Chapter 13: Five-Person Team

The afternoon session would still be a practical combat course.

Cecilia Windrunner stood on the training ground, her hands empty, her gaze sweeping over every face before her.

“Starting this week, our Class A will begin a two-week teamwork course.” Her voice was not loud.

“You will be divided into groups of five for three training exercises: team battles, coordinated operations, and tactical drills. The grouping list has already been prepared by the Academy based on your assessment performance and attribute combinations. No adjustments will be accepted.”

A low murmur rippled through the classroom. Five people, teamwork, and no adjustments allowed. That meant who you ended up with was not up to you. You might be grouped with people you didn’t like, which meant they had to learn to cooperate with strangers.

“Quiet.” Cecilia raised her hand, and the murmuring immediately ceased. “The grouping list is posted on the Bulletin Board. Go check it during the break.

Also,” she paused, “each group must include at least three different elemental attributes. This is to train your coordination under multi-attribute configurations. A single-attribute team will be counter-targeted in actual combat. That’s an ironclad rule.”

After the class bell rang, the Bulletin Board was surrounded by people.

Xuanxi stood at the edge of the crowd, not needing to push through. Because she already knew the result—or rather, she had already guessed it.

“Xuanxi! We’re in the same group!” Elsa squeezed out of the crowd, her brown short hair a mess, clutching a copied grouping list in her hand. “You, me, Reggie, and Hildegrifa—all four of us are in one group!”

She paused when she mentioned the fourth person, looked down at the last name on the list, and a change came over her smile—a mix of confusion and a hint of “no way.”

“There’s one more person.” Elsa looked up, her deep green eyes carrying a subtle embarrassment. “Valeris Frostmark.”

Xuanxi’s expression didn’t change at all. She had already guessed. Five people per group, and they only had four, so the Academy would inevitably add someone. Who?

To satisfy that the attribute didn’t repeat, the synergy wasn’t too bad, and the bloodline wasn’t too low, the only choice was Valeris Frostmark—this ice-element A-rank bloodline, top five of the grade. It was the best solution.

“Valeris?” Reggie walked over from behind the crowd, his brow slightly furrowed. “She’s ice element. Ice and water…” He didn’t finish, but Xuanxi knew what he meant.

Ice and water were from the same source but different paths. If they cooperated well, the ice-water combination could produce very strong control effects; if not, they would only interfere with each other and both lose.

“I know,” Xuanxi said. “But since she’s joined, she’s one of us.”

After the break ended, it was time for the actual class.

When Xuanxi arrived, Hildegrifa was already standing in the center of the training ground.

Her silver-white hair was tied up high, she wore the black training uniform issued by the Academy, and around her waist was a dark gray cloth bag embroidered with the Edelstein Family crest.

Elsa and Reggie stood on the other side of the ground, warming up. Elsa was swinging her arms, Reggie was stretching his legs. There was a distance between them—neither close nor far—because Elsa was sulking.

“Why isn’t she here yet?” Elsa muttered while swinging her arms. “Late on the first training session. What kind of attitude is that?”

“Three minutes left,” Reggie said, glancing at the timer in the corner of the training ground. “Technically it’s not late.”

Elsa snorted and continued swinging her arms.

Two and a half minutes later, a pale golden figure appeared at the entrance of the training ground.

When Valeris Frostmark walked in, her pace was just like her—neither fast nor slow. Her pale golden hair hung over her shoulders, shimmering softly in the sunlight.

She wore a light blue training uniform that matched her ice attribute well. She walked to the center of the ground and stopped in front of Xuanxi. “Half a minute left. I’m not late, am I?” were her first words.

“No, of course not,” Xuanxi said.

Valeris nodded, then turned to Elsa. “I heard what you said earlier. I wasn’t late. You came early.”

Elsa’s face turned red instantly. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. Reggie coughed lightly beside her. He had already told Elsa not to badmouth people behind their backs.

“Now that everyone’s here,” Hildegrifa’s voice came from the inner side of the ground, cold, calm, and unquestionable. “Let’s start training.”

The five of them took their positions in the center of the ground. Valeris stood on the far left, her ice-blue training uniform glinting coldly in the sunlight.

Elsa stood next to her, her deep green eyes still sneaking glances at this new teammate, the corners of her mouth slightly downturned. She clearly hadn’t recovered from the embarrassment of being caught.

Reggie stood on the other side, silent as a stone, but his gaze swept back and forth across the five of them, as if assessing something.

Xuanxi stood in the middle, and Hildegrifa was on the far right, her silver-white hair blown by the wind, revealing her profile.

Saixiliya’s voice came from the edge of the training ground.

“Five-on-five team battle. Your opponents are—” She raised her hand and pointed at the five people walking in from the other side of the ground. “Valeris’s original team.”

Valeris’s expression didn’t change at all, but Elsa’s changed first. “Original team? That means… the one she quit?”

“Exactly,” Valeris said, her tone unnaturally calm.

The five opponents walked over. The leader was a fire dragon race, with reddish-brown short hair, his chin slightly raised, his gaze directly on Valeris. “Valeris, when you quit the team, you said our tactics were too amateur. Today, let the teacher see exactly who is amateur.”

Valeris didn’t look at him. Her gaze fell on Xuanxi’s face. “You set the tactics.”

The fire dragon race’s expression darkened, but Cecilia had already raised her hand. “Both sides in position. The rules are simple: defeat all five opponents or capture the flag in the center of the ground. Time limit: fifteen minutes.”

Xuanxi’s gaze swept over the opponents’ lineup. Fire, wind, earth, lightning, and one ice. All five attributes, with fierce frontal firepower. She then glanced sideways at her own side—ice, fire, earth, water, and thunder-fire dual affinity. The lineup wasn’t inferior, but in terms of coordination…

“This is the first battle. We don’t have time to get used to each other,” Xuanxi said in a low voice. “So we won’t use complex tactics. Valeris, you and Elsa take the front. Your ice freeze positioning, Elsa’s fire for output.”

Elsa opened her mouth to say “I can’t cooperate with her,” but Xuanxi didn’t give her the chance.

“Reggie, you stay in the middle to support. Fill in wherever needed. Xige, you and I will use our usual cooperation.” Hildegrifa nodded.

Valeris turned her head to look at Xuanxi, a flicker of surprise in her ice-blue eyes. “This is my first team battle, and you dare let me take the front?”

“You’re ice element. Front-line control is your best position,” Xuanxi said.

“Besides, you are top five of the grade after all. Your strength can’t be that bad. As the saying goes, ‘if you doubt someone, don’t use them; if you use them, don’t doubt them.’”

Valeris didn’t say anything more, but she retied her pale golden hair into a clean, neat high ponytail.

Saixiliya’s hand dropped. “Begin.”

The five opponents moved first. The fire and lightning elements pressed forward from the front, their flames and lightning intertwining into a red-and-white firepower net that enveloped Xuanxi’s side.

The wind element circled around from the flank, extremely fast, dragging a pale green afterimage behind him.

The earth element spread a stone wall across the ground, blocking the frontal view while providing cover for his teammates.

The ice element—the opposing ice element didn’t charge to the front. Instead, she stood in the back, condensing several ice spikes in her hands, aiming at Xuanxi.

Targeting her, because she was the team’s commander.

“Valeris.” Xuanxi called out just one name.

Valeris moved. Her speed was unusual for an ice dragon race—ice elements usually excelled at control but had weaker mobility. But Valeris seemed to be skating on ice, gliding forward.

She swung her right hand, and a wall of ice rose from the ground, perfectly blocking the combined attack of the opposing fire and lightning elements. Flames crashed into the ice wall, steam rising; lightning struck the ice surface, cracking it, but the attack was ultimately stopped.

“Elsa!” Xuanxi called the second name.

Elsa’s flames passed through the gaps in the ice wall and struck precisely at the stone wall the opposing earth element had just raised. The stone wall turned red from the heat, cracks spreading from the center outward.

Reggie followed closely, punching the ground with his right fist. A stone spike erupted from the earth, expanding along the cracks and splitting the opposing stone wall in two.

In the smoke, Xuanxi and Hildegrifa moved in simultaneously.

Hildegrifa’s lightning light led the way—three silver-white arcs spread forward in a fan shape, forcing the opposing wind and lightning elements to dodge. Xuanxi’s water screen followed closely.

The water screen formed a dazzling patch of light under the sunlight, causing the opposing ice element to instantly lose her aim. The two’s coordination was very natural, as if rehearsed countless times—in fact, they had indeed practiced countless times.

Xuanxi burst out from the water screen and struck with her palm at the opposing ice element’s neck.

The ice element hastily raised her arm to block, ice armor covering it, but Xuanxi’s palm just struck the ice armor, shattering it and forcing the opponent back three steps.

“Water can counter ice,” Xuanxi said.

The ice element gritted her teeth and reformed her ice armor. But those three steps back had already pushed her out of the flag contest zone in the center of the battlefield.

Hildegrifa’s lightning light exploded above the flag, silver-white arcs weaving into a fine net in the air, forcing back the opposing lightning and wind elements who tried to capture the flag.

Her lightning light was unusually precise for a typical dragon race’s attack—each arc landed right at the opponents’ feet, neither harming them nor allowing them to advance a single step.

The opponents were retreating, but they hadn’t given up. The fire dragon organized a counterattack—flames circled around from the side, bypassing Valeris’s ice wall, and headed straight for Xuanxi’s back.

Xuanxi didn’t turn around, because she knew someone would take the attack.

Reggie’s earth wall rose behind her. The flames crashed into the earth wall, sending rubble flying, but didn’t harm her in the slightest. Without even turning her head, she continued suppressing the opposing ice element.

“Elsa! Left side!” Xuanxi called.

Elsa’s flames spread to the left, perfectly blocking the opposing wind element’s sneak attack route. The wind element made a sharp turn in the air, almost getting his hair singed by the flames.

After landing, he stumbled two steps, and before he could collect his thoughts, Reggie’s stone spike rose from under his feet, forcing him to jump again.

When he jumped, Hildegrifa’s lightning light was already waiting at his landing point—a hair-thin arc struck the bottom of his foot precisely. When he landed, his leg gave way, and he dropped to one knee.

“Out,” Cecilia’s voice came from the sidelines.

The opponents were down one person, but the remaining four didn’t panic.

They quickly adjusted their formation—fire and lightning in front, ice supporting from the back, earth in the middle for coordination. The four clustered together, no longer scattered, using concentrated firepower to suppress Xuanxi’s side’s advance.

Cracks also began to appear in the coordination on Xuanxi’s side. Elsa’s flames and Valeris’s ice wall collided during a cross-cover. Elsa’s fireball scraped past Valeris’s ice wall, melting a corner. Valeris frowned but didn’t say anything.

Reggie’s earth wall and Elsa’s flames also had a coordination error—when Reggie’s earth wall rose, it blocked Elsa’s line of sight, causing her fireball to veer off and almost hit their own Reggie.

But Hildegrifa and Xuanxi’s coordination never faltered.

They didn’t need to speak. The moment Xuanxi’s water screen rose, Hildegrifa’s lightning light pierced through from behind it.

Exploiting the principle of water conductivity, the water screen became an amplifier for the lightning light. Silver-white arcs danced on the surface of the water screen, forming a barrier interwoven with lightning and water.

The opposing fire element tried to break through with flames, but the moment the flames met the water screen, steam rose, and the lightning spread along the steam, hitting him instead.

“Out,” Saixiliya’s voice rang out again.

The opponents lost another person—three versus five. But the remaining three didn’t give up. They tightened their formation and concentrated all their firepower on a single point, trying to forcibly break through Reggie’s earth wall defense.

Reggie’s earth wall began to crack under the continuous fire and lightning. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his arms trembled slightly.

“Reggie, fall back!” Xuanxi shouted.

Reggie didn’t hesitate. He stepped back three paces. Elsa’s flames supplemented from the side, filling the gap left by Reggie’s retreat. Valeris’s ice wall also rose behind the flames, forming a second line of defense.

Hildegrifa’s lightning light roamed the outermost perimeter, giving the opponents no chance to break in. Meanwhile, Xuanxi’s water screen flowed at the very front, ready to fill any gap in the defense at any moment.

Five people, five attributes. For the first time in a real battle, they formed a complete defense chain.

In the last two minutes, the remaining three opponents launched their final charge. The fire and lightning elements attacked as a duo, with the ice element providing cover from the back.

Their coordination was more seamless than Xuanxi’s side—after all, they had trained together longer.

The fire element punched Reggie’s earth wall, shattering it; the lightning element released three lightning strikes simultaneously, forcing Elsa and Valeris back; the ice element’s ice spikes precisely sealed the path of Xuanxi’s water screen.

In an instant, a gap appeared in the defense.

But Hildegrifa’s lightning light pierced through the gap. The lightning struck the ground, sending rubble flying, creating a temporary smoke screen.

The opposing fire element’s vision was blocked for a moment. In that instant, Xuanxi’s water screen circled around from the side and wrapped around his ankle.

Under the influence of Valeris’s ice element aura, the water screen instantly froze, and his foot was locked to the ground.

“Out.”

Time was up. Cecilia raised her hand. “Match over. Xuanxi’s team wins.”

The opposing ice element looked at her frozen feet, was silent for a moment, then looked up at Xuanxi. “Your water screen’s movement speed is at least twice as fast as at the beginning. How did you do it?”

Xuanxi didn’t answer directly. She only told her, “It’s because my teammates taught me well.”

She glanced at Valeris. The pale golden-haired ice dragon race was standing beside her, a look of appreciation in her ice-blue eyes. She didn’t speak, only gave Xuanxi a slight nod, then turned and left alone.

Training over, Elsa plopped down on the ground at the edge of the field, panting heavily. Her hair had also turned from brown to a darker shade, soaked with sweat, strands sticking to her forehead.

“So tired, so tired, so tired,” she said between breaths. “This is more exhausting than fighting three matches on my own.”

Reggie sat down beside her and handed her a bottle of water. Elsa took it, unscrewed the cap, and gulped down half the bottle, then let out a long breath. “Thanks, Reggie.”

Reggie glanced at her. “You almost hit my head earlier.”

“It was almost, but I didn’t hit you.”

“Actually, you did hit…”

Elsa’s movements stiffened. “…Really?”

Reggie pointed to his right ear. Above the ear, a small tuft of hair was singed, curled into a subtle arc.

Elsa stared at that curled tuft for three seconds, then pressed her palms together. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean it! It was that earth wall blocking my view!”

“I know,” Reggie said, standing up from the ground and dusting himself off. “Next time, just call out, and I’ll remove the wall in advance.”

Elsa was stunned for a moment, then laughed. “Okay.”

The two walked side by side out of the training ground. The setting sun stretched their shadows long—one short and fluffy, one tall and steady. Elsa was saying something, Reggie was listening, nodding occasionally, replying with a word or two.

On the training ground, Xuanxi and Hildegrifa remained.

Xuanxi sat on a bench, looking down at her hand. There was a shallow red mark on her palm—a scratch from the opposing ice spike. Not deep, but it still throbbed faintly. Hildegrifa stood in front of her, pulling a roll of bandage from the pouch at her waist.

“Give me your hand.” She crouched down, took Xuanxi’s hand, and began wrapping the bandage—once, twice, three times.

Xuanxi looked down at her. Xige’s silver-white hair hung down from the side of her face, almost touching Xuanxi’s arm. Her hands were steady, the force of wrapping just right. Her cool fingertips occasionally brushed against Xuanxi’s skin, like ice but not quite. Because ice was hard, but her fingertips were soft.

“You coordinated well today,” Hildegrifa said softly, her head still lowered. “Elsa and Reggie’s cooperation was also much better than before. As for Valeris… she suits you.”

“That tone of yours sounds like a teacher writing us a review.”

“It’s not a review.” Hildegrifa tucked in the end of the bandage and looked up, her amethyst eyes meeting Xuanxi’s amber-gold ones. “Just my personal observation report.”

Xuanxi laughed. “Then who are you planning to show that observation report to?”

“To myself.”

Xuanxi curved her lips and said nothing.

Hildegrifa stood up and extended her hand to Xuanxi, palm up, fingers slightly spread. Xuanxi placed her hand in Hildegrifa’s palm—warm palm against cool bandage. She grasped it and stood up with the momentum.

The two walked side by side out of the training ground. The setting sun slowly sank behind them. In the distant sky, the evening glow shifted from orange-red to pink-purple. Xuanxi looked down at her bandaged hand. The white bandage glowed faintly in the twilight, like a thin layer of snow.

“Xige.”

“Mm.”

“Do you want to go down the mountain with me this weekend?”

Hildegrifa turned her head to look at her. Her silver-white hair was lifted by the evening wind, drawing a soft arc in the air.

“Do you want to go?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go.”

Xuanxi tightened her grip on Hildegrifa’s hand. The two hands clasped together in the twilight—one bandaged, one not, but their warmth was the same.