Excited by the prospect of finding the Golden Loot Crate, Erin, Bill, and Leon set out to look for it the following morning.
They spent the remaining days trying to recuperate as much energy as possible because even though the tests were over, there were still many dangers on the island and they needed to be prepared if they wanted to make it through.
It was rough sleeping knowing that their friends had been eliminated from the recruitment test, but due to their exhausted and overused bodies, it didn't take long for them to fall asleep.
Early the next morning, the trio started making their way down the west mountain. The mountain was shrouded in an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of their footsteps as they navigated through the rugged terrain.
It was almost creepy walking through the forest as they couldn't even hear the sounds of any birds chirping. Every living thing had migrated from the west mountain, sensing the danger that was coming.
As they descended, the air became a lot more dense and breathable. They hadn't noticed it much but due to that altitude, the air was pretty thin compared to the ground and the temperature had also risen by a few degrees. The morning sun cast an ethereal glow on the landscape, illuminating their path as they pressed forward.
After they had gone down a good distance from the top of the mountain, the three decided on a meet-up point and split in different directions, because if they were going to find this crate, they were going to have to spread the area of search.
Since there was practically no other living being on the west mountain, they could freely search the area, without having to be on their guard all the time which helped speed up the search a lot.
Bill, utilized his earth ability and searched for any disturbances in the terrain that could potentially indicate the presence of the crate. His ability was strong enough for him to know what irregularities he was sensing, and it led him to find lots of empty gaps between rocks and the roots of tall trees, but so far he didn't have any luck finding the crate.
Leon relied on his speed ability to quickly check several spots as he ran through the forest at moderate speed. He wanted to check as fast as possible but didn't want to miss anything by mistake. He had covered twice as much area as Bill and trusted his gut feeling to guide him toward the elusive golden crate.
Erin's skill set didn't really suit search and recon missions and so she had to slowly trek through her path, manually checking every nook and cranny to make sure she didn't leave anything behind. Her wind ability helped her check high places but so far she didn't have any luck either.
The group had searched for a good long while and it was evening time when they all met back at their predetermined meet-up spot, and so far neither of them had any luck finding that crate.
"Damn, these guys really did hide that thing well," Leon said as he was a bit tired from running around the forest all day.
"Don't worry, it should still be somewhere on this mountain. We have only searched one section, but there are a few more to go. We will find it eventually," Bill said trying to raise Leon and Erin's spirits.
The trio called it a day and made their way back to the shelter. They repeated this process the following days as well. They would descend the mountain early in the morning and then split off to search a whole section of the west mountain to try and find the golden loot crate.
By the time they would be done searching, it would be close to nighttime, when they would meet back up together and go back to the shelter to eat dinner and catch some sleep. They took turns sleeping as they were still paranoid of beasts attacking them at night, and so one of them was always awake as they slept to make sure they were safe.
As the days went by, they were starting to lose hope and think that maybe someone else had already found the golden crate and taken it with them, but they couldn't be sure until they searched the whole mountain.
On a positive note, as the days progressed, wildlife started returning back to the mountain and soon the birds started chirping again in the trees and the trio was given a break from fish as they found a goat grazing during their search which they hunted and cooked for dinner.
Without Mako's expertise in cooking, the trio was in for an interesting journey as they had to figure out how to prepare the meat as well as how to cook it which wasn't very pleasant today the least.
******************
[On the 14th day of the recruitment test]
The trio was pretty much fed up at this point as they had spent almost all of their time looking for the golden crate but still had found nothing, not even the purple ones.
Alongside wildlife, beasts had also returned back to the mountain which was at least a small bonus as they were able to procure a decent amount of crystals from killing beasts that approached the shelter at night as well as those who ambushed them while they were searching.
Using the remote-controlled drone controller that was still in Mako's backpack, Bill was able to access the drone still stationed at the information tablet, and from it, he learned that they would be extracted from the island the next day at noon, marking the completion of the recruitment test.
All three of them were very excited to finally leave the island and reunite with Mako and Iris, but they were also a bit anxious as they wanted to find the golden crate so badly as they had invested so much time in it at this point.
Today was the last day that they could search for the golden crate and all three of them were trying very hard, looking in every single crack to try and find that crate.
Erin had been searching along the small stream that led back to the area where they fought the group of 8 cadets, right by the foot of the mountain.
Since they had already been here, Erin had low hopes of finding anything there, but she still wanted to just double-check it to make sure there was no doubt left in her mind.
As she approached the area where they had their battle, she could still see some of the scars from the battle that had taken place here a couple of days ago.
She looked around a bit but was quickly disappointed because just like she had anticipated, there was nothing to find there. As she was about to leave and head back from where she came, she decided to stop by the stream and get a sip of water as she was parched from walking all day.
Suddenly, a glint of gold caught Erin's eye.
"Huh?" Erin said in confusion.
She looked around a bit to see where it was coming from and saw that it was coming from the bed of the stream.
She approached the spot cautiously, her heart pounding with anticipation. With bated breath, she reached in and removed the layer of rock and sand that was covering the spot which was glimmering in a golden color, and uncovered the Golden Loot Crate buried beneath the sand and rock.
"OH MY GOD!" Erin shouted out in excitement as she had done it. She had finally found the golden crate, marking their mission a success.
She was so surprised and shocked to find that the golden crate was hidden at the exact spot where they had fought the group of 8 cadets and had first learned about the loot crates in the first place.
She quickly dug the golden crate out of the stream and started sprinting back to their meet-up point, with the crate wrapped tightly around her arm.
Leon and Bill had already arrived at the meet-up point with empty hands as they were unable to find the crate. They were quite saddened by this and were now just waiting on Erin to show up so that they could return back to their shelter.
"Guys! *pant!* *pant!* I found it!" Erin shouted over to Bill and Leon from afar as she ran toward the meet-up point.
Both boys turned around to see Erin towards them with a golden crate wrapped around her arm. They were surprised to see that Erin was able to find the loot crate at the last minute.
They ran towards her and congratulated her as all three of them hugged each other at the exact same time.
They were all pretty excited and happy. Leon wanted to open the crate right away but Bill being a bit more sensible, suggested that they should take it back to the shelter and open it in peace as it was almost nighttime and beasts would become a lot more active during the night.
After a bit of convincing, he agreed that it was indeed the right call and the trio made their way back toward the shelter full of excitement as they couldn't wait to find out what great treasures were stored in the golden crate.
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