As they kept on destroying the terrain, they became faster in the process.
The second mountain took five days to crumble while they managed to destroy the top of the third one in four days.
When they were done with the last mountain, almost four weeks had passed.
They laid on the terrain, they had launched attacks non-stop for the whole time, they only rested for a few hours every day and used many potions to keep their dantian and sea of consciousness full.
They were in desperate need to recover.
However, they still paid attention to their surroundings, they didn't dare to relax before the rewards arrived.
In about ten minutes, the inscriptions on the walls lighted up and another pile of goods appeared.
The students heaved a sigh of relief.
"It seems that we won't have to inspect the crumbled areas again."
Nigel smiled, he was happy that he could finally relax.
"How much do you think it's the total value of the rewards of the three layers that we cleared?"
Errol spoke, staring at the mountain of items and Credits.
"It should be around ten million Credits. The Royals sure a rich to give away this wealth just for rank 3 magical beasts."
Said Noah while he calculated the number of Credits he would receive due to his agreement with Thaddeus.
'It's already more than three hundred thousand Credits without adding the little extras that we are keeping for ourselves. I've already surpassed Thaddeus's initial offer.'
Nigel shook his head and spoke in a calm tone.
"These are just Credits and common inscribed items, nothing too important. The really valuable things in the eyes of the Royal family are the techniques and the spells. Once you reach that status, money loses importance. What's the point of having that amount of wealth if you can't buy the things that makes you powerful?"
The other three nodded, the importance of personal power was clear in their mind.
They had achieved their status as students of the academy through power after all, money was mostly a tool for them.
"Must be nice though to live the rest of your life in a mansion, uncaring of anything regarding the cultivation world. Once my life as a soldier is over, I want to raise my own noble family and forget about the struggles for wealth."
Errol spoke, raising his gaze at the sky.
'A peaceful life, there was a time when I also desired something similar.'
Noah thought.
He had been at a dead-end in his previous life.
There was nothing that he was really interested in, he simply wanted to do a modest job and enjoy his few passions.
'But that was because everything seemed so pointless. You would have remained a simple man both as a dishwasher and as a successful director. It was all so futile. Here, you can become a deity, undisputed among living beings.'
He had no doubts regarding what he would do during his life, the test of his nature had confirmed his already rooted desires.
He raised his gaze at the sky too, trying to look for the distant stars in that fake firmament.
'When will I be able to walk there freely?'
In the end, they decided to use a full week to rest and to return at their peak form.
A path had opened in the terrain leading to the sixth layer.
There was no need for warnings, their teamwork was quite solid since everyone became used to the other members of the group.
'We had a test of endurance, one of will, and one of wits. I wonder what's next.'
Noah sorted his thoughts and focused, he had completely stopped wearing his upper clothes by then.
When they arrived on the other side of the passage, a forest unfolded in front of their eyes.
The leaves of the trees were large and green, creating a dark environment on the ground.
'No illusion nor anything out of the ordinary for now.'
Noah used what he learnt in his course about magical beasts to guess which type of creatures might appear.
Nigel pointed in a direction and the others advanced behind him.
The was the faint sound of a battle in the distance and they quietly moved toward it.
After a few hundred meters, they saw two packs of beasts fighting between each other.
"Earth monkeys and Toxic monkeys."
Noah spoke softly.
There were two different kinds of monkey-type beasts fighting.
The number of specimens in each pack amounted to almost one hundred and there clearly was some peak rank 3 among them.
'Earth monkeys are physically strong and slightly bigger while the Toxic ones use their feces to poison their prey.'
Those magical beasts were not big, only about one and a half meters tall, and their individual strength was average.
However, they were adept in fighting as a group, capable of attacking from every direction due to their high agility.
"How should we approach them?"
Nigel turned to Noah.
They had understood by then that his knowledge regarding magical beasts was deep, he had managed to point out every creature that they found in four layers after all.
"There is usually a leader in each pack. With monkey-types magical beasts, it handles most of their battle tactics so it would be wise to kill it first. They are quite wary of humans though, if we attack now, they will most likely stop their battle and focus on us."
Nigel turned his gaze back on the fight.
"So, we wait for them to disperse?"
"We should wait for them to go back in their lair and then strike."
Nigel nodded and added something.
"We don't even know if these two are the only packs in the forest. Even if there seem to be a few peak rank 3 specimens, only this number is too little for the sixth layer."
The group moved and carefully inspected the entirety of the forest.
They found five more packs, all of a different kind of monkey-type magical beasts.
"In total, there should be more than seven hundred rank 3 magical beasts. Each of them has different abilities and we should carefully plan our assault based on them."
Nigel summarized.
The students created a hole in the trunk of one of the biggest trees and drew a map of the sixth floor as they debated on how to face the beasts.