Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 833
Trials might actually be better.
Ordinary trials could be difficult and dangerous, but at least they had an end.
No matter how hard they were, there was usually some way to guess how to reach the finish line.
But this sacred grove had simply dropped them into the middle of nowhere and told them to find a branch that suited them, without giving them a beginning, an end, or even a hint.
Even for mages, whose profession was to make the impossible possible, doing this with no clues at all was…
“Isn’t there anything that could help?”
“I told you. Wander until you’re chosen.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Lee Han ignored Ragesa and began considering which divination spell he should use.
Stone divination seemed too weak for this. He would probably need Spirit Gold Coin Divination or Five Devils Divination.
Spirit Gold Coin Divination is impossible.
It required five specially processed gold coins, and any coins that landed heads-up had to be offered to spirits. That made it difficult to use.
Five Devils Divination seemed more manageable. If he failed to identify the two false prophecies, he would suffer a powerful curse of misfortune, but it was still better than Spirit Gold Coin Divination.
“Divination magic? Dangerous, kid. Do you know how many divination mages have ruined themselves after getting drunk on the pleasure of peering into the future?”
“Hmm. I understand.”
Lee Han ignored her again and checked his reagents.
Fly agaric mushrooms gathered under the new moon, bone fragments from the Demon Realm, cinnabar, and so on.
Ragesa realized he was letting her words go in one ear and out the other and grumbled.
“You’ll only stop doing this nonsense after divination magic hurts you badly. Arrogant brat.”
“No, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying I’m definitely going to use it right now. I’m just checking.”
It wasn’t that Lee Han had no fear. If anything, he had as much as the other students, if not more.
How could he not be afraid of suffering a powerful run of misfortune for days if he made one mistake?
Because of prophecies, Lee Han was extremely cautious with divination magic. He was cautious enough to swing his staff at Gainando whenever Gainando came too close.
The problem was that finding the right branch in this forest seemed hopeless.
I should see how the others are doing first.
After finishing his reagent check, Lee Han watched his friends.
If someone happened to obtain a suitable branch, he planned to observe the process and use it as a reference.
SWISH!
The student who had grabbed the mirage earlier was actually one of the better cases.
As the students wandered through the sacred grove in search of suitable branches, they gradually realized just how bizarre the forest was.
POP!
Some were teleported somewhere else in the forest the instant they touched a branch, never mind trying to break one off.
SPLASH!
Sometimes the clouds beneath them vanished without warning, dropping them into a huge puddle below.
“I… I went somewhere strange and came back. Did you all see that too? Some spirits dragged me off and guided me into a labyrinth??”
Others fell into illusions and wandered endlessly through labyrinths.
There were no hostile monsters, but the forest was full of twisted mysteries rarely seen even near Einroguard. It was a grove cultivated by a mad Spirit King for a reason.
“…Everyone, tie yourselves together with rope. Don’t spread out too far. Carve <Mark of Allies> onto the backs of your hands.”
Unable to watch any longer, Giselle gathered the White Tiger Tower students, who had been wandering around in complete disorder.
Even mages would have a hard time fully controlling this forest, but they could at least make preparations.
They tied themselves together with magically extending rope and cast the ally-marking spell, which would display one another’s positions until the mark faded.
“Indeed. That method would be advantageous for long-term exploration.”
“Why are you evaluating us?! Get over here and give orders too!”
Giselle shouted in exasperation.
The one who should have been giving orders alongside her was sitting on a cloud, watching with interest as if thinking, So this is how White Tiger Tower students operate.
It was absurd.
Lee Han, who had wanted to observe a bit longer, quickly made an excuse.
“I’m from Blue Dragon Tower, so I was watching without interfering unnecessarily.”
Huh. Is that so?
Anglago, who was listening nearby, thought it sounded somewhat plausible.
Certainly, if someone belonged to a different tower, it might be difficult to step forward and give orders out of consideration for—
“You call that an excuse?”
“Lee Han. Even I think that’s a bit much…”
Starting with Giselle’s cynical retort, even Dergeu, who usually sided with Lee Han, looked reluctant.
“Booo!”
Several White Tiger Tower students jeered outright.
“Wardanaz, stop talking nonsense and give us orders like usual! We want orders!”
“Right! Wardanaz should do what he always—ugh, urgh!”
Giselle kicked the shamelessly chattering students.
Even if they had grown used to obeying orders from students of other towers, saying it out loud was far too ugly.
“Hey. Come here.”
“Fine, fine. Divide into groups of three. I’ll cast underwater breathing and grant true light… What else do we need? We probably don’t need undead protection, right?”
Lee Han immediately cast a comprehensive set of low-circle enchantments that might prove useful.
Anglago, who had been watching uneasily, raised a hand.
“Wardanaz. I have something to say.”
“Oh. What is it? A spell recommendation?”
“No. You said to bring friends, right? What if we quickly call the other towers too…”
“…”
When Lee Han and Giselle looked at him with contempt, Anglago hurriedly made excuses.
“N-No! I don’t mean it in a bad way. We should share this opportunity with friends from other towers too!”
“I’m sure.”
“Hah. I’ll make them compete when we bring them next time.”
“But isn’t Anglago the second-in-command of your tower?”
“Shut up.”
***
The White Tiger Tower students went around the other towers to share the joyous news with their ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) friends.
-Oh, friends! While helping Wardanaz with his work, we happened to meet the benevolent tree Spirit King! The Spirit King said, “Call your close friends so they may break off branches too!” We sincerely hope you all come and obtain branches as well! This place is truly beautiful and mysterious!
“How can you not be happy?! The Spirit King invited us and opened his domain!”
Gainando stared at Yonair as if he couldn’t understand at all.
Yonair tried to explain calmly.
“So…”
“Guys! Yonair says there’s nothing to be happy about! Yonair says there’s no need for a Spirit King’s gift because Yonair is already too much of a genius!”
“Boo! Booo!”
Yonair pulled out a potion bottle and swung it at Gainando’s head.
After a short scream, Gainando, struck by the voice-prohibition potion, began flailing silently.
Several friends who had just been jeering quickly shut their mouths.
“I was making fun of Gainando.”
“Right, Meikin.”
“…What I wanted to say was that now might not be the time to celebrate.”
“Why not?”
At Salco’s question, Yonair answered worriedly.
“Spirit Kings aren’t beings who hand out gifts without a price.”
“That’s true, but… that doesn’t mean this isn’t good fortune. We may have been too pickled by Einroguard and started ignoring spirits’ goodwill.”
…I-Is that so?!
Yonair faltered slightly.
The magical phrase capable of shaking even the most confident student—you might be too Einroguard—made Yonair’s certainty waver.
“That’s right, Meikin! When will we ever get another opportunity like this? And Wardanaz gets along well with spirits.”
“???”
“????”
Question marks appeared over Yonair and the few others who knew the truth.
Gets along well with spirits?
“You’re here. Everyone, welcome.”
“We wanted to show you all this scenery too. Haha.”
After passing through the rift and entering the Gwangmok King’s domain, the White Tiger Tower students waiting for them greeted the newcomers with artificial smiles.
Yonair’s wariness rose even higher at the sight.
…Something was strange.
“Why is the prince acting like that?”
“I don’t know. He probably picked up something strange and ate it somewhere. He ate hiccup mushrooms last time too.”
“Mmph! Mmph mmph!”
“Now, everyone, follow us! We’ll explain everything!”
The White Tiger Tower students quickly guided the other tower students, who were admiring the mysterious scenery of the unfamiliar domain, toward the sacred grove.
After finishing their explanation, they promptly disappeared.
“…So that’s how we got this opportunity. Well then! We need to search too. Good luck!”
Strange. It feels like they left out a lot.
Salco was beginning to feel that something was off as well.
It seemed true that the Spirit King had invited them and given them an opportunity, but why did it feel as though a great deal had been skipped in between?
One hour later.
“Where did those Tiger Tower bastards go?!”
The furious Black Turtle Tower students roamed the grove, searching for the White Tiger Tower students who had guided them here and vanished.
All of them looked disheveled after hanging from treetops until just moments ago.
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students had already scattered elsewhere in the sacred grove to search for their own branches.
“Damn it. We were tricked! Surely Wardanaz’s name wasn’t a lie too, right?”
“That probably wasn’t.”
“Why not?”
“No matter what, Wardanaz wouldn’t use his own name as collateral for a lie. The retaliation afterward would be terrible.”
At Ratford’s sharp deduction, Salco had no choice but to be convinced.
“That makes sense. Damn it. This is overwhelming. Divination magic doesn’t work properly either… Oh, Wardanaz!”
The Black Turtle Tower students spotted their exhausted-looking friend in the distance and shouted.
“Wardanaz! Even if it was a good opportunity, how could you lie to us?!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You should have told us what kind of place this was!”
“I told them to tell you.”
“…”
“…”
Salco swore to hang the White Tiger Tower students who had delivered the message upside down.
Lee Han said wearily, “The White Tiger Tower students must have left out a few details. Pointless, really. You would have come anyway even if they told you. You’re all mages. There’s no way you’d miss an opportunity like this.”
“?”
Several students tilted their heads.
…Would they?
I think I would have hesitated a little if I’d heard beforehand…
“You all think the same, right?”
“Uh, huh? Of course.”
“Everyone would think the same, Wardanaz!”
The Black Turtle Tower students and Salco exchanged glances and answered hurriedly.
“I recommend preparing tracking measures in case you get separated and moving as a group. Contact each other periodically. There’s nothing dangerous, but it’s exhausting. I have no idea how long we’ll need to wander.”
“Wardanaz. Did you try divination magic? We tried on our end too, but it had no effect.”
Salco asked hopefully, relying on the friend who ranked first in the divination magic school.
Lee Han slowly nodded.
“I tried. I performed Five Devils Divination.”
“!”
The Black Turtle Tower students were shocked.
Was it really all right for a second-year to cast such high-difficulty divination magic already?
Their surprise lasted less than a second.
Well, it’s Wardanaz.
Why was I even surprised?
When his friends stopped reacting, Lee Han looked slightly puzzled and continued.
“I tried it, but it failed.”
“As expected. It must be difficult magic…”
“No. The spell succeeded, but the demon returned the reagents I offered. It said it couldn’t tell me anything because this forest is covered in the Spirit King’s madness.”
“…”
“…”
The students’ mouths fell open at the first rejected offering they had ever heard of.
Just then—
-The prince found a branch! The prince found a branch!!
-No way. That guy barely wandered at all! Why him?! What’s so good about him?!
“!”
“!!!!”
Everyone was shocked.
The first person to obtain a branch from the grove had appeared.
“That way! Let’s go!”
Lee Han and the others rushed off.
Several Blue Dragon Tower students had gathered around Gainando. He was clutching a writhing branch and shouting.
“Lee Han! Look! I got a branch!”
The human-sized branch thrashed violently and smacked Gainando on the head with repeated THWACKS.
Lee Han panicked and called Ragesa.
“Is that thing safe?”
“Materials like that are always picky about choosing their owners. It’s fine. If he had no compatibility with it, it wouldn’t have chosen him in the first place. If he just endures, he’ll earn a little recognition. By the way, wasn’t that brat royalty? To think he found one fastest after being born with such noble blood.”
“Huh? Isn’t finding one fastest a good thing?”
Ragesa giggled and finally revealed the truth.
“Where you search in the forest doesn’t matter. What matters is how long you wander.”
“…?”
“The grove quickly finds narrow-minded mages. There’s no point watching someone who gives up right away, so it sends an appropriate branch to grab their hand. The broader-minded the mage, the longer the forest keeps observing them. It wants to see how long they can walk and wait. Kihihi. That’s why I told you to wander until you’re chosen.”
“Ah. I see.”
Lee Han opened the Echo Stone and prepared to call the insane duplicate.
It seemed he needed to ask how one went about threatening a mad forest.
