Chapter 96: Entering
Morris waited calmly for the commotion to die down a little. Those eyes of his, sharpened by long experience, slowly swept across one excited face after another. The invisible pressure gradually subdued the noise.
“Silence.”
He did not raise his voice, yet it was full of authority.
“This was a decision made after the academy’s overall consideration.”
“This is neither a joke nor unfairness. Trials in the real world never proceed step by step, nor do they confine your opponents to your peers. Only by competing alongside those who are stronger and more experienced, and by facing the gap head-on, can you recognize your shortcomings and then improve.”
“And for the students of the Interdiate Departnt, this is likewise an opportunity to test their overall ability and to bear the responsibility of guiding others. I hope all of you in the third year will make good use of this chance—to observe, to learn, and even… to challenge.”
Minister Morris stood on the stone platform. The hem of his black robe lifted in the morning wind and then fell again. He waited until the buzzing discussions quieted sowhat before raising a hand.
“All right, children.” His voice was gentle, but it carried clearly to every ear. “I know you are all excited. For now, let us calm down and make the important matters clear first.”
He lowered his hand and slowly swept his gaze across every face.
“As written on the notice, for the next three days, you will conduct a survival challenge in the Whispering Forest.” He paused, letting the words sink in. “Seventy-two hours. Survive independently, search for items, possibly encounter monsters, and—competition between students is permitted.”
Below, it was astonishingly quiet.
“There are three criteria for evaluation: survival ti, the number of items obtained, and your overall performance in dealing with situations,” Morris continued. “All of this is written on the notice. However, I think it would be better to explain certain details in person.”
He produced a small object from his sleeve and held it up. It was a crystal no larger than a fingernail, transparent, with a thread of red silk-like light drifting within it.
“This is a Distress Rune. Each of you will be given one shortly.” He turned his wrist, and the crystal refracted a faint gleam in the morning light. “When your life is truly in danger, crush it. A judge-teacher will arrive imdiately—but the mont you crush it, your assessnt ends as well.”
He lowered his hand and slipped the crystal back into his sleeve.
“So think carefully. Your life is always more important than the assessnt.”
“As for the items you must find—they are twelve different runes.” From his other sleeve, he took out a slightly larger crystal, pale blue, with fine patterns slowly flowing inside it. “Like this one. The academy has already placed them throughout the forest in advance. Each kind of rune emits a distinct energy fluctuation.”
He handed the blue crystal to a student in the front row.
“Pass it around and have a look. No need to inject Mana—just hold it as it is.”
The crystal passed from hand to hand.
“You may use your own Distress Rune—yes, the red one,” Morris explained, “and inject a trace amount of Mana into it. It will resonate with runes of the sa origin and indicate the direction. The stronger the resonance, the closer the distance.”
He waited until the crystal was returned to his hand before continuing.
“But there are two things you must pay attention to.” He raised one finger. “First, the more runes you collect, the more obvious the energy gathered around you will beco. The unconscious Mana fluctuations you emit may be noticed by other students, and they may also… attract certain things that are sensitive to Mana.”
A wave of hushed discussion rose below.
“Second,” he said, raising a second finger, “so of the places where the runes are placed may be guarded by monsters. As for how you take them—whether you slip around quietly or deal with them head-on—that is up to you.”
He also tucked the blue crystal back into his sleeve.
“The locations are not fixed, and the appearance tis are not fixed either,” Morris said. “You may encounter one on the first day, or one may not appear until the final few hours. How many you can find depends entirely on your own ability.”
He paused for a long ti, so long that people thought he had finished speaking. Then he leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice even more.
“I will repeat this one last ti: seventy-two hours, twelve runes, confrontation permitted but killing and maiming forbidden. The Distress Rune is your final ans of preserving your life. Once you use it, you are out.”
He straightened and clapped his hands.
“All right. Are there any questions?”
No one raised a hand. At the entrance to the forest path, there was only the rustling of leaves in the wind.
Morris nodded.
“Confrontation is permitted during the assessnt.” He waited until the buzzing below rose and then quieted again before continuing. “You may steal other people’s runes. There are no restrictions on the thods—tripping them, setting traps, seizing them by force face-to-face, all of that is allowed. But there is only one requirent: you may not deliberately kill anyone, and you may not deliberately cripple anyone. You may be free once you are inside, but the panel of judges is watching. If things truly reach the point where lives are at stake, they will intervene.”
“Now then, check your equipnt. Anyone in violation will be disqualified imdiately.”
Ryan knelt on one knee on the ground, threading the final buckle of his backpack through a leather loop. Cosette crouched in front of him, both hands gripping the shoulder straps and pulling hard backward, stretching the canvas taut.
“All done,” she said softly, though her fingers were still checking the buckles one by one.
Ryan stood up and rolled his shoulders. The weight of the pack settled into his waist and hips. He glanced at Cosette. The girl was tilting her face up at him, fragnts of forest light falling into her hazel eyes.
“All right, you should head back now,” he said.
Cosette’s lips moved, but no sound ca out. She nodded and stepped back twice.
Each person was allowed to bring only a limited amount of supplies: one weapon, no more than five Magic Tools, and enough food and water for thirty-six hours.
The inspection began. The gray-robed instructors searched each bag in turn and used detection runes to scan the hidden compartnts. One boy had smuggled in two extra energy bars, and they were confiscated.
Another girl had tucked a spare dagger into the shaft of her boot and was forced to choose one on the spot. She agonized over it for quite a while before finally throwing away the one in her boot.
When it was Ryan’s turn, the one checking him was a stern-faced female mage. She opened his bag. Inside, there were indeed only three objects that looked like Magic Tools.
“The Magic Tools are fine. Where is your weapon?”
Ryan drew out the long sword wrapped in cloth. She only glanced at the hilt and did not ask him to unwrap it.
“All right.”
The inspection dragged on for nearly three quarters of an hour. Four people were eliminated. One of them even tried to argue, only to have his mouth sealed shut with a Silence Spell and be dragged away.
Morris stepped back onto the stone platform.
“The transport team is ready.” He lifted a hand slightly. Gray-clad attendants erged from the forest carrying stacks of folded black blindfolds. “Everyone, blindfold yourselves.”
The strips of cloth were handed out. Ryan took one. The material was thick, lined inside with soft velvet. He turned to glance at Cosette. The girl stood beyond the warning line, both hands clenched tightly together.
He tied the blindfold on.
The world went dark.
The edge of the cloth pressed against his brow, sealing out every trace of light. Around him ca the rustling sounds of others blindfolding themselves as well.
Soone tapped his elbow.
“Follow .”
It was a teacher’s voice.
Ryan stepped forward, his left hand hovering near the hilt of his sword. He could hear the chaotic footsteps around him—soone stumbled, soone else cursed quietly after stepping on a stone.
The group from the Interdiate Departnt moved much more neatly, with almost no one speaking.
They walked onto the forest path. The stone-paved road beca a dirt path, then softened into a thick layer of decaying leaves and humus. The air grew increasingly damp. The scent of trees mixed with a faint sweetness, cloying and rotten, like overripe flowers gone bad.
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, they stopped.
“Wait here.” The teacher’s voice was very close, almost brushing his ear. “After I leave, count to one hundred in your head, then remove the blindfold.”
“The assessnt begins from here.”
The footsteps retreated and were quickly swallowed by the forest. He could still hear other people breathing nearby, but all of them were dozens of ters away—the judges had scattered them apart.
Ryan began counting.
One, two, three…
He heard the wind brushing through the treetops high above. He heard a small animal dart through the bushes to his right. He heard his own heartbeat, steady as ever.
Forty-seven, forty-eight…
From far away ca a short cry of alarm, as though soone had stepped into empty air. Then there was a flurry of panicked running, which quickly vanished deeper into the forest.
Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.
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