Beta and the others split up in order to have a higher efficiency of gathering various information. One of the places that Beta visited was a tavern. It was a huge tent that accommodated many Explorers and students from several schools. Malvic Academy wasn't the only school that had the chance of getting the reward. Since it was a matter of life and death for the headmaster of their school, the teachers decided that it was not the time to keep their resources to themselves. If their headmaster died, their position would be in danger too. There was a great possibility that the headmasters of other schools might take that to their advantage to usurp Malvic Academy, completely overtaking their management and remaining resources, not to mention their geniuses will be taken too. If that happened, none of their jobs would be safe.

Within the tavern, Beta couldn't only make out squads of people that were happily drinking after a successful day, he was also able to see a bunch of groups that were quiet, with their heads drooping. He sat down right next to one of these groups and listened to their conversation.

"What are we going to do now?", a young boy with black hair and a big nose said.

"Huuhuuu.. Why do you keep asking that?! We don't know either! Huuhuu.. He's dead! We can't change anything about it!", a woman said, crying.

"For now, we can only say that a trap killed him but we'll definitely try to get our revenge later on...", a boy with bulging muscles commented. His fist was clenched so tight that his knuckles started to turn white.

"And how are we supposed to get revenge?! They will grow much faster than us. That's just the fate of the weak. We can't compare to people of that kind of school at all....", the one who spoke first said, a self-deprecating smile surfacing on his face.

"You never know! Maybe, if we go to the center and find something good..."

"The center? Really? Do you want us to die as well? After our brother saved our lives, who are we to throw it away?", the woman interrupted, crying.

Beta clearly understood what happened. This group possibly found a lead as to where to find the key or maybe a treasure, only to be found out by students of a stronger school. Even if they raise that subject to their teachers, they won't be able to do anything for them. They might even keep them at bay, so as to not bring any predicaments for the school in the future, but reality will always be cruel to those who are weak. After eavesdropping for a bit, Beta knew that he wouldn't get any more information out of them. So, he switched targets and listened at a few other places, paying attention to every bit of detail that might be helpful for their journey. Once he realized there was nothing more relevant information he could get, he finally left the tavern.

"It seems that there's a school that is trying to get all the benefits for themselves.", Beta mumbled, quickly followed by a smile. "Let's see who takes everything home in the end."

Beta himself wasn't opposed to the idea of fighting other humans, unlike most others. He believes that the gains this time overweight the means. So, getting all the benefits that someone else had accumulated over an extended amount of time would be perfect. Like this, he wouldn't have to steal from poor innocent small groups and instead get one big fish that satisfies his whole group.

Beta went to a few other places before finally heading back to his class tent. Sophie and a few others were already there, waiting and talking, when they noticed Beta coming in.

"How was it? Did you get everything?", Beta asked Sophie with a smile.

Since this wasn't the first time that he gave her that job, he kind of knew the outcome already. She had always been good at handling money and keeping the price of the wares to a bare minimum. Sophie had a way with words that merchants just can't resist agreeing. Thus, thanks to her, the equipment they bought before going into their wilderness excursions within the last year only cost half as much as it normally would.

"Gosh! Everything is so expensive here! I almost went back to Saland to buy everything instead of getting it here! Luckily, there are still some merchants with good hearts. I got everything we need and also some surplus that we can sell later or just use ourselves in case we need more than expected. It would still be great if we hunt for food inside the city though. Apparently, there are some beasts inside that can be eaten or sold for a substantial amount of money.", Sophie said proudly.

"Very well done! You never fail whatever task I give you, truly commendable!", Beta told her with a big smile.

Since he didn't have to pay anything, Beta gave a warm, earnest smile. He was genuinely glad about it since if he had to feed everyone, he would need to rob someone to able to do it. Luckily, Sophie likes her role in the squad very much, making things much easier for him, especially with his issue about money.

"I also obtained information about a school running rampant inside the ruins. There's something fishy about it though...", Sophie said, slightly unsure.

"It's about their objective, isn't it?", Beta asked, grinning.

"Exactly! A school that is strong enough to bully everyone here without repercussions would hardly need a reward like ours, right? Even if the students are still in need of something like that, they would probably look down on it as they would have much better things in the future. So, why are they here if not for the reward?", said Sophie with her thumb and forefinger pinching her chin, her usual thinking face.

"I think I know why but it's not certain. Anyways, there's no need to busy ourselves with these kinds of questions for now, so let's just forget about it. There are countless teachers and stronger people who can handle that trouble for us, it's best not to get involved and only stick to our task.", said Beta as he quickly brushed their worries away.

He had an idea as to why they might be here though. There was a high possibility that they were targeting someone and the most probable target was him. The reason they were causing trouble might be to test people who they had their suspicions about while also collecting treasures on their way. No one really knows what kinds of treasures can be found in these ruins, so they might think that it would be a waste to just let everyone else take it. But no matter what was inside the ruins, it was probably not worth as much as a Void Elementalist like him. Thus, the search for him would be their main priority.

"We should wait for everyone to gather up and then sleep to fully recuperate. It's better if we head out early in the morning.", Beta added as he noticed the sun setting low.

Just like Beta planned, everyone slept early and got a good sleep before heading out in the morning. Harald and Gerhard, the two Earth Elementalists with the most strength, were appointed with carrying the heavy equipment like spare armors and weapons. The other things were split between everyone, keeping the burden to a minimum. The vegetables were given to the Wood Elementalists, meat to the Fire Elementalists, and water mostly to Pia, one of the two water mages they had, as Sophie was carrying the money and other miscellaneous items.

When they finally entered the ruins, they didn't attract much attention because most were still asleep or simply didn't care about a small squad of kids going into the ruins. They uniformly entered the city through a path that had been cleaned off of rubble beforehand and carefully looked around. They were able to gather some updates yesterday for the map and knew that there were beasts further ahead. They made sure to mark those kinds of threats to ensure their survivability and also to determine possible opportunities that they can manage to take.

Since it was still early in the morning, there was a high possibility that beasts dare to go out of their hunting grounds for a while to check out things in the camp. Though the threat of a human camp made the beasts stay far away, it didn't mean that some of them won't try to take advantage of a settlement full of food. Thus, there were mentions of rations going missing every now and then. But when their group checked the surroundings, they didn't find anything. That was until they left the outer ring.

A bunch of Brown Badgers suddenly attacked them when they were taking a rest. Thanks to Beta's astute senses, they were able to prevent anything bad from happening, but it gave those who had already relaxed a bit of a huge shock. Ever since then, the squad learned their lesson and carefully inspected their surroundings, staying alert at all times, whenever they needed to rest. Their alertness wasn't applied only for beasts though. They were also being careful against humans, and not to forget keeping an eye on random treasures that they might encounter.

Each of them wholeheartedly gave their all with their roles and no one complained about the dirty work, as it was very exciting for them. Being part of an exploration group, a strong one at that, brought them great joy. Beta, on the other hand, made them feel secure and afraid at the same time for he looked as if he had boundless bloodlust. He rushed at every beast that he saw and crushed it brutally with his staff. The interesting thing about it was that the corpses looked more crushed, the more Beta killed. It was truly a shocking sight for all of them, even Brian and Domian, who were surprised and glad that, clearly, their friend grew stronger again.

Since he wasn't able to train for a while and even read through the martial arts book, Beta had too much energy pent up. He used the techniques described in the Monkey Stick Tactics and used the beasts as his training puppets. His improvements were clearly visible as cracking sounds of skulls were heard. The more he hit, the louder the cracks were heard by everyone which turned paler after seeing the gory mess in front of them. However, Beta was so absorbed in his training that he didn't notice anything wrong at all about their reactions. After hitting his last target, he finally let out a satisfied breath.

"Phew! It's good that the material of the capsule I made my weapon with was great, otherwise, I'm afraid that a normal one would've long broken. In the future, my staff costs will probably be immense once I fully master this technique...", Beta mumbled in an inaudible voice.