Seed of Titan

After Bismar felt that the new members had imprinted their former president's figure into their mind along with his words, he gestured once more toward the shadowy figure. Right away, Maximilian's hologram flickered and disappeared under the watch of the students.

"I'm sure Mr. Max wouldn't want us to dwell too much on the past, so let's proceed to the introductions! We'll have the seniors go first," Bismar said.

"As I've mentioned, I'm Bismar, the current president of VV. My main task is to coordinate with the division heads in managing VV along with any ongoing operations, although I still occasionally venture out with the team, such as what I did on our latest expedition. I'm a fourth-year of the Faculty of Generality and my strong point is management, provision, and strength."

Drai was a bit surprised upon hearing that Bismar wasn't in the Faculty of Body Transformation. His huge stature and presumably high strength indicated otherwise, but perhaps his other skills were actually more essential to his class.

After his introduction, Bismar finally returned to his seat, and the shadowy figure beside him stood up.

As the figure spoke, the new members were quite baffled because the voice that came out didn't sound human but was robotic and ethereal instead, presumably modified by a device of some sort.

"I'm Selis, the vice president. I mainly assist Bismar in managing VV and rarely venture out except for clandestine operations. I'm a third year of the Faculty of Combat. My forte, if it's not obvious already, is stealth," Selis concluded before sitting back down.

Following this, the senior members proceeded to introduce themselves one by one, starting from the division heads and followed by the members of each division. There were four divisions in VV: Operations or Ops, Logistics, Intelligence and Communications or Intel, and Human Resources or HR. After introducing themselves, the division heads briefly explained the responsibilities of their respective divisions.

The Head of Ops was Halo, the pink haired girl. She was a fourth-year of the Faculty of Magic and her specialization was projectile magic, which Drai didn't really understand. Drai also thought that her attire didn't reflect her magical class, as she was wearing a biker jacket with ripped sleeves, a black tank top underneath it, and a pair of short jeans and sneakers.

The Ops Division was responsible for managing all operations in VV, including expeditions and other ventures. Due to this, the division also acted as a liaison with the other divisions. It could be said that despite them not usually handling the details of the operations directly, their tasks were arguably the most crucial among the divisions.

After that was the Logistics Division whose head was a woman named Amelia, a third-year of the Faculty of Generality. From her rather stern introduction, Drai felt that she wasn't a conversationalist. Amelia looked like a proper office woman with her glasses and suit. Although she didn't say what her strength was, Drai suspected that it involved management and numbers.

Compared to the Ops Division, the Logistics Division was relatively simpler in nature, as its task was mostly managing all logistics, including procurements of items, distributions of loot, and transportations of items and manpower. Drai noticed that most of the senior members belonged to this division, especially the second years. Not all members of the Logistic Division looked refined like Amelia though, as there were plenty that seemed rough-hewn, perhaps due to their recent expedition.

As for the Intel Division, its head was a small man named Fern, a fourth-year from the Faculty of Nature. He merely said that his specialization was seeds, which made some of the senior members chuckle. Drai thought that Fern looked particularly unkempt with his messy hair and worn clothes, including an old brown trench coat with an unusually large number of pockets.

The Intel Division was responsible for intelligence gathering, both in general and venture-related. It was also responsible for communications during and outside of expeditions, which included dealing with the academy's administration.

Lastly, the Head of HR was Ross, who had interviewed Drai and his friends during the student expo. He was a tall dude with dark skin who sported long dreadlocks that were tied loosely behind his head. Ross was a third-year of the Faculty of Nature. He didn't mention his forte but only said that he was a therianthrope.

"What's a therianthrope?" Drai asked Natalia.

"It's basically a shapeshifter that can morph into an animal or multiple animals," Natalia explained.

Drai looked at Ross curiously, as he was the first shapeshifter that he had met. He wondered whether he could transform into more than one animal and if it was a partial or complete transformation. He was also a bit curious of why Ross didn't belong to the Faculty of Body Transformation instead.

Ross explained that the HR Division was responsible for managing the group members but didn't dive into the details. When the division members introduced themselves, Big Bob and Gemma were among them.

Truthfully, despite the fact that the senior members numbered less than thirty, it was still too many for Drai to completely remember. Therefore, Drai only memorized the most important personnel along with those that were particularly memorable.

As the rest of the HR members were introducing themselves, a conversation was happening at the main table.

"I hope there are some leader figures among the first-years. There's a lack of leaders among the second-years as most of them are content with being normal members," Halo remarked in a low voice.

"Do you suppose Drai has decent leadership qualities?" Bismar asked.

"Based on our intel, highly unlikely. On the other hand, some of his friends seem worthy of grooming as future leader figures," Selis replied.

"That's a shame. I bet other groups won't dare mess with us with him leading," Bismar smiled regretfully.

"The two ladies aren't that lacking compared to Drai. They're bright, diligent, and come from prominent backgrounds," Ross chimed in.

"They're also cute," Gemma added, which was responded by a series of nods as most of them seemed to agree with her.

"Yeah, they're pretty good, but there's a saying that strength triumphs all. And Drai's raw strength could be said as almost unmatched, even among the upperclassmen," Bismar said.

"I find that the blonde dude is the most interesting one, even more than Drai," Fern remarked.

"Me too," said Selis.

Most of the people at the table were slightly baffled by Fern's and Selis' comments as they looked at the two curiously.

"And why is that?" Halo asked.

"I don't know. My intuition tells me there's a lot more to that blondie," Fern replied with a shrug.

"He's likely from a fallen family based on his name, but I can't find anymore info about him except for his town of residence, Crown's Passing," Selis explained.

The table went silent as they contemplated what the two had just said. They couldn't help but glance at Christo with heightened curiosity.

"Let's talk about this later. Our introduction is almost over," Bismar finally said, to which the others nodded in agreement. Shortly after, the last senior member was finished with his introduction.

"And that is all of the senior members. Now it's time for our new members to introduce themselves," Bismar grinningly announced as he stood up once again. "Please start from the leftmost table," Bismar said as he gestured with his hand toward his right.

There weren't too many new members, twenty tops, but apparently this was quite a record for VV, as many faces of the seniors gleamed in anticipation.

As the new members introduced themselves, Drai couldn't help but notice that he didn't recognize anyone.

"Are we the only ones from our faculty?" he quietly asked Natalia.

"Looks like it. Maybe VV isn't that popular in our faculty. There's only a few of them too among the seniors," Natalia replied shruggingly, not feeling too concerned about the lack of their faculty members among the newcomers.

Upon hearing these two, Auri chimed in, "You Body Transformation guys have great physiques, so you're highly sought after by student groups. The rest of you were probably snatched already by other groups,"

Hearing Auri's words, the Drai and Natalia's nodded in realization. It wasn't VV that was unpopular; the body transformation students were apparently just that precious. Drai was suddenly reminded of the lack of people at VV's booth and couldn't help but think that VV was quite lacking in the scouting and reception department. Perhaps having many people join them wasn't on their top list of priorities.

Soon, Drai's table was the only ones left that hadn't introduce themselves. Drai looked around and saw that his friends were looking at him expectantly. Smiling helplessly, Drai stood up and started introducing himself.

"Hello everyone. My name is Drai and I'm from the Faculty of Body Transformation. My forte is strength and toughness. Thank you for letting me join VV," Drai shortly introduced himself before sitting back down. Following this, the rest of Drai's friends also introduced themselves briefly.

After they had all finished their introductions, the venue went silent momentarily with only muffled murmurs sounding in the air from the main table. It seemed like the core management were having some kind of discussion.

Soon, the murmurs stopped. Following the nods of his fellow tablemates, Bismar stood up once again.

"Thank you once again for choosing to join VV, fellow venturers. To be honest, we didn't think much when Gemma said that we're getting quite a lot of newcomers this year. After all, your seniors here have had our fill of disappointing recruitments quantity-wise after these last few years," Bismar said. Hearing this, most of the upperclassmen briefly flashed pitiful smiles while a few nodded regretfully.

"But thankfully Amelia here is prudent, so regardless of the others' ignorance, she had come up with her own plans in case we do get a surge of new members, and it proved to be fruitful as very unexpectedly, tonight I ran out of fingers trying to count your numbers, hahaha!"

As Bismar looked very amused about the surprising influx of newcomers, many of the new members couldn't help but feel slightly concerned about the management, especially the president who seemed to be taking the recruitment matter too lightly.

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing for us that there's plenty of new blood this year. Now please enlighten us all, Amelia," Bismar said as he returned to his seat.

Amelia then came forward and faced the freshmen while maintaining a professional attitude.

"As per our hitherto procedure regarding new members," Amelia started explaining expresionlessly, "they are to be organized under their suitable divisions in order to learn the ropes while serving to reinforce said divisions upon the eventual graduation and retirement of the seniors.

"However, after taking account of various variables, there is to be a slight change regarding this year's organization of new members, particularly concerning the Ops Division. Rather than assimilating the usual one or two members into the current venture party under Ops, we will organize two new venture parties consisting of six new members each while assimilating a few senior members into these parties instead if needed. The rest will be assimilated to other divisions as per usual."

As Amelia spoke about these changes, murmurs of exitement could be heard. Perhaps hearing the word "venture party" made the freshmen restless as they couldn't help but imagining their eventual ventures through exaggeratingly exotic lands. The people on Drai's table were silent but there was glimmer in their eyes as they looked at each other.

Meanwhile, Christo's interest seemed to be piqued as he looked at Amelia. 'I wonder if this little circle of ours was part of the aforementioned variables. Although Flo and Natalia had just joined us, the number is a bit too convenient…' Christo pondered.

"And now I will announce your divisions along with the venture party groupings," Amelia continued. "The Ops Division first venture party members are Gavon, Chika, James, Klaus, Irene, and Wilk."

Muted exclaims followed Amelia's words. Drai took a glance and saw that the supposedly mention people were holding back their reactions. He also noticed that most of these people were sitting separatedly, which led him thinking that they might not have known each other beforehand.

Amelia then continued without being bothered by the slight commotion. "The Ops Division second venture party members are Jian, Auri, Drai, Christo, Flo, and the lady who hasn't registered yet."

Compared to the previous commotion, the crowd's reaction was quite different this time. Some freshmen were surprised, a few were looking rather disappointed, while others raised an eyebrow upon hearing that someone who apparently hadn't even registered yet was put into one of the venture parties.

At Drai's table, only Flo was a bit stunned upon hearing her name being included in the party, but the rest were mostly looking at Natalia in slight bafflement upon realizing that she was not even an official member yet. Christo was the only one looking unperturbed while still keeping his eyes on Amelia.

Natalia herself was also quite shocked as she hadn't expected such a development. She had been thinking that the announcement had nothing to do with her and she would register first before receiving her assignment.

"Unregistered miss, do you object to our arrangements?" Amelia asked after noticing the crowd's reaction.

"N-no! Not at all!" Natalia hurriedly answered.

"Then I will continue with the announcement. Thank you, Natalia Skyward," Amelia said before announcing the rest of the division placements.

Amidst the announcement, the mention of Natalia's name had sparked a change of reaction among the new members. Most of them, including the ones that had previously raised an eyebrow, were now glancing at Natalia with a mixture of surprise, understanding, and curiosity. Even Flo also couldn't help but took occasional glances at Natalia as she also understood the implication of the name "Skyward".

Natalia didn't think much of the crowd's reactions, perhaps already used to the attention brought about by her father's fame. She was sitting there blankly, thinking about how the management was quick to identify her while being happy that she was grouped together with Drai.

***