[As you ran through the forest, you began to realize just how enormous it was.]
[Of the hundreds of miles that you had covered, you had only managed to find two treasures that would contribute to your total score at the end of the stage. And of those two treasures, both were being protected, in some way, by a demonic beast.]
[With the forest holding thousands of and thousands of beasts, it was obvious that not all of them would be guarding a treasure. The number of treasures available would be significantly smaller, with only a small fraction of demon beasts having anything to do with a treasure.]
[As you think about it, you realize that to find a treasure, a cultivator could only rely on their own fate and luck.]
[Finding the egg was your luck, whereas having the goblet stolen was the pair of cultivators' fate.]
[As such, you believe that to rely on your fate and luck to find the treasures would be inefficient, and to rely on things so fickle would only demonstrate your weakness.]
[Still, you persist forward and run through the forest. Searching for treasures is now only secondary to you. Your main goal: find cultivators that are battling demonic beasts and steal when the moment is right.]
[While you realize that not every examinee will have a treasure, and it is not feasible to wait for an examinee to finish each battle, this should at least speed up your rate of collecting treasures significantly. With the examinees' inability to use spatial pouches, the only place to hold a treasure would be around their waist, like yourself.]
[While it would still be a few more hours before more of the examinees would be able to collect the treasures, you felt that there was no harm in getting an early start in your hunting.]
[Running through the forest like a shadow, it didn't take long for the sound of beasts and battles entered into your ears.]
Aron felt odd reading the system messages. While he understood the purpose of his simulated self, there was something strange about willingly hunting and stealing from his fellow examinees.
No matter how common such a thing was in the real world, most cultivators would primarily rely on themselves. For him to make stealing his only source of points, no matter how practical, was off putting, to say the least.
Still, it didn't take long for Aron to accept it. His movement technique and his highly dense Essence, gave him the means and opportunity to steal from even those that would be towards the peak of Essence Refinement. He wouldn't need to fight them, just move fast enough to run away after taking their property.
With a sigh, Aron continued to read the messages that made him into a thief.
[Hours pass as you continue to run through the beast forest.]
[You have encountered several battles between cultivators and beasts, but none of them have been as fruitful as the first. In fact, none of them had anything to do with a treasure.]
[While so far your efforts have gone unawarded, you know that nothing happens all at once.]
[If you continue to move forward, eventually you will encounter another treasure. Whether it is guarded by a demon best, or an examinee, it will only be so long before you find one and receive a chance to take it for yourself.]
[Finally, during the 13th hour of the second stage, you encounter a large battle between one giant beast and a dozen examinees.]
[Analyzing the scene, you come to the conclusion that the beast has cultivation equivalent to the middle levels of Meridian Establishment.]
Aron thought for a second as to why the message didn't tell him what the exact cultivation of the beast was before he realized that it was for several reasons.
Firstly, while the simulation has been relatively specific, there have been some small details that it has glossed over. For it to do it here is odd, but not completely out of the norm.
Secondly, the simulation has consistently referred to demon beasts as having equivalent cultivations, meaning that they may be classified differently than what a cultivator would be classified as. With this not being a topic that has been covered yet in his education, he simply couldn't be sure as to how demon beasts were ranked.
Finally, it was entirely possible that his cultivation simply wasn't up to standard. To Aron, this made the most sense. For a cultivator to gauge the strength of another, whether they area cultivator or demon beast, one must have a similar or greater strength. For his simulated self, who was only at the 1st level of Essence Refinement, it was possible that he could only glimpse an estimate of their strength.
Furthermore, Aron guessed that it was because these beasts were only at the Meridian Establishment equivalent of strength that he was able to estimate their power. If they were at the next realm, it was possible that he wouldn't even be able to tell if they were demon beasts or normal beasts.
"It's probably because of how dense my Essence is that I have been able to tell the cultivation levels of the other examinees so far. After all, the Sect wouldn't let any cultivator higher than the Essence Refinement realm enter the exam," Aron said, his eyes closed in deep thought. "If the same holds true with the demon beasts, then it's likely that the demon beasts do, in fact, have a different classification system.
I'll have to ask father or an Elder of the family to have it explained. The simulation will likely assume that I already have such information. Though, maybe I will ask an Elder of the Variant Earth Sect while in the simulation. If that happens, I'll end up getting the information anyway."
Aron's eyes opened as he came out of his thoughts. The few simple lines of the message had allowed for him to realize something that he had not yet experienced.
Even if he had the memories of the previous simulation, he was only in a Regional Sect for a few years. Most of those years were spent in a hut, deep in meditation, away from the world. When his master during that simulation did come to speak to him and give him knowledge, it wasn't knowledge about the world or the beings of the world, but knowledge about his techniques and of the All Consuming Sect.
The wider and deeper knowledge of cultivation wasn't something that he had come across yet.
The best way to close that gap, would be for his simulated self to pass the examination and gather this information within the Variant Earth Sect.
While there was still the second and third stages left, Aron had decided on the simulation's direction. He wouldn't be able to bring his cultivation out of the simulation, nor would he bring his talent, but he could bring the experience. The more 'he' experienced in the simulation, the more he could focus on himself in future simulations where bringing out his cultivation was a possibility.
As Aron came to this conclusion, he began to focus on the simulation once more.
[The battle between the examinees and the demon beast seemed to be even. No side had an advantage over the other and everyone was at the peak state of focus, looking for openings.]
[You scan the crowd of examinees for any treasures and notice that the leader of the group, whose attacks seemed to be doing the most damage, held a series of items around their waist.]
[Considering that the Elders of the Sect did not allow the examinees to bring in any items beside a gourd of water and a weapon, you come to the conclusion that the examinee was carrying all of the treasures for the group.]
[Considering that they held the most strength out of all the other examinees, you thought that it made sense.]
[Rather than making a move right away, you continue to scan the scene of the battle, this time observing the demon beast.]
[After your initial observation, you notice that the demon beast is wearing a chain around it's neck, and attached to the chain is a pill container.]
[Noticing that there are a total of 4 treasures for you to seize for yourself, you begin to look for an opening.]
[With the demon beast being the strongest of all those that are battling, you decide to take the pill container last.]
[The battle continues for another half an hour before you decide to move. At this point, all of the examinees had exhausted their abilities to utilize the world's Essence, and only the group's leader and the demon beast remained engaged in combat.]
[You wait for the leader to gather up a significant amount of Essence before you make your move.]
[As the leader prepares his attack, you brush by without being noticed by any of the other examinees. When you stop moving again, in your hands are three new objects: a small book, a jade pendant, and a vial of blue liquid.]
[Taking a second to place those treasures around your waist, you gather up your strength and begin to move toward the demon beast.]
[With your attack having disrupted and dissipated the leader's last attack, the demon beast had begun to move in a frenzy, hoping to strike while they were weak.]
[Using this moment of distraction, you are able to successfully sprint by and pluck the pill container off of the chain around the beast's neck.]
[Before either the beast or the group of examinees can notice you, you take off in a random direction.]
[After 13 hours, you had been able to gather a total of 6 treasures.]
[For the next 10 hours you continue to gather the fruits of others labor, collecting a total of 13 new treasures. With only a single, unfortunate, exception, you have remained unseen by all groups and examinees that you have stolen from.]
[Up to this point, you had not needed to kill a single beast.]
[Sprinting away from your latest mark, you hear the sound of clashing once more and decide to take one last look.]
[Upon arriving at the scene, you see Julia. A dozen other examinees surround her on all sides.]
[Taking a minute to observe, you hear the examinees announcing their intent to force her out of the examination.]
[You notice her sneer at the group, asking if they were even worthy to withstand a single blow from her.]
[Aggravated, the first of the examinees makes a move, swinging his fist at your half-sister. His fist seemed to double in size as it traveled towards Julia. As the fist approached, she took a small step to the side and struck him in the chest with a palm.]
[As he flew back spitting blood, his body seemed to glow in a white light, before it disappeared from the scene completely.]
[You assume that the Elders had taken him out of the second stage, worried that his internal traumas may ruin his cultivating career.]
[As soon as the examinee disappeared, the rest of the group grew with rage, and sprung in attack all at once.]
[Though the first individual examinee was taken care of with ease, facing a group attack, Julia had no chance but to be on the back foot.]
[You watched the fight for several minutes, as Julia both dealt and took some small injuries. As she is defending from the group of examinees, you notice that a few of them are holding treasures around their waists.]
[You decide to wait for an opportune moment before making a move.]
[As you are waiting, one of the examinees managed to break away from the battle without the notice of Julia. You take notice of this and stop your plans. Watching the examinee that was waiting for a sneak attack, you wait for them to make their move.]
[As the examinee tries to sneak attack Julia, you pounce on him with extreme speed. You grab the single treasure that is hanging around his waist and stab at his eyes with your fingers.]
[While grabbing the treasure was successful, the examinee had managed to close his eyes in enough time. Still, you did enough damage to buy yourself time to escape.]
Aron stood up from his cultivating seat, before sitting back down, afraid that his father was watching him secretly and would find his movements suspicious.
As he sat down, his eyes became sharp and his heart furious. It was happening again. Despite his wants, and his influence, the simulation seems to be protecting his half-sister. How can 'he' let her live and enter the Sect after what he had done to him in the previous simulation?
It may not have been real, but Aron could still feel the coldness of blood as Julia had killed him
Yet, here 'he' was, protecting this person. Why?
Aron couldn't understand it. It made no sense to him.
[Though you weren't able to completely eliminate this examinee, this served as enough of an interruption to give Julia some respite from the battle.]
[With there being a small lull in the combat, Julia took the moment to charge a powerful attack to unleash before anyone could erect a defensive technique that could defend against her.]
[Soon, it was Julia pushing back the group of examinees. As they were distracted by her offensive, you took the opportunity to take as many treasures as you could from the group of examinees.]
[While none of the examinees were able to detect you, you were able to feel the eyes of Julia on your back.]
[As you grabbed the last of the treasures, you sprinted off into the forest, deciding to watch the rest of the battle play out from a distance.]
[Before long, Julia was able to beat down the rest of the examinees, each one disappearing into motes of light, as they are teleported from the second stage by the observing Elders.]
[With the fight finished, you notice Julia glance at you with gratitude. With a stoic face, you nod in return before flashing away with your movement technique.]
[With less than an hour left in the second exam, you decide to just enjoy the feeling of the wind and get some practice in your technique. Though it is currently in the realm of Great Achievement, you can feel that you are moving steadily towards perfection.]
[Understanding that your talent lies in techniques and methods related to Dao Seeds, and understanding the rarity of such techniques, you feel that it is important to improve the mastery of all of the skills that you do have.]
[After all, once you make it into the Variant Earth Sect, there is no telling how long it will take you to get some techniques that are connected to Dao Seeds.]
[Soon, the hour goes by and you are covered in motes of light. Faster than you can comprehend and in a matter that you can't begin to understand, you are teleported to the mountain where you had started the exam.]
[As you begin to focus on your surroundings, instead of a group of Elders, you see a single cultivator. His back is straight and his face serious. The presence of this man is one that completely overshadows the presence that all the previous Elders had combined.]
[You hear a thundering voice directly in your mind: "All who stand here have passed the second examination with enough points to move on to the third stage. You have 3 hours before the rules will be given, take this time to meditate and balance your hearts and minds."]
[The man vanished and you closed your eyes to meditate, reflecting on all that you have experienced in the past day.]