The Perfect Team

"Hey!" A soldier started to yell out.

Elric, Alice, and Klein quickly crouched down and stayed low when they heard the voice.

Their hearts were pounding as the footsteps came closer.

The guard went inside the tent which also had access to the storage room.

They were all ready to jump out and start running but they waited for the right time since they haven't been discovered yet.

Their hands covered their mouths from leaking their audible breathes in the silence.

"Hey, wake up! The boss wants us to report to him and gather at the gate entrance. He said he had an announcement." The soldier who was yelling to wake up his fellow guard handed him his weapon and they both left towards the gate entrance.

"Haaaaaaa!"

All three of them gasped for air as soon as the soldiers were out of sight.

"We need to get out of here now!" Klein said in a loud whisper.

They traced their path where they came in and noticed that the soldiers guarding the entrance weren't there, which made escaping much easier.

Once they cleared the fence, they ran as fast as they could, away from the barracks and back to their little cave.

"That was one of the most nerve-racking things I've experienced." Klein blurted out still gasping for air as they all slumped down, sitting against the walls.

"Did we get all of them Elric?" Alice asked to confirm.

"Well, it was less than I expected but I think this will be enough. If we continued further in that situation, we would have been caught for certain." Elric wheezed from exhaustion.

"Let's see what we got then." Klein rummaged through Alice and Elric's hands to take and compile the loot they stole and lined them up in the middle.

"So we have some patches of leather armour, some metal shoulder guards, some bracers, and one dull sword." Elric listed.

"Let's divide them equally then and Elric should take the sword." Alice proposed.

"Why does he get the sword?" Klein complained who was looking to take the sword for himself.

"Maybe because his eyes are still grey and to people that see him other than us, they still think that he's Classless. What would their reaction be if they knew that, not only can he use Transmuter skills but Caster abilities as well?" Alice explained with sarcasm in her tone.

"Alright, I get it. I was only asking a question." Klein conceded while Elric was smiling from watching the two argue.

After dividing the armour evenly. Elric ended up with a leather chest guard that went across his torso and covered his left front. A metal shoulder guard that went over his right shoulder and two satchels and belts to secure them to his waist.

Klein who was a bit taller than Elric, got a full back guard with a shoulder guard to his left and a single bracer on his right forearm.

Alice who had the full leather chest piece covering her front only had one side guard which covered her right side and a bracer on her left forearm.

"What's next Elric?" Klein asked. Who seemed to have no plans on sleeping.

"I'll tell you both in the morning. For now, we wear our armour at all times only taking them off when we wash ourselves. Starting from now, The three of us will take turns on night shifts so all of us are protected at all times. Is that clear?" Elric was surprised at the fact that he could give out instructions naturally.

'Is this why my Charisma stat is so high?' He wondered.

Both Alice and Klein had already acknowledged that Elric was in charge when it came to survival and decisions without noticing it either but they were aware that Elric will always ask for their opinions every time.

"I'll take the first shift then, you both get some rest." Klein stood up and suggested.

"Alright, wake us up if anything happens, if not then just wake me up so we could switch in a couple of hours." Elric said as he laid down on his rolled-up scarf.

Klein sat near the entrance but didn't go outside to watch the passage tunnel as well.

Morning came without any problems and the three friends were all outside and ready to start their training under Elric's guidance.

"Can you tell us the next thing that we have to do?" Klein was excited to start his journey of getting stronger.

"Alright, but first coat your hands with stone."

But as soon as the two used their skill, Elric, who was roughly a meter away from them, lunged towards as fast as he could and swung his sword at them.

Klein quickly blocked Elric's strike and Alice dodged it completely without any problems.

"What are you doing!? Why'd you attack us all of a sudden?" Klein barked as he seriously thought that Elric was trying to hit him, which he was.

"I thought you were going to give us pointers first before doing something so sudden and dangerous." Alice who was usually quiet couldn't help but be fumed at him.

"Well, let me explain my actions then. As you can see, both of you had different reactions to the same type of danger. Klein went for a block while Alice dodged the attack" He explained.

Alice became quiet once more, trying to understand the meaning behind Elric's words.

"That's why I didn't say anything before launching an attack because I wanted both of you to react in the most natural way possible thus..." Elric was interrupted by Alice when she realized and continued his explanation for him.

"Making us react without instruction and seeing the appropriate training path for each of us, individually."

"Exactly. I've already observed some of your behaviors under pressure and extreme stress over the past few days. Klein tends to block or use his own body as a shield from attacks. As opposed to you Alice, who's first instinct is to avoid and dodge completely." Elric rambled as he pointed out their habits.

"And Klein, while tending to your wounds, I noticed that your cuts were very shallow. At first, I thought that the goblin lacked in strength than the one I fought but after I compared it with Alice's wounds, it seems like you were unconsciously hardening your skin with the same materials that you absorbed when you used your skill." He added.

"I didn't know I could do that." Klein started to stare at his arms, clenching both of his fists from excitement with the thought of getting stronger.

[Name: Klein Steele][Race: Human]

[Job: Apprentice Miner][Age: 12]

[Class: Transmuter][Stage: Light Blue]

[Status: Normal]

[Physical]

Strength – 7

Agility – 4

Vitality – 10

Dexterity – 6

[Mental]

Intelligence – 5

Wisdom – 3

Charisma – 4

Sense – 6

[Skills]

[Absorption]

[Coating]

"Does this mean I'll focus on defense?" Klein speculated.

"You're right about that. Since you have innate instincts of blocking and hardening, I can confidently say that you will excel in defensive tactics." He confirmed.

"And as for Alice, I observed your speed last night when we ran to and from the mining barracks. Although there wasn't a significant lead in terms of long-distance, I was amazed at how you move in short distances. So, focus on hand to hand combat with the use of your Transmuter skill that utilizes your speed."

[Name: Alice Cornflower][Race: Human]

[Job: Apprentice Miner][Age: 12]

[Class: Transmuter][Stage: Light Blue]

[Status: Normal]

[Physical]

Strength – 5

Agility – 7

Vitality – 8

Dexterity – 9

[Mental]

Intelligence – 9

Wisdom – 6

Charisma – 2

Sense – 7

[Skills]

[Absorption]

[Coating]

"Do both of you have questions?" Elric asked for any feedback while checking both their status screens and seeing an improvement from just a few days ago.

Elric also noticed that life and death situations can improve their strength drastically. However, Elric was going to make sure that they will be ready for anything.

"What about you then? What will you train?" Alice asked, derailing Elric's train of thought.

"Well, I have to train in using the sword because I have to look like a Classless and I think having a weapon seems useful. And I will be improving my Caster abilities as well. It takes too much time and concentration for me to do one skill so I plan on training it until it becomes second nature." He replied.

"So, if I focus on defense and Alice focuses on her speed and attacking, you will be?" Klein fished for Elric's role in the team.

"I will be behind you two to observe the battles and give you support using my long-range skills."

"Well, aren't we a perfect team?" Alice commented with a bit of a sarcastic tone.

"But it seems like we are though." Klein said.

"It's not going to be easy, Klein. We do complement each other well, but that doesn't mean we're not going to have blind spots or mistakes. It will take teamwork and a lot of experience just to make our strategy work. So we all need to train hard." Alice pointed out.

"That's right, so let's get on with training our skills and honing our abilities so we don't let anything like that happen to us ever again." Elric's face turned a bit sour as he was reminded of how helpless they were that night.

After their discussion, they immediately trained with each other.

Alice tried to improve and coat both of her hands with material and mold them into something sharp like a dagger.

She also ran every day to improve her speed and stamina.

Klein also trained in coating his two hands but instead of sharp objects, he focused on how to thicken the material on not just his hands but up to his forearms.

He also implored the help from both his friends to spar and strike him every day to endure the heavy blows of the attacks.

Meanwhile, Elric focused on improving his casting time on his [Energy Propulsion] skill.

While also training his Transmuter abilities and his sword.

Weeks went by with nothing but endless training all day, every day until they were ready for real life experience.

"Klein! Incoming attack on our right!"