With that, he gestured, and the teams were formed.
Professor Catherine led Isaac’s team through the shattered streets until they reached a wide square surrounded by skeletal buildings, and left.
Isaac exhaled, scanning the terrain. Lots of cover. Cracked pavement. Rubble everywhere.
Four students approached him.
The first was a boy with spiky hair and an eager grin. “Yo, name’s Broon. Elite Rank. You really an SSS Farmer?”
Isaac nodded.
“Cool! Never fought with a Farmer before.”
“I’m Thalia, and I’m also Elite Rank.” The second, a red-haired girl with confident eyes, nodded. “Looking forward to seeing what you can do.”
The third, a darker-skinned boy with a mechanical arm, introduced himself as Elric. Also Elite.
The fourth said nothing at first. He was pale, with stark white hair and eyes that gave away nothing. After a long pause, he finally spoke. “Nero. Master Rank.”
He stood still, arms crossed, unreadable.
Isaac returned the nod.
“Alright, since we’re all here,” Elric said. “This is the information about the monster.”
He raised his mechanical arm.
A small aperture opened along the wrist, projecting a glowing blue hologram into the air.
The image was of a massive bull-like creature.
It stood like a titan, broad and solid, with thick muscle bulging under dark, metal-plated skin.
Its horns curved like sharpened scythes, glowing faintly with an eerie orange hue.
Its eyes were dull, mindless pits of hunger, and its maw was large enough to crush a man in a single bite.
The thing looked like it had crawled out of an iron furnace. Steam hissed out from its joints with every step.
“You already know the monster?” Isaac questioned.
Thalia gave him a side glance and smirked. “Elric’s good at what he does.”
“Combat training was scheduled for today,” Elric said casually, tapping the hologram to rotate the monster’s angle. “So I hacked the internal database last night. This guy is what they’re dropping on us. ’Molten Hornbull.’ Elite rank.”
Isaac’s expression must’ve revealed his thoughts as Elric smiled and spoke, “I know what you are thinking. How can this guy hack into the database? Shouldn’t it be heavily protected by Technomancers?
“Answer is no,” Elric admitted. “Professor Ren knows about what I did. It’s part of the test. If you can plan ahead, and hack past the security wall, you deserve the advantage. Seizing every advantage, it’s one of the first lesson in combat training classes that we were taught.”
Thalia folded her arms. “That’s probably why Professor Ren didn’t give us any details. We were expected to gather our own information.”
Isaac mulled that over. It made sense.
“So… what do we know about it?”
“I’m sure you know monsters are much stronger than us despite being the same rank as us.” Elric turned back to the projection. “But this thing is a monster among monsters. Strong defense, fast as hell, but in a straight line. Size of a small house. Can bulldoze through trees like they’re paper. It’s got a nose for mana—it eats mana-infused metals, so it can sniff us out if we flare too much power.”
“Any ideas for a plan?” Nero crossed his arms.
“Do we have a way to locate the monster?” Isaac asked.
“Nope. The only guy with a scouting talent is in the other team,” Broon answered.
“Yeah, their scout can release a mana pulse to detect nearby concentrations of mana. People, monsters, traps. He can detect anything with mana. We don’t have that luxury,” Thalia nodded.
Elric added, “Nero can mask our mana signatures, which helps us stay hidden from them, but it won’t fool the Hornbull.”
Isaac turned that over. “Do they know what they’re facing?”
Broon laughed. “Nope. Everyone knew Elric had the info. But he didn’t say a word until after teams were made. That’s why everyone was tense when the lineup was about to be revealed, everyone wanted Elric on their side.”
Thinking it over, Issac noticed the teams were balanced. Deliberately distributed. Probably to force conflict on multiple fronts.
Strong members divided between two groups with their weaknesses and strengths aligned to clash.
And that gave him an idea.
He knelt and picked up a small pebble from the forest floor.
The others watched in silence as he held it between his fingers and focused on using Mana Resonance.
Ambient mana around him stirred and flowed into the stone, fusing tightly to its structure.
The stone began to hum with invisible energy, a soft glow building in its core.
The others looked confused.
Only Nero’s eyes flickered with realization.
When Isaac was done, he stood and held the stone up.
“There’s about eighty mana condensed inside this stone. Based on Elric’s notes, that’s close to what the Hornbull gives off.”
“Okay…” Broon said slowly. “What now?”
Isaac pointed to a cluster of trees in the distance. “I’m going to leave this mana-charged stone there. The other team’s scout will detect it. They’ll think this is the monster.”
“It will be a bait,” Nero explained. “While they go there…”
“We set up an ambush and take them down, which will guarantee out victory as only we will be able to fight the Hornbull after they are defeated,” Isaac finished.
Thalia raised an eyebrow. “And what about you?”
“I’ll intercept the monster. Alone,” Isaac said.
“What?!” Broon looked horrified. “You’re a first-year! You awakened less than five days ago! That thing’s an elite!”
“He unlocked Mana Resonance. That means his mana stat is already at 100. He’s a monster, Broon. And if his other stats match, then… this plan’s not as crazy as it sounds.” Thalia sighed.
Broon still looked unsure.
“It’s still dangerous! Shouldn’t we all ambush the other team first and then go after the monster?”
“No,” Thalia said. “The monster will sense Isaac. With his mana levels, he’ll be its number one target. If it shows up while we’re fighting the other team, it’ll turn into a chaotic free-for-all. But if we follow Isaac’s plan, we isolate the threats.”
Broon wasn’t done. He looked at Isaac then at Nero.
“How do we know the other team will even go toward the bait?”
“We don’t. But Isaac will stay in contact. If something goes wrong, we regroup.” Elric chimed in.
“And what if the other team gets to the monster first?” Broon asked again, frowning hard.
Thalia just blinked at him. “You’re not getting it.”
This time Nero answered. “That creature is powerful. It won’t go down easy. We’ll have time to intercept them. And Isaac…”
He turned to Isaac, his gaze sharp.
“You’ve got a backup plan, don’t you?”
Isaac nodded.
“I have some toxic plants. I’ll plant them around the battlefield before the fight. I’ve prepared the antidote already. If the other team reaches me, they’ll get poisoned before they even realize what’s happening.”
The others went quiet.
Finally, Elric gave a low whistle.
“Alright. Not bad. Not bad at all.”
Thalia nodded once. Nero gave a short grunt of approval.
Broon sighed but didn’t argue further.
The plan was set.
Nero hid everyone’s mana signature, and they split.
Isaac moved north, toward a distant cluster of old trees, far from both his team’s path.
He stopped at park with open area.
“This place is good for fighting the monster, and if the other team arrives here, they won’t be able to ambush me before I see them too.”
He planted five seeds of each flower in a spread-out pattern.
Then, he used the hoe to till the land. This would make the ’crop’ twice as fertile, which meant that the potency of the posion would shot through the roof.
Then he drank the antidote from a small flask strapped to his belt.
It had a strong aftertaste—bitter, metallic—but it would keep him safe for the next twelve hours.