Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Chapter 587

'Did I answer too hastily?'

The reason Yi-Han answered quickly was that he had many things to feel guilty about.

Arriving early before the final exam to finish the exam wasn't an upright attitude.

But the current reaction of the tree spirit made Yi-Han guess that he was missing something.

What was it?

"Do you know me?"

-From the master…-

The slow and heavy voice unique to tree spirits.

Yi-Han realized that the master was the skull principal.

'Ah. Is he one of the principal's subordinates?'

If that was the case, it wouldn't be strange even if he had heard stories.

Yi-Han felt slightly relieved.

-...I heard.-

"Ah. Yes. I see. But about coming to help... are you managing this jungle?"

The ginkgo spirit nodded.

To be precise, it was closer to being in a position to clean up the mistake he made rather than managing, but the forest keeper didn't like to talk much.

And in a way, cleaning up was also close to managing.

'No. I'm lucky.'

Yi-Han was amazed by his current luck.

If he received help from the forest keeper who managed this jungle, he could easily pass through the jungle.

If he could just confirm the secrets of the jungle...!

"Priestess Siana. Priest Sharukal. It's fortunate."

"I fully understand."

"Isn't it just pretending to have come to help with work? Haha!"

The priests understood Yi-Han's meaning and quickly prepared to lie.

Pretend to be someone who came to help with work and follow the forest keeper to check the path through the jungle!

In their innocent appearance, there was not the slightest hint of stubbornness that priests shouldn't lie.

Yi-Han suddenly hesitated.

'Is it okay for priests to become so accustomed to lying?'

And after 1 second, he thought again.

'It's good that they're adapting to Einroguard.'

"Then let's go!"

The ginkgo spirit was pleased with Yi-Han and the students' appearance.

Even though it must be the final exam period, they were trying to help with jungle cleanup that had nothing to do with the exam like this.

They were really kind students.

***

One of the characteristics of Avaltara, one of the plant monsters that the skull principal had brought in this time, was its strong vitality and reproduction.

It possessed a strong power to instantly turn the surroundings into a jungle with just one seed.

To cleanly deal with Avaltara, it was necessary to remove the plants that had taken root in the jungle and served as the core.

Of course, it wasn't an easy task.

Avaltara wasn't the type of monster that actively attacked or ate intruders, but it wasn't the type to stay still either.

If provoked incorrectly, the more it was provoked, the more densely Avaltara would bloom the jungle to push out the intruders.

Unlike his slow way of speaking, the forest keeper moved swiftly like sliding inside the jungle.

-He...-

"This tree?"

"Is there something about this tree?"

-re...-

"..."

-to...-

The students couldn't wait any longer and said to the forest keeper.

"Can't you speak a little faster?"

-Dig...-

The forest keeper continued speaking slowly with an expression that he had already spoken enough today.

The students speculated among themselves.

"Dig here?"

"Does he mean to destroy it?"

"It could also mean to grasp?"

"It could also mean to dig up..."

-stroy...-

"He meant to break it!"

The students who got the answer immediately drew their staffs and swung them.

Sharukal pulled out a nearby branch and transformed the end into an axe blade. Then he swung it with force.

Clang!

"Uh... huh?"

Sharukal was startled.

A strong repulsive force came back, making his hand tingle as if he had hit a solid rock with an axe.

"It doesn't seem to be an ordinary tree."

At Yi-Han's words, Siana nodded.

"It certainly seems so. Move aside."

"Wa-wait a minute. Let me try one more time..."

"Ah. One try per person. Move. Quickly."

'Was there such a rule?'

Yi-Han was puzzled, but Siana pushed Sharukal aside and took out a potion bottle.

"Die!"

"Ooooh!"

The priests cheered from behind.

Seeing that, Yi-Han had the thought he had earlier again.

'Is it okay for priests to become so combative?'

Sizzle-

Whatever Siana had combined and carried, a considerably toxic liquid seeped into the roots of the tree.

But the tree still maintained its appearance without showing any signs of withering.

"Ugh! Move! Move!"

"Ah, seriously!"

"Next is the power of the Ciseners Order..."

"If it fails, does it mean the power of the Ciseners Order is weak?"

"What nonsense are you saying!"

-Fi...-

While the priests were actively chattering, the forest keeper slowly opened his mouth.

Hearing that, Siana said to her friends.

"Flames! He's telling us to use flames!"

"Is it okay?"

It wasn't that the priests didn't know how to use flames.

They had refrained from using flames because it was a jungle and they didn't know how it would spread around.

Chik-

"Seeing that it doesn't burn well, it seems to be fine."

"Then I'll call the flames."

When the priests showed that the fire didn't spread much around the tree, Yi-Han stepped forward with his staff.

Since the tree that needed to be destroyed had stronger defense than expected, it seemed that Yi-Han had to step up.

'As long as it doesn't spread around.'

Yi-Han concentrated with a slightly excited feeling about using flame magic after a long time.

"Blaze forth..."

Flames imbued with powerful mana slowly bloomed.

The flames that momentarily flickered as if they would explode were barely brought under control and crackled on the bark of the tree.

The tree that had withstood other means couldn't withstand this flame. The flames slowly spread and engulfed the tree.

The priests applauded and cheered.

"As expected!"

"It's the power of the Flameng Order!"

"It's the Aphar Order!"

"It's neither..."

While Yi-Han was stopping the arguing priests, the forest keeper thought to himself.

'I meant that fire is useless...'

Originally, the forest keeper was going to tell the students that fire was also useless.

He had judged that they would use flames now that they had swung an axe and poured a potion.

The trees that became the core of Avaltara's territory were thoroughly protected. It was common for them to not be affected by axes, potions, or flames.

To remove the tree, the proper way was to first cut off the connection with other areas of the jungle, absorb the tree's vitality to weaken its defense, and then pierce its weakness with a special spell…

The 1st-year in front of him just burned it down with the power of fire. It was truly amazing.

But instead of being startled or amazed, the forest keeper just blinked.

The forest keeper, who became too lazy to tell them how it should have been handled originally, pointed in the next direction.

-Next...-

"Yes. Let's all move."

The students moved without even imagining that originally, it wasn't supposed to be dealt with using fire.

"As expected, flames are the answer."

"Let's keep it a secret from Priest Nigisor, shall we?"

-place...-

***

"How can you find your way through the jungle?"

Yi-Han persistently asked.

One of the things he learned after entering Einroguard was that all knowledge would someday have its use.

Now, he could just follow the forest keeper, but later, he might be left alone in the jungle.

-The energy...-

"Energy? Ah. Earlier, the tree that was the core had distinct defensive power compared to other plants. Naturally, the energy it emits will also be distinct, so you're saying to grasp that difference, remember it, and use it as a reference to move?"

The forest keeper nodded with satisfaction.

What made the forest keeper pleased was that he didn't have to say everything.

What a remarkable 1st-year!

"Indeed."

"No, no, no."

Priestess Siana, who was next to him, intervened in a fluster.

"What was that just now??"

"Huh?"

Yi-Han was puzzled.

He thought Priestess Siana hadn't heard.

"So, Priestess Siana. Just as you feel the flow of mana in magic, you can also feel the flow of mana in this jungle, right? Even if it looks meaningless because it's complicated and messy, there's a pattern of mana that can be used as a reference among them. The tree we destroyed earlier was like that."

"How do you detect and remember that...? No. That's not important right now, so I'll ask later."

Priestess Siana didn't ask how he could capture and grasp the pattern of mana he wanted in this disorderly flow of mana.

She had become quite close with this boy from the Wardanaz family to ask such an amateurish question.

He must have solved it with his own mysterious and special ability.

Or it could be a wicked divination magic passed down in his family, but that wasn't very important…

"Did you perhaps communicate telepathically just now?"

"Uh. No. Did it seem like that?"

"It seemed like you communicated telepathically."

"Wasn't it telepathic communication?!"

"..."

Yi-Han was rather startled by the priests' reactions.

Why?

***

After that, Yi-Han's party continued to diligently help with the tasks given by the forest keeper while following him.

In the process, they learned from the forest keeper how to find a path in the jungle, how to recognize dangerous plants, how to collect useful parts when removing plants, and so on.

"Did we... learn it?"

"Can we say we learned that?"

The priests whispered among themselves.

Rather than the forest keeper teaching, it was closer to Yi-Han realizing it on his own with the forest keeper in front of him.

He would have realized it similarly even if a crumpled rock or Gainando had been placed instead of the forest keeper.

Not knowing that the priests were whispering like that, Yi-Han, who was walking in front, hesitated as he realized something.

'Wait. It's strange.'

Come to think of it, the forest keeper was supposed to manage this jungle.

But the forest keeper was wandering around trying to destroy specific trees rather than managing the jungle.

Of course, there were cases where the forest became dangerous due to some of those trees being contaminated.

If a tree was infected with a plague, it would quickly spread to other trees, so in this case, the priority was to deal with the infected trees.

However, the trees that the forest keeper was destroying seemed to be the trees that were the core of the territory rather than such trees.

It was as if he was trying to get rid of this jungle.

'It's not bad for us if the jungle is gone... What is it? Is it a bit much to keep it here?'

Yi-Han was puzzled as to why the forest keeper was getting rid of the jungle.

It definitely wasn't because the students were uncomfortable…

While pondering like that, they arrived at the last tree. Following the forest keeper's instructions, Yi-Han burned the tree with flames.

At that moment, the plants in the jungle suddenly began to collapse.

As if time had been fast-forwarded, the bushes withered, the leaves fell and became fallen leaves, and the trees rotted into the ground.

And all these things gathered and coalesced into a single seed. It felt as if the jungle that had been here was an illusion.

"Uh... did you really come to remove the jungle?"

-?-

The forest keeper showed a different reaction for the first time today.

He didn't understand what the master's disciple was talking about.

If he didn't come to remove the jungle, then why did he come here?

Creak-

As the jungle disappeared, the door of the revealed lecture hall opened, and Professor Yonramo appeared from inside.

"All cleared up? Thank you... Oh, Yi-Han? What are the other students doing here?"

Professor Yonramo was puzzled to see the students gathered in front of the lecture hall.

There was still a lot of time left until the exam.

"Wait, don't tell me you cleared the jungle together? I'm grateful, but it's the final exam period, so why aren't you preparing for the exam..."

"Professor, uh, wasn't breaking through this jungle also part of the exam?"

One of the priests asked cautiously.

Everyone seemed to have felt an ominous feeling, as their expressions were unusual.

"I clearly said that the final exam is about transforming an arm. No, did I not say it?"

"..."

"..."

-Tha... nk... you...-

Leaving the students with rotting faces behind, the forest keeper expressed his gratitude and left lightly.

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