James searched the hold of the ship but could not find any chest. 

Suddenly a girl came in from another opening. She was Kayla, the beautiful blonde girl who came 1st in overall score in the entrance exam. 

It seemed that she was a lucky one to have avoided the Kraken and reached inside. 

She looked over to them, seeing their condition. James suddenly thought that she might attack and readied himself, but she simply gave a small nod and started searching the hold as well. 

After a minute or so James stopped as he found that there was nothing which could be termed as treasure inside. He didn't have much time left, he needed to be quick or else they would die out of lack of breath. 

There was one other place he hadn't searched yet, which was the captain's cabin. It is usually located below the Quarter deck in such ships. 

The problem was that he could not use the hatch or what was left of it to go outside as he might be caught by the Kraken. Ruling going from the main deck out he decided another to try another method. 

He reached the left bulkhead which was already broken in various places and gestured to Kayla to help him create substantial space to pass through. 

Kayla after failing to find anything decided to go through with James's plan. She used her sword to cut through the broken, rotten wooden wall making substantial area for them to pass through. 

He got inside the small chamber and James motioned for her to cut through the partition above. He sent her a message to cut slowly making the least amount of noise as above that upper chamber laid the Kraken himself. 

A space was made and the three passed inside through the partition where the captain's chamber and hopefully their treasure was situated. 

Entering inside the chamber, they saw the ceiling had subsided down a bit with holes in various places. This was probably due to the Kraken's head resting just above them. 

They searched the cabin trying their best to avoid creating any noise. James looked around himself. There was a skeleton wearing what seemed like a captain's uniform. 

The room had a table, a chair, a bed, a broken mirror and some items which did not seem to be of value. 

Searching the chamber made them tensed as they again could not find anything. James forced himself to think hard as their situation was quite desperate now. Gus almost seemed to be fainting. 

He thought about what he knew and what he had been told. The task was to unearth the treasure from the Sunken Ship. This treasure wasn't necessarily an artifact or gold thought James. 

He thought about this ship and what he had seen till now. Then he suddenly thought about the ship's name. After pondering for a few seconds, it suddenly dawned on him. 

He quickly searched the captain's robe and found a sealed letter. A smile broke on his face as he opened the seal. 

Over ten thousand years ago there was a kingdom named Kintara. It was about to face a joint attack from the neighboring kingdoms which desired it's ports and it's land. 

The king of Kintara knew they wouldn't survive this attack and sent a ship to the kingdom of Taskan with a letter asking for help. 

Taskan was their close ally and they expected that with its help they would avoid this calamity. However, they never received any help and the kingdom was burned down to ashes. 

James had read about it in his history class in the 1st month in the Institute. 

It was later found out that the ship never reached the shores of Taskan and disappeared midway somewhere in the ocean. 

The letter was the treasure, the hope of an entire kingdom. Kayla looked at James admiring the sealed letter awkwardly but did not say anything. James suddenly motioned to her to come near them. 

He didn't know what would happen when he open the letter and didn't want Kayla who had also reached to this point on her own strength to lose out. 

As he opened the letter, a bright light flashed blinding them. James opened his eyes and found himself sitting inside the hall. The headmaster smiled as he looked at him. 

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James understood that they had completed the test and a smile broke out on his face. Beside him Gus was also awake. 

"What you did inside was crazy! You cut my leg there without even flinching or stopping to think about it! " said Gus as he sent a message through qi transmission. 

" Haha well we completed it didn't we? Besides it was better than having a tentacle pierce through you know. " replied James. 

" Thanks bro. I really don't know what to say. Thanks a lot! Without you this test was impossible for me"

"Don't mention it. We decided we would team up didn't we now? "

" Haha yeah! "

He turned to look towards Kayla who was also awake. She gave a slight smile and sent a " Thank You" through qi transmission. James smiled and thanked her back for her help inside. 

After a minute or so, the people still inside also woke up. The headmaster cleared his throat gathering everyone's attention. 

After a short pause he spoke, 

"Looks like this year we have 3 winners. Amongst you 3 have succeeded to find the treasure inside the ship. A better record than last year's 1 winner. "

" I would like the winners to come up here as I call their names to receive their reward. "

" James Walter, Gus Light and Kayla Mendes. These 3 have braved the trails and completed it successfully. They will each receive a pellet of the One Horned Beetle as a prize. "

The headmaster handed a red box to each of them as they came up to collect their reward. As he handed it to them one by one, a person came in front taking their photos. 

It was instructor Dave. He grinned as took their photos as they received the box, clearly very pleased with the result. 

James, Gus and Kayla went back to their places. The headmaster looked towards the others and said, 

" Some of you might blame your luck and call them to have been luckier than you to have avoided the Kraken or survived the forest. "

" But remember this, on the road of cultivation, you will find that there will be many who will be more 'fortunate' than you. You cannot blame your luck every time, only your inability to cope up with the situation. "

" Not everyone gets lucky. It just may seem so from the outside, but that doesn't mean it's the truth. I would like to mention James Walter here. "

" Boy you impressed me with the way you faced the situation and even with your decisive thinking when your friend was in trouble. "

" However do not let this get over your head. As a cultivator always be humble with your achievements. "

" I thank the head master. I shall try and abide by your teachings. " said James as he got up and bowed towards the old man. 

The head master nodded and spoke again, 

" That will be all for today. I hope you all gained something from this experience. Do not be disheartened as there will be many more such events giving each of you a chance to prove your worth. "

" With that said the Virtual Test comes to an end. You may all go back to your dorms. Your classes will resume from tomorrow as usual. " said the head master. 

The students got up to leave. Outside James and Gus took to their hover discs and went back to their dorms. With the pellet in their hands, they didn't want any mishap from occurring. 

Inside a room, James sat on the floor with a mat laid below. He opened the box, a small black round  pellet lay there. He picked it up and without any wait swallowed it down. 

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Notes - Here is today's chapter! The next one I can't promise if I'll be able to upload another today, haven't started writing it yet. If you find any mistakes or have any suggestions please do comment and tell. Novels crossed 5k and now at 6.5k total views yay!!! :) 

Enjoy!!