Team

After class, Elisa gave Asher another lecture.

She spoke for several minutes about attitude, discipline, and respect for teachers, while Asher stood there with the look of someone waiting for the rain to stop.

In the end, Elisa let him go with a warning, and the rest of his classes passed smoothly without any major trouble.

That evening, inside the cafeteria, Asher sat with Noah and Aria as usual.

Noah looked at him across the table and asked, "So, how did your cooking class go?"

Asher paused for a moment, then sighed lightly. "If I ever opened a restaurant, it would probably get shut down for poisoning customers."

Noah blinked. "Your cooking is that bad?"

"Yeah."

For once, Asher sounded slightly honest about his own failure.

Noah stared at him for a second before asking, "What about potion making?"

"Still useful," Asher replied. "The potions tasted horrible, so my original reason remains valid."

Noah rubbed his forehead. "Of course that's the part you care about."

Asher ignored that and looked toward him. "What about you?"

"We were taught about edible vegetation and the nature of beasts," Noah replied. "It was actually useful."

Both turned toward Aria.

"It went well," Aria said in her usual indifferent tone.

Noah waited for a few more seconds, but when Aria said nothing else, he slowly gave up asking further.

After dinner, the three of them separated and returned to their rooms for the night.

The next day, Elisa entered the classroom holding a register.

The moment she reached the front desk, the classroom quieted down almost immediately.

"Today, each of you will state your profession and combat role," she said calmly. "I will use that information to assign teams for the upcoming survival test."

The students exchanged glances, and soon, one by one, they began stating their roles.

"Tank, sword user, earth attribute," Noah said first.

Leon followed shortly after. "Swordsman. Main element, light."

Celestine spoke next, her voice calm and clear. "Mage. Lightning attribute."

Kevin leaned back slightly before adding, "Mage. Dark magic."

Aria's answer came after that. "Mage. Mind spells."

Then Elisa's gaze moved toward Asher and at once, almost everyone in the classroom turned to look at him.

Asher, who had been half-leaning against his chair, opened his mouth lazily. "Assassin and healer."

A brief silence followed his words; a few students blinked, clearly unsure whether they had heard him correctly.

Elisa raised a brow. "Assassin and healer?"

"Yes."

Murmurs immediately began spreading across the classroom. "Isn't that a weird combination?"

"How can someone even train both?"

"Assassin types are usually physical, but healer is completely different…"

Noah leaned slightly toward Asher and whispered, "That's either actually impressive or extremely risky."

"Both," Asher replied without looking at him.

Elisa tapped the board lightly, and the classroom slowly returned to order.

"Interesting," she said. "Dual-role professions are already rare, but one involving assassination and healing is even more unusual."

Her gaze lingered on Asher for a moment before she continued. "This will affect your team placement."

She began writing names on the board, dividing the class into groups while the students whispered among themselves.

Aria glanced at Asher briefly, her expression still unreadable. "You never mentioned that before."

"You never asked."

Noah exhaled. "Of course he didn't."

After a few minutes, Elisa finished writing the list and turned back toward the class.

"The survival test teams are now assigned. You will rely on each other regardless of personal strength or individual ranking."

Her voice became slightly sharper as she continued, "Weak coordination will mean elimination."

The classroom grew quieter at those words. Asher leaned back in his seat, eyes half-lidded. "Sounds like trouble."

Elisa ignored him and clapped her hands once to draw everyone's attention.

"The team assignments will also be sent to you through notifications. The survival test will be held next week."

A wave of murmurs immediately spread through the classroom. "Next week already?"

"That's barely any time to prepare…"

Elisa ignored their reactions and closed her register. "Use this time wisely. Your performance will depend on teamwork, not individual strength."

After a brief pause, she turned away. "Class dismissed."

At five in the evening, the assigned team gathered at the training ground.

Aria stood there with her usual expressionless face, while Noah waited a short distance away, looking slightly nervous for some reason.

The third member was a boy with orange hair.

Adam Windrake.

Aria looked toward the entrance of the training ground and spoke calmly. "He still hasn't come."

A few minutes later, Asher finally walked in with his usual carefree expression, looking as if he had wandered over by accident.

Aria turned toward him. "Why are you late?"

"I'm only five minutes late," Asher replied. "No big deal."

"It is a big deal if everyone else arrived on time."

"Sounds like everyone else worked too hard."

Noah opened his mouth, then closed it again; arguing this early already felt tiring.

Asher looked at the three people in front of him, then tilted his head slightly. "But our team formation is weird."

Aria's gaze shifted toward him. "What do you mean?"

"It feels intentional," Asher said. "Not like they were actually trying to balance the teams properly."

He glanced at Noah, then Aria, then finally Adam.

"It's too much of a coincidence that you two and that wind guy ended up on my team."

After being called "wind guy," Adam's expression stiffened slightly.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but after remembering the rumors about Asher, he decided it would probably be pointless.

Asher then looked around once more. "And why are there only four of us? Weren't teams supposed to have five members?"

"To make it fair," Aria explained calmly. "Teams with more high-ranking students have fewer members. There are seven teams in total; two teams have five members, while the other five teams have four."

"What a weird way to make teams," Asher said.

Noah looked at him suspiciously. "Since when did you start caring about teams and tests?"

He paused for a moment before adding, "And why are you being so talkative today?"

Asher shrugged lightly. "Because it was getting boring, so I thought maybe it's time to have some fun during this test."

Then he added casually, "And since everyone already knows I am strong, there is no point hiding too much anymore."

Noah stared at him with a bewildered expression. "I can't understand you anymore."

"You never understood me to begin with."

Noah opened his mouth to reply, but after thinking for a second, he realized that Asher was probably right.

That annoyed him even more.

Adam finally spoke, his voice carrying a trace of impatience. "Can we focus on the test instead?"

Asher glanced at him. "Oh, the wind guy can talk."

A vein twitched on Adam's forehead.

"My name is Adam Windrake."

"Good for you."

Adam's jaw tightened slightly. "You were better when you were quiet."

Noah quickly stepped between them before the conversation became worse.

"Anyway, shouldn't we discuss our roles first?"

Aria nodded slightly. "That would be more productive."

She looked toward Adam first.

Adam took a breath and answered properly. "Long-range support. Wind magic specializes in mobility and area control."

"Meaning he blows people away dramatically," Asher added.

Adam ignored him this time, probably after deciding that reacting would only make things worse.

Noah crossed his arms. "I'm front defense. I can hold enemies in place and protect the group."

Aria spoke next. "Mid-to-long-range magic support. Mind spells work best when the target loses focus."

Then all three of them looked at Asher.

Asher placed one hand on his chest with exaggerated seriousness.

"I stab people."

Silence followed. After a moment, he added, "And heal allies."

Noah's mouth twitched. "You said that part way too late."

Asher gave a faint smirk. "You'll survive."

Aria stared at him for a few seconds before speaking. "Your fighting style is unpredictable."

"That's usually the point of assassination."

"No," Aria replied calmly. "I meant your personality."

Noah immediately looked away, trying not to laugh.

Adam sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Can we at least train properly? The test is next week."

"Agreed," Aria said.

She raised one hand, and several floating targets formed around the field through magic.

"We should first evaluate everyone's combat ability."

Asher immediately took a step back. "Sounds exhausting."

"You're participating," Aria said without hesitation.

"Cruel."

Noah suddenly looked at Asher with curiosity. "Wait… if you're both an assassin and a healer, which one are you actually better at?"

Asher thought for a moment.

"Healing."

The answer surprised all three of them.

Even Aria's eyes shifted slightly, while Adam looked at him as if he had expected almost anything except that.

Asher, however, answered as if it were nothing important.

"It's just that I practiced healing more and haven't had many chances to kill people, so my assassination skills aren't as developed."

The training ground became quiet for a moment.

Noah stared at him blankly. "...You said that way too casually."

Asher looked confused. "What part?"