Professor Tomas led them out of the large room and through the halls once again. Together, they all walked in one group, nobody daring to say anything for fear of earning Tomas' ire. Pale, for her part, stayed silent for a different reason.

She was too busy poring over the rudimentary map they'd been shown.

She'd memorized it the instant it had been shown to them all, of course – one of the perks of being an artificial intelligence was her ability to parse complex information such as that in a way far faster than any regular person could, not to mention that she could do it stealthily, too.

It seemed like a simple enough task – steal two tomes for herself and two for Kayla, and then make their way to the destination. The trouble, of course, came from the unknown factors going into the test. The professors had mentioned other denizens in the underground; between them, the other students, the environment itself, and the fact that the map they'd been shown was as basic as could be, and it was shaping up to be more complex than she'd anticipated.

"Pale."

Kayla's voice caught her attention, and Pale turned to her. She found Kayla nervously adjusting the sheathed blades on her belt, biting her lip the entire time. Kayla blinked, then leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Do you have a plan?"

Slowly, Pale nodded. "I do," she whispered back. "But first I want to see what happens next. Depending on how they let us loose, this could either be much easier or much harder."

Kayla nodded, then pulled away, and the two of them continued walking on in silence together.

Eventually, Professor Tomas led them to a set of large metal double doors. He paused before them, then stretched out both hands, resting them on it; as Pale watched, his hands began to glow, and after a moment, the door opened, the metal screeching against the stone floor as it did so.

With the path now opened, Tomas turned back to them. Pale looked past him, trying to see into the new room, and was surprised to see what appeared to be several dozen leather bags, all tied up with twine. It was impossible to see into them, but she was able to guess at what each of them held.

"You will be admitted into the labyrinth one at a time," Tomas said. "Each of you will take a single bag, and then continue on your way. Your time begins the moment you set foot inside."

Pale tilted her head. Tomas had referred to the area they'd be entering as a labyrinth, which didn't inspire much confidence. It wouldn't be an issue for her, but everyone else was going to have some degree of trouble if it ended up being even half as maze-like as the name implied.

Before she could think on it any further, Tomas pointed at a random initiate.

"You," he said. "You're up first. Take one bag and go, and be quick about it."

The prospective student jumped a bit at being addressed so suddenly, but did as he was told, stepping into the room. As they all watched, he picked up a bag at random, then looked around before; Pale couldn't see off to the side, but there must have been a path there, because that was where he took off running towards. They all listened as his footsteps steadily grew fainter and fainter; once they had disappeared completely, Tomas turned towards the next person.

"You," he said, pointing to Pale. "You know how it works by now, I'd hope. Hurry up."

Pale didn't even bother to nod at him. Instead, she gave Kayla a reassuring glance, then stepped forward. One of the bags was slung over her shoulder, and Pale looked around; as she'd suspected, there was only one path to take at this point, and it led down a darkened tunnel. Through the shadows, she could just barely make out the dim glow of several lightly-colored gems embedded in the walls, which lit the way.

With nowhere else to go, Pale adjusted her rifle to sit a bit more comfortably across her front, then took off running.

XXX

The first thing she did was dump the leather bag she'd been given. They hadn't confiscated her pack, which was good; there were still some supplies in there for her and Kayla, not to mention her additional ammo. But aside from all that, Pale wanted to get a look at which color tome she'd gotten.

"White…" she muttered. She was about to stuff the book into her pack, but thought better of it. Instead, she opened it to try and read it, only to scowl when she saw its pages were completely blank. Shaking her head, she placed the book in her pack, and at the same time, did a quick inventory check.

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Her and Kayla had been on the road for some time now, and had steadily eaten through this supply of rations. They weren't completely gone, but she didn't have enough to last them the whole week, especially since they'd be marching and fighting the entire time, not to mention Kayla's use of magic. Her extra food and water were going to go quick; Pale estimated she had, at best, three days of rations on her.

Medical supplies were another concern. Normally, if she needed something for medical purposes, she could call down a pod specifically for it, but a quick look at the thick stone ceiling above her head told her that wouldn't be possible down here. She wasn't completely unprepared, however – there was still the individual first-aid kit on her battle belt, plus a bigger one in her pack. Neither of them were substitutes for a hospital or even someone skilled in healing magic, but they'd do for now.

Finally, the one thing she had an abundance of was ammunition. Pale counted out several magazines of 6.8mm ammunition, the magazines themselves holding thirty rounds each. By her count, she had a standard infantry loadout of 210 rifle rounds on her, plus another 120 in Kayla's pack. Her handgun was similarly well-supplied; she counted out ten magazines of twelve rounds each, and she knew Kayla had another six on her as well.

That was one small victory, then – if push came to shove, she could always just shoot her way out, she supposed.

Pale closed her pack, then slung it back over her shoulders. She was about to take off running once more when something caught her attention – footsteps, coming up just behind her. Without hesitation, Pale ducked into a nearby crevice, drawing her knife from its spot on her belt as she did so.

A few seconds later, the initiate ran past her, and Pale struck. She leaped out of the shadows, wrapping her arm around the unfortunate person's neck and pressing the knife to their throat hard enough to draw a thin trickle of blood.

"Hand over your tome," she commanded. "Now."

The initiate in her grasp suddenly stiffened, and at that moment, Pale realized who it was – she'd grabbed Nasir, the one who'd helped her escape the room earlier.

"P-please…" Nasir begged. "We're just starting the trial… and I helped you earlier, too..."

"I know. I don't care. Give it to me."

Nasir began to tremble in her grasp, but did as he was told, letting the leather bag slip from his shoulders and onto the floor below, where it landed with a dull thud. Once he'd let go of it, Pale drew her knife away from his throat and gave him a gentle shove.

"Get out of here," she told him.

Nasir stayed rooted to his spot for a moment, his head held low. Pale's brow furrowed. "You still have a chance," she reminded him. "Losing your tome doesn't mean you're completely out. If I were you, I'd suggest you do what I just did. I'm sure I won't be the only one doing it."

Nasir sniffled, but didn't argue, instead turning and running down the hallway. Pale didn't even bother to watch him go, instead tearing open the bag to see what color Nasir had given her. Unfortunately for her, it was another white tome, though it wasn't completely useless – Kayla would likely need a white one, and if push came to shove, it could always be used as a bargaining chip for someone who was desperate for a white, which would hopefully save them from getting into a fight.

More footsteps from down the hall caught Pale's attention, and she stowed the book before again sinking back into the shadows, readying her knife once more. Another initiate crossed her path, and Pale leaped for him the same way she had done to Nasir, but to her amazement, a massive blast of wind sent her flying back into the wall, which she impacted against hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Her knife slipped from her grasp and came clattering to the ground, and Pale hurriedly scrambled to her feet just in time to avoid another powerful gust of air that would have blown her back even further.

Pale stood there, grimacing as she noticed her knife lying several meters away, just out of grasp. That was the closest thing she had to something non-lethal; either of her guns were out of the question unless she had decided to kill someone, and the professors had explicitly banned them from doing so.

The initiate across from her cleared his throat, and Pale looked to him. Through the darkness, she was just barely able to make out his appearance – he was dressed in a deep blue cloak, with the hood pulled over his head, concealing his face from view. The cloak was adorned with what looked like gold trim, and he had a staff in his right hand that was topped with a large, expensive-looking green jewel.

"That was a good trick," the initiate said. "Too bad I figured someone would try to pull it. Oh, I still need to introduce myself-"

"I don't care," Pale said, cutting him off.

The young man seemed taken aback by that, if the sudden irritated gasp was any indication. It only lasted for a moment, however, before he recovered.

"Well," he said, "I suppose it's no matter. Hand over your tome and the one you just took from that elf and I'll let you go without a fight."

"You might want to reconsider this offer," Pale pointed out. "Because more initiates will be coming soon. Do you really want to face them after you've used up your mana on me?"

"And what makes you think I wouldn't have enough mana for all of you?" he questioned. Before Pale could ask what he meant, the young man shook his head. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. You tried to use a weapon on me, and that means I'm not about to let you off easily. So either you hand over your tomes or I take them from you by force."

Pale was unperturbed. She stood tall, balling her hands into fists. "Come and take them," she challenged.

Across from her, the initiate let out a small laugh. "Good! I was hoping you'd choose the hard way, I've been meaning to blow off some steam. Anyway, since you're being kind enough to indulge me… my name's Joel Magnus. And I'm going to have a really good time with-"

Pale didn't let him finish, instead rushing forwards, intending to catch him off-guard. Joel stumbled back, but recovered quickly, making a small motion with his staff. The green gem on top began to glow, and for a moment, Pale expected a gust of wind to come greet her once more.

She was completely unprepared for the gem to suddenly turn red and a wave of fire to come flying at her instead.

Her eyes widened as the flames approached, but it was too late for her to divert course. The fireball exploded at her feet, sending her flying backwards into the wall once more. Pale coughed as smoke began to fill the hallway, and she tried to lift herself to her feet, only for a sudden wave of air to force her back to the wall. The wind was overpowering, so much so that it was impossible for her to even move, let alone breathe; Pale stayed there, the breath being forced out of her lungs as she gasped and sputtered, her vision beginning to fade.

And through it all, she just barely heard Joel cut in.

"I'll be taking that."

The last thing Pale felt before passing out was the feeling of her pack being torn from her shoulders.