His mind felt like it was shrouded in a soft gauze, making everything seem indistinct.

Ethan Grant’s eyes swept to the side. Besides Zoe Pierce and Nathan Lockwood, he also saw Miles Sherman and the others.

It wasn’t until he saw Chase Shaw that his perpetually muddled mind began to clear.

He remembered that it was Chase Shaw who had rescued him from the Weeping Beast.

His head throbbed with a dull ache, as if it had been struck by something heavy. He let out a couple of groans and called out pitifully, "Zoe..."

The moment he called out, he wondered if it was his imagination, but it felt like the entire squad was staring at him.

Erin Xavier’s gaze shifted from Ethan Grant to Zoe Pierce. ’That Alpha is calling her name way too intimately.’

’Even if Nathan Lockwood said they used to be in the same group, the way he said her name was far too affectionate.’

’Tsk. So sappy.’

Erin Xavier silently crossed his arms and watched the scene.

He watched as Ethan Grant began to reach out. "My head hurts..."

His churning spiritual power made him want to vomit. He hadn’t failed to notice the taste of White Mallow Flower in his mouth—clearly, it had only temporarily soothed him. An Omega had not used their spiritual power to guide his.

His intention was obvious: he wanted Zoe Pierce to go ahead and soothe him again.

But just as his hand extended, he yelped, "Ah—Lucas, wait, no, no!"

Ethan Grant gasped, only then noticing Nathan Lockwood’s hand moving away from the elimination button.

Nathan Lockwood clutched his Intelligent Brain and said coldly, "Shut up and pull your hand back."

’He could accept it for Chase Shaw, who was, after all, part of their squad. But what right did Ethan Grant have to ask Zoe to soothe him?’

’She was their squad’s Omega. She had nothing to do with Ethan Grant anymore.’

Ethan Grant dejectedly pulled back his hand. Clutching his head, he barely managed to suppress the pain. His face was screwed up in a grimace as he asked, "Lucas, what do you want to know?"

’It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. There was definitely a reason they hadn’t eliminated him yet.’

Erin Xavier quickly relayed what Chase Shaw had said and then demanded, "If you discovered anything, spit it out."

’So that’s why they rescued me.’

Ethan Grant felt like this entire joint exam had been cursed with bad luck for him. It had been one setback after another right from the start.

"I don’t know..." He tried his best not to look completely useless, but admitted, "I didn’t even see the Xenobeast. I just felt my spiritual power spiraling out of control."

’He couldn’t provide a single shred of useful information. He really was useless.’

"The next thing I knew, I was waking up and you guys were here."

’So they’d rescued a dead weight.’ Even Zoe couldn’t help but think Ethan Grant had been a bit careless.

’He was an A-level Alpha, for crying out loud. How could he be so incompetent? Even among Alphas, A-level was considered a high rank.’

If Ethan Grant knew what Zoe was thinking, he’d probably argue that no Alpha below A-level could even get into a military academy. They were all on the same playing field. Only a rare few were exceptionally powerful, like the Alphas standing here now—the very pinnacle of the school’s Alpha population.

Besides, everyone uses Mechas to fight Xenobeasts these days.

The only reason they didn’t have them now was because the school wanted to put them through special training, confiscating all the Mechas and forcing them to rely on just their spiritual power and physical strength to deal with Xenobeasts.

When it came to fighting Xenobeasts with pure physical strength, some A-level Alphas with more specialized spiritual powers were completely outmatched.

Since they couldn’t get any information out of Ethan Grant, the group lost interest in talking to him.

Seeing Ethan’s miserable state, Erin Xavier offered him a way out. "Why don’t you just eliminate yourself? Think you can even last long enough to find your squad’s Omega?"

’His stance was the same as Nathan Lockwood’s: since Zoe was their squad’s Omega, she had no business soothing the spiritual power of an Alpha from another team.’

Ethan Grant looked at Erin Xavier, who was pretending to be genuinely concerned for him. He couldn’t help but grit his teeth and force out, "No thanks. I can make it back."

He looked expectantly at Nathan Lockwood, and Nathan tossed him his Intelligent Brain.

With trembling hands, he opened the map of his squad’s checkpoints. Unsurprisingly, he was now even farther away from them.

’Just my luck.’

His stubborn attempt to act tough at least showed a bit of Alpha spirit; he wasn’t acting like a complete coward.

Erin Xavier remained noncommittal, turning his gaze to Miles Sherman, waiting for him to speak.

"Let him go."

In the end, it was Miles Sherman who made the final call, deciding to let Ethan Grant go.

And so, having just regained consciousness, Ethan Grant once again disappeared from Zoe Pierce’s sight.

’She could only pray for him silently, hoping he’d be able to regroup with his squad soon.’

’His luck was just too awful.’

Once Ethan Grant was completely out of sight, Erin Xavier shrugged. "Why’d you let him go? There are so many squads teamed up now. A lone Alpha with unstable spiritual power like him will probably get eliminated in no time."

’The whole point of the second stage is to eliminate as many of our own school’s squads as possible. And what do we do? We just let one go.’

’Wouldn’t getting eliminated early save him a lot of trouble?’

Zoe could tell Erin genuinely meant it; he’d said it so casually.

Their gazes met. Erin Xavier’s large, doe-like eyes suddenly narrowed. "Zoe Pierce, let me ask you a question."

’The moment he spoke, Zoe had a bad feeling.’

’But with Miles and the others around, she wasn’t afraid. One of them was normal, one was technically her "teacher," and one she had just soothed. Surely they wouldn’t just stand by and watch Erin lose it on her.’

"What question?" she asked, clearing her throat.

"When’s your birthday?" Erin asked, his expression suddenly turning serious.

Zoe heard Chase Shaw let out a "tsk," a look of exasperation flashing across his face.

’It seemed like everyone knew what this was about.’

She thought for a moment before answering, "July 5th, Star Calendar 3988."

Erin Xavier’s expression visibly soured, as if her birthday were some unforgivable sin.

Nathan Lockwood explained it for Zoe’s benefit. "Don’t mind him. He just can’t stand being the youngest." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Erin Xavier had a baby face and was the youngest on the team, so everyone else treated him like a little brother. He hated it. Whenever the team was assigned an Omega, he’d occasionally ask this question.

And almost every time, he’d still turn out to be the youngest.

Seeing how petite Zoe was, Erin had suddenly thought to ask.

’He had thought that this time, for once, he’d win. But he’d lost again.’

Now that he had his answer, Erin Xavier grinned at Zoe Pierce and called out with deep meaning, "So you’re my big sis, huh~"

That "big sis," with one syllable deliberately drawn out, was enough to give Zoe goosebumps.

It was a form of address she simply couldn’t stomach.

She just felt her skin crawl at the sound of that drawn-out syllable.

Seeing Zoe’s pained expression, Erin snorted to himself. He felt a little better now and, seeing that she’d gotten the message, finally stopped deliberately trying to gross her out.

’At least she got the message.’

Erin immediately tossed the word from his mind. There was no way he was ever going to call Zoe "big sis" again.

’Never.’