"Nothing seems off, there are no signs of 'Magic Depletion Syndrome', your vitals all seem to be in a normal condition."

I'm currently being investigated by a doctor after the events of a few days ago. I lost control over my whole body and went on a rampage. Yasmin had to stop me to prevent anybody from getting hurt.

Besides the doctor was also professor Nolan. He was one of the teachers that were also part of the investigation.

"You mentioned that you heard the same whispering voice again like during the first time?" professor Nolan asked.

"Yes, that's correct. It was at that moment when it all happened. Just like the first time."

"Let's see what Sildok says when he returns with his findings."

Professor Sildok got a sample of my mana to investigate its origin to hopefully get a better understanding of the phenomena. Professor Sildok excels at anything related to fundamentals of mana and magic, so if there is anybody to find out what's going on, he would be the one.

When he came back, he didn't seem like he discovered something groundbreaking to our case.

"I have concluded my testing and from what I've observed, the residual mana in you seems to correspond to your mana fingerprint." professor Sildok said.

"I see, so we're back to square one." Professor Nolan responded disappointed.

"Wait, what does that mean exactly? What's a mana fingerprint?"

"You see, the way mana works is that it is both present in our surroundings and inside people. When you cast spells, you tap into that mana of your surroundings and in your own body. The mana that each person has inside of them is different, so the same spells cast by different people aren't the same. The mana they used is different, you can speak of a fingerprint that each person leaves behind. Everybody has a mana fingerprint, even if they can't use spells, which means I could determine whether a spell's source is your own mana or from somewhere else accurately. It does take advanced equipment and knowledge to be able to decipher the mana fingerprint from mana sources. I took a sample of your intrinsic mana and mana from the site where you and Yasmin battled and I have concluded that the mana fingerprint of your spells corresponds to your own mana."

"Ok… and how does that mean we're back to square one?" I asked, not fully understanding what he's getting at with his explanation.

"The source of your power is not from a third party. It all comes naturally from yourself. To clarify it more, let me ask you first. Do you know why we test people's affinity for magic?" he asked me.

"No, I do not know."

"A person's affinity for magic determines their capability to tap into mana sources to cast a spell. Those sources include the mana inside themselves. There are ways to allow people with no affinity to use magic, but the mana fingerprint they leave behind will not be theirs, as they're not the ones tapping into the sources. So, you could find out where it came from by investigating the fingerprint. In our case, the fingerprint is yours, meaning your powers aren't borrowed. That was our main hypothesis, so this proved it wrong."

"Now I understand. But I remember you mentioning that what happened to me has never been observed before. The way you explained it, it sounds like it has happened before."

"That is true, but the boost in affinity is dependent on both the borrowers' own affinity and the affinity of the one that boosts the affinity. You had no affinity prior to this and the magic you used was said to be of a caliber only seen in arch mages. This means somebody extremely powerful, well beyond our understanding, would be at play. My findings proved this theory wrong, so we have no historical data to use in our investigation, making this much more difficult."

Everybody looked frustrated as we hadn't made any progress.

"I think we'll conclude our check-up for today, you may leave now." Professor Nolan said.

So, I exited the room and went on with my day again. It was already Friday in the afternoon, meaning the weekend was about to start soon. I didn't have any plans at the moment, but that was about to change when I bumped into Silvia on my way to my room.

"Oh, hey Naoki. Are you done with your check-up?"

"Yes, they said that there wasn't anything off with me, so I'm fine. The investigation did come to a dead-end again."

"I see, but I'm glad to hear you're not terribly hurt. Anyways, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to head to the capital city with me and Fynch. It's not far from here."

"Yes, sure! I would like to join."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We travelled to the capital city on foot because it wasn't that far. The capital city of Silgardia was Merkandor. It is the largest city and a major economic hub in the region, so it is bustling with all sorts of people from all around the continent. There are many merchants, dwarfs from the dwarven kingdom of Helmgarth, elves and beastmen from Liviera. There are even occasionally a few dragon borne from Herbergen. In other words, this is a very diverse city.

Not only the size of the city and the diversity is impressive, but the architecture of some buildings as well. Most noticeable of all is the royal palace that is visible from almost every corner of the city. It is located in the middle of the city and towers above all other buildings.

We're currently walking down the main boulevard of the city that leads straight to the main plaza of the city. On the main plaza, a large statue is visible. It resembles a mage standing triumphantly. I'm very certain it is supposed to be Zahn Halvad. It looks very similar to the statue in my hometown as well. He is after all a national hero.

"Hey, that shop looks interesting. Should we check it out?" Silvia asked.

"Yeah sure." both me and Fynch answered.

We entered the store and we saw a large area with rows upon rows of various strange items.

"Welcome. How can I help you?" the story clerk asked us with a big smile.

"Your store caught our eyes, so we just wanted to check it out." Silvia responded.

"Go ahead. These are all products from Zolgardia. Some even have magical capabilities. Let me demonstrate one of those magic items."

The clerk then took a small metal box. He opened the lid of the box and music started to come out of the box. In it was also a small doll dancing.

"This is what's called a 'music box'. It's a very niche thing that I stumbled upon on one of my trips to Zolgardia."

"That's quite a fun looking toy though. Maybe I can buy one of those for my parents. How much is it?" I asked.

"It costs 1 silver and 200 bronze Silgardian dalus's."

When I heard the prize, I was taken aback by it, because that's half of what an average household makes in a month.

"That's so expensive."

"Of course, it is. It is a magic item and it is a luxury good after all."

We looked around a bit more before we decided to leave the store. A lot of it wasn't too unusual and the things that did look interesting were all expensive.

We continued on our way through the center of the city. We walked pass many more stores and buildings, until Fynch wanted to check out what looked like a blacksmith.

"Welcome! Take a look around if you want! If you're interested in anything, just tell me!"

The blacksmith was a dwarf, so he was much smaller than us, but his voice surely didn't match his size.

"I didn't know you were interested in weaponry." I asked.

"I've actually always dreamt of being a knight in the future. From when I was a small child, I looked up to the noble knights defending their lands. That is what I wanted to strive to be, so I am interested in weaponry and martial arts."

He then grabbed a sword from the wall.

"This sword seems really nice, I can tell it has been enchanted with a magic effect. You can tell from the special carvings and the magic gem on the handle. However, it wouldn't suit me, since it's too large for me. A shorter one would suit me better."

"You sure know your stuff kiddo! Maybe you should become a blacksmith instead!" the smith said, laughing out loud afterwards.

"Actually, in my hometown, my dad is a blacksmith. I often helped him out and thanks to that, I know a lot of the ins and outs of smithing and weaponry."

"I see."

We took another look around before we left. Obviously, we couldn't buy anything as we wouldn't have any immediate use for it. We're just students after all, not soldiers. Besides, it costs an arm and a leg to afford the nicer looking weapons.

We then made our way to the main plaza, where it was even busier than anywhere else, we've been to. The plaza was a round area with a statue in the middle of it, around it was buildings with many roads leading towards the middle of this place.

"I've never been to this place before. It looks amazing!" I said.

"You haven't before?" asked Silvia.

"My parents and I live a day's worth of traveling from the capital, so we can't afford to travel all the way here."

"I've been here plenty of times, because my parents work for a trading company, so they often need to be in the capital."

After admiring the main plaza of the city, we continued down one of the many side roads. The one we took is a bit narrower than the others.

Walking down this particular road, we noticed some people all dressed in white talking very loudly to the people around them. As if they're trying to sell them something. Most people try to ignore the bunch though.

When we got closer, it became clear who they were. Those weren't merchants or anything. They were evangelists of the church of Psithyros, which is the religion of the Tellingen theocracy.

The Psithyros religion isn't exactly big here in Silgardia, so they're probably sent here by the church to spread their religion. The religion isn't exactly outlawed, but it has a bad reputation here, due to the fanatical nature of it. A century of bad international relationship with the theocracy hasn't had a positive effect on its reputation either.

I have encountered these evangelists a handful of times in my hometown. Again, due to aforementioned reasons, they usually don't succeed in converting people.

"Psithyros will show us the light! He will bring those that follow him salvation, for the Reckoning shall swallow all that's unholy!"

"Psithyros is benevolent and merciful! Save yourselves by devoting your whole to him! Time is running low as the Reckoning is soon upon us!"

They were all shouting some nonsense about 'the Reckoning', I have no idea what it's all about and frankly I don't want anything to do with it.

"Just ignore them." Fynch said.

"Yeah, let's just quickly walk past them." I follow up.

The evangelists didn't seem to book any successes, so they decided to do the thing I least wanted to happen.

"Hey you! Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior?"

"Sorry, but I'm not interested." I answered, trying to be polite. However, they wouldn't give up just yet.

"Please, just hear me out. You just have to devote yourself to Psithyros and he'll bring you salvation and you will be spared from the Reckoning."

"Again, I'm not interested. I don't even know what the Reckoning is, so just cut it out."

"Well, I'll gladly tell you. The Reckoning is this world's judgement for all of humanity's past sins. The world will be swallowed by-"

I wouldn't be able to get away from him politely, so I just turned around and started walking away.

Once again, he wouldn't give up just yet and grabbed my hand.

"Please, I'm begging you to hear me out. Do it for yourselves! For your own sake!"

"Hey! Let go of my arm!"

I quickly freed my arm from his grip and started walking away from these people. He then turned towards Silvia and hoped to have better luck with her. But as he took a step towards her, he tripped and fell square onto her. His hands landed in an unfortunate place. Namely her chest.

It took Silvia a few seconds before she noticed what was going on.

"Get off of me you creep!" She screamed before she hit him in the face with her fist, knocking him out cold.

Everybody that witnessed the whole thing, was dumbfounded. The other two guys with him quickly went and grabbed him and dragged him away.

People around us cheered and clapped.

"Damn, those people really started to get on our nerves, but now they're finally gone."

I quickly helped Silvia get up again and asked her if she wasn't hurt or anything.

"I'm fine. I was just startled. That's all."

"Should we continue on our way?" Fynch said.

"Sure. Maybe we can get ourselves a treat for now. I need some after what just happened."

"Sounds like a good plan."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Man, that was some delicious ice cream."

"Totally agree with you, Fynch. You really know what places to go to, Silvia."

"I just come here often, so I kind of know what places to recommend and what to avoid."

They went to a small café on the streetside and all got ice cream. It was made with the help of ice magic according to the waitress.

"Thank you for coming!"

After leaving the café, there was one more place that they wanted to go, before calling it a day.

"If we go down that road, we'll walk past the place where my parents work", said Silvia.

Somewhere down said street in a building called 'Colcan Trading Company' was Silvia's mother working.

"Those are the last orders for the day, after that we just need to check the inventory and then we're done for today."

Silvia's mother was the manager of the Merkandor branch of the company. The company specializes in imports from Liviera and Helmgarth that they will sell to retailers.

"Laura, your daughter is here", one of her colleagues told her.

She walked from the warehouse, which is at the back of the building, to the front, where her daughter Silvia was waiting.

"Hello Silvia. I didn't expect you to come visit me at this time."

"Yeah, I just happened to be in the area and thought I would pay a visit."

"I see you brought your friends with you."

"Hello, ma'am." Fynch greeted her. As Fynch and Silvia are childhood friends, he is well acquainted with her mother as well.

"Hello Fynch. Good to see you again. I don't think I have seen you before."

"I'm Naoki. I met Silvia at the academy."

"Nice to meet you, Naoki. How was your first week at the academy. I assume this is your first year there, just like Silvia?"

"So far, I would say it was quite the eventful week." Fynch said, while he was giving Naoki a knowing grin. Silvia did the same thing.

"Oh? Did something particular happen?"

"It's nothing. We just… uhhh… saw some crazy spells. That's all."

"It gets a bit crazy over there, but I'd say it's a nice place." Silvia followed up with.

"That's great to hear."

Then somebody came inside the building.

"Excuse me, sir, but we're closed for today. You can come back tomorrow if you need help." Laura's colleague told the man who just entered.

"I can't wait until tomorrow with my issue. It is urgent!"

Laura then told her colleague that it was alright and that they'd hear him out at least.

"Could you tell us what the issue is", She said.

"I ordered a batch of 'starfruit' from you, which you imported from Liviera. You told me that ice magic is used to refrigerate it, so it would prevent it from getting spoiled. When I received my batch, however, over half of them was spoiled! Could you explain that?"

"Could I see the produce?" Laura asked the man.

"I'll gladly show you."

They both went outside and the man showed the contents of a crate on the back of a carriage.

"You see? It's all rotten."

"I see, and the ice gems inside seem to still be functional as well. I'm sorry this has happened. If you could come inside, we could discuss a compensation. We could give you a new batch for free, but it'll take a few days, as we don't have any in stock anymore."

"What? Then I want my money back!"

"Sorry, but we can't do that. That's our policy."

"I'm not leaving without getting compensated for this!" the man insisted.

After a quiet moment where the two just stared at each other, Silvia spoke up again.

"Silvia, I think you and your friends should leave for now. I have to deal with a difficult customer right now."

And so, they left the company building and have decided to return to the academy again.

It was also at this moment that something was happening a few streets further from the company. A group of city guards were escorting a cage being transported. In that cage was a large tiger-like monster. Its tail had a few sharp horns on it, which it could use as a weapon by flailing it.

The monster used its tail to break the lock on the cage, without the guards noticing. When it broke, the monster escaped the cage and started wreaking havoc and spread chaos around the city blocks it ran in.

Many guards were called in to try and stop it, but to no avail. The monster was simply to large and too powerful to take down. So, they had to focus on evacuating the civilians until the mages and adventurers arrived.

The monster ran around trying to find its way out of the city. It then ran into the street where the 'Colcan Trading Company' was located.

Naoki heard screaming noises coming from the other end of the street, wondering what was going on. When the monster got closer, they all panicked and started running in the opposite direction of where the monster was coming from.

However, the monster was too fast and quickly caught up to them. Fynch noticed that the monster was going to run into Silvia at this rate, so before it hit her, he quickly used his mana to boost his agility and quickly grabbed Silvia and jumped out of the way. Naoki also dove out of the way, but in the other direction.

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The monster couldn't change its direction quick enough and crashed into a carriage, which was right in front of Silvia's mom's company.

Silvia's mom Laura, her colleague and the customer from earlier all went outside to see what happened.

"What the fuck happened here?!? Why is my carriage all like this?" screamed the customer upon discovering his carriage was all in shambles.

"Mom! There is a monster! You have to run!" yelled Silvia to her mom.

"A monster? In the city? How is that possible?" she said, confused how a monster could possibly get past the walls.

The monster then quickly got out of the pile of wood, that was a carriage and set its eyes on Fynch and Silvia, who were still lying on the ground.

"Shit! It's going after us." Fynch said.

The monster seemed like it wanted to attack them, but it quickly felt a burning sensation on its back.

When it turned around, it noticed that Naoki fired off a fire spell. It wasn't enough to take down the monster, but it did enough to draw its attention.

Noticing how Naoki burned the hide and the skin of the monster, it decided to target Naoki instead.

Naoki fired more fire spells, hoping the monster would stop, but even with a fully burned face, it just wouldn't stop. He realized it wasn't working, but it was also too late to dodge to the side. Unlike Fynch, he wasn't experienced with movement enhancing spells, so he couldn't rely on it to quickly get away.

Th monster was approaching quickly, but then somebody appeared in front of him. He was holding a shield and used a body strengthening spell on himself. This allowed him to fully stop the monster in its track without getting hurt himself.

"What the?" Naoki let out.

"Who are you?" he asked the mysterious person, who suddenly appeared.

"That's of no concern right now, kiddo! You should get out of here now and leave it to us."

The monster kept attacking the man with the shield with its claws, it then swung its long tail in a circular motion, which will hit the man front the side, if he didn't block it.

Fynch noticed this and wanted to shout out to the man what was going to happen, but he didn't, when he saw a figure appear above him.

It was a slim woman who jumped from the roof of a building and was holding a sword. On the way down, she cut off the tail of the monster, before it could hit the man with it.

The monster let out a loud scream of agony upon realizing its tail was gone. The man then took this opening to cut the monster at its neck, killing it on the spot.

Everybody looked stunned at the display of excellent combat skills by this duo.

When the mages arrived, they saw that the monster was already taken care of by them.

"Seems like our job was already done before we even got here."

The man turned around and faced Naoki, he extended his hand to Naoki, who was still sitting on the ground, stunned by what he witnessed.

"Are you alright, kiddo? You aren't hurt or anything?"

"No, no I'm fine", he said before he grabbed the man's hand and got up.

"Those fire spells were pretty descent for somebody of your level, but you will need a lot more firepower to take down a monster of that caliber. Judging from your outfit, you must be a student at the magic academy?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well, I'm sure you'll still learn plenty about magic and combat in general, but if you're ever interested in taking down monsters for a living, you'll need to improve."

He then regrouped with the woman and started inspecting the monster.

"Wait! Who are you if I can ask?" Naoki said to the man.

"We? We are just adventurers!" he answered.

With that, the duo of adventurers went back to the adventurer's guild to report on what they did.

"Naoki! Are you alright?" Silvia asked him, worried he may have gotten hurt.

"No, I was saved by those two."

"Those were adventurers, weren't they?" Fynch asked.

"Yeah, they were."

"It was really cool how they both managed to take down the monster so swiftly and easily. I strive to be reach that level one day."

And with that, their day at the capital of Silgardia would come to an end.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What happened wouldn't leave a profound impression on Naoki. When he returned to the academy, he would think back about the other day and how lucky he must have gotten, to be saved like that. But he is well aware that he wouldn't always be lucky like that.

He then recalled again what the adventurer said.

"…but if you're ever interested in taking down monsters for a living, you'll need to improve."

It made him realize that he really still doesn't have what it takes when it comes to control over his magic. He thought back to the day when he lost control over his body and fought Yasmin. He got frustrated over his abilities or rather inability to control his mana.

He knows what his potential is. The first time he got the ability to use magic and the second time, he could wield powerful magic spells easily, though the second time wasn't exactly him using it consciously.

He also recalls how well the other students wielded their magic. Compared to them, he was not good at it and this made him quite insecure about himself.

This pondering also had an effect on his lessons because he sometimes would just zone out, while staring into the distance.

During one of Yasmin's lessons, the students were practicing spells that she taught them. Naoki, however, didn't pay too much attention.

"Hey, Naoki! Are you okay? You seem like you're not feeling well."

Naoki quickly snapped back to reality and noticed Yasmin was standing in front of him, looking worried about him.

"Oh, it's nothing." he responded.

Yasmin looked at him for a second, before she said something.

"I know it's not just nothing. I can tell from your face. If you have anything on your mind that you'd like to talk about, feel free to do so with me." She said, trying to reassure Naoki.

He was thinking about what she just said, wondering if he could talk to her about it.

"Unless you don't want to of course. I'm not forcing you."

"No, it's just, could it wait until after the lesson?" he asked her.

"Sure. But I would like for you to pay more attention and also participate."

"I will!" he said, feeling a bit better knowing that there is someone that he could talk to.

After the lesson was over, all students began leaving and going to their next classes, except for Naoki. He stayed behind.

"So, what's been on your mind lately, that has had you look so worried?" she asked him.

"It's just… I've been thinking about my magic powers. I'm feeling insecure about my current level of control over it."

"That's normal, you just got your powers, so you'll need time to gain control over it. You're different from other people in that way, because usually people discover their capability to wield magic young in their childhood, so they will have years of experience already by the time they roll in."

"That's what I'm insecure about. After my battle with you, I know the potential that I have, but that was not me fully in control. When I'm fully in control, I feel like I can barely utilize my capabilities."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it over time. As I said, it takes time, it's totally normal."

"I know, but it's just that I want to improve faster. I want to get on the same level of experience as other people, so I could fully utilize my mana."

Yasmin thought to herself for a moment there what she should do in this situation. She wants to help him, but she had her job as a teacher as well, so she could hardly free up much time to teach him to get better control over his magic.

"You see, some things have happened recently, that have endangered my friends' lives. I put my own life in danger to save theirs, but due to my lack of experience I couldn't figure out a way to save myself. I was very lucky to be saved by somebody else, but I feel like I might not be as lucky in the future. So, I have been thinking about how I needed to improve my magic, so I could help protect the people I care about."

It was what Naoki just said, that caused Yasmin to make up her mind.

"I'll help you." she responded firmly and determined.

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes, in fact, how about I take you up as a disciple. I'll spend the time that I have to personally train you, so you'll be able to fully reach the potential that you have." she affirmed him.

"Wait, you'll take me up as a disciple? But don't you have it quite busy as a teacher?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be able to get an exception from the headmaster and also find a replacement for the time being."

"Thank you very much, Yasmin!"

"There is just one thing I need to ask you." she said before she would make her decision official.

"How determined are you?" she asked him.

"How determined? I'm very determined to improve!" he answered.

"The reason I'm asking is not because I'm doubting your will to fulfill your end goal, but it's because when I personally train somebody, I won't hold back. It'll be tough to put it very lightly. Your determination to reach your end goal will be what decides if you persist. Otherwise, it will just be a waste of time."

"As I've said, I've risked my life a handful of times when it came to the safety of people. I'm sure whatever you bring upon me, I'll be able to handle it." he answered determinedly.

After thinking about his response, Yasmin came to a conclusion.

"That's all I needed to hear."

"So…"

"We'll start this evening, so come over to this class when it's time." Yasmin said.

"Alright! I'll be there."

Naoki then realized that he was late for the next lesson, due to the conversation he just had.

"Oh no, the teacher is going to be angry at me now."

"Who do you have class from next?" she asked.

"I have 'fundamentals of magic' next, so that'll be professor Sildok."

"Just tell him that it was me, who kept you here for a bit longer. I'm sure he'll understand."

With that, he started running towards his next class.

Yasmin then thought to herself, "'so I could help protect the people I care about', huh? Reminds me of myself, before I got stronger myself. I'm sure he'll be able to get stronger as well."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I managed to get to the next class quickly, but the lesson had already started. Professor Sildok was annoyed that I was late, but he excused me after I told him why I was late.

The class seemed to go by pretty slowly, because he was looking forward to tonight and also because this class wasn't the most interesting to him.

After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally time for him to start his new journey as a disciple of Yasmin.

The sun had already set, the moon was shining brightly. He walked to her classroom, where they said they would meet again.

He knocked on the door and said, "Yasmin, are you there? It's me, Naoki."

"Come in", he heard from the other side. So, he did.

She was sitting right at the window opening, looking outside. She then turned around to look at him.

"I'm ready", Naoki said.

"Good, but there is just one thing you need to take care of first." she said, before handing him a letter.

"What's this?"

"Give this to the headmaster. We'll be gone for two weeks, so we need to inform him."

"Wait, aren't we returning back here after each day?"

"Nope. We'll be gone. For two weeks straight."

"Can I tell my friends that I'll be gone for two weeks then?"

"Can't do. Keep this between the two of us."

"Huh? But why? Is there anything important, that I can't tell anybody about this?"

"You see, I don't normally do this kind of thing. I've only done it a handful of times for people I see potential in. Besides, I have things to do as a teacher as well, as you've noted yourself. I've made an exception for you, but then others will ask for exceptions as well and you can imagine how that gets annoying."

"Alright, I'll keep it between us."

He then went all the way to the place where the headmaster's office is. He wasn't sure if he would still be there at this hour, but that's the first place he could think of.

He knocked on the door of the office, not expecting any response, but to his surprise, he got an answer.

"Please, come in", said the headmaster.

Naoki opened the door and saw the headmaster sitting at his desk, working through a few documents.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes. I have to give this to you. It's from professor Yasmin."

He took the letter from Naoki and slowly read through it.

"Hmmm… If it's Yasmin, I'm sure she has a good reason for this. I'll make sure everything will be taken care of."

"That's all I had to do. I'll head out now."

"Wait, I have just one question. Do you know why Yasmin is planning to take you out for two whole weeks without returning?" the headmaster asked, curious why she would do such a thing.

Naoki thought for a second about what Yasmin told him about keeping it between them, but she specifically mentioned 'other students'. So, he came to the conclusion that telling the headmaster wouldn't be an issue. Maybe it would even be better if he told him.

"She said she would take me out for two weeks to personally train me." he answered.

But then, the headmaster looked like he had to make a double take, to make sure he didn't hear Naoki wrong.

"Wait a moment. Did you just say that she would personally train you?"

"Yes, that's what I said, headmaster."

"Train you as in a disciple?"

"Yes! Exactly." Naoki said, not sure why the headmaster is so worked up all of a sudden.

"Oh, you brave boy." the headmaster said, almost as if he's worried about him.

"What's wrong about it? Is there something I don't know that I should know?"

"Listen here, let me first tell you something about Yasmin. She's taken up a few people as her disciple in the past. Usually it's whoever she deems worthy, so it happens rarely. But when she does, she goes all out training them. Her training is so brutal, that some have said that it was akin to torture."

Naoki couldn't believe what he was saying at first, but he recalled her saying that she wouldn't hold back when it came to training somebody.

"I can even confirm those claims because I was also one of her disciples in the past. So, I have first-hand experience."

"Wait, you were her disciple? But aren't you the headmaster?"

"Being a headmaster doesn't mean I'm the strongest or the most capable when it comes to magic and combat. It's just more of an administrative role. If you were to compare me to her, she would be leagues above me."

Naoki never realized how strong she actually was, but that's because he's never seen the full extent of her power. Merain Halvad, the headmaster, on the other hand had seen it in the past.

"I'll only say this once as a warning. I know you may have suddenly gained the capability to use magic and powerful magic at that. However, if even I failed to complete her training, I'm certain your chances would be even lower."

Naoki didn't like how he was getting talked down by the headmaster, though he understands why he would say such a thing. If even he gave up, how does he expect to finish it himself?

Naoki wouldn't give up just yet. He could still prove him wrong. After all, a small chance is still a chance, nonetheless.

"I appreciate your warnings, headmaster, but I think I'll stick with my initial decision."

"Very well then. I wish you all the strength you need."

With that, he left the office and went back to Yasmin's classroom.

When he entered it, he looked even more determined than before. Yasmin noticed his slight change in demeanor.

"Good. That's the attitude I like to see. Come on, it's time to go."

She took off the necklace she was wearing and her appearance changed into her true form. White hair, pale skin, a pair of wings and red eyes, an albino Gaeran.

She then extended her hand towards him.

"Grab on!" she said.

He grabbed her hand, then they walked to the window opening.

"Wait, what are we doing?" he asked, slightly confused by what she was trying to do.

"Hang on tight." And without any further warnings, she took to the sky with Naoki barely hanging on.

When she got high enough, she started accelerating. They were flying to a location unbeknownst to Naoki at breakneck speed.

"Wait! Hang on! You're going too fast! I'm barely clinging on!"

Yasmin wasn't listening and just kept flying to wherever she was planning to go.

After flying for not too long, she slowed down and started descending. She dropped Naoki on the ground, but she stayed in the air.

"You could have at least properly warned that we were going to fly."

"I did." she said bluntly.

Naoki then looked around, to see where he was. But he did not know where he was. It just seemed like he was dropped in the middle of a forest.

"Where is this place?"

"We're in the heart of the 'Black Forest' located at the border between Silgardia, Zolgardia and Mathardia."

"'Black Forest'? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere."

"This forest is known for it's abundance of dangerous monsters."

It was then that Naoki realized why the name sounded familiar. He had heard many horror stories of people adventuring into the Black Forest, hoping to take down a few dangerous monsters and collect their rare materials. However, more often than not people end up getting heavily injured or even killed during an expedition into the Black Forest. He was currently in the middle of said dangerous forest.

"Huh?!? Hold up just a second! Why would you drop me in the middle of such a dangerous place?"

"Well, why else but to train you of course! Best way to learn is by going through life threatening situations."

"I'll get killed in here!" Naoki seemed like he was pleading for his life, knowing that there is no way he alone would survive an encounter with monsters here, let alone a group of experienced adventurers.

"You seem like you want to give up already. We've only just gotten started." she said, like she was taunting him.

Naoki realized that he indeed said he would go through with it, no matter what. So, giving up this early would really make him look like a fool.

"I never said I would give up."

"Good, and about getting killed. Do not worry! I'll save you if you get mortally wounded."

Naoki was exasperated by how casually Yasmin was talking, even though his literal life was on the line.

Yasmin noticed how Naoki was genuinely scared for his life, so she tried to reassure him a bit.

"Look, I've trained many people in my life before, I wouldn't just task somebody with something that I know they wouldn't be able to handle. So, don't worry. I'm certain you'll be able to handle it."

Naoki still wasn't too sure, but he had already made up his mind on this. He would try and go through with it as long as he could.

"For your first day, you'll need to survive until the morning in this forest. You can try and find your way out of here as well, but keep in mind that the forest is very large. So, it'll probably still take until the morning to make your way out on foot."

Then Naoki heard something behind him. He heard something moving through the bushes. He knew a monster was about to appear.

"Once again, I'll keep an eye out on you, so I'll save you if you're mortally wounded."

She then flew higher up into the sky until she was hardly visible anymore under the night sky.

Naoki was now on his own, the monster still hadn't appeared yet, but he knew it was coming.

He preemptively held his hand forward, readying a fire spell.

The monster came running out from the bushes, heading straight for Naoki. He fired a massive fireball, but when it hit the monster, it didn't seem to faze it at all.

So, he had to dodge its attack. Upon closer inspection, he recognized what monster it was. It was a Surrandor, the bull-like monster that he also encountered last time he went hunting with his dad.

He knew fire spells wouldn't be effective. He also didn't have any weapons on him, so he had no way to target its weak spot, which was its eyes.

The Surrandor turned around and started charging at him again. He had no choice but to run for now.

He kept running, while also dodging its attacks. Luckily for Naoki, the monster wasn't very smart, so it didn't adapt its attack patterns and kept doing the same thing. This allowed Naoki to effectively dodge it, he almost looks like Matador dancing around with a charging bull. But this is slowly eating away at his stamina, so he couldn't keep this up forever. Unless he finds a hiding spot or a way to target its eyes, things aren't looking too good for him.

He tried to dodge another attack, but this time, he got a bit sloppy. He barely managed to prevent a full-blown hit, but he still got hit by its side and got sent sideways, hitting a tree.

He felt his whole body aching after that impact and he could barely stand, let alone run away.

The Surrandor was ready to charge at him again and time he wouldn't be able to dodge it. His fire magic couldn't hurt the monster, no matter how powerful it was.

It seemed like Naoki had run out of options.

"Seems like that's it for me."

He then started laughing to himself, like somebody just told him an absurd joke.

"How many times have I already said that to myself and each time I've been able to get out alive. I'm not giving up just yet. I'll try everything that I can."

He then got ready to take on the Surrandor again. This time, he's sure he'll get it. And if fails, he at least could say he tried his best.

"I just got to will it into existence through the abundance of mana here."

He closed his eyes and focused on the mana around him, while trying to imagine what he wants.

In normal circumstances, closing your eyes while an adversary is about to attack is the height of folly, but Naoki knew that his survival depended on whether he can take out the monster now. If he couldn't, he had no way to escape due to his injuries.

When the monster was half-way to hitting him, he suddenly opened his eyes and thrusted his arm forward with his hand open. Then for the first time ever, he fired something that wasn't a fire spell.

It was in fact a large icicle. It flew towards the head of the Surrandor and hit a bullseye.

The Surrandor was still charging forwards but slightly to the left and ran past Naoki, barely scraping him. It hit a tree behind him and came to an abrupt halt.

He turned around to inspect the monster. The large icicle was buried deep inside the skull going through its eyes.

The monster was motionless, indicating he killed it.

Naoki looked at his own hands, he felt relief, but was also trembling. He was glad he succeeded, but it was just a bit too close for him, right then. But at the end, he survived and that's all that counts.

Of course, he knew not to get too complacent as it wasn't over yet. After all, he was still in the middle of the Black Forest. His best bet was to try and navigate his way out of here.

He decided to go through the path that was the densest packed with trees, as he could easily hide there and the likelihood of encountering large and dangerous monsters also seems lower.

His injuries made it quite difficult for him to travel a large distance without resting. He couldn't just sleep anywhere in the middle of the forest as he could get ambushed by a monster at any moment.

If he wanted to rest, he had to find somewhere relatively safe.

Then, as if luck itself listened to his request, he stumbled upon a cave. He could use it as a place to temporarily take shelter.

He couldn't let his guard down just yet, he had to first check if the cave itself was safe. While standing before the entrance, he shot a fireball through the cave to see if there was anything in it. At first sight it didn't seem to have any monsters in it, but when he looked up, he saw the ceiling covered with bats.

They all started to swarm him, but he fired off a large gulf of flame right on time to burn them all to a crisp. If he was any slower, the bats would have been all over him and who knows what they'd do to him.

He proceeded inside the cave and noticed something he'd rather not have seen. He found the corpse of two people. Their flesh was all rotten and half eaten, with their organs laying around. He revolted upon seeing it and almost puked.

"I would've shared the same fate if I wasn't careful earlier. These guys must have let their guards down in here and got eaten afterwards."

He inspected the corpses of the people and he found a few pieces of useful equipment. The first thing he noted was their weaponry, they had a sword on them and one had a bow as well. He then checked their backpacks and found some other really useful items as well. Notably a map of the forest with a compass, a mana restoring potion and a healing potion.

He immediately drank the healing potion, as he was both injured and exhausted. After emptying the vial, he immediately felt better.

He would keep the mana restoration potion with him, he also took a sword and the map with him. The bow was of no use because there were no arrows.

Before would go back on his way again, he wanted to rest for a bit first. Though it's not the best place, it was still better than the open forest.

However, he couldn't rest for too long before he got woken up by a loud roar outside.

Naoki quickly got back up and stood still. He heard large footsteps, indicating a big monster was nearby. He then saw the monster appear from behind the trees.

"It must have seen the large flames from earlier and come here to check it out."

The monster appears to have multiple heads and scales.

"Shit, it's a Hydra. They're one of the most dangerous monsters out there, if not the most dangerous." Naoki thought to himself.

He was still hiding in the cave, trying to be as motionless as possible and not to make any noise. When the monster finally turned around and started walking away, Naoki sneaked out of the cave. He didn't want to stay here much longer and since he drank the restoration potion earlier, he wasn't as exhausted.

He started slowly and stealthily walking away from the cave and from the monster. But he noticed that the noise of the monster was getting louder instead of less audible. Naoki thought it was strange, after which he stopped walking and cold sweat set in. He slowly turned around and the monster was standing behind him, looking right into his face.

"Uh oh"