Way of the Knights

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The Heavenly Cloud Academy's atmosphere is unusually busy today. 

In its streets, one would see groups of students who were walking to and from places. The place where the largest commotion occurs would be the Mission Hall. 

It was the day after the announcement of the six-man cell formations. By the end of yesterday, most of the students already met their respective teams and got to know each other. Of course, they were just merely introduced to each other, which means that what they know is simply too shallow. Only by working with each other for a long time, would they be able to know if they could really work out with this team or not.

Each team is composed of a Leader, a Defender, a Ranger, an Assassin, an Assault and a Healer. It's also possible for a team to effectively have two of each roles since some of Leader Trainees also took additional courses. In order to balance out the teams, the Teacher's Faculty made it an effort to place at least one underachiever in a team that has an overachiever. As to whether the students will understand their intentions or not, it doesn't matter since they will have to come up with a solid excuse to kick someone out of the group anyway. 

Nevertheless, time won't stop for anyone. There are missions to do and Team Points to earn, there also the Ranking List to fill so the students are now busying themselves with mission clearing.

Sufficed to say that all of the teams started off by taking D-rank Missions. These missions are pretty much the menial tasks that the students would be able to clear without any problems. Things like, cleaning classrooms or training fields, assisting the instructors with some tasks, cultivating fields, and etc. Are what most of the D-ranks are composed off.

Of course, some of the teams are not happy to receive such missions since they feel like their actual skills are being underestimated, but no matter how much they complained no one listened to them nor given them any higher ranked mission so they could only frustratingly accept this. 

Even though Raven didn't meet every single one of his students in the Leader Class yesterday, he made an effort to visit them personally and tell them the news so that they will be prepared. This is why majority of the six-man cells already met, as for those that hadn't met each other yet, they will be soon since the more they postpone it the more they will fall behind.

In light of the formation of the six-man cells, the class schedules of each students had changed. Classes were usually held each day, each period would have a little bit of time in between to allow students to rest before the next period starts. But now, classes will only take place twice a week. 

Doing this would allow students to get more field experience and learn from them. This will also allow them to get to know more about each other by spending time and working together. And even though the class days are reduced, they will be compact and be stretched to an all day class in order to make up with the lost time.

It also had to known that each of the teams are being monitored closely. Should there be any disputes during the submission of the missions, the instructors could check the built-in recording system in their student badges to check whether the dispute shall be honored or not. 

All in all, the following days would be busy for the students. However, if they want to truly walk the path of being a Knight, they have to rise up to the challenge and learn to adapt in some demanding situations.

***

"Hmm?" 

Raven was inside his office when he suddenly felt a buzz coming off from his badge, he was currently making some adjustments to the curriculum of his students but he was interrupted. 

He pushed his badge and immediately heard a familiar voice. 

"Avi." Luna called out, "Dad sent me a message, he wanted us to report to the palace. He said that something came up and that we needed to be there. I'm already on my way with Anne and Ellen, they already sent messages to Paul and Mark. I'll see you there okay? I love you."

Raven immediately dropped everything that he was doing and left a message on his desk. He told his assistant that the Palace was summoning him. He then recorded a message using his badge and sent it to Luna as a reply. He then quickly made his way out of the Academy and simply ran towards the Palace.

Raven's speed is undoubtedly quicker than a regular carriage so he didn't even bother to ride one. He knew that whatever the reason behind this summons, must be an important one since it needed not only his but his teams attention as well. 

He arrived a the palace after travelling for nearly thirty minutes. Once he approached the gates, the guards saluted him and paved the way for him to enter. He nodded to them and made his way towards the King's office. 

Outside of the office, he saw his teammates waiting for him. They greeted each other and entered the office at the same time to know why they were summoned. 

Upon stepping inside the office, they saw Balmung and Alexander in there accompanied by the Golden Knights as well. All of them were staring at the table where the Skynet Array's monitoring system was activated. 

They all saw the team enter, the team gave them a curt salutations and asked why they were summoned. 

"We summoned you here due to an emergency." The King said in a solemn tone, "We just received a distress signals from a team that we sent out to gather resources."

The King then pointed at the map and continued: "As you can see in there, the distress signal is coming from northeast of the Yellow Zone. They were being chased and cornered towards the Red Zone by their pursuers. By the readings here, we're looking at anywhere from 10 to 20 people who are chasing after the group."

"I would've sent some of the Lair Hunters as reinforcements but most of them are occupied to another mission. The Golden Knights also have other matters to attend to, so I could only send you guys in there."

The King then faced them and said: "Avi, I want you and your team to save the Resource Gathering Troop from danger. If it's possible to continue the resource gathering, then you have my permission to do so, if not then just escort them back to our walls."

"It will be done, Uncle." Raven nodded, he then faced his team and said: "Gear up, Team. Get some supplies and meet me at the East Gates within an hour. Move."

The team then went out of the office and went towards their separate ways. They have to get some of their gears which they left on their respective homes. Raven himself didn't have to do that since he was carrying everything with him at all times for emergencies like this. He went straight towards the East Gate and informed the guards about the mission. 

Though he didn't have to show any pass if he and his team wanted to go out due to his status, he still wanted to at least let the guards knew of the reason behind their exit from the kingdom. After informing the guards, he then stationed himself in front of the gates and waited for his team.

Not even thirty minutes had passed and the team is already assembled. The team signed off and then moved out. 

As soon as they left the gates, Luna summoned her Pegasus and rode it with Raven. Anne condensed an Eagle powered by Wind Laws and rode it with Mark. A pair of pulsing Fire Wings appeared behind Ellen as she soared through the air while carrying Paul. 

As the team flew, Raven used this chance to give out orders: "Paul, keep an eye at the tracker and inform us whenever the coordinates changes."

"Alright." Paul nodded and took out the marker to observe it.

"Anne, check the atmosphere using your ocular technique. If you see any signs of a Diamond Dust Eclipse happening, inform us." 

"On it." Anne replied as her eyes turned into a beautiful shade of pure silver and gazed at the skies.

"Mark, check if there's any beast tailing us in our flight. If you can intercept them, do so. If you can't then inform us."

"Okay." Mark replied as he started looking around and checking if there's any beast who are following them.

"Ellen, you lead the way. Make sure to listen carefully at Paul's instructions so that we won't be lost." 

"Will do." Ellen replied as she flew a little bit forward while carrying Paul. 

"Luna." Raven called out to her, "Ellen might not be able to keep her wings activated for too long. Watch her closely and give her an energy boost if her wings starts to fade, okay?"

"Okay." Luna replied.. And just like that, the team advanced towards the distress signal with hopes that they could make it in time.