Amelia immediately took a few steps towards the door before kneeling onto the ground and digging into her bag. Retrieving a set of lockpicks, she inserted two into the lock, wiggling them around slowly with her eyes narrowed.

"I can try popping open the lock manually, but you might want to try looking around. Something tells me a lockpick is a little too simple of an answer for this sort of test, and there are probably magic components to it." Amelia remarked over her shoulder.

I almost made a joke that Professor Morell had prepared us for this since the first day of classes, before remembering that I had attended that class in disguise.

Leon stepped forward and said, "Alright, let's split up and take a look around. We have two hours, so move quickly but not too quickly. It's better to take a few extra minutes and not miss anything than rush and make mistakes. One person to each corner while Amelia works on the door."

The rest of us nodded, and I moved to the farthest corner covered in dozens of maps and posters. One detailed picture depicted Volaris, likely several hundred years earlier judging by its smaller sprawl. Another map showed the Upper District, with many shops and buildings labeled in bright gold lettering. Yet another was a portrait depicting some sort of party that looked to take place in the main ballroom of the Academy.

I ignored the hanging portraits and looked down at the table sitting against the wall. Several dozen books were covering its surface, on a hundred different topics. I opened one at random, finding it was a cookbook reciting various baking recipes, detailing weights of ingredients, mixing times, and other nonsense. I flipped another one open, reading about the best woods to use when creating a ship hull, and shook my head slowly.

A string of swears came from behind me, and I turned to see Amelia pull out a broken pick from the lock, examining it with a sour look. Leon turned to her as well, and she glanced up at us, before saying, "I can keep working on it, but it's not looking good. I'm guessing they reinforced it with magic, and I have never tried to pick a magical lock. I might be able to get it open, but I doubt I could get it done in only two hours."

Leon swore, before looking to me.

"Have you found anything?" he asked.

"Nothing concrete, but I have my suspicions..." I responded, trailing off uncertainly.

When Leon gestured for me to elaborate, I continued, "I think that some of these items are dead-ends to slow us down. The books, for instance, are too long and detailed to be read in just two hours. And the pictures do not seem to have anything to do with this room."

Simon spoke up from his corner, saying, "I think I might have an idea, actually, I found a few puzzles in my corner. Is it possible one of these has a solution?"

Leon rubbed his chin, nodding once at Simon.

"Some puzzle boxes are hollow. Maybe if we solve one of them, there will be a clue how to escape hidden inside. Why don't you try to figure one of them out, while we keep looking?"

I returned to my corner and began scanning the maps, trying to find something connected to the room. Maybe there was some sort of hidden passage here that led out from this room, and somewhere in these pictures was the secret.

Minutes slowly ticked by, and suddenly I heard a surprised gasp from Simon's corner.

Looking over, I saw that Simon was staring at one of the boxes, which was now shining brightly. I covered my eyes, wincing at the harsh light, and when the room fell dark again, I lowered my arm, looking at the bare spot on the desk where the box was before.

"What happened?" Leon asked, walking over to Simon with a concerned look.

"The box disappeared before I could finish solving it," he answered, a frown on his face.

"Why?" Leon asked, returning her frown and furrowing his brow.

I did not initially realize he was asking me until they both turned and waited for my response.

"I am not sure...My best hypothesis is that we made a mistake trying to solve the box and that as a penalty, we lost that option."

Swearing, Leon gnawed on his lip before looking back up to us.

"Not ideal, but we have to take chances. If any of you find out a potential lead, let's put whoever is least likely to make a mistake on it. We can't afford to lose any options by rushing to escape, but we still need to try out any leads."

We continued scanning the room, and after around a half-hour, we had found several possible options. One was a cipher, similar to what Professor Morell had given us but far more complicated. Another strange set of loops looked to form a key if they were pieced together correctly, though I had no idea how to start it. Like with the box, Sophia and Simon began working on it after we regrouped, while I started working on the cipher.

Professor Morell occasionally had us work on them during class, and because of that, I found myself working faster. I stared at the sheet for several minutes, looking for a hint to start solving it. It was far more complex than the ones he typically had us practice, but I had learned enough that I began working through it. Glancing at one of the clocks on the wall, I confirmed I had around fifty minutes to finish the cipher, which was plenty of time.

Just as I thought of that, the paper in front of me shone brightly, just like the puzzle box earlier, and I winced, my eyes shutting against the glaring light. When it faded, just like before, the paper was now gone.

"What happened?" Leon shouted from across the room.

"I...I am not sure, sir. I was almost done with the cipher, but it began glowing, just like the puzzle box. For some reason, it disappeared before I could finish." I replied, cursing myself for not working faster.

"Did you make a mistake?" he said, the slightest hint of accusation in his tone.

"I must have, sir. I...I am sorry," I responded, feeling a twinge of shame. I had done my best, but that still did not make me feel any better.

Swearing, Leon nodded and turned to Amelia, who was still working on the lock.

"Anything?" he asked, a hint of worry in his tone.

"Not yet," she muttered tersely, and I spotted several beads of sweat on her temples.

I sat down onto the ground and closed my eyes, trying to think of a solution. I had been in situations like this and managed to coast by, but we could not afford to just barely pass. We needed to escape, and we need to do it fast. An hour had already passed, and I knew if we did not think of anything soon, we would fail to escape.

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After a few minutes, I almost wanted to hit myself. I was missing a critical tool that I possessed, that few other mages could match. I reached out with my mana sense, carefully scanning the room and looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Unlike the testing room, I could freely use magic here, and all around me, I felt mana ebbing and flowing. Its power swirled around us, slowly absorbed into each of our bodies to replenish any mana lost. I could feel it even now being pulled into my core by my Iron Forging, which had become second-nature to maintain.

On the corner of my awareness, so minuscule I almost missed it, I found something strange. Mana should be disappearing into five areas, one for each of us, but I sense, just off to the room's side, a sixth dead spot. Opening my eyes, I stood and walked over to where I felt it, digging through the shelves and carefully moving books.

There, hidden behind the books and bobbles, was a dark alcove, less than a foot across. I paused for a moment, before pushing my hand into the crevice, feeling a strange cold sensation fall over my skin as I did so. Interestingly, it looked as if it was too dark in there, likely some sort of enchantment, and I realized that must be why it was drawing in mana. It was such a small drain that I doubted most mages would have even noticed it.

Feeling around blindly, I felt my fingers brush against something cold and metallic, and I grabbed it before pulling my hand back. In my palm, I held a pair of glasses, framed in a silvery rim.

"Sir, I think I might have found something," I called out as I examined the glasses. Looking closer, the frame was covered in small markings, surrounding the glass and glowing faintly. It must be enchanted, but I had no idea with what.

I heard Leon and the others cross the room, and I handed the glasses to Leon, who immediately passed them to Simon.

"You have any ideas, Simon? You're the most knowledgeable about magic enchantments," he asked.

Simon fell silent, staring at them intently and likely reading the markings himself.

"I'm not sure, honestly. I'm not as well versed with enchantments as I'd like, but I am reasonably sure there aren't any traps on it. I can't find any runes that suggest danger, and the material isn't built to channel enough mana to cause serious injury regardless. I think it should be safe to use." Simon explained, handing them back to Leon.

Leon paused for a moment, before nodding and moving to put them on. Despite my misgivings about putting myself at risk, I reached out a hand to grab his forearm.

"My lord, perhaps I should try them on. If there is some sort of risk, it will be better if I am injured than you. That is what I am here for, after all." I said with a smile.

I could see the hesitation in his eyes, before Leon nodded slowly, holding them out.

"If you feel anything unpleasant, take them off right away, Vayne. That's an order. I would rather keep you and lose the glasses than the other way around. " Leon remarked as he took a step backward, giving me space.

I nodded before slipping the glasses onto my face, immediately feeling a weak sensation that told me it was pulling mana into itself to activate. A few seconds later, the room became aglow with a dozen bright lights, shining red, blue, green, yellow, and every color in between. I winced, narrowing my eyes at the sudden influx of sights.

"Are you okay, Vayne?" Leon asked, reaching out and shaking me slightly when I did not reply.

"Yes, sir. Sorry. I believe these glasses allow the wearer to see mana. Would you like to try?" I asked, slipping them off my face and handing them to him.

In short order, the others all tried on the glasses themselves, marveling at the swirl of colors that told of mana running through the room.

"That's pretty and all, but what does it mean for us?" Sophia said after a minute, handing the glasses back to Leon.

"May I?" I asked, before using them to look around the room again. The swirls of mana seemed to randomly move around the room, just as I saw before, with no apparent pattern. I looked around carefully, searching for anything unusual that might hint at an escape.

Just like before, there were six spots where mana disappeared, around the five of us and the enchantment, and one location where mana seemed to enter, from the doorway. The rest of the room seemed to be warded against, allowing in mana, and there was no energy entering beside the door.

I paused in my exploration of the room, looking back at one of the desks against a far wall. Mana looked and felt like it was concentrated just the slightest bit more heavily than anywhere else. It was almost impossible to find, and if I was trying to sense it without a visual aid, I would have likely missed it, but with the glasses, it was clear. Somehow, mana was entering the room from a second location.

Without saying anything, I moved to the desk, kneeling underneath it and scanning the floor. The wooden planks on the floor looked the slightest bit darker, so minute that only my improved eyesight picked out the color difference.

"Can I get some help clearing this desk? I think I found something." I asked, standing and beginning to move the various items off its surface. Leon and Simon joined me after a moment, and within a few minutes, we had cleared the desk and slid it away from the wall. Now that it was removed, it was clear that there was the slightest difference in planks on the floor.

I knelt again, and there was a marking on the wall, a rune that looked like it corresponded to "lock." Pressing it, a ball of mana threads popped into existence, floating away from the wall and hovering in the air, colored a dozen different shades. It took me a second to recognize it from Espionage, and I smiled before standing and turning to Leon.

"This is it. I think that if we can unweave that knot of threads, it should open a passageway and let us out."

Leon's face broke into a bright smile, and he nodded before replying, "Can you open it?"

I paused before shaking my head.

"No, but I think we have someone who can." as I turned to Sophia.

She gave a slight smile before moving past me and kneeling next to the wall. Closing her eyes, the knot of mana began spinning in place, a half-dozen threads pulling in different directions under the force of her will.

Sophia's power and knowledge of magic were impressive, but her control was staggering, and I felt confident she would get the knot undone with time to spare. Taking a few steps backward, I slipped the glasses off my face and grabbed a notebook and a pencil from my pack, carefully copying the marks on the frame. I doubted I could keep them after this tournament, but the real secret was in the runes, and if I could replicate its effects, it might prove useful.

Finishing after a minute of furious writing, I walked over to Amelia. When she did not immediately notice me, I gently grabbed her shoulder, and she jumped before looking up and glaring at me.

"You walk on cat's feet lately, do you know that? I almost had it too," she remarked before looking back down at the lock.

"No need. Sophia almost found us a way out." I replied with a smile.

A flicker of something I could not place crossed her face before she nodded and grinned.

"Good because I lied," Amelia commented, before popping to her feet and walking past me.

I sighed, shaking my head before following her, stopping a few feet away from Sophia. Not for the first time, I marveled at her focus, as she almost effortlessly unraveled the tangle of mana. Sophia often displayed almost inhuman control during our training power, weaving lightning bolts across a room between us. Every mage occasionally let their mana waver and nearly let a spell slip from their possession.

But not Sophia. Not even once. And as I watched her finish pulling the knot apart, only having taken around ten minutes from start to finish, I realized that she might very well succeed in becoming an Archmagus someday.

The glowing mana disappeared from view, and the floor shimmered before flashing brightly. A second later, it faded, and there was a set of stairs leading down into a brightly lit corridor, alight with white orbs.

Leon glanced around with a broad smile, saying, "Nice job, little sister. Alright, who wants to go first?"

Without saying anything, Sophia strode past him, descending the stairs silently. Chuckling and shaking his head, Leon followed, and the rest of us took his lead.

The staircase was short, only a few dozen steps, and at the bottom was the same adept who led us to the room in the first place. A few orbs of orange mana danced around the man's hand, and he looked at us with a smile, letting the balls disappear into the air.

"Wow, just over an hour and a half. And finding the hidden staircase with the glasses? Not bad for first years, not bad at all. Don't tell anyone I let it slip, but the time limit is actually just an incentive. You can still get points if you go over, but you get hit with a pretty significant penalty. Still, not a worry for you five."

Turning, he placed a hand on a small pedestal next to him, lit with a white glow. I felt a massive surge of mana, and the floor lit up with markings that looked very similar to the transportation room in Cortos' sanctum.

"Alright, all of you step onto the sigil, and we'll bring you to the third test, the Test of Courage."

Moving as a group, we all stepped forward into the circle. A moment later, the world around us flashed with a bright light, and when it cleared, the room we stood in before was gone.