strength and use Wind Mana. I can hit hard and fast. I also have a lot of defensive buffs. I have sworn my allegiance to Ray. So I hope you all will consider me his right-hand man." The group all shared a questioning look before turning to Ray, who just shrugged and smiled. Phora introduced herself last, and the group then went on to speak casually for a few minutes.

Each member of the group seemed to deem Ray the leader, and from there Phora was considered co-leader. This hurt Frangle's feelings and Jerome's pride, but they agreed nonetheless. It was a strange collection of people when Ray thought about it. Three heirs, a guy who had practically pledged his life to him, and Ray somehow sitting in the middle of it all. None of them agreed on much, but they had still chosen to stay in the same room and call themselves a team.

Ray was told by Phora to connect to the monitor in the room and register everyone as a group. It was an easy process, and after he was done, they all received the same System message. [Mission assigned: Travel to Barkbeak Island and exterminate a Beast den.] [Additional Info: Beast den is reported to be infested with insect-like Beasts known as Stonemites.] [Stonemites will burrow into Beast dens, wiping them out from within and creating a nest. Your job is to eliminate as many worker mites as you can and eliminate the queen, ensuring the death of the colony.] [Reward: 1000 contribution points]"That sounds a little crazy, right?" Frangle said in a concerned tone.

"There could be hundreds of Stonemites in one of those dens." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"We'll be okay," Kiara said.

"I'm sure Ray will be able to take out the queen single-handedly." Phora shot Kiara an annoyed look while Ray reached up to scratch the back of his head before speaking.

"I think we can do it," he said.

"Our team is super powerful, and the worker mites aren't even considered Beasts in the 1st Stage. They are like pseudo-Beasts or Beast cubs. The only real danger is the queen. She will definitely be Late Stage 1, maybe even higher if we're unlucky." The room grew silent for a moment, and the teens all looked at the ground. The silence was broken by the sound of the door opening. It was a personnel member, and they informed Phora that the training room they reserved was available now.

Once the personnel member left, Ray stood and began to speak.

"Welp, nothing we can do about it. I'm sure they think we can handle it if they assigned the mission to us. I'm just going to assume it'll be a walk in the park." He turned and walked out the door. The first to follow was Frangle, tailed by Kiara. Jerome and Phora shared a look before he began speaking.

"He's got a point, you know. We better get to training." Then he walked out after them. - The group had been given 48 hours to prepare for the mission. Afterwards, they would board a flying vehicle and be taken directly to Barkbeak Island. Ships were only used when transporting large groups of materials. Barkbeak Island was one of the islands closer to the base and had a population of Beasts all under the 3rd Stage. This made it a hot spot for Stage 1 missions and training.

After multiple sessions of drills and synergy exercises, the 5 teens found themselves boarding a large aircraft. It was similar to a cargo plane, only it sported no wings, and the ever-present hum of Mana could be heard coming from underneath it. Ray sat with Frangle on one of the benches along the wall of the aircraft's large cargo area. He and the large teen were discussing ways to make use of their new Abilities when the other three members of the team finished boarding.

Phora and Jerome seemed uncomfortable with the dirt and grime caked onto every surface aboard the vessel, while Kiara seemed more than happy to plop down right next to Ray. She wore a devious smile and sat much closer than the situation called for. The ride to the island was as calm as it was organized. Phora and Jerome spent most of the time arguing while Ray tried to avoid being mauled by Kiara. Frangle seemed to be happy just being involved.

The group disembarked in a small clearing on the southernmost edge of the island. The Stonemite nest was located in the southeastern section of the island, somewhere hidden beneath the wild-grown vegetation. The island was as chaotic as the one Ray had visited previously. If not more. They had only been traveling east for about 10 minutes when the System notified them of an incoming threat. It turned out to be a lone panther-like Early Stage 1 Beast called a Shadowstrix.

The group didn't even get to mobilize fully before Ray ended its life with a ranged Bolt. By the time he had pocketed the Beast Core, his Mana had already regenerated to full. The rest of the journey was uneventful. Nearly 2 hours of walking later, the group found themselves in front of what was essentially a giant hole in the ground. Ray was reminded of an anthill as he gazed into the entrance of the Stonemites' nest. It went down at a slight angle before branching off into multiple pathways.

At least, that was what he could tell from the outside.

"This is sketchy," Ray said.

"We won't know where any of them are until we go inside, but then they could easily surround us." He looked to Kiara, who perked up at his sudden attention.

"You're the squishiest. We'll make a formation of two in front, one in the middle, and two in the back. Frangle, you take up the rear with Phora, since she can use ranged attacks and can cover you. Jerome, you are taking the lead with me. We both can move quickly, so we can back up Phora and Frangle if needed. Kiara, you'll be in the middle. Sound good?" The other four teens shared a look before Kiara let out a little giggle. Phora looked annoyed but answered in a polite tone all the same.

"We're just surprised how good you are at this, Ray." Jerome smiled in agreement and Frangle nodded a little too aggressively. Kiara even spun around and curtsied before saying something along the lines of, "Yes sir, Mr. Commander sir." The group shared a moment of relaxed laughter before they took formation and headed into the cave. Even though Ray was expecting it, the System-enhanced night vision he suddenly gained took him by surprise. The small dark pathway he currently found himself in wasn't dark at all.

In fact, he could see every detail of the cave walls. The rock was brown and caked with some kind of excrement. Presumably, some kind of waste or by-product of the Stonemites. Stonemites would turn the surrounding soil into hard rock by secreting a gel-like substance filled with Mana. They would then burrow through the hardened stone and create complex networks. This nest used to be home to another group of Beasts called Killworms.

Weird names aside, these things were actually one of the deadliest Beasts in the world. It's said that they are found virtually everywhere underground. Some believe there are even 10th Stage Killworms hidden deep beneath the earth. Much like the Stonemites, they are one of the few Beasts that create young below the 1st Stage. The Beasts then grow more powerful by siphoning Earth Mana out of the soil. One Killworm can multiply at least once per Stage, and most reach the 1st Stage within hours of being born.

This meant there were billions, if not trillions, of Killworms infesting the Empire alone. A huge portion of the military's funds were dedicated to eradicating these Killworms. This left many empty nests like this one, just waiting for another crevice-dwelling creature to make its home here. The Killworms also made tunnels in their nests, similar to the Stonemites. This made the nest an absolute maze of twists and turns. Ray and his group had been descending for what felt like hours.

Each teen was covered in sweat, and their joints pleaded to be on level ground. Eventually, the System's map showed a wide-open area just outside of the tunnel they were currently in. It didn't show any detail, but luckily it could somewhat detect what was a few feet behind the walls in either direction. This feature would only become apparent when navigating mazes such as this nest. If Ray were to fall into a labyrinth of some kind, he would just need to wander aimlessly while the System filled in his map for him.

The map was one of the most revolutionary features of the System and was regarded as a showing of its brilliance. Ray instructed the group to help him dig into the rock and break into the open area. It took several minutes, but their System-enhanced strength made short work of the task. What they saw on the other side was as shocking as it was terrifying.