After they walked a bit, they saw a few middle-aged men standing there. They are the examiners who came out of their monitoring station after they saw Sam and his teammates coming.

At the lead of the group, the marquis and the principal are standing as they looked at them.

"Congratulations." Marquis was the first one to open his mouth. But he didn't see any happy expressions on the candidate's faces. And he knew the reason.

"For what? Not dying for your tricks?" Sam replied with a complete hostile tone. But the tone just didn't display his hostility, it also displayed his arrogance to speak to the Marquis who is far stronger than him.

Marquis didn't know what to say about that.

"It is not good to talk like that, young man. You might be a genius. But it is always better to be humble when speaking to others. Your arrogant attitude wouldn't be taken lightly by others." Principal said with a tone as if he is teaching his student.

But Sam didn��t really like it. Because, he is angry and frustrated. If not for the fact that his cultivation is low, he might have even attacked the marquis as soon as he came out.

After all, it is not a pleasant experience to be toyed by others in such harsh conditions without any prior warning or information. They brought all of them for learning and were forced to endure this.

"Who are you to teach me?" Sam asked directly. The principal frowned but still said in a majestic tone.

"I am the principal of this academy and since you are a student of the special branch, I have every right to teach you." He wanted to put Sam in his place and even raised his aura.

But what Sam asked next made him stupefied.

"Well, I am really surprised by his teaching methods. But I am just wondering what you want to teach them by killing more than half of your students?" Sam said that as he pointed at the special zone.

Principal wasn't able to say anything about it. He didn't have any reply to that. Even though, he did have orders from higher authorities, all this time he just thought about it as his duty to follow the orders as he saw the suffering of the candidates, but when Sam questioned him and he thought from his professional perspective as a teacher. He felt ashamed.

"As for me being arrogant. I am just being bold and honest now. If I was to act arrogant, both of you aren't even capable of taking it." He said his piece and walked off. But after he took a few steps, Marquis called him from the back.

"Sam, about the next stage.." Before he could finish sentence, Sam stopped him.

"I quit."

"You don't have that choice Sam. From the minute you came out of this, you don't have a choice, you should have quit when you are inside. Now, you already riding on a tiger, you should either go through it or you have to bear the consequences.

Trust me, the consequences are too hard for you to bear and even Chaya and background can't save you."

Sam turned around and looked at the marquis, who is hesitating.

Actually, Sam doesn't want to quit, he wants to see through why the emperor is doing this. What is the result that he is expecting? Because, Sam know one thing, if the further tests are like this, the person who finally survived all of them and get past this, will not be a normal person.

He or she will be having a drastic psychological change. The final result would be a highly sensitive, ruthless, merciless monster. The person will lose his humanity bit by bit.

And the person if further nurtured in a same way, he or she would be a walking disaster. That is why he is making these statements to guilt trip the Marquis to fish some information.

Finally, marquis opened his mouth.

"I can't tell you the details. But from now on, we are only the examiners and not the people in charge of tests. If you quit now, you will have to spend your youth on run and that is if you don't get killed."

Sam thought for a bit and agreed as he understood that he wouldn't get more info. Then the marquis said.

"You have two days to relax and you have to gather at the Marquis manner the third day at dawn."

Sam nodded and started walking along with his teammates. But marquis called again.

"What?" Sam asked as he looked a bit annoyed.

Marquis slowly pointed at the ape. Sam gave a questioning look and soon the answer came.

"Can you leave him here?" Sam didn't answer but just looked at him. Marquis cleared his throat and said.

"I got all three of them when they are infants and it took a lot of effort. They are being groomed as the guardian beasts of the city. So, can you leave him here please?"

Sam was a bit surprised when he heard this. Then his surprise turned into delight. He really felt sad when he found out that this beast is not a pet of anyone as he wanted to make them feel loss.

But now, he is even more happy. Because, if these beasts are really being groomed as the guardian beasts, then their status is same as the young masters of the Marquis house.

That is the reason they are not tamed as pets. Because, they will remain as the guardian beasts of the city as long as they are alive irrespective of how many marquises are retired.

So, if they became pets of a marquis and get attached to that person, the next marquis will have a hard time to get their acknowledgement.

But raising them as guardian beasts in a way is grooming them as equals. They will be given all the resources to grow strong and they will help them in battle and safety of the cities.

That is why marquis is not willing to let them go. But when he saw the evil smile on Sam's face, he clearly lost all hope.

"Oh? But now he is my pet. So, you have to trouble yourself to get a replacement for the guardian beast." Sam said with that evil smile and the he looked at the remaining two beasts in the zone where the remaining thirty or so students are battling and said.

"You might want to groom them properly. If not, someone might visit them at night and take them away. At least let them show some resistance, if they are too easy the thief might even laugh at you."

Marquis almost puked blood at his sarcasm. Now, he became really worried that Sam might steal them.

At this moment, marquis' personal attendant came running. All the people present were surprised at his flustered state.

When the attendant saw that there are so many people, he whispered something to Marquis and the Principal. Both of them exchanged looks only to see each other's surprised expression.

Both the big-shots turned to look at Sam and immediately walked forwards towards the academy entrance.

Sam also felt that something big is happening and followed them along with his teammates and the ape.

When they reached the entrance, the scene shocked everyone.

Sam saw many familiar faces; they are all the lackeys of Zeke which he didn't deal with yet. He gave the task to Watt to deal with them in six months and this day happened to be the last day of the dead line.

And what is in front of him is the result of the task.

Watt is standing on top of the arch of the entrance.

And the sixteen lackeys, are hung upside down to the arch.

Their legs are tied up to a rope and the other end of the rope is tied to the arch itself.

All the lackeys are in a very bad shape. Their skin has been flayed at many spots and the worst thing is that there are numbers carved on their backs.

They have broken bones, stabs and mostly deep and long cuts. These long cuts might have been the result of his cards throwing.

Watt is standing straight with a proud expression. He folded his hands across his chest. His clothes are torn completely. His upper body is bare. His pants are torn at many places.

He has many cuts on his body. Many injuries, burn marks, bruises. He doesn't look like he is in a good state. But his face quite contrary to his physical state.

With that blood, cuts and bruises on his face, he still has an emotionless face and those eyes are still sharp.

When Watt saw Sam, he immediately jumped down.

Marquis and the Principal wore gloomy and dark impression. The guards who are supposed to be at the entrance, are unconscious and the guards who followed both of them are waiting for his orders.

When marquis made a gesture, the guards are about to make a move. At this moment.

*ROAAAAR*

The ape suddenly stepped forward and blocked all the guards with an angry expression. All the guards stopped in their tracks.

Marquis looked at Sam with a confused expression. But the latter didn't care and walked towards Watt. He didn't say anything and started healing him without a single word.

He fixed his wounds and bones and after everything is done, he looked at Marquis and said.

"My subordinate." Then he pointed at the sixteen lackeys who are dripping blood to the ground and said.

"At least tell your son to pick better ones. My one and only subordinate is enough to take on these snobs. It is even embarrassing for me to fight with your son."

Then only Marquis carefully looked at Watt. He is only at Level 2 Novice, but he took down even the Level 4 Novices. He didn't know how the fights went, but he really was shocked at one thought. Even if Sam's subordinate is like this, then how fearsome would Sam be.

Even though, he saw Sam fighting in the special branch, he never saw him go all out. To be exact, no fight has forced him to exert his prowess like Watt until now. Suddenly, he felt pity for his son.

At this moment, the remaining candidates which are only around twenty came out and walked towards the entrance with exhausted faces. Among them, Zeke was also present and when he saw his lackeys hung to arch at the entrance in their pathetic states, he felt his blood run cold.

He looked at his father and when he knew what happened, Sam and his group are already walking away.

Zeke suddenly felt his knees go weak. He is even more exhausted than when he was in special branch zone.