“Here we go,” Miles muttered silently. It had been a week since they were taken to the military compound close to the area where the competition would be held. In that week, Miles met with other students as he was the captain of the first grades. They were also briefed about the competition . It would be a cage battle where all the academies were placed in a vast mountain range and they would have to complete various tasks to earn points. Each task had varying points allocated depending on difficulty, team effort, and other criterias.

“Captain!” 9 students greeted Miles, as they entered the make-shift base they constructed. All the academies were given a map and the area of the base for each team was 100 kilometers in diameter. Students were free to build their bases anywhere in this area. And anywhere, really meant anywhere.

“AI’s are banned in the area to prepare the students for situations similar to Dead Zones. Although AI Wristwatches are a great help, we have to be able to navigate without any exterior help.” Miles said as he looked at the students.

Out of 14, Milosh told him to choose 9, after they learned the tournament details. With the files detailing their information, Miles chose several to cover everything he would need.

“Connor, you will create communication stones with the help of Asai. Put as much energy as you can to make them last the longest.” Miles said as he looked at the teen and the girl. The girl, Asai Masumi, had the Superpower Stone Image. It was one of the rare types that allowed her to create illusions as well as real stones even when she was still in Grace-Rank. After she joined the academy, she studied hard in Heart and Mind Branches to cultivate both masteries to a decent degree. Her elemental manifestation could last longer than others, as they were Earth Elemental.

Connor Wells, on the other hand, has the superpower, Sound of Elements. His superpower was similar to Val’s, allowing him to ‘hear’ elements, increasing his pace of mastering new elemental abilities. His elements were Earth and Wid, allowing him to work with Asai. In the academy, he spent most of his time mastering Mind Branch techniques as he could increase his elemental proficiency much easier on his own.

Out of all the first-year students, he was the only one who could create Psychic Imprints on inanimate objects to use for communication. It was quite similar to the telepathy sub-branch of the Mind Branch, allowing people to exchange thoughts by holding two objects with the same imprint.

“Captain, the range will be less than 5 kilometers,” Connor reported in disbelief. He knew who Miles was, and he saw how the latter saved their lives in the elevator, but he was still displeased to leave the commanding position to him. Everyone who joined the competition knew what it signified. He, in the academy and even before, has always trained in Mind Branch to become a good commander, and with his abilities, he could command all the soldiers on the battlefield, but the chosen commander didn’t even know the short range of inanimate communication telepathy.

“That is why you will stay behind as a signal tower,” Miles said tersely. Although he knew there were some who were dissatisfied with his current position, he couldn’t care less. Milosh gave him a task, and he was determined to win first place. Especially after the incident.

“What?!” Connor asked with his eyes wide open, his face flushed red with anger. “Do you even know how the imprinting works? I know you are some kind of genius in energy, especially in the Body and Heart branches, but the Mind Branch is different. If you don’t know how it works, at least be honest and ask, don’t blabber nonsense.”

“First of all, I am the Captain. Be careful of your tone or I will replace you right away. Remember who chose, all of you. You are as useful as my orders. If you cannot fulfill them, I don’t need you.” Miles said with a squint. Others clenched their fists because of his stark threat. “Secondly, obviously it is you who doesn’t know shit about the branch you excel at.”

As Connor was about to explode and insult Miles, something incredible happened. The vision in front of them changed, and they found themselves in a white room.

“This is a virtual room. Similar to Energy Domain, Virtual Room is a creation of Energy that can amplify other abilities of the same branch. In this case, Mind Branch. In the Virtual Room, the creator can strengthen every ability. Tell me, Connor, can you create a Virtual Room?”

“Yes, sir.” Connor saluted with a red shade on his face, “Not as big as this, but I achieved small success in Virtual Room not long ago, sir.”

“As reported in the files.” Miles nodded, “You probably didn’t know that via using Virtual Room, you can use your body as a signal tower to increase the range of inanimate communication telepathy. If your range is 5 kilometers in normal time, with Virtual Room, it will increase to 50 kilometers. Do you think it is adequate enough?”

“Yes, sir.” Connor nodded.

“Good, you can start creating them.” Miles dismissed them. Asui didn’t reject, only saluted and followed behind Connor. The rest of the students dismissed the rebellion in their hearts after they saw the display of strength. Every first-year knew Miles was a monster when it came to Body Branch. In Heart Branch, although he didn’t have an element, he could already change the characteristic of his energy. Now, even in Mind Branch, he was better than one of the best.

“Kasey, I was briefed that you can summon three Wind Elemental birds.” Miles turned to look at one of the girls.

“Yes, sir.” Kasey saluted and then gave details, “My first summon is Eagle-Winged Snow Owl. It has excellent visual abilities and very fast speed. The Second is, Hurricane Hawk. Although not as good as Snowy, it has excellent eyes and is much faster. The third is Giant Vulture. To be honest it is bulky and slow. I use it as a mount.”

“Have the first two patrol the area. They should alert us as soon as they see anything.” Miles ordered. Summoners could communicate with their summons, thus they were the best scouts depending on their summons and elements. For example, Everyperson, Miles, Alex, Maya, and Val met on their quest, had the best potential to be a scout if trained properly. Sadly he was born in Chanter Town and wasn’t even trained.

“Yes, sir.” Kasey saluted and left as well.

“Rest of us will build the base. We have two hours before we can plant our flag. After that, we need to select tasks.” Miles nodded, then turned to walk towards the area he selected earlier.