Kairo didn't have the time to pay attention to the sky above the forest before.
Afterall, as soon as he was teleported here, he was distracted by the sound of his 2 teammates emptying their bowels. He didn't even get to acquaint with them before the first construct attacked them.
And immediately, he was forced into battle.
Kairo didn't hate it though as the aftermath of that battle gave him his second skill that was tied to his ability.
And now, with no immediate threat, he finally noticed the unusual sky.
The sky was almost like molten glass, cracked with the occasional flash of black lightning. Pairing this with the dead trees and dry dusty ground of this forest, it created a surreal battlefield that in a way was perfect for ambush.
'This is definitely not Planet Scrontum,' was the first thought that entered his mind.
As if reading his thoughts, the tall girl, Mira said. "This is most likely a pocket dimension, I never thought the Academy would invest so much in just the entrance tournament".
Kairo silently looked at her.
He knew what a pocket dimension was, he'd read about it in comic books. They were pockets of space that were separated from the rest of the world. Some were artificially created, but most occurred naturally.
Talking of Mira, Kairo paid more attention to her. If he would describe her in one word, she looked… tomboyish.
She had short brown hair with a fade haircut. Strapped to the side of her waist was a dagger. Though she was yet to use it, from the way she carried herself, Kairo bet she was the only competent Awakened in the group apart from him.
He didn't know if the danger of the test would escalate. But if they were going to survive 5 more hours of this, they had to cooperate as a team, so…
"Well, like I already said earlier, my name is Kairo, Kairo Vale," he said as he looked at his teammates. "I have only one ability, and it allows me to grow my muscles and fight like you've just seen".
The others raised their brow, clearly surprised but no one interjected.
Kairo continued. "If we're going to survive this phase of the entrance tournament, we need to work as a team to survive. And to do that, we have to know each other's ability. We need to know our strengths and weaknesses".
"I can fight," he paused. "What can you do?"
"My name is Mira Everdrake," the girl said the next moment. "I can use a dagger fairly well. I have two abilities, Earth Manipulation and Wind Manipulation".
Hearing that, Kairo looked at her, surprised.
Understanding the weight of his gaze and the expectations that came with it, she coughed. "Erm, I've not unlocked any skills of my ability yet".
"At the moment, I can only coat my dagger with wind mana to accelerate attacks, and with some effort I can also coat it with earth mana to deal obliterating strikes to my opponents".
She paused. "I can also coat my legs with wind mana to increase my movement speed if push comes to shove".
Kairo looked at her, a silent question in his eyes.
She understood and looked away. "I'm sorry, I've never fought in a real battle before so I froze. It won't happen again".
Kairo nodded. He understood.
He paid attention to the others. The short boy in armor had a straightforward ability of Defensive Enhancement; it explained why he wore his armor. With it plus his ability, he was basically a defensive bulwark.
As for the two others, one of them had two abilities, Silent Steps and Dash, both assassin skills. Due to being a wimp, of course the snorty brat could not use both abilities well, it was literally a waste of ability, but Kairo still saw utility for his existence in the team.
The last guy? Surprisingly, he was a healer. His special ability was called Limit Breaker, but not the fighting type of limit breaker.
He already unlocked the first skill of his ability. When he circulated mana the right way and touched his target, he could stimulate his target's body to accelerate its organic processes, including self-healing.
Kairo was surprised. This was a fairly capable team.
After his fight against the last construct, he was slightly exhausted, and most importantly of all…
DING!
~----~
[SYSTEM WARNING: Nutritional Deficiency!]
[Urgent Recommendation: Consume protein immediately!]
~----~
~Growl!
It was not a beast growl, rather it was Kairo's stomach that growled.
He grimaced. After a week of training before the entrance tournament, he got more used to his special ability. And in this time, he learned and realized certain things: whenever he fought and strained his muscles, his metabolism accelerated.
Which meant he always end up hungry after fights.
'Damnation!'
Larry, the healer of the team after introducing himself finally worked up to Kairo as he activated his skill and touched him.
Immediately, Kairo felt the dull ache in his muscles ease up.
'Good,' he thought. 'We stand a chance'.
~Growl!
Kairo grimaced as Larry looked at him. He forced a smile. "Don't worry, I tend to be hungry quite a lot".
"Oh, ok".
And so, the countdown continued.
…
Sometime later, a flare shot into the sky.
It exploded in a crimson X that hung overhead. The system chimed again, and this time, it was deeper and more ominous.
A voice reverberated from invisible speakers.
"Warning, a trial escalation has been triggered".
"The zone threat level has been upgraded".
"E-Rank Construct has been deployed. Your objective remains to survive".
"Only through fire are blades tempered".
Silence.
The team processed the words that they just heard.
For the past 2 hours, with Kairo leading the team, they've worked together, seamlessly taking out constructs as with Larry's help, none of them suffered severe injuries yet. They were still in prime condition.
With knowledge of their special abilities, Kairo was able to create a formation. He could tell that Mira was strong.
And so, Ben, the tank boy became their tank. His special ability and his armor were perfect for it. His role was to take on the F-Rank constructs head-on and slow them down for the others to attack.
Kairo and Mira were the attackers. After that first golem construct attack, Mira slowly grew into herself and she proved her power.
As for Hugo, the boy with Silent Step and Dash, he became the scout. He always moved ahead of the team, warning in the case of any threat.
With his Dash special ability, he always avoided danger before it was too late.
Silence followed after those words indicating the trial escalation, but it didn't last long as a sound soon followed.
The sound was wrong; it was deep and wet, slithering through the trees like grinding bone. Kairo caught on to it immediately.
And then, with silent steps, Hugo dashed backward.
"Construct attack!" He shouted. "It's E-Rank!"