Time continued to roll and for the last two weeks, it's been rather pleasant.
I wasn't challenged for my page position.
Melissa didn't try anything.
And Jashen was sweet as always.
With how good everything was going I had almost forgotten about the competition at the end of the month.
Almost.
When I entered the central tower I was guided to the auditorium. And inside, was the entire student body.
Students ranging in ages from 12 to 18.
With the youngest in the front rows and the oldest in the back.
As I made my way down the aisle a hand jet out. I looked to my left. Reinhardt was there, he patted the seat beside him. "I saved it."
He grinned.
As I sat down Reinhardt reached for my collar and picked off a long strand of orange hair. "That's the second one. Do you have a cat or something?"
"What are you talking about, there's nothing there." I snatched the strand and swallowed it.
Then I washed it down with a little water from a summoned waterball.
"You just… " Reinhardt looked as if he was both angry and confused. "Why are you like this?"
I raised a finger to my lips. "Stop talking to yourself."
Professor Tectus marched on stage with his hands behind his back. He looked like a general about to give his speech to his men.
He waited until the last student entered the room and the doors were closed.
He spoke.
"Most of you know what this is."
His expression was flat. "But that does not mean you're allowed to be arrogant. That is the fastest way to lose a competition."
He began to pace.
"This competition is a team death match. All of you will form teams of five peers and compete to destroy enemies. This competition will last for three days, and you will be ranked by the number of teams you've defeated."
He raised a hand.
"There is an exception however. Elite scholars will be worth double a normal elimination. In addition to that, they will only have their page as a teammate."
A wave of professors entered the auditorium holding glowing crystal balls and strange golden compasses.
"You may wonder to yourself. How am I to find opponents? Who will track my eliminations?" Tectus gestured towards the professors.
"These two items answer both those questions. A beacon and a tracker. You track down and collect your opponents' beacons by any means necessary."
The professors began handing out the crystal balls and the trackers—just enough to be passed around among the first years.
A professor came to my seat and handed me both items before he whispered. "Pass the crystal ball down first, wait, then pass the tracker." He placed the items in my hands.
The crystal ball was small but bright. With a smooth surface and a heavy weight.
The tracker meanwhile, was a small disk-shaped piece with countless, small pens.
When I held the crystal ball near the tracker, the center pins rose higher than the rest. Except for a few outer row pins that rose to track the other balls.
Then as I handed my crystal ball to Reinhardt, the central pins dropped and new ones rose towards the left.
The further the ball went down the line, the further left the pins went.
Interesting.
I handed the tracker off to Reinhardt.
Tectus continued.
"A fair warning to you. The more beacons you collect, the easier it is for others to ping you. That means the weak will run from you, and the strong will be drawn towards you."
He raised a finger as he looked out over the crowd. "So decide wisely on how you distribute the balls among your teammates."
"Speaking of wise decisions, you have the rest of the day to form teams, strategize, and familiarize yourself with the map. Which you will be given as you exit. If by tomorrow you do not have a team you will be assigned one."
He gestured with a hand to the right. "Dismissed."
— — —
Outside the halls of the auditorium, the hallway buzzed with chatter.
"Dude, you already know we're teaming up." One student said.
"We should set up near the lake, it's bound to be a hot spot." Another suggested.
Reinhardt and I pushed our way through the halls and found a quiet spot outside.
"A team death match in the forest."
Reinhardt mumbled as he looked at his map.
"And all I'll have to keep me warm is the bosom of my elite scholar, what a world."
I crossed my arms as I thought about the fact that it would only be Lance and me out there. I didn't doubt he was strong, but a two on five seems unfair.
And that's in the best of scenarios. A third party could come in and it instantly goes to a five-on-one for each of us.
As I was lost in thought, a shadow blocked out the light. I glanced up to see Reinhardt's elite scholar looming over us.
"Hey D—" he couldn't even finish.
She had snatched Reinhardt up by the collar without a word and left. I watched as the poor bastard was dragged away.
He didn't seem bothered though.
If anything he looked at peace.
A few seconds later Lance sat down beside me with a sigh. "Hey bub, what's the game plan?"
I glanced at him. "I thought you were the elite scholar?"
Lance smirked.
"Just because I outrank you doesn't mean I have more experience in everything. Besides, I don't really have a plan beyond fighting and hiding."
Of course, he doesn't.
I looked down at the map. It was a large forested area with a central lake.
The map was detailed enough to show various elevations as well. I pointed at one of them. "I'd recommend setting up here. Everyone will either fight at the lake or keep their distance."
I turned to him. "Being positioned between both groups at a high elevation is beneficial for two reasons."
I held up two fingers. "One, we're close enough to the lake that the outer teams won't push us. And two, we're far enough from the lake that we don't get caught in the crossfire."
Lance nodded. "I like that. Most of the eliminations will happen on day one. So if we can avoid any fights we'll be primed for day two."
"Exactly," I replied. "Plus, if anyone does assault the hill we have the advantage of high ground, it'll be harder to be ambushed or outflanked."
Lance nodded. "So further in the match what are we going to do about beacon distribution. We need eliminations to get points but too many points and we'll light up every tracker on the board."
I frowned.
"Well, it depends. When we eliminate a player with a lot of beacons, do we take all of them or only theirs?"
"You mean rule-wise?"
"Yeah,"
"You only take the beacon of the downed opponent. So if someone has five you only take one."
I raised an eyebrow. "So then, how does anyone know said person has been eliminated? Couldn't they just pass off someone else's beacon as their own?"
Lance tapped a finger on his chin.
"Easy enough. They take the accounts of the people who were downed. After that, it's compared to their number of crystals. So if two people said you downed them and you only have two crystals, someone is lying."
He pointed to the sky and waved a finger. "Plus there will be dragoons watching over this match. The last thing you want is to give a dragoon a reason to fight."
I nodded slowly. "Then we stick to the plan. On day one we keep to ourselves. On day two we pick off stragglers."
Lance nodded in agreement. "I like it."
We sat in silence for a moment.
"You know, I'm going to spend the afternoon with Anna. No offense to you, if I'm spending the next three days in the hole with you, I'd rather remember the warm embrace of my wife." He stood up and faced me.
"Speaking of, you should do the same with you know who. I know she'll want to." He winked, before he jogged off."
I looked around campus to see swaths of students still planning. It made me wonder if Lance was maybe too arrogant.
Running off to embrace a woman while the competition didn't sleep.
Still, I considered it as I folded my map along its creases. It wasn't that terrible of an idea. But it would make leaving in the morning a little harder.
In more ways than one.
After I mulled it over a bit longer I decided it was worth it to spend the day in Jashen's embrace.
Worst case scenario I'm a little unprepared in the morning. Best case? I'm going in with clarity and purpose.
I stood up and pocketed my map.
"Besides, this is my journey, I do what I want."
I grinned as I exited the campus.
All the while a fire user stared at me with killer instinct. Tectus emerged from behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "See, while he sleeps, you keep moving."
"Yes sir." The boy replied.
I was none the wiser.