The timer reached zero.
A clear tone spread through the hall.
Dain's voice followed at once.
"Time."
The remaining noise died quickly.
Those who had failed to form full teams went still. Some looked angry. Some looked pale. Some just looked blank.
"The first examination is now closed to all incomplete teams," Dain said. "Those applicants will leave the hall immediately."
Staff moved in at once and guided them away.
The rest remained where they were.
The room felt much heavier now.
Dain raised the device in his hand again.
"The rules will now be repeated in full. Listen carefully."
The display behind him changed.
"Each team begins with one hundred points. In five-member teams, each member carries a value of twenty points. In four-member teams, each member carries a value of twenty-five."
No one whispered this time.
Everyone was listening properly.
"Points may be gained by hunting designated beasts, collecting marked herbs and valuables, and eliminating members of opposing teams. If one of your members is eliminated, that member's point value will be deducted from your team and transferred to the team responsible."
The hall had gone fully silent.
"The trial duration is three hours. To pass, your team must reach a minimum score of two hundred and fifty points. In addition, at least one team member must reach the final gate before the trial ends. If all members of a team are eliminated, the team fails immediately."
The display shifted once more.
"Inside the trial, your terminal will show your team score, remaining time, the direction of the final gate, and proximity indicators for beasts, herbs, and approved resources. It will also mark teammates within a limited range and allow short-range communication."
Ren let out a slow breath. "No map."
"Of course not," Liora said.
Taren crossed his arms. "That means most people will head straight."
Mila said, "Or think they're smarter than they are."
Arin said nothing.
No map meant uncertainty.
And uncertainty always pushed most people toward the most obvious decision.
Dain lowered his hand slightly.
"All teams will now proceed to the chamber level."
The side walls opened, revealing passageways marked with team numbers. A pale blue line lit up beneath Team 13's feet, showing their route.
They moved with the others.
The corridor sloped downward. The walls were smooth and pale, broken only by doors marked with team numbers. Staff stood at intervals, silent and watchful.
For a while, none of them spoke.
Then Ren said, "Anyone want to say something encouraging before we enter the murder forest?"
"It's a simulation," Liora said.
Ren looked at her. "You keep saying that like it improves things."
Taren said, "Simple plan. Move fast. Take points early. Don't get trapped."
Mila spoke quietly. "That sounds like what every team is thinking."
Taren looked at her. "And?"
"And that's the problem."
Arin listened while they walked.
Ren made things lighter without trying too hard. Liora noticed more than she showed. Taren was impatient, but direct. Mila was quiet, but not empty.
Not perfect.
But workable.
Their chamber door opened when Team 13 came within range.
The room inside was circular, with five reclining seats arranged around a low central platform. Thin metallic lines ran through the floor and walls. The air smelled faintly sterile.
Ren stopped at the entrance. "This looks expensive."
Taren walked toward the nearest seat. "It's an academy chamber."
"That doesn't make it less expensive."
A soft voice filled the room.
"Team 13 confirmed. Please take your seats."
Arin sat down and opened the terminal above the armrest.
The screen was blank.
No forest map. No terrain layout. Only an empty planning field and inactive status slots.
Taren looked at his own screen and frowned. "Still annoying."
"It's deliberate," Liora said.
Ren sat down with a sigh. "So we're entering blind."
Mila had already lowered herself into her seat and was quietly studying the display.
Arin opened the planning field.
A plain surface appeared on the terminal.
Ren noticed first. "You're making your own map?"
"Not a map," Arin said.
He marked one point.
"Start."
Then another.
"End."
Taren looked over. "That tells us nothing."
"Not yet."
Arin drew a straight line between the two marks.
Then he added a wider curve to one side.
Ren frowned. "The forest isn't shaped like that."
"I know," Arin said. "This isn't the forest."
Liora looked more closely at the screen. "You're marking movement."
Arin gave a small nod.
"The terminal only shows direction," he said. "No map means most teams will trust the direct route first."
Taren said, "Which makes sense."
"Yes," Arin replied. "That's why it's dangerous."
For the first time, Taren said nothing back.
Mila kept watching the rough sketch. "The fastest route becomes the most crowded."
Ren leaned a little closer. "So the obvious path is the trap."
Arin said, "For the early rush, yes."
Liora looked at the curved line. "And this?"
"A wider route," Arin said. "Less obvious. Fewer teams at the start."
Taren frowned. "And less points too."
"Maybe," Arin said. "Maybe not."
Before Taren could say more, the chamber voice sounded again.
"Final synchronization in progress. Immersion will begin shortly."
Soft light moved across the edges of the seats.
The room dimmed.
Ren looked up once. "I suddenly don't trust calm voices anymore."
No one answered.
Arin looked at the rough sketch one last time.
He had no terrain details. No real map. Only a start point, an endpoint, and the certainty that most people would rush too quickly.
He closed the planning field.
The chamber lights dimmed further.
"Immersion in ten seconds," the voice said.
A direction marker appeared on the blank screen.
Then the chamber vanished.
Cold air brushed against his face.
He was standing in a forest.
Cool damp air filled his lungs. The smell of wet earth and leaves was so real that for a moment it did not feel like a simulation at all. Tall trees stood on every side, their trunks thick and uneven, while pale light slipped through the branches overhead in broken patches.
For a brief moment, no one moved.
Then Ren looked around slowly and muttered, "This is much better than dying in a normal test."
Liora glanced at him. "You're speaking too early."
"That's my talent."
Taren ignored them and checked his terminal. "Three hours. One hundred points. Gate direction ahead."
Mila was already doing the same.
Arin lowered his eyes to his own display.
Team 13
Score: 100
Time Remaining: 03:00:00
A faint directional marker pointed deeper into the forest. Around the edge of the screen were status marks for team range, communication, and nearby indicators.
No map.
Only hints.
Exactly as Dain had said.
Taren looked up first. "We move now."
Arin did not answer right away.
He listened.
Far away, through the trees, branches shook. Somewhere to the left, leaves rustled hard and fast. A second later, another sound followed from a different direction.
Footsteps.
Quick and careless.
Other teams had already started running.
Taren clicked his tongue. "If we stand here any longer, we'll fall behind."
"Behind what?" Liora asked.
"Points."
"Or trouble," she said.
Taren looked at Arin. "Say something."
Ren crossed his arms. "Yes, leader. Say something wise."
"I'm not the leader," Arin said.
Ren shrugged. "You drew a route. That's close enough."
Taren's impatience was becoming clearer. "We lose nothing by moving."
"That depends where we move," Arin said.
Taren frowned. "Straight ahead. Like everyone else."
Arin looked in the direction of the gate marker.
Straight ahead.
The shortest line. The most obvious line.
Which meant the worst line in the opening stretch.
He turned slightly and looked through the forest to the side instead.
"The direct path will fill first," he said. "So we wait."
Taren stared at him. "Wait?"
"For how long?" Mila asked quietly.
"Ten minutes first," Arin said.
Taren almost laughed. "You want to waste the first ten minutes of a three-hour trial?"
"No," Arin said. "I want other teams to waste theirs."
That drew a brief silence.
Even Ren stopped joking for a second.
Liora was the first to understand. "You think the first rush will create the worst collisions."
Arin nodded.
"Most teams will move straight toward the gate or toward the first nearby indicators they find," he said. "They'll want early points. Early position. Early advantage. That means they'll crowd the front routes first."
Mila looked at the gate marker on her terminal. "And if enough teams think that way, then the shortest path becomes the most expensive one."
"Yes."
Taren still looked unconvinced. "Or it becomes the best route for the strongest teams."
"Then let them prove it to each other first," Arin said.
Ren let out a breath through his nose. "I don't know if that was smart or lazy, but I support it."
Liora ignored him and looked at Arin. "We wait here the full ten?"
Arin shook his head slightly. "Not exactly here. We stay near the start zone. Keep quiet. Watch which directions people take."
That made more sense.
Taren still looked unhappy, but he did not argue again.
Arin stepped toward a thicker patch of brush and stopped near the cover of two wide tree trunks. The others followed after a short hesitation.
For the next few minutes, Team 13 did almost nothing.
They listened.
One team rushed past somewhere ahead and to the right, their voices low but urgent. Another moved more carefully on the left side, but still toward the front. Once, Ren raised a hand for silence, and all five of them heard a burst of movement farther in the distance, followed by the hard cry of some beast.
Then silence returned.
Then another sound.
Then another.
The forest had started swallowing people.
Ren leaned back lightly against a tree and muttered, "This is the strangest group plan I've ever been part of."
"You've had many?" Liora asked.
"No. That's why this one is winning."
Taren looked into the trees with open annoyance. "If we keep hiding like this, someone else will take everything near us."
Arin checked the time.
02:51:14
"Now," he said.
Taren pushed off the tree at once. "Finally."
Arin looked at the gate marker, then turned away from the direct route and pointed toward the outer side of the forest.
"We go that way."
Taren's face tightened. "That's the longer path."
"Yes."
"And farther from the gate."
"For now."
Ren looked where Arin was pointing. "Outer route."
Liora nodded once. "Less traffic."
Mila added, "If the center pulls most teams forward first, the edge should stay quieter."
Taren looked around the group and realized no one was backing him.
He exhaled sharply. "Fine. But if this gets us nowhere—"
"We'll still have all five members," Arin said.
That shut him up for the moment.
They began moving.
The outer forest felt different from the path toward the gate.
There were fewer broken branches. Less sign of rushed movement. The ground was softer too, covered by damp leaves and thick roots that forced them to watch their footing. Bushes pressed closer together here, and the trees grew denser, letting in less light.
No one talked much after that.
Arin moved in front, not by claiming leadership, but by choosing direction first. Taren stayed near the front too, impatient and alert. Mila and Liora watched the sides. Ren stayed loose, but his eyes kept moving.
After a few minutes, Mila slowed slightly.
"Indicator," she said.
Everyone stopped.
She raised her wrist terminal and pointed to the lower edge of the display. A faint green pulse flashed there.
"Herb?" Ren asked.
Liora stepped closer. "Weak signal. Close."
Arin looked toward a thicker patch of brush between two large roots. "There."
They pushed aside the leaves carefully.
A small cluster of pale green plants grew low against the base of the tree, their stems thin and slightly silver under the filtered light.
Ren blinked. "That was fast."
Liora crouched at once. "Recognized resource."
A soft chime sounded.
Resource Collected: +8 Points
Team Score: 108
Taren looked at the display and then away. "Eight points isn't much."
"It's eight points with no risk," Arin said.
They kept moving.
The forest remained quiet, but not empty. Twice they heard distant sounds from the inner routes—once the unmistakable crash of a fight, once a sharp cry that cut off too quickly.
Ren did not joke after that.
The next indicator came sooner.
This time it pulsed red.
Taren's expression sharpened immediately. "Beast."
Arin raised a hand and slowed.
The signal was close.
Very close.
A moment later, they heard it too.
A low scraping sound.
Then a rough snort through the brush.
The creature came into view between the trees.
It was about the size of a large wolf, but heavier in the shoulders, with dark coarse fur and bony growths rising along its spine. Its front claws were too long, dragging lightly against the ground as it turned its head toward them.
Ren muttered, "Why do beasts in these places always look irritated?"
"Because they saw you first," Liora said.
The beast lunged.
Taren moved at once, stepping forward faster than Arin expected. His strike landed hard against the side of the creature's neck and knocked it off line, but not down. The beast twisted and snapped back.
Ren cursed and jumped in from the side. Liora circled low. Mila stayed behind, watching for an opening.
Arin did not rush blindly.
He waited half a breath, watched the creature's weight shift, then stepped in when it turned toward Taren again. His blow hit just behind the jawline, forcing the beast's head up long enough for Liora to slash across one foreleg.
The movement broke its balance.
Ren hit it again from the other side.
This time the beast crashed down hard enough to shake the leaves underfoot.
It still tried to rise.
Taren ended it.
A chime sounded from all five terminals.
Beast Eliminated: +12 Points
Team Score: 120
No one spoke for a moment.
Then Ren looked at the display and grinned. "That felt much better than eight."
Taren straightened. "Exactly. That's why we should've started moving earlier."
Liora glanced at him. "Or we would've met three teams and two beasts instead of one."
Taren did not reply.
Arin looked at the surrounding forest again.
Quiet route.
Small points first.
No injuries.
No wasted clash.
So far, it was working.
He lifted his terminal once more and checked the gate direction.
Still ahead.
Still distant.
And for now, the outer forest remained quiet.