Every year for the past fifty-four years, the residents of the town of Pinsbury Port have received a mysterious letter inviting all age-eligible boys to compete for an honorary scholarship to the all-male Stemwick University. Every year, the poor population searches for their names in lists. The wealthier ones want to see what the likelihood is that their sons will survive. And Ren Tellur opens it to see if she can make the substances from which ink and parchment are created using her father's microscope. In the province of Caldon, where women are taught women's responsibilities and men are encouraged with a university education, sixteen-year-old Ren Tellur wishes for nothing other than to become a scientist. As the poor people of her seaside town fall victim to a deadly disease, she and her father desperately try to find a cure. Until her mother also gets sick. Ren decides to change her future with the help of an annual scholarship competition for boys. With her cousin Seleni, the girl is reincarnated and enters Mr. Hill's maze to fight the guys and win a scholarship. But not everyone is ready for a girl who doesn’t know her place. And not everyone survives in the maze.