"What do you mean?" Sophia whispered, staring at me.

"There is a team of apprentices, likely fifth-years, lying in wait near the cave. They must have found enough pieces to make their way here early and used the opportunity to ambush others moving to leave. I cannot sense them anymore, which means they must also have a method of hiding."

"What a dishonorable tactic. True nobility would battle in the open, not attack unsuspecting foes." Leon commented with a frown.

Dishonor for one man is intelligent pragmatism to another, but Leon had no real respect for that. Still, grudging respect for their strategy aside, they were an obstacle that I needed to bypass.

I reached into my pack, retrieved our map, and began looking over it carefully. There were several options to thwart an ambush, and the most obvious was to avoid it entirely. Unfortunately, nothing I saw showed me a way to go about this.

The valley might as well be tailor-made for an ambush. It tapered sharply from the opening to the far end where the cave lay, and there was no real hills or forests to be found. All apprentices would have to move to the valley's center, which left them open for an ambush. In fact, I realized that was precisely why the masters made this place like this. They must have thought that one or more teams would think to set up ambushes here and created the valley to accommodate the strategy.

"What are you thinking, Vayne?" Leon asked me, looking down at the map with me.

"I am trying to find a way to counter their ambush and pass this trial without getting into a fight," I replied without looking up.

"What about waiting them out? If we hid and conserved our energy, they might eventually run out of mana and move on to the next stage." Simon suggested.

I paused before shaking my head slowly.

"It would not be the best idea. Trials are scored not just by succeeding at the challenge, but how you went about it. In this case, speed is likely the primary scoring criteria. We might be able to wait until the rest of the teams leave, but our score..." I trailed off, leaving the result unsaid.

"If we can't avoid them and we can't wait them out, what are we going to do?" Amelia asked me, biting her lip.

I looked up at her, thinking for several minutes before remembering something. I glanced over at the valley entrance, narrowing my eyes and letting a small smile cross my face.

"I think I have a plan, but it will require all of your assistance."

Boots crunched on stones as the group slowly closed around me. They had approached slowly over the past few minutes, clearly expecting an ambush of some kind before realizing I was too weak to pose a threat. My mana was nearly empty after all, and I was alone.

I looked up from my notebook, closing it and affecting an air of bored disinterest at the fifth-years surrounding me.

"Good evening, gentlemen," I commented with a smile that they could not see from my hood's shadows or under the cloth I had wrapped around my face. Instead, I leaned backward, trying to get as comfortable as possible while sitting on a rock.

"Well, this is interesting. I expected a full team, but a single mage? Are you brave, arrogant, or stupid?" the leader, a tall young man with a shaved head, asked.

I ignored his question, replying, "Truthfully, I thought you would find me sooner. Your tracker needs to practice his sensory exercises more regularly if he plans to be anything special. I would have noticed a mage throwing around that much mana in half the time."

One of the other fifth-years shook his head with a snort, replying, "There's no chance some brat can sense mana better than me."

"Tell me, did you pick this one because all the better choices were taken? In that case, I cannot blame you." I replied, knowing that the answer would likely set him off. Anger would cloud their minds and make them more likely to make a mistake.

Growling, he raised a hand and took a step towards me as sickly yellow mana surging to his fist. Without turning, their leader held up one hand, and the tracker stopped in his place, still glaring at me.

Glancing at the fire mage, I smirked, asking, "You are the one who cast the fireball? An impressive spell but messy and wasteful. A more precise attack would have accomplished the same thing with far less mana."

Narrowing his eyes, the air around me ratcheted up several degrees, and I felt sweat beginning to gather at my temples.

"Enough. Clearly, you must want something since you went to the trouble of waiting here alone. Speak."

"I am aware of your plot to lure in other teams and eliminate them with ambushes, and I would like to help you. I offer an alliance of convenience, where our teams join forces to eliminate the competition. Your methods are effective but costly, and we would be unstoppable with a bit more efficiency." I replied as I stood, folding my arms behind my back.

"An interesting proposition, but why should we work with you? We have done well enough on our own this far." the leader replied.

"Two teams are better than one, and with us working together, we could eliminate every other team in this tournament. The first-place team earns the best prizes, but just placing in the top five gets you plenty of rewards. A win-win, by my reckoning."

They fell silent, and the leader glanced back at his men, seeming to consider my proposal. Most importantly, however, was that they were too distracted by my words and movements to notice the glittering crystals, half-buried at the base of the cliff.

I paused before looking around at the others, lying out the mana crystals and the metal containers that sat inside the lizard's chest on the ground.

"Tell me, does anyone know what happens when mana crystals are damaged?"

Simon spoke up, replying, "It depends on the extent of damage, but they begin leaking mana."

"And if they are ruptured entirely?"

"Well...all the mana would release at once. Depending on the strength and quantity of mana, it could cause an explosion."

"Exactly right," I replied, holding up one mostly empty crystal.

"Wait, they were letting us hit these things knowing they could explode if we struck the wrong place?" Amelia said, taking a step back.

I shook my head, commenting, "These crystals are almost empty of mana. My guess is that there is some sort of safety feature in the constructs to safely release excess mana if they are damaged. But outside of the machines, they are far more volatile."

Falling silent, I began funneling mana into the crystal as quickly as possible, causing it to glow softly with a green light.

"I was lucky enough to be born with sizeable and unusually powerful mana reserves. If I use up most of my energy, I can fill several of these crystals with mana. When combined with the flammable liquid those lizard machines used, it could cause some problems even for powerful mages."

"And we would use that to defeat the fifth-years?" Leon asked, looking down at one of the crystals.

I shook my head, replying, "No. Mages produce a passive shield against other magic due to their own mana exerting a sort of 'will' on the world around them. Most apprentices are still at the Vapor stage, just like us, but those fifth-years are Mists. Even without raising a shield, I doubt a direct hit from one of our spells would even bruise them."

Of course, my Aether mana was an exception to this rule, but I did not bother mentioning it. Better to leave that particular piece of information quiet for now.

"My plan is to use the explosion to bring down a portion of this valley wall and possibly injure those fifth-years. In the chaos of the attack, we can run for the cave and make our escape. Unfortunately, one of us will need to stay behind to draw them in and trigger the trap."

Leon stood, replying, "I'll do it."

I smiled, raising a hand and said, "My lord, no offense, but you are possibly the worst candidate. You are all nobles, while I am simply a commoner. This is a risky endeavor and that, combined with the simple fact that I am the fastest runner, makes me the best choice."

I pointed, gesturing further along the valley wall, before continuing, "There is an alcove several hundred feet further in, where you four can hide under your cloaks. That should leave you far enough that they will not notice you, and you will not be caught in the explosion. When you hear it go off, make a run for it, and I will catch up with you later."

Leon did not look thrilled, staring at me in silence for several tense minutes before finally nodding.

"Alright. But swear to me that you will not do anything stupid. Lure them in, set it off and run, okay?"

"I swear, my lord. I will be right behind you." I said, lying directly to his face.

"So, what do you say?" I asked, and spreading my arms wide and minutely adjusting my positioning. I only had once shot at this, and if I made any mistakes, it all would fail.

"An appealing offer, but I'm afraid we must decline. Frankly, I do not trust you or your friends, and I am sure you would betray us at the first chance you had, not that it would work." their leader said with a smile.

I sighed dramatically before nodding slowly. I knew the fifth-years would never agree, but that was not the point of all of this. I just wanted them to get in close, let them see how much mana I had used up, and cause their guards to drop. If there was one thing I could count on, it was that nobles, particularly the powerful ones, would be arrogant.

"I assumed as much. Unfortunately, we must do this the other way then." I said as I held up my hand with two fingers extended.

The five all burst into laughter, and their tracker said, "I can sense your mana now, and you could barely cast a single spell."

I actually had enough mana for two spells, after which I would be entirely out of energy. But that should be more than enough to do what I needed.

"Oh, my apologies. This is not actually meant for you." I said as I turned and pointed at the wall behind us and released the spell. Even as I cast my Arcane Beam, I pulled as hard on my mana as possible, weaving a full body shield. Pouring as much energy into the spell as I had left, I crouched and braced for the explosion.

I did not have to wait long. Less than a second passed before the world burst into an explosion strong enough to shake my entire body, even through my shield. Chunks of rock and debris slammed into the surface, and I felt it flex and warp as I was thrown several dozen feet back, hitting the ground hard enough to shatter it into pieces.

Rock and gravel sliced open any exposed skin as I rolled along the ground, and I felt a stabbing pain shoot up my leg as my ankle twisted hard. Coming to a stop, I looked up with blurry vision as a cloud of dust and smoke billowed out from the wall, flames licking the dirt.

The other five had been around forty feet from the wall, far enough that the explosion had not thrown them nearly as far as me. Despite that, I spotted the tracker with a massive gash on his forehead, moaning weakly on the ground. Two others held limbs bent at nauseating angles, more concerned with their broken bones than exacting retribution on me.

My dim hopes for a possible escape vanished as I noticed the fire mage and their leader stand, lowering their own defensive spells. I had hoped the attack's unexpected nature would catch them all off guard, but these two were clearly the most skilled of the five.

I sat up, knowing that this was where I would leave the tournament. My ankle was likely broken, judging by the throbbing pain, and there was no way I could outrun them. With an empty mana core, it was clear that I was not going anywhere.

There had been a half-dozen potential options available to us, including finding other teams to form alliances, luring constructs towards the fifth-years, or waiting until they fell asleep and attacking then. But the simple fact of the matter was that this was the plan I felt had the best chance of success. To win in battle, sometimes a sacrifice was needed, and today, I was that sacrifice.

The leader walked up to me with a furious look on his face as he held out one hand. I half-expected him to brag, threaten me or otherwise express anger, but he was silent as a spear of metal gathered in front of his palm, aimed at my leg. Despite his rage, he had enough sense to remember that fatal attacks were against the rules.

I opened my mouth to surrender, having no interest in accruing more injuries, but before I could speak, an arrow ripped through the fifth year's shoulder, the metal head stained crimson with blood. To his credit, he only winced briefly before turning with a snarl, conjuring a shield of iron as he moved.

However, this movement left him open when I reached out and grabbed his ankle, pulling with my full strength. The unexpected attack knocked him off balance, and he fell to the ground with a series of colorful swears. I knew I had just a moment of confusion and unsheathed the knife on my belt, stabbing it halfway into his thigh. His curses turned into a somewhat shrill scream, and his foot lashed out hard, hitting me in the side of the head.

The world returned to the same confusing blur, and I fell back to the ground, my head throbbing. I dimly recognized the concussion symptoms, but I could do nothing but lie there as my vision spun. Whatever was happening around me would have to conclude without my input.

When the clamor of battle finally subsided, a hand entered my view, hovering a foot above my head.

"Right behind us?" Leon said as he pulled me up.

I did not reply, turning and bending over to vomit on the ground next to me. Leon took a step back with a grimace as the remnants of fruits and root vegetables splattered onto the dirt.

Glancing over, I noticed by the bruise on his head that Amelia had disabled the fire mage as well. I remembered that martial weapons, such as staves and arrows, worked just as well on mage flesh as anyone else's. With their focus on me, the two remaining fifth-years must have been taken off guard by my allies.

Looking up at me with a mixture of hatred and something I could not place, the fifth-year looked up and shouted, "We surrender!" before falling quiet. A moment later, a blue shimmer of mana settled onto his body, and in just a few seconds, the group disappeared, transported to safety.

"With all due respect, my lord, what were you thinking? I told you that you could not fight them directly. If they had not been caught off-guard and injured, you could have all lost here." I said with a frown.

Shaking his head, Leon shot back, "I don't take orders from my advisors, Vayne. And besides that, I have my honor. We win or lose as a team, and I was not leaving you behind."

It was such an idiotically idealistic response that I had nothing to say for several moments, merely shaking my head. Before I could reply, Sophia walked up to us, saying, "We can argue later, but this little fiasco will draw attention. It's still a good half-mile to the cave, and time is of the essence. Can you walk?"

I put my full weight onto my ankle, wincing at the agony that shot down my leg before nodding. I had felt worse the past year, and I could suffer through it until we got to safety.

Half-limping, we jogged through the valley, still sticking to one side of the walls and leaving behind the rubble and fire that marked my trap. Within fifteen minutes, we reached the pitch-black entrance to the cave. After a second in the darkness, Sophia conjured an orb of purple-white mana, lighting our way.

In the depths of the cave, we found a robed adept, arms folded behind his back. As we entered, he shook his head slowly, stating, "I've helped supervise a half-dozen of these, but I don't think I've ever seen an apprentice try to blow up the competition. I'm not sure how they score you lot, but I'm betting you get creativity points. Either way, let's get you all to the next stage."

Without another word, he turned and activated a marking on the far wall. The rocky face transformed, becoming a swirling portal of mana, and he gestured for us to walk through.

As a group, we walked forward, entering the portal and leaving the third trial behind.