After waiting a short moment to confirm they were alone, Team Ebenshire walked along the shoreline, following it for the rest of the day as they searched for a starfish.

  The objective list hinted that the Rainbow Starfish could be found on the banks of the Aeries, where islands dotted the lands. It sounded like it should be easy. The only part of the Aeries that contained islands within the examination zone was where they were—but an entire day of searching had failed to provide results.

  In total, there were supposed to be five of the starfish, but the list didn’t say whether or not objectives had been found, making it hard to decide whether or not to keep searching. That being said, the banks of the Aeries were vast, and the pesky things were likely buried beneath the pebbly shores.

  The mana drain was so minor from the leaf that Kal had decided to keep it around, even as they took to land. Rolling it up, he tucked it under his arm. His slowly ticking mana could easily be replenished with a little meditation; however, the drain would likely weigh heavier on the rest of Team Ebenshire, who had less mana and seemed to recover it slower.

  As night crept across the land, the group found a clearing by the riverbank. They could probably push themselves for a few more hours, but there seemed little point in the low light of the waning evening. There was an enter week to gain points, and pushing themselves would only exhaust them and leave them vulnerable to less scrupulous teams.

  And even though neither of the teams they had met so far had attempted to steal their Astral Pouch or objectives, they knew it likely wouldn’t be long until someone did.

  There was another glaring danger about wandering around at night—trap spells.

  All magic archetypes could use magic traps, though they weren’t the most popular spell type. While magic traps could be insanely powerful in the right hands, they also required a lot of thought and preplanning to use effectively. Because of this, very few mages specialized in their usage. Wisely selecting spells for your arsenal was important, especially for younger mages that hadn’t had as much time to train and perfect their casting, so devoting time to a trap spell that they may never find the opportunity to utilize correctly was advised against. However, there were always exceptions to any rule, and night or any condition that impaired vision would aid a trap spell user.

  Arranging their bedrolls in a triangle, with one placed in the middle, the group set up their camp so that they would be a natural barrier around Ellie.

  Since she was holding onto the Astral Pouch, it made sense to make it harder for thieves to take their treasures at night.

  Setting up a night watch routine, they agreed to let Ellie rest the entire first night. The following night, it would be Vae’s turn to rest, then Arix and Kal. While allowing one team member an entire night’s rest would put additional strain on the others, everyone agreed that having at least one of them completely fresh would outweigh the cons.

  “It sure is getting cold,” Arix shivered and rubbed his arms.

  “One moment,” Ellie said, pulling Arix’s backpack from the Astral Pouch.

  “Thanks,” Arix said, shuffling through the pack until he found a woolen coat. He then returned it to Ellie, who shoved it back into the Astral Pouch.

  “I so need to get myself one of those pouches,” Kal said, watching the exchange, pulling his own overcoat tightly around his shoulders.

  “My father has promised to purchase one for me if I pass the exam with decent enough scores for a proper academy,” Vae said with a disinterested glaze over his eyes.

  “Really?” Kal perked. “Do you know how much they usually go for?”

  “An Astral Pouch? Oh, It varies considerably. You see, an Astral Pouch made from poor-quality materials might only hold as much as a regular bag. Something like that would probably cost you a gold coin.”

  “A gold coin?” Kal gasped.

  “I know, it’s cheap, huh? But it's not very useful unless you’re carrying something very heavy and small. However, an Astral Pouch like the ones we have been loaned for the exam? Hmm,” Vae stroked his chin. “If I had to guess, I would say that they would likely go for as much as 100 gold coins.”

  Kal's jaw dropped. For 100 gold coins, you could probably buy an entire street in Ebenshire.

  “Er, and your father is going to spend that kind of money on you for passing?” Kal said, grimacing as he waited for the answer.

  “Oh, no. Nothing that fancy. He is more likely to spend between 10 and 20 gold at most. We might seem wealthy to commoners, but by noble standards, we’re not really that rich.”

  “Oh,” Kal slumped. “I kind of hoped that an Astral Pouch would be something I could buy in the somewhat near future. Oh well, it looks like that’s out of reach for now.”

  “Oh, you never know,” Vae smiled. “You’re an impressive mage, Kal. I have an itching suspicion that you’ll find a way.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Kal leaned back and sighed. He hoped Vae was right but certainly wasn’t convinced.

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  “Get some rest, you two,” Arix said. “I’ll be waking you up in two and a half hours, Kal, and not a minute later,” he added with a yawn.

  “You alright? I can go first if you need a rest?”

  “No. Go to bed. I’ll be fine. You’re the reason we already have 80 points. It’s about time I did something useful for the group.”

  “Alright, if you say so,” Kal pulled his blanket over himself. “But don't fall asleep.”

  Kal had felt alright when he put his head down, but a day of marching through the forest and casting several spells had worn him out more than he realized. Sleep had come instantly, and he felt as if he had closed his eyes for less than a second when Arix shook him awake.

  “It’s been two and a half hours, sleepyhead.”

  “Already?” Kal groaned.

  “Yep, and it's gotten colder, too.”

  “Great,” Kal forced himself up and rubbed at his eyes.

  “You good to take over?”

  “As good as I’m going to get,” Kal stood up and stretched. “Definitely gonna need a face full of cold water, though,” he added, stumbling to the nearby river.

  “It’s way too cold for that,” Arix said, sliding into his blanket. “But you do you.”

  Cupping water in his hands, Kal splashed his face and shook. “Aaand I’m still tired.”

  As tired as he was, Kal’s mana had fully recovered, even while maintaining his bond to the summoned leaf.

  Despite its name, Mana Focus didn’t necessarily need a mage’s conscious efforts, although it depended upon the spell's complexity. Most, however, just needed to be linked to the mage’s core and fed mana.

  Kal’s sleep sure rushed by in what felt like the blink of an eye, but his night watch certainly didn’t—every minute seemed to drag on excruciatingly.

  My goodness. This is never going to end, is it?

  Kicking pebbles, he walked back and forth around the little camp. He tried to force himself to stop. The bouncing pebbles only created noise and increased the likelihood of someone coming to investigate—but it was so boring.

  Stop kicking the rocks; someone will hear you, he said to himself, only to kick another pebble five minutes later once his thoughts had wandered.

  Barely paying attention to his surroundings, Kal fought against both his tired eyes and boredom, doing everything he could to stay alert—to little effect.

  Mind elsewhere, he paced around the camp until he suddenly stopped. Kal’s brow rose as he feared delusion had gotten to him since his foot hung stubbornly in midair.

  Kal crooked his head, looked down with incomprehension, and then yanked at himself, but he didn’t move. He was completely stuck. Finally, his sleepy mind caught up with him, and his pupils dilated.

  It’s a spell!

  Shooting out from the surrounding treeline, a cloaked figure raced across the ground at inhuman speed. They were either using a spell or charging their core stats with a lot of mana, but Kal didn’t have time to figure it out.

  The figure was headed straight for Ellie's sleeping form.

  Kal’s body might have been frozen, but his ability to cast spells wasn’t. Mana Whip formed in his palm and shot out as the figure passed him, catching their ankle and sending them toppling forward as he mentally yanked on the whip.

  It’s not so easy to beat me.

  Fear shuddered through him a second later, wondering if the whip counted as an attack, but a second of silence was all it took for him to refocus on the situation.

  The cloaked figure thudded on the ground, alerting Vae and causing him to shoot up—his eyes bright and alert.

  It took him barely a second to figure out what was going on, and he flung to his feet, landing delicate but precise kicks on both Ellie and Arix to awaken them.

  “We’re under attack!” Vae sneered.

  “Damn it, Betsy!” A man yelled from the treeline as he came running. He looked old, and it was hard to believe he was no older than nineteen. A second later, his hand glowed red, but he held off casting whatever spell he was preparing as a scowl bent his face. It appeared as if he had almost made a mistake and was restraining himself from doing something that might disqualify them.

  Kal realized what was going on. He detected the mana of the mage who had frozen him in place. Whatever spell they were using, they needed to remain focused, essentially taking both Kal and his attacker out of the battle.

  But there was more to it than that. He could feel the spell’s mana wrapping around him and locking him in place as the mage channeled more mana into the spell.

  Kal realized the spell didn’t have a physical hold on him. Instead, it was anchoring down his mana points and using his own core to lock him in place. But then, how was he able to cast Mana Whip?

  Oh, I see now.

  Kal smirked and drew on his impressive mana reserves, flooding mana out from his core and through his mana points. It was expensive, forcing Kal to drain almost the entirety of his mana. However, Kal had a good idea of what the mage was doing.

  The spell couldn’t have taken control of his core, or else he wouldn’t be able to cast spells. But it did seem to control his core stats somehow, using them to lock him in place. This was likely a shortcoming of a weak spell like most first and second-circle spells had. Kal figured the caster might even be able to control his movements, but it was probably mana-costly.

  Once he understood how it worked, the spell was easy to break. The caster constantly used mana to maintain control over his core stats, but what if Kal flooded his own mana into them?

  Almost immediately, he felt the magical grip on him weaken. The caster tried to counter by increasing their own mana into the spell, but it was fruitless. No child or teen could compete with Kal’s mana.

  Almost as if they had a psychic link, Kal felt the mage gasp and lose control as they burned through the last of their mana. They had been hidden well beyond the treeline, and he couldn’t see them, but he knew they had fallen to their knees.

  “Alright, I’m free,” Kal said, stretching as he overcame the strange sensation of regaining control over his own body. Unfortunately, he had broken concentration, and the cloaked figure had broken loose of his Mana Whip and continued their sprint toward Ellie.

  Darting from side to side, the cloaked figure nimbly dodged Vae, who was trying to figure out a way to defend Ellie without attacking the figure.

  Leaping toward Ellie, the figure raised its hand, and Ellie screamed, raising her hands above her face. But that wasn’t all. A shield of bright, sapphire light appeared between them, and the cloaked figure slammed into it with a resounding echo and was flung backward, skidding against the ground for several yards before slowing to a halt.

  “Oww, what was that?” The figure groaned and rubbed at their head.