Which makes this all the more important.

Yeah.

...Though, admittedly, trying their new larger alliance idea on the very first run of the semester might have been a bit ambitious. Though they'll definitely identify a lot of problems here.

First step to solving them.

True.

Xunyu's going to have to focus on keeping the team together, so watching for problems will be Chengsu's job this run.

Oh boy, responsibility.

Xunyu's confident she can handle it.

She will.

Good. 

Chengsu is nothing if not good at her job, after all.

The best there is.

Let's get started.

First up is getting everyone in line to enter together... Chengsu should be at the rear, most likely, but Xunyu's unsure where the best place for her long term is - though that's something they can experiment with. 

She's not a front-liner, that's for sure. The back will work for now, let her keep an eye on things.

Fair... That leaves only Xunyu's position - they're starting with a much smaller group than they're hoping to eventually expand to, so any position should be manageable... (Her possibly overly ambitious goal is to get at minimum all of Shanghai, ideally also everyone in their sphere, and for a bonus everyone interested in allying with or working for Shanghai into one large graduation alliance; they're starting with ten students, plus Xunyu and Chengsu - a much larger group than most alliances, but still hopefully manageable, and they've been doing dry runs inspired by the work Xunyu's older sister led in repairing the graduation machinery.)

Xunyu's the leader, though, so she needs a good point to command from. 

Second or third from the front, would be Chengsu's advice. Not in the direct line of fire but still in a place to set an example.

And they've got a few of their steadier front liners in this group. 

So it should be safe enough for testing.

About as safe as this can get.

Xunyu's satisfied with this arrangement. 

Then shall they go?

Yeah.

Back to work.

And into the obstacle course. 

It's... Tough.

Tougher than even her older siblings' warnings had prepared her for - they're attacked from all sides, the gym filled with a chaotic whirlwind of acrid smoke that threatens to choke them, and iron claws lash out from the clouds - spikes jolt up through the floor - a curl of smoke turns into a mal, a terrifying thing of spinning wind and metal shards, and Xunyu only barely smashes it apart before it disables one of her teammates. Every little thing seems primed to slow them down, delay them, rip them into bloody shreads - 

All of them are bleeding at least a little when they finally burst out of the gates, though at least the simulation fading means Xunyu's full grasp on her mana comes rushing back. The Shanghai students they'd left on the outside step up to help with spreading thin layers of healing potions on the assorted cuts.

No one's badly injured, though. They didn't lose anyone. They made better time than it felt like - five minutes, which is already better than the average time.

Xunyu and Chengsu are going to be running with more than one group, until everyone's drilled enough to start merging in. This group alone has three runs booked this week. 

Xunyu's only lightly injured, but her muscles feel a lot more sore at that thought.

"What," Chengsu says, "the fuck was that?"

Huff. (...She can't lose face, can she, not in front of her shaken followers. And not in front of other students she can glimpse out of the corner of her eye - they're hanging back and she can't see them clearly especially not with her eyes still stinging from that smoke, but there's more people here than there were when her team went in.)

"A learning opportunity. And a proof of concept." She catches the gazes of the most worried students. "We did far better than most would have. We'll do even better next time."

(She's going to have to talk about... Political implications, implications for that the fuck the Scholomance is doing - is it trying to make up for all the mals that haven't been trying to kill them? There's been only a tiny trickle of deaths since the beginning of the year, even among the freshmen who are usually easy pickings. Is it trying to prepare them for some horrendous fight ahead? She has no fucking clue, and she doesn't, actually, like that.)

Bea and Liesel showed up a minute or two prior to the first Shanghai group finishing, and have been lurking on the edge waiting.

"Did something go wrong?" she asks in passable Mandarin.