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Zhang Jinye, Cai Xian, Wu Zhuwei, Qiu Yazhu and Zhu Taiyang descend on the Scholomance.
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Zhang Jinye is the Genius of Taipei. People have been saying this for years; that she’s a child prodigy, that she’s a once-in-a-lifetime wonder, that she’s the smartest child they've ever seen, and Zhang Jinye has rolled her eyes and looked to less fawning adults for company and still grown up knowing that no other student near her year can compete with her (Xian sometimes excepted). That was true before she learned her talent - for information - before she learned a spell that practically let her inhale truth, before she used it to master fourteen languages (what are the odds that any student in the Scholomance can match that, she wonders, then corrects herself: actually quite high. She knows she’s one in a million, what are the odds she’s one in a planet?)

Zhang Jinye is also going to die in her first year in the Scholomance, and knows that, too. In theory, A-lin will arrive next year to rescue her. In practice, he’ll be a year behind her and if Zongzhu wants to stop him from coming, Zongzhu will stop him from coming, especially if she’s not there; there’s a slim chance she could outmaneuver him if she’s present; she’s young but she’s defending the right and even in Taipei that means something. But Zongzhu wants to live forever, and that means that he cannot have a successor, and so any student more brilliant than he is will not escape the Scholomance. She doesn’t know if it’s one of her classmates who will kill her; it’s more likely that one or two of the more promising seniors had been quietly let know that it would go well for them if she and Xian didn’t graduate. Either way. She’d probably die even if she didn’t have a target on her back; she’s got no capacity and she’s too slow at drawing mana through the sharer and she knows every practically useful spell in the enclave in-affinity and none of them can stop a mal, but why leave it to chance? 

So she’s going to die. And then she’ll never fix Taipei, never turn it into what it was meant to be, never build the new Scholomance with Li Shan Feng, never mend Taipei’s reputation - get it a name as anything other than the place - and build a real meritocracy, and, finally, mend the oh-so-broken world.

But just because she’s going to die doesn’t mean she’s going to give up. She is Zhang Jinye, after all, the Genius of Taipei. All it means is that she needs to be a little more clever than usual.

She hopes.

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Cai Xian is not the son of the Dominus. He’s the Dominus’s great-nephew. But he’ll be Zongzhu’s heir, in twenty years, if he survives, because he can smile so it warms your soul and he can listen to everyone and hear what they say and because he got second among the Taipei students taking the written test and because he can do the voice, the voice that makes you shut up and straighten your spine and obey before you even think about it. Jinye’s immune (because she wants his job), Shuhua’s immune (because she’s Jinye two years younger and twice as ambitious) and everyone else moves first and thinks later. His affinity is lightning and he’s the leader of their graduation alliance and Jinye nods and says “Just as you say, Xian-xiong,” (because she won’t ever sabotage the graduation alliance, she’s loyal to Taipei whatever else she is and however much else she wants to be), and she’s really the only one who could stop him.

Now all he has to worry about is that the Dominus already did. Quite odd, how many rising stars have gone into the Scholomance and not come out, quite odd indeed how many rising stars have come out and then - had accidents. He wonders if Shuhua will even make it to the school. Especially if Baihan hasn’t died yet, Baihan who is not a threat to the Dominus in any way but is not so inept that naming him heir to Taipei won’t ruin the enclave or disgrace the Dominus.

Xian doesn’t intend to murder him. It’d be tricky anyway, since Baihan’s a junior, but that’s not why. Xian doesn’t intend to murder anyone just to survive. That’s thinking too small. The Scholomance is the forge in which wizards are alloyed. Who are the strongest wizards, who are the cleverest, who are the wisest? Whatever happens, here and now will be the moment they make their decisions. They will see Cai Xian, and they will know that he is a man who they can make deals with, and when the time comes, they will come to Taipei. And they will not let him die, because he will not let them die. What’s the largest graduation alliance anyone has managed? Nine? Ten? That’s a tenth of an army company and Cai Xian’s studied tactics until it comes out his ears, and at age eighteen he will have an army of his own, with his classmates at his back. And then he can save the world.

If he can make it that far himself. Well. Cai Xian likes challenges.

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Wu Zhewei is destined to save the enclave. He thinks birds are nice. He thinks math is nice. He thinks the design of integrated logic circuits is completely fascinating. He made a toy portal into space last year. Jiejie usually reminds him to eat and who’s going to do that when he’s in the Scholomance?

He wonders if he can teleport mals into the void. He should figure out a spell for that. Maybe start with little ones?

 

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Qiu Yazhu is going to keep the enclave alive. Xian-xiong is on her side and she’s on his. She wouldn’t mind being Dominus, but she’s going to keep the enclave alive, first and foremost. Taipei doesn’t lose. And Yazhu particularly doesn’t lose; she can die, that’s all right, but she can see through all the lies and the bullshit and everything, and that means she can win. No matter the price. Yazhu does not fail and Yazhu does not lie and if anyone does she is prepared to cut them down if she must, because Qiu Yazhu is justice, and she is what Taipei must be.

Not even if Jinye’s in her year. Not even if Taiyang is in her year. No matter who else she’s stuck protecting. Yazhu knows what she’s doing, and Yazhu is going to graduate, because Yazhu does not lose.

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Zhou Taiyang is a very nice girl, everyone says that. She studies diligently (and adorably) and smiles diligently (and adorably) and her affinity is light, and she can do little illusion tricks and even a laser spell! It’s such a pretty laser spell, like a flashlight, and it’s an adaptable spell where you can swap the first syllable out for frequency and the final syllable out based on your mana reserves, and Zhou Taiyang didn’t tell anyone. Why would she? Zhou Taiyang isn’t Zhang Jinye, Zhang Jinye’s going to get assassinated. Zhou Taiyang is much too harmless to ever be assassinated, and that’s just the way she likes it.

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The five students assemble, ready and waiting. They have their uniforms, all neat in Taipei blue with the Taipei suns on the collar, looking baggy but baggy like martial arts clothes not like (what is true) they still need to grow into them, trench knives sheathed at their left sides and the carefully made six-inch force-spelled wands that they can use for the real threats strapped to their right arms, backpacks loaded with everything they’re bringing, hungry but not starved and with their hair all cut right to the skull. Zongzhu is giving them his you-have-not-failed-me look, which means make-me-proud, and they bow and then he leaves and they have a moment to themselves.

“We’re going into the jungle,” says Cai Xian, and it’s a cliché but it's a true one. 

 

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"You mean the mals?"

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“No.” Cai shakes his head very slightly. “Mals are - spiders. They might drop on your heads but all you need to kick them away is good boots.”

(Steel-toed boots are above Taipei’s weight limit, so they’re going with titanium alloys.)

“No, I mean the enclaves.” He quirks an eyebrow. “New York’s the lion, king of the jungle, all fat and warm and sunning himself, who thinks he has the right to eat whoever he pleases. Boston’s a bear; don’t poke the bear and it won’t poke you. Kyoto’s a jackal, fawning for scraps, but she’ll rip your throat out if you turn your back on her. And Shanghai - well, Shanghai’s the tiger, fiercest thing out there for all the lion says otherwise.”

“We’re going into the jungle, and then we’ll be alone.” His expression is calm, now, deathly calm. “There’s no backup, no Taipei Enclave. Nothing but us for us to rely on. We can die there, from one mistake, the wrong spider or poking the bear or insulting the lion or being near the tiger when he wants a snack.

“But if we watch each other’s backs, well, we’ll be the hunters. Which means -” and he grins. “It’s time to go get ourselves some tigerskin rugs.”

 

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Jinye rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling.

Then the pull takes them and they're in.

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