The Elemental Relics

As the group said their goodbyes to Ahuru, Ali took one more look at Dalcis, the town that had been one of the major turning points in his life. He hadn't stayed there long enough to grow attached to it but he couldn't deny that it was a major improvement over his village. Next, his brief experience within the liberation army training facility had taught him so much. In addition, he met Kamis who was now joining him on the airship. The two of them, having gone through so much, were ready to start a new chapter without the worry of being labeled traitors within Usnana. Everyone got onto the cart and were ferried to the rendezvous site with the airship.

“Have you ever left Usnana?” asked Ali.

“No,” replied Kamis.

Despite his many attempts, Ali had never once got Kamis to open up about his past. The bulky teenager clamped up as soon as anyone inquired about his past. Belen and Kurata had given up at this point but Ali still wanted to keep going. Having been around Kamis for so long, he sensed there was something heavy in the mind of his companion and he wanted to help where he could. They survived a near-death experience but that was clearly not enough for Kamis to open up fully.

I hope the experience on the airship will make him trust me enough to share. I have Tian to share my secrets but he has no one. The losses of Svenne and Umaru don't help.

As soon as the group boarded the airship, they were shown to their rooms which Ali was very disappointed with. He was certain his new room was the same size as his D rank room along with the same bed and small chest that came with each room. He had hoped for an upgrade, no matter how small, but he wasn’t getting it as a C ranker. As he settled in his room, he heard a commotion outside and went to check.

“So these are the newly promoted newbies? Talk about a disappointing group!”

Ali quickly exited his room to find Belen and Kurata face to face with half a dozen other teenagers. From their attitude, he assumed they were the veteran C rankers who looked to establish the pecking order. He experienced it when he joined the liberation army but Svenne was always handling the matter for them. He was about to come to the defense of his companions when Kamis walked between the two parties. Due to Kamis’ past demeanor, Ali never felt intimidated by the bulky teenager. He also never fully realized how big the teenager was. Once Kamis stood tall with conviction, he easily dwarfed other teenagers. As soon as he entered the scene, the veteran C rankers quickly backed off and headed elsewhere, thus diffusing the situation.

“Are you three okay?” asked Ali as he ran up to them.

Belen stated that she was rearing for a fight after her boring involvement during the final test. Knowing her attitude, Ali feared she would go all out if it came to that. Kurata stated he was glad confrontation was avoided as they would make a terrible impression if they were involved in fights as soon as they joined. Kamis didn’t say anything but Ali was relieved to see the bulky teenager’s smile return. The person that stopped the earlier situation vanished in an instant.

Maybe he just feels protective of those I care about.

Later that day when all the new C rankers arrived, Caelan served as the tour guide of the C rank floor. He showed the facilities that were identical to the ones on the D rank floor except for the duel ring which was unique to the C rank floor and higher. He explained that, due to there being fewer C rankers, everything was a lot less crowded which was a perk of the promotion. Another perk was the new instructors they had access to who would bring out more of the talent within all the individuals.

“What about the duel ring?” asked one of the new C rankers. “How do we get access to it?”

“Excellent question,” said Caelan. “Follow me into the room and I’ll explain in detail.”

The seven new C rankers followed Caelan to the duel ring which was empty for the time being. The instructor walked atop the ring.

“You need a token to use the duel ring and tokens are earned through various means. Be sure to pay attention to your classes because the instructor will let you know if tokens are the rewards for coming first in certain drills and exercises. A token is used once per individual so you must pick carefully when to use it. Duel rings have 1v1, 2v2 and group combat formats and all of those formats cost 1 token per person. There are a few tournaments that also give C rankers a chance to use the ring without the need for tokens. As you can imagine, the duel ring is a highly sought after commodity so there’s a lot of competition for their usage.”

After being asked a few more questions, Caelan allowed the new C rankers to enjoy rest of their night. Given that they all arrived at different times of the day, no classes were scheduled. The instructor did warn them that, by the end of the day, a schedule would be passed to all of them and they were all expected to participate in classes on time. Once dismissed, Ali’s group headed to the cafeteria to satisfy their growling stomachs. The four of them ate and chatted until they were booted from the cafeteria. Then, they parted ways to return to their respective rooms.

Let’s take a quick look at the schedule then.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary in the schedule, Ali set his alarm and went to sleep. Now that he returned to the airship, he could refocus his time and energy on achieving synergy with his wind blast and flame blast abilities. He knew he had been neglecting his training in that area but he needed to be ready for the tests and not be the dead weight to his group.