Blei

A goatee marks Blei's otherwise shaved head, and he stands tall. His wardrobe leans monastic: pale flowing robes cinched at the middle with a length of rope, a dark full-length coat over the top, and a light cowl wrapped around his throat.

Little has been revealed of Blei's inner character, but his conduct paints a steady, dutiful figure. He carries out Edel's instructions without grumbling and keeps close to her once the first stage ends. He is not afraid to speak up against those above him, openly asking Sense whether she means for every candidate to wash out. Pressure does not rattle him; trapped by a copy of Sense, he is the one to point out that hiding their mana cannot last and to wonder aloud whether Edel's mind-control could snare the duplicate. Even when told he stands no chance of winning, he holds onto hope. His willingness to sacrifice himself shows plainly when he stays behind to occupy the clone and buy Dünste a path to safety.

Blei takes part in the exam staged in Äußerst, grouped with Edel and Dünste for the opening trial. Their squad camps by a lake hoping a Stille will land, and when Lawine ices the water over, Blei demands to know what the rival team is doing. Not realizing the rare birds avoid mana-churned water, he follows Edel's call to thaw the surface, pouring a steady jet of flame across it. The party's later movements go unrecorded, yet they ultimately snare a Stille that settles on the slumped Dünste, earning passage to the next round. In the interval, the trio wander the city together and receive word of the second trial.

The second stage sends candidates into the Ruins of the King's Tomb with the goal of reaching its deepest chamber. Blei objects that the labyrinth is uncharted and has swallowed countless adventurers, only to be rebuked by Sense, who insists a true first-class mage presses on into the unknown. He descends with Edel and Dünste and gets some distance before a mirror-born double of Sense corners them. Because his modern magic draws on materials absent underground, Blei cannot mount a real fight there. Sheltering behind a pillar, he reasons that concealment will not hold and pins their hopes on Edel's hypnosis, but the mindless copy proves immune. He plants himself in its path to win Dünste a head start, then shatters his bottled escape golem. He turns up afterward among the candidates who failed the round.