Not long after, Gray and Loki also emerged from the cave.
Everyone went over to congratulate them.
"Master Gray~"
Lisana tugged Jubia: "Calm down, we're still rivals now."
"You passed too, Jubia." Gray was quite pleased, "As expected of you, but I won't go easy on you next."
'Won't... let you go?!'
'Won't let you go for the rest of your life?'
Jubia had a peculiar mishearing, her cheeks turned rosy, and she covered her chest with her hands, looking as if she might faint at any moment: "Jubia~~~"
"Ah, she's hopeless." Lisana felt a bit of a headache, accompanying Jubia for the exam felt more exhausting than her own exam.
"By the way, who were your opponents?" Loki casually inquired about the situation.
Then he and Gray were both surprised.
Jubia and Elfman's groups were understandable; they were roughly equal, and either could win.
Then Rhode and Wendy defeating Erza... surprising, but somewhat expected, was acceptable.
But how Natsu and Hapi passed Kildas' challenge was something they genuinely couldn't figure out.
And Natsu's state was also strange.
"Congratulations on passing the first part of the exam!"
The president's voice came from above. Everyone looked up to see Carla slowly descending from the sky with him.
Wendy happily said, "Carla, we passed!"
Carla was happy inside but deliberately put on a stern face: "That candidate's partner, you are forbidden from getting too close to the Chief Examiner's Assistant."
Wendy showed a big smile.
The president cleared his throat: "Alright, a total of five groups passed the first exam, and now it's time for the second exam."
Everyone stood up, ready to listen carefully. Hapi nudged Natsu: "Natsu, how long are you going to stay down?"
Natsu rubbed his face and stood up: "Not down, just thinking about something."
"Thinking about something!!!" Hapi had an expression as if the sky was falling—Natsu actually said he was thinking about something!
Natsu ignored Hapi and regained his spirit after standing up: "Come on! I will definitely become an S-Class Mage!"
"I can't pretend I didn't hear that!"
"Manly man!"
"Jubia wants to become S-Class with Master Gray!"
Several people started arguing, and Makarov watched them with satisfaction.
"Alright, now I will announce the rules for the second exam." Makarov waited for them to quiet down before explaining:
"As mentioned before, our guild's First Generation president, Mebius, is buried on Celestial Wolf Island, and the location of the tomb is quite hidden.
"So, the content of the second exam is to find the location of the tomb, with a time limit of six hours. I will be waiting for you there, good luck."
Finding the First Generation president's tomb?
Rhode thought about it and felt it was a bit simple.
If the president is going to be waiting at the tomb, wouldn't it be straightforward to just follow the president?
Noticing Rhode's little look, Makarov quickly amended the rule, prohibiting tracking him, and formally starting after ten minutes.
Since the president laid it out clearly, Rhode put aside any thoughts of cheating and decided to rely on his own abilities.
With all his wild creatures, he had a significant advantage.
After confirming there were no omissions, Makarov instructed Carla to fly him out of everyone's sight before heading to Mebius's Tomb.
He even used magic to cover his and Carla's scent, preventing the search for the tomb from turning into a search for him.
Having taken these precautions, Makarov sat cross-legged in front of the tomb and asked Carla: "Do you think there's anything I missed?"
Carla responded: "Probably not, except we haven't had lunch."
Makarov hit his palm as if inspired: "Right, Mira and the others should be done with lunch by now. Can you bring some for me?"
Carla refused: "No, as per your reasoning just now, if I fly out now and then fly back, it would be easy for someone to see me, and it would turn into a search for a person."
"Oh no…" Makarov opened his mouth, regretting not eating before acting; does this mean he'll starve here for six hours?
...
"Finding the First Generation's tomb?"
"What a strange exam content."
"Rhode, was it the same kind of task last year?"
Since the start time hadn't arrived, everyone chatted for a bit and focused on Rhode, the only one present with prior exam experience.
"Last year, there was also a task to find something, but snatching was allowed, and it tested more than just searching ability," Rhode said. "This year's task... surely there's something the president wants to assess."
Perhaps there are clues on the island, testing investigative skills. Maybe the more you know about Celestial Wolf Island, the more advantageous it is, testing pre-exam information gathering ability.
Rhode wasn't clear on what the president had in mind.
They casually chatted for a while, and the golden countdown floating in mid-air reached 00:00.
"Time's up!" Natsu practically sprang into action, "Let's go, Hapi!"
"Aye!"
Elfman shouted as he set off with Abar: "A man can't lag behind!"
Gray called out: "We're going too, Loki."
"Jubia wants to go with Master Gray."
"Following isn't out of the question, but do it quietly." Lisana whispered to Jubia, then called to Rhode, "See you later, brother-in-law!"
Rhode waved: "Mm, good luck to you all."
Everyone scattered in different directions, each following their intuition.
"Brother Rhode, what should we do?"
"I feel like the president might have left some clues. Without any leads, we'll start with a grid search."
Rhode waved his hand, releasing two River Crabs, two groups of Stone Beetles, two groups of Beaked Birds, two Magic Swamp Frogs, two groups of Golems, two groups of Ghosts, and four groups of Shadow Wolves from two maps.
A total of 42 wild creatures rushed and flew in all directions like a beast stampede, a spectacular sight.
Then he summoned a Cyan Engraved Golem just in case, for reinforcement.
Wendy watched in a daze as the wild creatures left, feeling like she might not need to help at all this round.
But Rhode said: "Wendy, use your intuition to point in a direction. Where do you think we might find Carla?"
"Eh?" Wendy thought carefully and pointed south, "That way maybe?"
"Okay, we both head that way."
Wendy didn't expect Rhode to be so decisive: "Is it really okay to choose a direction so casually?"
"With no target, let's trust your intuition for now. I hear the younger you are, the sharper your intuition is."
Matters of 'thought,' 'bonds,' or 'fate,' such mysterious forces, Rhode thought it wouldn't hurt to trust in them a bit.
Maybe Wendy, through her connection with Carla, could help find the right direction?