It was imperative that they stayed properly hydrated and nourished. This was more than a physical exam, but a mental and emotional one as well. The climber who didn’t have anything to eat or drink right now would be in a very bad situation.

Max materialized a protein bar from his pouch, unwrapped it from its packaging, and took a bite. He was very glad he didn’t have to worry about finding something to eat, water safe to drink, and be worrying about keeping his candle aflame.

It was simply too much to juggle at once.

Thankfully, Casey and him had arrived at this exam prepared.

He scoured the summit jungle looking for another passage up top. Thankfully there wasn’t one. He set up a subtle string trap right at the top of the summit passageway and returned to Casey.

With everything set up, all they had to do now was survive the night.

* * *

Cyrus grinned at the screams of anguish coming from behind him.

His goons were torturing unranked climbers at the back of a cave.

“Please...” said one of the unranked climbers. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. What more can I do? What did I do to deserve this?”

Cyrus smirked. Did he really think he could negotiate with them? The boy in some ways was correct. He was helping them, in a way, but Cyrus liked to control people with fear, not persuasion or deals that worked out for everyone.

What was the fun in that?

He turned around and saw two unranked student climbers exhausted at the back. One was sweating and looked like he’d pissed his pants as Cyrus’ goons had beat him.

“The beatings will stop now,” said Cyrus, approaching the boy squirming on the floor. “So long as we still have a deal?”

The boy and girl nodded.

“My friend Sybil and I here get to keep your lit candles, yeah?” he said. “And in exchange, we give you each a thousand gold coins tomorrow when we get back to the tower-zone. Then you can finally help your destitute traitless families?”

The two climbers nodded dejectedly.

Of course they did, thought Cyrus. They had no other choice. Pathetic fake-veins. They shouldn’t even be allowed into the academy in the first place.

“We already agreed to the deal,” said the boy. “Why must you keep hurting us?”

Cyrus grinned a monstrous smile.

“Because it’s fun,” he said. “And we can.”

He signaled to his goons to keep an eye on them.

He walked to the end of the cave and found Sybil leaning against a slab of stone.

“Is the torture really necessary?” asked Sybil. “They are doing us a favor.”

Cyrus raised his eyebrow at her. She must be joking. Sybil Westley loved every minute of making those weak students squirm and cry as their dreams of becoming climbers was whisked away from them.