Halfway up the mountain slope.

  Thousands of apprentice wizards fixed their unblinking gazes upon the floating arcane projections in the sky, unwilling to sever their connection for even a singular heartbeat.

  As the participants ventured deeper, the true visage of the labyrinth was laid bare before the multitude.

  Witnessing the endless array of monstrosities and insidious traps, many apprentices could not help but click their tongues in trepidation.

  "It even houses Araneas and Ethereal Marauders? Is this not a death sentence?"

  "The labyrinth is too perilous. Thank the gods I did not sign up for the Trial, or I would surely be a cold corpse by now!"

  "Look, another has teleported out."

  "That makes the twenty-third, does it not?"

  The buzz of discussion was ceaseless.

  Less than an hour into the Trial, over twenty apprentices had been forced to activate their Teleportation Rings, fleeing the maze in disgrace. The vast majority had been grievously wounded by ambush predators like the Aranea and the Ethereal Marauder.

  There were even two or three unfortunate souls who failed to activate their rings in time, their lives extinguished instantly under the surprise attacks of the beasts.

  Watching the carnage unfold on the screens, many secretly rejoiced that they had quelled the impulse to participate.

  However, as the weak were culled, the strong began to shine with dazzling brilliance.

  The most conspicuous among them were undoubtedly Monville, Sanford, and Sutherland.

  The moment Monville entered the labyrinth, he cast a spell summoning over a dozen giant wolves with frost-white fur and razor-sharp fangs.

  "It is the Winter Wolves of House Mon!" A knowledgeable observer immediately recognized the lineage of the beasts.

  The bloodline of House Mon originated from an ancient entity known as the Argent Frost-Bane Wolf. It was a mighty creature, born with dominion over the element of ice and the authority to command the pack. Consequently, descendants of House Mon shared an innate affinity with lupine creatures, capable of forging pacts with powerful beasts to wage war on their behalf. The "Pack Tactics" of House Mon were renowned throughout Aurora City.

  On the screen, relying on the Winter Wolves' superior olfactory senses and tracking instincts, Monville navigated the maze with an ease that mocked the struggles of the other participants.

  Elsewhere, Sanford and Sutherland displayed their respective methods.

  Sanford transfigured directly into a giant mastiff wreathed in fiery fur, relying on enhanced scent to navigate. Sutherland, meanwhile, opened a Third Eye in the center of his forehead—a grotesque ocular organ capable of piercing through obstacles, allowing him to divine the correct path and evade monsters preemptively.

  Aside from this triumvirate, two others garnered significant attention.

  One was a girl with golden hair and emerald eyes.

  She possessed exquisite features and a fiery silhouette. When she first graced the screen, she drew the heated gazes of many male apprentices. However, that ardor vanished the instant her body dissolved into a myriad of buzzing flies at a crossroad, scattering into different chambers.

  Wizard apprentices generally possessed stronger stomachs than commoners, but even the most tolerant could not accept a woman who had transfigured her own flesh into a hive of insects. Even if she possessed rare beauty.

  The other figure of interest was Pierce.

  Initially, Pierce remained an obscure figure beneath the brilliance of Sanford and the others. His notoriety stemmed solely from the high-stakes wager between Gwen and Monkay. Many were merely curious to see who would claim the colossal prize of five hundred Magic Stones.

  But as they watched Pierce effortlessly slaughter hordes of monsters with nothing but a longsword—foregoing incantations entirely—expressions of shock began to ripple through the crowd.

  "His melee prowess is absurd!"

  "That speed... that raw power. His constitution has absolutely reached the tier of a Peak Grand Knight."

  "Is this man truly a first-year student of the Spire Academy?"

  "Do you not know? Word has it that a student named Pierce, just last month..."

  Through the whispers of insiders, the tale of Pierce slaying a Legendary Knight spread like wildfire.

  Realization dawned upon the crowd.

  It turned out he was a powerhouse capable of killing Legends. No wonder he was the subject of such a massive gamble.

  Listening to the murmurs around him, Monkay let out a discreet, disdainful huff.

  When he saw Pierce summoning Mist Ravens to scout, he frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed, chuckling under his breath.

  "Simulacra? Interesting. But with this method of pathfinding, how many constructs must he squander?"

  Hearing this, Gwen and Ingram exchanged strange looks.

  Others might not know, but they were acutely aware that Pierce had at least two or three thousand of these creatures at his disposal. The image of the raven swarm blotting out the sun was still vivid in their memories.

  Sure enough, as they watched, the smile on Monkay’s face gradually faded, replaced by a look of shock.

  Four or five hundred ravens had perished, yet there were more?

  Just how many familiars does this Pierce possess?

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Just as Monkay wavered in uncertainty, Gwen’s voice drifted into his ear.

  "It seems Pierce is well-stocked on familiars. He should be able to persist for quite some time. What do you think, Ingram?"

  Though Ingram held little goodwill toward Pierce, he understood that in this moment, they must present a united front against the outsider. He chuckled lightly. "I concur."

  As he spoke, he cast a mocking glance at Monkay.

  Monkay’s expression darkened. He sneered coldly, "So what? Can he ride this trick all the way to the center?"

  Gwen pursed her lips to retort, but a sudden shift in the situation on the screen caught her eye. Ignoring Monkay, she hurriedly focused her attention on the sky.

  On the projection, Pierce had begun to attack the walls.

  A piercing, cacophonous noise erupted from the screen, drawing countless eyes.

  "An Animated Wall?!"

  "By the gods, that is revolting."

  "There is something wrong with that sound... it resembles the cry of Siren-Weed."

  "Siren-Weed? What is that?"

  "A flora that emits a high-pitched shriek when threatened, luring nearby ferocious beasts to slaughter its aggressor."

  "Such a plant exists?!"

  "Look! The monsters are gathering!"

  Seeing the corridor flood with a dense tide of monsters, many apprentices felt their scalps go numb.

  Just as the audience believed Pierce was cornered, they were stunned into silence by his counterattack.

  "What was that?"

  "Elemental Runes! The secret technique derived from Enchantment!"

  "I heard that technique is notoriously difficult; ordinary Enchantment apprentices cannot hope to perform it. I never expected Pierce to have mastered it."

  "Correct. To learn Elemental Runes, one must first be proficient in Enchantment. Someone who cannot enchant cannot possibly master Elemental Runes. Pierce looks to be only sixteen or seventeen, yes? To master the Rune of Thunder at such an age is already impressive... Wait! The Rune of Earth! And the Rune of the Gale! How does this guy know so many Elemental Runes?!"

  The speaker froze, unable to continue.

  Ingram stood transfixed before the light screen, his expression one of pure shock. Recovering his senses, he muttered to himself in bewilderment:

  "Is Pierce not a Potions Master? Since when does he know Enchantment?"

  Gwen remained silent.

  Unless she was mistaken, Pierce’s command of Elemental Runes must have come from the knowledge of Gem Enchantment she had lost to him in their previous bet.

  What shocked her to the core was that Pierce had only possessed that knowledge for little more than a month. In such a short span, he had mastered Elemental Runes?

  And not just one, but three!

  What kind of monstrous talent is this?

  A massive wave of disbelief crashed within Gwen’s heart.

  She knew Pierce was exceptional in Potions, even receiving personal commendation from Master Mo Weng. But now, it appeared Pierce’s aptitude for Enchantment was in no way inferior.

  "Is this guy a monster...?"

  Gwen inhaled sharply, her emotions a complex tangle.

  Every time she thought she had a clear understanding of Pierce’s capabilities, he would turn around and display an even more outrageous aptitude, delivering endless "surprises."

  In such moments, Gwen felt her own talent was painfully mediocre.

  The only consolation was that the better Pierce performed, the higher her hopes of winning the five hundred Magic Stones.

  "This kid..."

  Monkay was secretly astonished, his eyes glued to Pierce.

  A sudden premonition of foreboding rose in his chest. But he shook his head violently, suppressing the unease.

  It is merely Elemental Runes. It proves nothing.

  Pierce had some tricks, yes, but his overall power still lagged behind Monville and the other two. The outcome would not change.

  Unaware of the commotion outside, Pierce had been in the labyrinth for nearly twenty hours.

  Upon entering the Deep Zone, the terrain had become increasingly convoluted.

  A chamber would often spawn two exits, and the exits of various rooms would occasionally loop back into one another.

  In these conditions, even with the Mist Ravens scouting, Pierce’s pace slowed significantly. At times, he would take a wrong turn and circle back to his starting point.

  "Relying solely on the Mist Ravens will not suffice."

  Pierce frowned slightly, his eyes contemplative.

  Logically, this trial was a stage for the participants to display their power. The theme should be the confrontation between apprentices. The labyrinth was merely the setting; it should not overshadow the main event.

  To design a maze of such absurdity was to mistake the branch for the root.

  After all, the Dawn Council’s primary goal was to select three elite apprentices with formidable power, not merely those skilled in cartography.

  Thinking along these lines, it was highly probable that the Council had placed something within the maze to help participants overcome the terrain and reach the center.

  "The question is, where is this item located?" Pierce furrowed his brow.

  A moment later, he shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it. If it existed, he would find it through exploration eventually.

  With this thought, Pierce stepped into a newly discovered chamber. In the center of the room sat a solitary treasure chest.

  Well, I think I may have found what I was looking for.

  To guard against treachery, Pierce ordered the Dire Boar-kin to open the chest.

  An extra-planar creature summoned by Summon Monster I could only accept simple commands from the caster—unless the caster mastered the creature's native tongue. Therefore, the Dire Boar-kin could not perform complex tasks like pathfinding.

  At Pierce’s command, the Dire Boar-kin lumbered heavily toward the chest, roughly grabbing the copper lock to tear it off with brute force.

  But the moment it touched the chest, an invisible fluctuation rippled outward.

  Five meters away from the Boar-kin, the air suddenly twisted and distorted.

  A black, elliptical void tore open in the air, and a towering humanoid creature stepped heavily from the darkness.

  Surmounting its shoulders was the massive head of a bull. A pair of black, curved horns rose proudly from its skull, and thick white vapor snorted rhythmically from its flared nostrils.

  Its burly torso was covered in reddish-brown fur, unarmored save for a dark yellow leather belt at its waist.

  If the upper body appeared only vaguely humanoid in its grotesque muscularity, the lower body was entirely bovine. Gold rings adorned its ankles, sitting above a pair of iron-hard hooves that cracked the stone floor with every step.

  A Minotaur!

  Pierce’s eyes narrowed slightly.

  In this world, the Minotaur was no cannon fodder from a fantasy novel.

  It was a terrifying creature, possessing combat prowess comparable to a First-Order Legendary Knight.

  They were mountains of muscle, possessing boundless strength—ferocious, bloodthirsty, and prone to rage. They would violently pulverize any being that dared trespass upon their territory.

  And clearly, this Minotaur claimed this chamber as its own.

  The moment its hooves struck the ground, it let out a roar that shook the dust from the ceiling. Wielding a colossal double-bladed greataxe, it charged with murderous intent toward the nearest target: the Dire Boar-kin.

  Pierce grinned. Obviously, the chest was trapped with a triggering glyph. Opening it summoned the guardian.

  To claim the prize, one had to defeat the Minotaur.

  The Dire Boar-kin was strong, but it was no match for a Minotaur. To prevent his hard-summoned vanguard from being slaughtered, Pierce wasted no words. He cast Mage Armor on his summon, followed immediately by a Ray of Enfeeblement aimed at the bull-headed beast.

  Struck by the grey beam, the Minotaur’s movements visibly stagnated.

  It finally noticed the "little thing" casting spells nearby.

  Though ferocious, the Minotaur was not mindless. Recognizing Pierce as a spellcaster, it immediately abandoned the Boar-kin and turned its charge toward him.

  Pierce did not panic. He raised a hand, firing a Ray of Frost, coating the Minotaur’s body in a layer of rime, further slowing its charge.

  Seizing the opportunity, Pierce unleashed a seamless combo.

  Magic Missile. Fireball. Burning Hands.

  Under the barrage of three offensive spells, the Minotaur screamed in agony. It finally realized that the small human was far more dangerous than the boar-kin.

  However, it was too late. Under the combined siege of Pierce and the Dire Boar-kin attacking from the rear, the Minotaur was soon riddled with wounds.

  The battle lasted scarce three minutes before the beast collapsed in reluctance and despair, its life extinguished.

  Looking at the massive corpse of the Minotaur, Pierce couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

  Back when he faced Harlan, he had exhausted nearly every trick in his arsenal. Now, he hadn't even needed to mobilize the Mist Ravens. With just a few spells, he had slain a monster equivalent to a Legendary Knight.

  Compared to then, his power had risen by leaps and bounds.

  Composing himself, Pierce stepped forward to sever the Minotaur’s horns. These were excellent materials for Enchantment and could not be wasted.

  After stowing the horns, he signaled the Dire Boar-kin.

  "Open the chest."