"Hey all, my name is Percy Hable. I"m looking forward to work with you." Percy just gives them his polite smile as he doesn"t plan to be in this group for long."So you"re the captains son? We heard that we might get a new recruit, and the rumours said it"d be like this. I will be honest with you, I don"t like those that use their connections to get privileges. You just should"ve trained 2 more years and join the next camp, not beg your dad to get in here late just because you turned 13." Snake explains while his clearly showing his disgust on his face. Besides that he has silver hair, sharp eyebrows, a thin build, and long finger nails.
"But that all doesn"t matter now, I"ll introduce you to your team. The bald guy without guts is Bert, he should be a tank, but he couldn"t get the points for an armor and is afraid to get hurt. So now he"s pretty useless.
The skinny one with long green hair here is Neil, he"s our priest, but he"s just using the camp here to grow his plants. Also, don"t expect too much.
This is Rick, he"s most recognisable by his whiny expression and voice. He"s an archer but he"s shot Bert more times than actually shooting the opposite site.
Here"s Vyvyan, he"s our main attacker. He mainly uses a hammer and axe, but there"s pretty much just force, no technique.
The black haired slick looking guy is Mike, he"s our logistics person, I don"t know how he does it, but he can"t get food or bedding but he can get as much booze as you"d want and all the gossip that"s happening in this camp.
The fat one is Alexai, he"s our mage. He learned 2 spells so far. He can do only one before fainting due to his low energy.
The last one is Jerzai, he doesn"t speak, but he"s an a.s.sa.s.sin. He just doesn"t like moving.
Last one is me, Snake, challenge me and I"ll tell you my name instead of my t.i.tle. You can earn a t.i.tle by being recognised by all with a specific nickname."
Everyone waves after their introduction, except Jerzai, even though none of the things said are positive. Percy smiles back at them.
"Now let"s go back to the tent and get ready." like that the group lowest in the rankings walks away. While walking Snake talks to Percy.
"I"m sorry Percy, with any other group you probably could"ve done something more in a situation like this, but all our members only have a single weapon, we don"t really need an Armiger. Is there anything else you can do?" This is something Percy never considered before, all the stories he grew up with was with his ancestors carrying mountains of weapons, not having any to carry was something that had never occurred to him.
But this doesn"t stop him. There"s one thing his uncle on his mother"s side taught him, and that he"s quite good in. But his dad forbade him to practice this. "I can throw daggers pretty well, but it has been a while since I practiced, if you have some daggers I can use the next half an hour to freshen up."
Snake thinks for a while. "I"ll give you 3 daggers and 15 minutes. After that we"re gonna move to the gathering spot to be the first present and earn some team merits like that. If you want more daggers find them yourself."
And like that we arrive at the tent, it"s surprisingly close to the gate. Snake explains that that"s because they"re lowest in ranking. Those in the middle of the ranking are the furthest away, the only good thing about being last he said.
Snake enteres his private tent and comes out less then a minute later with 3 daggers and a circular target. He puts the target in between the captain tent and the group tent and walks to wards Percy.
"Show me what you got." Snake says while handing Percy two daggers. The third one he flicks over his shoulder right in the middle of the target. "Showoff" Percy scoffs in his head.
Percy slows down his breath and comes into position to throw the knife. It truly has been a long time since he last tried this. The lessons his uncle thought him pop up in his mind one by one.
Estimate the distance, feel the knife, imagine it spin through the air, hold the knife according to how many spins it will need. But most importantly, relax.
A knife flies out of Percy"s hand, after a spin and a half it embeds itself deeply into the target with a satisfying thud. It"s quite off-centre, but if it was aimed on the centre of someone"s chest it"d still have been a hit.
The second knife flies out, another thud, if it was aimed at someone"s forehead it"d have been an eye. "That"s pretty good. You"d have been a great a.s.sa.s.sin."
"Snake, wouldn"t I be hurting, or even killing the other recruits if I hit them with a knife?" Percy asks Snake what has been bothering him.
"The camp we are on has a huge formation underneath. This formation ensures that all targets of attacks that would result in an injury that would take at least a full day or recovery will be switched out with a dummy outside the battlefield. Like that no one can be truly injured." Snake snickers a bit before continuing "So don"t worry, and let all your crazy desires go and hurt anyone as much as you want." after that Snake walks away.
Percy walks to the target and continues practicing for the time he has been given. Throws from different distances, throws while moving, throws with more spins, throws with no spins, underhanded throws. Everything that will be useful.
After 15 minutes of picking up his skills he"s happy enough to use it in battle.
At that moment Snake calls the team together, a true ragtag team with practically no equipment, missing armor parts, low quality weapons, no aura to speak of, moving to the gathering spot even before the command to gather has been given.
There they wait, in 10 minutes everything will truly start.
Many things can be said about the last team, but one thing is for sure. They are very disciplined, even Rick who"s always whining about everything just stands still with a bow and a quiver on his back.
Eight minutes later Lee stands on a podium, he looks at Snake and his team, his gaze on Perch lasting only a little longer than on the others. "Get ready to battle!" followed by the gongs of a bell.
"Snake battle team arrived at the gathering first, a.s.sign corresponding merrit points." Lee says to an attendant standing behind him.