Gareth looked up. “Well we’ve only been here for 5 hours give or take, so if we rush through this part, we might get to sleep in our rooms.” Even as he said it, it was obvious he had little hope for that outcome.

Roran piped in. “Who cares!!! Camping in an ancient abandoned pyramid sounds awesome!!!” Bear hoodie safely back on his head he once again appeared like a little child.

Luna shyly looked to the floor.

Azura chuckled a little, quite the band of misfits they were, but they were a strong group, he had sparred with other people his age before, so he had a hard time believing that this was the average strength of his peers. He either got lucky, or unlucky with a strong group. Only time would tell, but he knew which one he was betting on. “Alright, given how things have gone so far, I don’t think this is a combat based trial. The monsters in the forest were scarce and hardly worth mentioning, and those golems weren’t meant to be beaten by physical force. If I had to guess, this pyramid isn’t going to test our fighting skills, but our problem solving skills. So all that being said, Luna, you should take point. With that magic of yours, any traps or puzzles should be obvious.”

Luna reared back her face going red. “M-me, are you sure that’s a good idea?” She said timidly.

Azura sighed, it appeared she was only confident in battle. Ironic given the support type nature of her magic. “Yeah you’re the best choice for it, besides you really saved us out there, so I think you’ll be the key to finishing this trial.

Gareth sighed. “I hate to say it, but he’s right. In this situation we have no choice but to depend on your magic.”

Roran piped in. “Besides, your magic is super cool!!! I can’t wait to analyze it more!!!!”

Luna shyly stepped to the front as her eyes began to glow. She then calmly led the group through the dim hallways turning down branching hallways seemingly at random. Azura and the others followed without hesitation, bodies tensed ready for anything.

Azura was rather shocked that after an hour of walking they hadn’t encountered any traps. He knew Luna would be able to see them, but he had figured that she would have to tell them to be careful of certain traps, but nothing has come. “Hey Luna you aren’t just taking turns to avoid any traps are you?” He hoped whoever set up this pyramid didn’t make a false path with no traps to trick people into going the wrong way.

Luna smiled nervously. “There are no traps, down any path, if I’m seeing everything right all the paths converge in one place… except this one. S-sorry, but whatevers at the end of this one is h-hidden from my view.” She kept walking forward, as awkward and shy as she was, she was the least tense of the lot.

Azura’s eyes narrowed, so every other path led to one place, and then one led somewhere else, but which was the trap. Normally he would assume the obvious one that most went to, but with these trials he wasn’t so sure. “Can you see what’s at the end of the other paths?

Luna looked over her shoulder at him. “I can’t, a-all I can see is that it is a large space, big enough to have hundreds of entrances.”

“Hmmm, that’s a little unsettling, no traps at all and most paths lead to the same place. My first instinct would be to use the one path that leads elsewhere, but how many groups will have someone that can find it?” Azura frowned. “Frankly something feels off about this. It would take weeks to search every path, and I doubt being lucky enough to have a tracker type is part of the trials.”

“Perhaps either answer is correct and the importance is simply decisiveness.” Gareth for once didn’t sound condescending, but like he was genuinely thinking things through. Azura sighed that was good at least.

“Maybe we should just blow the pyramid to pieces and scan through the rubble.” Roran was scarily cheerful as he made a casual comment about obliterating a pyramid bigger than some castles.

Azura winced. “Perhaps blowing it to pieces should be saved as a last resort. I have to say that Gareth's idea holds the most merit so all we can do for now is finish the path we are on.” Gareth looked a little smug, but didn’t say anything as they continued to follow Luna down the increasingly complicated corridors.

Hours passed and it got to the point where they were all starting to get pretty tired. Luna looked like she would pass out if she used her magic even a little more, but she resolutely refused to complain. “Ok I think we need to take a break.” He didn’t want to deal with whatever was at the end while they were all running on empty.

“Hmm I suppose if you are already that tired we can stop for a bit.”

“How kind of you Gareth.” He said sarcastically in response. He looked just as tired as the rest of them. Well except Luna who was way more tired than they were and slumped to the ground as soon as he had said the word break. “So it has just occurred to me, but do any of us have any food?” He guessed by the looks of horror they all sent him the answer to that was no.

“P-perhaps we need to continue on after all.” Luna said as she struggled to stand until he grabbed her shoulder and gently guided her back down.

“It’s fine I have some rations, they are just…” He winced. “Well you will see when you eat them.” He reached into the many nearly invisible pockets on the inside of his cloak and pulled out some reddish brown bars. He handed 1 to everyone who looked at them wearily.

“You expect me to eat this after you’ve said something like that.” Gareth looked at the ration like it was a particularly foul dumpster.

Azura took a bite out of his ration with a blank expression. “Unless you want to find your way out of this pyramid, search for edibles, prepare them, and then come all the way back and or starve. Then yes I expect you to eat them.” He ate his while the rest hesitantly bit into theirs.

“Hey this isn’t even that bad it just tastes like air with a slight hint of… maybe strawberry? Haha you nobles are so melodramatic.” Roran laughed as he ate his bar quickly. Azura gave him a pitying smile as he slowly took another bite. Roran suddenly stopped laughing and grabbed his stomach as the other 2 finished theirs off, Azura stared at the last bite of his with some hesitance. “Oww, why does my stomach feel like it’s on fire?!!” Roran screamed as he rubbed his stomach like he was trying to soothe the world's worst stomach ache.

“I didn’t say it was the flavor that was the reason they were a problem.” Azura said simply as he hesitantly ate the last bite of his as the other 2 started to grab their stomachs in pain. “These are called war rations, they are super condensed nutrients that will last through 24 hours by only being digested in bits throughout the day. However since the magic in them is so invasive it causes your mana to run a little wild when you finish the whole bar and the spell takes hold.” He winced as the pain started to affect him, and he winced.

Roran was the first to recover, at least of the ones who had never had them before. He glared at Azura who raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristically threatening visage. “Why didn’t you tell us that before we ate them!!” Gareth joined him in glaring at Azura, but Luna at least just seemed glad the pain had stopped.

“Because no one told me when I first tried one, and I wanted to see what my expression must have looked like.

***

Azura was gently nudged awake. He begrudgingly opened his eyes to meet the glowing eyes of Luna. “It’s your turn to take watch.” Thankfully as she started to get used to them her stutter had started fading.

“Yeah sure. Get some rest.” She nodded and picked a spot in the corridor to fall asleep. Too bad Gareth had to throw a fit, he almost got to have 1’st watch. Oh well, the last watch wasn’t terrible either. He considered making a copy to take watch so he could sleep some more, but didn’t want to give away his unique magic too early. Who knows when it might come in handy. He briefly glanced at Luna. “I wonder if I can convince Luna to teach me that clairvoyance spell of hers.” He whispered to himself quietly. It was absurdly useful, and she didn’t seem to be a noble so he might be able to convince her to trade some spells.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

About an hour passed into his watch and he started to think they might just get through the whole ‘night’ (not that they knew for sure deep inside the pyramid) might pass without incident. In hindsight he should have known he was being too optimistic. Rock walls formed around him blocking him from the others and sealing off the way they came from leaving him with a passageway that wasn’t there before. He groaned “I should have known that whatever was going to happen, it was always going to be on my shift.” He placed his hand on the wall blocking his way from the other and used his mana to scan it, blue symbols appearing on the wall briefly before vanishing.

“Oh joy, magic resistant walls… lovely.”

***

“Why even bother putting us in groups if they were just going to split us up?” Gareth was starting to hate these trials, he woke up to the sound of moving earth and found himself all alone. He should have taken last watch, at least then he would have gotten all of his sleep. He figured Luna was actually the worst off though. Aside from Azura who he didn’t have much of a read on, Luna was the weakest combatant in the party, and she had also probably gotten the least amount of sleep.

He had initially tried breaking the walls, but after a powerful lightning spell failed to leave so much as a scratch he figured that he’d just have to go it alone for now. He started walking down the only path open to him. Honestly the quiet wasn’t so bad after listening to… That brat, what was his name, started with an r. Oh right Roland… No, that's not right. Roran, that was it. Man that commoner never seemed to shut up, but at least he was strong.

Honestly they had gotten fairly lucky as far as composition went, 2 support types and 2 combat types, and he could reluctantly admit that Azura did a good job at taking charge and even accepted his admittedly obvious power plays without any real heat. Azura gave up first watch after only putting up a slight resistance. So he was willing to acquiesce to keep team unity. It irked him to admit, but Azura was the better leader of the 2 of them, not that he would ever say any of this out loud.

He felt the air start to stir and jumped forward just in time to avoid being impaled by a blade of wind. He turned to face his attacker.

***

“Oh man couldn’t this have at least waited until I got to finish sleeping?” Roran was having a rough time. He had woken up immediately as the walls came up, and immediately used one of his more controlled destruction spells, then proceeded to frown and pout as it didn’t even scratch the walls. Wow they aren’t messing around, magic resistant materials are crazy expensive, and they apparently made a whole pyramid out of them purely for a test.

This whole trial was crazy awesome. The more he struggled the more he was looking forward to all the cool magic he could learn at the academy. On the flip side he had been super confident about his chances to be accepted, but the other 3 in here with him had shaken that confidence a bit. His spells were powerful without a doubt, the obliteration magic he had spent years perfecting boasted the highest attack power of the 4 of them for sure. However, watching the others he started to realize that no matter how good the trick, being a 1 trick pony was still a major disadvantage.

In terms of combat he still believed he was the strongest of the 4, but the other 3 had proven far more useful so far with their versatility, even Gareth who was also combat focused showed useful skills outside of combat like making water for them to drink after Azura’s death rations. He was still annoyed Azura hadn’t seen fit to inform them of the stomach splitting pain those things caused. Though awful pain aside he could acknowledge how useful they are, it had been nearly 8 hours since he ate his, and yet he wasn’t hungry at all plus he honestly felt like it gave him plenty of energy to work with.

He wondered just what this trial was supposed to be testing as he casually rendered the chain about to entrap him to dust with a burst of mana. “Oh goody I was just thinking I haven’t really gotten to go all out in this trial, I’ll be more than happy to show off my magic for you.” His smile was full of teeth, this should be fun.

***

Luna was having a rough couple of days. She had barely been able to convince her parents to let her take the trials, and her journey to the academy had been far more difficult than she had expected. She had a relatively safe path to the academy compared to people on the other side of the man-eating forest or the black bone desert but even the route she took involved fighting or escaping a fair few monsters. Her clairvoyance spell was great for both things, but she wasn’t all that great at most other magic so she had to fight up close which was not her idea of a good time. Then she suddenly realized she had no idea where she was until the others had told her they must be in the trials.

Frankly she thought it was a little unfair that they didn’t even get to remember what the academy was like. Then insult to injury the trial was a team exercise. Interacting with people was not her strong suit. She could fight monsters without batting an eye, but talking to people always made her super nervous. At least they were nice… well except Gareth, but he wasn’t mean to her specifically so it wasn’t too bad. Honestly she felt a bit guilty for being happy they got split up. The others were strong enough to handle themselves. She actually got the feeling that Azura and Gareth were holding back quite a bit of their skillset. While she and Roran had been a lot more forthcoming. Just a difference between nobleborn mages, and normal ones she supposed. She hoped that didn’t come back to bite her later.

She saw the person trying to sneak attack her before they even got close, but she let them get relatively close before she acknowledged their presence with a spear thrust to their head.

“Woah straight for the kill huh, guess you will be a fun one to play with after all.”

***

Azura had been walking for a while, and was honestly starting to panic a bit. What was the point of this trial, what was being tested. So far the only conclusion he had come to was that it was about adaptability. With so many seemingly random challenges thrown at them it was the only thing that made any sense. He knew the trials would be difficult, but he thought that he would at least know the objective when he took them, he was going to have to do something to stop his memory from being messed with. Once was bad luck twice is a pattern.

Either way he didn’t know if he should show he was capable of working both independently and in a team, or if he was supposed to try and reunite with them. One of the traps he had set behind him as he walked alerted him that his pondering time was over. He turned and got in a combat stance. “Ouch looks like you weren’t a huge fan of my little traps huh.” Maybe he was being a little smug but looking at the man with small burns all over his body and with tattered clothes before the fight even started was just too much for his ego not to come out to play.

He wasn’t stupid though he analysed the man who was glaring at him, and unleashing enough pressure to erase whatever smugness was left after he went into battle mode. The man was tall, having at least a foot on him. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in weeks, his deeply tanned skin taut around his bones. His eyes, dark as midnight, looked lifeless, as if simply staring into nothingness, the only hint of emotion the slight narrowing of his eyes at Azura. His hair was short, but somehow seemed even darker than his eyes. He gave off a chilling atmosphere. “So you’re the one playing around with all the rocks right?”

The man didn’t give a response, but Azura figured the rock spikes that he had to jump back to avoid answered for him well enough. Azura groaned in aggravation, he had a relatively good matchup against this guy, but only if he revealed more of his tricks then he wanted to. The man seemed to have someway to control the magic resistant walls which suggests the walls themselves were part of his unique magic. Figured this school would have people with unique magic on payroll. They were rare but when almost all of them attended this school at some point in their lives, that didn’t really matter.

“You should give up.”The man spoke in a voice devoid of any emotion, but despite his words he didn’t let up. Azura had to jump back as a pillar shot down from the roof attempting to crush him. He grit his teeth. He didn’t think the man actually cared much if he died or not. He was having a hard time dodging spikes and pillars left right and center, this guy wasn’t messing around.

“You know I might consider that harder if I had a chance to breathe without dodging for my life.” Despite his complaining, it really wasn’t all that bad. His father was way harsher when they sparred. Still though, should he fight? He didn't think he would have to pull out ‘all’ the stops, but he wouldn’t get out of this without at least showing off a good portion of his abilities. In the end the choice was made for him. He felt the mana converge around him and moved a second too slow as 4 rock walls came up from the ground to trap him. Then the walls started closing in on him from all 4 directions.

“It would be wise to surrender” The man’s voice came from the walls slowly closing in on him from every direction. He took a deep breath and then silver markings appeared on his body and clothes.

“Pro-tip, magic proof does not equal indestructible, and echoing your voice from your spells doesn’t make you undetectable.” He said as he focused all of the enhanced strength from his enchantments in his right arm. A simple punch was all it was, no magic was cast at the wall. All the rock interacted with was his fist. The fist however was supercharged with all the extra strength and mana he stored into his enchantments and tore through the rock like a cannonball. The wall exploded shooting rocks at his enemy at speeds that could easily cause fatal injuries to even someone protected with magic.

A rock shield was summoned between the 2 which proved to be a mistake on his enemy’s part. Losing sight of your foe could easily prove fatal even to powerful mages. So when he appeared behind him the man was too slow to react and had a gleaming white blade to his neck. “So how about we stop with the games for a moment and you start talking.” The man chuckled at him. Dang it if there was 1 thing he actually wished he could do like his father it would probably be acting intimidating. This man did not seem intimidated even with a sword to his neck.

“You show some promise, but you shouldn’t be so cocky.” The man jumped back and then sank into the wall like it was liquid.

“I think I hate this place.”