Walking through a land shrouded in gloom, where the earth and sky were filled with thick black smoke, Emma tossed the papers to the ground just before they were burned completely into ash.
Her gaze shifted to the two blue flames beside her — the remnants of the Blue Flame Bone Horses — but she didn't linger on them for long.
Looking ahead, she saw a shadowy figure standing in the distance. She already knew — this was what she had been searching for all along.
Stepping forward, she reached out to touch it. In an instant, the darkness and mist surrounding her compressed into a pitch-black sphere, which after a few seconds began to glow with a faint blue light.
Beside her stood the skeletal horses that had guided her here, and behind her loomed walls made of bones and skulls from countless creatures — a sight both chilling and macabre.
Emma had just completed the labyrinth trial — a perilous and unpredictable maze — but she had made it through. Her teammates, however, had not been so "fortunate." They had faced difficulties and been eliminated, leaving her as the last one standing.
She picked up the glowing orb, placed it into her spatial ring, and left swiftly. Her role here was almost done.
The golden sunlight spilled across a vast wheat field, painting a breathtaking scene.On a tall rock amid that golden sea, a man lay resting — Ron.
He took out five items from his spatial ring: a flute, a feathered cloak, a glove, a pair of glasses, and a crystal as white as snow.They were five of the eight treasures from this trial.One had already been used — a necklace; another, a diamond ring, had been given to Kale; and one more was still being retrieved.
The entire elaborate plan he had put together came down to just two reasons.
Ron recalled the moment he'd devised and carried out his ridiculous, borderline insane scheme.Before the practical test began, he had prepared everything at home — tools, props, contingencies. Even though he couldn't bring prohibited items related to combat or fairness, he was ready.
Once the test started, he summoned his wooden eagle, linked his vision to it, and continuously observed and gathered information while preparing supplies. With years of open-world gaming experience, he quickly deduced every clue.
He then moved carefully through each area, setting up traps based on fake hints — creating a web of false leads that misled others, clouded their judgment, and made them ignore the real clues, which were deliberately subtle and well hidden. With some luck, those misdirections even made them fight each other.
To make absolutely sure, he sent Marcus to destroy the genuine clues while Jax acted as the decoy, drawing attention as planned.Jax was stationed at the cave because Ron wanted it to look like a "sweet trap," making other students believe "There's treasure here," and "The nearby hints all point to this spot — there must be something valuable inside."
Clues leading from one area to another weren't unusual in past tests. But since this kind of practical trial was rare — held only once a year from the second year onward — few participants had much real experience.
Whenever rumors about a "key area" spread, students tended to gather forces and converge there.Ron had assigned the task of luring and engaging enemies to Emma, Jax, and their teams — the two best at handling chaotic, large-scale combat — while Marcus, strong and durable, would help him secure the remaining treasures.
He also constantly monitored the exam supervisors, acting only when they made no move.
When he obtained the pale golden necklace and green flute, he immediately delivered them to Jax and Emma — the two who would control and direct the game's flow.
When Ron entered the tropical forest, he encountered a troop of mountain monkeys.After managing to outrun and outsmart them in a chaotic chase, he used the newly obtained Feather Cloak to create an illusion — a lie woven into reality itself.
The cloak carried an enchantment of falsehood: anyone who wore it could impose a lie upon creatures without mana.Ron's command was simple — anyone, be it man or beast, who wore this cloak would be recognized as the King of the Mountain Monkeys, and the monkeys would obey without question.
At the same time, he infused his own power — the power of "curses" — to directly manipulate the leader of the troop.Though slightly more intelligent than ordinary beasts, the monkeys had no mana of their own, making them easy to influence.
He set a rule: the massive, three-meter-tall alpha monkey that wore the white Feather Cloak must challenge and surrender the cloak to whoever could defeat it.
Meanwhile, Emma roamed from area to area, using the green flute to "fake" magical signals, drawing attention — and fear.Those who sensed it were lured in yet kept their distance, uncertain and wary.She didn't need to fight; her task was to move between regions, using the flute to drive enemies toward specific zones where she and her team had already set traps — summoning monsters to ambush the unsuspecting students.
The students, unaware that each region's beasts had their own unique trial mechanics, fell into chaos.As the monsters clashed with them, confusion spread.Amid the disorder, Emma and her team slipped past every obstacle with ease.
Jax, too, played his part.He manipulated fake clues, driving rival teams into his traps.All he had to do was ambush and strike at the right moment — forcing his opponents to retreat exactly as planned.
He had specifically targeted Julien, Evelyn, and Rack.Rack was eliminated first, sparking exactly the emotional reaction Ron had expected from the other two — both of whom were, in Ron's words, "very special for the future."It wasn't about cruelty; it was about pushing them further.
When Julien was reluctantly crowned "King of the Mountain Monkeys," Ron brought in Kale — the key player in his entire design.He let Kale fight until he was nearly exhausted, then had Marcus arrive and use a snow-white crystal — one of the treasures Marcus had secured earlier — to push Kale to his very limits, unlocking his Gift.
Activating Kale's true Gift required impossible conditions, but with that crystal, every requirement was fulfilled.
The moment Kale transformed into a black wooden puppet, emotions across the entire region surged wildly.That explained the monkeys' frenzy — every living being's emotions became one-dimensional, magnified to extremes.When reason finally drowned beneath emotion, Ron's next phase began.
As Jax appeared, he played the part of the hero — the leader who rallied everyone to escape.Under the sway of Kale's emotional influence, the others followed without hesitation.
According to Ron's plan, Jax led the group toward a deep cliffside that had been prepared long before.There, Marcus would strike — forcing the others into a desperate battle against a swarm of giant centipedes.
After a certain period, Kale's power began spreading uncontrollably.He started turning both beasts and humans into puppets.By then, all sense and reason had been devoured by emotion.The "Puppet Kale" marched toward the abyss, performing his chaotic marionette dance.
Jax, having drunk a potion beforehand that protected him from emotional magic, stayed lucid enough to continue executing the plan.
Kale's madness spread beyond the abyss — infecting even those Emma had deceived earlier.They too descended into chaos, fighting and killing one another.Julien went insane, leading a crazed assault, while Evelyn — half-mad herself — soon became yet another puppet of destruction.
Jax infiltrated the cave amid the turmoil, claimed the treasure inside, and slipped away.Meanwhile, Marcus appeared to hold back Julien and the frenzied monkey horde.
In the end, Evelyn — under Kale's influence — killed Julien with her own hands, only to be slain moments later by Marcus.Jax, now holding the pale golden necklace — a treasure that distorted others' thoughts when gazed upon — approached Kale.With it, he deceived Kale's perception, tricking him into canceling his own Gift.Then Jax finished him off, ending the chaos.
While Jax rested, Emma — finally free to move after the Blue Flame Bone Horses had been lured away to fight the centipedes — retrieved the final treasure.
The reason Ron had orchestrated everything to this extent…was because, during an inter-academy competition in the past, Kale had caused a similar disaster using his Gift.Ron wanted to recreate that event — not out of cruelty, but to warn Kale of the danger within his own power before something worse could happen.
"Here!"Ron snapped out of his daze just in time to catch something flying toward him — a softly glowing blue sphere.
He looked up and saw Emma."Thanks," he said simply.
Raising one hand, he chanted a short spell, then waved the other in farewell.Emma, utterly exhausted, could barely catch her breath.
Boom!A familiar explosion echoed through the field — the same sound, the same barrier, the same flash of teleportation light.
Ron didn't pay much attention.He had already told the others to regroup at Zone 9 — the final area.
He walked across the golden wheat field, the breeze brushing his face, until a breathtaking sight unfolded before him:a tranquil lake as clear as glass, with a small island in its center.
Two figures sat waiting there.Only three examinees remained now — and Ron knew exactly who they were.
"It's time to go back," he murmured, pressing a hand against his weary shoulder.