Cause of the effect

"You got discharged already? Are you some kind of monster?" Tom asked as he returned from history class. I had missed all of the classes after getting knocked out.

"What happened after I got hit? Rose won't tell me anything." I motioned at Rose, who was sitting beside me, her head leaning on my shoulder.

Tom giggled before answering, "she punched you into the board, probably expecting you to dodge. she thought you died and started panicking, that hole is the result." he sat down and started packing up.

"Wait, I just remembered, why did you cause all that drama?" I asked. Rose raised her head to get the answers as well.

"Oh, that. I was using that for- I just wanted to know if you really kissed." he seemed to be hiding something.

"Tell us the real reason," Rose asked him, threateningly.

"What do you mean- I am telling the truth," he spoke faster than usual.

"Do I need to ask Sarah?" I tried a blunt approach.

"Did someone say my name?" Sarah asked, entering the classroom.

"Yes, I did. Can you explain what happened to this idiot's answer?" I asked her.

"Nothing serious, he just rejected me." she answered softly.

"Are you okay? you don't seem good?" Rose asked. she probably had a better understanding of how Sarah felt.

"I am feeling… I don't know how to word it. Melancholy? Is that the word? I don't know." Sarah was frustrated, but continued, "I knew I was going to be rejected, but it still feels weird to know it happened."

"So… what are you going to do now?" I don't know how to react in situations like these. {hey, scribe? you there? I need a little help.} as usual, there was no response.

"I am not sure," Tom mumbled.

"We can stay like this." Sarah answered, hints of sadness in her eyes were visible, "I am fine with what I have right now. no further complaints." she smiled. I could see the pain in Tom's face as he turned his face away from Sarah. {damn dude.}

"Bastard tom." Eve came bursting through the classroom door, turning our attention to her. "Why didn't you do as I told you?"

"Stop it eve." Rose stepped in her way, "you already did more than you should ever have. stop it."

"Shut up bitch. you don't-" I punched eve in the gut, it pushed her away before she touched rose.

"Don't touch her." I stood between Eve and others, "what are you trying to do here?"

"Huh?" she seemed to have come back to her senses.

"What did you tell tom?" I relaxed a little, "to be precise, what did you tell him to do?"

"So you know huh. did tom tell you, or was it Robin?" She was getting irritated. "I told him to get with Sarah, anything wrong with that?"

"That would have been fine." I spotted Robin in the hallway. "but you overdid it by a large margin."

"Maybe I did," she shrugged, "but I don't think it is your place to intervene, step aside."

"She's right," Sarah came forward, "and this is between me and tom, she doesn't have to intervene."

"I wanted you two to be a couple." Eve replied, levels calmer than her usual self, "I tried pushing you two together, then that robin interrupted me." Robin, who was still at the door, was visibly hurt by the way Eve addressed him.

"So you got impatient and started rushing me? just because robin stopped you?" tom annoyedly asked eve, "for that stupid reason?"

After staying silent for a solid minute, Eve looked at us in horror. "I just did something incredibly stupid, didn't I?" {What? WHAT!? Did you just realize that? Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?}

We all had a good laugh at her face and settled down. Although she didn't intend to do it, Eve's actions helped dissolve the tension we had in the room. Robin came in and sat down with us. All of my teammates were gathering in our room. I wanted just one more clarification "By the way eve, why were you so invested in that madness?"

"I made a bet with someone." she sighed, "he told me that I'd get 5 million Suka if I successfully get these together. it would have been easy enough if someone didn't interfere." She glared at robin.

"I suppose you're not going to tell us who that someone is?" 5 million was a huge amount for any student.

"It was Luke." she answered, "he was the one who made the bet with me."

"What?" Jin shouted, "That prince?"

"Yes, it was me," Lucian answered from the teacher's seat. {What the f*@k? When did he get here?}

I counted heads again. The only people in the class were my teammates, plus Lucian. he was standing there as if waiting for us to settle down. Jin sank back in his seat, followed by all of us, bringing back the silence.

"Let me explain." he started explaining. "I knew the relationships between almost all of you. Ray and Rose dating, Jin and Ella are siblings and the dislike Eve has towards Robin." Robin was shaken, but Lucian continued, paying no attention to him. "You all get along pretty well, but I felt something awkward between Tom and Sarah. So I asked Eve, and she started babbling about how robin doesn't agree with her and whatnot. I offered this bet to shut her up, didn't think she'd get serious. I am terribly sorry for everything." he bowed his head in apology.

"I think it's fine. right?" Sarah looked at Tom for a response.

"Yeah. It's cool." Tom said, "Besides that, why did you call all of us here?"

"Yes, now that's all dealt with, I can tell you about this." He pulled out a big scroll from the desk. "I got the information regarding the location of the test," he explained as he hung the scroll on the board. It was a map that we were somewhat familiar with. He pointed at the large green patch on the map, "this is the place where it will happen."

{Are you serious?} we all had the same thought. We knew the test would be hard, but this was crazy. The forest covered at least a thousand square kilometers of area and was under national security for the better.

"The Wyvern forest." someone muttered. chills ran down my spine. Some places were used as tourist attractions, but that was near the edge of the forest, where the sunlight reached. The forest was in the center of the, and was famous for its ferocious habitants. Dragons, currently the apex predator, were natural habitants of the forest.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Anya, one of Jin's classmates, asked.

"It is. That's why the test is being held there. Hopefully, there won't be any dangerous dragons there." Lucian answered.

"Because of migration?" Terrence asked. Although we haven't interacted much, he seems to have good insight.

"Yes. the weather is getting colder, most species have already migrated to warmer regions." Still, Lucian issued a warning, "The forest homes many other creatures, we need to prepare."

Aisha, sitting beside Terrence raised her hand, "What will be our team composition?" her voice was authoritative and stern.

Lucian went silently thinking. As we waited for his answer, a few minutes passed. His thought process wasn't clear, but I could see what he was thinking.

"Excuse me." a school staff opened the door, carrying two big bags. "The uniforms have arrived, please check the fitting by today. also, the weapons are placed in the gymnasium as you asked." he gave the bags to Lucian and left.

"Alright. I will explain the composition later. try these on first, we need them to look good." Lucian started calling out our names.

"Aisha. Anya. Cerene. Evan. Eve. Finley. Isaac. Jin. Ray. Robin. Rose. Sarah. Seraphina. Sylph. Terrence. Tom." he handed us a pack each. "Change into these and meet me at the gymnasium door. enter only after all of you gather there."

After entering the changing room, I opened the uniform and took a good look. It was unlike any kind of clothing I had worn before. "Wasn't the test in a forest?"

The Uniform was bright blue, with bright yellow buttons and zippers. mixed with black boots and a belt, it honestly looked hideous. I let out a sigh as I started changing. The only redeeming thing about this was the protection it provided. there was enough armor on all vital parts, yet allowed proper dexterity. I looked at myself in the mirror, I was trying to absorb the look, and the uniform started changing its color. the color got darker, eventually changing to a nice dark blue. The shade was similar to the sky just before daybreak. I admired the uniform before leaving for the gymnasium, "this one looks much better."

There was not much noise even as I ran in the boots. There were people gathered at the door. All of our uniforms were similar in basic design. The difference was visible when you looked at places to hold the weapons. The next difference was the colors, which differed drastically. Along with Tom, only a few had theirs in original color, and he looked amused to see me. He questioned, "You also let some out?"

"What do you mean?" I looked behind him, only five people had the original color. Tom, Sarah, Anya, Sylph, and Seraphina. Rose's shade was even lighter than the original, while Robin and Jin had theirs looking purple. Everyone else had several shades of green, blue, or purple. After me, there were some people still left, so we waited at the door.

As soon as all 16 of us had gathered, the door opened. "Be careful when you enter," Lucian announced through speakers. "I have set several across the place, your job is to reach the podium in front of you. If any one of you gets left behind or gets injured, the exercise will start again. until all of you can get through the test, it will go on."

"Alright!" Evan threw himself in, heading straight for the podium. He was a little impatient, even though he was naturally fast. About five meters from the podium, he disappeared, followed by the sound of something crashing. We carefully entered through the door. I caught something that was targeted at me. {a rock?}

"Be on alert, we got caught," Jin shouted.

The whole team was under attack. we fell into the trap Lucian had set. I fell through an invisible spatial circle and hit something hard. all of my senses were all over the place, which took some effort to control. We all were distributed all over the gymnasium, fighting our own battles. I took one deep breath to take an attacking stance.

(This will take some time for you to clear.) Scribe's voice came in.

{Why?} he didn't answer.