Five days training had been more than enough for Michael to determine Mekhaz and Thaor's combat prowess, their weaknesses and their most exceptional advantages.
Combining the two frontline fighters, who had exceptional endurance and useful physical Soultraits, with Kaleb's Frozen Nova, and Michael's great versatility, they would have good chances of overpowering other teams. All they missed was one more member – preferably an Awakened with a Support-type Soultrait, or maybe even a healer.
Kaleb was great at controlling the surroundings with his Soultrait, and he could inflict a considerable amount of damage as well. Michael, on the other hand, was more of an assassin, a long range fighter and everything else except a Supporter and a Tank. But the latter could be solved by Thaor and Mekhaz rather easily.
"Sounds good to me. I doubt anyone else would be willing to join their forces with other humans at this point. That makes it easier for us to take advantage of the other teams' weaknesses," Mekhaz agreed without feeling the need to think about the proposal for a long time.
Thaor also nodded his head. He didn't know Kaleb, but Michael had earned his respect. He didn't think that Michael would be around bad people so he decided to give Kaleb a chance.
"It should be interesting. I'm in," He said.
Michael turned to Kaleb, who had yet to officially agree to join. Seeing the glimmer in Kaleb's eyes, Michael was certain that his friend would join the Team Combat discipline.
"Of course, I'll join. I don't want to reveal my full strength during the Solo Combat, or Duo Combat discipline. My trump cards should stay hidden as long as possible," Kaleb said, flashing a sly smile at his team members.
At this point, Michael wasn't sure how strong Kaleb had grown. Kaleb's War Rune had a higher refinement degree, but it wasn't that much higher. However, his 7-Star Soultrait had grown much stronger, and Kaleb focused on practicing his Inheritance technique, refining his body, mind and Soul to adjust his entire being to the Frozen Nova.
Michael was certain that Kaleb could deal with an ordinary Tier-3 Awakened if he didn't hold back. That was enough to determine that he was strong enough to team up for the Team discipline.
"You'll probably want an Awakened with a Support Soultrait, right? We won't be strong enough to deal with enemies like the lightning freak, so a Support Soultrait should be perfect to fill in the gap," Thaor remarked suddenly. He had already started planning who to pick next in order to set-up their team perfectly.
"I know some Lords with Support Soultraits, but other teams should have picked them already. Or they might not bother about the combat disciplines and apply only for the Support Assessment discipline," Kaleb pointed out after agreeing with Thaor's assessment.
"If everyone agrees that we're missing an Awakened with a Support Soultrait, I can get someone. She won't be willing to participate in the Support Assessment because she considers herself a pure-blooded warrior and not a backliner, but…she is a little bit difficult to deal with. Her personality is messed up," Thaor revealed, his expression a little bit sour.
It was almost as if he didn't want to invite the person he had just mentioned, yet he proposed to invite her. Michael was quite amused at this sight.
"If her Soultrait is as powerful as her personality is messed up, we will be fine," Kaleb responded, which resulted in a light chuckle from Mekhaz.
"I second that," Mekhaz added with a thumbs up, while Michael nodded his head as well.
Thaor sighed heavily when everyone agreed to his proposal. He actually didn't want to invite that nutcase, but he blurted out his thoughts when he recalled her. That crazy freak's Soultrait was just too useful for them, and the exact thing their team was missing after all.
"Alright…I will talk to her…" He grumbled before disappearing for the next 30 minutes.
After half an hour, Thaor returned with another Berserker beside him. The Berserker looked just like Thaor, with the sole difference being their gender. The newcomer was a woman with a fierce expression that prevented anyone – even most other Berserkers – to approach her.
"That's my sister Lokai. She has a mutated Soultrait that e–...." Thaor began to introduce his sister to the team, only to be interrupted by a heavy smack to the head.
Lokai hit Thaor on the back of the head – hard enough to make him lose balance. Thaor's head nearly hit the bench in front of him.
"Don't reveal my Soultrait to strangers, little Thaor. I will decide whether I join this team or not after seeing how strong these tiny human Lords are! After that, I might tell them about my Soultrait," Lokai chided, ignoring her little brother after she stared smugly at the others.
"That shouldn't be too difficult. How about we leave the Colosseum and spar in the Ulran Arena? Since we're participating in the Team discipline we should be focusing on our teamwork as long as we can," Michael agreed with what Lokai said.
He turned to Mekhaz, a question forming in his mind, "Will you guys participate in the Solo or Duo Combat discipline?"
"We're brave Warriors. Of course, we're participating in all combat-related disciplines!" Lokai bellowed, visibly offended at Michael's question even though he had not even directed his question solely at her.
Michael turned to the female Berserker and raised an eyebrow, "Are you stronger than Thaor? If yes, by how much?"
Mekhaz had yet to answer Michael's question, but he didn't know what to answer, in the first place. He wanted to participate in the other disciplines but they lacked time, and they would be extremely exhausted if they were to participate in all competitions.
After competing in the Solo Combat discipline and fighting more than a dozen of fights, they would have to participate in the Duo Combat discipline the day after the Solo discipline. The day after the Duo combat discipline would be the Team discipline. There wouldn't be any time to rest.
This year's Battle Exchange was obviously different than usual. It was not only a battle of raw power. The Awakened would have to think strategically to ensure that they wouldn't be exhausted when it was crucial to be in their prime, along with knowing when to attack and when to retreat to recuperate.
"Stronger than Thaor? I was not blessed by the War God with such an exceptional Soultrait, forget about his Unique Constitution. He may be younger than me, but I'm not stronger than this little brat. Though, I am not weaker either!" Lokai answered, straightening her back proudly as she looked down on Michael, whose expression didn't change in the slightest.
"In that case, you should focus on the Team discipline rather than wasting your time and energy in the Solo and Duo disciplines," Michael said before pointing at Thaor, "I don't want to sound like a dickhead, but he won't make it into the top 200 in the Solo discipline and neither will you."
Thaor was the first to react. His fingers curled into fists and he was just about to say something when he saw the seriousness in Michael's eyes. He saw Mekhaz from the corner of his eyes as well. The Warlock Centaur nodded his head subconsciously, fully agreeing with Michael's conclusion.
"There are at least a dozen Peak Tier-3 Lords with powerful Soultraits and exceptional Inheritance techniques in the 4th grade of the Saphirelake Military Academy. If it's like that in every academy and university, you'll have more than 100 Peak Tier-3 Lords with powerful Soultraits to face – and that doesn't even include the powerhouses of the Berserker race and Warlock Centaur race. I think Thaor is roughly my age, and you must be a year, or at most two years older than your brother. There are still older participant who're most definitely at the Peak of the 3rd Tier. They will snatch the top 200 spots of the Solo discipline easily," Michael explained calmly.
He ignored Lokai's fierce expression and looked toward Thaor, "The Duo competition might be interesting, but you will be dead-tired if you compete against everyone else. By the time the Duo discipline ends the Team discipline will start. Do you think you can handle competing in the Team discipline with your full strength, without holding your team back due to your exhaustion?"
Michael could say a lot more, but he didn't think that it was necessary. His arguments were convincing enough to silence Thaor. Meanwhile, Mekhaz agreed wholeheartedly.
"And how do you know that Thaor is not strong enough to deal with them?" Lokai asked, taking a step closer to Michael to intimidate him with her height and immense pressure.
Michael, however, looked up to the female Berserker with a seemingly unbothered expression, "I think that convincing you with words is useless. How about I show you with actions?"
Lokai raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything at first.
"Let's spar in the Ulran Arena. If you're not satisfied with our team, you won't have to join us. However, if you join us, you should reconsider participating in the other disciplines," Michael proposed, not letting the smile on his face waver.
Lokai was still silent. However, she turned to the door of the Underground Colosseum and motioned Michael and the others to follow.
Michael got up and followed without saying a word. Meanwhile, Kaleb looked at Thaor and Mekhaz with a wry smile. Mekhaz returned a faint smile, just to ask the question that flashed through his and Thaor's minds.
"Is Michael always like that?"
"Like what?" Kaleb asked.
This time it was Thaor, who asked, "Is he always trying to pick fights with the most troublesome people?"
Kaleb chuckled hearing the question. He recalled the times Michael had picked a fight with him, and the Barbaric Couple. It hadn't been once. In fact, Michael kept fighting with them until they grew tired of it.
"Yeah…that's normal."
