(MC POV)
Some of you might call me a bully for this but you must understand, this is the fastest and best way to learn.
It is but a simple thing for the mind to memorise something theoretical, but when you want to put it into practice, the body must be able to keep up as well.
We learn the fastest when we are put under pressure.
These students have faced death and returned from its embrace before, it is here that I will know whether that experience broke them or made them stronger.
If they were unable to walk away from that as a stronger person, they will not survive long as a Practitioner. So before they meet another adversary that will make them get the same feeling of death under much more unfavourable conditions, I shall be the one to resolve that trauma here.
I gave them some time to discuss amongst themselves on how they would fight a four on one battle, opting to join Elder Gong in his half burnt pavilion for some tea.
"Truly Master Lin, your teaching methods continue to astound me," Elder Gong mused, sipping on his tea. "I would not have thought about their state of mind as far as you have, using such an experience to improve them even further."
I brought my own cup of tea to my lips. I had to use my own cup since the other one he prepared had shattered on the floor a few moments ago.
"Mmm… It is nothing big. I have personal experience in this matter after all."
"Personal experience?" Elder Gong parroted, shock in his voice.
Oh whoops, slip of the tongue there.
"That… Yeah. I er… Came across some things when I went out with my disciples. Learned a lot, really."
Elder Gong's eyes only widened, "You… Found something that actually threatened your life? What sort of demonic monster did you encounter?! For such a thing to exist, it must surely pose a threat to everyone! We must inform all the Grand Sects about this!"
I almost choked on my tea, "Ahem! Cough! No, that's not needed. I already dealt with it. It was a tough battle but I managed to triumph in the end. So there's absolutely no need for anyone to worry, really!"
Technically, the tentacle monster could be classified as a world calamity which I had the very unfortunate luck of running into back when I was powerless. Since I managed to banish it back to the abyss when one got summoned here, I'm technically not lying right?
Elder Gong sighed in relief, "I see, that's good to hear. As expected of our Go… Ahem… As expected from Master Lin."
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow but he averted his eyes by sipping his tea.
Before I could question him about that odd pause, Brendan stepped into the pavilion and bowed to us respectfully.
"Master Lin, we are ready."
I nodded to him before downing the rest of my tea with a single gulp. Returning the cup to my storage ring, I followed Brendan out of the pavilion and back to the courtyard.
The four of them stood before me, all of them obviously nervous with how they're fidgeting. I'm rather surprised to see Sylphy in a similar state though. I would have thought she would be the calm and collected one.
"So, this will be simple," I clapped my hands together to get their attention. "Protection inscription and barrier is set up, anything goes in this battle. I will only resort to defending myself for the first five minutes and as long as you can land a hit on me, it will be your win. Fail to do it in five minutes and I will start to retaliate. Clear?"
The four of them nodded their heads quickly.
"Perfect, in that case, the five minutes start now."
As soon as those words left my lips, the four of them were already moving to my front and flanks.
Both the twins had split to my left and right while Brendan and Sylphy remained in front of me, Brendan standing slightly behind the self-proclaimed goddess.
I felt the fluctuation of Quarks coming from my left and right. I did not even need to look to know that Chris was most likely preparing a fire Technique while 'Chris with a K' was going with his usual light flash Technique.
The fact that Sylphy and Brendan were covering their eyes was enough of an indication to me about their plan. If this was what they managed to come up with after such a long time of planning, I would be quite disappointed.
Again, I circulated Dark Quarks to cover my eyes with a layer of darkness, shielding me from the light that I expected to come while readying a shield of air on my right where Chris was.
A second passed and yet the tell tale burst of quarks that signaled the Light Technique going off never came. Instead, I heard the whisper of wind coming from in front of me.
Instinct guided me to bend at the waist, just in time to feel something brush past above me.
Before I could recover from my position, a source of heat came from my right. Chris must have moved himself to the side of my shield.
Kicking myself off the ground, I just managed to dodge whatever was fired at me from Chris, the heat passing right underneath me.
The sound of running water came from below, clueing me in to what Brendan had planned for me.
I am honestly impressed by what they have shown thus far.
Brendan must have coordinated everything here.
He already knew that I had something to protect myself against the flash of light and bet on me using it the first chance I got.
They even acted like that was the plan by blocking their own sight with their arms, further convincing me of their ruse.
With my eyesight blocked, he had Sylphy attack me with her wind Technique since she has the fastest speed. And just in case that attack missed, Chris would attack me from another direction with his fire Technique.
And if that's not enough, Brendan had also prepared his own Water Technique to bind or attack me if that attack failed to connect.
With the fact that I can't tell if the Light Technique was still in place, I can't remove the protection on my eyes either and Brendan is probably aware of this as well.
What a well thought out plan.
You must understand, these four were students that barely learnt how to materialise their Techniques properly a scant few days ago. They barely knew each other aside from their names and looks but yet they were able to coordinate such a plan despite that.
Right now, they are just cubs who have just learnt how to hunt. And yet, they had already taken account of each of their specialties and formulated a plan for a successful hunt.
If that doesn't impress you, I don't know what else will.
On all accounts, this Water Technique of his should have gotten a normal Practitioner right here, rendering them immovable and open to an attack from either Sylphy or Chris.
But of course, if something like this was enough to get me, I would have perished long ago.
Gathering a ball of air around my fist, I slammed it downwards and blasted away whatever was below me.
There was the splashing sound of water crashing all around me, though not a drop of it managed to get past my shield.
Raising my free hand up, a wall made of earth sprung up from the ground, just in time to block a hastily thrown blast of air that no doubt came from Sylphy.
Well, well, well. It seems I can take this thing a little bit more seriously to educate them after all~
