Chapter 12: Chapter 12: The Team

Chapter 12: The Team

 

Parth returned yet again from a morning jog. The lodgings were within sight already. It had been a few days since he started doing so, and by now it was shaping up to be a good routine. He had gotten the messages and had seen the news. The teams had been picked, and everyone was excited about it.

In a week, they would head out to the dungeon. They couldn't put it off any further than that. The cursed thing had marked them after all. Too long on the outside, and things wouldn't end well for them. The artifacts could only mitigate the effects for a limited time.

He had found out that they would be coming back after clearing each area and would be resting for a while before doing it over and over again. Until the damn thing was put to sleep for another century.

The disks placed behind his ears chimed with the telltale sound of a notification. He slowed his pace and raised his signet ring to see what it was. He pressed the notification, and it took him to his mailbox.

“Celeste? Has the same last name as Roul,” he mumbled as he opened the mail.

 

Dear Parth,

My name is Celeste, and I am your new advisor. As you might be aware, the team selections were concluded yesterday, and we are ready to proceed with the next steps. It is time for all of us to get acquainted with each other. I cordially invite you to a discussion and a subsequent dinner, alongside the rest of your team. Eager to meet you there.

Regards,

Celeste Z’Chi

Advisor, Team Serval Kach

 

She already scored some points on his book by not emulating Roul.

Right below the mail was a button that prompted him to accept the meeting. The moment he pressed it, the screen shifted and showed him the details of the meeting, alongside a navigational map to the conference room.

That was another thing about Tavan technology that fascinated him. They even had interactive maps that pathed his way inside buildings to which he had access. For safety, this feature was limited to public areas and some organizational structures, but it was nifty enough.

While he had been reading the mail, he had seen the others overtake him in his periphery. He couldn't read properly while running so he had slowed down to a brisk walk, and the brats had taken the opportunity to overtake him.

“Hurry up slowpoke!” shouted Amber as she entered the compound and ran towards the training hall. Opal groaned and then began hurrying in that direction as well. Zircon was the last to act, and she looked at him and waved her hand as she too followed after her sisters.

Ever since he met the triplets, they had latched onto him. He had trained them once more the day after they first met. And once they found out that he went on morning runs, they had pestered him to be brought along.

This was their second day doing so, and he already had a good understanding of how they behaved.

That cheeky wave that Zircon did in the end? That was a surprise to him. It showed that she was warming up to him. That girl was too shy and often did not speak to people who were not her sisters. Lady Nakiri was the only exception to that rule. Maybe, since they see him as a big brother, she would open up to him as well.

He smiled forlornly as he picked up the pace.

Lady Nakiri had rented out a training arena for their use, and he was more than welcome. He was not officially allied to their team, but at this point, he might as well be. He did remember what Lady Nakiri told him about all the eggs in one basket, and how it had harmed many voyagers in the past. He'd be fine helping them out when he got the chance. They were strong girls, they didn't exactly need him to hold their hands. But they were too young. With the scope of the danger within the dungeon, it was prudent to consider all variables. 

He walked into the gymnasium, which was a carbon copy of the same one where he had fought the golem at.

The triplets were already in place, ready for the rest of the training session. Since Lady Nakiri had formed the team with all the entitlements belonging to her alliance, she had already arranged for a tutor for the kids. Parth was still allowed to train them in the art of boxing because that was not a downside in this scenario. Moreover, sparring against someone helps a lot to prepare.

Initially, he had wondered why his patron hadn’t done so for him. He quickly realized that it would have been counterintuitive in a way. People liked to think of him as a hotheaded fool who only knew how to fight, but fighting strategically required smarts too.

He had done his reading and his fair share of thinking. They were supposed to be a three-man team. If he had gotten special training from someone else, then when the rest of his team came into play, he would either need to slow down, or they would hurry to catch up to him. Moreover, struggling together built up camaraderie. That's what he could think of anyway.

It would still be a moot point since he had trained his whole life to fight. The others might have never even gotten into a fight their whole lives. Maybe that was why he wasn't given any individual training.

Whatever he needed to learn about mana manipulation, he had already learned from the triplets. So there was that.

Nonetheless, he brought his mind back to the game and donned the mitts.

“Remember girls, no mana. We don’t want to be troubling old man Gyn for more,” he said while pointedly looking at Amber.

She had been way too enthusiastic and had blasted apart a couple of the punching mitts just the previous day.

“It was one time,” Amber whined as Opal hurried forward and got into a stance.

“Me first,” she said and looked at him challengingly.

“Yeah sure,” he said and raised the mitts as he began the drill.

That’s how all four of them spent the next half an hour. One by one, they finished their focus drills. He could see that the girls have been taking up his advice and had improved a bit. Nothing major could be done in just a couple of days. He had only been training them to fight for a grand total of three days. This was the fourth.

"Alright, good job everyone. Opal, flawless form as always. Keep doing the same until it becomes second nature. Zircon, I see that your punches have improved. Keep it up. Amber, good job with the dodges today. You're learning," he said as he removed the mitts and brought out his gauntlets with a small pulse of mana. "Time for sparring. Amber, you're up first."

“Alright. I’m going to beat you today,” she said as she stepped up.

The tattoo on her cheek glowed and a mask materialized on her face. The mask depicted a lion with horns. To an extent, its feline features were not as prominent, and from some angles, it might even resemble a human face. But it was an intimidating mask, not to mention the nifty power it had.

Right on cue, a citrus-green aura — the same shade as her hair and eyes — manifested around her. It cloaked her entire body and its edges were frayed.

"Good, you're learning moderation. I was half prepared for a complete manifestation," he taunted as he raised his gauntlets in preparation. Amber was quite easy to provoke. True to character, she immediately jumped at him, right hand cocked back.

He made sure to leave more room while lodging the telegraphed blow. The first time he fought her, he had miscalculated, and the green aura had turned out to be tangible. He had thought that it was like when he fought the golem and pumped a lot of mana throughout his body. He had gained a visible silhouette of mana that time too. The difference was that it was an unintended side effect of using a lot of mana. This though, was a directed application of mana through her artifact.

The mana-clad arm sailed by him harmlessly as he returned the favor with a counterpunch. His entire arm was flooded with mana as the blow connected.

She was thrown several feet backwards even though he had pulled his punch. He didn’t go too easy on her, as the silhouette could take a lot of damage. 

Midair, her mana cloak expanded and formed a pair of bat-like wings behind her. At the same time, butterfly wings manifested on her back as well. The four new appendages were the telltale wings of the fairies. These too were the same shade of green. All in all, she had six wings now. Two were formed by her artifact, and four were projected by her biology.

She had spent her entire life manifesting and using her fairy wings. It was second nature to her. Yet, the artifact had deployed its wings at the same time. It spoke a lot about how efficient and intuitive the mana flow to the artifacts was.

She didn’t land back on the ground as she circled him while in the air. As much as these spars were to help the kids, they helped him a lot too. He was teaching them to fight. Meanwhile, they were helping him adapt to airborne opponents.

“I think I spoke too soon. I don’t see any moderation now. You didn’t need to manifest the manticore wings. It's just a waste of mana unless you manifest it completely," he taunted her again.

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Once more, she predictably shot towards him. This time though, her cloak exploded into action. Within moments, she was almost upon him. Her aura had expanded into a four-legged creature the size of a bison. The bat-like wings had grown and were now attached to the creature instead. The creature didn't have enough time to form completely though, as she had charged at him a tad too soon.

Before the misshapen mass of mana could touch him, he punched at it with his flame-covered gauntlet.

A burst of fire pierced through the manifestation and shot out the other end.

He angled his fist so that it would not hit Amber directly, and right on cue, she fell in front of him without a scratch on her. The impact had destabilized her ongoing process of manifesting the beast. She was still covered in her green shell of mana, but the abundant mana she had been shaping had all but disappeared; wasted.

“You are too quick to provoke, Amber. Don't fall for such easy baits. We'll try once more, yeah? Take a break first and catch your breath," he said as he gently pulled her onto her feet and directed her toward her siblings.

As long as he could impart that single lesson to her, he would be happy. Predictability was a major problem to have. Predictability got you killed.

“Zirc, you’re up,” he said as he took his position once more.

 

---

 

Several hours later, Parth stood in front of a mirror, giving himself a critical once over. He wore black slacks and a sky blue shirt. A brown belt looped around his waist and his feet were nestled inside Oxfords that matched the belt. He had just put out an order for them after the training session in the morning. All it took was showing old man Gyn some of his photos wearing similar clothes. The D’Raac had got them made within an hour. It was honestly impressive.

He decided to make a good first impression and dressed accordingly. Formal clothing was okay, but he didn't want to look like he was trying too much. So, he began rolling his sleeves and stopped right before the elbows. Right above the flaming marks on his forearms.

He adjusted his belt once more and ran his fingers through his short black hair a couple of times. Once done, he placed the metallic discs behind his ears. They pinged at once as they connected to his ring. 

That was it. He wasn't going to do anything else. A younger version of him would have scoffed at all this effort. Alas, he was not a brash, hotheaded teen anymore. Twenty was still a young age. But he felt older. It was a soul-deep weariness that made him feel so. Just one year of lows after lows, and here he was. Things were looking up though, hence the effort.

If he wasn’t feeling better now, he wouldn’t even be attempting to make himself look presentable. He would have thrown on whatever he saw first and would have headed to the spot.

Coming to Viz, finding his artifact, and then winning against the golem had done wonders for him.

Satisfied with how he looked, he walked out of his room and his ring pinged with the alert that the room had been locked.

With a small gesture of his fingers, the navigation booted up and transmitted the direction to his ears.

It took him close to fifteen minutes to reach the location he was given. He gingerly stood outside the conference room, unsure of what to do. He slowly raised his arm, planning to knock on the door. Right before his knuckles made contact with the metal, the door slid open abruptly.

“Please come in, Voyager Parth,” a pleasant voice said.

He walked inside to find two people already there. One of them was a D’Raac, dressed like Roul. She wore a black cheongsam with golden accents. Four of her arms were on the table while the last two were resting on her thighs. Her white hair was braided elegantly, and she sat ramrod straight, exuding an air of someone in control.

He made an educated guess that she was most likely Celeste. All the advisors wore similar clothes, and as a D’Raac, she wouldn’t be the voyager.

The other person in the room was a male human of African descent. His hair was clipped short in a buzz cut with faded sides, and he wore a pair of blue jeans and a maroon hoodie.

“Hello,” said Parth as he waved at them.

“Hello Parth, please take a seat. We will begin our introductions when everyone is here,” she said with a smile and pointed him towards a seat.

Parth nodded in response and took a seat next to the other male in the room. As he sat down, both of them looked at each other and nodded in sync. He could hazard a guess that the other person was a teen. He didn’t look too old, definitely somewhere in his late teens. He was lean and tall. Almost as tall as Parth’s six feet for sure. Given that he had not finished growing yet, he was sure that his fellow voyager would tower over him in a couple of years.

Automatically, Parth’s mind went towards assessing his fellow voyager in terms of combat suitability. Definitely would have a longer wingspan, hence a longer reach. But the kid needed to put on more muscle. With mana, it wouldn't be an issue as it amplified everything. Moreover, the team composition wouldn't have gone toward multiple melee fighters. Still, it didn't hurt being good at close combat.

He couldn’t see the visible mark of an artifact anywhere.

Mentally chastising himself for immediately assessing his teammate, he let that train of thought go. There was a time and place for it. He was sure that from the next day they'd be training for long hours with a trainer provided by their patron. The triplets did it as well, and it was a necessity.

He looked around the conference room as they waited. The room was built like a standard meeting room. Multiple chairs surrounding a long table. There were several contraptions on the table, which he could identify as the holographic projectors that they used here.

With their technology, they didn’t need the walls bare for whiteboards and projector screens. Instead, the walls had murals depicting various voyagers of old.

While he was admiring the murals, the door opened with a hiss and the final member of their team came inside.

Their last member was a female fairy who also seemed to be in her late teens. She had the telltale pointed ears and colorful hair. Both her hair and her eyes were an azure blue. She had tanned skin and looked fairly athletic. She sported an attire that was a cross between a jumpsuit and a tracksuit.

As the doors closed and everyone became seated, the advisor spoke up.

“Greetings. As you might have guessed, I am Celeste Z’Chi, your advisor for the duration of the challenge. We can get started once everyone introduces themselves,” she said in a serious tone.

As everyone looked around, Parth decided to step up. He was the first one selected here, so he might as well follow that order.

“Hi. I’m Parth Parandhaman. Just call me Parth. I'm twenty. Used to be an amateur boxer, but recently went pro. I'm from India, Earth. I'm the Pygilist,” he said.

Both his fellow teammates looked at each other before the human broke eye contact and decided to go next.

“Hello. I am Kwame Matumba. Sixteen years old. Student. I got something called the Knuckleball. I am from Zimbabwe, Earth,” he said, his voice almost breaking when he mentioned his home.

“Hi. Moira Blueport. I’ll be eighteen in two weeks. I’m a student too. Aspiring aviatrix on the side. I’m from Albion, Funar. They gave me the artifact called the Arbitrary Dealer.”

“Aviatrix?” Kwame muttered in confusion.

“Ah right, you might not have those. In Funar, we have races in the sky, to see who can fly the fastest. The people who participate in those are aviators and aviatrices,” she said.

“That sounds so cool,” said Kwame with a thumbs up.

Moira nodded in response. There was an awkward silence around the room as the conversation lulled to a stop. They were all strangers, after all.

After a few seconds, Celeste cleared her throat and drew everyone’s attention towards her.

“Alright, now that introductions are done with, let’s get down to business,” she said as the projector on the table lit up.

It was time to address the elephant in the room.

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