As soon as news of the trial spread, it drew the attention of countless factions, both in the open and from the shadows.

  Everyone yearned to know which three Wizard Apprentices would ultimately emerge victorious, becoming the elites chosen to represent Aurora City in the duel.

  Amidst the eager anticipation of the masses, the day finally arrived.

  The trial ground was situated within a mountain range more than fifty kilometers outside the city walls.

  By early morning, the mountains were already teeming with Wizard Apprentices who had gathered to spectate.

  Apprentices from the four major Wizard Academies, the City Guard, the Silver Legion, and even various mercenary companies had traveled here specifically for the event.

  Wizard Apprentices, usually a rare sight in the Outer City, now covered the mountainsides and plains. A single glance revealed a dark sea of heads numbering at least ten thousand—a grand spectacle rarely witnessed.

  At the mountain's peak gathered the Wizard Apprentices officially participating in the trial.

  Pierce looked around; he estimated the dense crowd to number no fewer than five hundred.

  One had to realize that those who dared to register for the trial were, at their weakest, Rank 3 Wizard Apprentices. They were either academy elites practicing Advanced Meditation Techniques or veteran apprentices who had accumulated years of grueling experience at the third rank.

  Any single person standing here would be considered an elite anywhere else.

  These five hundred individuals, if deployed to a planar battlefield, possessed enough destructive power to wage a medium-intensity war.

  It was worth noting that while the crowd seemed densely packed, they were actually distinctly divided, faintly separated into four factions.

  Young men and women gathered together. Regardless of gender, they all wore grey robes with badges pinned to their chests, declaring their identities—students of the Wizard Academies.

  These students were further divided into four smaller circles, representing the Shadow, Violet, Spire, and Moonstone Wizard Academies.

  Notably, the apprentices of The Spire Academy had coincidentally gathered around Pierce, implicitly treating him as their center, even the upperclassmen.

  This scene attracted considerable attention.

  Many scrutinizing gazes shifted back and forth between his face and the first-year badge on his chest, filled with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

  To the right of the academic faction stood a group of apprentices wearing grey robes over leather armor, their demeanor sharp and seasoned.

  They belonged to the City Guard.

  To the left of the academy faction was another group of apprentices in grey robes and leather armor. However, compared to the City Guard, their aura was palpably fiercer, their very beings faintly exuding a sharp, bloody killing intent.

  Undoubtedly, these were the apprentices of the Silver Legion.

  Only the soldiers of the Silver Legion, who fought upon the planar battlefields year-round, could possess such a ferocious aura.

  The final group consisted of people in varied attire, standing in loose, chaotic postures, giving off the distinct impression of a rabble.

  These were apprentices from various mercenary companies and adventure teams.

  Compared to the personnel of the other three factions, their spirit and vigor were clearly a notch lower.

  In truth, the strength of these individuals was indeed inferior. The reason they had come to participate was merely to try their luck.

  What if they got lucky and passed the trial?

  That would be a massive windfall.

  They made no secret of their intentions, talking loudly about it amidst laughter and curses, drawing contemptuous and disdainful glances from the other three factions.

  Pierce shook his head secretly as he listened.

  These people hadn't thought it through. The Dawn Council's sole purpose in holding this trial was to select elites to represent Aurora City in a duel against Crimson Lotus City.

  With the distribution of an entire plane's resources at stake, the Dawn Council would inevitably be extremely cautious.

  Even if someone of insufficient strength managed to secure a quota through sheer dumb luck, would the Council actually permit them to participate in the duel?

  The answer was obvious.

  That lucky individual would most likely be removed from the candidate list due to a tragic accident, or perhaps simply evaporate from the world entirely, allowing the Council to select a truly powerful apprentice to fill the vacancy.

  This was an almost foreseeable outcome.

  If one were to speak of fairness, this trial indeed possessed it.

  But that fairness was prepared exclusively for the few true elites.

  They could compete fairly for the three quotas upon this stage prepared by the Dawn Council.

  As for the others, they were merely the green leaves meant to accentuate the flowers.

  If someone failed to understand their position and attempted to become a flower, the result would simply be getting pulled out by the roots.

  Unfortunately, in the face of immense profit and temptation, few possessed the clarity to see this.

  Just as Pierce was deep in thought, a group of people on the opposite side were secretly sizing him up.

  "That person is Pierce?"

  The speaker was a tall, slender young man.

  He possessed a pair of ice-blue eyes, his features carved like an ice sculpture—tough and revealing a trace of chill. His entire being radiated a cold temperament.

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  He wore a pitch-black apprentice robe, and the badge on his chest depicted a winding, flowing dark river.

  The River of the Netherworld.

  The emblem of the Shadow Academy.

  Surrounding the young man were more than a dozen apprentices, encircling him like stars arching around the moon.

  As soon as the young man spoke, a youth with short brownish-red hair and three black horizontal stripes painted across his left cheek immediately replied, "It should be Pierce, no mistake. Aside from him, The Spire Academy has no other first-year student capable of commanding such obedience from the upperclassmen."

  A nearby black-haired youth with silver ear studs sneered, "The fools at The Spire Academy are becoming more and more useless. A group of third-years actually led by a first-year. After Yuna advanced to Wizard, is there truly no one left in their third year?"

  "You can't say that," the red-haired youth shook his head, his expression solemn. "I heard that this Pierce killed a Drinker and a Legendary Knight who colluded with heretics in a single night during the operation to encircle the Hand of Grievance. If that is true, his strength cannot be underestimated."

  The black-haired youth snorted dismissively. "You believe such rumors?"

  "How could a Rank 3 Wizard Apprentice who advanced not long ago kill a Legendary Knight?"

  "Even if we assume he really did kill two Legendary Knights, he definitely relied on special means—either alchemical potions or some powerful consumable magic item!"

  As these words fell, several Shadow Academy students around them nodded in agreement.

  They, too, refused to believe a first-year student could defeat a Legendary Knight in a fair fight; the notion was simply too inconceivable.

  One had to consider that even Monville, recognized as the chief of the Shadow Academy, could not reach such a level when he was a first-year.

  The red-haired youth shrugged, looked at the blue-eyed young man who had remained silent, and asked, "Monville, what do you think?"

  Monville glanced in Pierce's direction and replied indifferently, "I am not interested."

  Whether the rumor of Pierce killing Legendary Knights was true or false, it was meaningless to him.

  There were at least twenty or thirty people present who possessed the strength to kill a Legendary Knight.

  But among them, only Sanford and Sutherland were opponents truly worthy of his attention.

  As for the others, they were not worth fearing.

  At that moment, Monville's expression suddenly shifted, and he looked up ahead.

  "They have arrived."

  The others reacted and followed his gaze.

  On the previously empty clearing a hundred meters away, three Wizards in white robes had appeared completely unnoticed.

  Soon, others successively noticed the Wizards' arrival.

  The somewhat noisy mountaintop quickly fell into a dead silence.

  Everyone stared intently at the three Wizards, their expressions varying from nervous solemnity to expectant excitement.

  Among the three Wizards, the leader was tall and wore a silver mask covering the left half of his face. On the exposed right cheek, the eye socket was missing its eyeball, replaced instead by a silver pocket watch dial.

  The minute and hour hands inside were still slowly ticking.

  The Masked Wizard looked around, a grotesque smile suddenly curling on his lips.

  "Too many people."

  Before the confused apprentices could decipher the meaning of his words, the Masked Wizard suddenly opened his mouth and let out a howl.

  The sound was piercingly sharp, instantly resounding over the mountaintop.

  Pierce felt as though a steel needle had been stabbed directly into his brain through his eardrums. The agonizing pain blackened his vision, his footing became unstable, and he staggered back two steps, nearly fainting on the spot.

  Wail of the Banshee!

  Pierce immediately recognized the infamous spell.

  Created by simulating the howl of a banshee, this spell caused severe mental damage at best to those it struck, and instant death at worst. Its power was incomparably tyrannical.

  Thump! Thump!

  The muffled sounds of bodies hitting the ground echoed one after another.

  Amidst the terrifying howling, numerous apprentices rolled their eyes back and collapsed, fainting without so much as a groan.

  In less than two seconds, more than half of the Wizard Apprentices had fallen.

  After another two or three seconds, the excruciatingly sharp howl finally ceased.

  Pierce shook his head, managing to quell the dizziness with difficulty. He looked up and around, stunned to find that fewer than a hundred apprentices remained standing.

  "Carry these overconfident fools away!"

  The Masked Wizard sneered, waving his hand.

  Immediately, a group of soldiers marched briskly up from below the peak, lifting the unconscious apprentices one by one and hauling them away.

  The apprentices who were still standing watched in silence, their expressions complex.

  Clearly, that howl was the first stage of the trial, designed to screen out participants with insufficient strength who hoped to fish in troubled waters.

  And the effect was significant.

  More than four-fifths of the participants were eliminated instantly.

  Especially those from the mercenary companies and adventure teams—they were completely wiped out, not a single one remaining.

  Those who could still stand upon the peak were essentially the elite of the elites.

  Pierce sighed inwardly.

  He had guessed the Dawn Council might take measures to cull the herd, but he hadn't expected the screening to be so severe, eliminating over eighty percent of the participants on the spot.

  And with such a clean, decisive method.

  "However, that shouldn't have been the true Wail of the Banshee. The power of a 9th Circle Spell isn't that weak," Pierce mused.

  If it were a true 9th Circle Spell, there likely wouldn't be any apprentices left alive.

  What the Masked Wizard cast was likely a weakened variant created based on the original spell.

  Not long after, the unconscious apprentices were all cleared out.

  The mountaintop became spacious in the blink of an eye.

  The Masked Wizard scanned the survivors, nodded with satisfaction, and waved his hand casually. A gate of light, about two meters high, appeared out of thin air before everyone.

  "This is the entrance to the labyrinth," the Masked Wizard said coolly.

  "Three Rainbow Gems are placed in the very center of the labyrinth. Apprentices who obtain a Rainbow Gem and hold it until the end of the seventy-two-hour trial will secure a competition quota."

  "During the trial, the use of potions, scrolls, external puppets, and consumable magic items is strictly prohibited."

  "Once the trial begins, everyone will receive a Teleportation Ring. The ring has a Teleport spell attached. Activating it will instantly remove you from the labyrinth and return you here, but that also signifies you have forfeited the trial."

  "Now, everyone enter the labyrinth in order, one person at a time."

  After explaining the rules, the Masked Wizard left no time for reaction, announcing the start of the trial immediately.

  Everyone exchanged glances, but soon, someone stepped out from the crowd and walked toward the gate of light.

  Pierce moved as well, stepping into the light following the queue.

  Before long, all the apprentices had vanished behind the gate. The mountaintop was empty save for the three Wizards.

  The Masked Wizard waved his hand, and the gate of light instantly shattered into countless particles. Guided by an invisible force, the particles shot into the sky like arrows, exploding violently at high altitude to radiate patches of dense halos, interweaving to form a massive, unparalleled screen of light.

  The apprentices waiting eagerly on the mountainside noticed the screen immediately. They craned their necks toward the sky, expressions of excitement washing over them.

  "It's finally starting!"

  "Finally. I was getting impatient."

  "I wonder what the format of the trial is?"

  "Look, there are images."

  Under the amazed gazes of the crowd, the screen in the sky soon displayed separated feeds.

  The center of each feed focused on a figure.

  They were unmistakably the apprentices participating in the trial.

  However, someone soon realized something was wrong.

  "Eh? Why are there so few people?"

  "Indeed. I clearly saw four or five hundred people on the peak just now. Why are there less than a hundred left?"

  "Where did the others go?"

  The crowd buzzed with confusion.

  Just then, an apprentice exclaimed, "People are coming down the mountain!"

  Everyone turned to look and saw a group of soldiers carrying bodies down from the peak, moving swiftly.

  "It's the participants!"

  "What happened? Why are so many of them unconscious?"

  Curious apprentices stepped forward to stop the soldiers, quickly learning what had transpired at the summit.

  As the news spread, the crowd erupted in an uproar.

  Eliminating over eighty percent of the participants before the trial even officially began—what kind of operation was this?

  For a moment, everyone gained a profound understanding of the trial's sheer severity.

  "Fortunately, I didn't go. Otherwise, I would have lost face entirely."

  Gwen patted her chest, looking relieved.

  She had previously considered joining the fray to train herself. Now, it seemed it was a good thing she hadn't registered in the heat of the moment; otherwise, she would likely be one of the bodies being carried down the mountain right now.

  That would have been entirely too embarrassing.

  "Speaking of which, where is Pierce?"

  Gwen muttered to herself, scanning the light screen for Pierce's figure.

  As her voice fell, she heard a soft snort from beside her.

  She turned, rolled her eyes at Ingram, and said, "Hey, don't be so petty, alright? How long has it been since that incident? Do you still find Pierce an eyesore?"