Chapter 536

As I walk closer to the two of them, I realize there are plenty of other hunters surrounding them.

Ember is the one being approached the most. I overhear many of them trying to get him to join their team.

Upon closer inspection, I find that he has by far the lowest number still in this room; everyone else sub 30 has already formed a team and is behind a closed door.

Some ask Natalie to join as well, but many are fixated on Ember as he's clearly a strong asset to their team.

As I arrive, I let a moderate mana aura leak out from my body and sit beside them, looking at all the random applicants shiver from the mana vibrating through them.

I speak up.

"If we've never talked before this stage, get lost. We already have a team picked out. Go find teammates in your own league."

It's a bit rude, but I get my message across perfectly, and the leeches scramble.

Left behind after the weaker applicants go off and group in their own teams, giving up on the possibility of snagging an easy target, I see the wind user from the Silca Region that Nat healed and I gave a free black token to earlier.

His wristband reads [31].

I'm surprised he hasn't found a team yet. Considering he was [29] before, his physical scores must have been pretty decent to still be near the mid-range.

I wave to him.

"Dane, right? Still looking for a team?"

His eyes perk up when he walks over.

"Yeah... I am still looking for a team. I thought I might be better off waiting it out than picking the first team that'd accept me."

He looks up at the ceiling, and I follow his gaze to study the teams that are already up there more thoroughly.

It seems teams of 6 are most prevalent in the higher-skilled hunters; near the mid-section, there are more teams of 5 and 4.

I don't know if this is an advantage or a disadvantage yet, but I know I'd rather be on a smaller team with people I have some history with rather than a team of complete randoms.

One of the teams of 4 up on the board is the entirety of the Phantom Region's showing, the 4 of them in a single team.

This is why I've decided to pick this man from the Silca Region. I gave him a token in the pre-trials, he seems competent, but also this will come with a sense of loyalty because he may feel partially indebted to me from before.

We have 4 people right here, but I want to let all of my options run out before making a final decision and approaching one of those numbered golden doors.

Dane shakes Ember's hand and they formally meet.

Natalie recognizes him in an instant, realizing he's the one that paid her to heal him in the pre-trials.

I speak up while more people begin to form into teams, and additional applicants walk in after finishing the physical exams.

"Dane, you're a wind type, right? Does that mean you're capable of long-range attacks?"

He raises an eyebrow, most likely wondering how I knew this, but I point down to his wristband that shows he's a Class 3 Wind type according to the Silca's grading system.

"Yeah, I can be your long-range attacker."

I nod, remembering some questions in the written portion of the exam referencing the main structures of hunting squads. There should be a support type, whether that's a healer or buff user, long-range attackers, close-range damage dealers, and lastly some kind of defensive tank to distract and keep larger enemies occupied and protect the damage dealers.

Although this isn't how I would usually hunt at all—I usually just go in solo and take every role for myself—there's a very good chance this is what the exam proctors are looking for when we're forming teams.

I nod and reply.

"Good. You'll be our long range then."

I turn to Natalie.

"Obviously, you'll be our support."

Then turn to Ember.

"Emrie. You and I will be the damage dealers. You'll be close range, as you fight with your fists, I'll be mid-range."

He nods, then Nat chimes in.

"What about a tank? We'll lose points in the long run if we don't have one of these. None of us look strong enough or defense-focused enough to fill in this role."

Dane raises an eyebrow.

"Lose points? What do you mean? They haven't even explained the rules of this test yet..."

Nat smirks but doesn't say anything.

Ember speaks for her.

"Just trust her, she hasn't been wrong yet."

I nod, thinking to myself how she successfully predicted over 75% of the equipment that was used during the physical test.

"It's true. I just wish she would have known the answers to that written, I wouldn't have flunked it so hard."

As soon as I say this, a huge man with armor and a heavy shield comes walking out of the physical room with a [41] on his wristband.

It said [63] before, so he definitely performed well.

Nat looks over and points at him.

"How about that guy, 41 isn't bad. He increased over 20 ranks. I'm sure he's strong. There are only 3 other applicants after him, we might as well get a tank while we still can."

It appears a few other teams look toward him too as he walks through the lounge after Rodrigo gives him a brief introduction.

Dane even speaks up.

"I can go over and talk to him if you want—"

I shake my head.

"I have the perfect applicant in mind. Let's wait."

The next hunter comes out about 15 minutes later, and he's a long sword user with fire magic and very low mana control for his level from the Raya Region ranked [61]. No one jumps to recruit him, but he does settle with another team filled with other rank 50 and above applicants.

More people are getting restless, and just decide on their teams before it's too late.

Random groups of 4-6 are formed, filling doors 8, 9, and 10.

There aren't many people left in the lounge.

When the next hunter emerges from the physical exam room and a bright [33] glows on her wristband, I smile, knowing Marcie performed extremely well on the physical exams to rank just 1 point away from me considering our written test scores must have been pretty close.

Once Rodrigo finishes explaining the basics to her, she looks around the room, takes a glance at the leaderboards on the ceiling, then ignores every hunter that pesters her on her walk over to us. She then looks at all of our wristbands and speaks up.

"Well, looks like your team is the only reasonable option for me here."

I reply as the disappointed looks of other hunters multiply behind her.

"Welcome to the team. We have our tank."

While I could snag a 6th member from any of the others in the lounge and I'm sure they'd accept, this team of 5 will suffice.

It feels like I know everyone well enough individually that if I take the role as team leader they'll all work together once the trials begin.

Everyone else understands that I'm the common link between them and that this is what will work best. We walk over to door 11 to scan our wristbands.

The door clicks open, and as soon as we're all inside, it clicks shut, leaving us in a small 10-meter by 10-meter white mana shielded room with a silver door on the back wall.

Above us, a ceiling projector shows the 11th team has been formed, with all of our names in it, then shows 2 team slots still available to be made with all of the solo applicants in a straight line with their ID pictures next to their ranking waiting for them to form a group.

A single line of text appears beneath the ranking board.

[Please wait for all applicants to form teams and enter their rooms. Stage 3 of the Exams will begin shortly.]

At the same time, the floor begins to move, and it feels just like it did when we were in those white cubes during the written exam.

A total of 5 beds come out of the ground, and dozens of crates filled with food, weapons, potions, and various magic items that are graded high C. There are even some near middle B-grade.

Most of them are health and mana potions while others are weapons like swords, daggers, bows, spears, armor, shields, and all kinds of things necessary for a team to use on an extensive dungeon expedition.

There's no description that pops up, or instructions about how to use this gear or even why it's been given to us.

The only thing we can do is wait.

We all introduce ourselves to one another, and there is a good amount of interest in Marcie's origin from the Talton Region. Natalie is especially surprised, but Dane takes it in a much more nonchalant manner.

We each tell each other our levels, fighting styles, general skills, and what to expect when working together, then each of us looks through the gear provided to see if anything is to our liking.

Ember and I are the only ones that don't sift through it much, as everything here is basically useless to us, but the others are captivated by the B-grade items and swap out weak pieces of armor and gear that will raise their stats a few percentage points here and there.

It takes another 15 minutes before another team is formed, my best guess is because they were waiting for the final applicant to come out of physical testing.

Just half a minute after this team is formed, the final team comes together and lights up on the screen on the ceiling.

It flashes white, then the screen is split in half. One side still shows the 13 teams and their applicants all together, and the other half shows a large live image of Rodrigo standing in the center of the empty lounge outside.

He stares ahead and speaks.

"Welcome everyone, to the 3rd stage of your B-Class Exams."

The moment he speaks, all of our attention moves to the ceiling.

"For this portion of the exams, you will all be partaking in extensive testing within the Apex Region's Simulation Rooms."

He points toward the side of the screen where all of our team names are, and it zooms in to show that there is a big [0] next to each person's individual name.

"You will be scored with a simple point system during this event. The simulation rooms will test various facets of what it means to be an Association Hunter. Your strengths, weaknesses, cognitive function under stress, and ability to work as a team under pressure and even in your natural element. This is just the surface of what we're looking for today."

He pauses and smiles as it looks like someone is speaking in his ear.

Then, a new screen appears above the silver door in our room. It's split in half.

The top says [00:55:00] and the bottom says [24:00:00].

Rodrigo speaks again.

"There will be 24 trials. Each will last 55 minutes, and 5 minutes of rest within the safety room you stand in now will be allotted between events."

He nods, then the top counter changes and displays a 5-minute clock [00:04:59].

It begins to tick down as he continues to speak, and the clock below it moves as well showing [23:59:57] a few seconds later.

"You are all required to participate in the first trial. You may bring any magical items that are on your person or that have been provided in this room. There is no such thing as cheating; whatever resources you find or strategies that make themselves known are encouraged for you to use. However, we strongly advise against killing your fellow applicants."

Rodrigo takes a deep breath in and out then continues.

"Every trial completed in the allotted time will grant every person on your team a single point. Not every trial after the first needs all applicants to be present inside the simulation room to be passed. There may be times when some applicants want to rest and others can carry on completing trials for the team to conserve energy. Applicants that are not present in the simulation room when a trial is completed will still receive a point for the completed trial."

The clocks on the wall continue to count down. I see it drop below the 3 and a half minute mark as Rodrigo continues.

"If a trial is completed before the time limit allotted, the next will not start until the timer runs to 0. All team members may rest during this time. In addition to the 1 point per completion, the team that completes any given trial first out of all 13 teams will receive an extra 1 bonus point per applicant present. This bonus point will only be given to the members present in the simulation room during the trial. "

He points to the leaderboard again, and it automatically scrolls through all of the [0] markings next to everyone's name.

"Lastly, an MVP point will be awarded to the single applicant that contributes the most during each individual trial..."

Rodrigo pauses for a moment, and lets all this information sink in while the clock on the wall ticks past the 2-minute remaining mark.

"You've all formed teams with fellow regional allies, as well as applicants from regions unknown. Maybe you're already a well-oiled team, or maybe this is the first time you've ever fought together. Today is not only about working together as a team to push each other toward a common goal, it is also about doing this and still showing your individual skills and ability to stand out amongst the crowd."

He pauses again and the reality of this test's true nature sinks in.

The clock on the wall falls below one minute, showing [00:00:59], and the silver door clicks open.

A wave of hot mana pours out, and the visual of a lush green jungle meets my eyes.

It looks like there is a portal to a whole new world right behind this silver door.

I can already sense ranked-up monsters inside roaming the dense trees for what feels like kilometers ahead.

If I wasn't told that this was a simulation room, I would believe it was a real B-Grade dungeon...

The clock above the door continues to tick down and Rodrigo speaks again.

"The door will close once the timer hits zero, so enter while you still can. It shall open once the trial is complete. It is time for the 3rd Stage of the exams to begin. What will you choose? The satisfaction of bringing your peers around you to success together, or will you sacrifice those around you to achieve personal glory above all else? I wish you luck in your journey over the next 24 hours, applicants. Remember, there are no rules and no wrong answers. Do what you believe is right. Let the trials begin."

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Author's Note:

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Thanks for reading:)

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