By three, the adventurers stood in front of the hotel, a red head standing in front of a bunch of air balloons. "I am Kurt your third examiner. I shall explain the specifics of this exam. We are heading to Paltos Forest, the second largest forest on Nito Island. Every team will surrender one member of their team. We are doing a rescue mission. That member will dangle over a tank of sea monsters at the end of the forest. Once you hear a bell, you will be allowed to start. Your job is to get there before your teammate falls into the tank of sea monsters. You have an hour to rescue them and ten minutes till the end we will start to lower them into the tank."
"That sounds risky," someone commented.
"As an adventurer, you should be able to watch over your team. So please send someone as your bait."
Paolo, Shinzo, Luna and Aline looked at Octavius who was happily sucking on his lollipop, the engineer immediately reacting to their gazes.
"No."
"Yes." Was their immediate reply.
Octavius grumbled about how much he hated them, but stepped forward either way.
Kurt smiled. "The victims will follow me in my own air balloon while the rest will land in front of the forest."
Octavius sighed. "You guys better rescue me or I'll haunt you from my grave.
Paolo chuckled. "Of course."
Kurt clapped his hands. "Let's get going."
.....
The adventurers stood in front of Paltos forest, waiting for their signal to start.
"We have to save Octavius no matter what," Paolo said.
Someone beside them snickered. "Your luck ends here newbies."
Shinzo was about to snap back, but Paolo held him back. "It's not worth it."
Shinzo scoffed, but looked away. "Fine."
A red flare stained the sky, all the adventurers entering the forest. The Cross Heart Adventurers trudged down the forest, birds chirping above the tall trees.
Their peaceful stroll came to a halt when a barrage of arrows fizzed through the air in their direction. The crew did their best to ward them away, but some would pass through their blind spots and hit them.
"Crap," Paolo mumbled as one scratched his face. "Where are they coming from?"
Shinzo noticed movement on the trees with his side eye. "People are here."
Luna summoned her wand, a huge ball of wind covering them. The arrows broke on the high torrents of wind, the adventurers safe for the time being.
"Good job," Paolo said. "Let's keep going."
The arrows kept coming, but the wind shield protected them. After a while, they stopped coming, Luna dispatching the shield. "Things seem to be going well."
"Luna," they all drawled.
She raised her hand up to defend herself. "I'm not trying to jinx it or anything."
They kept on walking, only thirty minutes left till Octavius' doom. Life seemed against them, their movements stopped by a giant cliff with no way to the other side.
"How is there a cliff in the middle of the forest?" Shinzo snapped.
"How do we cross?" Aline asked Paolo.
He hummed. "No idea."
Luna cleared her throat. "Let's use my trusty carpet."
The replies came quick:
"No." – Shinzo.
"I don't want to die." – Aline.
"Please no." – Paolo.
Luna grinned. "Carpet it is." She whistled and her carpet appeared.
Aline and Shinzo cursed her as they boarded the carpet, the carpet rocking beneath them.
Paolo grinned. "Let's go."
Luna pat the back of the carpet and they soared into the sky, moving past the gaping hole beneath them.
.....
Only three teams had made it to the end of the forest and rescued their teammates. Octavius and a few others stood in their cages dangling from a tree above a tank of sea monsters.
The monsters would occasionally jump to try and get to the cages, Octavius moving back to avoid their hungry stares.
"I swear I'll kill them when all this over
Screaming filled the air and everyone looked up, seeing the Cross Heart Adventurers falling from the sky.
"Not again," they all shouted in unison as the carpet dropped them to the ground.
"I'm going to rip that carpet," Aline mumbled from their awkward positions on the ground.
Luna sat up. "I should really teach that carpet some manners."
"You guys." Octavius waved from his cage. "Hurry up and get me out. Also, be careful there are explosives in the ground. One wrong move and you'll be blown to bits."
"Great, more problems," Shinzo said.
"The carpet would have been the best option, but we can't be sure it won't drop us on the explosions," Paolo mumbled. "There's a sixty eight percent chance that it will."
"Damn carpet."
Octavius squealed as the cage jerked into action, slowly lowering itself into the tank. "Paolo!"
"Crap," Paolo mumbled.
The people who had passed snickered, deriving satisfaction in their impending failure.
"They've reached their last lap," Lichto said.
"They tried their best, but it wasn't good enough. I'll give them props for making it this far since newbies never make it."
"Paolo… do something," Luna said frantically.
Paolo crossed his arms. "You guys better pray I get something useful, Adapt!"
He pointed his hands at the cage as it hovered dangerously above the monster infested water, the crew praying he got something helpful. As the other cages fell into the water, Octavius' cage broke from its chain and hurtled towards the adventurers.
Before it could hit anyone, Paolo dropped his hand,
The adventurers exhaled slowly, the sea monster tank pooling with blood.
"What was that?" Shinzo mumbled.
Paolo grinned. "I got magnetism."
"I almost got a heart attack," Luna said, touching her chest as her heart beat viciously on her rib cage.
"How do we get him out?" Aline asked.
Octavius bent the iron of the cage, leaving a hole for him to pass through. "I got it."
They all stared at him like he had grown three heads, Luna voicing out their thoughts. "If you could do that, why didn't you get out on your own?"
"Because I trusted you guys would save me."
Kurt smiled and walked towards them. "You guys passed. This test wasn't only about the rescue, but the trust you put in your teammates. An adventurer can't do everything on their own. Trust is a vital and you guys did a great job."
The Cross Heart Adventurers cheered. "We passed the third phase."
Kurt cleared his throat. "Out of thirteen people only four teams passed. You guys will be taken to a waiting room until we come and announce the test for the final phase."
The Blue Dawn Adventurers, Milton Adventurers, Light Adventurers and the Cross Heart Adventurers stood as the last four adventurers standing, the final phase underway. This phase would decide whether they would become adventurers or the gate to their adventures would be closed before it even begun.