I couldn"t let my young lord down. I had to train this group of ascendants well. I practiced team-building exercises with the recruits. Everything we did over the next few months was to prepare them for our exploration of the Wesser forest.

The first thing I did was getting to know each of the five recruits. I knew how powerful knowing what motivates and demotivates team member is.

By establis.h.i.+ng how each team member worked best, and how they react in unfamiliar situations, they could learn how to approach each other to succeed in work and personal interaction.

As they were living in the same area, it was easy to get to know the recruits.

Ajax was a muscular sphinx with a lion"s head. He was brave and honest, a simple sphinx. He was also stubborn and overly compet.i.tive. He had the pride of being one of the best cultivators of his generation.

Cirabe was a fox headed sphinx. She was smart and elegant, everything had to be tidy in the things she did. She was also sly and selfish. I always kept a note to watch out for her as her selfish behavior could spell their doom.

Nenata was a cat-headed sphinx. She was resourceful and playful. She was my best a.s.sistant out of the recruits. She also was obnoxious and a bit of a neat freak.

Dycud was very sweet and level-headed for an elf. He sported gla.s.ses and would be disorderly and clumsy. He suffered from albinism, so he looked like a forest elf instead of a dark elf.

Gimnod was a muscular dark elf with a personality similar to Ajax. They became best friends. He was heroic and selfless. He was brutal with very little sense of humor.

This ragtag five made up the war department of [Libra]. Nenata had brown-nosed her way into having an authoritative position. Ajax and Gimnod were always hungering for battle.

"You must all learn to work as a unit for us to be successful as a team. The future foes we face will only grow stronger. You must never slack off," I said.

"We will practice cohesion as a team while exploring the Hazel Canopy Camp."

"Before heading to the Dancing Bird Tropic we will try our luck at the Hazel Canopy camp. I"m sure all of you are waiting to meet the devil lord you serve. And the high-Knight beasts should not give us many problems."

"Our young lord is under punishment from the Hudson clan for sticking up for one of his followers. You should be glad we serve such a thoughtful devil lord. Most would let you die without even digging a grave," I said.

The ragtag bunch headed to the Hazel Canopy camp and began training. One day they could meet their young lord, until then they had to grow stronger.

"Feel my might," said Ajax. As he swung his ma.s.sive club at an alligator.

u003cBoulder Crusher!u003e

*Rawr*

The alligator was growling, feeling disrespected by this lion-headed creature intruding into its territory.

"Nenata support me with your water," said Ajax.

"I got you Ajax," said Nenata.

u003cTyphoon!u003e

The alligator shrugged off the wind u0026 water attack and rushed at Ajax, its ma.s.sive jaws opened wide as it closed in on Ajax.

"Got your back bro!" said Gimnod.

u003cVine Binding!u003e

The alligator entangled with various vines; it flailed around to remove them.

"Good job recruits, you are working in unison," I said.

"Cirabe and Dycud finish it off!" I said.

"Yes, division head," said Dycud.

u003cMagma Flowsu003e

The attack covered the alligator in hot magma!

"Cirabe, you need to back us up!" I said.

"I"m scared," said Cirabe as she ran away from the engagement.

"Unfortunate," I said.

u003cMetal Spikeu003e

Conjured metal spikes a.s.saulted the alligator.

I had to step in since Cirabe had fled. I used my Metal Dao when training with the recruits; It was still on the Knight level and I needed to understand it better.

The alligator soon fell to our combined attacks.

"Your teamwork still leaves much to be desired, Cirabe you can not flee in the middle of battle. If that was a powerful opponent your teammates" lives would be at risk!" I said.

"I am sorry division head, I am not used to combat these beasts frighten me," said Cirabe as she sat with her head between her legs crying.

"We still have much training to do to become an effective team," I said.

~~~

While the war division worked on attempting to become a team, someone else was plotting against their young lord.

Jaffil Yezzesa was finally free of his punishment!

What kind of arrogant young master would he be if he didn"t immediately go find trouble with James after being released from punishment?

He learned his clan even had to pay compensation to Kogthoz for his behavior last time. He would tone his behavior down as to not be punished again. Nothing would prevent him from causing trouble for James though.

I can"t kill you but I can still humiliate you, trash who only practices Soul Dao!

Jaffil constructed a grand scene to humiliate James. He found out he was posted as the Hazel Canopy camp and rarely left. He was sticking to his punishment like a loyal descendant.

Jaffil wanted to make his life a living h.e.l.l! Jaffil had broken through the mid-Knight realm. His progress was decent for a devil. He mapped out his plan.

He would invite many young n.o.ble youths of the Rez"gal Empire for an expedition at the Hazel Canopy camp. There they would specifically get James to guide them on a tour. During the tour, he would plan an incident where James could be humiliated.

James would be stripped and tied up by traveling bandits in front of many high standing young n.o.bles. He would never have the face to show himself in devil society anymore!

Jaffil paid a pretty penny to hire bandits for the job. The bandits were expensive. But he had no problem spending the extra money to hire fools that didn"t mind offending a n.o.ble devil.

Everything was all going according to his plan.

"You humiliated me once before, the humiliation you suffer will be ten times as worse! I can"t kill you but you won"t have the face ever to show yourself in devil society ever again!" said Jaffil as his face became vicious.