After leaving the room the group was sure that they were now in some sort of maze. How did they get sent here? Some sort of teleportation circle? A portal? That announcer really didn't explain anything that they actually cared about, but I guess it doesn't matter. Mill turned to the rest of his group as he continued to walk forward.
"I think we should describe our abilities to each other." Mill's sudden statement got everyone's attention. "Think about it. Right now we're in a maze and need to work together to get through whatever we run into. We need to know who we should have in what position based off of there ability and proficiency."
"That makes sense." Karl was the first to speak up after Mill finished. "I'll go first. My ability is shapeshifting into animals that I have a strong connection to." Karl demonstrated by turning his arms into that of a wolf. "I mainly use these to strike so I can't really wield a weapon."
"If you could do that the whole time why did you strip in public yesterday?" Mill looked at Karl inquisitively. "I thought you said you weren't an exhibitionist? I guess someone has revealed their true colors. Lua and Darren tried their best to ignore the feeling to ask what happened between these two and continue with the journey.
"I have astral weapons as an ability." Darren spoke up to move past the situation that just happend. "I can project weapons for me to be able to wield so I also don't need a real weapon." Darren nodded awkwardly to Karl who responded with a return nod. "No one else can wield the weapons that I summon as of right now, but you all seem like you would be fine without them so I guess it doesn't matter." After Darren finished the three boys turned and looked toward Lua who probably had the most mysterious ability here. Lua look at he group members and sighed.
"Since you all seem oh so curious I'll tell you my ability." Everyone stopped and turned towards Lua to listen intently. "My ability is..." Everyone leaned on closer increasing the tension in the air. "Shocking Sight. It means that I can choose to disappear for certain peoples sight for as long as I am able." Everyone waited for Lua to say something else about her ability but she seemed like she was done.
"That's it? What about that weird feeling that people get when their around you?" Karl asked Lua.
"I don't want to know about the feelings that you get when you're around me." Karl's face flushed red after realizing what he had said. "Wait I- Nevermind." Karl walked away from Lua to escaped from this embarrassing situation. Lua knew what the boys were expecting for an answer or at least what they really wanted to know about. They thought that her curse was her ability but that's not true in the slightest. She had to work so hard to be able to control her curse as much as she currently can, so there is no ability. Plus, she wasn't lying. Shocking sight is the ability that she gained from her ancestor.
"Now that I've gone I guess there's only one person left." Lua's cause all heads to turn towards Mill. "I can enhance my physical attributes and have improved control over lightning and fire magic." Mill answered with the response that he had been preparing while the others were going. His excitement and rage were the only two things that he had managed to get decent control over during the previous night. When he was happy/excited his mobility and stamina increased and he gained control over lightning. While he was enraged flames would kick up and his physical strength would increase. "Now that we are finished let's keep moving."
"Oh, I thought that you didn't have a recognized bloodline, Mill?" Darren was confused. He had been there when Mill got the announcement that his bloodline couldn't be recognized. So what was going on. "Just because my bloodline isn't known doesn't mean that I don't have one. I don't know who I got this ability from so lets not ask any questions that won't help us escape from this maze." Mill walked causing the group to have to jog to catch up with him and they ventured further into the maze.
…
"So, how are they doing?" Instructor Fina Ophis was currently talking to a person sitting in front of some sort of monitoring device that was showing the applicant groups on several screens. "Their doing as well as any newbie would do. Getting distracted by random loot, being too afraid to engage a monster, and not having good team chemistry. Honestly, I think this is the worst group of applicants that we've had in years." The male worker turned toward Fina with a look of defeat. "I'd guess the we only have a handful of people pass this year as well."
"That's fine, you know that the headmaster would prefer it this way." Fina looked at the man indifferently. Fina agreed that quality was better than quantity even if there were better academies that had more students they didn't even produce adventurers that were half as good as those that graduate from Golden Lion. At least, not in her opinion. "Anyone is allowed regardless of bloodline, those are the words that rule this academy and they have gotten us this far so we have no reason to change them." The worker looked at Fina for a second then let out a sigh and turned to continue monitoring the applicants.
"Five more teams have bailed out of the simulation only 30 teams remaining." Fina walked away from the man and started to scan all of the screens for something. "There." Her eyes had stopped on a screen with a group of four unlike the other groups of three. This was Mill's team. They were currently moving down the corridor and had been met with some monsters. Fina let out a short snort. "Let's see how you deal with one of the most difficult simulations that we've ever made." As Fina watched the group prepare for combat she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She turned around and saw her sister Sue staring at her.
"Did you send a group of students into the Max Maze again?" Fina turned away from her little sister which was all that Sue needed to confirm her suspicions. "Fi, you can't do that. The rookie simulation has safety precautions built in so that no one gets seriously hurt and weaker monsters spawn the a newcomer just might be able to handle. You know the Max Maze is as close to a C-rank dungeon as we could make it and doesn't have as many fail safes. Those kids could get seriously hurt."
"Relax, Sue. It's not like they'll die in the simulation. Once the group takes a certain amount of damage they'll get kick out of the system and returned to reality with fully healed." Fina had used this method of disciplining applicants that disrespected her multiple times. Though, she had to admit that this was the first time that she had placed anyone into the Max Maze.
"Fi if anything happens to those kids I swear its gonna be your problem to fix!" Fina was older than Sue but it seemed that Sue had more power over Fina. "Okay, I get it. If something happens to those kids I'll go in and get them." Sue looked at Fina and gave her a big smile and a hug. "I knew you'd be responsible, Fi." Sue turned away and walked toward the door. She turned around and waved to Fina before exiting the room. Fina let out a relieved sigh as she was no longer being berated. "Sometimes that girl is a bit too much like mother." Fina turned back to the screen with Mill's group to see that they had gotten pass whatever monsters they had encountered and she was actually shocked.
"Maybe this group is better than I gave them credit for. We'll be able to pass them based off of them being able to get decently far in the Max Maze even if they don't complete it." Fina had originally assumed that they would go down after their first encounter seeing as even luck wouldn't get them through it, but them being able to get through one while being relatively unscathed gave them hope to make it to the boss.
"Hell if they play their cards right they'll be able to defeat the boss, but the chances of them defeating a Goblin Champion is impossible seeing as they've never had to fight even normal monsters or weaker bosses before." Fina continued to watch Mill's group with anticipation to see just how far they'd get in the Max Maze before defeat.
"Good Luck Mill Kabrok. I hope you can show me something worthwhile."