On the opening day of the exam, Alex and Sara were waiting their turn to challenge the exam dungeon. Thomas had gone ahead to register their party.
"I wish Sister Johanna had granted you access to the labyrinth, Sara," said Alex "But I can understand her refusal. It could be seen as unfair to give you advanced access just days before the qualifying exam was to start. At least we were able to train you with the spear and mace. You look mostly comfortable with wearing that chainmail hauberk."
"I guess. It was almost amusing when I started wearing it to all my classes. Sister Johanna thinks I am trying to create a new class, everyone else believes I've just lost my mind. Probably from hanging out with you and Thomas."
"Still, your combat abilities have grown quite significantly over the last week. And you even killed a wolf on the mining trip we took last weekend. I'm sure you'll do fine"
Just then, Thomas walked up accompanied by the tiger-student that had occasionally sparred with their group. The druid had still refused to shift out of his animal form or to actually fight Thomas, but he had regularly spent an hour or so almost every day randomly attacking Alex and Sara. This had fostered increased teamwork between the two.
"It looks like we will be four in our party," said Thomas, somewhat amused by the turn of events. "As I was registering us, our friendly tiger came up and practically demanded to join our party. So, may I present Elidin von Sarguinius nar Cyotree, whom I hope will let us address him as Elidin. Because if I need to warn you to duck, you'll be dead before I've finished saying your name."
As Thomas and his party neared the front of the cue for the exam, a large commotion erupted at the dungeon exit. There were two exits from the maze. The first was a large double door that was decorated with the various crests associated with the classes the school taught. About a hundred paces from the doors was a large gazebo sheltering a magical transportation circle. Students that were "killed" were teleported to the magic circle. The door was for those who successfully completed the trial. The two exits were connected by well-maintained paved paths. The paths from the doors and gazebo met about a third of the way back to the maze entrance and the exam operation booth. The junction was a circular court paved with large flat stone and rimmed with wooden slat benches. In the center was a plinth topped with a statue of a large man, armored in scale mail, and holding a head height staff. From his waist hung two single hand axes, one with two flat blades and the other had a half moon blade with a spike on the back and top of the haft. On the statue's back was a large round shield. While the rest of the statue was intact, except for the rough weathering that had worn down most of the subtle details of the face and weapons, the shield looked to be deliberately damaged. Tool marks still showed where a large symbol had been erased from the shield's face. Around the base of the statue was a continuous stone bench without a back.
"How could you have done that to me!" The shout echoed from the mountain that held the labyrinth. Many eyes, including Thomas and his companions, were focused on the small knot of female mages standing next to the statue.
"Calm down, Karen," replied Cecilia. "It's not like you can't take the exam again. I just did what was needed to secure a record time." Cecilia looked exceedingly pleased with herself, as opposed to Karen who looked exceptionally pissed.
"By leaving me behind! I was "killed"! So, I need to try again! Today's time slots are all filled. Shall I register us for a new slot for tomorrow?"
"Sorry, but you know we are leaving tomorrow morning. The arrangements are already made and can't be changed now. Maybe you can group up with one of the remaining groups."
"They are all filled. And I'm supposed to be going with you to Brightmoon Bay. You said that you would introduce me to your father's guild. So how am I supposed to pass the exam and still leave with you?"
"Well, that's up to you. If you had kept up with the rest of us, you wouldn't be in this situation."
At this Karen narrowed her eyes dangerously. Two of the three other mages standing behind Cecilia were smirking, pleased with Karen's apparent fall from grace. The final party member at least had the grace to lower her head at the shameless display.
Not caring about Karen's anger, Cecilia continued "Now, we have to get packing. Since you'll be going to the office anyway, would you be a doll and get our clearance time? Thanks, Karen!" With that Cecilia brushed passed Karen with the rest of her party. As Karen was glaring daggers at Cecilia's back, the third member of the group whispered "Sorry" as she passed, before hurrying to catch up. After Karen had lost sight of her friends, she turned toward the operations booth to schedule another attempt. Head held high; she ignored the nearly silent groups of students who had seen her humiliation.
After Karen had passed, Thomas turned to his party. "I knew Cecilia was arrogant when she gave her not-an-apology the other day, but that was the worst. I've been through a rough time this year, but that was ridiculous. I feel sorry for Karen. Do you think we should invite her to come with us?"
"I wouldn't. Even if you don't mean it like that, being pitied would only make her feel worse. At least that's how I felt after Alex's correction in the dining hall," Sara explained.
Alex nodded her head. "If she asks to join us, I think we should welcome her. But it needs to be her decision. We'll just wait and see if she wants to join us."
At that moment the sound of Karen's laughter broke out across the courtyard. This was not happy enjoyable laughter but the malicious laughter of someone who's enemies had just fallen into the trap. Striding down the path, Karen was smiling such a malicious smile that Thomas couldn't help himself. As Karen approached, he stepped to meet her. "Hey, Karen. After Cecilia's actions, laughter is the last thing I expected to hear from you. Care to fill me in on the joke?"
"Are you familiar with the phrase 'malicious compliance'?" Karen's smile grew even wider, with a matching maniacal glint in her green eyes. "You heard Cecilia 'ask me' to get our party's clearance time. Well, it was one hour fourteen minutes, base. But the score of a party is ... malleable, I guess is the best term. During the assembly, the Headmaster explained how your party can earn points. But no one asked if your score could be lowered by your actions. I just received that lesson. Basically, the party's score consists of the total points accumulated by the members plus one point per second you are under the two-hour time limit. That sum is then multiplied by the ratio of surviving members. For example, if a six-person party starts and one is "killed" the total base score would then be multiplied by five-sixths. That's a hard but fair penalty. But in my case, it's even worse for Cecilia. I wasn't "killed"; I was abandoned. According to Mrs. Honoka, that is the worst thing you can do on this exam. The penalty is extremely harsh. All the points accumulated by the abandoned member are lost, and the points per second are reduced by half. So instead of getting 2760 points for being under the limit, they are only getting 1380. And the survival ratio automatically is set to six members starting. So instead of being multiplied by four-fifths, it's two-thirds. And the party's score is the ranking factor. So, even though our party was the fastest so far, our score puts us dead last at this point." Malicious giggles threatened to break Karen's composure again. "And all Cecilia asked me to bring was the time. I can't wait to see her face when I meet up with her in Brightmoon Bay and tell her how bad her score really is." At this point, Karen politely nodded to Thomas and resumed her course down the path toward the dorms.
Watching her go, Thomas spoke to Alex. "Of all the students that gave me grief this year, not one of them made me as uneasy as the thought of really being on her bad side." Alex nodded in agreement.