CHPT 179: Us First.

The students stood with their backs against the cold jet black wall of the Univseristy while their Professors walked the length of the horizontal line they made, eyeing them with the battle hardened speculative glares of military generals. A look Prof. Raizen pulled off often— and too well, causing the students to feel as if they were preparing for war instead of an Obstacle Course.

Claude enjoyed it— the severity and intensity the Professor always brought to Training, it was exactly how he thought Training should work. Based on the fear he and the rest of the Canines sitting with their Beast Tamers smelled, the others didn't agree with his sentiment.

Prof. Raizen suddenly stopped pacing in front of them, planting his feet firmly in the grass in the middle of the line of students as he began to speak. "So. Let's get straight to the rules of this game…" he said, prompting a number of students to begin hooting and cheering before immediately silencing after Prof. Raizen glared at them. "It's simple. Once the Obstacle Course is made, a flag will be placed in the center and two teams of 5 will fight to claim the flag and bring it back to their side. Like I said, simple."

A student in the middle of the line— directly across from Prof. Raizen raised his hand causing the stern man's eyes to fall on the student.

"Yes, Zach?" He said, granting the Archer a chance to ask his question.

"Can we use our weapons?" The talented Archer asked with a mischievous gleam in his dark brown eyes.

"Of course. This isn't just a race to the flag— it's also a fight." Prof. Raizen said, causing the students to realize their fear was slowly becoming justified before he continued. "Now— with that being said, it's a bit difficult to cheat since some of you will be hit and even knocked off the course— and that's allowed. In fact, I can't even think of how you'd cheat. But, if I see any foul play, you'll all know. And lastly, if I see any of you not taking this seriously, you'll be spending extra hours running the course...with me." Prof. Raizen said, the last of his speech caused a chill to run down some of the students' spines.

"Well. I guess it's time to create the course." Prof. Brennan cut in after the extended period silence.

Claude's mind raced as he watched the three Professors walk off the start of the field.

"[You've got to be kidding me.]" Arne suddenly said, as if he read Claude's direct thoughts.

"What?" Claude replied.

"[You're thinking of trying to win aren't you?]" Arne asked knowingly.

Claude fought to drown out Warren, Maris, Isaac and Ursula's conversation before replying, "Well, no. And yes."

"[Explain.]"

"I'm thinking more about what Chase said. I mean what if Fenrir and Cernunnos are watching somehow? The two don't seem to like each other and if I lose this— it'll definitely piss off Fenrir. A pissed of Fenrir is less likely to help me get stronger, Arne...plus I think he still thinks less of me from when I fought the Goblin Shaman."

"[...….]" Arne was silent in thought for a few moments as Claude watched the Earth Professor's hands begin to glow while Prof. Raizen and Brennan cautiously backed away.

Before Arne could respond and challenge Claude's thoughts, the Obstacle Course made its loud and fantastical appearance on the field.

The students and animals near the edge of the field backed up further against the walls of the University in response to the Earth Professor's hands sinking into the grass to make the ground quake to life.

The dull orange energy that surrounded his hands surged with power as the ground rumbled harder and harder until the students thought he'd run the risk of starting an earthquake.

FwooCkcK!

The shuddering of the ground relaxed as areas of the training field began to rise. The brown and Stoney earthen columns climbed higher towards the sky— twisting and turning to make pathways and levels like the intricate inner skeletal structure of a building.

To the students' surprise, it didn't just occupy the training field. The course lengthened, adding higher and lower levels where lengths of pathways thickened or thinned all the way past the University and near Predator's Forest.

The earthen creation was finished actualizing at the center where many paths and access points led to a larger patch of land, obviously a space of importance.

"The location of the flag." Claude whispered.

"That's right at the center of the course…." Warren said.

"Right at the center of battle too." Isaac added.

Before anyone of the students could say any more about the course that now occupied the training field and then some, Prof. Raizen appeared in front of them, shrugging off his cloak-like jacket and rolling his shoulders.

In response, Claude suddenly smelled a wave of fear spewing from someone next to him.

"Oh now what the hell is he doing?" Warren whined after assuming Prof. Raizen was warming up to join them on the course.

"Looks like he's warming up." Isaac answered.

"Good." Maris cut in, in a robotic tone causing Warren to look at her the same way he does whenever she says something crazy.

"Everybody relax. I just need to plant the flag." Prof. Raizen suddenly said to the students, immediately relaxing a handful of them.

"You're going to climb that? Instead of taking the stairs?" One of the students asked, referring to the steps at each end of the course.

Prof. Raizen look offended for a moment before an evil smile breached the surface of his usually stern face, and small sparks of lightning danced behind his pupils. "Don't you know who I am?"

Claude and the rest of the students watched in awe as the small sparks in his eyes grew— slowly turning them to bright orbs of light. Slowly, the rest of his body followed suit. Small streaks of lightning crackled to life, gamboling and dancing along the hard lines of his muscles until he had a thin aura of the bright darts of light surrounding him and burning the grass nearby.

"What the hell is that?" Claude asked.

"Elemental Shroud. All of us will be able to do it to boost our physical stats with enough control and training— some of us have already." Isaac replied before him and Claude knowingly looked to Ursula who proudly stood and smiled before going back to looking deep in thought.

"Elemental Shroud. Interesting." Claude mumbled.

His thoughts were cut off as Prof. Raizen spun around in a flash of fabric and light, to face the Obstacle Course.

Fwoo!

Before anyone could question what he was doing, he tossed his jacket into the air. What followed was a crackling explosive sound similar to thunder, generating a fearful jump in response from the students as they looked from the jacket he threw and back to him. Only he wasn't where he previously stood.

He was moving, scaling the nearest beam of the Obstacle Course as if gravity didn't exist. The students watched in astonishment as he zipped and dashed across the pathways of the Course, leaving only a visible trial of the lightning he was generating while he moved fast enough to barely be a blur.

In seconds, he was at the center planting a small stick into the platform with a yellow flag on it before taking off again in a burst of light and thunder.

Instead of running his way back, he built up just enough speed and jumped. The man leapt and bounded from one portion of the Course to the next like a small bolt of lightning dancing across the earthen grassy surface of the Course.

CWSHWSHW!

He landed in front of them, back to his original position as the shroud of lightning faded and his eyes returned to normal. He finished his performance by reaching up to catch his jacket that he threw before leaving.

The silence that followed was quickly stopped by everyone erupting in shouts and clapping loudly with admiration.

"Ahhhh still got it." Prof. Raizen joked before sliding back into his jacket and bowing to the class. "Alright. Now everyone make your teams and get ready to hop on this course."

With the students properly motivated, they all scrambled amongst each-other, attempting to assemble their teams— aiming for full teams of Archers, Swordsmen and Beast Tamers

One in particular— the first to fully assemble, was perfectly content with having slower members. They had no choice but to accept them since none of them would be taken by anyone else.

"Alright Claude, you're the smart guy. What's the plan?" Warren asked while he pulled the string of his bow back to warm up his arms.

Claude didn't expect to be the one with the plan causing him to freeze for a moment and find them all looking at him expectantly before speaking, "Uhm. My area of knowledge is mostly animals and Monsters. But, I can say just by how this is set up, it's meant to confuse us

"[Good catch.]" Arne commended him for catching the trick.

Isaac nodded along knowingly, "You mean the flag being at the center?"

"Exactly." Claude said before running a hand through his hair and leaning into the group while beckoning them closer. "If you look around, you can see that speed based classes are the most wanted right now. They're treating this as a game of speed and agility."

"But isn't this exactly that? A game of speed and agility?" Maris asked while Ursula nodded in agreement next to her.

"Well— yes. But not entirely. This is also heavily based on strategy and the placement of us as a team. Just right now, I've heard a handful of students talking about being the first to teach the flag— that's not even the goal of this exercise. You can tell just from here that the course is made for the most combat to happen near the flag….thicker pathways, no drop offs or rises. The first to grab it will have it the hardest." Claude explained, causing them to look from the course and students to him.

"How can you hear them?" Warren mumbled in disbelief.

"How is this based on our placement?" Maris asked, ignoring Warren in pursuit of Claude's knowledge.

Claude referred back to the Course as he spoke in a hushed whisper, "You see the random areas where it drops to a lower or higher level?"

They all nodded.

"Well, if a team's Knight or Tank ends up on that, they'll be slowed— or fall. Forcing teams to run the risk of being short a member in a fight….or just losing one in general." Claude finished.

"I see." Maris mumbled to herself while deep in thought.

"[Very well surmised, Claude.]" Arne commended him as he looked around, noticing everyone now had a team— and Chase was staring holes through him.

"[He seems thoroughly motivated.]"

"Good." Claude thought in reply.

CLAP!

Prof. Raizen did another one of his thunderous claps, effectively silencing the class.

"Alright! It looks like you're all in teams of 5. So let's begin."

Claude felt the butterflies in his stomach fluttering to life as he prepared to watch the first two teams square off. The first two teams he didn't expect to be apart of since they were the farthest from Prof. Raizen's sight.

Woo!

A hand shot in the air causing Prof. Raizen to stop speaking and searching for who would enter the Obstacle Course first.

It was Maris. She stood beside Ursula with her hand held high for everyone to see combined with a lifeless expression of indifference.

"We're going first."