"One Knull… is missing."
We stared at him silently as the news hit us. We didn't just lose 10% of us before we even entered the forest, but also 2 of them were killed by a traitor.
Dr. Braham suddenly opened his mouth:
"Cough, I have a small suggestion if you are interested. What about dividing ourselves into 9 teams?"
We looked at him with confusion as he stood up and said:
"Everyone will say some information about what he can do like weapons, supports, affinities and even trait, then if there are experts with us, they will gather to make teams that give each one a high chance to survive. And you don't have to show us all your secrets. Just give us an idea about you."
Then he pointed at himself. "And I can start this idea. My name is Braham Carter. I am Exalted and have harmony and light as my affinities, and with them, I can use light to heal and use simple light attacks and use harmony to make your minds stable or affect the harmony of my enemies magic and make them chaotic."
Then he raised his magical orb. "I can use rapiers, but my main weapon is magical orbs, which means that I'm mage. My support is medicine and a little alchemy. And my trait gives me a halo that increases the healing and decreases the negative emotions for who I consider my allies, but it has a 10 minutes cooldown."
The next moment, he showed us his golden necklace.
"The last thing is my artifact. I call it the Harmonic Twilight. Due to its weakened state it can only reduce fear and pain and give some healing."
After finishing his talk, he stood silently while crossing his arms. Then suddenly…
"I will share mine too."
"My name is Drax."
"I'm Alden—"
Most people started sharing their information until Braham suddenly raised his hand and opened his palm, making them stop.
"We should do this one by one. First, go stand in groups of 2 or 3 considering that you need one or 2 Eldorians in each group and don't get too close to each other, then, I will just call you one by one."
He then called Ruby and Kaito to stand behind him while calling us.
I stood with the black-haired demon from before and a human with short white hair, red eyes and red marks on the right side of his face.
We stood silently until the human opened his mouth.
"Hey, I'm Cecil by the way. It's nice to meet you though it's not a great situation to meet."
I shook hands with him then said:"I'm Nameless. Nice to meet you too sir."
"You can just call me Cecil casually, and what about you, little demon."
The demon looked at him sharply.
"Don't dare to call me a demon, filthy human."
"Oh, are you little demoness then?"
"It's KNULL! And my name is Drax. Now stop talking."
"Pfft, sure buddy. I didn't know the demons were that boring."
"KNULLS!"
While Cecil was annoying Drax, I felt some hunger and decided to eat the apple I got earlier.
I opened my palm and an apple suddenly appeared in my hand.
'How is something like that even possible.'
We discovered that everyone that killed a tree got a strange screen saying that he got some items.
Kaito found out that if you used your mind eye and 'looked' beside your heart, you will find those tiny items floating there, then all you need to summon them is moving them out—but once you summon it you can't return it.
'It looks like… a weak version from the soul-bound artifacts.'
"Hey kid, it's your turn."
I heard Kaito's voice calling me. Braham was behind him holding a wooden slab and sharp blade to carve instead of writing. I rushed to them and started introducing myself.
"I'm Nameless, 15 years old and I'm a cultivator and can use a one handed longsword—but it looks like my real talent was the katana. I have 3 affinities but I can only sense fire for now and my trait is dormant. Additionally, I don't know if I have good support talents… that's all."
"...."
They stared silently for a moment, then Braham talked.
"Well, that's good! You ca—"
"—Great! Another deadweight."
"Gilbert, there are no deadweights here. Everyone can be useful." Braham answered sharply
"Yeah but you should know that Gilbert is right, I won't risk my life for them if we end up on the same team."
I lowered my head in shame—It's not like I didn't know that I was weak, but hearing it still hurts.
Suddenly, I felt Braham hand patting my shoulder.
"Ignore the others' opinions. We may stay here for months or even years. You just have to prove that they are wrong with time."
I smiled at him and returned to my place silently.
After 15 minutes, we were done. Braham started arguing with 3 dwarfs, 2 orcs and 6 demons about the teams, and all I could do was wait…
* * * * *
"Everyone I will call now is in team 2. Once you hear your name, go stand there but don't go too close to each other. Jaxon Black. Ariana Dusk. Silver…"
They were finally done with the teams' making and I was now waiting for the dwarf in the middle to call my name.
Honestly, I didn't care much about where I would end, after all, everyone here was a stranger except Braham.
I kept watching as the people kept gathering until only 10 left.
"Haah, the remaining are with me in team 9. The first 3 teams will keep watching for the next 3 hours then the next 3 will take turns, and if you can wake up all the day then keep an eye just in case. Make sure to rest well because we are going to the forest tomorrow."
The first 3 teams surrounded the camp while I went to my team members.
I couldn't help but smile when I found Braham with us.
"Yo Nameless, let's take care of each other."
"Cough." The dwarf suddenly cut him off. "Let's introduce ourselves. I'm Paul. I'm just an Exalted artifact maker with fire and metal as my affinities, don't rely on me with fighting. It's a miracle that I can use hammer."
Paul was a short dwarf with long black hair and beard with sharp brown eyes. He had a tired voice and serious expression.
"I'm Kaito. I'm a cultivator swordsman with will and Celestial fire as my affinities and don't ask questions about them." He pointed at the floating katana behind him. "Meet Yamato. He is my friend."
"...."
'Did he just call his katana my friend?'
"I'm Ruby. I'm also a swordsman with lava as my affinity."
"I'm Zorath Armstrong. I use a great axe but my special armor allows me to be a tank. I have metal and lightning as my affinities and remember my name because someday, I will cut the demon king's head! BUHAHAHA!
"You dare!"
"You fucking orc! Do you really want to die?!"
"He was joking! He was joking!!"
Zorath was the orc who saved my life earlier. He kept annoying the demons until a human started talking.
He was the same man that stood with me earlier.
"Anyway, I'm Cecil. I'm a mage with Ice and bones as my affinities. I don't have any artifacts but who cares when I create bones!"
Suddenly, he snapped his fingers and an armor made of bones covered his body for a moment before disappearing.
I couldn't help but stare in awe. His casting was the fastest I had seen in my life!
"M–my name is Aurelia. I'm an alchemist b-but can also use a bow. My affinities are plants and acid. Please take care of me!"
Aurelia was a demoness with green eyes and long green hair. She looked like the shy type from her hesitated expression and how she was bowing while introducing herself.
"I'm Drago. I use daggers and have darkness as my affinity. You can make me work as a scout or spy if you want. I'm already used to this."
Drago was a demon with silver hair and blue eyes. He had a blue mark under his eyes and on in the middle of his head. His was too low as if he had depression—which won't be a surprise in a situation like this.
"Yo, I'm Braham but I told you about myself many times so let's skip this. Can you introduce yourself, madam…"
"It's Nora. I'm an Exalted archer and have water as my affinity, and I… can cook."
Nora was the most special one here, because between the remaining 90. She was the only catgirl here.
She had blue eyes and short blue hair. She also had a pair of fluffy blue ears, a long cat tail and strange blue marks on her shoulder. And for some reason, she was blushing while looking at Braham.
'Wait, what if she was in lo—'
"Oh oh, I remember you. You are one of the deadweights, right?"
Zorath suddenly said with a mocking voice. But I just answered him calmly.
"Yes, so please take care of me until I become a little experienced or sense my other affinities."
I decided to take Braham's advice—who was smiling proudly— and ignore them and just try my best, hoping that I would prove them wrong.
Braham suddenly clapped, taking our attention.
"Well, you should all sleep now for the last time. Tomorrow, we are going to the forest! If someone doesn't need sleeping like me, then help me by making sure that no one tries to kill the other."
I fell on the ground behind the fire, but before I closed my eyes, Kaito threw something at me, but it hit my head.
"Ouch! What is that?"
"Tier 1 aura core. It's from the tree you killed. Kids before 18 shouldn't absorb them, but I don't think a small one would hurt much."
I realized that I forgot to loot the tree I killed. If Kaito didn't get it for me I wouldn't find it later.
I thanked him and looked at the grey core in my hand. It was smaller than my finger and looked like a perfect ball of crystal.
'I should channel my aura to it if I remember well.'
I started channeling my aura, it barely touched the core for a second before I stopped.
"Huh?"
"Why did you stop?"
I wasn't sure how to answer Kaito, but after taking a deep breath I said: "Can't you feel that there is something moving inside it? Like a small cloud or mist."
His expression turned into confusion.
"If there was something inside it, it would be Tier 2 and I would sense it."
'That's… strange.'
I decided to keep it for now and study it tomorrow, hoping that the forest won't be too dangerous.