Third phase of the exam

With Belle proclaiming his ability to read minds, many people immediately came up with reasons why they would be leaving the team. To them, it would be better to keep their distance from a telepath.

"We went from fifteen to just six a little bit too fast," Greg said, giving a thumbs up to Belle. He didn't take Belle's claim of being able to read minds seriously; he thought it was Belle's way of chasing away people with bad intentions. He was already proud of himself for knowing Belle's powers. 

"But wait, what if he lied to us back then? His powers might have possibly been telepathy," Greg thought after it clicked in his mind that he wasn't sure of Belle's power since he hadn't demonstrated it yet, only claimed it.

"Who is still interested in knowing others' powers?" Belle asked, but no one replied among the six remaining people.

Seeing how many people had left, Liana looked at Belle in awe. "His ability to scheme should be no less than that of my brother," Liana thought to herself before thinking of something else that really bothered her. "I really think the academy should have provided a map to make navigation easier," a girl with navy blue hair named Chloe said. She was the sixth person in the squad.

"They want to expose us to the real world and test how prepared we are for it. That should be the main purpose of this exam," the blonde-haired boy representing the religious group said.

"That should be true. Nobody will give you a map when you are facing a spatial zone in the real world. Maybe I should even reevaluate my thoughts on them not sending us all to where we will get hurt. Maybe they repeated we can get the horns in any means to divert our thinking from their main goal, which is us working harder to survive," Greg said.

"You are thinking great, but they didn't do that just for that. They really mean it when they said we can get horns in any way possible," the blonde named Adam said.

"Why would they do that, though? Why would they encourage theft when they know we will be facing the dangers of monsters?" Chloe asked, seemingly annoyed.

"They want to teach us that monsters are not the scariest thing, and they also want to teach us about faction and clan competition the hard way," Adam said. He was really cool and had great reasoning.

"I made a great choice picking Brother Belle then. He will protect me from both," Ellaine said, hugging Belle tightly once again.

"Can you just say what you want to say without hugging him, you vixen?" Liana, who couldn't bear it anymore, said.

"You can hug him too if you want. I bet he doesn't mind. Do you mind, Brother Belle?" Ellaine said, still holding Belle while turning to giggle at Liana.

Seeing her giggle, Liana was almost seething with rage. "Interesting," she heard Greg say and burst out laughing. "Laugh one more time, and I'll see if you can heal your gums and grow new teeth." Liana glared at Greg, who immediately shut up.

Soon enough, the group started feeling a bit of pressure as they saw a group of rhinos. "This is no artificially made spatial zone. We were directly transported to the spatial zone that appeared in Shanty Town," Adam said. He was knowledgeable and had read a bit about some spatial zones.

"I have been taking notes since we set off. This is real and definitely not artificial," Adam said.

On the outside, many factions and clans also noticed that this was not an artificially created apocalyptic world but a real one. They had also taken note, but none of them had come to that conclusion earlier because they thought the academy wouldn't send teenagers to such a place.

"We will need an explanation," the guardian representative said with a dark smile as he looked at the academy representative.

"It is indeed a real-world spatial zone, but you shouldn't worry about the safety of the teenagers. Shanty Town has been under the control of the academy for years. Unlike every other spatial zone, it has its uniqueness. It doesn't put immediate pressure on mortal stages when they enter, and you rarely encounter monsters until you reach the middle of the town. Most students would have given up due to sheer pressure before reaching the middle because, just like the door, the deeper you go, the more pressure there is," the academy representative said.

"What if the monsters within actually move to the outer part of the county?" a bald-headed man asked. He seemed to be from one of the big clans.

"Don't worry about something like that. I can assure you it won't happen. Even if it does, the monsters will be at the mortal stage. We have people on the ground to regulate the influx of monsters," the academy representative said.

"Since the students can't get to the center of the town where there are monsters due to the pressure, how are they supposed to get monster horn?" the Obsidian representative asked.

"That is another reason we have a squad down. They will lure and let some mortal rank stage monster out to the outer part of the town. The lucky ones who meet those monsters first will naturally get the horn," the academy representative said.

"What about the unlucky one?" a busty woman asked.

"Only those that choose to be unlucky are unlucky. It was clearly said you can get the horns in any means possible," the academy representative said with a smile.

"You crafty devils! You mean if some are wise enough, they will wait at rendezvous point and rob the others of the horns they get," the Obsidian representative said, laughing out wide.

"Well, they will soon announce that leaving the exam is only one way. So yes, the people that are wise enough will go to strategic places to lay ambush for those you deem lucky."

"That is dirty," the priest said.

"That is teaching them the world faster. You all should appreciate us more, exposing the teenagers fast enough to our shameless act," the academy representatives said with wide laughter.