EP.21 Placement Test (5)
A blizzard rages in the snowy mountains of the north. In that snowstorm, you can’t see an inch ahead. Even if I take a step forward, I don’t feel like I’m moving forward. It doesn’t even feel like walking. No, I wonder if it’s even standing.
In that blizzard.
My senses are twisted.
My vision is shaking.
Lark, who was born and raised in the North, had experienced that blizzard. I once felt how helpless humans are in front of such great nature.
“Huh, breath…”
And now.
Lark is feeling that helplessness once again.
Lark’s eyes tightened. The blood lines stand up. However, the eyes do not open wide. With narrowed eyes, I can only see a blurry shape.
The body does not move as intended.
“Thirty, now half.”
Lark looks at Rania.
Even in this space that feels like her entire body is being squeezed, her voice never wavers. She is sitting on a rock in the grass and counting leisurely.
Looking at her.
Lark recalls his father’s teachings.
-It looks like you experienced a blizzard.
-Yes, Lark. What did you feel?
Fear and helplessness.
-Yes, fear and helplessness.
-Then what do you call someone who overcomes it?
great warrior.
A true northern warrior.
Quickly.
Lark gritted his teeth and took a step forward. His bones made an ominous crunching sound, but Lark did not stop his steps.
“Fourty.”
step.
“fifty.”
Another step.
Time passes with each step he takes. So, when Lark took his third step.
“sixty.”
One minute, the promised time comes to an end.
That was the limit. Lark’s legs, which had been holding on with the sole intention of holding on for one minute, gave out.
dump.
Lark fell to the floor.
Even as he falls down, Lark stretches out his hand. It was obsession.
Tuk.
And, that persistence.
It reaches Rania’s feet.
“Hmm.”
Looking at Lark’s fingers touching his toes.
She smiled faintly.
2.
‘This kid… I’m really a bastard.’
I lifted Lark up from the floor and went outside the border. Then, I laid him down on the floor and adjusted the mana that had accumulated in his limbs.
Honestly, it exceeded my expectations.
This was an unfavorable area for Lark from the beginning.
‘I was going to let you pass if you lasted just 30 seconds.’
He even moved twice that ship.
I was honestly impressed by that tenacity.
“I think you lost this?”
I turned my head and looked at Belnoa, who was still standing within the border. Belnoa was just breaking his fourth finger.
Witchcraft, offering sacrifices.
I didn’t stop him from using witchcraft.
From the beginning, the intention was to see how far witchcraft could be handled. So, I just walked for a minute that I couldn’t endure.
‘You definitely have a talent for magic.’
Even in this situation, offerings were limited to ‘fingers’. It was impossible even with a reasonable amount of talent.
“come out. “Because one minute is over.”
“Whoosh, whoop!”
I grabbed Belnoa by the back of his neck and dragged him outside the border.
“About, what belongs.”
“Keep what you said. As promised, there was no sacrificial offering, so this will be reported as a draw.”
“·····.”
As if that was the limit, Belnoa fell down onto the grass after hearing my answer. Looking at that, I was honestly amazed.
“Kids these days are amazing.”
What did I do when I was that age? At eighteen, he was probably working as the next magic tower lord. They harass the kids, beat them up, and get results…
‘It’s the most fun time.’
And… if I remember correctly.
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It was probably just around this time.
I stepped into this place, the fountain of mana.
-Can you withstand the fountain of mana?
-How do you endure that saturated mana?
-It would be impossible for Raniel too.
After hearing such a story going around in the magic tower, I decided to come halfway.
‘And it failed, I guess?’
It seems that he crawled all the way to the center of the Mana Spring and crawled out covered in blood.
‘Then what about now?’
Suddenly a thought occurred to me.
I experienced all sorts of things while fighting the battlefield. When I thought about it, it didn’t seem like it would be that difficult.
‘I even used balance in front of the devil, so what wouldn’t work?’
There was quite a bit of time left until the exam ended anyway.
I crossed the border and entered the forest. Anyway, I am the only director of the northern section. I walked with peace of mind because I didn’t have to worry about anyone watching.
The deeper you go inside, the thicker the mana becomes.
Saturated mana creates sparks in the air.
How long did it take to walk like that?
A huge old tree came into view.
The reason why this place is called Harmain Forest.
Under an old tree named Harmain, a gift from an ancient dragon wizard, there is as much water as its size.
‘Fountain of Mana.’
Pure, saturated mana.
That thing itself was filled with liquid, so to speak, it was closer to a lump of mana than a fountain.
I took off my shoes and dipped my feet into the spring. Snap. The water submerges up to the ankles. I measured the depth taking into account my changed body. So I went inside Sam.
Water up to my calves.
In the old days, this was the limit.
Once I passed this point, I started to feel out of breath.
‘The further I went in, the blood vessels started to burst.’
However, not now.
I boldly entered the center of the spring. The water rises to the lower part of my body and slightly wets my lower abdomen. Walk a little further.
center of the spring.
I stand right there.
Saturated mana is rampant in the air.
The rising water is mana itself in a saturated state.
Mana in a saturated state resonates with the mana in the body. The mana that begins to resonate vibrates and puts pressure on the body. It’s more than just pressure.
‘It tightens blood vessels, puts pressure on the heart, and makes breathing faster. The disordered arrangement of mana causes mental confusion and even hallucinations.’
eighteen years old.
‘So, no one was able to properly handle this fountain of mana. ‘Because it was too dangerous.’
At that time, when I stood in the center, I vomited blood.
Compared to that, what is it like now?
“hmm.”
I looked at my raised arm.
It was smooth. It didn’t even seem like the veins were prominent.
‘You’re fine.’
It was nothing. Breathing remained the same, and the mana flowing through the body was not disturbed at all.
If you think about it, it was natural.
‘It’s already been 7 to 8 years since then.’
Moreover, I spent five of those years mainly on the battlefield and in the demon world. Because there were many occasions to invade the Demon King’s territory beyond the battlefield.
devildom. If I had to pick the biggest feature of that polluted land, it would definitely be magic.
Magic energy.
Contaminated mana.
Considered extremely poisonous by wizards who manipulate mana.
In the demon world, it is more difficult to find a place that is not stained with demonic energy. There may be differences in concentration, but the places I ventured into were deep in the demon world, places called demon realms.
A place where demonic energy overflows and exists in a saturated state.
Just standing there makes my blood turn black. Mana is polluted. When I first entered the magic world, I couldn’t even stand properly.
Of course, not everyone had a hard time with that magic.
Among the colleagues I was with, I was the only one vulnerable to demonic energy.
Sarah is a saint.
Her mana itself is divine.
Has complete immunity to magical energy.
Remia is an elf.
Born and raised in the forest of the World Tree, her mana arrangement is solid. The mana where the World Tree’s blessing resides is not disturbed by demonic energy or anything like that.
Kyle is a warrior.
He had a body chosen by the stars.
In the first place, there was no way something like demonic energy would work.
And I am.
I was just human.
A human who is good at using magic.
Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t have talent. He had a talent to boast about. There were a lot. He had a lot of natural mana, and he was also gifted with the talent to control it.
However, there is no inherent specialness.
I wasn’t something special, like a saint, a warrior, or a blessed elf. I was just a human, a wizard who accepted magic as poison.
In order for me to continue my journey, I had to find a way. Of course, there was no dissatisfaction with that fact itself.
‘Because a wizard is someone who always longs for answers.’
Because that’s how I learned it.
Because I was prepared to do that and went on a trip.
That’s 5 years.
In those five years, my mana changed.
No, saying it had changed was not enough.
I adapted my body to the given environment.
The method of resisting demonic energy was engraved into mana. We created an arrangement that does not disturb the magic energy. Mana itself has found a way to purify demon energy.
I scooped up the fountain of mana with my hands.
Even though the water droplets touched my skin, I didn’t feel anything.
“·····.”
I stood in the center of the fountain of mana and imagined it.
I put the 18-year-old me and the me now in one place. Measure the gap between them.
“aha.”
I suddenly burst out laughing.
“It wasn’t useless.”
3.
West block.
The class being tested is Summoner.
The western section where the Summoners gather is quiet. There was no one fighting or preparing for a fight. That was not a characteristic of the Summoner.
There was just no need to fight.
Because the winner of the test was clear.
“·····.”
In the middle of the vacant lot where the magic stone is placed.
Even though the magic stone, which was the evaluation standard for the exam, was clearly visible, not a single student approached the magic stone.
Because there was already an owner guarding the place.
The next gray magic tower lord, Resty.
There is a magic stone in her hand. She did not appear to move or move her magic stone.
Just standing there.
What moves are the familiars surrounding her.
Ten familiars move in line. The disciplined movements and unwavering movements of the familiars represent Resty’s state.
Familiars are controlled by mana.
The fact that there is no shaking in its movements means that the familiars are under perfect control.
‘That’s more than ten familiars.’
That appearance made the other Summoners give up the test. Because I didn’t think I could break through that.
As a result, the western block is quiet.
After confirming that the competitor who had been wandering nearby until the end had disappeared, Resty closed his eyes.
However, just because you close your eyes does not mean you are letting down your guard. Rather, by closing his eyes, Resty gains a wider perspective.
Shared view.
The field of view is connected to the familiar wandering in the air.
Resty looked down at the forest from the sky.
There are some wizards who still look at us with regret, as if they still have regrets…
‘It’s not a problem to worry about.’
There were no strong enough people left to care.
Resty controlled the familiar.
The bird-like familiar soars a little higher. The wider field of view soon allows you to check the area adjacent to the western section.
Resty’s vision as he observed the forest like that.
Suddenly, I found myself in the northern section.
There was also an open space there. The magic stone placed on one side of the clearing came into view. However, no one is touching the magic stone.
“… ?”
For a moment, Resty had doubts about that appearance.
The grass shook, and someone walked toward the clearing. I wasn’t a student.
Limp gray hair.
Although it was a view from high up, Resty immediately guessed who the person was by looking at the hair.
‘Rania van Trias.’
The person she had her eye on.
However, the situation is a bit strange.
“It’s wet… there is?”
It looks like it’s wet with water.
She is sitting on a stump in the sunlight, squeezing the hem of her robe.
Resty tilted his head and lowered his familiar’s altitude. Adjust the location to face the northern forest as much as possible without going over the southern section.
Hair that looks limp and wet.
Moist and shiny skin.
A woman is seen wringing out a wet robe.
Something was strange.
Resty thinks of those assigned to the northern section.
Lark and Belnoir. Since they were the best disciples of the White and Black Magic Tower Masters, I had memories of meeting them.
‘… ‘Did they use water magic?’
From what Resty remembered, the magic used by Belnoa and Lark was far from water.
And, if this forest can be called water…
Isn’t there only a fountain of mana?
‘···no way.’
One possibility occurred to Resty’s mind. However, Resty soon shook his head. Because that was a ridiculous imagination.
“···It looks like the base of a tree somewhere, but there must have been stagnant water there.”
Now that I think about it, it seems like it rained a while ago.
Resty thought so and shook off his doubts.
A word from the author (author review)
This week is the final week of exams.
It may cause a slight disruption to the serialization cycle 🙁
