“Seatbelts on,” Camila Warder said from the front of the airship’s cabin. “We’re descending in two minutes.”

Kalden closed his theoretical aspects textbook, returned it to his backpack, and then secured his seatbelt in place. A hundred other students did the same all around the cabin. This airship wasn’t a luxury vessel like the one they’d borrowed from Relia’s parents. This was more like a flying bus, with long rows of benches on either side of the central aisle.

Fortunately, it flew far faster than a bus, carrying them from Koreldon to Fransco in less than an hour. That same trip would have taken at least five or six hours by road, and not just because they’d flown over Koreldon Bay.

Seven weeks had passed since the start of the school semester, and they’d been some of the busiest weeks of his life. Besides a full schedule of classes, Kalden had his duties as the Blood Army general. This meant devising tactics, training the troops, and dealing with the other alliance leaders.

On top of that, he continued to study aspects independently. And while he’d put in the necessary work toward his new aspect, he still hadn’t gone through the ritual yet. Neither had Akari, for that matter. They’d both been so focused on these midterm exams.

Two-hundred contestants. One arena.

That was all he knew. He’d also heard that the top fifty percent of students would get communication devices, and the top ten would get maps. Both rumors implied a massive and complex game board, but it couldn’t be as big as the actual qualifying rounds. Even if they were flying all the way to Francso on a weekend, Raizen had promised to have them back in Koreldon City by eight o’clock. That meant the game couldn’t last longer than three or four hours.

Kalden had also gone through both his surgeries during that time. Now, his left hand had two new fingers made of his own flesh and blood. These fingers wouldn’t grow new mana channels until he reached Artisan, but you couldn’t put a price on having one complete hand.

As for his right hand, he’d gone with the upgraded prosthetic option. This was solid blue like his old prosthetic hand, but it let him process more detailed textures like the woodgrain of his desk or the stubble on his face. It also came with artificial channels that restored a good portion of his old shaping abilities—enough to put him back in the top ten of his class.

For now.

He still couldn’t beat Elise Moonfire or Tori Raizen in a duel. And while he hadn’t faced Zukan Kortez yet, he’d heard the dragon was a freak of nature.

The others were gaining on him, too. Kalden’s training had given him a head start, but this also meant diminishing returns with pure mana. Meanwhile, the others learned more every day, closing the gap with shocking speed.

Even Akari was climbing higher despite not reaching Apprentice yet. The last time they’d talked, her mana counts had already been in the upper 700s. At this rate, she might be an Apprentice by the end of next week.

Kalden needed a new challenge if he wanted to stay ahead. More specifically, he needed an aspect. In the meantime, he’d just need to work with the tools he had.

The floor sloped downward as the airship began its descent. A few minutes later, they set down in a massive parking lot surrounded by green fields. A quick glance outside revealed a second airship settling down beside them.

The ramp opened near the front of the cabin, and the crowd of students shuffled outside into the cool Hexember air. A lush green forest loomed on the southern horizon, while open grassland stretched out for several miles ahead. Beyond that, he caught the vague shapes of distant mountains obscured by mist.

“Form up,” Camila and Sen shouted to the four class blocks.

Kalden glanced around, seeing many unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Zukan Kortez stood out the most. He was a half-dragon from Vaslana, with scales like scorched tree bark, a long reptilian snout, and narrow, golden eyes. Zukan also stood a full head taller than anyone else here. Kalden was over six feet tall himself, and his head barely reached the dragon’s shoulders.

“Alright,” Grandmaster Raizen said once they’d formed ranks. “We keep this exam secret to stop you from preparing, but that secrecy ends now.”

Unlike Camila and Sen, Raizen’s voice sounded perfectly calm. He must have been enhancing it with mana somehow.

“Your battleground will be an urban power plant,’ Raizen said. “Three teams, and three objectives.”

Kalden’s chest tightened at the words. Tori had registered the Blood Army as an official alliance, and he knew Zukan and Elise had done the same with their own armies. But what about the smaller teams? Was Raizen ignoring all of that in favor of his own teams? Had all his planning been for nothing?

Focus, he reminded himself. Raizen only explained things once. Sometimes, he didn’t even allow questions.

“Sun Army aims to destroy the plant,” Raizen said. “They will bring a bomb inside and use the plant’s mana to power it. Blood Army aims to prevent the bombing by disabling the plant’s power supply. Moon Army aims to maintain the status quo, preventing the bombing but also keeping the power supply active.”

Interesting. So all three armies were in direct conflict with each other. Still, it might also be possible for two armies to join forces.

“The independent teams will receive random goals. Some will align with the three main factions. Some will not. But most of you can ignore the big picture. You’ll be in a squad of five, and that squad will have a more specific goal within the larger one.”

Raizen went on to describe the scoring system. For all the talk of objectives and teams, people were still scored individually, with bonuses for completing their team's goals. That gave them incentives to betray their teams for their own benefit. But if the traitors revealed themselves now, they’d have no cards to play in the actual qualifying rounds. Would people bide their time, or would they seize points now? Were they impatient, or could they play the long game?

Finally, Raizen confirmed the rumors about the class ranking awards. The top one-hundred students would get communication headsets with access to three separate channels. And no, these channels weren’t private. People could listen to any channel, regardless of their faction. You could mute incoming transmission, but you couldn’t stop people from hearing your own voice.

The top ten students would also get maps of the entire arena, complete with the positions of all their team’s objectives. Apparently, it was up to them to distribute this knowledge. Raizen also described various handicaps for the independent teams and the lower-ranked students.

It all seemed so convoluted compared to the qualifying rounds. Then again, the qualifying rounds were broadcast on TV and these were private. They could afford to be more convoluted here.

Several hands shot up once Raizen had finished speaking.

“Emergency questions only,” the Grandmaster said. “I’m not explaining more of this exam. Adapting is part of the learning process.”

Most of the hands went down, and Raizen pointed to a girl in the front.

“How are we graded?” she asked.

Raizen gave her an annoyed look. He cared little for grades, and he definitely didn’t consider them “emergency questions.”

“You’ll get a score,” he said.

“Does that mean zero points is a failing grade?” she asked.

“It depends on why you had zero points.”

That was typical for this class. People worried about how the ranking system translated to grades, but Raizen was extremely reasonable. He’d mark you down for “being stupid” but not for losing duels. And yes, those were his exact words

For example, Kalden and Akari had the same grade, despite Kalden winning more of his bouts. Akari always adapted when she lost, and the Grandmaster seemed to approve of that approach. Meanwhile, he’d mark down other students who clung to stale tactics, especially when those tactics failed.

“Any other questions?” Raizen asked. When no one spoke, he gave an approving nod. “Good. Then step forward.”

Kalden and the others stepped from the asphalt onto the grass. From there, they crossed the steel sigil barrier into the arena itself. No sooner had Kalden crossed the line than some invisible mana technique grabbed him by the waist and pulled him a quarter mile across the field. He recognized several Blood Army members around him, including Tori and Lyra. Meanwhile, Raizen moved the members of Sun Army and Blood Army to other corners of the arena.

Kalden tried to note their positions, but the mist obscured his vision. However, he thought he spotted Akari and her team hovering toward Zukan’s army.

Damnit. He’d hoped Raizen would stick them on the same team, even though the odds had always been against them. Then again, nothing happened by accident in Raizen’s class. There was a good chance he knew all the traitors already, and he’d orchestrated situations to test them.

Several minutes passed as Raizen moved the others into their positions. Kalden tried to move his feet, but the invisible mana pushed back.

The field blurred around them as the dream sigils sprang to life. The grassy terrain turned to concrete sidewalks and asphalt roads. Other industrial structures followed. Not just the distant power plant, but train tracks, canals, factories, and warehouses. This was far more elaborate than any arena he’d seen before—closer to the qualifying rounds than a duel.

“Prepare,” Raizen’s voice said. As always, he sounded both close and distant.

Once the environment had finished rendering, Kalden felt a set of light armor form around his body, along with a headset and a strange bracelet. Camila had already passed out the generators on the airship; she’d also warned them these were unhackable, even for Arturo.

Would Akari still try to hack hers despite the warning? Probably. Raizen could commission some unhackable generators if he wanted to, but Kalden could also imagine other outcomes. For example, maybe these had no extra security. In that case, he could already imagine Raizen’s lecture: “I gave you an hour of free time, and no one even opened the generators? That sort of thoughtlessness could get you killed in a real fight.”

That seemed highly unlikely. But if Kalden had thought of it, then so would Akari.

The preparation phase ended, and Raizen began the countdown.

“Three ... Two ... One … Fight!”