I Refuse the Tragic Ending

The second night of the wilderness survival examination had arrived.

Darkness covered the forest, swallowing the last traces of daylight beneath the enormous canopy. The distant cries of magical beasts echoed between the trees, sometimes close enough to make the weaker teams tense, sometimes distant enough to become nothing more than another part of the forest’s night.

Outside the Emerald Forest, however, the atmosphere was very different.

Inside the instructors’ observation area, several instructors were gathered around a large magical display.

The crystal screen showed multiple sections of the forest at once. Each image represented a different team.

Some teams were gathered around campfires. Others were still moving despite the darkness, apparently unwilling to waste precious time. A few teams had already entered the middle region of the Emerald Forest in search of higher-quality resources.

Then one of the instructors noticed something strange.

”Wait.”

Rovan leaned closer to the display.

”What’s wrong?” Selene asked.

Rovan pointed toward one of the images.

”Look at them.”

Rovan looked at the screen. Team 37 was no longer wandering through the forest. They had settled like most of the teams.

However, they were inside a particular area of the Emerald Forest that very few people knew about.

Rovan’s expression changed.

”That place?”

Several instructors turned toward the screen.

The image showed Team 37 settling down inside a wide clearing surrounded by unusual stone pillars. They immediately found it familiar and they widened in disbelief.

It was one of the safe zones in the Emerald Forest. A place that had been intentionally kept out of the information provided to the first-year students. They wanted the students to stumble them on their own without letting them know they exist inside the Emerald Forest.

The instructors stared at the screen for several seconds.

”How did they find that place?” Selene asked.

”By luck, probably,” Liora answered.

Rovan immediately shook his head.

”Impossible.”

He crossed his arms.

”There’s almost no chance, especially for a bottom-tier team with members consisting of Rank D and below Hero Cores, to find that place. Don’t you remember those places shrouded with unusual force? People with Hero Core lower than Rank C could not find it no matter what they did.”

Hearing Rovan say that, the other instructors also just realized.

”Indeed. Those special areas are shrouded in mysterious forces that concealed themselves from people with low rank cores while at the same time warding off any wild beast,” Liora said.

”That’s what I’m saying,” Rovan said.

”Wait. Let me check their record,” Selene suddenly tapped on the panel and browsed everyone’s record.

Each member of Team 37’s statistics suddenly displayed.

The first one was Elias Rowan. His Hero Core was Rank E. Next was Mira Sutton. Her Hero Core was Rank E as well. The third one was Darius Holt. His Hero Core was Rank D. And finally, Kael Grayford. His Hero Core was Rank E.

Everyone looked at their status and frowned.

”As expected, all of them are low ranks,” Rovan said with a bit of disappointment in his tone.

”So how did they manage to discover the safe zone?” Selene asked, a little puzzled herself.

”....”

Garrick just looked at them and thought as well.

”That was indeed strange,” he said quietly.

Then suddenly, Liora interjected.

”Wait.”

They looked at her.

Liora then pointed at Kael’s status.

”Aren’t Kael Grayford supposedly Rank F only?” She asked.

The group looked at where she was pointing and saw Kael’s Hero Core at Rank E.

”How did that happen?” Rovan muttered.

”Did he get a breakthrough?” Selene asked.

”But when?” Liora touched her chin.

”Still. Even if he got a breakthrough, Rank E was still far from enough to enter the safe zone,”

Garrick suddenly told them.

The other immediately remembered it.

”It has to be a coincidence,” Selene said.

But Garrick shook his head slightly.

”I don’t think so,” he said.

The others looked at him.

Garrick pointed toward the display.

”Look. They’ve been moving deeper into the forest since morning. The Emerald Forest was enormous. There were countless paths, clearings, streams, caves, and unusual formations hidden throughout it. A student could theoretically stumble upon almost anything if they wandered around long enough. And Team 37 had certainly spent most of the day moving—”

”Right. Maybe they just happened to find it,” Selene interrupted.

But Rovan still frowned. He still believed it was impossible to stumble inside that area by chance. And there was no way they knew about the safe zone.

Liora remained silent. But she was thinking about it as well.

Garrick then cleared his throat and continued what he had started.

Unlike the others, he wasn’t looking at the safe zone. He was looking at the path Team 37 had taken to reach it.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

”It might not be a coincidence.”

Everyone held their breath and looked at him. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Rovan opened his mouth.

”What?”

Garrick pointed toward the map beside the display.

”I’m saying they might have known about it.”

Rovan frowned.

”Are you certain about that?”

”No.”

Garrick’s calm answer came immediately.

”But I think we should consider the possibility.”

He enlarged the map. Several markings appeared across the forest.

”This is the route Team 37 followed.”

He traced the path with his finger.

”They started from this area near the stream. Instead of following the obvious route toward the central region, they moved along the southern edge.”

Rovan nodded.

”I remember that.”

”Then they crossed this stream.”

Garrick moved his finger.

”After that, they avoided the open clearing and moved through this narrow section between the hills.”

Selene also frowned.

”Why would that matter?” She asked.

Garrick looked at her.

”Because if they were simply wandering around, they would have encountered far more stronger magical beasts.”

The instructors became quiet.

Garrick continued.

”That path isn’t the shortest route to the middle region, but it is the safest.”

He pointed at several areas on the map.

”Here, there are several nests belonging to low-rank pack beasts. They avoided them.”

His finger moved again.

”Here, there is a territory belonging to a territorial magical beast. They avoided that too.”

Another movement.

”This section has unstable terrain. There were reports of several students nearly falling into a ravine during previous examinations. Team 37 never went near it.”

He finally placed his finger on the route leading directly toward the safe zone.

”And this path?”

Garrick looked at the others.

”It is the safest route available if your objective is to reach this location.”

Silence filled the observation room. Rovan stared at the map. Then his expression gradually changed. He remembered the footage from earlier.

Team 37 had only encountered a few magical beasts and most of them were low-rank ones.

That means...

Someone in their team knew exactly about the Emerald Forest better than most of the students.