...

Shin and the others were separated into 3 groups to maximize their efficiency. The first group was Arthur, Jillian, and Molton while the second group was Leonard, Lorraine, and Alice. And the last group was composed of Shin and Cloe together.

The moment they move away from each other, they quickly charge towards their respective targets while ignoring the other candidates around them.

In the first group, Arthur would naturally be the vanguard as he charged through the chaotic battles blocking their way while Jillian and Molton supported him from behind.

Even if Arthur was quite eager to fight the other candidates, he couldn't do it right now since needed to follow Shin's instructions. So, whenever he was attacked by the other candidates, he couldn't do anything but defend himself and rely on Jillian and Molton to fend off those attacks.

Naturally, he was going to be quite frustrated about this matter since he was not used to being in a passive state. Fortunately, he was able to vent out his frustrations on their targets who were barely able to fight back against their combined attacks.

It was the same for Leonard's group where he was also the vanguard with Lorraine and Alice supporting him while following closely behind. And their poor targets couldn't even fight back with the combined forces of these three.

Strange enough, Shin and Cloe were the ones who had the highest efficiency among the three groups even if they were only two of them working together.

Shin was also taking the lead while Cloe was supporting him closely behind. But their roles were going to switch whenever they encountered a large number of attacks directed at them.

Shin would immediately use his defensive Mentalism Techniques to ward off those attacks, while Cloe would quickly switch positions with him and swiftly take down their targets. There was nothing special with her Martial-Arts but it had a very solid foundation. In fact, it seemed to be more solid than the foundation that the trio of Shin, Arthur, and Leonard had.

Her Martial-Arts Skills were also quite ordinary when compared to the others but the way she utilized them was very flawless. She would only use her skills when it was necessary but it was always going to be executed perfectly whenever she performed them.

But this was not the only thing that made her stand out among the rest of the candidates. Her positioning and timing would always match with Shin's movements no matter how sudden or unexpected it was.

Due to that, their teamwork looked very seamless and perfect. There were no words needed when they were fighting alongside each other; Shin would only need to do whatever he wanted and Cloe would immediately follow his lead.

Whenever Shin took a step back to switch on defense, Cloe would immediately take a step forward and take the offensive role. And if the former did the other way around, she would quickly move backward and take on the supportive role.

This seamless teamwork would naturally attract the attention of the teachers and professors watching from the conference room. It even ignited an intense discussion between them.

"That girl is really something. She compensates her lack of talent with her efforts alone," said one of the teachers.

"Lack of talent? You must be kidding! What she is currently showing us can already be considered a talent," refuted another.

"She also had a very solid foundation. And from what I can see, she is also the one who has the most solid foundation among the candidates," said another teacher without removing her gaze at Cloe.

Hearing that, one of the teachers seemed to disagree with her. "But I doubt that she would survive the competitive nature of the academy with just solid foundations alone. We can clearly see that her partner is the one dictating the tempo of their teamwork and she was only responding with his moves."

"Moreover, the two of them seemed to be familiar with each other, so I doubt that she will get the same results if she is paired with a different person," he added with a sneer.

Hearing his remarks, the others seemed to agree with him as they nodded their heads repeatedly.

But at the same time, there were still a few people who were disagreeing with his words. And one of them was the old female professor sitting right beside Henry Cortez. "But I like this girl. If she is able to survive until the end of this exam then I'm willing to take her under my tutelage."

The other teachers and professors sitting around the conference table were immediately taken aback after hearing her words. They were thinking what exactly made her take Cloe under her tutelage.

All of them were quite familiar with this particular professor and she never taught anyone unless they were in her class. Aside from that, she never took anyone as her disciple and never showed an interest in taking one.

But at this point in time, it seemed like she was quite interested in taking this girl without amazing talent as her very first disciple given the words that said earlier.

The room was quiet for a few moments after she said those words. The other teachers and professors seemed to be digesting her words, or even thinking whether she was serious or not.

But based on the current expression that she was wearing, it seemed like she really wanted Cloe to be her very first disciple.

The female professor ignored the confused gazes directed at her and looked at the old man sitting beside her while asking. "What do you think, Head Researcher Henry? Has my choice piqued your interest?"

Hearing that, Professor Henry thought for a couple of moments before smiling quite widely before nodding his head. "Quite intriguing indeed. This girl really fits your style. I wonder what she will become after learning under your tutelage."

"You should guide her well, Cora," added Professor Henry while turning his attention back to the virtual screen.

"Isn't it?" Professor Cora immediately smiled as she was quite satisfied with the reply. And while she was in the mood, she suddenly asked with a casual tone. "What about you? I heard that one of these candidates also piqued your interest. I wonder who it may be."

Hearing that casual question, Professor Henry smiled mystifyingly and chose not to reply to her directly. "There is no need to rush, you will see who it is later."

He then paused for a moment to sweep his gaze at the other professors who were currently looking at him before continuing with a joking tone. "And I don't want these sly foxes to snatch him from me."

*******

Going back to the other side, the competition between the leading candidates immediately became fierce as they met each other.

Everything was going smoothly for Shin and the others until their targets overlapped with the other groups who were also doing the same thing as them.

The competition was quite fierce as they started clashing with one another. Even if they couldn't directly fight each other, it didn't mean they couldn't sabotage their competitors; especially that they were targeting the same person.

In the meantime, the other candidates around them also noticed the strange movements of these groups. And not long after, they immediately realized what was going on and quickly joined the prey.

Even if these guys were slightly behind the other groups who immediately figured out the real nature of this test, they still had a slight advantage since they already fought the other candidates.

They could attack Shin and the others since they knew that they would no longer lose anything. They were fully aware that they made a 'little' mistake at the start, so why not pull the others to the ground alongside their fall.

"If we are not going to pass this test, then why not drag you along with us?"

"If we can't have it, neither can you!"

Crab mentality was one of the most toxic nature of humans. When they saw someone else's success and they were still struggling behind, they would do everything they could to sabotage those people ahead of them out of jealousy and envy.

Due to this, the chaotic battle inside the gymnasium became even more chaotic as this toxicity spread around.

When Shin saw this, he knew that the situation was already out of hand. So, he immediately gave his signal to the others, telling them to regroup.

They already got what they needed and they were also ahead of the others, so there was no point competing with these crazy lunatics anymore.

After regrouping with each other, Shin and his friends immediately compared their progress before discussing what they were going to do next.

But while they were in the middle of planning, the lights inside the gymnasium were lit once again before a powerful pressure suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pressed on the bodies of every candidate.

Due to that, everyone suddenly stopped moving so that they could focus their strengths on enduring the pressure that was trying to crush.

And since everyone suddenly halted their movements, the chaotic battles inside the gymnasium also stopped which signified the end of the second part of the entrance exam.

But to their surprise, the administrator of the exam immediately started the third part, not giving them any time to catch their breaths.

...