Chapter 51: Hidden Entrance

Elsewhere in the Emerald Forest, the Wilderness Survival Examination had entered a far more dangerous phase.

The first two days had been dominated by exploration, resource gathering, and cautious movement. Most teams had avoided unnecessary conflicts because there was still plenty of time left in the examination.

That was no longer the case.

A loud clash of steel echoed between the trees, followed by the sharp crack of magic.

Near a narrow stream, one team had surrounded another group of students. The defeated team had already been pushed back against the water, leaving them with nowhere to escape.

One of the attackers raised his sword and shouted, "Drop your weapons and surrender!"

A student from the surrounded team tightened his grip on his spear and stubbornly replied, "We will not give you anything!"

The leader of the attacking team stepped forward and coldly declared, "Then we will take everything from you by force!"

The battle began immediately.

Steel collided with steel. Spells flashed between the trees, illuminating the forest for brief moments. The students fought desperately, but the difference in strength between the two teams was obvious.

Within several minutes, the battle was over.

The stronger team stood victorious while the defeated students lay unconscious on the ground. Their weapons were collected, their supplies were searched, and anything valuable was taken.

The victors did not even bother celebrating.

They simply packed what they had obtained and continued deeper into the forest.

Similar scenes were occurring throughout the Emerald Forest. The examination had entered a new phase.

The instructors observing from outside the forest had noticed the change as well.

More teams were being eliminated from the competition. More students were engaging in direct conflicts. The importance of resources was also increasing with every passing hour.

Food was becoming scarce. Medicinal supplies were becoming valuable. And valuable materials were becoming even more desirable.

The students had initially believed that surviving five days in the wilderness would be the main challenge.

They were beginning to realize that surviving other students might be just as difficult.

Among the teams taking advantage of the situation was Victor’s group.

They had just finished defeating another low-tier team.

Victor stood in the middle of the defeated camp with an irritated expression while several of his teammates searched through the supplies.

He folded his arms and ordered, "Check everything. Search every bag and storage container."

Several students immediately followed his orders.

They overturned bags, opened storage boxes, searched beneath blankets, and even checked inside the tents.

A few minutes later, one of the students returned with a grim expression. He approached Victor and reluctantly said, "Victor, we searched the entire camp, but this is everything we found."

The student raised his hand. There was a single piece of bread resting in his palm. He looked embarrassed as he added, "It is just one slice of loaf bread."

Victor stared at the bread. His eyebrow twitched. For several seconds, he said nothing. Then his expression suddenly darkened.

"Fuck!"

Victor kicked a nearby wooden bucket with enough force to send it tumbling across the ground. The bucket struck a tree and broke apart, scattering several scraps of cloth and dried leaves across the forest floor.

The other students immediately fell silent.

Victor clenched his fists and demanded, "This is all they have?"

Nobody answered him. The student holding the bread slowly lowered his hand. Victor took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. The situation was becoming worse than he had expected.

If this continued, hunger could become their greatest enemy during the remaining days of the examination. They could not rely entirely on hunting for food. The deeper they went into the forest, the more dangerous the creatures became. Hunting them consumed stamina, and injuries were becoming increasingly difficult to treat because medicinal supplies were limited.

And without enough food, even a strong team would eventually lose its ability to fight.

Victor glanced at the single piece of bread. It was almost insulting. He had expected the defeated team to possess at least enough supplies to make their effort worthwhile. Instead, they had gained almost nothing.

Then another thought suddenly occurred to him.

Victor’s expression changed.

He raised his head and asked, "Is there any news about the whereabouts of Kael’s team?"

One of his teammates immediately looked up.

He answered, "Yaba just arrived a short while ago."

Victor turned toward him and asked, "What did he say?"

The student replied, "He said Kael’s team also entered the middle region yesterday."

Victor’s eyes narrowed.

"Really?"

The student nodded and continued, "Yes. However, he lost track of them after a magical beast blocked his path. He was unable to follow them any farther."

Victor’s lips slowly curled upward. That was enough. He did not need to know their exact location. Knowing that Kael’s team was somewhere in the middle region was already valuable information.

Victor glanced toward the dense forest.

"So Kael is here too," he murmured.

A strange excitement appeared in his eyes. He had not expected Kael’s team to survive this long. Team 37 was supposed to be one of the weakest teams participating in the examination. Yet somehow, they had survived the first two days without being eliminated. More importantly, Kael had brought supplies with him. Victor remembered it, or more specifically, he didn’t forget about it.

If those supplies were still intact, they could solve one of Victor’s biggest problems.

His grin widened.

One of his teammates noticed his expression and asked, "Do you have something in mind?"

Victor did not answer immediately. He simply stared toward the forest. Then he said, "Kael’s team has probably been conserving their supplies while everyone else has been fighting. Let’s go and get them."

He began walking toward the forest. His teammates immediately followed.

Victor’s expression became increasingly excited.

"Kael, you better take good care of those supplies before I come to get you."

A quiet laugh escaped his mouth.

"Hehe..."

Then his laughter grew louder.

"Hahaha!"

His laughter reverberated through the forest as his team disappeared between the trees. The defeated students remained unconscious near the stream. However, something unexpected happened after Victor’s team had left. The air several meters away suddenly distorted.

It was subtle at first. Then the surrounding light bent unnaturally, creating a faint ripple that almost looked like heat rising from the ground.

Then two silhouettes emerged from the distortion. Both figures were dressed in dark clothing. They moved silently, without making enough noise to attract the attention of any nearby students. One of them immediately crouched beside the unconscious students and checked their condition.

After examining them for several seconds, the figure said, "They are not badly injured. They are only unconscious."

The second figure looked around the area before replying, "Good."

He glanced toward the direction Victor’s team had taken.

Then he said, "There is no need to leave them here. Let’s bring them back to the base."

The first figure nodded.

Together, they carefully lifted the unconscious students. Within moments, the two mysterious figures disappeared into the forest.

While this was happening, none of the other teams had noticed. Far away from all of this, Team 37 remained inside the ancient stone formation. Unlike the other teams, they had no interest in searching for opponents.

They were not gathering resources. They were not hunting magical beasts. And they were not looking for other teams to fight.

They were just cultivating in silence.

Kael sat cross-legged beneath one of the ancient stone pillars with his eyes closed. His breathing was slow and steady. With every breath, he could feel the dense spiritual energy surrounding the stone formation entering his body.

The energy flowed through his muscles and meridians before gradually gathering around his Hero Core. His Hero Core responded immediately. The energy was not particularly violent. Instead, it felt gentle and pure, making it considerably easier for him to absorb. Kael maintained the rhythm of his breathing.

He repeated the process without interruption. Not far from him, Mira was also meditating. Darius sat against one of the stone pillars with his eyes closed, while Elias had found a comfortable place beneath a tree.

Even Quinn had stopped wandering around. The little white spider was curled up near Kael, occasionally moving its legs before settling down again.

Kael slowly opened his eyes. He looked toward the forest beyond the stone formation. The surrounding was peaceful, but Kael knew better than anyone that at this moment, the whole forest was in chaos.

Another clash of weapons somewhere. A burst of magic erupted. Loud cries followed. Then silence.

Kael understood exactly what was happening during this time even without him witnessing the whole scene.

He smirked.

The students who had spent the first two days gathering resources would soon begin discovering an uncomfortable truth.

Gathering resources too early was not necessarily an advantage. Resources were valuable, but they were only useful if a team could protect them. There was no point carrying a large amount of valuable materials if another team could simply defeat them and take everything. Of course, the top-tier teams were different.

They had enough strength to protect what they gathered. For everyone else, the situation was different. Kael closed his eyes again. A faint smile appeared on his face.

Let them fight. Let them compete. And let them exhaust themselves. For now, his team had something far more important to do.

They needed to become stronger.

The entire day passed without Team 37 leaving the safe zone.

While the other teams continued moving through the forest, fighting over resources and searching for valuable materials, Team 37 remained inside the ancient stone formation. Their decision would have looked absurd to anyone watching from the outside.

But Kael was not concerned. He knew the examination very well. The remaining days were valuable to accumulated strength.

Meanwhile, another team had made an entirely different discovery.

Leon and his group had been traveling through a relatively quiet section of the middle region when their scout suddenly stopped. He raised one hand, signaling the others to halt. The rest of the team immediately became alert.

Leon approached him and quietly asked, "What did you find?"

The scout pointed toward a massive tree several meters ahead.

He lowered his voice and explained, "There is something strange behind that tree."

Leon frowned.

"Something strange?"

The scout carefully moved forward and pushed aside several thick vines. Behind them was a narrow depression in the ground. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than a natural hollow formed by erosion. However, the closer Leon looked, the more unusual it became.

The roots of an enormous ancient tree had grown across the depression, intertwining with one another like a natural wall.

Between those roots was a dark stone archway. Moss covered most of its surface, and thick vines had nearly concealed the entire entrance. Ancient runes were carved into the stone. Most of them had been worn away by time, but several faintly glowing symbols remained.

Cold air slowly flowed from the darkness beyond the archway. The scout swallowed before saying, "I found this after noticing the air coming from behind the roots. There is a passage beyond here."

Leon stepped closer. His eyes narrowed as he examined the runes. The entrance did not look natural.

It had clearly been constructed.

David Lyncaster approached from behind Leon and asked, "Could this be a ruin?"

The scout shook his head and replied, "I do not know. I only found the entrance."

Leon remained silent for several seconds. Then his expression changed. A possibility entered his mind.

"This could be a hidden dungeon."

The moment he said those words, the surrounding students became excited. One of them immediately asked, "Do you really think it is a dungeon?"

Leon looked at the ancient entrance and answered, "I cannot be certain yet."

He placed a hand against the stone archway. The surface was cold. Yet he could feel a faint flow of energy coming from the darkness beyond it.

Leon slowly smiled.

"We will not know unless we investigate."

One of his teammates hesitated.

"If this really is a dungeon, should we report it to the instructors?"

Leon turned toward him. He understood the concern. The Wilderness Survival Examination was supposed to test their ability to survive in the wilderness, but an undiscovered dungeon could completely change the situation. However, Leon also understood what an opportunity like this meant.

He looked back toward the entrance.

"If this is a dungeon, we could find resources far more valuable than anything we have gathered outside."

His voice became more determined.

"We could obtain rare materials, magical items, and possibly even treasures left behind by whoever constructed this place."

The other students exchanged glances. Their excitement was becoming difficult to hide.

Leon continued, "If we clear this place, we will not only have a chance to secure the top position in the examination." He paused before adding, "We may also obtain resources that will be useful to us personally."

For Leon, that final point was especially important. He had never viewed the academy as nothing more than a place to obtain good grades. His goal was much greater. Someday, he wanted to become the knight who would lead his people.

To accomplish that, he needed strength. He needed experience. And he needed opportunities. And standing before him was an opportunity that might not appear again.

Leon looked into the dark passage. His eyes became resolute.

"I am going in."

One of his teammates immediately asked, "Should we prepare first?"

Leon nodded.

He replied, "Yes. Check everyone’s equipment, prepare the healing supplies, and make sure we have enough light sources." He looked toward the others and continued, "We do not know what is waiting inside, so nobody moves ahead alone."

The team immediately began preparing. Weapons were checked. Supplies were reorganized. And magical lamps were taken out.

The atmosphere that had been relaxed moments earlier quickly became serious. Leon stood before the hidden entrance and looked into the darkness.

The ancient entrance had remained hidden beneath the roots of the enormous tree for who knew how many years. And now, during the Wilderness Survival Examination, Leon’s team had discovered it. None of them knew what awaited them inside. And none of them knew whether the dungeon contained treasures or monsters.

But one thing was certain.

The examination had just become much more complicated.