"Everyone is coming back."
At this moment, unlike Frieren who was slacking off, Edel whispered a reminder to Fíliya.
"Mm, I know."
Fíliya nodded at Edel in response. Even if Edel hadn't said anything, she had long since learned the news that other teams were returning through the [Squad Voice].
Shortly after, teams began to return to the clearing one after another, handing over their spoils to Fíliya for processing.
Once everyone had gathered, Fíliya finally inspected the total harvest.
Mm, the number of these Stille was naturally the same as previously reported. There were a total of three... How tragic.
"It really wasn't easy," Fíliya sighed as she looked at the panting Wirbel.
"Tsk... You really know how to drive people like slaves. Do you know my legs are about to break?" Wirbel said viciously. During the previous period, he had indeed been the hardest worker; after all, once a team found a Stille, he had to rush over immediately.
"Oh, is that so? I'll add a chicken leg to your meal then."
Fíliya remained expressionless, her tone devoid of any warmth.
"By the way, isn't three a bit too few?"
"What else did you expect? There wasn't enough time, and it's not like we succeeded every time. Several times, just as I was about to arrive, the Stille they were camping flew away on its own."
Wirbel tried to salvage the situation, making excuses for himself and the others to save some face.
But the others showed no reaction. After Fíliya's words left her mouth, many people present fell into silence together.
After all, this was indeed a major problem.
Currently present were Fíliya's squad, Frieren's squad, Fern's squad, Denken's squad, and... Edel's squad.
Adding the one in Fíliya's hand, there were only four Stille in total, which was not enough to divide among all the teams.
So, what was to be done? Obviously, no one wanted to fail at such a critical juncture, so the smell of gunpowder finally began to spread in the air.
"What are you doing? What are you doing? With me and Frieren here, I'd like to see who is fearless enough to try and rob us."
Fíliya immediately stood up, draping one arm over Frieren's shoulder, and then coldly scanned the surroundings.
Such behavior naturally earned her another eye-roll from Frieren, who thought to herself, Did I ever say I was on your side?
"Fíliya, you actually have a backup plan prepared, right?" Fern looked at Fíliya with curiosity.
"Naturally. Just rest assured and wait for my operation. Everyone will get a share; I guarantee you'll all be able to get a Stille."
With Fíliya's guarantee, the atmosphere at the scene finally returned to harmony. Several teams tacitly sat down around her.
Aside from the relief of being able to pass the test, a sense of curiosity focused on everyone's faces. They all really wanted to know what Fíliya was going to do next.
They watched as Fíliya casually opened the three birdcages. Then, under the astonished gazes of the crowd, the three captured Stille hopped onto Fíliya's shoulder, behaving just like the first one, showing absolutely no sign of wanting to fly away.
"Umu, it seems I wasn't wrong. This is what suits them best..." Fíliya muttered something to herself.
"This..."
Denken clearly couldn't quite believe the reality before him, so he could only open his mouth slightly.
"Heh heh, Professor Fíliya's little classroom is now in session. May I ask this 'old' student, can you tell me where the mana daily stored in a mage's body actually comes from?"
Seeing this, Fíliya immediately posed a question to Denken.
"It comes from the air. The mana within a mage's body is gathered from the air."
"Correct answer. Therefore, through experimentation, I discovered that our previous understanding of the [Stille] was problematic. These things are indeed sensitive to mana, that is correct. As long as they encounter a mana reaction, they will choose to distance themselves... But does this mean the Stille 'repel' mana? That's easy to understand, right?
If the Stille truly couldn't stand even a bit of mana reaction, this creature wouldn't be able to survive in this world at all. After all, mana exists naturally in the air."
"..."
Regarding Fíliya's explanation, most of the mages present lacked interest, appearing somewhat indifferent. This disappointed Fíliya a bit.
She thought to herself, Are these modern mages really only interested in fighting and topics that directly increase combat power? clearly, when she discussed such things with Solitär and Frieren, they would actively engage with her.
Sigh, another day of missing Sister Sol. Fíliya shook her head in secret sorrow.
In the end, it was Fern who stood up, taking on the responsibility of a good student.
"So, Fíliya, you grasped the mana reaction that makes the Stille feel 'safe,' and then you output this fluctuation continuously and steadily, so you won't be disliked by the Stille?"
"Oh, as expected, Fern is a talent. You get it instantly."
Fíliya immediately emerged from her depression and cast an appreciative look at Fern.
"That's right. The reason Stille flee is that, under normal circumstances, the [Mana Fluctuation] emitted by mages is simply too chaotic. But as long as you can stabilize the mana fluctuation on your body to a specific frequency, the Stille will feel very comfortable.
It's just like when people take a bath; they are always very satisfied with a specific water temperature. Once they soak in it, they don't want to get up and want to stay there forever. Very easy to understand, right?"
As Fíliya spoke, she reached out directly, pinched one of the Stille on her shoulder in her hand, rubbed it with a bit of force, and finally displayed it to everyone.
Looking at the Stille, whose feathers were slightly ruffled, everyone finally understood everything completely.
Fíliya's meaning was obvious. This Stille had been played with by her until its feathers were ruffled, yet it still didn't fly away. This proved her theory was incomparably correct.
"Very good, looks like everyone understands. Then, what needs to be done next is simple. I just need to continue maintaining this specific fluctuation frequency, and then increase the mana output to let this fluctuation spread as far as possible. This should attract quite a few Stille."
As Fíliya spoke, she glanced at Frieren with great pride.
"By the way, Frieren, your plan of injecting chaotic mana into other water sources helped me a lot. After all, I don't have the ability to spread my mana throughout the entire barrier, so I have to thank your squad for compressing the Stille's range of activity for me first."
"Is that so? Then I'll accept that with a clear conscience," Frieren chuckled lightly.
The two exchanged a glance and said no more. After all, there was very little time left. If Fíliya explained for a while longer, the sun would really set.
Fíliya began to close her eyes and focus her attention, then slowly spread her own mana fluctuations outward.
The result of this operation was immediate.
At first, the gathered mages only felt the treetops in the distance vibrating frequently. Immediately after, a massive flock of orange-red birds shot straight into the sky. The scene of more than two hundred Stille taking flight was truly awe-inspiring.
Moreover, the movement of a single Stille flying was already frightening enough; the commotion caused by these two hundred-plus Stille directly shocked everyone into covering their ears. It was Frieren who, with quick eyes and hands, released a [Sound-Insulating Magic], saving everyone's ears from further damage.
As for the storm generated by the Stille flying in unison, it forced everyone to deploy [All-Encompassing] Defensive Magic to withstand the erosion of the wind.
It was also at this moment that everyone realized that this tiny bird-type monster, which could stand on a human palm, could actually cause a disaster of this level if hundreds of them gathered and took off simultaneously.
Fortunately, compared to the terrifying spectacle of their takeoff, the landing of the Stille appeared incredibly gentle, causing absolutely no destruction.
After the storm ended, everyone opened their eyes with difficulty. The scene before them was undeniably somewhat comical, causing them to cover their mouths one after another.
Because those two hundred-plus Stille had all gathered around Fíliya. At the very least, her body couldn't hold them all, resulting in Fíliya being completely [Devoured] by these furry, cute monsters.
"No... can these things be this heavy... I can't, I can't hold it anymore. Frieren, save me quickly, use your magic..."
Fíliya hurriedly cried for help with her only remaining mouth exposed to the air.
"Well... after all, they are [Meteorite] Birds. Their body density is high, so their weight is much greater than it looks."
Frieren said with a smile. she took a good moment to appreciate Fíliya's currently wretched appearance before she began to use her [Bird-Catching Magic] continuously.
The flaw of her magic was that it required one to be very close to use it, so it wasn't suitable for dealing with [Stille]. Fortunately, now that the Stille were all concentrated on Fíliya's body, they wouldn't fly around randomly.
However, a [Bird-Catching Magic] having a condition that it can only be used at close range—one has to say, that is also quite subtle.
"293, 294, 295..."
Once the dust had settled, Fíliya began to tally all the Stille she had caught. But in the end, she was surprised to find that the Stille caught here were not a round 300, but only 297.
Mm... Fíliya was very certain she shouldn't have missed any birds. That meant... the remaining three were caught by other teams scattered in the forest?
It seems there are still some capable guys in this batch of examinees. A smile appeared at the corner of Fíliya's mouth.
...
The sun set completely, and the exit of the Great Barrier opened once again.
Fíliya successfully extricated herself from the forest with the group of mages.
As soon as she walked out of the barrier, Fíliya saw her old sister's thumbs-up.
Of course, compared to this, Genau's expression—clearly flushed with anger yet daring not to flare up—brought Fíliya even more pleasure.
"Here, caught them all."
Fíliya pointed with her finger at the pile of Stille that Frieren had bundled up with ropes of mana light, looking at Genau provocatively.
"...There are only two conditions for passing the first round of the test: catching a Stille and having the full squad present. As long as these are met, it counts as a pass."
Genau spoke expressionlessly. Long before this group of examinees came out, he had already endured endless ridicule from Sense and Falsch, so at this moment, he could only use a facade of aloofness to mask his awkwardness.
Next, after Genau issued certificates of qualification to all the squads, he left the place alone.
"So, next..."
Fíliya turned her head and looked at everyone with a light chuckle.
Everyone tacitly continued to surround her. This girl who had displayed a miracle had evidently become the focal point and center.
"We should hold a celebration banquet... Old Man Denken, you are an [Imperial Mage], right? You definitely aren't short of money, are you? Please..."
Laufen, who wore her hair in buns, tugged at Denken's sleeve and was the first to propose.
"Oh? Not bad. I happen to be hungry too. Fern, go call Stark back. He can eat the most, and someone is treating us anyway."
Fíliya nodded and immediately spoke to Fern.
"Eh? Oh, I'll go right now!"
After freezing for a split second, Fern also nodded with a smile and ran directly toward the distance.
"Uh..."
Denken stroked his beard with a somewhat awkward expression, thinking, I don't seem to have agreed to this, have I? But seeing the excited looks of these young people before him, he felt as if he had become much younger himself.
So, bleeding a little coin didn't seem to be a big problem.
____
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