After the fight, I repaired my prosthetic using another mana stone, and we gathered, deciding to move deeper into the cave, which somehow wasn't fully destroyed, and encountered another VivoHorn.
This time, however, we started with Elise immobilizing the VivoHorn using roots, and Liam set it on fire again.
This time, Liam pierced its heart with his spear, and I basically did nothing.
I clapped. "Elise, can you give an estimate of our place in the leaderboard?"
"..." She paused for a moment. "...Each of us should be within the top 10."
"I think we should split up," Liam spoke up.
I smiled. "And why should we do that?"
He scratched his head. "We need individually earned points to boost our ranking."
He was right, since working as a team splits the points amongst us, and earning solo can get us more, but I knew the real reason he was saying this.
'He wants to prepare for the finale.'
Too bad for him, I wasn't gonna let him have it.
"Okay, let's split." I agreed.
We both turned to Elise.
"Okay..." She spoke, seeming almost... disappointed.
Liam had a conflicted look as he gazed at Elise.
I shook my head. 'My God, can you be more obvious?'
"Okay, guys lets meet up after the exam, yeah?" I smiled.
"Hmm..."
"Yeah."
We left the cave and went in different directions.
------
I ran through the forest, killing more of those monkeys on my way to the forest's centre.
I came across other applicants battling a rift creature resembling a snake.
I observed atop a branch, watching them exhaust themselves and eventually defeat the snake, earning them a significant number of points.
I almost clapped, finding the scene oddly impressive.
I dropped down from the branch.
Their heads snapped in my direction.
"Oh... am I interrupting something?" I smiled.
"Who are you?" A tall girl with greenish hair and a pretty face spoke in a cautious tone, taking a defensive stance.
The rest followed her example.
'She must be the leader.'
"Me?" My smile widened. "Well, I'm just the friendly neighborhood Cassian."
"..." She glared at me.
"Okay~ you got me." I raised my arms. "I'm here to steal your poi-"
Before I could finish, the girl rushed in my direction and swung at me with her sword.
I tilted my body slightly, dodging the attack.
In an instant, she changed the trajectory of her sword, and it rushed toward my neck.
I cast physical enhancement and ducked down before sending a punch straight into her stomach, causing her to cough up blood and stagger back.
I immediately grabbed her by the neck and squeezed.
"Haa... why must you make this difficult?"
Her teammates rushed in my direction.
I smiled and activated a certain ability on my prosthetic.
I felt my prosthetic begin to lose its mana as all feeling within it disappeared.
'It's like I've lost my arm again.'
I could still move it, though, so I pointed it directly at the others...
A beam of light blasted from the palm, blinding me and pushing me back a few steps.
Opening my eyes, I saw the aftermath.
A large crater formed in the ground, and the other applicants were no longer there.
Don't worry, I didn't kill them.
The supervisors ensure there are no casualties during the test, as any incident would be a PR nightmare.
I looked towards my left and realised that I was still holding the girl by the neck.
But now she wasn't moving.
"Shit!" I let her go, and her body fell to the floor.
At least... that's what should have happened.
Instead, her body blurred and seemingly vanished from sight.
"...Huh!?" My eyes widened.
I stared at the ground in a daze, processing what had happened.
Snapping out of it, I shook my head. 'Man, these supervisors are really good at their jobs.'
I took a mana stone out of my pocket and placed it in my prosthetic.
Slowly, I began to feel it again as I touched my face to confirm.
'...Good.'
After confirming, I headed toward the forest centre.
------
On the way, I encountered a few more applicants and kindly asked for their points.
They didn't accept my kindness and attacked me, so I had to use self-defense, or rather, I shot a beam out of my palm at them... in self-defense.
'I only have 15 mana stones left.'
I stood atop a large hill staring directly at the trees below me.
I felt the wind brush across my face, a faint smell of trees blowing along with it.
The sight was beautiful.
'...Is this really a simulation?'
It felt far too real.
I thought back to the VivoHorn and realised this couldn't be real since an actual VivoHorn would've slaughtered us; we could only realistically face a younger version of the rift creature.
Regardless, I continued to stare at the trees below waiting...
-RUMBLE
A loud rumble came from beneath, causing the ground to shake.
The once moist air seemed to dry up in an instant as it suddenly became harder to breathe.
'It's here.'
-BOOOMMM
A massive explosion erupted from the ground as a massive cloud of dust enveloped the forest.
The ground shook violently as I struggled to maintain my posture.
Sweat began to form on my body as the temperature increased drastically; the smell of trees was replaced with a metallic smell that seemed to burn my nostrils.
The dust cleared, and the figure came into sight.
It was a gorilla... except it was made from molten lava.
It didn't have skin; instead, it had patches of obsidian around its body that seemed to hold the lava from bursting outward. You could see the smoke emanating from its insides as magma leaked from its body, killing all plant life nearby.
It stood at a height far taller than the hill I was on, and its face... well, it didn't have a face. All you could see was a mouth that resembled an active volcano that was ready to erupt at any moment.
My lungs burned, and I felt a sudden itch crawl across my body as my body hair stood up.
I let out a nervous laugh.
"Shit... I got goosebumps."