"Look at how their formation crumbles."
Professor Axe purrs, his eyes gleaming with intrigue as they fixate on the glowing orb suspended above the round table's hollow center.
"What more could you expect from a group of low-borns."
He twirls a green strand of his hair.
"It's pitiful, really." Magnolia intervenes. She crosses one long leg over the other, arms folding beneath her accentuated chest with casual poise. "Give a starving dog a poisoned bone, and it'll snatch it without a second thought. Not because it's foolish, but because hunger clouds everything else."
She tilts her head slightly, a ghost of a smirk playing on her lips. "In their case, the bone is the dungeon. And the poison? Well... they'll find out soon enough."
"It's cruel." Hideaki voices, shifting on his seat as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. His gaze lingers on the orb, where the image of a student being devoured by a moss-covered spider flickers in real time.
"Don't worry, your pretty little bald head." Magnolia grins, placing her delicate fingers on top of his calloused ones. "Cruelty is redeemable." She creases along the bumps of his veins to his wrist. "Especially if your duty is to forge the next great mage this world has ever seen."
"But low-borns might have a chance as well..." He whispers out as he's drawn into a trance.
"Lowborns have no place among us." She says, slowly and calmly, her voice smoothing over like silk. "Talent isn't bred in the dirt; it's cultivated in bloodlines. The sooner we stop entertaining fairy tales, the stronger this realm will become.
Hideaki remains quiet, pupils dilated as he stares at her glowing orange iris as if in a trance.
"Magnolia." Ansil chastised, glancing from the orb to her. "No magic allowed in the council room."
"Sorry." She grins, snatching her hand away, and Hideaki snaps out of the trance she had on him, confused. "I just wanted to educate him."
Ansil holds her gaze for a second before returning focus to the orb.
"Tsk...Where is he?" Vice's frustrated tone leaks into the tense atmosphere. "To think he'd be late to his own family's selection."
"I suppose you're talking about him?" Axe questions his attention drifting to the empty seat next to Vice. "Has the man ever been early? And there's still a possibility none of them might make it out."
"Still, it's common courtesy. He didn't even make an appearance at the welcome ceremony." Vice says.
"Would you make an appearance if you were in his state?" Magnolia inquires, and Vice remains quiet. She rolls her eyes before asking Cherry to her other side. "Would you, cherry?"
Cherry doesn't answer; her concentration is only on the orb.
"Aww, that's still an answer too!" Magnolia coos, patting Cherry's head gently, which she doesn't react to.
"But it looks like there will be no contenders for his family." Axe murmurs, boredly looking at the screen.
"I wouldn't say that just yet." Ansil chimes in, instantly commanding everyone's attention as the multiple screens projected from the orb shift and narrow into just two focused views. "A group of four and two. They seem surprisingly interesting."
"I know that boy." Axe straightens his slouched posture. "Lux Maxwell. My sister was talking about him; he's the weakest of the first years."
"Weak, huh?" Magnolia eyes him up and down. "It looks like he's taking charge… not exactly what you'd expect from someone branded 'the weakest.'"
"Mhm..." Ansil nods. "It sure is a peculiar sight." Turning around to a person standing at the door, she orders. "Bring Cosmo here; drag him if you have to." The boy bobs his head and rushes out. "It appears like he has a high chance of obtaining students into his family after all."
.
.
.
Bang! Bang!
Condensed energy rockets out in small, compact shoots, hurtling towards the mossed spider as it heads towards him.
"Shit." He hisses as metal wraps around his torso, flinging him into the sky, just in time to avoid the spider's attack.
The spot he was just on rumbles and cracks under the spider's attack.
'That was close.'
Meraki charges forward, her speed unmatched as she blurs ahead. A dagger gripped tightly in one hand, she draws a second from her side, drawing it back to attack.
'Her aim is off.' Lux thinks, his feet resting safely on the floor, the metal tentacle retreating to Ichor.
He raises his gun, eyes narrowing as they track Meraki's dagger. Just as she begins her strike, he shifts the barrel ever so slightly, not to hit the target, but to nudge fate.
The shot fires.
<<<...Recharging mana...>>>
The gun puffs light smoke, but he pays no mind to it. "Don't fail me now." He prays.
"Not the center." She grunts, but it is too late to pull back.
Just in time, the bullet clips the edge of her dagger, just enough to tilt it upward, redirecting the blade's arc toward the precise point she needed.
"Hell yeah!" He mutters, a smile forming on his face as he kisses the gun, but it burns his lips. "Hot, hot!" he whizzes.
"My turn." Ichor bolts past him, magic circles forming, and his hands contort and form into hammers.
The spider, unlike the others, regains its composure quickly. With a shriek, it slams one of its massive legs down toward Meraki, but she rolls clear, just in time.
Ichor tenses, every muscle in his body coiling like a spring. With a roar, he launches himself into the air, twin hammers expanding mid-leap. He brings them down in a brutal arc—crashing both onto the spider's head with bone-shattering force.
[Assist kill!]
[Mossed spiders: 9/15]
[You've earned 4 more undistributed stat points.]
'Wait, we only killed three so far, so who took down the other three?' He asks as if the system would answer him. 'So that means there are others who aren't running like cowards.'
"Good job!" Ichor approaches his arms, resuming their usual life-like form, the only difference being that they're metal and not flesh. "High five?" He lifts his hand for one, and Lux reciprocates.
Meraki joins, taking a sincere bow of gratitude. "Thank you for your help."
"Oh, don't worry about it." He smiles. "Thanks to my gun, it was all possible."
"Gun?" Ichor tilts his head in confusion, and so does Meraki.
'Oh right, they don't know what a gun is.'
"Yeah, a gun." He lifts it to show them. "It shoots metal projectiles, or in this case, condensed energy, at stupidly high speeds. You know… bang, boom, blood, and all that." He stupefies his explanation.
Meraki blinks. "So… like a mini ballista?"
'...Ballista...'
Lux clutches his chest dramatically, as if physically wounded. "That's a mortal disrespect to all guns."
Meraki blinks again, unamused. "It shoots things, doesn't it?"
"So does a fire-breathing chicken (And yes, surprisingly it is a thing), but we don't compare that to a dragon!" Lux fires back, clearly offended. "A gun is elegance, precision, chaos, and beauty wrapped in one metal frame."
Ichor leans over to Meraki, whispering, "Why is he praising it like a god?"
"No clue," she replies flatly.
Lux points the gun skyward like it's Excalibur. "You will one day understand, my dear dagger-girl and hammer-boy, that a gun—mygun—is not a tool. It's a way of life."
A long pause.
"...Still sounds like a fancy crossbow," Ichor mutters.
Lux gasps so hard you'd think he was just stabbed. "You take that back!"
'Of course, a bunch of young, uncultured brats won't know the glory of a gun. In my world, the guns were unstoppable.'
.
.
.
"Guns," Ansil muses. "It shoots metal projectiles or energy at high speeds; that's something completely new to me."
"I've never heard of such a weapon before," Vice says, dumbfounded.
"Neither have I," Hideaki adds. "This kid has created an entirely new weapon."
"It can't be," Magnolia's eyes widen.
Nevertheless, their shock is short-lived as the door swings open and Cosmo strides in.