Chapter 7 Team SEER

When Clyde finally finished the announcement of teams, he gave out the room numbers for every team. There will be no such thing as separation of males and females this time since they are now a team and they have to deal with each other every day from now on. Some, already expecting such arrangement just happily took the chance to try and improve their social skills while some of those picky and a bit temperamental have some complains but sadly fell on deaf ears.

The arrangement has been there for so long and they are not the generation that will break such costume of the academy. In the end, they can only accept it and grumpily go towards their respective rooms. All in all, there are a total of twenty one teams due to some people greedily occupying a relic without a pair. The numbers of students that were accepted this year reduced for almost twenty percent. Reena was not too happy about this fact but still finds the new youngsters to be interesting so she happily made arrangements for them.

As for team SEER, they are occupying room 827 of the freshmen dormitory. They are all taking in the surroundings curiously especially Ellis. He is, in a sense the true meaning of a country bumpkin. On the other hand, their leader, Sarah Lie is calmly sitting on the bed she claimed for herself. She is a slender female without much curves and one of her worries is her future. She came from a pretty good clan which also gained fame the same time as the four major clans of Vale kingdom.

In history, their Lie family ancestors were orphans due to Grim attack after the bandits attacked their village. From there, the two founder of the clan met during the event. After the event, the both of them attended Beacon academy which as history told to be the golden era of Beacon academy. From there, their ancestors started to gain merits after merit following the journey of the four major clan founders. Even until the final battle, the Lie clan ancestors were there supporting the major clans on the back without any hesitation. There are more clans back then but sadly some of them already died due to passage of time.

Back to the present, Sarah is looking around and sizing up her new teammates. She did not expect to be the leader of the group since she never has that experience in leading people. But, since she was selected to be the leader, she wants to be worthy of being a leader in any way she can. She pretended to cough to get the other’s attention. When all three people are looking at her finally she stood up from her bed.

“So, since we are going to spend the next four years of our stay in this academy, I thought we should get to know each other more.”

Robert, one of their team member snorted before started to fiddle with his phone again playing some game again.

“I don’t take orders from those weaker than me. Don’t misunderstand because we became a pair back there at the forest.”

Sarah’s face instantly turned white when she heard it. She knows she is not the best out there but she successfully managed to enter Beacon Academy. That much should be enough to speak tales about her skills yet here is one two faced bastard saying some things after they finally got out of the forest.

Sarah really wants to bash his head here and then but decided to calm herself down. She is the leader of the group and it is not wise to show too much animosity right off the bat. Though she will make sure that this Robert will get what he deserves sooner than later.

“Sh*t-heads aside, let’s continue our discussion.” She said as she looks towards Ellis at this time.

In all three other member’s she feels like she can converse with Ellis more. Even though he was the most silent one of the group, he does not make things difficult or awkward for others. She can say that he was trying to blend in the group with his own ways. With that reason, she thought that he will be the first one she will try to win over.

Ellis looks to his side to see if there is another person beside him. When he sees that there is no one else, he points his finger to himself like he is double checking if he is getting this right. When Sarah nodded her head, Ellis coughed a few times to get his voice prepared.

“I am Ellis Moon; I just arrived in Vale yesterday. I am from Lutton town of the south borders.” He said as briefly as he can.

“Wait! The south?” Robert this time threw his phone to the side and sat directly beside Ellis like it is natural.

Ellis can only nod because he doesn’t know what this excitement all about is. He can’t understand why other people feel that way when one mentions the south border.

“What is life at there like? Are the Grims awesome as the books say?” Robert is like a kid as his eyes burn with excitement.

The other two people in the room also became more curious about the south at this point. All their life, they only stayed in the walls of the kingdom. Outside the walls is a foreign affair for them so far. Now that they are trying to become a Huntsmen and Huntresses, they need to know more information about the world and not just the capital.

“Normal I guess?” Ellis tries to remember something interesting but so far he can’t remember except for some exiting events. “Mostly normal but sometimes, fun things happen.”

“Define normal please.” Sarah also sat back to her bed intending to listen to the information about the world outside the walls of the kingdom.

“Hmmm… it’s just fighting Grims, gathering crystal and trying to dive deeper inside the maze ruins.” Ellis said nonchalantly but the faces of the other three changed at this time. They all grew inside the kingdom and all they faced so far are only weak Grims that form when too much negative energy gathers on some area. Outside from that, they never had the experience of taking out crystals from these Grims since they are too low in level.

“What levels are those Grims?” Emerald, the most anti-social of the group is surprisingly showing interest on the subject.

Ellis was a bit amazed but smiled faintly. He thinks that he is doing well so far and he is not gathering animosity or any unnecessary attention so far.

“On good days, there will be only few level 5 Grims. On the worse days, there will be a level 7 mixed in the crowd. On the worst days, there will be one or two level 7 leading the charge towards the walls.” Ellis said like it was the most normal things like when one talks about weather.

“What?” all three other people’s face changed after hearing his words.

Ellis looks at them with a confused expression in his face. “Is the days in the kingdom different? You have taller walls so I guess it will be easier right?”

Sarah at this point discovered how broken the common sense of Ellis is. Level three Grims inside the kingdom are rare to see inside the kingdom. The army makes sure to sweep the entire kingdom of Grims every now and then. There are no special locations in the kingdom for the Grims to gather and so they can only train with older huntsmen and huntresses most of the time. Facing Grims like the ones Ellis told, they are not confident with themselves now.

“What the heck are you saying dude?” Robert said with a frown. “What level 5 and level 7 Grims? Did you hit your head and brags too much?”

Ellis looks at the faces of the other two people and frowned. He already expected their lives to be easier than their but he never expected it to be too much just like this. With how they look right now, he can tell that they never faced a level 5 Grim in their entire life so far. He can only sigh inside in his head. Now he is thinking if going to Beacon Academy is the right decision. He needs a way to enhance his prowess and the only thing he can think of is this famous Academy.

“I guess our standards in life are really far huh… I don’t know if I should envy your easy lives or be disappointed at this point. What will you do if one day you need to face Grims way out of your league? Will you just run and leave those that are slower than you to die?”

The three grimaced when they heard Ellis. They can’t help but to think, in history, even Beacon Academy fell a few times. It can’t possibly be the work of some crowd of level 1 Grims or level 3 right? When they realized this, they can’t help but admire this country bumpkin in their front.

“It is not my intention to brag but I hope this statement can open up your horizons. Since we will be a team for the next four years, I hope no one will die until we went on separate ways in the future. The situation outside the walls of Vales is becoming worse as time goes on. Why do you think I traveled far for this academy? To loaf? I came here to enhance my strength. If I don’t advance then I can’t dive deeper in the maze ruins.” Ellis said as politely as he can.

The other members also realized this point. If what Ellis is saying is true, then they are falling behind. If the day really came that they will need to face Grims stronger than them then they will surely despair and run leaving behind someone weaker than them to die. Will they not be regretting that for the rest of their life then? Right now, they can feel a different pressure resting on their shoulders. They don’t want to feel that regret in the future. Their safe and easy life needs to change before it becomes too late.

“So what is the situation back there now?” Emerald said as she sat on Ellis’ bed just a little far from Ellis.

Ellis sighed. He also hates when people needs to change their lifestyle due to Grim problems. He already saw too many people like that in the town of Lutton. Those that managed to change their ways survived for a while without the help of the older citizens but those that haughtily tried to do things on their own old ways were mercilessly crushed by the Grims.

“They are getting smarter and smarter every day. So far, I faced a Grim with the intelligence nearly as that of a ten year old child.”

“What? They have intelligence?” Robert said amazed on what new things he is hearing.

“Yes. The older Grims already knows that attacking us humans will not end well for them. So they hide, they grow, they learn as they observe how humans act. They pick up scraps of intelligence from how we act. It is not only our negative emotions that they carry sometimes. Sometimes, some unique Grims with intelligence are born and they grow much stronger than your common mindless Grims.”

“Then why is the army of Vale and the other kingdom not doing something about this?” Sarah said as she is a bit afraid of the things she is hearing.

“You are the people living in the Kingdom right? I am from the town of Exiled how can I know?”

Emerald, as one from the four major clans of the Vale Kingdom felt like there is a silent responsibility now hanging on her shoulders. Even though she despised the weak that can’t do something good, she is not biased to those commoner who does not have the opportunity to strengthen themselves. If the things Ellis says are actually happening outside the walls of the kingdoms, then their situation is equally getting worse and they are not even aware of it.

“Then what are we going to do?” Robert is the first one to panic at this time. He has lived a sheltered life with all the trainings he can get form the huntsmen and huntresses under his family. He would have not thought that his trainings so far actually only weigh as much as a feather when placed to the real world.

“What else?” Emerald said with conviction. It was really rare for her to talk too much but she is not aware of it anyhow. “Get stronger, much stronger than now.”

Emerald walked straight towards Ellis and made a bow. Ellis is shocked on what is she doing and hastily tried to make her stop what she is doing. “Hey! Don’t bow! We are fellow teammates. This is embarrassing so please.”

“I don’t want to stay weak. Please help me.” Emerald said meekly which is so far in her normal way of doing things. She has this smelly mouth which spouts nothing but venom when she speaks. But the Emerald of now is quite accepting of her own weakness. She, of all people hates the most the weak. She will not allow herself to be the weak one.

Ellis is actually really confused on what is happening. He never expected that people of the Vale kingdom will act like this. When he arrived at the kingdom, he knows that their living conditions are not the same. He expected for the people of this kingdom to look down on him because of his family name and his origin but he never expected for some people to actually acknowledge his worth like this. Even one of the mightiest clan of this era is actually bowing towards him and asking for help.

“Please spar with me!” Emerald said after bowing once.

The other two people are actually in shock when they heard Emerald politely asking for a match. They are people who grew up inside the kingdom and they know the reputation of this doll face lady of the Rose clan. She has this infamous title of the Red Queen due to how she fights. She leaves only a red trail of red while knocking every opponent she faces. Even those older huntsmen and huntresses have difficulty in dealing with Emerald Rose.

“Wait… wait a minute please!” Sarah said suddenly. “Calm down a little shall we? It is just the first day. If you two fight at this moment then wouldn’t people mistake us as not getting along?”

“Are we getting along?” Robert said like it is natural which made Sarah face palm herself.

Sarah felt that being the leader of this group will really be a hassle and a pain in the ass. There is this obnoxious fellow, there is the Red Queen which acts like a robot most of the time and there is this super mysterious fellow outside of the walls of the kingdom. Now she feels that she might not be able to act as a leader in this group yet she can’t think of someone else leading them.

Emerald is too tactless and actually has a sharp mouth most of the time. Robert… well he is Robert alright. As for Ellis, he does not speak when not asked and really tries to be low-key even though he fails at it miserably. The only remaining normal of the group… in her own sense is herself.

Ellis and Emerald look at each other and nod. They too understand what Sarah is trying to avoid. It is not wise to do a duel right after they went towards their room for a few minutes.

“Let’s discuss something else for now and know others more.” Sarah said as mediator for the group. “I am Sarah Lie. My overall rank is B-, my aura rank is A.”

“Robert Brooks, my overall rank is B… I can’t believe I am ranked lower than you…” he said as he looks towards Sarah. “My aura rank is A-.”

This time, all three people are looking towards Emerald. All of them are curious to see what rank she is. The three of them heard some things about this lady of Rose clan and they want to know how much her rank differs from them.

“Emerald Rose, Overall rank S, Aura rank S+.” her voice is calm but one can feel how proud she is with her rank.

This time the rest of the people want to hear Ellis’ rank. They want to see what rank is needed to be out there challenging those high level Grims.

“Once again, I am Ellis Moon and I don’t know what are those ranks.” He said scratching his head embarrassed a bit.

Sarah and Robert burst out in laughter after hearing him. Emerald too, is trying to hold the smile threatening to emerge in her lips.

Sarah coughed and successfully stopped the laughter inside the room.

“The overall rank is the combination of Battle skills, Aura quantity and Strength of your Semblance. This test is conducted by the Hunters’ Association. The lowest is E and the highest as X with + and – in middle of every letter.

“The Aura rank is the raw quantity of your aura. The more Aura you have, the higher your rating will be. For the Battle skills, it is measured on how well you handle your semblance during battles. Basically, it can be said to be your total experience in the field. For the last category, the semblances also have a ranking of their own. The Association has a list of semblances and they separated them in ranks based on their utility and strength. Like the semblance of Rose clan’s founder, it is rated as S due to its versatility and not mere strength. Though people also argued that the ranks of semblances depend on how well people use them which is somehow true now that I think about it.”

Sarah patiently explained the whole thing about ranks to Ellis. Ellis on the other hand does not know what to feel. For him, no one can really measure another. People always perform different in varying situations just like his clan. How should people really measure someone? Besides, don’t the classifications only separate people more?

With a higher rank, wouldn’t one feel more superior compared to those lower than him/her?

Ellis wanted to say what he is thinking but he decided to keep it to him. He does not want to act so self-knowledgeable in front of other people. He knows that his opinion on things only weighs the same as others’ opinion. They will just create friction if those opinions crashed.

The kingdoms have their own reasons behind it. Ellis told himself.

The four people spent the rest of the afternoon talking with each other trying to know more about their new teammates. Sarah and Robert don’t seem to get along much and Emerald is surprisingly more amiable than the rumors floating around. They also went to dinner together and people are quite shocked when they saw the Emerald Rose with her new team sitting together in one table. The atmosphere is quite weird and people continued to whisper until team SEER finished their meal and went back to their room to retire for the day.

Ellis suddenly opened his eyes in the middle of the night. He was perspiring all over and his breathing is quite abnormal. He stood up and opened the window to look up the moon shining in the sky gloriously. He can’t help but hum a song until he is singing it lowly. It was a song that her mother sang when she is trying to make the siblings sleep.

I'm lying on the moon

My dear, I'll be there soon

It's a quiet and starry place

Time's we're swallowed up

In space we're here a million miles away

There's things I wish I knew

There's no thing I'd keep from you

It's a dark and shiny place

But with you my dear

I'm safe and we're a million miles away

He kept singing on low voice but the other three are also quietly listening to him sing. They already noticed when he woke up with ragged breathe but are shy to get up and ask why Ellis woke up in the middle of the night looking distress. The other three knows that everyone is entitled with their own sorrows. It is not right to intrude when one is not invited to know. They felt like Ellis will tell them when he is ready and they earned his trust.