Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 833

Chapter 833

'A trial might be better at this point.'

Usually, trials, while difficult and dangerous, had an end.

No matter how hard it was, one could guess how to reach the end.

But now, this divine tree forest was suddenly telling them to find a branch that suited them without any rhyme or reason.

Even though mages were said to make the impossible possible, to do this without any clues...

"Isn't there anything that could help?"

"I told you to wander around until you're chosen, didn't I?"

"Hmm. I see."

Yi-Han ignored Ragesa's words and pondered which divination magic he had learned to use.

Stone divination seemed too weak, and he thought he might need to use spirit gold coin divination or five demon divination.

'Spirit gold coin divination would be impossible.'

Since it required five gold coins that had undergone a special magical process (and the ones that came up heads had to be offered to spirits), spirit gold coin divination was difficult to use.

Five demon divination seemed the most manageable. Although one would receive a powerful curse of misfortune if they failed to guess the two fake prophecies out of five, it was better than spirit gold coin divination.

"Divination magic? It's dangerous, brat. Do you know how many divination mages have been ruined, intoxicated by the thrill of peering into the future..."

"Hmm. I see."

Yi-Han ignored her again and checked his reagents.

Jester mushrooms harvested during the crescent moon, bone fragments obtained from the demon realm among the realms, dice, and so on.

Ragesa realized Yi-Han was letting her words go in one ear and out the other, and grumbled.

"You'll only stop such behavior after getting badly hurt by divination magic. What an arrogant brat!"

"No. Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying I'll definitely use it now, I'm just checking."

It wasn't that Yi-Han was fearless. Rather, he had more fear than other students, not less.

How could he not be afraid when it was said he might suffer from powerful misfortune for a while if he made a mistake?

Yi-Han was quite cautious about divination magic, to the point of swinging his staff to chase Gainando away whenever he approached because of the prophecy.

The problem was that finding the desired branch in this forest now seemed impossible!

'I should see how the others are doing first.'

After finishing his reagent check, Yi-Han watched what his friends were doing.

He thought if someone luckily got their hands on a suitable branch, he could observe and reference it.

Swoosh!

The student who had grabbed the mirage earlier was actually better off.

As students wandered around various parts of the divine tree forest looking for suitable branches, they slowly realized how bizarre this forest was.

Pop!

Starting from being spatially transferred somewhere in the forest the moment they touched a branch, let alone breaking it off.

Splash!

Suddenly the clouds gave way, and they fell into a large puddle below.

"I... I just went to a strange place. Did you see? Some spirits guided me into a labyrinth, I tell you??"

Or falling into an illusion of constantly wandering through a labyrinth.

Although there were no hostile monsters, this forest contained mysteries twisted to a degree rarely seen even near Einroguard. It wasn't for nothing that it was a forest tended by a mad spirit king.

"...Everyone, tie yourselves together with ropes. Don't get too far apart. Engrave <Ally's Mark> on the back of your hands."

Unable to stand it anymore, Jijel called together the White Tiger Tower students who were wandering around in disorder.

Even for mages, completely controlling this forest would be impossible, but they could still make some preparations.

Tying each other with ever-extending magic ropes, casting the ally's mark magic that would show each other's locations until it disappeared after some time...

"Indeed. Such methods would be advantageous for long-term exploration."

"What are you evaluating?! Come here and give orders too!"

Jijel shouted, exasperated.

It was ridiculous that the one who should be giving orders alongside her was sitting on a cloud and saying things like 'So this is how White Tiger Tower students move' as if finding it interesting.

Yi-Han, who wanted to watch a bit more, quickly made an excuse.

"I'm from Blue Dragon Tower, so I was just watching without interfering unnecessarily."

'Gasp. Is that so?'

Anglago, who was listening beside them, thought it sounded slightly plausible.

Indeed, if one belonged to a different tower, it might be difficult to step up and give orders due to consideration...

"Are you really saying that now?"

"Yi-Han. Even I think that doesn't make sense..."

From Jijel, who sneered and spat out words, to Dolgyu, who usually took Yi-Han's side, they all showed reluctance.

"Wooooo!"

Some White Tiger Tower students even booed.

"Wardanaz, stop talking nonsense and give instructions like usual! We want instructions!"

"That's right! Wardanaz should... Ugh, uugh!"

Jijel kicked the friends who were making a fuss without knowing shame.

No matter how used to following orders from students of other towers they had become, that just now was really too ugly.

"Hey. Come here."

"Alright, alright. Let's divide into groups of three each. I'll cast underwater breathing and light of truth enchantments... What else is needed? We probably don't need contaminated being defense, right?"

Yi-Han cast a comprehensive set of possible low Circle enchantment magic all at once.

Anglago, who had been watching the situation, raised his hand.

"Wardanaz. I have something to say."

"Oh. What is it? A magic recommendation?"

"No. He said to bring friends, right? I was thinking we should quickly call people from other towers too..."

"..."

When Yi-Han and Jijel looked at him with contemptuous gazes, Anglago hurriedly made excuses.

"N-no! I don't have any bad intentions, we should share this opportunity with friends from other towers too!"

"I'm sure that's the case."

"Ha. I guess I'll have to make them compete to bring them next time."

"But isn't Anglago your tower's second-best student?"

"Shut up."

  *

The White Tiger Tower students went around each tower to share this joyous news with their friends.

-Oh, friends! While helping Wardanaz, we happened to meet a merciful tree spirit king! The spirit king said, 'Call your friends and let them break off branches!' We hope you'll come and break off branches too! This place is truly beautiful and mysterious!-

"Aren't you happy about this?! A spirit king invited us and opened his realm!"

Gainando looked at Yonaire as if he couldn't understand.

Yonaire tried to explain calmly.

"So..."

"Everyone! Yonaire isn't happy at all! She says she's too much of a genius to need gifts from a spirit king!"

"Boo! Booooo!"

Yonaire took out a potion bottle and swung it towards her relative's head.

With a brief scream, Gainando, who had been hit by the speech prohibition potion, flailed about.

Seeing this, some friends who had been booing just now quickly shut their mouths.

"I was just teasing Gainando."

"That's right, Maykin."

"...I wanted to say that this isn't something to be happy about just yet."

"Why not?"

At Salko's question, Yonaire spoke with a voice mixed with concern.

"Spirit kings aren't beings who give gifts without any price, are they?"

"That's true, but... That doesn't mean it's not lucky. We might be ignoring the spirit's goodwill because we're too pickled in Einroguard."

'...I-is that so?!'

Yonaire was slightly flustered.

Even a confident student would waver upon hearing the magical words, 'You might be too Einroguard.'

"That's right, Maykin! When will we get another chance like this! And Wardanaz gets along well with spirits."

"???"

"????"

Yonaire and some friends who knew the truth raised question marks on their faces.

Gets along well with spirits?

"You've come, everyone. Welcome."

"We wanted to show you this scenery together. Haha."

As they passed through the crack and entered the Mad Wood King's realm, the waiting White Tiger Tower friends greeted them with artificial smiles.

Seeing this, Yonaire felt her wariness rise even more.

...This is strange.

"Why is the prince acting like that?"

"Don't know. He probably picked up and ate something weird again. He ate hiccup mushrooms last time too."

"Mmph mmph mmph mmph!"

"Now, everyone follow this way! We'll explain!"

Calling the friends from other towers who were marveling at the mysterious scenery of the unfamiliar realm, the White Tiger Tower students quickly guided them to the divine tree forest.

And after finishing their explanation, they quickly disappeared.

"...So that's how we got this opportunity. Well then! We have to go look too. Good luck!"

'This is strange. It feels like a lot of the story was omitted.'

Salko was slowly starting to feel something was off too.

It seemed true that the spirit king had invited them and given them an opportunity, but why did it feel like a lot of content was omitted in between?

1 hour later

"Where did those White Tiger Tower bastards go?!"

The enraged Black Tortoise Tower students searched for the White Tiger Tower students who had guided them and disappeared.

Having just been hanging from treetops until moments ago, they all looked a mess.

Of course, the White Tiger Tower students had already gone somewhere in the divine tree forest to look for their own branches.

"Damn it. We've been deceived! Surely they weren't lying about Wardanaz's name too?"

"That can't be."

"Why not?"

"No matter what, they wouldn't dare lie using Wardanaz's name. They'd be terribly revenged later."

Salko had to agree with Ratford's sharp guess.

"That makes sense. Damn. This is too overwhelming. Divination magic doesn't work well either... Oh, Wardanaz!"

The Black Tortoise Tower students spotted their friend with a tired face in the distance and shouted loudly.

"Wardanaz, even if it's a good opportunity, how could you lie!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You should have told us this place was like this too!"

"I told them to tell you."

"..."

"..."

Salko vowed to hang those White Tiger Tower bastards who had relayed the message upside down.

Yi-Han spoke in a tired voice.

"It seems the White Tiger Tower guys left out a few facts. They did something unnecessary. You would have come anyway. As mages, you wouldn't miss an opportunity like this."

"?"

Some students tilted their heads.

...Is that so?

I think I would have hesitated a bit if I had heard beforehand...

"Isn't that right, everyone?"

"Uh, uh? Of course."

"Everyone must be thinking the same, Wardanaz!"

The Black Tortoise Tower students and Salko exchanged glances and spoke hurriedly.

"I recommend preparing tracking methods in case we get separated and wandering around. Contact each other periodically. There's nothing dangerous, but it's tiring. I don't know how long we'll have to wander around."

"Wardanaz. Have you tried divination magic? We tried on our side too, but it's not effective at all."

Salko asked with expectations for his friend who was the top student in the divination magic school.

Yi-Han slowly nodded and answered.

"I tried. I did the five demon divination."

"!"

The Black Tortoise Tower students were surprised.

Could a 2nd year already cast such a high-difficulty divination magic?

The surprised students understood in less than a second.

'Well, Wardanaz was always like that.'

'Geez. Why was I surprised?'

Yi-Han continued speaking, slightly puzzled that his friends were surprised but then stopped.

"I tried, but I failed."

"As expected. It must be a high-difficulty magic..."

"No. The magic succeeded, but the demon returned the offered reagents. He said he couldn't tell me anything because this forest is covered in the spirit king's madness."

"..."

"..."

The students' mouths fell open at this unprecedented case of offering rejection they had never heard of before.

It was then.

-The prince found a branch! The prince found a branch!!-

-No, why that bastard who didn't even wander around?! What's so good about him!?-

"!"

"!!!!"

Everyone was startled when the first person to obtain a branch in the forest appeared.

"It's that way! Let's go!"

Yi-Han and everyone else hurried over.

A few Blue Dragon Tower students had gathered to watch Gainando. Gainando was holding a thrashing branch and shouting.

"Yi-Han! Look at this! I got a branch!"

The man-sized branch was thrashing and slapping Gainando's head.

Yi-Han called Ragesa in confusion.

"Is that okay?"

"Materials like that are usually picky about their owners. It's fine. If it wasn't a match in the first place, it wouldn't have been chosen. If he can endure, he'll gain some recognition. By the way, wasn't that brat royalty? To think someone with noble blood would find it first."

"What? Isn't it good to find it first?"

Ragesa finally revealed the truth, giggling.

"Where you search in the forest isn't important. What's important is how much you wander around."

"...?"

"The forest quickly approaches mages with narrow capacity. There's no need to look further at those who give up right away, so it sends a suitable tree to grab their hand. Rather, the forest keeps watching mages with broader capacity. It expects to see how long they can walk and wait. Kihihi. Didn't I tell you to wander around until you're chosen?"

"Aha. I see."

Yi-Han prepared to open the Echo Stone and call the mad doppelganger.

It seemed he needed to ask about methods to threaten a mad forest.