Ember and I look at her cautiously, not answering. So, she elaborates.

"I've been to the Bedrock Region plenty of times for private missions. I've never seen hunters like you... Your stamina, mentality, even fighting instincts... something is up. That blue crystal that took videos of everything it saw, how'd you even get your hands on one of those? I've only ever seen association officials use those—"

There's another long pause, however, this time I do reply while looking her in the eyes.

"I don't think any of these questions need to be answered. How would you like it if I started digging into your past?"

I can tell she's really just curious, but based on the heavy aura of foreign mana in the room, I can tell everything we're doing and saying is being watched and analyzed.

So, to nip this conversation in the bud, I decide to take a risk and open my telepathy link with her.

"You want to cause some havoc, right? The stronger nations are used to always controlling winning spots with their Elite hunters in the B-Class exams."

Her pupils shift, and I can tell she's very confused about the voice in her head, so I speak again.

"I don't feel comfortable talking about this where others can listen. This is telepathy. A special perk I acquired after... Actually, I won't elaborate. All you need to know is that It's how I coordinate attacks so flawlessly with Emrie. I'd appreciate it if you kept it a secret from the Association as well."

She nods once, and I peer over to Dane and Natalie, then to Ember and continue through my link.

"What if a few extra applicants won this year's exams? Wouldn't it be fun to place higher than the chosen Elites from the Apex Region and reject their honorary B-Class license anyway?"

She replies through the link.

"Well, if you put it like that. A scenario like that would be satisfying...."

I grin as she nods once, then replies out loud to split the perceived awkward silence in the room to make the conversation seem natural to anyone listening in through a surveillance system.

"Right. I guess I don't know much about you, and you don't know me. Let's just do our best to win this thing."

Ember stands up and lets out a long sigh while stretching his arms.

"Well, I'm glad that's settled. I wonder if any other teams are going to figure this trial out."

It takes over 30 minutes for the Apex Region's team to finally complete the trial, and after them, only two other teams even manage to finish before the time runs out.

Marcie decides to rest while Ember and I continue the trials.

While she's up to do more, it would be best to have her and all the others fully rested by morning to help with the later trials at full strength.

Once trial 9 starts, it seems clear that many teams are taking a similar strategy.

We get another standard dungeon collapse trial, and Ember and I speed off through the sky to the end of it without waiting at all.

We disregard any hunters that need saving and plunge right into the boss room.

There's a huge humanoid tusked giant creature with many minions that spawn inside; however, we aim straight for the vitals and don't have any teammates or baggage to protect. We can go in straight for the kill without having to think about the recoil of our attacks hitting anyone at close range.

The monster's counterattacks miss us by mere millimeters.

It looks like we've nearly died, but both of us know that even if these attacks hit us, it wouldn't feel like anything more than a pinprick.

[Congratulations! [00:50:47] Remaining! Trial 9 Complete! 1 Point awarded to all applicants! 1 MVP point awarded to Ray Anderson. You've come in 1st place, 1 additional point awarded to all applicants present! Please rest until your next Trial begins.]

Surprisingly, only 7 out of the 13 teams even complete this trial.

We rest in the room again and take on trial 10 alone too while our teammates all sleep and recover from their long day of testing and trials.

There's a wide open desert with a single boulder at its center that stretches about 2 kilometers in distance. The prompt reads [Split this boulder in two.]

Ember and I both verbally agree to use our ranked-up buffs, but in reality, we're just lessening the barrier of our mana suppression and letting out more mana to send off stronger attacks.

[Congratulations! [00:42:18] Remaining! Trial 10 Complete! 1 Point awarded to all applicants! 1 MVP point awarded to Emrie Carter. You've come in 1st place, 1 additional point awarded to all applicants present! Please rest until your next Trial begins.]

Ember wins the MVP point for having more explosive attacks.

Fire is far more destructive against rock than electricity is.

Again, only 5 of the 13 teams complete this trial completely.

As the night goes on, fewer and fewer teams complete full trials.

While the first few trials it was 13 for 13, now we're lucky if even half complete them. Some teams are up against the wire on time, completing the trials with just seconds to go.

Eight more trials go by.

The only other team that completes them all is the Apex Region team. While the three teams consisting of Vice and Veridian hunters constantly place high in the rankings, they are not as consistent as the Apex Elites team.

The three first-place wins from us on rounds 8, 9, and 10 in a row were merely luck.

As there are more puzzle events that require different elements like water to put out fires or healers to bring villagers back to perfect health.

While I could use water magic of my own or even use self-regen potions on the villagers, it isn't worth exposing our identities for a few points.

We still manage to win 2 more out of the 8 events that pass through the night and do end up completing every one of them which gives our team an overwhelming advantage above many of the others.

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Between Nat, Dane, and Marcie, every few rounds when they feel up to it, they join us to complete challenges together.

However, as the rounds go on, the challenges only get harder and stronger monster spawn. Under the facade of mine and Ember's ranked up buffs, we're easily able to dispatch these higher-level trials. Though, it's clear many teams are not even supposed to be able to complete these nearing the end.

As everyone gets progressively more tired, the trials get more difficult. Some of the monster waves have level 700-750+ monsters. They're tough, but not impossible. It's supposed to be this way.

Even so, we make it a point to clear every one of them to gain extra points for everyone.

From this alone, as we move onto the 19th round, everyone on our team is in the top 15 of this stage's point leaderboard. Ember and I are both in the top 5, outranking a few of the Apex members that haven't had the opportunity to gain MVP points as often and some that have taken rests while their teammates complete rounds and get 1st place points without them.

Some of the other teams from the Vice and Veridian Regions have single hunters that are being pushed up the ranks for claiming MVP every round. It's a smart strategy to gain personal points if you're much stronger than the rest of your team.

We complete the rest of the trials, and the completion rate falls lower and lower.

By the 23rd and 24th trial, there's only two teams that are finishing. It's me and Ember, along with the two Elites from the Apex region.

Their stamina and drive is impressive as well. We go back and forth on winning the 1st place prize with them on the final few rounds.

However, overall they've won far more in the earlier rounds to maintain their early lead.

On the final leaderboard, [Ray Anderson] is in 3rd place, and [Emrie Carter] is in 4th. Scattered within the top 15 the rest of our teammates still stay, carried by the basic completion points awarded that many teams failed to receive on every round.

Marcie has accepted the fact that there is something very off about us, but doesn't care as long as she's benefiting from it in the end.

Natalie on the other hand gets increasingly confused as every time we walk out from the silver door with another stage completion, neither of us ever need heals, and don't even touch the gear on the walls.

Unlike Marcie, I don't feel confident talking to Nat through my telepathy link to explain what I need to. She's still from the Apex Region. It feels a bit too closely related and loyal to the top brass of the Association for me to be sharing any secrets.

Occasionally, we'll drink mana potions to restore MP after long battles, but usually I'm just consuming mana from the simulation room itself to restore myself while battling.

All hunters with mana control awakened are capable of absorbing the mana in their environment to a certain extent. With the occasional MP potion I take from my storage for show as well, it all seems very convincing to me.

To Natalie, however, something is very wrong. I can see the confusion growing on her face every trial, but as she also watches her own points rise from our efforts, she doesn't say a word and continues to heal Marcie and Dane when they come back after long battles.

While Dane is about half as active in trials overall by the end of it, he still gives it his all and does whatever I say with no questions asked while inside the sim room.

He doesn't seem curious or cautious at all about the seemingly never-ending stamina we have, his eyes only show gratefulness. The final 24hr countdown hits zero and the 3rd stage of the B-Class exams is over.

Rodrigo's face reappears on the ceiling next to the now updated leaderboard with everyone's name and ranking on it.

"Congratulations, hunters, you've all completed the 3rd stage of the exams. If you're still worn out or in critical condition from these trials, do not worry. There will be a total rejuvenation and private room allotted to any hunters that wish before you all move on to the 4th stage."

I hear a mechanical shifting sound behind the silver door that the simulations just took place inside. It sounds as if the room itself is being moved away...

Then, the entire resting room that we're standing in shakes too and it feels like we're being moved around in space by a huge machine. I'm tempted to use my all-seeing eye to see through the shielding around us but I refrain from doing so.

Rodrigo continues.

"Your wristbands have now been updated with the weighted scores of the 3rd stage. Do not fret if you feel your score does not appropriately reflect your performance in the exams so far. In the 4th stage, you will be able to show off your solo abilities in a grand event starting in 16 hours. Be prepared to fight, and take advantage of our amenities."

He pauses, then grins just slightly.

"As you move to this next room, sabotages and fighting are permitted in the public areas but not in private labeled rooms. Please, no killing before Stage 4 begins, I will have to intervene if you take things too far. More information will be provided closer to the time the events of the 4th stage begin."

The silver door clicks open, and at the same time the numbers on our wristbands update.

A final word from Rodrigo echoes through our ears as his face and the leaderboard disappears from the ceiling of the resting room.

"Allies will not be helpful to you during the 4th stage, but it would be wise for you not to break your bonds if you want any chance of prevailing in the 5th."

There's a moment of silence as we think about his final words, but I waste no time to look down at my wristband to see [14]. Then, I peer over at Ember's and it reads [10].

Natalie's says [17], Dane's reads [18], and Marcie's says [19].

We all jumped up in ranks a lot from performing well during this stage. This increase in rank is just what I needed to cancel out those test results of the first round. With 2 more stages to go, I only need to raise 2 more ranks to reach my goal.

I whisper out loud to Ember.

"Looks like you already made it into the top 12, not bad."

We walk through the door into a very large circular room with nothing inside. The walls are bright white and mana shielded just like the rest of this fortress.

Its diameter is 100m at most, and the ceiling is high, about 10m, but nowhere close to as massive as the training rooms we were standing in during the 2nd Stage physical tests.

Once all 5 of us step out, the silver door shuts behind us and I hear the same mechanical shifting sound like the room is moving away and being replaced with something else behind it.

There are at least 75 doors on the outer edges of this room, but only a few of them open and more teams come walking out.

While our team looks a bit tired and fatigued, others come out looking far worse.

Some are missing limbs, others are still covered in blood and deep unhealed wounds, while some teams even carry out sleeping or passed out members into the room before the doors shut.

The mechanical sound of moving parts outside of the humming shielding gets much louder once everyone is in this room, then numbers 1-66 light up on all of the doors on the outer rim of this massive circular room.

A screen appears on the ceiling of this room now and reads out a single sentence.

[Please relocate to your private suite to receive a full rejuvenation before the 4th Stage.]

Another timer counting down from 16 hours is visible below it, and no other instructions are given.

I look to Ember, and he looks to me with a nod and speaks.

"I guess, see you in the next stage—or whenever we meet again."

I nod.

"I guess so."

He walks off to the room numbered [10].

Marcie looks at me with the same serious look she's been giving me ever since I talked to her with Telepathy the first time.

"Thanks for being a good teammate. I hope we aren't enemies in the next round like that proctor said."

She turns to walk toward her door in the opposite direction that Ember walked and says a final line without turning to me.

"If we are, I won't hold back."

I smirk.

"Fine, me neither."

Then, Dane speaks next and I see a very unexpected notification ping in my ear.

"Thank you for the boost in ranking, It may actually be possible for me to go home to the Silca Region with good news and extra funding. It'll just take 6 more ranks. Whatever you need, I'm there for you, Ray!"

He looks up to me with a wide smile, and I see his status and geolocation in my Rising Emperor's Domain as clear as day.

For some reason, a link of loyalty was formed with this applicant from the Silca region.

It wasn't my intention, but it can't hurt to maintain this bond...

I smile and place out a hand for a shake.

"Of course, maybe when all of this is over you can show me around your home region."

He grabs my hand and shakes it, then thanks me profusely again before leaving to enter the door next to the one Marcie just left to.

The only person left near me is Natalie, and her eyebrows are still scrunched with confusion.

With her hands on her hips, looking me right in the eyes, she's about to ask me something, but we're interrupted by a loud yell from across the room.

"You traitor! I can't believe you! An Apex Hunter giving up simulation tactics to help the Bedrock Region! One of them even made it into the top 12 already because of your lapse in judgment! I'm going to kill you!"

My head turns to the noise, and I see all six members of the Apex Region's Elite team storming our way with angry looks on their faces.

Trax, the one who yelled, has a bright [1] on his wristband. He's leading their group and is crackling head to toe in violent electricity.