Okay, so.
Maybe this whole 'mentoring' thing wasn't as easy as I thought it out to be.
Kael made it look so easy, I never expected it'd be this convoluted.
So, here's the problem, right?
The main issue I'm trying to tackle is their teamwork, but I, am someone who has zero experience on teamwork.
I'm the type of player to stay on solo single-player for all my life, see?
Even worse, my experience with any attempts of 'teamwork' in games have been…not very good to say the least.
From NPCs to other players—they've all been lackluster.
Saboteurs, even!
So, after thinking long and hard over it, I decided on how I was going to mentor them.
By throwing them into the den of lions and seeing what happens.
Metaphorically speaking, at least.
What I mean by that is that I'm going to make them battle some actually strong opponents that are going to force them to think and work together in order to defeat said opponents…is the plan.
Though I don't know how effective this is.
Those opponents, of course, must have bloodlust and want to actually kill them in order for them to treat it seriously, so the best pick was obviously animals from the Forest, who'd be more than happy to chew them down to the bone if possible.
But if they do lose, I won't actually allow them to get killed; I'll be nearby, observing their every move, stepping in when necessary.
*Ku-hum!*
Now that I've settled my mind, I finally got the party's attention on me.
Currently, we were at my house.
They were sitting on the floor, while I was standing beside a map of the area.
Silver had assigned me mores sites to clear for expansion, and this was the opportune time to teach them, and also to alleviate my workload, but let's not focus on that last part.
"Fight. Here."
I pointed at the area where we were going to head out to.
"Land not clear. Wolves, many. You fight."
One person raised their hand after my words.
Ayleen Belen.
"How exactly are we going to train from this?"
Good question, Ayleen.
"Adapt. Strong enemies, work together. If not, die."
Three of them were a bit skeptical at what I said, and I can't deny it—it does sound too simplistic.
But we'll see how it goes.
…Oh, the last one?
The one that wasn't skeptical at all to what I said?
Yeah, that's Bundo.
He's just happy to be fighting.
"No more questions? Let us move."
The air around us was already quite heavy, since no one talked.
We were all serious-like and brooding.
Especially me—I was trying to imitate how Kael acted, attempting to look cool.
That is, until the locals noticed us and started giving their comments.
"Hey, hey, no way, the big guy's taking in even more people! Givin' 'em a tour around the home, even!"
"Li'l Farida and Khovor weren't enough, huh!"
"I never took Grul as someone who wanted to be a father this much…Is it because he might be the only one left in his race?"
"Me too! Bring me too!"
"Naw, naw, the beastmaster's tryna tame the ultimate beast—humans!"
"I see, I see, he's really ambitious, ain't he?"
"Just make sure to bring them back in one piece!"
These guys…
I tried to glare at them, but it only caused their laughter and heckling to get louder.
I reasoned to myself that this was their way of showing their admiration towards me, or at least their way of complimenting me.
I mean, if they didn't like me, they wouldn't even dare to talk about me.
…Still, it's pretty embarrassing how they show it.
Especially more so when I have an entire party of influenceable, naive people behind me!
I looked behind me, eyeing the adventurer party's reactions to the village residents' remarks on us.
Tyler was attempting a weak smile, trying to play off the teasing, but his ears were definitely starting to turn red.
Melophone just rolled her eyes and muttered about "rude people" under her breath.
Ayleen was snickering into her hand.
And Bundo…he just started flexing his muscles, yelling back at the crowd about how they were all jealous because they didn't get to go on a journey like ours.
Despite the massive embarrassment, the quips did get our rather cold mood to mellow down and get us to act a bit more casual.
Professionalism and formalities are the enemy of getting closer relations, after all.
I led them deeper into the perimeter forest until the signs of civilization faded away, replaced by the naturally beautiful, albeit hostile, scenery of Quietus.
The clearing Silver wanted for expansion was just ahead—the territory of the wolves.
I halted, raising my hand as a sign to stop.
"Wolves at the front. Your problem now."
They snapped into a formation instantly, which was a good start.
Tyler and Bundo took the front, as usual, while Melophone and Ayleen stayed behind.
Though this time, they maintained a defensive structure, with the two fighters guarding the ranged dealers instead of charging forward.
They clearly talked a lot yesterday about our spar, trying to solve their problems before the training even began.
Very commendable.
I moved out of the way and hid my presence, just in time for new faces to show up.
A pack of six wolves—more than what the party could've handled if they were using that terrible strategy of theirs before—emerged from the treeline, and began approaching the group.
Their eyes were glowing red, and saliva dripped from their jaws as they snarled.
"Alright, Bundo, distract the two on the right! Ayleen, focus fire the one at the front! Mel, I need a boom-spell, now!"
Tyler started barking orders, and fortunately, they were being followed.
It was better than last time, but still clumsy.
Melophone fumbled with her spell and took too long to cast, shooting when the wolves had already noticed her and dodged.
Bundo immediately charged, but instead of the two Tyler asked for, he tackled three from the front, leaving the two to flank the rears and go for the ranged dealers.
Ayleen fired quickly, but her focus on the two allowed the third wolf to sneak past and lunge straight at Melophone.
"Ugh!"
Before I even had to move, Tyler dove in front of Melophone, taking the full brunt of the wolf's tackle and smashing his shoulder into a tree.
This gave enough time for Melophone to cast a quick spell that burst the wolf's head into messy bits.
Ayleen, who was done with the wolves that tried to flank them, noticed Tyler's injured state and came to his aid, applying some quick medical work on him while nagging at him like an older sister would to their reckless brother.
The three were able to rest for a while as Bundo was dealing with the last three.
All in all, my evaluation of the team's performance was this: a shining mess with the potential to be…less of a mess and more shiny.
They had the talent and raw power, but no precision or focus or skill.
They were like four highly polished, expensive tools being wielded by brain-damaged toddlers.
So, basically, like past me.
I sighed, concealing myself even more behind the bushes.
I wanted to see if I could try to gain something from their fights aside from them experiencing being beaten up again and again and trying to learn from that.
And I indeed did.
As soon as I activated Shadow Hunter, I realized that I could gather the party's behavioral data and analyze it.
Now this…this is something I can work with.
All I need now is to see them fight a little more, and I'll be able to actually improve their individual selves one-by-one.
It's not improving teamwork directly, sure, but it will help ease the issues with teamwork.
After observing them for half an hour, with their nonstop assault against the wolves, I finally formed a list in my mind about how they operate individually and the main takeaways.
Tyler - Excellent reaction time, but habitual damage-taker. Over-reliant on his armor. Longsword doesn't seem to be his type of weapon.
Needs to learn self-preservation and replace his weapon.
Ayleen - Efficiently follows orders under no pressure, but panics when there is. Tunnel visions enemies closest to her and ignores the rest. Easily distractible and finds it hard to shoot and move at the same time, also bad posture for her hands, waist, and legs while shooting.
Needs to focus on the team overall and not just her, as well as posture correction.
Melophone - Slow. Clearly inexperienced in fighting moving enemies. Over reliant on powerful and flashy spells that are slow and inefficient. Wastes mana on low-threats.
Needs to start using faster, more mana-efficient spells.
Bundo - Bundo.
Needs to be less Bundo-like.
I nodded to myself as I concluded what I needed to do about the party.
Finally done with my data gathering, I step out from my hiding spot and activated Presence of the Apex, which alerted the wolves instantaneously.
Before the party or even I could do anything else, the wolves scattered and left the area, whimpering with tails tucked between their legs.
Well, that's one less problem to deal with.
It seemed that everything was finally done, barring one wolf that could not move as its legs were broken.
This is a good time to help the weaker link of the group: Melophone.
"You."
"Y-Yes?"
"Kill wolf."
"Got it-"
"Not like that."
As Melophone once again tried to shoot a flashy beam, I stopped her.
Why, of all things, would you waste so much mana on a being that's already close to death?
What was a tier-1 spell that most mages know in this game again?
Ah, right.
"Fireball."
"F-fireball? But that's too…"
"Do it."
Fireball was a fast spell, albeit very simple and not as cost-efficient as I'd like.
But we have to start somewhere, and fireball is at least a step better than the tier-3 or even tier-4 spells that Melophone was using.
The little mage blinked, then, with a helpless look, unleashed a small ball of fire that ended the wolf's life.