Free Web NovelChapter 38: Teams
Two o’clock. The training hall.
The formation grid was active again, glowing faintly under their feet. But the setup was different from the solo trials. The space had been divided into three zones, separated by low energy barriers that hummed with a soft blue light. Each zone was built for a small group, not an individual.
Selene stood at the center.
"The rules are different now," she said. "In the individual tests, I measured what each of you could do alone. In the group tests, I’m measuring something harder: whether you can do it with other people."
She paused.
"Here is the exercise. Each team will navigate a shifting formation course together. The course is the same as the adaptability test you did individually — rising terrain, moving obstacles, changing conditions. But this time there is an added layer."
She held up three thin formation discs, each the size of a coin.
"Energy links. Each member of the team will carry one. The discs create a shared energy thread between the three of you. As long as all three threads stay connected, you earn points. If one breaks, the team loses points. If all three break at the same time, the run ends."
She looked across the room.
"This means you cannot simply run through the course as fast as possible. You need to stay aware of where your teammates are, how fast they’re moving, and whether the connection is holding. Speed without coordination is worthless. Individual strength without team awareness is a liability."
She set the discs on the platform.
"Team One first. Valis, Moonwhisper, Blackthorn. Take your positions."
— • —
The three of them walked to Zone One.
Lyra took her disc first, turning it over in her fingers. Its surface glowed faintly when she touched it, syncing to her energy. She looked at Ren with a small, nervous smile — the kind that said at least I’m with someone I trust.
Iris took her disc without expression. She studied it for exactly two seconds, then clipped it to her collar. Efficient. Already thinking about strategy.
Ren took the last disc. The metal was cool and light. He could feel the formation inside it reaching outward, looking for the other two. When it found them, a faint thread of energy connected the three discs in a soft triangle.
He could feel Lyra’s thread — warm, steady, slightly nervous but holding well. And Iris’s — sharp, controlled, precise.
And they could feel him.
That was the problem.
Not the full picture. The energy link only transmitted basic presence and stability, not detailed cultivation data. But it was still a connection. A thread from his energy to theirs. Which meant he had to be careful about how much of himself he let flow through it. freewebnovёl.ƈom
’Keep it steady,’ he told himself. ’Match their level. Don’t let too much through.’
Kaia pulsed once. Faint. Present. As if she understood.
The strange thing was how much the link revealed, even at its most basic level. He could feel Lyra’s nervousness through her thread, and Iris’s sharp focus through hers. Not detailed information — just the general shape of who they were, carried through the energy connection like vibrations through a string.
Which meant they could feel him too. The quiet, controlled presence he always projected. The steadiness. The... lack of cracks.
’Don’t think about it,’ he told himself. ’Just match them. Be a teammate, not a mystery.’
Iris spoke first. Her voice was low, practical, already in command mode.
"I’ll call the route. Valis, you take point — you handled the adaptability course well enough. Moonwhisper, stay in the middle. Your energy control is the cleanest. If the link starts to wobble, you stabilize it."
Ren glanced at her. She had already analyzed both their strengths and assigned roles in ten seconds. Ducal training.
Lyra nodded. "I can do that."
Ren said nothing. He just stepped to the front.
’She’s giving me point because she wants to watch me from behind,’ he thought. ’She’s not just managing the team. She’s studying me.’
He respected that. He didn’t like it. But he respected it.
— • —
The formation activated.
The ground shifted. Panels rose. The first obstacle appeared — a low wall cutting across their path, with two narrow gaps on either side.
"Left gap," Iris called. "Single file. Moonwhisper, match my pace."
They moved. Ren went through the gap first, checking the other side before the others followed. Lyra came next, her disc glowing steadily, the link holding. Iris last, her eyes sweeping the space behind them.
The second obstacle was a series of rising platforms at different heights. They had to cross them without the link stretching too far.
"Stay close," Iris said. "Valis, don’t get ahead."
"I know," Ren said.
He did know. The instinct was to move fast, to clear obstacles the way he had in the solo test — efficient, independent, trusting only his own body. But the link changed everything. If he moved too far ahead, Lyra’s thread would stretch and wobble. If he slowed too much, Iris would crowd up behind him.
He had to move at their speed. Not his.
That was harder than any solo trial.
’Being strong alone is one thing,’ he thought, jumping to the next platform and waiting half a beat for Lyra to follow. ’Being strong with people is completely different.’
The terrain shifted again. Wind from the left. A gap in the floor opening ahead. Two obstacles at once.
Iris reacted fast. "Moonwhisper, brace right. Valis, take the gap."
Ren jumped. Lyra braced against the wind. Iris adjusted their spacing.
The link held. Three threads, three people, moving through chaos without losing each other.
For a moment — just a moment — it worked perfectly. Not because they were friends. Not because they trusted each other completely. But because each of them was good enough at what they did that their strengths covered the gaps.
Lyra’s clean energy kept the link stable when Ren moved too fast. Iris’s tactical calls kept them from wasting movement. And Ren’s point navigation cleared the path before problems reached the other two.
Near the final stretch, the formation threw three obstacles at once — rising walls, tilting ground, and a burst of pressure from above. For one second, all three links wobbled.
Lyra reacted first. She poured a surge of steady, clean energy into the connection — not powerful, but stable. Like a hand catching something before it falls. The threads tightened. Held. The wobble smoothed out.
Iris glanced back at her. Something in her expression shifted — not warmth, exactly, but a recalculation. The kind a sharp mind makes when it realizes someone it had been underestimating just saved the run.
’That’s why Selene put Lyra in the center,’ Ren thought. ’Not because she’s the weakest. Because her control is the best.’
It was not smooth. It was not elegant. But it worked.
— • —
They finished the course in four minutes and twelve seconds. Zero link breaks. One near-wobble when a terrain shift caught Lyra off guard, but she recovered before it snapped.
Selene watched them come off the grid and made notes without expression.
Lyra exhaled hard and leaned her hands on her knees. "That was intense."
Iris removed her disc and studied it briefly before putting it down. She looked at Ren.
"You held back on the jump sections," she said. It was not an accusation. It was an observation, delivered like a line item in a report.
Ren looked at her. "The link would have broken if I went full speed."
"I know. That’s why I’m mentioning it." She paused. "You adjusted your pace to match ours without being told. Most people can’t do that. Especially people who are used to working alone."
Her eyes stayed on him for a beat too long. The same sharp, measuring look from Day 3.
Then she turned away. "Good run."
It was the first genuinely positive thing Iris Blackthorn had said to him.
Ren was not sure whether to feel relieved or more concerned.
Across the hall, Team Two was taking their positions. Kaelen stood at the front, already claiming point without discussion. Lin Yueying took the center with her usual silence. Cassian adjusted his disc and muttered something about "being linked to people who don’t talk."
Even from this distance, Ren could see the tension. Kaelen moved like he expected the other two to keep up. Lin Yueying moved like she was used to navigating around difficult people. Cassian looked like he was trying very hard not to say something he’d regret.
’Different kind of team,’ Ren thought. ’Same kind of test.’
— • —
After both teams finished, Selene posted preliminary group scores. Team One scored higher on link stability. Team Two scored higher on completion speed. The overall difference was narrow.
Yuelan, watching from the evaluator position, had been taking notes the entire time. When Ren passed her on the way out, she said, "Your team moved like they’d practiced together."
"We hadn’t."
"I know. That’s what makes it interesting."
She walked away without adding anything else. Yuelan had a talent for leaving statements hanging in the air like hooks.
Ren gathered his bag and headed for the corridor. The first group test was done. The link had held. Iris had given him a compliment. Lyra had kept them steady. Nobody had noticed anything they shouldn’t have.
Not a bad start.
Kaia pulsed once. Warm. Settled.
’Yeah,’ Ren thought. ’I know. Not bad at all.’
---------------------------------------------------
Thank you so much for reading "Bloodline Plant Lord."
I truly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to start this story and follow Ren’s journey. This is only the beginning, and there is still a much bigger world, deeper mysteries, stronger enemies, and many powerful bloodline plants waiting to be revealed. frёeωebɳovel.com
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See you in the next Chapter — Ren’s journey has only just begun.
