"I will now announce the names of the students who have passed my test."
A white-haired lady in her 60s could be seen saying this in front of a bunch of LA students. They were all standing inside a potion lab, near their respective tables and apparatus. All had worn white lab coats that were all F-Rank items due to the protective runes inscribed on them.
The lady was none other than Levine de Montmorency. She looked like a graceful old lady. She only had wrinkles around her eyes. And her grey-white hair attested to her long experience in potion-making.
Jake was very excited. Not because he had performed well in the test. But he felt like he had done the most inconspicuous, borderline legalized form of cheating AND had gotten away with it!
You feel accomplished when your efforts are met with success. But you feel unmatched exhilaration when your efforts and luck join hands to make you a success story.
That's right. Whatever Eren had predicted came to be true. Jake and Eren had only practised in an agility-based F-Rank potion named Gati. They practised till midnight yesterday and managed to completely nail down the potion's manufacturing.
Jake had it relatively easy because his element and inherent nature were made for potioneering. But he was surprised by Eren's expertise in potioneering despite him having a not-so-compatible aptitude in the field.
But accomplishing this feat with Eren's help had made Jake a tad bit nervous as well. Now he was ready to pay 20% interest to make yesterday's efforts worthwhile.
*****************
Finally Jake heard the name which sounded like music to his ears. His and Eren's names were among the only five students who had passed Levine's test out of 40 budding potioneers.
These five students would only need to pay a meagre amount of Merps to attend Levine's lectures and lab sessions from now on. The failed students either need to pay an exorbitant amount of Merps for the lectures or find a different professor entirely. Most were going to choose the latter option.
The failed students were jealous of the only five students who had cleared the test. Some even doubted the test was fair or not after the result was out. But Adapt Levine's decision was final. And nobody dared to go against it.
The students were discharged after the result was announced.
****************
Jake and Eren made it to the canteen for their supper. They met up with Steve Austin and Becky White. The party-to-be was going to decide on its fifth member today.
"So what do you guys think about Renita?"
Steve asked while taking a bite out of his burger. The guy was a burger maniac. He had three burgers on his platter. The fourth one was in his hands, half of which had disappeared by now with the most recent bite.
Binge-eater Jake replied to burger maniac Steve in the same manner, with an equal amount of burgers plus some fries. Sullivan Jr was a food connoisseur, he treated all good food equally.
"Let's see. Renita is going for a ranger class, so you chose her right? I mean, we don't know anything about her besides that fact.
Eren is a close combat expert of our party. He'll be our main damage dealer. He'll be leading our charge.
I can take up a ranking technique related to enhanced HP, making me a tank of our group. Of course, my spell choices will be related to personal and party defence as well.
Becky here is going for a healer class. So the position of our party healer is covered too.
Steve is our berserker. He can take up the aggro and coordinate with Eren in our offensive. And in the end, he would serve as our finisher.
Now the only thing we need is a ranger who can take care of our long-range attacks while acting as our guide. But how can we be sure Renita is a good choice for our party just because she is a ranger?"
"Jake, the businessman in you just doesn't take a day off, does he? You say all the right things but they don't contribute to anything. I'm not saying we should recruit Renita right away. But I feel she'd be a good fit for our party. Becky, what do you think?"
Steve asked Becky about her opinion while trying to take the fries from Jake's platter. But his hand was soon slapped away by Jake's. The latter only looked like he was distracted by his burger. But apparently, he wasn't letting go of his fries.
"Hmm. I don't have a problem with Renita either. But we should wait for the intra-class ranking war to see her performance. In fact, why limit our observation to Renita? Wouldn't it be better for all of us if we get to know about each other's weaknesses and strengths before finalizing this party?"
It seemed that Becky was thinking of exiting the party even before it was formed. Steve tried to explain to her with the following words:
"Becky, I've formed this party after considering everything. Although I don't know about our individual battle powers, I know how to find the right people and make them tick like clockwork.
This is the best I can find right now. To be honest, I was going for some other people to form a party with. Jake and Eren were not my first choice.
But they were among the few people who already had their BTPs hidden even before the explanation about how to set the BTP visibility to private was given to us. That made me intrigued and I chose them.
Even you, Becky, were not my first choice for a healer. But healers are always sought-after party members. I know I won't be able to retain them when they are offered a position in another party led by someone stronger than me.
The ranking war performance you are talking about can help us come up with our battle style. But it won't be a deal-breaker in the formation of this party. Unless, you take a step back and decide to join someone else, that is."
Steve had things figured out it seemed. He wasn't wrong in saying that healers, particularly, good healers were always recruited with zeal in any party formation. But he had dissed Becky a little by indirectly calling her not so good of a healer.
"Hmph! I know my BTP value is low and you guys know about it. But healers don't require high BTP values, to begin with. I'm not going to fight on the frontlines. All that matters is my healing ability. And if there's someone average among us, it has to be this guy."
Becky pointed her finger at Eren who was busy keeping to himself and eating his fill. Eren only looked up and saw Becky pointing him out, post his name was called out.
"Hahahaha! Becky, why don't you wait for intra-class ranking wars to start before you embarrass yourself with premature judgement?"
Jake LOLed at Becky who had her nose flared up. She was trying to make Eren the next target of the group's discussion so that any criticism coming her way could be diverted. Eren decided to give her a breather:
"It doesn't matter if I or you are average or not. We are all standing at the start line.
Forget about finding each other's strengths and weaknesses at this stage. Strengths can be enhanced with the right choice of spells and weaknesses can be covered with the right set of strategies.
We should prioritise finalizing the party members first and then focus on fine-tuning our teamwork. A team's might is stronger than any individual ranker at our levels. Therefore, Steve's approach is right.
But let's not wait until the intra-war starts. A lot of potential teams are also waiting for that event to take place so they've left some seats open in their ranks.
The influential party leaders would start hunting for their remaining numbers as soon as they came to know about a student's worth. That can make our recruitment process much harder than it is right now.
I don't have a problem with Renita. She will… Errr… I mean she'd be a good ranger. But why limit ourselves to only her?"
Eren smirked and looked at Steve. The latter raised his brows before responding him with a question of his own:
"Eren, I'm not trying to belittle our little group here. But man, let's face it. We are not exactly what you'd call extraordinary.
A student with higher BTP values and higher calibre won't join us. The guys in the middle have already been hired into their respective parties.
And making someone weaker than us into one of our party members will be detrimental to our entire party. So wouldn't it be better if we go for a five-pronged formation than a seven-pronged one?"
Steve concluded and waited for Eren to answer his question before having another bite of his meal. He had subconsciously started treating Eren as someone whose opinions mattered to him.
Five-pronged formation meant having five party members in a party while seven-pronged formation indicated that a party contained seven party members. Usually, the parties with similar numbers listed in their ranks would fight among each other.
If a well synched seven-pronged party were to fight with a party of seven members who could only effectively deliver the battle prowess of a five-pronged party, then it would be an easy win for the former. It was better if they limited their numbers and fought with another five-pronged party than risking fighting with a stronger team.
At least that's what Steve thought.
"I'm not trying to get anyone higher or lower BTP value in our fold. I'm saying we should hire someone with exceptional potential. Someone who doesn't know about their BTP value yet."
Eren let that thought sink in among his potential party members. Almost everyone understood the meaning behind that statement. They turned their heads in his direction in unison with clear disbelief painted on their faces. Jake was the one who could find the right words to confirm their mutual suspicion:
"Eren… are you… perhaps talking about rankless students?"
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