How To Survive A Calamity

"Don Clyde, first born child of the Clyde household. Hmph, usually, this isn't meant to be...but we are all teammates from now so let's not hold each other back. I'm Ranked 522." Don Clyde gave his impressive introduction, shot me an obvious glare and leaned back in his seat.

Then all that was left...

"Victor Bright." I rose to my feet softly without much enthusiasm.

Then smiled.

"Cadet Number 1499."

I lowered my head curtly.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

During an introduction you have to make the best of impressions, and nothing was better than the first smile.

See, these guys get it.

I glanced at the faces of my 'group' members. The eyes of Don and Trise had gone so cold ice would even freeze over again from then.

"Hah! Cadet number 1499?" Trise sneered. "Aren't you the unfortunate fool who bit more than he could chew and got disgraced? For someone as talentless as you ,you sure were mouthing off a lot not too long ago."

Trise chimed in.

"I knew you were classless, but to think you were the absolute bottom."

Trise and Don weren't shy to quickly recognise me.

I glanced at the two's faces and cocked my head to the side.

"Strange. You've heard of me but i don't think your names are even remotely known."

As soon as i said that, Don suddenly slammed the table and glared sharp daggers at me with his eyes. And Trise looled like she'd bite my head off.

"This no talent bastard!"

"How dare you...!"

"Woah, woah woah, guys," before the banter could quickly escalate more than this, the auburn haired Chelsea chimed in from her seat. "The group leader has already said no infighting amongst the group members. We're teammates now, so shouldn't we all learn to get along, right?" She said.

I looked at her and tilted my head dryly.

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"Group leader?"

Chelsea nodded with a smile and explain as if it were matter of fact.

"Yes. Ms. Deandra here is ranked the highest among us. And not only that, she's also the class president, so isn't it normal and natural for her to automatically take the lead, hm?"

Well...

"If you put it that way..." Trise said.

"Makes sense." Don nodded submissively.

"Sure, why not." I shrugged indifferently and sat back down.

And so Deandra unanimously became group leader.

Round of applause.

Initially I would have said, who the group leader was in the end didn't matter to much to me, but after seeing these annoying guys faces, heaven would have been pulled down if i let any of the bastards take up that position.

Hopefully, it wouldn't have to come to that. Deandra's position was just so convenient. There was no one else among us more fitting as the leader.

On that subject, Deandra didn't bother to say or include anything and only acted as if such a conclusion was natural.

'What is up with these guys and their high noses.'

With an unreadable expression, Deandra nodded at Chelsea and the rest of us. Her gaze almost seemed to linger longer on me.

"With the introductions out of the way, i believe the next thing will be to reveal our points of strengths and abilities to vegin fostering better synergy. I understand our skills and abilities are an Awakened's weapon and revealing such carelessly can be almost tantamount to digging graves. I won't force you, but at the very least, shall we reveal our dispositions and hide our ranks. As such, I'll go first."

With such an explanation, the red haired Deandra placed an elbow against the table and raised her index finger.

"My disposition is a Mana user. I'm a Battle Mage with higer expertise in Pyrokinesis. In other words ..a fire Mage."

As Deandra said so, a small vibrant tongue of flame ignited off the tip of her outstretched finger.

The bright yellow flame was straight and upright as it flickered and licked the air.

I stared at such a phenomenon with glowing eyes silently. Deandra glanced at me, noticing my gaze.

She frowned slightly.

"What?"

Deandra's voice cut through, pulling me out of my reverie. I wrapped my fingers around the cup of my smoothie and relaxed my shoulders.

"Nothing. It's the first time I've seen a Mage use Magic this close before."

As i said that, as if waiting right on cue, a mocking laugh came from my side where Don was sitting towards.

"Hah! You've never seen a Mage or Magic before? What hole do you commoners crawl out from?"

Don clicked his tonge annoyingly, while Trise snickered from her seat. I exchanged a glance between the two, clearly unaffected by what he said then raised the smoothie to my lips..

"Point of correction, I'm actually a noble for your information. So probably from the same place you were dropped on your head as a baby. Not that good."

"Pfft!" A strange sound broke from the lips of the auburn haired Chelsea, but she quickly slapped her mouth shut.

"..."

'D...did she just....'

She laughed didn't she?

I glanced at Chelsea who's ears were red. Her shoulders were trembling.

Yeah, she definitely laughed. Her face was all read.

Ah. So was Clyde's.

"Whatever. I'll go next." Clyde brushed off what just happened and said.

He shot me a glare and smirked.

"Today's the low-life luckiest day then. I'm also a Mana user, but I'm not a mage or magic user."

"Huh?" I tilted my head in confusion as i stared at Don.

Don seemed to relish my reaction, and continued pompously.

"I'm a Supernatural ability user, or in other words, a Psychic. My ability is Aerokinetics." Don spread out his palm and twirled his index finger through the air.

A small spiraling gale of wind converged and twisted a vague form in his hand and the eyes of everyone on the table widened.

"This is..."

Deandra gazed deeply at Don and narrowed her eyes.

"You're a Psychic."

Don smiled smugly in satisfaction.

"Indeed."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Meanwhile, i...

'What's a Psychic?'

Sipped on my smoothie, and said inwardly.

Well i knew what the word Psychic was, but i was completely lost in this context. The reaction from everyone around this table, including Deandra herself was too great to go unnoticed, just from watching that bast- i mean, guy summon a little breeze.

Meta, my own portable Aetherpedia replied promptly inside my head.

[There are only two main classification for the Awakened; Aura users, also generally called Warriors or Knights, and Mana users, generally called Magic users or Mages. But that nomenclature isn't entirely complete. The concept of Aether is simply too broad to be encompassed by only such simple terms—]

'Get to the point please!'

I had to interrupt Meta as it began to drone on. I had less than five seconds left to continue to pretend like i knew what a Psychic was in front of my group members.

[...Mana users have further sub classifications, one of such is Mages who forcefully enforce and manifest their wills through circuits and rules and laws called Magic. One other are called Psychics, or Supernatural ability users. These special type of people possess dominion over certain aspects of reality and can manifest supernatural phenomenom that disregard common universal laws and rules. In your word, they are broken That boy, Don Clyde, is one such rare individual.]