Wang Zihan listened to each and everyone's info and story.
He already knew about his two friends but they wanted to help by telling him their background.
Wang Zihan's two friends were twins so they basically had the same story and background, personality just a bit different but either way they were tied to waters and the earth.
The three others were the admirers who looked up to Wang Zihan.
The first one was just a commoner but apparently had a grandfather who was affiliated with the skies and the wind.
The other two were middle-class, atleast not too poor or not too rich. They didn't know specifically what elements they were tied to, their only information was that their older siblings were tied to fire while their parents were tied to ice and lightning.
Wang Zihan thought for a moment...
The sky was already growing bright and the sun was shining to take the chilly air away.
"There are six of us, each cave had 16 participants, if everyone wakes up according to their affinities or backgrounds, there should be two or four groups..."
"Does that mean there are also six people in Zhao Lina's group?"
He thought to himself...
Then one of the twins asked their two comrades and asked:
" Shouldn't you have woken up somewhere near the sun shines bright or where it is hot?"
It was a reasonable question, if their siblings were tied to fire and the flames, then shouldn't the younger siblings also be the same?
Then, the other twin chimed in saying, "But wait. Shouldn't the youngest be more like their parents? So shouldn't they have woken up high in the mountains or a stormy area?"
The twins looked at each other, paused and sighed giving each other a fist bump.
They had the same intelligence and we're practically mirrors of one another, so both gave a reasonable opinion.
The three commoners just shrugged and turned to their group leader, Wang Zihan, who was currently lost in thought and glaring daggers at the forest.
"What do you think, Mr. Wang?"
One of their comrades asked.
The twin also added saying, "it seems weird for me though. Waking up in these large groups are very weird, the trials shouldn't be putting all of us together like this. We all should have been grouped up by two's or four's."
They were all in deep thoughts, they exchanged some theories and their opinions while saying some stuff they learned during their time in school...
There were low casualty rates in these trials, how could there ever be high casualties? That would just be plain massacre and a death sentence!
It is also cruel, the youths in the trials were all twelve years old.
' What was the elder thinking? Unable to pick your own cave trial is cruel to the max! '
Wang Zihan was still looking at the forest...
His eyes saw the blue color in the distance, it pale and then grows deep ish blue and then it disappears again, only for it to reappear.
Finally, he spoke and addressed his comrades
"There is something abnormal far into the forest, a clearing by the looks of it. Grab your stuff and prepare, were going to investigate soon."
They didn't ask any questions and obeyed his words willingly. It wasn't weird that he sees something far that they couldn't see themselves, he was from a middle-class clan after all...
***
Zhao Lina also had the same thought process as Wang Zihan and asked everything there is to know about about her comrades.
The big young man was first, saying, "I'm just a farmer, my parents were the same so I might not know much about affinities and stuff..."
He said shyly and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, Zhao Lina nodded and then thought to herself.
"If he awakens he'll probably be tied to earth, using a claymore even."
" If he's tied to the earth element, is that why we woke up near a mountain? The ground was rocky and made of stone, but..."
Zhao Lina glanced at the two women.
One was an heir of a low-class clan and was tied to fire, just like Zhao Lina. While the other one was tied to the waters, and her family was a bunch of adventurers who were tied to the sky and the snow.
"There are sixteen of us here... Four for my group, so could there be four in Wang Zihan's group and four for the others? But this group is too many, trials rarely group people above three."
She clicked her tongue and turned to the forest again, it was dark as usual. She peered through the darkness and saw orange and red colors moving around, they were the animals roaming the dark forest.
She narrowed her eyes and looked further, the clearing was the same, rising in heat and then falling to a cold temperature.
' He surely couldn't have missed such a weird sight. He must be somewhere by the coast or beaches, so basically across from us... But who are his comrades of not the girl in my group?'
She sighed and stood up, alerting the three youths as well as they stood up to.
"What's wrong?" The young farmer kid asked and pulled his jacket over his shoulder.
The two women were confused but only one of them decided to chime in, saying, "Are we going somewhere, Ms. Zhao?"
She pulled a makeshift sling bag over her shoulder, made out of vines and a boars skin as she turned to her group and said in an even tone:
"There is a clearing in the forest, something's off so we're going to investigate. I might also know where Wang Zihan is and where he might be headed, so follow close."
They did not question any further and hastily got their things and followed their group leader which they silently assigned to for themselves.
***
Why was I the only one who got into this trial alone?
I was still exploring the village and came across a spirit, it was taller than an average woman and she had a bright honest smile on her face.
She was neither thin nor fat and didn't look like she died in any extravagant way, accidentally though, I made eye contact and she floated to me.
[Hm? We're you looking at me just now?]
The ghost lady came close and bent over to look at me and waving her hands over my face.
Luckily I trained and got used to these things back in my past life, my face looked indifferent as I was spaced out, a cold and even poker face was rather amusing to see on a child but it is what it is.
[No luck huh? You've got nice acting skills kid, I'll give you that.]
She chuckled and floated away passing me.
I gave her a quick glance and noticed an adventurers badge on her clothes, she looked to be a mage. I then peered through her soul...
Seeing as it wasn't any alarming color like red or black, meaning they were dangerous, he still had to keep cautious.
I went to a nearby cemetery for some reason, I didn't know what came over me but I decided to come here anyway.
What the hell...
There were no souls in the graves, none were resting at all.
...
He hurried over to the hill where he first woke up at, he could partially see what's over the dark forest that was littered with ghosts and spirits.
There was a clearing at the heart of it, far right was the coast where the waters were, and the left was several large and small rocky mountains.
Well this is weird.
He looked deep into the clearing far beyond and saw a pale blue aura, it was like steam rising from a coffee cup, however those blue auras were not massive amounts of spiritual energy, but are a bunch of souls dancing and floating high up into the sky.