The next day.

Hilia arrived right on time at the agreed spot, standing together with all her classmates, waiting for the instructor’s directions.

When the scheduled time arrived, Alina came before everyone, counted heads, confirmed most were present, and said:

"Some students can’t participate due to personal reasons, but the rest are all here."

"Since this is your first time taking part in the school’s ancient ruins trial, let me go over some things you need to know about ancient ruins."

"First, ’ancient ruins’ is the collective term for all remnants from eras before the Era of Calamity. For various reasons, they have been covered in pollution, or occupied by demons."

"Some ruins are deeply buried underground, while others are exposed and known locally as forbidden zones."

"The ancient ruin we’re heading to now is called the Lost Lighthouse. It’s located in the east of the Empire, on a once important lighthouse for long-distance voyages."

"Most of the demons in this lighthouse are polluted creatures, with some corrupted heretics as well. The Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association once used the lighthouse as a base, but eventually gave it up after the pollution became so dense that nearly all the heretics inside lost their minds."

"The core area of the lighthouse is very dangerous, so we’ll only operate in the outer areas this time, cleaning up the pollution that’s escaped from inside. Absolutely do not go near the core."

"I’ll send you the relevant maps. The activity areas are already marked—so long as you don’t cross the barrier net set up by the Knights, you won’t be in much danger. But if you cross the net out of curiosity and enter the lighthouse’s light range, you’re on your own. The school might compensate you ten Gold Coins—while you’ll have to pay with your life."

As she spoke, Alina showed a strange smile: "Almost forgot, let me tell you about a classic case. A student, knowing the school would compensate for trial deaths, decided to enter the lighthouse’s light zone without permission and disappeared. The school, following the contract, compensated his family with ten Gold Coins, and then..."

"The school sued in the Judgement Court for major losses caused by non-cooperation and violation of the trial agreement, and was awarded 30 Gold Coins in damages."

Countless students sucked in a cold breath.

Terrifying—not only do they cough up the compensation, they also have to pay an extra twenty Gold Coins.

"However, the school isn’t a ruthless business. After the verdict, they chose not to accept the deceased’s inheritance, which meant there was no need to compensate after all."

"..."

Alina spoke calmly: "I’m telling you this so you value your own life. The person you die for won’t necessarily benefit, and you’ll lose your life forever."

No kidding, that one example was more effective than repeating ’cherish your life’ a hundred times.

Everyone had already decided to treasure their lives and abandoned any thoughts of dying on purpose just to get compensated.

Of course, such extreme ideas are rare—maybe only a handful every few decades.

Even then, it’s mostly parents dying to claim compensation for their kids; rarely do kids die to get money for the older generation.

"Back to the Lost Lighthouse: for this trial, everyone will be split into small teams of five. Each team gets a designated trial area, and your goal is to wipe out all demons and purify all pollutants in your section."

"Keep in mind, before everything is purified, instructors can’t enter, or it’ll trigger a reaction in the lighthouse and cause the light to shine in. So until purification is complete, you’ll have to rely on teamwork to get it done."

"The school will give everyone a Directional Teleportation Badge; you just need to input a bit of Magic Power to activate it, and it’ll transport you back to the school camp."

"Note: once you use the badge, the school will evaluate your actions and trial performance. Lazy or negative behavior means your grade will be cancelled."

After Alina had spoken for a while, covering all the important points and arrangements, she started organizing the teams.

"In principle, teams are formed freely, but for your safety and to prevent bullying, each team can have up to three classmates from the same class; the other two must be from another class."

"Also, free teams must include at least one student skilled in healing, or the team is invalid and will be assigned by the school."

"Alright, start forming your teams now."

As soon as she finished, the students scattered, rushing to find teammates.

Hilia caught everyone’s attention. Mier was faster than Anarce and stepped forward.

"Hilia, let’s team up! With me protecting you, you’ll be fine—just sleep through the whole trial!"

"Mier." Alina’s voice came from nearby.

Mier turned his head, "Ms. Alina? Is something wrong?"

"Did you forget what I just said? The trial requires teamwork—no freeloading allowed. There are individual and team scores in group trials. Are you trying to get Hilia a zero on her individual score?"

"I didn’t mean that..."

"Hilia, come with me. You’re a Tier Two Mage; your trial area isn’t the same as theirs, you can’t team up with Tier One students."

"Alright." Hilia followed Alina away, leaving Mier dumbfounded.

A friend came over, grinning: "Hey, Mier—she’s a Tier Two Mage now, how can you even claim you’re protecting her?"

Another friend chimed in with a laugh: "With my protection, you won’t have any trouble, ha ha ha—hic hic hic..."

Mier’s face flushed bright red, "You—you just wait, after this trial I’ll be Tier Two and show you losers!"

"Hahahahaha!"

... 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Hilia followed Alina out of the student crowd to a building.

Hilia looked up at the building ahead—it was the main complex, with instructor offices, meeting rooms, labs, and more.

At the entrance, Alina turned and said, "You’re a Tier Two Mage, and also a Holy Daughter candidate. All Holy Daughters this round have reached Tier Two. After discussion between the school and Holy Court, since your specialties differ, your mini-evaluation this year won’t use the usual duel format. Instead, it will be combined with this trial."

She paused for a moment and smiled: "In other words, you all need to form a team and go explore the Lost Lighthouse together."

"What?" Hilia’s eyes widened. "You’re making the five of us—competitors—form a team to explore an ancient ruin together?"

"Not me—the principal. And the Holy Court arranged it."

"Isn’t that wrong? Shouldn’t each of us lead a team and see whose team performs best?"

Alina nodded: "That’s how it’s been in past years, but this year is different."

"What’s different?"

"The Lost Lighthouse has unusual light phenomena now—some strange humanoid demons appeared. If you each led a team, you couldn’t enter the light zone for investigation, because we don’t have enough Tier Two Mages."

"So, after discussion by the principal and the Holy Court, you’re going in as an elite team to investigate the abnormal light in the lighthouse area."

"Ah, this..."