Erin could already guess what Mako’s answer would be, but still hearing those words come out of Mako’s mouth made her heart sink even more. Her worst fears had come true. From the moment that they were separated, Erin continuously prayed that Andrew and the rest of the group remain safe.

All five of them had weaknesses of their own, but when they were together, they would cover for each other and be quite strong to take on, but since she and Iris had been separated from them, they lost their healer as well as their means of getting water as only she and Iris had the water ability.

“What are we going to do now?” Erin asked, her voice shaking with emotion.

Mako looked at her with a serious expression. “We need to continue with the original plan. We are going to travel to one of the central locations which would be ideal for a shelter and begin planning our next moves from there.”

“I have a feeling that the military didn’t just have one test prepared for us like the thunderstorm, I believe that as we get closer and closer to finishing this test, the military will throw more and more difficulties our way. We have a safe window until the rainstorm on the east side subsides, so let’s use this time efficiently and start moving.” Mako said. .

“That imposter said that he got what he came for. What do you think that is?” Erin asked Mako.

“I honestly have no idea, but what I am sure of is that this is not the last time we see him in this test, and I also believe that he won’t be alone the next he faces us. He must also have an ally with a strong fire ability who lit the hut on fire as well as an ally who has some sort of emotional manipulation ability who controlled all those wolf beasts that attacked us.” Mako replied.

Erin nodded in agreement to Mako’s observations and was now determined to pass this test no matter what and defeat that imposter using all of her strength.

“The next time, that bastard shows up, I am going to let him have it!” Erin exclaimed as two sharp ice spikes formed in her hands.

*************

As they returned back to the others, they saw that they had already made a new campfire. Iris was sitting by the fire alongside Bill and Leon, her face filled with worry. She stood up as she saw them coming and rushed over to meet them, followed closely by Bill and Leon.

“Did you find anything?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She had completely healed her arm, but it sapped a lot of energy from her since she healed it at the maximum intensity she could.

Mako filled them in on what they had discovered, and Iris’s face turned pale. “Well, what are we going to now?” she said, her voice trembling.

“We have to follow Mako’s original plan and start moving toward the center of the island. We have to use our remaining time efficiently and make a strong shelter that could protect us from whatever else the military might have in store for us. We need to act now.”

All of them agreed and started moving right away. Some were still a bit tired from the intense fight against the wolves, but it was still manageable for them it was the best time to get moving. It was still nighttime but it was very close to sunrise, so they won’t have to worry about wandering beasts for long.

************

The group traveled for several hours, carefully navigating another dense forest. The terrain was becoming a lot steeper as they traveled inward because they were tracking on the side of one of the large mountains on the island.

The island was said to be man-made and it was quite impressive as the number of details that were on the island was just absolutely insane. The island had everything, from beaches to forests, lakes, ponds, streams, hills, open fields, and even mountains.

The island was very massive with beaches all around and multiple forests. As you go further in, several mountains of similar height are situated near the center of the island and finally, you have the giant mountain at the very center that could be seen from miles away as it was extremely tall and wide.

Mako and the group didn’t intend to make the rest of their recruitment test into a hiking trip so instead of going for the biggest mountain, they settled on one of the shorter mountains that were closer to the west side of the island.

The plan was simple, they would build their shelter at the top of the mountain, ideally near an information tablet. Then, it would simply be to just hold down the fort and defend against any cadets or beast until the time for the test was over.

They took a break near a small stream near the base of the mountain to rest and cool down. As they sat around, Bill started to ask Mako a question. “Do you really think that the military is going to keep throwing more challenges at us?”

Mako replied without hesitation, “I believe so. This is a test, after all, and the military wants to see how we handle challenges and adapt to unexpected situations.”

Moments after Mako had spoken those words, the group could hear the sounds of multiple footsteps rushing toward them. They immediately went on guard as they didn’t know what to expect and from the path that they had just come from, came 8 more cadets.

The cadets that had just arrived were also surprised to see the group there and from their appearance, it looked like they had been sprinting for a while. Sweat was rolling down their faces and their breathing was heavy.

“How did you reach this far before us!?” The cadet at the very front shouted.

“They must have been closer to the mountain when the news dropped,” Another cadet replied.

“It doesn’t matter. We are not going to let this stop us! Move now or we will make you!” The cadet at the front shouted.

Everyone including Mako was really confused as to what was going on but sure looked like these cadets were in a rush to do something important and it had something to do with this mountain.

Normally, Mako would have let them pass by and not pick fights but now he was quite intrigued about what was so special about this mountain. This was going to be where they were planning to stay for the remainder of the time after all, and it would be disastrous for them if they didn’t know a detail about it that put them in a difficult position.

“Why are you in such a rush? What are you after?” Mako asked the cadet who looked like he was their leader.

“What?! You don’t know?! HAHAHA! This is great! I am not gonna tell you and make our chances even weaker. Now I am going to ask this one more time, Move or we will make you!” The cadet shouted.

Knowing that something was definitely up, Mako just could let these cadets leave without first extracting some information.

“Make me!” Mako replied as he took a stance, followed quickly by the rest of the group also taking their own respective stance.

A wide smile appeared on the cadet’s face as he said,” You are outnumbered 8 to 5, do you really think, you can beat us!?”

Mako didn’t reply to the cadet’s taunt and instead just activated his lightning aura, and electricity started to crackle all over his body. Following Mako’s lead, Erin went next as she released her brand new ice ability aura and conjured several ice spikes that floated in midair, aimed at the cadets, ready to strike.

Next, Bill showcased his sand ability by manipulating all the sand around and conjuring small spikes that he made float in the air aimed at the cadets similar to the ice spikes. Iris was next as she manipulated the water from the stream to create several circular water blades that she hovered behind her with two of them attached to her forearms.

The cadets were definitely intimidated by the quality of the aura that everyone was emitting and also the unique abilities that everyone was showcasing, but they still didn’t back down as they were determined to get past this group and continue their journey forward.

They quickly activated their abilities as well and it turned out that all of them were elemental ability users; but, that was not the end. After activating their aura, the cadets reached into their backpacks and pulled out different power weapons which ranged from daggers to knives, swords, and axes.

However, just as they pulled out their weapons, a blur ran past them at shocking speeds. Before the cadets could even realize it, the blur had stolen all of their Power weapons and returned back to the center of the opposite group, revealing itself to be Leon. Leon was now holding all eight of their weapons and dropped them one by one on the floor for dramatic effect.

“Sorry, but these are not allowed,” Leon taunted as he finished dropping all the weapons and took on his own fighting stance.

With Mako and Bill to his left and Iris and Erin to his right. Leon took his stance in the middle of the group and said to the cadet leader,” Listen, I am not as caring as my friend. Either you tell us what is going on or things are going to get ugly!”