[Ariel PoV]
We were currently deep within the forest of this uninhabited island. In front of me, Brian was in the middle of chasing three students who had managed to get ahead of us to snatch some crystal stones.
"Get back here, you cowards!" Brian shouted, leaping onto a tree branch.
He hopped from tree to tree to keep pace with the three fleeing students. Suddenly, I felt a powerful gust of wind from behind. I turned around and saw Valeria pointing her hand toward the three students.
A shockwave erupted from Valeria's hand, surging forward and toppling a massive tree in their path.
"Damn it, our escape route is blocked!"
The students were halted by the tree that had collapsed due to Valeria's magic.
"Finish them now, Brian!" Valeria commanded.
"Of course!" Brian then leaped toward the three trapped students. "Taste this—Sunlight Fury!"
Brian's hand emitted a brilliant yellow light. He struck toward one of the students; the yellow light in his hand surged forward and slammed into Brian's target.
"Sial! Let's take him down!"
The remaining two students began to attack Brian, who had just landed. However, Brian easily evaded their strikes.
"A simple attack like this won't hit me!" Brian declared as he kicked one of the students in the face with a Flying Kick technique.
The student was sent flying, crashing hard against a tree until he lost consciousness. A magic circle then appeared around the unconscious student's body, swallowing him until nothing remained.
I suppose their Limiters activated, automatically teleporting their bodies back to the Main Ship.
"No way..."
Seeing his entire team defeated, the one remaining student knelt in total despair.
"How can the best Healer, Wizard, and Knight be on the same team like this!?" the student cried, feeling the unfairness of it all. "What team could possibly defeat you at this stage!?"
The student's body was then sent tumbling into a tree; Valeria used air magic to push him into unconsciousness. Once the students had fallen, Brian retrieved six yellow crystals and one blue crystal that the three students had previously collected.
"With the addition of the crystals we got this time, our team has already bagged 30 points!" Brian exclaimed joyfully.
There are four types of crystals that participants can collect:
Yellow Crystals: Very common and scattered across the island; worth 1 point.
Blue Crystals: Slightly difficult to find; worth 4 points.
Green Crystals: Quite rare to find; worth 10 points.
Red Crystals: Only ten exist on the entire island; worth 50 points.
On the first day, Brian, Valeria, and I focused on building a basecamp and finding a water source. We didn't hunt for crystals immediately because our team prioritized securing a strategic position as the core of our operations during our seven days on this island.
"The sun is about to set; we should head back to our basecamp," Brian suggested, looking up at the darkening sky.
"Yes, let's head back."
***
[Raul PoV]
I was walking through the forest at night. Previously, I had instructed my two team members to rest during the day and take watch shifts to alert the team when other students approached.
"Captain, why are we acting in the middle of the night like this?" asked a short, brown-haired man.
He was Piers Morgan—a member of the disciplinary committee who was part of my team for this first stage of the survival exam.
"Just follow me, Piers. I will show you some valuable experience," I replied, glancing toward the woman who had joined my team.
With hair red as a raging fire and red eyes like precious rubies, she was Scarlett de Jimena—the twin sister of Geralt de Jimena.
Author Note: Scarlett de Jimena
She is one of the NPCs in the game who will play an important role in Chapter 4. Players can also marry her in the game aside from the five main Heroines.
Yes, the game Path of Destiny has a Harem feature proposed by investors as a condition for financing the game's production. They said games with Harem features would attract a lot of interest from male players. Honestly, I didn't want to create this feature. However, our game wouldn't have been finished quickly if I were too idealistic about it.
"We have arrived." I stopped walking when I saw a basecamp built by another team.
Five students were sleeping soundly while the other two were on guard duty. It seemed some teams had already started working together or forming alliances. This was an excellent target.
"Alright, listen to me, you two." I called Scarlett and Piers closer. "Piers, you will create a commotion around their basecamp, understood?"
"I understand, Captain. But why should we bother waking them up instead of just attacking them directly while their guard is down?" Piers asked in confusion.
He had a good point. I had my own reasons for telling Piers and Scarlett to rest during the day and move at night. During the day, students still have plenty of strength and energy. At night, their stamina is drained and they are exhausted from searching for crystals and fighting other teams.
"First, observe the area around their basecamp carefully." I pointed to several trees not far from their camp.
"Huh? Isn't that a Rune? They've set up trap magic around this area," Piers said, looking surprised.
"It would be quite troublesome for us to attack them with that many traps," I explained, giving the reason why Piers' previous idea wouldn't be effective. "You will make a loud noise to disturb their rest. If that team chases you, try to run and lure them into our Ambush. But if they don't chase you, you can disturb their sleep again with the noise you make."
Yes... this is a form of psychological warfare that will break the enemy's mental state because they cannot rest peacefully after the exhaustion of fighting earlier today.
"I understand, Captain."
I then looked at Scarlett. "You and I will attack the members who fall behind from their group. If they use a tight formation and do not split up, use your fire magic to break their formation. After that, I will finish the rest."
Hearing my explanation, Scarlett only nodded. From the start, Scarlett was not the type of character who talked much. She often expressed her thoughts through actions.
"Alright, move out immediately, Piers."
At my command, Piers approached the enemy's basecamp. He began shouting and banging two rocks together to produce as much noise as possible. The two guards began looking for the location of the noise. They appeared to be discussing something.
However, Piers began to shout even louder and started singing a song with a very bad voice. Some students from the group began to wake up. They asked the two guards what was actually happening.
One student looked furious and wanted to run toward Piers' location, but his friends stopped him. It seemed they realized Piers was trying to bait them. The entire team ignored Piers' voice and tried to go back to sleep.
Seeing his efforts fail, Piers glanced at me as if to say, 'What should I do next?' I then gave him a meaningful hand signal. Piers nodded, knowing exactly what I meant.
"Look at this stupid team! Every member is just a bunch of cheap, cowardly chickens!" Piers shouted, beginning to provoke them.
The team members began to pay attention to Piers again. However, they still didn't move from their spot, trying to rest once more.
"Useless, moronic brats! Look at that disgusting hairstyle of yours; it looks as stupid as a chicken's ass!" After Piers said that, he pulled down his pants and mooned the enemy team.
"Idiot with the weird hair! If I had hair like yours, I'd rather commit suicide and just die, you fool!" Piers began to wiggle around, trying to provoke one of the students.
"Damn you! How dare you insult the hairstyle my mother loves! I'll kill you, you bastard!" The man stood up and began running toward Piers, unable to withstand the insults hurled at him.
"Wait, Jaden! Don't be provoked!" his friends tried to stop him.
"I don't care! No man lives after insulting my hair!"
Piers began to run, pursued by four people from their group. I then glanced at Scarlett, who nodded, understanding what I wanted to convey. Scarlett and I began moving to our respective positions.
The two stragglers began to catch up to the other four group members. Now, the man with the weird hair was leading the charge to catch Piers. His colleagues formed a formation to guard each other.
"Hah! Someone with a stupid hairstyle like yours won't be able to catch me!" Piers mocked the poor man again.
"I'll kill you, you bastard!" the man shouted while activating Acceleration magic.
On the other side, I saw Scarlett muttering a magic spell and directing her hand toward the formation chasing Piers.
"Fire Ball!"
A ball of fire appeared in front of Scarlett's palm and launched toward the group. I rushed out, preparing to ambush them.
— Boom!
The fireball hit right in the middle of their group, causing the members to scatter to avoid Scarlett's magic. Seeing this opportunity, I activated Acceleration magic, dashed toward the group's female healer, and launched a Flying Knee attack to her head, sending her tumbling into unconsciousness.
"No, Windy!" one of the members cried out, looking upset that I had eliminated their healer.
Without wasting time, I targeted the next enemy. Stamping my foot hard on the ground, I jumped quickly toward one of the enemies who still looked shocked by what was happening and punched his chin with great force.
"So it's you, you Rotten Noble!" the man shouted as he dashed forward, trying to attack me with a right hook.
I evaded his attack, grabbed his right hand, and slammed him into the ground using a Judo technique I had watched on social media.
"Agghh!" the man screamed.
Just as I was about to eliminate him, a flash of light appeared in my peripheral vision, forcing me to dodge.
— Swosh!
A Magic Arrow sped past my face.
"Damn! I didn't hit him!" the wizard cursed in frustration.
I then ran toward him, and his face began to fill with panic and fear.
"Radical Blow!" My right fist began to glow and struck the wizard's stomach, making him vomit blood.
The wizard's body was then illuminated by a magic circle that swallowed him, indicating he had been eliminated and teleported to the Main Ship.
I looked at Piers' situation; he looked cornered against two of them.
"I'll make you regret insulting my hair!" The man was about to strike Piers, who was already having difficulty dodging.
"Got yo—Bugh!"
However, just as he was about to land his punch, Scarlett suddenly appeared and smashed his face with a fire-infused fist. Without stopping there, Scarlett then kicked the one remaining standing enemy with a Spinning Kick technique, hitting the student's chest and sending him flying.
"Thank you, Scarlett. I'm saved," said Piers, trying to get up.
Scarlett only nodded in response to Piers' thanks.
"Damn... we fell into the trap you made," said the man I had slammed earlier, trying to stand up.
Only he was left from the group we were fighting.
"Well... Piers, want to be the one to eliminate him? You haven't eliminated a single student this time," I said, offering him the Last Kill.
"Well... if the Captain allows it, I would be happy to do so."
Piers then walked slowly toward the man.
"Don't underestimate me!" shouted the man, running toward Piers.
His right hand began to glow; it seemed he was using Temper magic to strengthen his punch. However, Piers looked calm; his right hand also began to glow, activating his own Temper magic. Both ran and punched toward each other.
"Aghhh!" the man screamed in pain as the light in his hand disappeared.
Piers then punched his face hard, sending him crashing into a tree. The man's body was then illuminated by a magic circle that swallowed him.
"Good job, Piers!" I praised him, giving a Thumbs Up.
After defeating this group, we went to their basecamp to take the crystals they had obtained.