Only around ten of the twenty six participants remained on their feet after crossing over into the stargate. It gave away who had received some form of training and who hadn't. Lodi made a mental note as she looked over those who fell to the ground. She looked at the timid girl who was being helped back to her feet by the silver haired Sya.

  Just by looking at the participants’ gear and attitude was enough to tell her which of these youngsters came from reputable families or guilds. Those who wore their streetwear along with some outerwear provided by the Association were undoubtedly from mundane and middle class families. It also showed in their ability to remain standing, as balance was one of the things beaten into the heads of every aspiring warrior who was subject to some form of training.

  That was why Lodi was surprised when Arden and his party remained on their feet, only stumbling for half a second before catching themselves. According to their files, they were acting as subsidiaries of Miasma, but they weren't a part of it. In the end, she chalked it up to being trained by Miasma so they could become members.

  She glanced at Arden’s armor as everyone returned to their feet. It was a good quality Satellite. If she had to guess, it probably came from his trial.

  “Alright everyone, here's what's going to happen.”

  Lodi gestured to the area around them, cavernous in nature just like the start of the Mausoleum of the Maverick. This one was less stony though, and filled with dirt and sand instead. It didn't scream catacombs so much as it did ant hill. The only difference between this ant hill and normal ones was the fact that the ceiling was nearly four meters high for some reason.

  “We will be in here for a week. During this time, you will hunt Celestials that I will designate to each of you. I will have you hunt both solo and in groups. If you don't have a group, join one or I will group the outcasts together. Remember, this isn't a test about just killing. It's about being a Starborn.”

  Lodi surveyed the group of Starborn in the dimly lit ant mound. A little more than half of the participants already had set parties, leaving eleven alone. Inwardly she sighed. Starborn could not survive alone. That was something that no one could deny. It didn't matter who you were, allies were always a necessity.

  The lonely Starborn only gave nervous glances to those who already had a team and those who were in a similar situation to themselves. None of them actually acted and moved to join one of the teams.

  Lodi furrowed her brows in displeasure until she saw movement from the cute girl with glasses. Lodi smiled to herself when she approached Sya.

  “U-um,” she began. “Can I join your team? Please? I promise I won't be a burden.”

  Sya looked at the girl, trembling in nervousness. To her it looked more like the girl was more scared of the interaction than the field assessment. Sya smiled.

  “Sure. Welcome aboard,” Sya responded. “You won't be more of a burden than my brother.”

  “Hey.” Arden said.

  “Thank you!” The girl said with a short bow.

  “Don't mention it,” Sya said. “I'll introduce you to everyone. I'm Sya.”

  “I-I'm Kepler.”

  “Alright Kepler,” Sya said, gesturing to Arden and Vera. “The pretty one is Arden, my brother. And next to him is his girlfriend.”

  “I don't like that introduction,” Arden said. “I've bulked up now. It's a lot harder to claim that I'm pretty.”

  “But not impossible,” Vera chimed in.

  Kepler giggled softly as she heard their banter. She was hoping that the team that had the girl who helped her back to her feet would be full of nice people like her, and she wasn't disappointed.

  “Our team is fairly unbalanced,” Sya said. “The gruesome twosome are the frontliners. Vera is our heavy hitter, while Arden is kind of a tank.”

  “What about you?” Kepler asked.

  “I guess you could see me as sub-dps. I'm an affliction specialist. My blood is poisonous.”

  Kepler's eyes lit up. All signs of her timid nature vanished as Sya said what she was.

  “You work with poison too?” She gushed. “That's awesome! I do the same! Though I'm not limited to just poisons. I can work with medicine as well.”

  “You're like an alchemist?” Vera asked.

  “Yep!” Kepler nodded. “My Constellation is something like that, but my ability lets me see the medicinal and poisonous properties of different reagents.”

  “Really?” Sya asked. She had an idea and pulled the poison sac of the lesser thagomizard out of her inventory and handed it to Kepler. “Can you tell me what this does?”

  Kepler nodded and pushed her glasses up. For a second, there was a purple light that shined from behind the lenses before it disappeared.

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  “Lesser thagomizard poison sac,” she said. “Though it's called a poison sac, it doesn't have any poison in it, per se. Really, it just acts as a blood thinner. Rub this on any wound, and it'll make whatever you rubbed it on bleed worse.”

  “That's badass!” Sya cheered. “Try this one next.”

  Sya pulled out one of the mop buckets filled with chemicals and blood, both from the ribbonbone elk and herself. She hadn't been able to acquire any darts or anything else which could deliver a deadly payload, so for now she just had them resting in her inventory.

  Kepler's eyes glowed briefly again and she read out the information that was automatically transmitted to her brain.

  “It's a mix of typical cleaning solutions along with two types of blood. I'm not getting any info out of the Celestial's blood, but the black blood that's mixed in there is unique and highly dangerous. Is that yours?”

  “Indeed it is. You'll fit right in.”

  ‘Bonus points go to that team as well as the young lady who joined them,’ Lodi thought.

  Being the last line of defense between Celestials and humanity was an unenviable position, but it was something that created a sense of unity across all Starborn when they worked together. The cascade a few months ago proved that. A lot of the Starborn who went out without backup didn’t come back and were still missing in action.

  The first part of the first test was to foster that sense of unity. If a Starborn refused forming a team with someone of lower Status than that person wasn't meant to be a Starborn in the first place. Orange-tier Celestials don’t care if you’re part of a high level guild, after all.

  However, this wasn’t just a test for those already with groups. It was just as much a test for those who didn’t have a party to rely on. They were the ones who had to put the first foot forward, as it was unlikely that a pre-made party would ask a loner to join them.

  And Kepler joining Sya on her team was the first one to ask to join a team. The other loners without a team started moving around seeing Kepler’s success.

  Most of them went to one of two people: Volis and Kralis, as they were the ones that were advertised as important people in their respective guilds. Whether it was because they felt safer with a reputable person like Volis and Kralis, or just wanted to ride on their coattails in hope of success or a guild membership, they were both swamped.

  Arden suddenly felt bad for doing that to Volis. He only meant to annoy the self-important prick Kralis. Volis made pleading eyes towards him, to which Arden looked up at the ceiling and whistled, feigning the keenest interest ever in the dirt ceiling.

  ‘I’m going to get him back for that,’ Volis thought.

  After a few minutes, everyone was in a group of at least three people. Volis’ team took in an additional two people, bringing their count up to five. Kralis’ team consisted of himself, a stoic, quiet, pretty boy who seemed more interested in brooding than fighting, and a curvy woman with a magic staff. Arden’s team remained as large as it had been when Kepler joined. Apparently, no one else wanted to join the party that contained the reason for the demon instructor’s return.

  As Arden was wondering which walking cliche would join Kralis’ team next, he felt Vera nudge his shoulder.

  “It’s likely that a lot of the people we see here aren't affiliated with anyone,” she said. “Ignoring Volis and Kralis, of course.”

  “What are you saying?"

  “Keep an eye out for them. Our team is still unbalanced. It’s entirely possible that one of the unaffiliated might be worth trying to convince them to join us.”

  “I gotcha,” he said with a nod. “What roles do we still need? I’d like a dedicated tank other than myself. I’m only a tank as long as I can heal faster than my enemies can hurt me. And as we saw with the blast bull, healing takes time for me.”

  “A defender would make things go great for us,” Vera nodded. “You don’t have a clear role yet, so you are more of a floater than a dedicated frontliner. An alchemist like Kepler is good at both buffing us and debuffing the enemy, so she’s a great support. Sya can poison, so as she said, she's sub-DPS. What we really need aside from a defender is a ranged attacker.”

  “What are you guys whispering about?” Sya asked with Kepler at her side.

  “Cohesion and team balance,” Vera answered.

  “Both of you have enough cohesion as it is, but I don’t think that's the kind you’re talking about in a stargate.”

  “You’re right,” Vera said, turning to Kepler. “You said your ability lets you see the properties of ingredients right?”

  Kepler nodded.

  “If you’re trying to qualify as a Starborn warrior, then you probably came in here with some premade concoctions.”

  “That’s right,” Kepler said. “I made them myself.”

  Arden raised an eyebrow.

  “You made them yourself? You know how to make poison and medicine?”

  “I learned during my trial. That’s what it was all about. The Satellite I got from it helps with the production, but not much. It's a toolset that speeds up synthesis time.”

  “What type of stuff have you made?” Vera asked.

  “With the materials I got during the trial and since then? Not much,” Kepler admitted. “One of my friends brought me into the wilds so I could scavenge some resources, but there weren’t many. What I have in my inventory are just basics. I have some stuff for healing and boosting defense, and some light poisons as well.”

  Kepler's nervous stammering stopped happening as she talked about her skills and knowledge. It seemed that she was one of those people who were nervous around others but could breathlessly gush about her topics of choice.

  Arden thought that it was weird that Kepler’s preferred topic was poison and how effective it was, but then he realized that the majority of his discussions he had with Vera since he met her were about how to most efficiently exterminate his fellow man, so he wasn't in a position to criticize.

  Vera tapped her chin in thought for a few seconds.

  “I think I have our formation down.”

  Lodi stopped listening in on that team. Loathe as she was to admit it, they were doing a lot of things right so far. They welcomed in a new member, were trying to get to know them, and were trying to figure out a formation that used all of their strengths. Judging from Arden’s stunt during the interview, she figured that he would try to pull something else, but aside from his altercation with Kralis, there was nothing.

  “Well, we only just started,” she muttered.

  She didn’t want to reject Arden per se, but if he gave her a reason to, then it would be over for him.