The military's airships were borrowed once again, but this time, it wasn't the big wooden rafts; instead, it was the more advanced aerial warships. Mainly constructed of wood, with crucial parts forged from refined gold and secret silver, these ships came equipped with cockpits and numerous giant crossbow turrets.

  Four fifth-year graduates, four assistants, and four clay golems were loaded onto the airships, which then flew towards their destination. Soon, they landed in the desert, not far from Spiritshade City.

  "See that entrance over there?" the professor pointed. "Enter from there. Go forward a hundred feet, and you'll see four paths with numbers on them. Each of you will take one. The Iris Ring is placed in the center of the labyrinth. You must retrieve it, put it on your finger, and you'll be teleported back to the school, marking your victory. Inside the labyrinth, all means are allowed, including killing each other. Do you understand?""Yes," replied the four contestants in unison.

  "Alright, then let's get going. Good luck to you all."

  Leoric and Freya disembarked the airship, accompanied by the seemingly dull-witted clay golem. It was almost noon, and the desert had absorbed the sunlight, making the surface scorching hot. Fortunately, they were all wearing leather boots, so their feet wouldn't get burned.

  The clay golem, made entirely of clay, resembled a mud man, with a simple leather strip tied around its waist serving as clothing. It was heavy, but presumably due to some pre-existing magical enchantment, it walked on the sand without sinking in. A group of eight people plus four golems entered the entrance, which didn't seem to be a temporarily dug passage for the exam but rather the original tomb passage of an ancient tomb, sealed off on both sides with enormous rocks. After advancing a hundred feet, they indeed saw four岔paths numbered one, two, three, and four, each bearing the name of one of the contestants.

  "Alright, we'll part ways here," said Kuken, who had consistently ranked first in every exam since enrollment, to the other three. "May the night be with you."

  "May the night be with you," replied the other three, each taking their assistant and commanding their clay golem to follow their respective paths. Everyone was cautious, wary of being ambushed by others, although it was unlikely. Everyone knew that anyone who attempted to attack someone else here would only give the remaining contestants the opportunity to take advantage.

  "Let's go," saidLeoric.

  Freya nodded and commanded the golem to move forward. The clay golem possessed virtually no intelligence and could only obey simple commands mechanically, such as "move forward," "turn left," or "push." If you tried to give it a more complex command like "turn left and go straight ahead," it would likely just stand there, looking blankly.

  They were now deep underground, where it was very dark.Leoric had to activate the magic on his staff, condensing a white orb at its tip that emitted a soft light, pushing back the surrounding darkness. However, its range was limited, only illuminating an area of about ten feet around them.

  Following their pre-planned strategy, after walking a dozen meters and encountering the first turn, Freya looked atLeoric. After he nodded in agreement, she recited an incantation, closed her eyes, and gently patted her forehead. Silver light flowed like water from her palm, penetrating her skin. When she opened her eyes again, her originally dark-brown irises had turned silvery-white.

  This was a relatively simple magic, otherwise, Freya wouldn't have been able to master it, but it was very useful in the current situation. It allowed her to see the traces of undead left in the air and was not restricted by light. Most undead, contrary to popular belief, didn't like to spend their days sleeping in coffins; they preferred to be out and about, as long as there was no sunlight.

  The professor had mentioned that the monsters they might encounter in the labyrinth included goblins, zombies, skeleton archers, and minotaurs. Goblins were not to be feared; a simple trick could scare them away, and zombies were also manageable. Skeleton archers were more troublesome. Being underground, it was pitch black, and skeleton archers would definitely be wandering around.

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  If they detected the scent of undead, it meant that area was within their range of activity, allowing them to prepare in advance and avoid being caught off guard. That was the purpose of prophecy magic.

  As for encountering minotaurs... they could only place their hopes on the clumsy clay golem.

  The two advanced cautiously, with Freya commanding the golem to clear the way ahead whileLeoric covered the rear, his hand already gripping the materials needed for casting spells, ready to unleash magic at any moment. His other hand held his staff, emitting white light.

  It seemed that luck was onLeoric's side; they hadn't encountered many monsters along the way. Just a few goblins, which scattered afterLeoric threw two flash magic spheres at them. Not a single zombie or skeleton archer was encountered.

  Even more surprisingly, they didn't bump into the other three contestants either, which could have easily led to a fierce battle.

  What was truly troublesome were the constantly appearing paths. Of course, it wouldn't be called a labyrinth without岔paths, but the problem was that there were simply too many of them, making the two almost dizzy from turning.

  This wasn't going to work.

  Just as they were feeling anxious, suddenly, an explosion echoed from the distance, and the rolling waves of energy shook the ground beneath their feet. Being inside the labyrinth, with enclosed walls on both sides, they couldn't see what was happening in the distance, but judging by the sound, it was clear that a fierce battle was underway.

  Leoric stopped in his tracks and listened intently. His hearing was far superior to that of ordinary people, one of the benefits of practicing internal martial arts. "Ubanen and Fiji," he said to Freya after listening for a while, "they've encountered each other."

  The tremors lasted for a moment and then subsided, indicating that the battle was over.Leoric couldn't tell who had won, but in such an encounter battle between two equally matched opponents, it was almost certainly a draw with both sides injured.

  "It would be best if they both perished,"Leoric thought. Before coming, the professor had already said that all means could be used inside the labyrinth, including killing opponents. One of them specialized in evocation magic, while the other studied necromancy. The former liked to bombard his enemies with spells, while the latter was cunning and focused on delivering fatal blows. Both were attack-oriented and had never gotten along well. Now that they had truly encountered each other, it was inevitable that they would have to fight to the death. However, those who entered this labyrinth were all elites among the students, and the school wouldn't really let them die, so they had naturally cast protective spells on them. Once severely injured, they would be instantly teleported back to Spiritshade City to be treated by priests.

  It seemed that only Kuken andLeoric remained as contestants. Kuken was the kind of sorcerer who could innately sense the presence of the magical grid, could speak Dragonic naturally, and could comprehend new magic without a teacher. He had ranked first every year since enrolling and was the opponentLeoric least wanted to face.

  "Let's go," saidLeoric.

  Trying to calm down, the two continued wandering through the labyrinth. It was unclear how much time had passed, butLeoric was starting to feel anxious, and Freya's face was already drenched in sweat, her wizard's robe soaked through.

  The paths seemed to go nowhere right, often leading them back to the starting point after wandering for a while, and the monsters were becoming more numerous. Besides goblins, they also encountered seven or eight zombies. Fortunately, Freya detected them early and used a small trick to lure them into a corner, where the clay golem pounded them with its fists, causing these dead people who should have been lying in their graves to lie down again—and presumably never to rise again.

  "It's broken," Freya inspected the golem and said toLeoric.

  Although zombies moved slowly and clumsily, they were not without threat; at least, they were very strong—even stronger than when they were alive. The clay golem was not particularly sturdy, and after being hit by these seven or eight zombies, it actually had one of its legs broken.

  The golem's left leg was twisted, though it didn't snap due to the clay's sticky nature, but it seriously hindered its movement.

  "There's nothing we can do,"Leoric sighed, "but fortunately, I was prepared."

  He commanded the golem to stand still, then knelt down halfway, placing his hands on the twisted part of the golem's leg and whispering an incantation. A faint blue light emanated from his palms, penetrating into the clay legs of the golem.

  The twisted half of the clay leg slowly rotated and eventually returned to its original state.Leoric stood up and sighed in relief. High-level practitioners of the Transformation School of Magic possess the skill to create golems, a feat thatLeoric currently lacked. However, he could still mend non-critical injuries to a golem using magic.

  But he had only prepared one such spell for repairing golems. He needed to be even more cautious on the journey ahead.