Unluckily for Merlin, neither Hakyun nor Chima were on his team. Considering that they usually bickered, this should have been fine, however, they were still the only ones he was close to within the cohort. Well, males, if he was being precise. After all, Park Yuri, Kim Yiseo, and Sofia were on his team.

  The set up of the team brought about a rather awkward atmosphere, at least between Merlin and Sofia, which was most likely only limited to him, because the girl did not look one bit bothered by his presence. He was different though. And because of that he quickly redirected his attention towards the most important thing at the moment.

  “So? Does anyone have any pns?” Merlin asked, his eyes sweeping over the members of his team, ten of them, including him, and most he didn’t know.

  No one replied to his question. And… They all stared back at him. He jerked his head backwards slightly. Were they expecting him to come up with a pn?

  He gnced at Park Yuri. She was saying nothing. He thought he had cleared up the misunderstanding that there was nothing more to what met the eyes with him. His gaze shifted to Kim Yiseo, and her silence shocked him the most. If those two were not saying anything, then it was more than obvious that no one else would.

  Merlin sighed. He had no choice. Thankfully, Kieran had been a rather prolific hunter in SIngurity Mage. That was his whole schtick before becoming a Mage after all. And since Merlin had enjoyed reading the mundane scenes of Kieran’s huntings, he had a bit of knowledge on setting up inconspicuous traps. At least, theoretically. The problem came in putting it into practice, but there were ten of them. It should work out.

  “Then, if you’ll allow me to bring up suggestions,” Merlin started and everyone listened attentively. It seemed the whole ‘hatred for him’ gimmick was slowly dying down. Or maybe the members of his team were just smart enough to realize that what was at stake was bigger than their ego. “If I’m to estimate, we should have a bit over thirty minutes to set up traps around our base before our opponents start making a move. Now, this is an estimate, there’s no guarantee that they haven’t already begun their approach. After all, they too are numbered ten. If they split in half, one group can handle the trap settings, while the other can rush at us. And since we don’t know who exactly we’re going up against, we cannot assume that we’re stronger or weaker.”

  That was one of the problems with the test. Dr. Elias had shared the teams and sent them to their various locations in secret. Because of that, no one knew which team exactly they were to go up against. Apparently, it’s as a means to prepare the budding Mages for the various types of monsters they could encounter in a Dungeon.

  “Then shouldn’t we also take the initiative and head towards them now?” a boy with bck hair and an average height asked. He had introduced himself as Hwang Man-Shik earlier.

  A few of the students supported his cim. But that would be stupid. Merlin was not looking at the test with the eyes of a mere practical; he was looking at it through the lenses of Kieran’s eyes. In other words, the eyes of a hunter. If they split up their forces, the traps would be made slower. And in the off-chance that their opponents were stronger than them, the vanguard force may very well be wiped out on their way, and the traps wouldn’t even have been completed by the time they got to the rest of the team’s location. This was not even taking into consideration the possibility that none of their members left their camp.

  It was all too risky.

  Merlin shook his head. “No.” He expined his reasoning to them, and they all nodded in understanding. Wow, he had been blessed with rather smart teammates.

  “So what do we do then?” Sofia asked.

  Merlin nodded and turned to the white fg fluttering upon a pole. “We won’t leave our base obviously. Protecting the fg comes first. Even though this is a ‘trap’ practical, the condition for winning is getting a hold of the fg.”

  “Then are you saying we just stay here and ambush our opponents?” Kim Yiseo asked, arms folded, eyes narrowed—which was just the way her eyes looked.

  “No,” replied Merlin. Why don’t they just let him finish. He cleared his throat. “Two volunteers will go ahead and spy, not engage—spy. While the rest of us will set up the traps. If we’re able to get it done before we’re attacked, then three volunteers will head to the opponents’ base.”

  “Just three?” Park Yuri chimed in.

  Merlin almost clicked his tongue. “Yes. The—”

  “Why?”

  Merlin felt his body heat rise at an exponential rate, but he held himself back with a deep exhale. “If all our opponents are still at their base, then one of the three will return to alert us, while the remaining two stall for time. If they have been split, then the three will engage them there and try to steal the fg. If they fail, there’s no problem. They just have to hold on for as long as they can so that those who remain at the base can defeat the opponents that came to attack, then they too will head towards the opponent’s base and steal the fg. This way, we do not risk our force and divide our strength too much.”

  Merlin’s reasoning was supported by the rest of his teammates, but he suspected that was because they couldn’t think of anything better. After all, there were fws in his pn. All he’d done was consider their path to victory without taking into consideration their opponents’. There was the possibility of their opponents’ trap getting their vanguard, and then they would come up with a contingency pn to take them out.

  However, Merlin knew better than to burden himself with the negatives. Sure, he could consider it, but there was nothing he could do if things took a turn he had not been expecting. He had made his pn based on what he could take control of; if he filled his mind with something he couldn’t, he would just force himself into an inescapable limbo where he came up with and discarded a lot of pns. That would be a total waste of time.

  “The traps and spies, how do we go about that?” asked Kim Yiseo.

  Merlin gnced around their scenery. They were in a small clearing in the center of tall trees spanning in all directions. Considering their scenery, the spying wouldn’t be that tough if they had good climbers amongst them, or someone who could propel themselves into the air with their magic.

  The traps on the other hand…

  “I have a few ideas for the traps,” said Merlin. “Let’s settle the deal with the spies first of all… If you’re good at espionage, please raise up your hands.”

  Sofia’s hand was the first to go up. Merlin couldn’t hide his surprise. Maybe that was rude of him, considering he didn’t actually know anything about her, but it had been purely reflex, and since she didn’t seem annoyed, he couldn't bring himself to apologize. Instead…

  “You can spy?” he asked.

  Sofia cleared her throat. “I’m not sure…” Everyone frowned. “But my magic should be able to help.”

  Merlin’s brows jumped up. Okay, he was curious.

  “How?” Park Yuri asked, seemingly as curious—if not more—as Merlin. He had come to realize that she was rather enthusiastic about magic as a whole.

  Sofia licked her lips. “My Hex is scales. One of my spells is the ability to create scales using the color and composition of whatever I touch on my skin.”

  Merlin gasped softly. “Oh, I see…” He rubbed his chin, fascinated. “That way you can blend in like a chameleon to the trees and no one would notice. That’s some great magic!”

  Sofia blinked rapidly, then her cheeks reddened. Merlin was surprised. Had him likening her to a chameleon come off badly? He really needed to work on his social skills.

  “That settles it,” he continued. “Sofia will be one of the scouts. Any other?”

  “I’ll do it,” Kim Yiseo said.

  “No!” Merlin shut her down immediately.

  She frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because we need your webs,” replied Merlin. “It’s crucial to create the traps. Anyone else?”

  Kim Yiseo clicked her tongue, visibly disappointed. Merlin narrowed his eyes at her; had she been trying to escape working? Sly little gremlin.

  Hwang Man-Shik stepped forward. “I’ll do it.” Everyone waited for an expnation as to why he thought he was a good fit, and he continued, “My Hex is lightning. I might not be very good at espionage in general, but I should be able to alert you all with a simple fsh without having to rush over.”

  Merlin’s heart skipped a beat. Goodness, there were really some awesome Hex’s in Prestige Academy. He had come to love anti-magic, but magic was just entirely different. For a brief second there, he felt downcasted that he couldn’t use it, but he pulled himself together immediately.

  “Well, that settles it then.” He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Man-Shik and Sofia will be our scouts. The rest of us will begin working on the trap.” He gnced at his smartwatch. “We’ve used five minutes already. Let’s begin.”