The student groups and alliances were all teleported to the lowest floor of the maze, down below the earth and had to make their way up to the top.
Alex and his friends opened their eyes and looked at their surroundings, noticing the large open hall. The space looked like an ancient style of architecture where the ceiling was several meters high and the walls grey and dark.
Even in this slightly dark space, they had enough light to see. At the end of the large hall was a large opening that led into the depths of the maze, but there was a barrier that covered the exit as it was not opened yet.
The students were given a grace period of a few minutes before the entrance was opened. They had a total of six hours to find their way out of the shifting maze and gather as many points as possible.
The group deduced this as their starting point and there were many such spaces for the other students. Some found themselves alone, others in pairs and for those who made contact before teleporting, ended up together.
"This should be our starting point," Alex muttered focusing on the locked entrance. He moved to a nearby wall and observed its structure, but he couldn't tell how strong the walls were. So, he did the only sensible thing.
BOOOM!
Alex punched the wall with more than half his strength, but the only thing that happened was the loud sound of something hitting the wall and a small gust of disturbed air.
The wall held on without so much as a crack.
"I guess escaping the maze via breaking through the walls would be impossible," Alex muttered, turning his attention back to his group.
"Yeah… You can't be the only person who had this thought in the countless years this maze has been around." Ross replied with his arms folded over his chest.
"Just forget about that and get ready, the barrier should be coming down anytime soon," Julia said and moved closer to the exit. The others followed suit and got their weapons ready.
The academy was in no way leaving the students blind in finding their way through the maze. Their smartwatches had a scanning function that they could use to generate a scan of the area they were in and draw a possible path to the next floor. The watches had an effective radius of 70 metres.
However, that was the only benefit it gave them. It did not scan for any signs of traps, void creatures, mana drain zones and such. That was for the students to figure out as they went. Sometimes too, the path drawn becomes useless when the walls of the maze shift.
"Okay everyone, link your watches and lenses. Abigail, you'll be taking the occasional scans and the left flank. Ross, you'll be vanguard, Julia, right flank and I'll take the rear." Alex instructed and just as they had discussed the day before, quickly took formation and waited.
Because they had linked their devices, whatever scans Abigail performed would be sent to their lens where they could see their path forward seamlessly.
....
The rest of the first-year students as well as the other year groups had the opportunity to watch the main competition. As usual, the instructors were also in their lounge watching the large screen and their own personalized screen of their favourites.
Ethan sat at the end of his class auditorium and personalized his target as Alex and his group. Alex was his only target as his interest in him had risen over the last few days, and with them becoming something of friends, it was the most obvious choice.
Naturally, he wasn't the only one to choose Alex as many instructors and students kept their screens on his group. Of course, Ross and Julia were not forgotten as well, but since they were in the same group as Alex, it was easier for the interested ones to also watch Alex.
The time for the main event to start was drawing near and tension was high as this was the first time the participating students were reconditioned to see that world as the real one. There were bound to be surprises and reveals.
Seraph Yiny, the principal of the academy, sat in her specialized cabin and waited for the event to start. This choice of venue, instead of the lounge for the instructor, was because she was expecting Hunter Zol to grace the event with his presence. After all, he had hinted at being present.
This was obviously due to Alexander Gray, as their last discussion about the boy's unusual situation made them curious to see if something would change. And while she did not know much about Alex, she knew no one had kept the attention of Hunter Zol for as long as Alex did.
This was a real competition for Alex and the other students, as such, they could be exposed to Alex's abilities he hadn't discovered or revealed yet. Surprisingly, the academy was not the only one keeping an eye on this event as other forces with their own means were watching for the sake of a certain someone.
Whatever their goal was, only they could determine that. Of course, The Order had already made their intent clear about Alex, but how exactly they wanted Alex's help was still up for debate.
'I hope he shows us something interesting…' She thought to herself, a small smile appearing on her beautiful face. She turned to look at the empty chair and wondered when he would show up.
And as if by clockwork, Hunter Zol appeared like a ghost, startling the principal for a moment. She quickly got up and greeted him with a small bow.
"Mm… How are the preparations?" Zol asked before making his way to the seat prepared for him.
"Everything has been prepared and the failsafe set in place is at the ready to intervene if a student finds themselves struggling to cope." She explained and returned to her chair.
Hunter Zol nodded and tuned and linked his display to the system and selected Alex as his primary viewpoint.
'Hmm… Julia will definitely become an issue if things go south for them.' He thought about the personality of her niece and how she would behave now that she was officially Alex's partner.
Yes, he was very much aware that Alex had proposed to Julia which had cranked up her possessiveness to higher-than-normal levels, and this got him slightly worried. As her family member, she knew what that girl thought.