The southern part of the forest.
Darwin and Erza were shuttling through the dense woods, one after the other.
However, at this moment, Darwin was neither in his normal form nor his Pegasus form; instead, he had taken over the "Imaginary Creature: Treasure-Hunting Rat" and was in his "Treasure-Hunting Rat Form."
"Is this method of yours really effective?"
"Trust me!"
Darwin replied while stretching his neck out, sniffing the air repeatedly with his nose. "The Treasure-Hunting Rat is the creature with the strongest treasure-hunting ability in the world. It can precisely explore treasures within thirty kilometers and identify the type of treasure through its scent."
"In this regard, their noses are even more sensitive than those of Dragon Slayers!"
More sensitive than a Dragon Slayer?
What kind of comparison is that...
"Found it!"
"Hurry, follow me!!"
Just as Erza was silently criticizing him in her heart, Darwin's eyes suddenly widened. He gave a loud shout and ran off in a certain direction.
Seeing this, Erza had no choice but to follow at a brisk pace.
About three minutes later, the two arrived beneath a massive tree.
"It's up there!"
Darwin pointed upward.
Erza's gaze followed his finger. Amidst the lush foliage, she could faintly see a wooden box. The Fairy Tail guild emblem was printed on the box.
It seemed this was it!
The two looked at each other, both revealing joyful smiles. They immediately climbed the tree, took the wooden box, and opened it.
Inside the box was indeed a pile of gold coins engraved with lion patterns, along with a letter.
Erza gasped: "Are they actually gold coins?!"
"No way!"
Darwin took out a coin and weighed it in his hand, his lip twitching. "Real gold coins aren't this light! And the smell is wrong too!"
"Smell?"
Erza was stunned for a moment, then realized: "I almost forgot, your 'Treasure-Hunting Rat Form' can distinguish treasure types... So what material is this actually made of?"
"It's just ordinary copper coins with gold paint on the outside!"
"Honestly, if he couldn't afford gold coins, he should have just used a different name. Calling them 'Golden Lion Coins'..."
While Darwin was complaining, he opened the letter, which read—
Congratulations on successfully finding the 'Golden Lion Coin' and completing 80% of the first stage!!
Next, you need to do one more thing: take one 'Golden Lion Coin' from this box and hand it to the Question-Setter of the second stage!
The Question-Setter is somewhere in this forest, but you'll have to find his/her specific identity and location yourself!
"Eh—"
"Even after finding the Golden Lion Coin, we still have to find a person?"
"It's only the first stage, yet it's divided into so many steps. The examination process Papa came up with is so troublesome!"
"Troublesome?"
"I actually think it's quite interesting! It feels like everyone in the guild is playing a treasure hunt game together..."
"And since this is a rank examination for the whole guild, it's normal for the process to be a bit complex. No need to complain!"
Chatting and laughing, the two each took a "Golden Lion Coin" as instructed by the letter. However, just as Darwin was about to put the wooden box back in its original place, he hesitated.
In the next second, an "evil" smile appeared on his face.
"Hee hee hee... I suddenly have a fun idea!"
A fun idea?
Given Erza's familiarity with Darwin, she immediately saw that the "fun" he spoke of was definitely not "fun" in the normal sense.
"What... what are you planning to do...?"
"What am I doing?"
Darwin lowered his gaze, letting out a "Keke" laugh. "I remember seeing a military strategy called 'Taking the Firewood from under the Cauldron' in one of Papa's books!"
"Military strategy? Taking the Firewood from under the Cauldron?"
"Look, we are so far ahead of the others right now. As long as we hide this wooden box, the others... especially Chris, won't they be stuck at the first stage and unable to complete the task??"
"Huh? That's not very nice..."
Compared to the devious Darwin, the more pure-hearted and kind Erza instinctively felt that this behavior was too underhanded and voiced her opposition.
"There aren't many people in the guild who can break through the Forest Labyrinth and find this place based on the words 'Golden Lion Coin.' If you hide the box to increase the difficulty, everyone's scores for this exam will be terrible!"
"I think everyone in the guild is really looking forward to being promoted through this exam..."
"And don't forget, our every move is being recorded right now!"
"If you really do this, the Guild Master will be very angry when he sees it!"
Hiss—
Darwin sucked in a breath of cold air. "Oh right! I actually forgot about that! That was close... thanks to your reminder, Erza!"
"You're right, doing that would be very bad indeed!"
"How could a naturally kind and good child like me do something like dig a pit for my companions?"
"Let's go, let's go... let's take the Golden Lion Coins to find Uncle Yuri quickly!!"
With that, Darwin leaned backward, falling from the branch. He performed a backflip in mid-air to adjust his posture and landed steadily on the ground.
Erza sighed, manually restored the area around the wooden box to its original state, and then followed him down the tree.
Ten minutes later.
Erza, riding the "Pegasus Form" Darwin, found Yuri sleeping in a clearing not far away.
"Uncle Yuri, Uncle Yuri!!"
"Wake up! We've completed the first stage of the examination!!"
Feeling the push of a small hand, Yuri, in his dream, opened his eyes groggily.
When he saw that the ones waking him up were Darwin and Erza, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
"Oh—"
"It's you two?!"
"Finding this place... your luck is pretty good!"
Yuri spoke while stretching, a lazy smile appearing on his face.
"It wasn't luck; we found this place through our own strength!!"
Darwin and Erza pulled out the Golden Lion Coins from their pockets and said seriously, "Look, we found the 'Golden Lion Coin' and completed the trial of the first stage!!"
"What? Let me see..."
Yuri took the Golden Lion Coins handed over by the two and observed them repeatedly several times before saying: "Hmm, they are indeed the real deal!"
"I didn't think you'd find them so quickly. That's truly impressive!"
"Young and promising, young and promising indeed!!"
Facing Yuri's repeated praise, Darwin chose to accept it all.
"Hahaha... of course!"
"Well? Our team should be the first to find you, right?"
Yuri was stunned for a moment, and then a meaningful smile appeared on his face.
"Regrettably!"
"Before you, seven teams have already completed the assessment."
"You two are in eighth place!"