The Labyrinth's First Trial

Thrown together with famous rivals and unpredictable allies, Mira must read intentions as much as spells to survive the labyrinth’s opening trap. Only those who can analyze threats, human and otherwise, will have a chance to capture the elusive quarry, and every move is watched by examiners hungry for a single mistake.

Mira pressed her hand to the barrier’s surface, feeling invisible threads of mana tremble beneath her palm. The ruined archway loomed ahead, half-choked by shadow and tangled roots. Behind her, Frieren stepped forward without a word, pale eyes flickering over the glyphs Mira had traced. Fern hovered at the flank, staff angled low, while Uebel’s grin gleamed in the gloom. Wirbel signaled a halt, voice low and clipped.

“Movement ahead, two constructs, one real, one illusory. Can you read which?”

Mira narrowed her eyes, sketching a sigil in midair, letting analysis magic fan out in silent ripples. Mana signatures tangled, one blaringly obvious and the other a ghostly double. The trap was almost elegant. She adjusted her focus, catching Frieren’s unreadable gaze flicker to Uebel, who hummed under her breath as if savoring the tension. The exam’s first trap was not the constructs. It was how five strangers would move together, or not, when every step could give the game away. Mira let the barrier pulse, her voice steady.

“The left is real. The right’s an overlay. Don’t hit it unless you want to wake up the whole ruin.”

In a continent where the title of first-class mage marks the zenith of magical society, a handful of candidates gather within a warded ruin-labyrinth to face the infamous exam. Here, cooperation and rivalry bleed together, each mage must weigh ally against obstacle while hunting a quarry bred to outwit them. Beneath the scrutiny of the ancient magic association, reputations, futures, and even lives hang in the balance.

The Continental Mage Association Grounds sprawl across a forgotten city, its broken towers and sunken avenues sealed beneath layers of ancient wards. Dense mana permeates every stone, twisting the overgrown labyrinth into a living hazard: wild mana-beasts stalk the shadowy ruins, while examiners’ constructs and traps wait for the unwary. The grounds’ climate mimics the outside world, a gray, early-autumn coolness tinged with the metallic scent of old spells, but its light never quite matches the sun. Above these perilous streets, the lamp-lit halls of the Magic Association overlook the exam through scrying mirrors, while the Association’s ageless head weighs each candidate’s worth.

Society outside values lineage, famous mentors, and showy power, but within the exam, those advantages mean little. Examinees are sorted into shifting parties, their every move watched by examiners and rivals alike. The first-class exam is legendary for its brutality: only those who read both people and spells survive. Magic works through personal mana shaped into spells, most spells handed down in secretive libraries. The commonest attack spells pierce most barriers, so successful candidates layer defenses and analyze intent rather than brute force their way through. The exam's history is written in the failures and cunning of those who tried to climb too high, too fast. In this crucible, daily life collapses into tense truces, whispered stratagems by dying campfires, and the ever-present threat of betrayal, all under the gaze of masters who have seen every trick. Passing means not only power but access to forbidden spells and society’s highest respect, a prize worth any risk.