The wind changed the moment the ship crossed the boundary of Blackthorn Isle. Arios felt it before anyone said a word. It was heavier, not in temperature or speed, but in weight, almost as if the air was acknowledging the students who dared to arrive. The academy instructors had already warned them that the island was unlike any dungeon they had entered before. The island was a naturally formed territory with cores scattered within it, each core tied to the ecosystem and dangerous creatures that roamed freely.

There were no spectators, no rescue teams waiting outside a gate, and no emergency scrolls that could teleport them away. Once the ship left, the only way to return was to succeed or force the island to eject them if too many deaths occurred. The academy claimed that in its long history, there had never been a situation so extreme that the island forced a retreat, but Arios was not interested in statistics. He had learned too many times that rules were only rules when nothing stronger came to break them.

The ship lowered toward the shoreline where ancient stone pillars stood half buried in sand. No one understood who built them. All records claimed the island existed long before the academy itself. With every step Arios took onto the sandy ground, he examined how the mana behaved. It moved like a slow tide, thicker than the mana in the academy grounds. It seeped through the soil, water, moss, and trees like a heartbeat that did not belong to any living being.

Lucy walked next to him, carrying her short staff on her belt. Liza remained a few steps behind, eyes scanning the tree line as if expecting the island to lunge at them the moment they blinked. Pokner adjusted her glasses, observing the same flow of mana that Arios did, though she lacked the clarity nether eyes provided him. None of them spoke until their boots reached the open grass ahead of the shore.

Arios was the first to break the silence.

"We should not assume that the safest direction is the correct one."

Lucy nodded, pressing her lips together. "So we don't head for the clearing?"

He shook his head. "No. If this is an assessment, then the academy already expects the students to choose what feels less threatening. The safest-looking path may be the most monitored, or the one with the most traps."

Liza did not oppose him. She simply answered, "Then we let everyone else walk into it first."

Pokner glanced back toward the students still unloading supplies from the ship. Some already argued about who should carry what, while others tried to form teams based on previous exam scores. None of it mattered. Once the deeper regions of the island were reached, most early plans would dissolve.

"We move alone again?" Pokner asked.

"For now," Arios replied. "Large groups create noise. And noise creates casualties."

The four of them walked toward the tree line, not hiding their movements, but not drawing attention to them either. A few students noticed and whispered among themselves. They had been watching Arios from the moment he boarded the ship. Some admired him silently, some saw him as competition, and some simply wanted to see if the rumors about him were true. Arios did not care for any of their assumptions.

He only cared about one thing: the island was not natural. Someone had tampered with it before the exam even began.

The humidity increased once they passed the first set of trees. Leaves clung to each other, and ground roots twisted beneath the soil in a way that made stepping without caution impossible. Arios scanned the area once more, opening his nether eyes to observe the mana trails left behind by the island's natural movement. Immediately, something confirmed his suspicion.

"The mana here is layered," he said. "Natural, but altered."

Pokner adjusted her glasses again. "Altered how?"

"Someone strengthened the density so the beasts can regenerate faster. This is not just an evaluation. It is a forced compression environment."

Liza exhaled once, annoyed. "Meaning everything will take longer to kill."

"Meaning everything will survive long enough to adapt to us," Arios corrected.

Lucy lowered her voice. "Then we don't take battles we don't need."

Arios looked at her for a long moment. Her breathing was calm, her eyes steady. She had grown more than she realized. He turned away before his thoughts lingered too long.

"We will set camp before dark," he said. "We travel inland next."

The grass became harsher, cutting against their boots. Strange fruit hung from trees, glowing faintly with mana residue. Arios memorized the layout. He would need reference points if the forest shifted during the night. The island was known for mirages, illusions, and rearranging terrain. This was not a place to trust sight without verification.

Minutes stretched into over an hour. The sounds of other students faded the farther they went. Birds, or what resembled birds, were perched on branches with feathers that curled like smoke. The smallest creatures carried mana signatures strong enough to pass as juvenile beasts in regular dungeons. Arios made certain they did not approach any of them.

Eventually, they reached a slightly open ridge near a large root system that rose above the ground. They could create shelter there while remaining hidden from the main path. Lucy set her staff down and began forming a small barrier circle. Pokner prepared a defensive seal, and Liza took watch at the edge of the root structure.

Arios remained standing, scanning deeper into the forest. His thoughts returned to Garron, to Chase, to the student council, to everything that had led them to this moment. The island felt like the beginning of something, not the conclusion. As if the expulsion of Garron and the clearing of Pokner's name were only the first layer of a much larger plan.

He sensed movement and turned, seeing Liza narrow her eyes.

"Arios," she said. "Look."

A figure moved far in the trees. Slow, deliberate, almost like a person, then gone. It left no footsteps, no shaken branches, nothing a human body should cause. But Arios saw the faint residue.

Mana traces, blackened at the edges.

"Something else is here," Arios said. "Something that is not part of the exam."

Lucy looked up, uneasy. "Another instructor?"

"No," Arios answered. "That was not human."

He sat beside the ridge, not to rest, but to plan. The island would not be solved by strength alone. It required foresight.

The wind shifted once more. The forest listened.

And the exam was only beginning.

The last light of day collapsed behind the tree line, leaving only scattered streaks of orange trapped between branches. The temperature dropped faster than expected, forcing Lucy to tug her cloak tighter around her shoulders while Pokner pressed her palms together, warming herself with a small mana channel through her fingertips.

Liza returned from her perimeter check, brushing a thin layer of dirt from her gloves.

"No openings," she said. "But the forest isn't settling. Something out there is pacing us."

Arios had already noticed it—once, twice, and then a third time. The presence did not act like a beast searching for prey. It moved side to side, adjusting to their direction like a second shadow. Even the roots beneath the ground carried the vibration of hidden movement.

He answered without looking up, still drawing lines in the soil to map a mental layout of the terrain.

"It's studying us. The question is whether it's meant to assess or interfere."

Pokner lowered herself beside him, watching the map form. Points were marked—mana-heavy trees, ponds with irregular resonance, unstable ground where the soil shifted and moved like it was breathing.

"Could the academy have released a monitoring creature?" she asked.

"No," Arios said. "Nothing created for regulation would conceal its mana signature to that degree."

Lucy sat down on the opposite side of the map, crossing her legs slowly. She did not break eye contact with Arios even once. A month ago, she would have asked him to leave as soon as he sensed danger. Now her voice carried a different tone—steady, prepared.

"What do you need us to do?"

Arios finished the last line before he answered.

"We rotate night watch in pairs. We do not leave the ridge. If anything attempts to separate us, we break formation and regroup immediately." He raised his eyes. "And no one engages alone."

Liza nodded, expression unchanged. Pokner ran through the plan in her head and acknowledged it with a small tilt of her chin. Lucy let out a slow breath.

"Then I'm with you first shift."

Arios didn't object. He knew she wouldn't sleep until she confirmed the perimeter for herself anyway. Liza stretched out her legs and leaned against a raised root.

"Wake me when the forest starts screaming," she muttered.

Pokner adjusted a makeshift pillow of folded cloth and closed her eyes. Within moments, her breathing steadied into the rhythm of someone who had trained to sleep when sleep was offered, without argument.

The forest deepened into quiet.

Arios and Lucy sat with their backs to each other, so they could cover both front and rear. Night insects hummed, leaves rustled, and air filtered through moss so thick it looked like velvet.

Minutes passed. Maybe longer. Neither spoke.

Until Lucy finally said, voice low:

"You're thinking too far ahead again."

"Necessary," Arios answered.

"Yes," she whispered, "but you're here. With us. Let yourself be here."

Silence settled again. The pulsing of the island mana changed—heavier, slower.

Then Arios felt it.

Not sound. Not movement.

Breathing.

Something was breathing in sync with the forest.

Lucy sensed it a moment later and tightened her grip on her staff.

"Arios."

"I know."

It was close. Closer than before. The presence they had traced had finally stopped circling.

Not an observer anymore.

Something had decided to approach.

Arios stood, slow and deliberate, one hand on the hilt of his training blade. He did not summon more mana than necessary. No light. No sound.

The creature stepped forward.

Its shape remained half-hidden, tall and narrow, almost humanoid, but its outline flickered like a figure made of thin mist.

Lucy's voice tightened. "That's not a beast."

"No," Arios said. "It isn't."

It tilted its head, watching them. Testing their reactions. Waiting to see if fear controlled them.

Arios did not blink.

The figure stepped back once, then dissolved into the dark.

Not defeated. Not gone.

Only retreating to continue the game.

Arios slowly sat again.

"It knows our location," he said. "But now I know its rhythm."

Lucy exhaled and leaned her shoulder lightly against his back again.

"We'll face it. When it comes."

He did not respond aloud, but his answer was certain.

They would.

Because whatever stalked them was not just part of the exam.

It was part of the truth buried under it.

And Arios did not leave truths buried.

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