Chapter 91：New Team, Old Game

"One week to get stronger than you've ever been before. It won't be easy," he paused. "But, it is barely possible."

"There is no way for you guys to reach adroite Moyste in one week. It is impossible, even with my help. However, you don't need to be a certain rank to fight people already at it. There have been countless cases of lower ranked people fighting higher ranks, and even winning."

"After all, ranks are all about mana," he finished.

He gave the ten a moment to think upon his words. Stanis's thoughts whirled around, attempting to latch onto what the man was implying. He was, however, a second too late.

"So, we neglect mana and focus on our bodies then?" the Asian man asked.

"No. You won't neglect it but you won't focus on it either. You will instead focus on your stats and your skill of application. If two people had the same set of skills and stats, one could still beat the other based on how skilled they are in actual combat."

"Now, follow me," ended the man as he began to walk back to the house. The inside of the house was widely spaced but also simple. There were no paintings on the walls, no flowers in vases, no artefacts proudly on display. He led them through the ground floor, towards a door that let them down into the basement.

While walking through the house, Stanis noticed that despite the lack of decorations, there were signs of life across the furniture and walls: the chair's varnish had begun to dull; there was paint peeling off the walls; the stove was burnt black.

The basement was as dark as a cave and Stanis regretted his decision of not completing any of the Zelaro missions. It was only after they had stripped away his traits that he had realised how much time he spent in the darkness.

The man walked over to the side and began fiddling with buttons and levers. He clicked one button and pulled down the last lever, causing a blinding light to appear in the middle of the basement. On the ground was a slightly raised circular platform with arcs curving inwards, towards a globe of light in the centre of the whole platform.

"Good," muttered the man before turning back to the ten.

"I could whip you into shape; that is what I usually do," he said while unsheathing his dulled sword. It was made out of wood and had scratches ranging down it. But worse than that was the dried blood covering it.

"But we don't even have time for that. So, we're going a more extreme route," he said while sheathing his sword. "This is a teleporter, a simplistic one, but one nevertheless. It will take you to a terrain that all of you will find difficult. There will be monsters, and a second teleporter to take you back here somewhere around the area." He paused once again.

"You will not survive alone. You will not survive in duos, or in trios. Split yourselves into two teams once there and just survive and come back. Do not try to train yourself or anything of the sort there, just survive and get back. Good luck," he finished, gesturing the ten forward and onto the platform.

Stanis felt a familiar sting across his body and relaxed for a moment, allowing the darkness to take everything from him. The next second he was on rough ground, the type that digs into you. He felt a heaviness across his body, half-convincing himself to stay lying but ultimately failing as he leapt up. He stumbled over and fell back down a moment later.

He glanced around and saw that the nine others were in similar situations, struggling even to get up. In fear, he brought up his status and checked it:

[Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Mana capacity: 32.1 (Mana capacity is actually 48.1 but 16.0 points are currently in use) (regeneration is capacity/4 per hour)

Rank: Tyro Mosyte

Class: Origin

Strength: 15.9

Dexterity: 15.1

Constitution: 14.8

Intelligence: 16.4

Wisdom: 14.8+0.5

Tenacity: 16.4

Skills: Layman's Rush, Scout and Sense, Light Healing, Destructive Mana Recharge, Ice shot, Blueshot spitfire, Lightning seed, Darkness Manipulation]

His stats had gone up quite a bit since he had first fought the trio outside the cave. Most of his points had come from when he had meditated in the arena before the tournament due to the high mana intensity there. This thought was like a revelation. He excitedly circulated his mana, his mouth going agape at the results.

The reason why he felt so goddamn heavy now was because of the sheer amount of mana in this area; one day here would be equal to weeks of training on Earth! It was clear that the others had come to similar conclusions as him as they too stopped trying to crawl up and were instead looking wide-eyed at the air.

Stanis cut his mind from circulation and looked around at his surroundings. They were sitting on jagged rock, and all around them was a tropical jungle. The air was hot and humid, and there was water plastered over the plants like sweat. The plants themselves weren't too strange other than their unusually large sizes, grass knee-height and the trees close to double the size on Earth.

"Guys, stop circulating. The guy told us to not train here," the Asian man called out. Stanis felt more than a little pride blossom in his heart as he realised he had exactly pinpointed the Asian man's personality.

"Yeah, I'm getting a bad feeling," the 14-year old girl replied. Her voice and tone were unnaturally mature for a 14-year old, making him re-evaluate her age. Maybe she was just a really small woman?

"He said we'll die if we go alone, but also told us not to go as one large group. I guess that means it's easy for the 10 of us to pass but too hard for three of us," said number two. She was a white woman with brown, shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. She was slim and muscular, her only points of interest being the bright red clothes she wore and the slim blade by her waist. When compared to the other oddities here, she was almost pre-apocalypse material. Almost.

"Right, so should we go opposite directions. I know he said don't go as a group but from his words, I reckon it's going to be tough. So, how about signalling the other group if you do find the teleporter?" the Asian man asked.

An awkward silence followed. Stanis could tell that there was a large communication gap between the people here. They were all the chosen children of Earth, all prideful and the strongest in their lives until now. Not that he was much different from them though.

"Yeah, something bright in the sky or something," number two finally agreed.

"Alright, let's get going then. I'll go this way, anyone want to join?" the Asian man asked while pointing eastwards.

There was a pause and silence, Stanis half-considering to follow him. Number one and two got up and moved towards him, as did the pony-tail man and the midget 14-year old who might not be 14.

"Alright, see ya," said the Asian man as he and his group began walking off. It was clear from their movement that the group didn't consider the Asian man as their leader, but were still grateful someone had taken the role and wasted the effort.

Stanis looked around to see who was left. He was finding it hard to stand, let alone move under the pressure from the environment and looking around to see who he was to be with didn't help his with mood. The black Shaman woman, the dying old man, the already-dead model girl and Pete. He sighed as he wondered when and how the talking between them was going to start. He wasn't surprised when it turned out to be Pete who started.

"Finally, he's gone bossman. Talking so much, like I was halfway to telling him to shut it," Pete said. Stanis face-palmed himself as he saw Pete take his canteen out.

"Too much talking," the black woman agreed.

"I would have died by the time he shut his mouth," added the old man.

Stanis spluttered out a laugh, the black woman chuckled and Pete choked on his drink. Even the dead, blonde girl seemed to come back to life as her lips curled up.

"So, names?" asked Stanis. "I'm Stanis."

"I'm Pete," He was visibly drunk by now.

"Vasile." the old man said, an odd grandness as he said his name.

"Okoye," the African woman said, shaking her staff while saying so.

A silence followed. Stanis looked towards the blonde girl and saw her staring at the trees. He clapped his hands, to which she turned around and stared.

"Name?" Stanis asked again.

"Jen—" she said, stopping halfway through as if she was unsure.

"Something's watching us," interrupted Okoye, inconspicuously shifting her staff to point behind her.

Stanis used Scout and sense and grimaced. The scouted area was 10 times smaller than it usually was, due to how intense the mana in the atmosphere was. He increased the mana input and cast it again, but this result was the same as last time as he couldn't see any enemies within the scouted area.

"How many?" he whispered.

"One, two. Two of them," she answered.

"Are they coming for us or just watching?" Vasile asked.

She laughed in response. "When do they ever just watch?"

And just in time too. A naked man sprinted out of the foliage, moving faster than sound as he punched out at Pete. Pete's spine twisted as he bent back, dodging the first punch before stumbling out of the way of the next. The man then kicked towards his waist, Pete using his hatchet to strike back. The kick twisted mid-way through and instead went towards the hatchet, striking the blade with force. Pete fell off balance and tripped over, rolling over his back before standing back up.

The man stood there, casually looking around himself. There was no blood leaking down his foot. Heck, there was barely a scratch there…