"What do you mean she'll make excellent bait?" I asked after hearing Richard's words.
"Since she is an Earth Core cultivator that means Adam will try to kill her and absorb her spirit. She should also know how an Earth Core cultivator fights so that will help us if we find Adam." Richard explained.
I though about it for a moment. I concluded there was nothing wrong with this strategic approach.
"What about the other 2 members we need for the group?" I asked.
"They won't matter that much. Just tell the Elder that your sister will be added to our group and that the other 2 cultivators can be anyone. Just make sure the other 2 cultivators aren't Earth Core cultivators. That is the only thing I don't need more of in my group." Richard commanded.
I nodded ad then went to the Elder's office.
...
As I stood at my desk I suddenly heard a knock at the door.
"Come in."
The door opened and a young girl walked inside. She had jet black hair and dark eyes which combined with her dark clothing gave her a mysterious vibe. I recognized her as Alice Redgrass. The new Tier 1 cultivator.
"Hello Alice."
"Hello Elder." She replied.
"Why have you come to me?" I asked.
"I want to put in a request for who should be in my group of 5." She explained.
"Ok I understand. Who do you want?" I asked.
"I just want my older sister to be in my group. Is that okay?" She said.
"It's perfectly fine." I explained.
"But what about the other members? Who will they be?" I asked her.
"Richard and I will both be in the group. Since my sister is now also a member of the group that leaves 2 vacant spots which can be whoever is available I only have one request for the other 2 members and that is that they aren't Earth Core cultivators."
"Alright I can do that." I said.
"Thank you Elder."
Alice then walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.
...
The next day I awoke from my sleep because I heard a knock at the door of my room.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I rose up from bed and opened the door. I saw Alice but besides her was another person. She had similar jet black hair to Alice but it was longer and tied into a ponytail. Due to their similarities I concluded this was Alice's sister.
"You must be Alice's sister." I said while extending my hand for a handshake.
"And you must be Richard. I'm Pheobe." She said while extending her hand and shaking mine.
I looked at Alice who was smiling due to how easily we seemed to get along.
"Where are the other 2 members?" I asked her.
"There will be here soon. From what the Elder told me they are twins." She said.
"That's good. Twins means they have synergy which can help in the midst of battle." I though inwardly.
Then the 3 of us waited for a few minutes until we saw 2 people approaching.
One of them had messy brown hair while the other had more stylish brown hair. Even though they looked distinct from each other a person could see that they were twins at a glance.
I stared both of them down and asked in a calm voice.
"Are you two the cultivators sent to join our group?"
The one with the stylish hair was the one who replied to me,
"Yes we are."
"Names?" I asked.
The stylish man once again spoke.
"I am Faust Valentine. This is my twin brother Leonard Valentine."
I memorized the names and then introduced myself.
"I am Richard Sunborn. These two are the other members of this group. The one with the short hair is Alice Redgrass. The one with the pony-tail is Pheobe Redgrass."
After I said my last word I heard quiet mumbling coming from behind me. I turned around and saw that Pheobe looked very uncomfortable.
Alice also noticed this and moved closer to my so she could whisper something into my ear.
"She doesn't like being called Redgrass. This is because she's married and she took her husband's name but her husband is an awful person so whenever she hears the word Redgrass she's reminded of her marriage which makes her uncomfortable." She explained.
"Then what should I call her?" I whispered back.
"Just call her by her first name." Alice answered.
I nodded and turned back around to look at the Valentines.
"Correction. The one with the pony-tail is just called Pheobe." I explained.
The Valentines, who were observing the entire situation, were just very confused by everything.
"These fuckers are weird. We are never going to catch that traitor with a group like this." Both of them had the exact same though.
I breathed out a sigh of exhaustion due to the awkward situation before.
"Ok the Elder has informed us that tomorrow we are finally venturing into the Frontier. Since Pheobe and the Valentines have more knowledge about the Frontier due to them being cultivators for a longer time they will serve as out guides while in the Frontier. If we do encounter Adam we will all attack him at once and not give him a moment to rest. Even though he's more powerful he's probably not fully used to his increased power. In order to understand our fighting styles we will go out to the battlegrounds and take turns fighting each other so that we all know how each of us fights."
Everyone nodded after hearing my words. We all went outside to the battlegrounds where we took turns fighting each other.
...
Alice prefers to keep her distance and not engage in close combat
Pheobe is much more physical. She attempts to overwhelm her opponent with unrelenting attacks.
Faust isn't really an attacker. He uses his speed to evade his opponent's attack and get in cheap shots.
Leonard was another ranged attacker like Alice.
As I absorbed the fighting styles of everyone else I started formulating strategy after strategy and imagining countless scenarios where all of us fight Adam.
But no matter how much I strategized and imagined the battle I couldn't come up with a single scenario where we defeat Adam without one of us dying.
So if we do encounter Adam and engage in combat with him that means at least one of us won't make it out alive.
This was a reality I had to accept.
When it comes to battle it is a weakness to be optimistic.
"
