Professor Simon looked back at Alec. His mouth opened and closed, but he didn't answer. He seemed to think for a second before continuing.

"I see. You are a man of reason, Alec Greenwood. I have seen that. I will trust your judgment this time. Don't make me regret it," he said with a resolute frown. He then tapped his temple where a tiny magic circle appeared.

"Emergency. Code: 107. Immediate dispatchment of all personnel authorized," he said. For a moment, Alec felt a gargantuan amount of cumulative mana shake and roil, somewhere about three kilometers away from where they were.

"That's..."

"They will be moving," Professor Simon said. "Go and do what you must. The exam goes on," he announced before snapping his finger once more. Alec tried understanding whether that was really needed, or if he was merely acting cool. The ground under them liquefied once more, carrying away the professor.

Seeing that, Alec didn't waste any time and started heading toward the middle of the cavernous chambers. He had wasted a lot of time on facing the demons.

[Team Spellson has taken down a high-level boss! 5.000 points have been awarded!]

He frowned. Putting aside the 5.000 points, they had probably slain some medium-level bosses along the way, so he genuinely didn't know if they were closing in on his score.

[Team Spellson has taken down a high-level boss! 5.000 points have been awarded!]

Another notification came two minutes later. Alec's brows rose as he stopped in his tracks.

'What are they–'

[Team Spellson has taken down a high-level boss! 5.000 points have been awarded!]

'How can they find this many?' Alec had come across a couple of high-level bosses, but they were either occupied by other teams or already killed. 'He is doing defeat in detail? He splits up his teammates to search and occupy bosses while he himself aids in taking them down one by one. Tsk... That requires some sort of communication artifact. What are they using?'

Alec had seen the student council president use such a device before. But he didn't know how well it worked. Considering how many walls would be between their teammates, it seemed to work better than he had imagined.

He managed to locate a couple more medium-level bosses, none of which were a major threat to him, Alec bolstered his points up to 70.000. He was probably about two kilometers away from the absolute center of the caves, inside a habitat replicating something like an ancient bazaar filled with minor mobs when he encountered an ally.

"Iris!" he rejoiced. Another demonic incursion wasn't on his list of expected events, and he needed every bit of help right about now.

"Alec?" She turned her head, dispelling a mana ray that had blasted through more than twenty goblin mobs. She straightened and looked at him. When she noticed the frown on his face, however, she got serious too. "What's going on?"

"Another incursion," Alec said. His eyes wandered over her wrist, confirming the existence of magical incense smoke slowly flowing out. "The events from before have weakened the anti-meme too much."

"Shit," she muttered under her breath before crossing her arms. "What do you need me for?"

"I need help in getting the first place," Alec said with a firm tone. He had wanted this race to be fair and square, but those concepts had dissipated the moment the demonic incursions had started. And by the looks of it, Edward wasn't aware of it yet. Or else, he would have been focusing on dealing with the demons, entirely abandoning the exam.

"How? I doubt I'm strong enough to matter," she said. Alec thought for a second and answered.

"Yes. But I need mana. So you will be that."

Iris uncrossed her arms and took a step back in aversion.

"Ugh... You want me to supply mana?" she asked to confirm. Alec nodded apologetically. Supplying mana could be uncomfortable, especially for weaker mages. "For what though?"

"Don't ask," Alec answered before taking out The Author's Pen. He went down on his knees and started thinking, visualizing many patterns and magical concepts. This was to reduce the mana cost of what was to come.

'I will have to use memetic magic, classical magic of Earth branch... Maybe some light? That spell and that other one...' Alec thought while scratching his head with the pen.

"Alright. I will spend a lot of mana now. You will have to supply me with however much you can. Be prepared to completely fail the exam in case you run out of mana," Alec said. He was about to avert his eyes before he stopped himself. "There is a good chance it won't mean anything."

"Mm," Iris nodded. Failing the exam didn't have any explicit punishments like getting kicked out of the academy or something. It would, however, greatly tarnish a mage's reputation. Especially one of Iris' popularity. Nevertheless, she didn't seem to be too bothered by it. At worst, she would use anti-memetic magic to disappear for some time.

Without further ado, she crouched behind Alec and lifted his shirt. She planted her hands on his back and started attuning her mana signature to Alec's. She breathed deeply and readied herself for Alec to give the signal.

On the other side, Alec was ready. He brought down The Pen's tip onto the ground and wrote.

[Signature Locator Magic Circle]

The artifact's enigmatic mechanism churned to life, pulling on Alec's mana rapidly. A steady stream flowed from his hand onto the pen as the outline of a magic circle started flickering. Seeing this, and feeling the amount of mana roiling, Iris let go of the breath she had been holding onto, alongside the mana she had readied.

Even with her help, however, Alec's mana continued lowering. From the 70% he had at the start, he was already down to 60%. His mana pool wasn't much of a pool, but more of a small lake compared to that of Iris. The amount she contributed was nice to have but didn't have much of an effect.

Fortunately, Alec's expenditure of mana stopped somewhere around 35%. His face sweaty, he took in the brand new piece of magic he had created with the help of the pen. It was of the third circle, a memetic branch spell. It would help him locate the mana signatures of mages he wanted to find.

"Thanks for the help," Alec said to Iris, who was left breathless, sweating profusely. She nodded in answer.

"That artifact..." she muttered. However, she stopped herself from continuing and looked away.

"How much mana do you have left?"

"About 30%. Why?"

Alec bent down and wrote a Very Low Mana Potion before handing it over to her. She took the potion and drank it without questions.

"Please use this spell I have drawn and find Evan. You know his mana signature, right?" Alec asked. Iris nodded. "Once you find him, bring him to the middle of the cavernous chambers. If I am not there yet, wait for me. Is that okay?"

"Sure..." she muttered before looking at the magic spell Alec had so easily created. She gulped loudly and cast the spell. There weren't any visual effects other than a magic circle appearing momentarily. Without waiting any further, Alec did the same too. The magic spell appeared as he input the mana signature.

Mana signatures weren't actually set in stone. They could change slightly over time, and the easiest way to differentiate them was by straight-up feeling it. It was like some sort of body odor. The person's natural disposition, the way they lived their life, their personality—All of those contributed to their mana signature.

Alec had spent a lot of time with certain people in the academy, but the mana signature he was the most familiar with was Edward's. This was because of their extensive training sessions and duels over the months. He could easily input that into the spell, which spread across the entire cavernous chambers in the form of an ethereal pulse. It locked onto a signature approximately four kilometers away from where Alec was.

"Found you..." Alec muttered. Although there seemed to be something weird with Edward’s mana signature, it wasn’t to the degree that it failed the spell.

‘Hopefully, he will help me if I ask politely.’

Alec dashed. Although he couldn't go at full speed because of all the zig-zagging paths and many tunnels he had to pass through, he managed to reach Edward's location in less than five minutes.

He found Edward to be fighting against a high-level boss all by himself, using advanced enhancement spells coupled with simple artillery ones. He unleashed the last barrage of spells, which took down the boss.

[Team Spellson has taken down a high-level boss! 5.000 points have been awarded!]

"Edward! I need your help," Alec said while walking to his side. Edward turned toward him. Slowly. Excruciatingly so. Alec stopped in his tracks as he looked at Edward's face, a twisted expression of hesitant anger. "Edward..?"

"Why Alec... Why did you have to... Do that?" Edward muttered, his voice dripping with poison.

'Oh no,' Alec thought.

"You framed him... You did it. You and Evan... You are my friend! So I couldn't tell anyone," Edward's voice kept shifting and changing. It was as if there were two different personalities fighting in there. "But duty calls... Tell me, Alec! Tell me! What do I do? Do I slay the heretic?"

Alec frowned.

'He is losing it. If I don't do something...'

'He will turn!'