Chapter 315: Team Karen!

Chapter 315: Team Cullen!

Simple words, a clear stance.

Cullen knew that Philomena, the drowsy girl, possessed formidable strength. In the York City district selection, she was likely his equal as the strongest competitor. After all, she was the only one capable of conversing fluently with him at the critical final moment, even if one ranked fourth and the other fifth.

Yet, Cullen harbored no desire to form a team with her, for from the very beginning, she had shown not the slightest inclination to band together, nor had she extended even a shred of goodwill.

Of course, it was natural for her to display a touch of arrogance born of her own might, perhaps even entirely justified.

Individual strength was, in itself, the capital required to reject so-called "ineffective" and "meaningless" socializing, the very foundation that allowed one to live willfully and with candid abandon.

However, under normal circumstances, the proportion

Ultimately, following the principle that cheating undiscovered is not cheating at all, Aisly cleared security.

In truth, she had indeed cheated; the totems emblazoned upon both her arms had been added just yesterday, imbued with the sensory marks of various mythical beasts.

Her parents worked in research, cultivating rare mythical beasts, which involved helping some of the harder-breeding creatures raise their next generation, acting somewhat like nursery teachers for mythical beasts.

Relying on the goodwill earned from this debt of gratitude, the Santos couple had taken their daughter to the large mythical beasts kept in the research institute's enclosures to ask for a favor, letting them imprint their sensory marks upon Aisly's body so that, when needed, she could call upon their power.

This was neither a contractual relationship nor a state of possession, and the effects it could trigger were actually quite limited, but the sheer quantity made up for it, and more importantly, it could bypass security.

In Aisly’s own words, it was the exact same principle as dogs liking to pee on telephone poles to leave scent marks; her arms were simply the scent marks left behind by those mythical beasts, though whether they would respond upon sensing a call depended entirely on their mood, without any strict binding constraint.

Of course, this still depended heavily on the face her parents held with them.

Such was Aisly’s character, completely unfazed by comparing her own arms to telephone poles, which also reflected from a certain angle just how much the Santos couple doted on this daughter of theirs.

Having collected their team number plate, Karen’s squad walked into another area of the plaza where flagpoles were planted, each bearing a number; Karen and the others sat down around Flagpole No. 3.

The moment he sat down, Karen gripped the flagpole with his right hand while his left hand, concealed within his sleeve, began using the Key of the Magic Cube to perform specific deductions.

Marth did the same, prostrating his body to touch the floor tiles beneath the flagpole with both hands.

After a brief moment, Karen released his grip on the flagpole ahead of time, and though his left hand continued to shift the cube, a calm expression appeared on his face.

It was a while longer before Marth sat up straight.

Karen spoke up: "Speak."

Marth said: "This flagpole is a specific coordinate point. When the selection begins, the area beneath our feet might detach from this place and fly into the sky. Judging by the surroundings here, I surmise that when the final selection commences, the twenty squads in total will be divided into twenty such solitary exam fields floating in the air."

Karen: "Continue."

Marth nodded and continued: "Therefore, the format of the final selection shouldn't involve confrontation between squads; we should be facing the trials as individual squad units.

Captain, I am finished."

Karen spoke: "You only noticed the details, not the grand scheme. The island we are currently on is actually a fortress. There are no residents here, only a garrison. The entire island is, in fact, a grand formation. Therefore, saying we will fly up in this area isn't strictly accurate. We won't fly up; rather, we will expand outward."

A look of astonishment and doubt appeared on Marth's face: "Expand? A plaza extension?"

"Yes. As it stands, the distance between each flag is only about ten meters, but once the formation is activated, that distance should instantly extend to hundreds or even thousands of meters.

This island can be stretched and expanded; a sufficient distance, combined with the barriers within each squad’s environment, ensures that every squad will have a large enough testing ground.

Doing this offers another convenience..."

Karen pointed his finger toward the eyes of the statue of Ogulev,

"I believe that when the final selection begins, it will be much easier for the high-ranking members of the Church to observe the situation of each of our squads."

Marth said admiringly: "Captain, impressive."

He knew Karen was not a formation master, because if Karen were one, he wouldn't have recruited another one like himself into the squad.

Yet this happened to mean that while Karen was not a formation master, his understanding and familiarity with formations were even higher than his own.

However, what Marth did not know was that Karen had simply calculated much faster than him; after all, Karen had not yet had the time to undergo completely systematic formation studies and was still at the foundation-laying stage.

Because a formation was a massive and interlocking system, unlike individual personal spells, it could not be learned by casually flipping through pages while having a meal.

Blanche looked at Karen curiously and asked: "Captain, do you really have no background? Oh, no, I'm sorry, I misspoke, I didn't mean it that way."

The group had already done a brief round of self-introductions earlier, and Karen's self-introduction remained very simple:

"Karen Silva, orphan."

But Blanche was very skeptical of this; the study of formations placed a very high demand on heritage and inheritance.

Ventura said firmly: "Our captain is a true genius."

Bart and Aisly exchanged a glance, nodding in agreement: "Yes, exactly."

Hearing this, Blanche reorganized her words: "Captain, you really are amazing."

At this moment, Karen noticed that beneath the nearby flagpoles, more and more squads had already sat down, and there were not many people left in the distant team-forming area.

Philomena was still over there continuing to form a team.

Her strength was formidable, that much was true, but her drowsy demeanor made it very hard for people to acknowledge her; everyone here was an outstanding youth from various major districts, and no one would think highly of you just for some "performance art."

Bart warned: "The opposite side has started troop movements again."

Further away, at the edge of the fortress, squads of soldiers began to mobilize.

Marth spoke: "There are formation masters as well."

Since half the people in the team had backgrounds in the knights' order, they quickly arrived at a conclusion: "They are adjusting the fortress mode."

Blanche spoke: "My mentor once came here to help treat the wounded. She said there is a cage here."

Hearing this, Aisly immediately said: "I think I remember my parents' research institute having phantom beasts brought from the Void."

Excellent, Karen was now experiencing exactly why Captain Neo liked to drag Richard into the fold.

When your squad had plenty of children from high-ranking families, you were never short of information.

Karen spoke: "Therefore, this place is not only a fortress and a vanguard base, but also a hunting ground. Considering that our respective squads will be separated by distance, it is highly likely that we will directly face attacks from phantom beasts in the upcoming test. They will release the phantom beasts from the cages, watching us perform like a colosseum."

Blanche said in astonishment: "That direct?"

Karen reminded her: "This might only be the first batch. Since the objective is to filter down until only two squads remain, as long as the number of squads holding out on the field is no less than three, the test will continuously escalate."

Bart spoke up: "Right, so we need to formulate a battle plan even more. Oh, the captain realized this a long time ago."

Though a bit slow to realize it, Bart finally understood Karen's purpose in recruiting these two newcomers.

Karen clapped his hands twice, mimicking Neo's mannerism,

and said:

"Then I will now announce my plan. Remember, my plan is not rigid. If I don't have time to give commands when the moment comes, you can react according to your own judgment. The sole prerequisite is that your reaction must be for the collective benefit of our entire squad.

Ventura, you will always stand at the very front of the squad. I need you to plant yourself there and stop all dangers coming from ahead."

Ventura nodded: "Understood, Captain."

"Bart, you will always stand behind Ventura. Remember, you are always the initiator of the first wave of offensive."

"Yes, Captain."

"Aisly, categorize and compile a list of the totems on both your arms first, then tell me. Your position is this flag; you will always stand beneath the flag."

"Alright, Captain."

"Marth, from the official start of the selection to the appearance of the first target, there will certainly be a gap of time to adapt to the environment. You are to immediately begin setting up formations. Remember, do not set up offensive formations; set up entirely defensive formations. You must ensure that when your teammates need it, they can enter your formation to catch their breath."

"As you command, Captain."

"Blanche, I need you to use spells to bestow blessings and healing upon the team members present. Ventura and Bart require physical blood and qi healing and replenishment; Aisly requires soul power blessing and replenishment; Marth requires mental power blessing and replenishment."

Blanche immediately asked: "Captain, what about you?"

"I don't need it."