After a long, tense wait that seemed to drag on forever, the bright cry of an eagle shook the trees above Zachary’s head. The captain was back. Her armored eagle was missing many feathers and now showed off several fresh battle wounds. Her weary face, however, was marked by a wide smile. In her hands, she played with two summoning cards, each containing a pale white crystal that sparkled brightly.

“Damn, she got them both?” Carlos muttered.

“Seems like it,” Shuhua said.

The captain steered her eagle down and hovered above the cliffs. Her smile disappeared, replaced with an expression one would have when looking at garbage.

“The seagull horde will no longer be a threat to us. We will now count your contributions. If you try to fool me with anima crystals of other creatures, I will kill you…”

She let her words hang in the air like an executioner’s blade.

“I see that you have formed into several groups and hunted the seagulls together. That’s fine. But you must determine your individual contributions right now. If you try to slip anima crystals to others after yours have been counted, I will kill the both of you.”

“Lastly, in order to avoid any more trickery and annoyances, I will count your contributions individually but I will only announce the scores at the end. Therefore… you should each do your best to get into the top sixteen.”

She looked up and down the cliffs with a sneer.

“Do it now. I won’t wait for too long.”

After she finished speaking, the survivor groups fell into heated discussions. Zachary’s group wasn’t exempt from it. Originally, Heather and her people intended to pool their contributions together so that everyone had an equal chance to get into the top sixteen. With the help of Zachary’s soul orbs he gave them and the seagulls they captured, they had a good chance of this.

However, given the captain’s words, there was no guarantee. If it was everyone for themselves, there were bound to be accidents. Out of the forty or so survivors, only sixteen would make it through. The rest would have to stay in the New World forever. Everyone was worried about the rankings. Only those who grabbed the most contributions for themselves would have the best chance.

“Guys!” Jean-Pierre said suddenly, interrupting an ongoing argument between Nellie and Carlos, “I will be right back. Stop fighting each other.”

With that, his shadowless cloud owl wrapped him up in a gray fog and disappeared.

"We're not!" Carlos retorted.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Nellie asked but her words only met empty air.

“Why did he leave?” Carlos asked, “Is he ditching us?”

“He doesn’t want to share his contributions!” Shuhua said.

“Guys!” It was Zachary’s turn to shout, “Stop fighting. He said he will be right back so he will be back!”

Heather also waved to the others to stop any more arguments, “Remember what we discussed before. I was hoping to enter the top sixteen to give you guys a better chance of snatching the four pardons. Given the situation, I can only help right now. You three, take my contributions and share it amongst yourselves. That way, you will surely make it.”

“What about him?” Carlos pointed to Zachary.

Heather snorted, “He already has too many points. He was throwing out soul orbs like candy today. Just ignore him.”

“Heather, are you sure?” Shuhua asked.

“Is there no other way?” Nellie added.

Heather hugged them both, “I already said, I’m not going back. That hasn’t changed. Here, just take my points, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Jean-Pierre said, reappearing where he previously stood. He had a smile on his face like he had discovered a big secret.

“What? Where did you go?” Heather asked.

His smile widened, “Of course, I went to spy on the other groups and their laughable attempts at distributing points. There is nothing to worry about. They aren’t as united or friendly with each other as us. The gang leaders are grabbing most of the points for themselves and leaving the rest to fight amongst themselves. Heather, stick with your original plan. You will all make it through.”

She studied him seriously and then nodded, “Alright.”

Heather, Nellie, Shuhua, and Carlos quickly pooled their anima crystals, summoning cards, and soul orbs together. A novice rank seagull’s anima crystal was worth one point. An adept rank seagull at the first four soul paths was worth six points. And an adept rank at the final four soul paths was worth eight points. If they were captured alive within summoning cards or soul orbs, they were worth double the points. Considering these factors, they came to a result that was as fair and even as they could possibly come up with. Nellie and Shuhua were given fifty-five points each. Carlos had fifty-four while Heather had the least at fifty-three.

Jean-Pierre gave them a thumbs up, “Good! That will be enough. Trust me.”

“How many do you have?” Carlos asked.

Jean-Pierre was still mostly considered an outsider so he did not involve himself with their distribution plan.

“Fifty-eight.” He replied.

“And you?” Carlos turned to Zachary.

Zachary weighed the small animal-hide sack in his hand, feeling a little awkward. He had far more points than them. But that was only because he had used a fair number of soul orbs. The strongest seagulls netted him sixteen points and he had more than one of those. But his soul orbs were earned through blood, sweat, and tears. He had almost died for them so he didn’t feel like sharing past the first batch that he had handed out for free.

Heather waved Carlos off, “He has more than us but it doesn’t matter. We all did our best. Whatever happens, happens…”

She gave Zachary a difficult smile.

He didn’t know what to say so he remained quiet.

The awkward silence was eventually broken by another eagle cry.

The captain once again flew up to address them with her booming voice, “All of you! Come out and line up. Place your contributions on the ground in front of you. Don’t you dare touch them again after you have placed them down. I’ll be watching!”

Zachary let out a slow breath. This was the moment of truth, the conclusion of their first trial. With this, he would be one step closer to going home.

---

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