The outer route stayed quiet.
That was the first thing Arin noticed as Team 13 moved deeper through the forest.
There were no loud voices nearby and no signs of other teams rushing through this side of the trial ground. Only the low sound of wind moving through leaves and the distant cries of beasts from somewhere farther in.
Their pace remained steady. Not too fast and not too slow. Fast enough to keep moving, careful enough not to walk blindly into trouble.
Ren glanced at the terminal on his wrist. "One hundred and twenty. That's not bad."
Taren looked ahead. "It's still not enough."
"No one said it was enough," Liora replied.
Mila, who had been watching the side of the route, slowed first. "Indicator."
Everyone stopped at once.
Arin checked his own terminal. A green signal pulsed faintly at the edge of the display.
"Left side," Mila said.
They moved through a patch of low brush and found another herb growing between two roots at the base of a thick tree. Liora crouched and checked it quickly.
"It's valid."
A soft chime sounded.
Resource Collected: +10 Points
Team Score: 130
Ren looked at the display and nodded. "I'm starting to like plants."
Taren did not answer, but he also did not complain this time.
That was enough.
They kept moving.
The forest on this side was growing denser. Thick roots crossed over the ground, and the branches above blocked more of the light. Twice they heard distant movement from the inner side of the trial zone. Once they heard the sound of a fight, brief and rough, before the forest swallowed it.
A little later, Mila raised her hand again.
This time, green and red pulsed close together.
"Resource and beast," Arin said.
Taren's eyes sharpened. "Guarding type."
Liora looked ahead through the trees. "That means the resource is probably worth more."
Ren muttered, "And the beast probably knows that."
They moved forward more carefully.
The ground rose into a low rocky slope. Roots curled over the stone like old ropes, and narrow bushes had grown between cracks. The air there smelled damp and bitter.
Then they saw the herb.
It was growing from a crack under a slanted rock face. Its stem was dark, but the leaves carried a faint silver-blue shine.
Rare.
And just above it, almost blended into the rock and shadow, a shape shifted.
Two cold yellow eyes opened.
Ren went still. "That thing was right there?"
The beast looked like a giant wild cat, far larger than any normal forest predator. Its body was low and lean, built for sudden speed. Dark bark-like patterns ran across its hide, helping it blend into the stone and roots around it. Its tail moved once, slow and controlled.
Taren lowered his voice. "Rare beast."
Liora studied the slope. "And it's blocking the front."
Mila looked around the area. "Narrow approach. It controls the center."
Arin let his eyes move over the whole slope, the roots on the left, the fallen branch to the right, and the open ground below the herb.
No one rushed in.
That was good.
"Don't take it from the front," he said.
Taren looked at him. "Then what?"
Arin pointed toward the left side. Thick roots climbed the rock there, giving just enough space for someone to move up without stepping into the open center first.
"It expects pressure from the front," he said. "So we force it to turn."
Liora followed his line of sight and gave a small nod. "Left side pressure."
Mila added, "If it turns, the center opens."
Taren still looked like he would have preferred a direct clash, but this time he did not argue.
The plan came together quickly.
Ren and Taren stepped out first and pulled the beast's attention. Liora stayed low and waited for it to commit. Mila watched its movement and called out changes. Arin moved along the left root path.
Ren stepped into the open and said, "Ugly thing."
The beast sprang from the rock immediately.
It was fast.
Much faster than the first beast they had faced.
Taren met it from the front and forced it to twist instead of taking a full forward line. The cat-beast landed, turned, and slashed back in one smooth motion. Ren jumped away with a curse. Liora came in low from the side, cutting at one hind leg before retreating again.
"Left!" Mila called.
Arin was already moving.
He climbed the roots in three quick steps and came down from the side just as the beast shifted toward Ren again. His strike landed behind its neck. Not enough to finish it, but enough to break its rhythm.
Taren saw the opening and stepped in hard.
The beast roared and snapped around, claws scraping over bark and stone. Its body kept trying to turn back toward the herb.
"It's guarding the plant," Mila said sharply.
Arin had seen it too.
That was the key.
"Keep it off the rock."
This time they moved together more cleanly. Ren pressed from one side. Taren from the front. Liora cut low again. Arin blocked its turn. Mila kept calling its shifts before they fully came.
For the first time, the rare beast lost its position.
That was enough.
Taren's final strike landed clean across the neck.
The giant cat crashed against the slope and slid down hard, claws scraping once over the stone before the body went still.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then all five terminals chimed together.
Rare Beast Eliminated: +30 Points
Rare Resource Collected: +40 Points
Team Score: 200
Ren looked at the display and laughed once. "Now that was worth the trouble."
Liora moved to the herb first and checked it carefully before collecting it. "No damage."
Mila looked at the score. "Two hundred."
Taren finally looked satisfied. "Better."
Arin checked the time. They had gained a lot, and they had done it without losing anyone. That mattered more than the score itself.
They began moving again.
The forest remained quiet, but it no longer felt empty. That was the difference. The route was safer than the center, but not harmless. There were still beasts, still unknowns, and still other teams somewhere in the same trial ground.
Then Mila stopped again.
Her eyes narrowed at her terminal.
"What is it?" Arin asked.
She turned the display slightly.
A team marker pulsed there.
Weak. Fading. And not one of theirs.
Ren lowered his voice. "Another team?"
Mila nodded once. "Close."
Taren's face sharpened. "How many?"
Mila watched the weak signal for another moment before answering.
"Not a full team."
"It has been forty-four minutes since the first trial began," Jade said.
Her clear voice spread through the observation room without changing at all.
The wall-sized screen in front of the two instructors was divided into many moving sections. Forest paths, beast markers, score shifts, and elimination notices kept changing across it. Some teams were fighting. Some were running. Some were already gone.
Harlan stood with his arms folded, watching the display with tired but sharp eyes. Mirel stood beside him, straight-backed as always, her attention fixed on the screens.
Jade continued.
"Current update. Three teams have been fully eliminated. Two teams are reduced to one surviving member. Three teams are reduced to two members. Two teams are reduced to three members. Four teams are reduced to four members. Three teams remain at full size."
Harlan clicked his tongue. "That fast?"
Mirel did not look surprised. "A lot of them rushed in like fools. What did you expect?"
"I expected some of them to be slightly less stupid."
"That was your first mistake."
Harlan let out a small breath through his nose. "Fair enough."
Jade opened another layer of data on the screen.
"Highest current score: Team Seven. Four hundred points. Four surviving members."
One part of the display enlarged.
A torn section of forest appeared. Broken branches, beast corpses, churned mud. Team Seven moved through it without slowing. One boy had blood down one arm. Another was limping slightly. Even then, their pace stayed fierce.
Harlan gave a low whistle. "Four hundred in forty-four minutes. These kids really came to break things."
Mirel kept watching. "They already broke one of their own first."
Harlan glanced at her. "You always look at the bad part first."
"You look at the score first."
The screen shifted again.
This time it showed Team 13 moving through the outer forest. Their route curved wide, avoiding the heavy inner lanes most teams had rushed into. Their score was lower than Team Seven's, but all five were still alive. Their movement looked cleaner too.
"Team Thirteen," Jade said. "Five surviving members. Current score: two hundred. Injury level low. Route deviation high. Engagement count low."
Harlan leaned slightly closer. "They really went all the way around."
Mirel nodded. "Yes."
He looked at the route line again. "That was planned."
"It was."
Jade highlighted Arin's profile on the side display.
Arin Solis — Team 13
Mirel said, "Looks like that one made the call."
Harlan stared at the image for a second. "That quiet kid?"
"Quiet kids think too, Harlan."
"That isn't what I said."
"It's close enough."
He looked back at the route line. "I thought he was just being slow."
Mirel pointed lightly at the movement trail. "No wasted turns. No panic. No pointless fights. That isn't slow. That's controlled."
Jade added, "Team Thirteen currently has the lowest movement waste among the remaining full teams."
Harlan gave a short sound through his nose. "So they didn't just survive by luck."
"No," Mirel said. "That team has been thinking."
Before he could answer, Jade spoke again.
"New event. Team Thirteen is approaching a damaged team signal."
Both instructors looked back to the main display.
"Show it," Mirel said.
The screen changed at once.
Dense forest. Broken brush. A rocky stretch with churned leaves and blood dragged across the ground.
Then the damaged team appeared.
Three members remained, and even that looked unstable.
One student was already badly injured and half-collapsed near a tree root. Another was trying to hold the front, but his stance was off. The third had already turned and was stumbling away through the brush.
Then the beast came into full view.
A mutated two-headed hound.
Its body was broad and heavy, with black rough fur and blood around both mouths. Each head moved on its own, tracking separately. When it stepped forward, it looked like it wanted to crush through whatever stood in front of it.
Harlan's face changed immediately. "That's nasty."
Jade said, "Mutated beast identified. Two-headed hound. Current point value: sixty."
Mirel watched the broken team for one more second. "They're done."
As if to prove her right, the retreating student tripped over a root.
One of the hound's heads snapped toward him at once.
The boy screamed once before the beast rushed him down.
A red elimination mark flashed on the screen.
Harlan went quiet.
The student holding the front stepped back in panic. The injured one behind him could barely crawl. Their formation was gone. Their nerve was gone too.
Then the screen widened again.
Team 13 was there, partly hidden among the trees.
They had seen everything.
Taren had already shifted forward. Ren's usual lightness was gone. Liora was watching the hound. Mila had one eye on her terminal.
And Arin was watching the whole field.
Harlan frowned. "If they wait, that's an easy twenty points after the beast finishes the last one."
Mirel did not answer right away.
On the screen, the hound threw the front student aside. He hit the ground hard and did not get back up.
Now only the injured student was still moving, and even that barely counted.
Jade displayed a quick value mark beside the scene.
Last surviving enemy member: 20 points
Mutated beast: 60 points
Harlan looked at it and then at Arin. "He saw it."
Mirel nodded. "Yes."
"He's not going for the easy kill."
"No."
Harlan watched Arin more carefully now. "He wants the beast."
"And the survivor alive, if possible."
He glanced at her. "Useful later?"
"If he can still walk."
Harlan let out a slow breath. "That's sharp."
Mirel said, "It's also practical."
On the screen, Arin raised one hand slightly and stopped his team for half a breath.
Not from fear.
He was measuring the distance, the beast, the last survivor, and the ground between them.
Harlan watched him and said, "That boy really is calculating the whole thing."
Mirel gave a small nod. "That's why his team is still full."
The hound stepped toward the crawling student.
Arin moved.
This time Team 13 followed him out from the trees without hesitation.
Harlan straightened a little. "Now this part I want to see."