Chapter 216: The Nine-Person Squad

How much time Instructor Griffin’s trip would take remained an unknown. The five of them, in their capacity as his students, were just like anyone else; they could only patiently wait for the final result.

When Instructor Griffin left, he hadn’t arranged any tasks, but Jeremy’s group of five consciously dedicated the majority of their time to cultivating and elevating their realms, not slacking off for a single moment.

Two months passed. Everyone still hadn’t received the good news of Instructor Griffin’s return. What they did receive was the Demon race’s uprising, igniting the crisis of a furious tide of war…

The war arrived without any prior warning.

Rumor had it that it was because they heard the Human race had researched a new type of Restoration Solution aimed at preventing the Wasteland magical beasts from being purified, prompting them to prepare to eradicate the Human race earlier than planned.

But in reality, this was merely one of many reasons.

In recent years, the Demon race had incessantly infringed upon the Human race’s borders; their ambitions had long been impossible to conceal.

This new type of Restoration Solution was nothing more than a spark.

Along with the massing of the Demon race’s grand army, the war officially began.

The St. Farland Empire served as the main force. Other vassal states and a portion of factions from other races also dispatched personnel to provide support.

And the St. Aetherwing Academy, in its capacity as the empire’s top academic institution, aside from the first and second-year students, mandatorily required students from all four grades—third, fourth, fifth, and sixth—to participate in the war.

The academy nurturing them was exactly for this moment—to protect the shared homeland of humanity.

＊

Inside the flying carriage heading toward the Western border.

The carriage cabin, designed for six people, was now stuffed with nine. Luggage was completely piled onto the roof rack, leaving each person with exactly enough space to sit.

The nine people in the temporary squad had conducted a brief round of self-introductions.

Leon went first: “Tier five, two-star, Holy Covenant 10. Long-range or heavy attack are both fine.”

Phoenix: “Tier five, three-star, Holy Covenant 05. Long-range control damage.”

Evelyn: “Tier five, three-star, Holy Covenant 07. All-rounder.”

Raphael spoke in a flat tone: “Tier five, four-star, Holy Covenant 09, positioned as heavy attack.”

Jeremy’s gaze shifted slightly, looking toward Raphael sitting opposite him.

Ever since discovering the Ashbloom Flower had miraculous efficacy, the Divine Temple immediately fused it with divine power. Rumor had it that a while ago, they successfully and thoroughly suppressed Raphael’s coma symptoms that resembled backlash. The seal in his body intended to suppress the coma was also removed; he no longer had to suffer the agony of the backlash.

And Sylas also benefited from the Ashbloom Flower. Thanks to various god-tier medicinal ingredients found by his parents, his soul injuries had now recovered, and the Divine Temple side had also issued a new diagnosis.

Within a year, he would definitely be able to wake up.

Perhaps precisely because of this point, Raphael’s state was much better; he no longer bore that gloomy, depressed, and desperate appearance.

Jeremy shifted his gaze, looking at Lancel who was starting his self-introduction next.

“I am currently tier five, two-star, Holy Covenant 17. My Sacred Weapon has a dual form, consisting of the Ink Scroll and the Soul Edge Pen. Positioned towards healing and area-of-effect damage.”

His voice was very gentle, exactly like his overly mild appearance.

Elegant as jade, gentle as the wind; using these two phrases to describe him was the most fitting.

After the midterm exams concluded, Jeremy had also gone to watch his match, so he could be considered to have some understanding.

His skills were mostly primarily control and healing, and his remaining attack power wasn’t weak either, somewhat resembling a perfect existence fused from the primary attack positioning of Phoenix and Evelyn.

With him around, the team’s recovery and healing issues definitely didn’t need to be worried about anymore.

As if noticing Jeremy’s gaze, Lancel looked up at him, the corners of his eyes curving slightly, blossoming into a radiant smile.

Jeremy nodded in acknowledgment, but before he could say anything, a “certain fox” beside him leaned in close, resting his chin on Jeremy’s shoulder.

“Tier five, four-star. Holy Covenant 02, dealing damage.” Lucius’s tone was extremely lazy, exactly like his posture at this moment.

“…”

Silver hair cascaded down to his thighs. Sensing the gazes thrown by the others, Jeremy’s face revealed no emotion. He originally intended to push Lucius away, but this guy’s resistance was too obvious; thinking about it, he decisively let it be.

Jeremy turned his head to cast a glance at him.

It was clear that the backlash symptom had been cured, yet he was becoming more and more clingy… Normal teammates wouldn’t act like this.

No matter how you looked at it, this guy seemed to have some ulterior motives.

Previously, he had sworn up and down saying he hated him… Now, this answer was probably about to change, right?

He was genuinely curious about what extent this fox-like guy ultimately wanted to develop things with him.

Before Lucius threw his gaze over, Jeremy proactively looked away, deliberately avoiding eye contact with him, and simultaneously changed the subject, turning to everyone and saying: “I am currently tier five, four-star. My Mark can copy, positioned towards being an all-rounder.”

As soon as this sentence was uttered, sure enough, the attention of the entire carriage was shifted.

Lancel probed: “Could Student Jeremy’s meaning be… you can copy others’ Marks at will?”

Jeremy: “You could say that, it’s just that after copying, I cannot change it within three days.”

The level of the Mark had a huge influence on the realm. In just a few short months, his realm had increased, and his level of control over copying others’ skills had also become stronger.

“So that’s how it is…” Lancel was extremely astonished, temporarily forgetting what he should say.

Copying Marks… There had never been a precedent on the entire continent.

Asaro pointed at Lucius sitting right next to Jeremy, “Could it be your Holy Covenant 02 was copied from him?”

Jeremy nodded, “Correct. I can copy the Mark of anyone present here.”

The carriage cabin fell silent for a beat. Eight pairs of eyes, excluding Lucius, shared the same reaction: automatically calculating how much their own Marks were worth.

Lomita had previously thought Jeremy would be very strong after awakening his Dual Mark, but she didn’t expect it to be this outrageous, “A few days ago, the skills you could use were exactly identical to his. Does that prove it’s not just copying the Mark, but even the skills and the Sacred Weapon form you can completely copy and use?”

Jeremy smiled and nodded: “That’s right.”

“As for the specifics, you guys will naturally know later, let’s just continue first.” Jeremy signaled the others to continue speaking.

Lomita suppressed the shock in her heart and cooperatively replied: “Tier five, two-star, Holy Covenant 12. Long-range and close-combat are both fine.”

“Tier five, four-star, Holy Covenant 16, heavy attack and swift thrust.” Asaro’s gaze swept over Lucius and Jeremy. She wasn’t very interested in what kind of relationship they had, she just felt… a Jeremy indulging another person to this extent was a bit too unusual.

However… judging from the reactions of the other three in the Eclipse Team, this seemed to be a normal state.

Could it be, they had already established a lovers’ relationship?

Asaro didn’t harbor any prejudice, nor did she plan to voice the question.