AFTER 2 MONTHS
"Phew~ I'm finally selected for the National Team. Now the training will start after 6 months. There is still some time. After that I wouldn't be able to move freely for most of the WCT training. Let's go to the Andes Range." Nishant decided.
NEXT DAY
Nishant took a flight to Argentina. After flying for several hours, the plane finally landed.
'Now how do I search the Sun Gathering Peak? It is supposed to be at the highest peak or something like that. Let's get a map first.' Nishant thought.
.
.
"Thankfully, I had Totem Snake Armour otherwise I would have died over 10 times due to poisoning by now." Nishant patted his chest plate in pride.
Rustle~
Woosh~
A shadow leapt at Nishant at insane speed.
BAM! An enormous force sent Nishant crashing into trees and ultimately into rocks. Nishant has covered himself in 2 layers of Ki Armour in case a commander ambush him and he was right.
"Fuck, Space Rhythm: Delay!!" Nishan casted. The stacked up spell worked and revealed the attacker. It was a commander class Mountain Man or Highlander and the problem was they were never alone.
"Meteor Fist!" Nishant sent the Bronze Tooth Highlander crashing into a tree.
"Compressed Bomb!" Nishant used combination magic and threw a bunch of Compressed Bombs in his surroundings.
BOOOM! The bombs exploded and caused unexpected destruction. It was even stronger than the Advance Tier spell (Blazing Fist) he has learnt. The Bronze Tooth Highlander was further knocked away while several warrior class highlanders were either dead or severely injured.
"Compressed Fiery Bomb!" Nishant threw the bomb at Bronze Tooth Highlander to eliminate it.
"Crush!!!!!" Nishant then crushed the injured warrior highlanders. With his Peak Level-4 mental strength and strengthened stars (Space Nebula is at Level-4 now.) it was an easy task.
Nishant then continued on his way. After covering a few more kilometres he came across another pack of highlanders with higher numbers.
"Compressed Bomb!" Nishant threw the bombs in random directions to create chaos and then escaped using his Space Element.
AFTER 3 MONTHS
Nishant spend 3 months in the Andes range as he has to take several detours due to his limited strength.
"Phew~ Finally." Nishant said in relief when he sensed the Lightning Element Density increasing in the atmosphere. He was looking battered. His clothes were reeking with an unbearable smell as he hadn't taken a bath for one month due to ever existing danger, the last bath he took was due to him finding a good place to hide. His beard has also grown considerably. Some highlanders even mistook him for their kin. If not for his Ki Armour always being present he would have been covered in a layer of mud as thick as a centimetre.
"At least my Mid Tier spells are at Level-5 now." Nishant consoled himself. He wouldn't have probably wasted those precious soul essences if not for the requirement of low mana consuming spells with high damage in this place brimming with monsters. He has effectively destroyed an entire tribe of highlanders.
AFTER 2 DAYS
"Lightning Element Density is highest here. Let's start digging. Telekinesis: Void Shovel!" Nishant made a big shovel using his Space Element and started digging. He tried to sense the place with the highest density of Lightning Element and after finding it he started digging there.
After digging for a few hundreds of meters he stopped when he felt intense Lightning Element.
"Seems like it." Nishant rejoiced but controlled himself and carefully dug a little deeper. There he found Lightning Pentagon Star, entirely purple in colour with a portion in the centre having shade of silver. Nishan stored the Pentagon Lightning Star along with other Pentagon Lightning Stars, although they were not good enough for making Galaxy Tier Cultivation Tool but they will make the best Nebula Tier and Stardust Cultivation Tools.
Nishant started digging up further deeper into the ground. He can sense higher density Lightning Element now that he has stored away the Silver Pentagon Lightning Star. He only wants the best for himself.
"This." Nishant's lips curled up into a genuine smile as if a little kid had gotten his favourite candy.
"Fucking hell, this makes sense. This place is brimming with Lightning Element, there should be at least one or two Soul Grade Seeds. Let's see if this is up to my standards." Nishant used his will to check the Soul Grade Seed.
"Multiplier of 6 Check, Additional Effect Check, Domain Check and you are mine. Pentagon Lightning Seed. To think, my latest Element got Soul Grade Seed first. Don't worry my dear Fire Element, I will make sure to give a Top Tier Soul Grade Seed as well." Nishant said. He has enough soul essences for a Soul Grade Seed.
Crackle~ Soul Grade Seed started resisting as soon as it realised Nishant is planning to absorb it. But much to its dismay, Nishant has 3 consciousnesses. It simply couldn't resist the onslaught.
YEAR-0021
AFTER 1 MONTH
Nishant returned to the safe zone as he simply blasted away most monsters which dared to mess with him. His Level-5 Mid Tier spells combined with Spirit Grade Seed and Soul Grade Seeds boosts were now even stronger than the Level-2 Advance Tier Spell.
[Level-5 Mid Tier Spell= 4x Level-3 Mid Tier spell.
Top Tier Spirit Grade Seed Boost= 3x
Top Tier Soul Grade Seed Boost= 6x
Total Boost= 9x4 = 36x Level-3 Mid Tier Spell
Level-1 Advance Tier spell= 10x Level-3 Mid Tier spell]
Lesser and Small Commanders simply doesn't stand a chance against him as he simply sends a barrage of False Advance Tier spells in mere seconds.
"Time to take a bath and a long good sleep." Nishant reminded himself. He pulled out an entire camping van out of his Pocket Space.
AFTER 1 WEEK
"Yawn~ Ahh" Nishant woke up and groaned in pain due to hunger.
"I need to eat something really quick." Nishant cooked himself Instant Curry and boiled some rice. He finished them instantly.
"That was good but only roti and sabji can calm my hunger." Nishant muttered to himself. Then he took a flight and returned to India.
AFTER FEW DAYS
'Fire Galaxy is at Level-2 and other two are at Level-1. After I get my Galaxy Tier Cultivation Tool, Space Element should also reach Level-2 in a few months.' Nishant thought.
AFTER 2 MONTHS
The Indian National Team is gathered in the Military Academy in Delhi. The team consists of 10 members:
1. Advitya- Captain of the national team. He is a year older than all other team members except Arjun. He is an Advance Tier mage with Ice and Lightning Element at Advance Tier and Light Element at Mid Tier. He is the representative of the northern Army.
2. Arjun- Vice-captain of the national team. He is an Advance Tier mage with Water Element at Advance Tier, Wind Element at Peak Mid Tier and Light Element at Novice Tier. He has Water Soul Grade Seed and has Innate Talent of Fast Recovery Rate. He is representative of maritime forces.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
3. Raj- He is a Peak Intermediate Mage with Lightning and Fire Elements. He is from an ancient clan of Rajasthan.
4. Siddharth- He is a Peak Intermediate Mage with Wind and Shadow Elements. He is the son of the leader of the Private Security Sector. He is a student of NDA (National Defence Academy).
5. Shalini- She is a Peak Intermediate Mage with Healing and Poison Elements. She is representative of AIIMS. She is the daughter of the owner of the biggest Pharmaceutical company of India.
6. Niharika- She is a Peak Intermediate Mage with Wind and Fire Elements. She is representative of the Gujarat Merchant Association.
7. Kamini- She is a Peak Intermediate Mage with Summoning and Sound Elements. She is representative of Indian Institutes of non-Elemental Magic. She is from a well known clan in Maharashtra.
8. Kriti- She is a Peak Intermediate Mage with Light and Psychic Elements. She is also a representative of Indian Institutes non-Elemental Magic. She is from a well known clan in Karnataka.
9. Jitendra- He is a Peak Intermediate Mage with Light and Earth Elements. He is the son of a real estate tycoon and he is also a student of NDA.
10. Nishant- He is an Advance Tier mage with Fire, Space and Lightning Elements at Advance Tier. He is the representative of IIMs.
It may seem like the military is taking unfair advantage of their power but the truth is in terms of favourability NDA is on par with reputed institutions and the students in NDA are not inferior in comparison to mages from reputed institutions instead NDA provide exposure to real battles with monsters which give students from NDA edge over others.
"What are we doing in the Military Academy? Shouldn't we be staying in some 5-star hotel." Kriti said in frustration.
"The military is responsible for the accommodations not the Commonwealth Committee." Kamini said in annoyance.
"But I have heard WCT is much bigger than the Commonwealth Tournament then why is this cost cutting?" Siddharth questioned.
"Commonwealth focuses on promoting the brands and providing royal treatment to the National Teams but WCT focuses on team growth and provides resources for improvement to the National Teams. That's why after Commonwealth Tournaments the participants live in fame and become entertainers but WCT participants are sought after by many organisations because it's not easy to clear WCT training..." Nishant explained.
"I will choose the royal treatment over resources any day." Kriti said in ignorance.
"It's time! we will be leaving now. Follow me!" Advitya ordered.
"Chill captain, we are currently not in the military." Siddharth said blatantly.
Everyone followed Advitya to the helipad where a helicopter was waiting for them.
"Seems like we will be able to enjoy ourselves after all." Shalini said cheerfully when she noticed the helicopter which was exclusively for them.
"Umm... why is this helicopter so... simple?" Niharika asked in confusion. There wasn't a shred of luxury in the helicopter.
AFTER FEW HOURS
"Umm... Captain what are we doing here?" Siddharth asked. They are dropped on the seashore in Odisha with no settlement in sight.
"We are supposed to go to Indonesia. This is our first mission of WCT training." Advitya replied.
"What's the big deal about this mission? I will just... Umm... captain remember you took our phones and IDs last night where are they?" Kamini asked when she was thinking of booking a plane ticket to Indonesia only to find she doesn't have her mobile, purse and even ID.
"That's the part of the mission." Advitya replied while looking around for something.
"So we are illegally entering Indonesia. Any ideas?" Niharika looked towards the group and shook her head. She highly doubts that they will make it.
"Hmm... if we can get ourselves a boat I can get ourselves to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and from there we can easily enter the borders of Indonesia." Arjun said.
"Where are we supposed to get a boat? We don't even have money to buy some snacks let alone a boat." Kamini pointed.
"I have few soul remnants. If we sell them then we will have the required money." Nishant proposed. Advitya and Arjun nodded at the proposal.
"Let's find a fishing village or a town. There we will surely find someone willing to rent their boat or directions to the next village." Arjun said.
The group soon came across a town with quite a few boats anchored at the shore including a few motor boats.
"Let me talk to people." Arjun volunteered and soon returned with a man.
"He is ready to sell his boat but wants a soul essence in return." Arjun informed while pointing at the man behind him.
"Nishant do you have a Soul Essence?" Arjun asked.
"I do have some." Nishant gave a servant soul essence to the man who was actually a water mage. Water Element resources were actually in quite abundance, he should be able to get resources for his breakthrough after selling the soul essence. It was obvious he no longer wanted to fish to feed his family.
The group boarded the boat and sailed towards the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
"I'm already getting bored. By the way Vice Captain, how long will it take to reach Andaman and Nicobar Islands?" Kriti asked.
"2 days if we are lucky" Arjun said with a thoughtful expression.
"What?!" Most of the team members were taken back. It was too long and the boat doesn't have facilities for long stays.
"Vice Captain, can't you use your Water Element? I'm pretty sure we will reach our destination very quickly." Niharika advised. Everyone expectantly looked at Arjun.
"You are asking for too much. Water is my primary element. If I exhaust my Water Galaxy I will be a liability if monsters happen to attack and I highly doubt any of you have experience in naval battles. Water Element is a must in Naval Battles." Arjun refused with a strong reason.
"Arjun is right. We should be ready for unexpected scenarios." Advitya vouched for Arjun, he very well understood that students before him have a certain degree of egos and challenging it would cause unnecessary drift between teammates. So he decided to reason instead of just ordering them.
"Captain I want to test something. If you allow." Nishant voiced. The boat was too congested to his liking and others were also very uncomfortable.
"You may if it doesn't cause any problem." Advitya allowed.
Nishant went to the back of the boat.
"Scatter!" Nishant casted. The boat jerked forward which caused many team members to lose their balance.
"Nishant you-" Advitya was trying to say something but another jerk stopped him in mid sentence.
"Stop it!" Advitya lost his calm at third jerk. But now the boat was sailing smoothly and at much faster speed.
"Ah! sorry for the mishap, I needed some trials to find the Rhythm." Nishant apologised when he found the team glaring at him.
"Next time warn us before trying something like that." Advitya scolded.
"Sure" Nishant replied with a smile.
After several hours, the team was able to locate the outline of the island at the horizon.
"We are almost there." Arjun alerted. The team looked at the islands with varying expressions.
"Nishant you can rest now." Arjun said and steered the boat to an abandoned island.
"Kamini! summon some sea beasts." Advitya instructed.
"Understood!" Kamini summoned a few sea beasts which stealthily transported the group to the main island.
"What next?" Kriti asked in excitement. She was having fun.
"We are currently on an Island 30 Km west of Middle Anandam, from here we can directly go to Little Andaman and then Little Nicobar." Arjun roughly explained the plan.
"Shouldn't we rest first?" Shalini said in a tired tone.
"Captain we really need to rest." Niharika voiced.
Advitya looked at everyone and noticed their tired expression.
"Very well, we will go to Little Andaman tomorrow early in the morning." Advitya said. He has a dark expression as he exchanged a look with Arjun who was also anxious for some reason.
"Umm... are we going to rest here in the middle of the forest? We also don't have camping equipment." Kamini asked.
"Haa~" Nishant sighed heavily and pulled out two sets of camping equipment. As Nishant spent a lot of time in the wild he always carried two sets in case the first one got damaged or stinky which later became useless when he bought a camping van.
"Space Element is really a life saver." Siddharth said cheerfully.
"Girls will have one and boys will have another one. Two of us will be on guard so this would suffice." Advitya decided and no one objected.
"I'm going fishing." Arjun volunteered and left hurriedly.
Nishant helped in setting up the camps as he was most familiar with the equipment.
"Do you have some snacks?" Siddharth asked. Nishant handed him a packet of 500g Aloo Bhujia.
"I'm really jealous of your Space Element now. I will make sure to awaken Space Element after reaching Advance Tier." Siddharth said and started munching on Aloo Bhujia which he shared with others.
"By the way, what is the volume of your spatial storage?" Siddharth asked.
"As big as a truck." Nishant replied calmly. He wouldn't bother revealing his camping van who knows what they will do to it.
"Are you saying you can store 1 Week supplies of an entire company?" Siddharth was taken back.
"You can say so, but I only store things for my use. Luckily I'm used to staying out of the safe zone for a long time so I have enough supplies for the team." Nishant said.
"Then you must have some rations other than Aloo Bhujia." Niharika asked hopefully. She was a pure-vegetarian. She couldn't possibly eat fish without throwing up a few times.
"I'm not a great cook so I only carry easy to make, readymade or instant food items." Nishant brought out some utensils and instant noodles, soups and a few other items.
"Are you a vegetarian?" Siddharth asked with a hint of disappointment.
"Yes" Nishant replied.
"That explains why you don't have any meat. Seems like I will have to wait for Arjun." Siddharth said while eating grilled chilli cheese.
"What is the meaning of this?" Arjun asked in shock. He felt betrayed. He was fishing out there and his teammates were enjoying snacks here.
"Here" Siddharth offered him a cup of instant noodles. Arjun took the cup and gave fish to Siddharth for roasting. Except for Advitya, Kamini and Shalini, others went some distance away from the roasting fishes.
"Haha, the group has been divided into vegans and non-vegans and we non-vegans are stronger." Siddharth said in amusement. Nishant just smiled at the statement.
"Not for long" Raj said with a snicker. He is confident that he will be able to make a breakthrough very soon. Then there will be 2 Advance Tier mages.
"Enough with this nonsense. We will be leaving early in the morning, all of you should rest now. Nishant and Kamini will be responsible for the 1st shift. Then I and Siddharth will be responsible for the 2nd shift." Advitya instructed. Siddharth has Shadow Element which provides him with Night Vision while Kamini has Sound Element which provides her with extraordinary hearing abilities. Both of them are the best candidates for night watch but their combat prowess is quite lacking so obviously someone has to accompany them.
"You will most likely wouldn't need to do that but wake me up after 4 hours." Advitya said before going to sleep.
"Sure" Nishant assured.
"And also, Arjun told me about Salt Water Crocs. It is the start of their breeding season. Although we haven't encountered them yet. There is a little chance we might get ambushed so be extremely careful and if there is even a slightest suspicious movements, wake me up immediately. And don't tell them, they will panic unnecessarily." Advitya whispered which was pretty useless as Kamini can easily hear them if she wants to.
"Understood." Nishant said in grim tone. Salt Water Crocs are a very dangerous species. Every adult is a commander with frightening power.
Kamini sat down before the campfire.
"Scatter!" Nishant jumped and sat on the highest branch of the highest tree. He peered into the darkness but couldn't see much. His gaze wandered around in the darkness.
"Night watches are boring, right?" a voice reached Nishant's ears. He couldn't tell the direction of sound but he knew it was the speciality of the sound element.
"Indeed, but I doubt you would want monsters to attack us." Nishant muttered.
"You spent a long time in the wilderness, right? Do you have fun fighting monsters?" Kamini asked.
"Most of the time, what about you?" Nishant asked.
"Little similar to you, I'm usually invited by military and clans to help in missions dealing with sneaky monsters. It is quite fun when I locate those sneaky monsters." Kamini said in a prideful and joyous tone.
"I see, tell me if you can hear me now [Kamini, you are a chatterbox]. So you hear what I just said?" Nishant asked. He created a vacuum around himself in mid sentence.
"What do you mean? There was a gap in your sentence. Did you do something?" Kamini asked in confusion. Nishant grinned.
"Nothing, by the way how do you use your Sound Element, offensively or supportively?" Nishant asked in order to change the topic.
"I will say both but I'm more inclined to offensiveness." Kamini replied.
"I see..." Nishant fell silent.
"Hahaha..." Kamini giggled.
"What happened?" Nishant asked in confusion.
"You are quite bad at making small talk." Kamini and with a smile.
"Took you long enough." Nishant retorted.
"Huh?" Kamini closed her eyes as she focused on some sounds.
"What happened?" Nishant jumped down from the tree. He looked around with sharp eyes.
"Some monster is making its way onto the shore. It is very big." Kamini informed.
"Is it alone?" Neev asked.
"Seems like that but it is quite fast in water. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more monsters in the water out of my hearing range and they arrive at the shore in less than a minute." Kamini said in a grim tone. She has a feeling that the monster is a commander.
"I see." Nishant said and went towards the boys' camp.
"Captain" Nishant entered the tent and shook Advitya a little along with Arjun. Three of them made their way out of the camp.
"Damn it, so they really came. They are a month early. It must be because of those fish farmers. Salt Water Crocs' start breeding by two factors. First is the season and second is those fishes for food. The climate was already warm but the scent of those fishes must have drawn them." Arjun was sweating heavily. He was the most knowledgeable one in the team about sea monsters and very well knew the danger posed by Salt Water Crocs. He only had doubts before but when he found those fishes in the water, he was almost sure of it.
"So? should we fight or evacuate?" Kamini asked in a grim tone. She was calm for being a Mid Tier mage. But she should have been on such missions as Mid Tier Sound mages are even useful in missions meant for a squad of Advance Tier mages.
"On land we have advantage but in water. We will be feeding ourselves to monsters." Arjun said.
"What if I summon some bird monsters? We can fly away from them." Kamini said.
"It is useless. The breeding season of one species is the harvesting season for others. Steel Vultures and Winged Serpents will flock towards us as soon as we reach the height of 200 metres." Arjun rejected the idea.
"Kamini wake up everyone." Advitya said. Kamini left with hurried steps.
"So what's the plan?" Nishant asked. He has no doubts about his survival but doesn't know about others.
"South and Southeast Side of the Island should be surrounded by Salt Water Crocs and so are the surrounding islands. We need to go North, the density of monsters there will be less but will be there nonetheless. Then we will go into the sea and reach Middle Andaman." Arjun explained by drawing a rough map of Islands on the soil using a stick.
