"We'll wait until everyone else enters the woods. I have something I want to test out before we go hunting."

Ember still stares off into the wilderness while Dane and Nat both patiently wait near him.

Marcie watches the rift far off in the distance with one hand on her spear and the other on her waist while she replies.

"Why wait? And what's in it for me to join up with all of you? Wouldn't splitting the loot five ways make us a lot slower than any of the other groups out there? Other than the apex Elites, I didn't see any teams over three members..."

I shrug, considering the fact that she is the only one here that hasn't formed a link of loyalty with me, and reply.

"Possibly. If you want to go out there alone, be my guest. I just think it'd be more beneficial to stick together. You saw just as well as I did how powerful that artifact was when Trax ate it during the tournament. These weaker monsters don't drop anything of substance either. It's clear that whatever we're looking for in this stage is going to be a lot stronger than you can handle alone..."

I look over at Nat, then back to the spear wielder.

"We have the power of the Flame Emperor on our side, after all. I'm sure if you joined us he'd be generous enough to share his power."

I smirk, and at the same time another random hunter comes out of the rift and makes his way into the woods alone.

Marcie doesn't seem amused by my comment, so I speak more while looking at everyone around me.

"I'm not kidding, each of us is closely linked to the Flame Emperor. If you join my team and trust me as your leader, you'll be granted the same power Nat showed in the ring."

I want to have Marcie as an ally, but she's never given me back the same sentiment. While I can rely on slowly building a relationship with the Talton Region from monthly trade deals, making a direct link through these exams seems like a much more efficient strategy.

She laughs at my remark and turns toward the forest.

"Yeah, right... Prove it or I'm leaving to hunt on my own right now."

I float down to meet her at eye level and think carefully about my next words.

Another hunter walks out of the rift and at the same time I open a telepathy link to Ember.

"There's really no surveillance in this place, right? Whatever I say won't be heard or seen by the Association."

He shakes his head and replies while staring at the sky.

"If they're not in the realm, they definitely can't interact with it. Whatever you're about to do or say can only be perceived from inside."

"Good."

I want to fill my teammates in somewhat, giving them the impression that I'm linked to the Flame Emperor in some way, but don't want to give out enough information to completely blow my cover. I can say and show a lot more considering the fact that the Association can't spy on me here, but I still want these new teammates to believe I'm Ray Anderson from the Bedrock Region for as long as possible.

I nod and activate my buff to give 5% of my stats and mana control to Nat, then 5% of both to Dane as well.

On cue, I weaken my limiter and raise the perceived amount of my mana control to match theirs and so does Ember.

It's a familiar feeling to Natalie, and once she feels the fire magic skill add to her status, she knows what to do.

The only one shocked at this revelation is Dane. His eyes widen as a massive amount of power flows into him unannounced and I send a wave of telepathy into his mind.

"You chose the right people to put your faith in. Ever since the simulation trials, you've been accepted as a follower of the Flame Emperor as well. Test out your borrowed power."

I smirk, and in unison, all four of us burst with flames and let out a sickeningly dense aura.

After 5 seconds, I power everyone down and return to normal too, assuming I've made my point.

I reply to Marcie out loud.

"I believe this is more than enough proof for you. In fact, you've even come in contact with followers of the Flame Emperor in the past as well. His reach spans further than you'd expect."

I put a finger in the air and let electricity stream out of it into a ball around my finger.

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Using the advanced perks of my conceal skill, I move and shape the mana coming out of my hand into a perfect replication of Bri's face, then point to her armor and spear.

"Your high-grade items were crafted by a new Dark Continent leader, were they not?"

Marcie's eyes turn much sharper at this statement, and I make the image disappear while letting her reply.

"How do you know that? Who are you?"

I shrug.

"Even if I could explain it all to you plain and simple, I doubt it'd make a difference. Just know I'm an ally that wants to create a friendly relationship with as many regions as I can while partaking in these exams. Follow me as a leader, and you'll stay in the top 12, plus gain more power than you imagined possible."

Then, I turn toward the forest.

"I know your loyalty stands with your Regional Leader, but in order to share this power with you, you're going to need to at least temporarily put your trust in me."

Marcie stares at me, contemplating my words over and over in her head, then as I'm about to speak again, a final hunter comes out from the rift covered in a veil of darkness.

The Phantom Region hunter disappears the moment he enters the realm, then reappears a few meters ahead, and continues to blip in and out of existence until he reaches the forest and his readings completely vanish from my senses.

I turn my head back and continue what I was saying.

"That's the last one, we either head out together or go our separate ways. What's it going to be?"

She looks at me again, this time with a million questions flashing behind her eyes, but I slowly feel a connection growing just like Dane's did between the 3rd and 4th Stage.

There's a notification in my inner ear and I see all of her stats and vitals appear in my mind while her exact location shows she's standing right in front of me.

Then, she puts out her free hand and I shake it.

"At this point, I'd be stupid to say no. I'll join you, just for this last stage."

"Perfect. Now that we're all on the same page, let's see if my theory about this place stands true..."

I walk over to the edge of the forest and pull out a few items from my item storage through my fake item box.

While I shape high-grade shielding, a heap of mana crystals, and a pile of luminite inside a containment case into a circle, there are a few looks of awe but no one says a word.

After a few minutes pass and a bright flash of light follows, a brand-new teleportation platform and about 100 crystals to go with it come into existence in front of our eyes.

I stand back about 10 meters, then crush one of the white gems.

It flashes me away in a blinding white light and brings me onto the base of the platform instantly.

"Nice. That takes care of that problem."

In a matter of seconds, I pull out more shielding, and shape it into a dome around the platform with a small door opening. I imbue the structure with a mythic grade stealth attribute, then cover the entire structure in a layer of rock identical to the forest environment.

Not a drop of mana comes off of it, and it looks just like a normal boulder except for a tiny opening that faces directly toward a clump of nearby trees.

The looks of awe and disbelief grow, but I just turn to throw each of my teammates a few teleport crystals for themselves, then speak up.

"It's for if we venture too far into the simulation. Like Rodrigo said, the only way to get crystals out will be back through the rift. It'd be a waste to make it 14 days in and have to turn back. Now we don't have to worry about getting lost either."

They catch the crystals and I grant each of them about 0.5% of my mana control along with my absorption skill while turning to walk into the forest.

"Come on. We have some work to do, I'll explain what I can on the way. Ask any questions you want, I'll answer what I can."

They follow me into the dense forest, and we begin moving at a steady rate.

With the shared mana control I'm giving them, they can conserve much more mana and move through the terrain far more efficiently. However, I don't want to grant them so much that they're totally reliant on my power.

Every kill they make now adds about 250-500k MP to their total control. While my kills only give me 0.1%, my teammates are lower leveled than me so they reap far higher rewards. The system grants Nat 1% of their MCP because she's perceived as even lower level than these monsters while both Marcie and Dane get 0.5%.

From the range of my enemy detection readings, this forest is endless. There are millions of MCP waiting to be absorbed for them the further we travel.

A few questions are asked about this shared power, and the fact that I just made a teleport platform out of thin air is also a hot topic. Most of the questions come from Dane and Marcie, but even Nat has a few things to ask.

I avoid giving direct answers to most of them, as the feats I've just shown in front of them defy all logic taught by the Association and general information on what a single hunter is capable of. However, with some long winded answers, help from Ember, and the obvious avoidance of some explanations no matter how many times it's asked, they all come to the conclusion that this Flame Emperor tale I've been weaving is far more complicated than the surface makes it seem.

We're all here for different reasons, and the scenario we're in now benefits all of us, so after about an hour, no more questions come rolling in. We just continue to venture through the forest at a very quick rate and farm jaguars.

As hours pass, we do pass by a few other solo hunters and even squads, but I make sure to curve our path away from them to only interact with the monsters that spawn in these woods.

The jaguars are all the same strength, no matter how far into the woods we travel.

They grant us MCP, and every time they dissolve away, the same small waves of gravity hit my limiter and the outline of a clear crystal is present for a few fractions of a second before there's nothing left.

After about 6 hours, we stop for a break so those that need to can eat food and rest for a moment. I temporarily activate self regeneration on everyone too, so it can heal their fatigue once we start our travel inward again.

Another 6 hours pass, and the forest doesn't change.

The rocks look identical to the paths we took when we entered, and the trees are still lush green and filled with bright-colored fruits.

I can't even sense the area we left from anymore; it's far out of range.

We stop again for a food and potion break, and I take this time to push my senses to their limits, probing out far into the endless forest to see if there are any anomalies, stronger monsters, or unique structures in sight.

For a full minute, I continue pushing my range outward, even flying into the air to try and get a better vantage point.

It seems to really just be an endless flat jungle full of black jaguars as far as the eye can see.

I use my stealth skill to disappear in mid-air, then activate my second-ranked-up buff to use my greater form, boosting my senses even further and I finally see what I'm looking for...

There's an end to the forest in sight. We're over halfway through it, but my gaze tilts upward as I see what Ember was pointing to before.