Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

A newbie like Bel couldn't trace the residue mana signature of so many individuals all at once. So it was natural that the historian had his face turn pale after hearing Eren's expectations from him.

"Er… Eren. I don't think I'll… I'll be able to…"

Bel stuttered as he said that he would not be able to trace the mock battle that just took place. This is because of the sheer number of varying mana signatures involved in the event. But Steve's laughter broke his chain of thought along with halting his stuttering speech

"Hahaha! He believed that to be real. Bel, relax. Eren was just messing with you. At least I hope he was. Eren?"

Eren smiled lightly before nodding:

"Indeed. Bel, I was just trying to make you imagine the unexpected so that you'd feel well and perform well when the unexpected doesn't take place. You can trace mine and Ramy's battle. Only two signatures were involved. Shouldn't be a biggie."

Bel's rapidly beating heart finally started returning to normalcy after he heard Eren's confirmation. He nodded at his shadow leader and started walking towards the place the battle took place.

Bel spread his mana sense across the entire battlefield. Then he sensed the residual mana signature in the surroundings and executed a historian-specific spell related to his element.

Bel had the elemental affinity for fire. Since it was one of the great elements, it was easy for him to get his hands on the spells suited for him. Eren had also helped the guy a lot by guiding him and loaning him the much-needed Merps to buy those spells.

The spell's name was Fire Trace. Two figures made of fire appeared on the battlefield soon after Bel started executing the spell. They were identical to Eren and Ramy. Furthermore, the flames radiated the same shade Bel's hair was.

Bel looked like he was having a hard time as he was seen with his eyes closed and concentrating on something. He had a headache as soon as he had cast the spell. The headache would only increase with the number of residual mana signatures he had to trace. But two was still a manageable number for him.

Suddenly, the two fire apparitions vanished from their original places and appeared right where Eren and Ramy were standing before the battle began. Their posture was the same as that of the novice rankers who had fought there.

Bel was sweating as he concentrated hard on keeping the spell active. His concentration finally paid off as his team members saw the fire apparitions move and attack each other the same way as Eren and Ramy did with each other. This was sans the spells and spell effects they had at the time of the actual battle of course.

Ramy's Historian spell execution wasn't perfect. There were cases when the apparitions would just stop moving unnaturally or completely disappear. But that didn't stop Bel from casting his spells.

All theatrics put forward by the fire apparitions were silent, giving the impression of a mute play. The White Raven Crew members saw their historian's performance and they were very satisfied with his performance. Well, most of them were.

'So compared to Ana, this guy is average. Still, I can make it work.'

Eren thought to himself as he watched the historian's performance. His face looked devoid of blood as soon as his spell ended. The guy's face had droplets of sweat forming over it, indicating that he had exerted himself in maintaining that spell.

"Good job, Bel. You need to improve upon your tracing spell now. But that alone isn't enough. You need combat experience too. Those attack and defence-type spells you've bought with the loaned Merps ought to be practised constantly so that you can use them when the situation arises."

As a historian, Eren reminded Bel not to ignore the combat spells just because he is a historian. It is customary for historians to stay in the back like healers. But it wasn't like they couldn't partake in battles at all.

Eren then looked at his other teammates before informing them about his plans:

"Steve, you would be in charge of training Ana and Bel with their combat-oriented spells. Remember, mock battles are one of the most efficient ways to improve on your spell executions in real-time."

Eren looked at Steve and gave him the assignment which the latter agreed to without a second thought. He then assigned his team members various tasks and goals before addressing the newbies again

In addition to improving their combat skills, Ana and Bel can't slack off on improving their class-specific skills. I don't care how you do it. And your status as a newbie ranker would only be considered as an excuse from now on. Do you guys understand?"

Ana nodded seriously at Eren's question while Bel looked afraid of the hardships heading his way. But Eren's address wasn't over. He focused on his entire team before saying aloud in a more serious tone than before:

"I won't always stay here in the academy. I have progressed further in the ranking journey than you guys. If my pace continues, it won't be long before I break into the Ace rank. Once that happens, I'll be allowed to take up field assignments. I'll seldom be on the academy grounds after that.

So you guys need to keep on working hard even without anyone there to monitor you starting from today onwards. Before joining, I had already made clear to you guys that the party we are forming now is going to continue even after we finish our academic years. And you guys agreed.

That's why I'm helping you in every way I can to elevate your ranking potential. This is my investment in you guys, and I want returns. Hehe! I hope you realize that I won't let you quit on me after spending so much time and resources on you guys.

The White Raven Crew will stay as White Raven Crew inside and outside the Lionhearts Adventurers' academy."

Eren smiled at his crew members and declared his plans that were laced with some subtle threats. Then he expounded on what he was saying and gave each of his team members concrete goals to work upon.

It seemed that the White Raven Crew members were going to stay busy for a long time.