"Airship preparing to land! All apprentices are prohibited from indoor activity."
"Repeating!"
"Airship preparing to land! All apprentices are prohibited from indoor activity."
The creepy voice of the meal-delivery puppet echoed through the entire airship. After nearly a month of flight, the apprentice had finally arrived at their destination, Black Tower Magus Academy.
Edwyn sat quietly on his bed. After ten days of recovery, his mana had long since been restored. Elia, too, had completed the construction of her mana flow and mastered all the zero-ring spells.
Kevan's recruitment attempt had made them realize how much of a disadvantage lone combatants would be during the upcoming test. So once Elia finished her mana flow, the two forged an alliance for both offense and defense.
"Edwyn, what are we going to do?" Elia sat on her bed, clutching the satchel issued by the academy so tightly her knuckles turned pale.
The life-or-death battle ahead terrified her. This was a girl who had never killed a chicken.
Even though she was now a wizard apprentice.
"What else? Kill, of course."
Edwyn's tone was casual, as if the impending bloodshed was just another trip to a restaurant.
Boom!
No sooner had he spoken than the entire cabin jolted. The thunderous sound of the airship landing filled the air.
"Airship has landed. All apprentices, gather your belongings and disembark in order."
Edwyn and Elia picked up their things and filed out of the room with the others. As they exited, the skeletal wizard who had distributed their supplies handed each of them a belt filled with test tubes. Each tube contained a greenish liquid.
"So this is the nutrient potion, huh?" Edwyn thought.
Outside the airship was a large clearing. The light was dim. Dozens of massive arcane airships hovered above in formation, blocking out the sun with their enormous shadows. Beneath them, more than ten thousand apprentices stood arranged in formation.
Edwyn followed his group into the mass. Hovering above them was a white-bearded, bespectacled wizard in black robes.
"Zeppelin-class airship No. 050 has arrived. Number of apprentices: 198," reported Tyrek, bowing to the sky. The hovering wizard gave a nod, and Tyrek quietly withdrew.
"Silence."
The hovering wizard didn't speak loudly, but his voice reached the ears of every apprentice.
As Edwyn looked up at the wizard, a deep, primal fear rose within him.
This wizard hadn't shown any aura, yet he gave off a completely different feeling from the recruitment wizards.
Was this what a real wizard was?
"Welcome, everyone, to the 432nd entrance exam of Black Tower Magus Academy. I am Elric, your vice dean and the examiner for this test.
"This exam will be divided into ten arenas, each with one thousand students. Each arena will contain ten magical beasts, equipped with enchanted items provided by the academy. Students strong enough may hunt them down.
"Additional rules are on page 32 of the student handbook. If you haven't reviewed them yet, do so yourselves.
"Now, begin the test."
With a wave of his hand, light patterns formed beneath the feet of every apprentice, intertwining into complex geometric shapes.
Edwyn looked down at the glowing lines, and panic sparked in his chest.
Were they going to scramble the students across arenas?
Buzz!
A high-pitched hum rang in Edwyn's ears, and his vision blurred into chaotic, swirling colors.
"Teleportation, huh?"
He muttered, feeling nausea rise to his throat.
After three or four seconds, his vision cleared. A lush, primal forest stretched out before him.
Edwyn clutched a tree and vomited bile. The teleportation had been rough.
"Those damn nobles had no idea what the test was actually like. Now I can only hope Elia's heart is strong enough."
He wiped his mouth and grumbled.
Up in the sky, pillars of light shot upward, bright and dazzling even in daylight.
Those beams marked the destination.
Edwyn fastened the test tube belt to his waist and began moving toward the light immediately, not wasting a second.
The rules stated that students had fourteen days to reach the designated location, which meant arriving early was fair game.
The sooner he finished, the safer he'd be.
Once teleportation ended, the long-silent forest erupted with activity. Thousands of apprentices sprang into action. Some were knights. Some were trained wizard apprentices. Each used whatever skills they had to move toward the pillar of light.
Somewhere deeper in the forest, Ramsay trudged along. As a knight's squire with remarkable physical gifts, he had managed to get out of bed soon after his injury thanks to wizard healing potions.
But now the potions had worn off, and the pain in his groin was constant and excruciating.
A pain that screamed: You're not a man anymore!
"That bastard... that mutt... Once I learn magic, I'll rape and kill him, then grind him to pieces!"
Cursing through clenched teeth, eyes bloodshot, Ramsay leaned against a tree. Hatred clouded his mind, bordering on hallucination.
Then he saw something step from the woods.
It was him.
The one who ruined his manhood.
"Oh hey, fancy seeing you again. I was just looking for a crystal ball."
The figure smiled, arm raised. That familiar blue glow lit up at his fingertip.
That glow, the one that had castrated him!
It wasn't a hallucination. He was really here!
Terror flooded Ramsay. He turned to run.
He had cursed Edwyn for nights, but that blue glow haunted his dreams. Edwyn had become his nightmare.
And now, the nightmare had returned.
Bang!
Edwyn didn't hold back now that he was off the ship. A magic missile fired from his fingertip, flying in a straight line and striking Ramsay's skull.
The back of his head caved in. Red and white matter splattered across the ground.
"Ugh!"
Edwyn nearly gagged at the sight.
Even hardened killers often threw up the first time. The shock of blood, the weight of taking a life, it overwhelmed the body.
He wasn't afraid. But the thick, metallic scent was overpowering.
After retching for a bit, he stepped forward and looted Ramsay's crystal ball and nutrient vials.
With those, he could travel faster and not worry about supplies.
In Ramsay's pocket, he also found a black, diamond-shaped crystal. When he touched it, he felt a surge of potent mana.
"This is... a Mana Stone?"