Nick turned his attention to Bart when he asked the question. He swallowed his meat and spoke:

"Bart, that is none of your business. While I appreciate that you want to converse, I do not. You are welcomed to stay by my fire but please do not mistake my hospitality and the appreciation for our shared circumstances for friendliness. I just want to get through the night as peacefully as possible."

Bart heard that and didn't know what to say:

"..."

"...Okay"

Bart became silent and simply put his backpack onto the ground and lied back using the backpack as a pillow, trying to get some sleep.

(Is he really sleeping with me here? For all he knows, I could be a psycho.)

Slade commented:

[He is young so he may not be all that wary of other people, after all, not everyone has traumas similar to yours. The way you destroyed the possibility of having a meaningful conversation was expertly done...very cold of you, and that's not criticism by the way.]

Nick shrugged his shoulders.

(I've already learnt from my past experiences. Getting chummy with people that you have just met is foolish because you never know what intentions they have in their hearts. It is painfully clear to me that most people, not even considering whether they care about morals or not will act badly in stressful situations. Character is what I'm searching for in my associates and that can only be seen over time so until I see it, I will never freely converse with strangers that have no obligation to be decent.)

[Hah, I'm a little impressed by your conviction, kid; if that's so then you probably don't plan to sleep tonight despite all that you did today, right? Well that shouldn't be too much of a problem for an Apprentice Magician but don't skip too much sleep or it will mess up your rationality.]

(Right.)

Of course Nick wasn't going to go to sleep with a stranger around but running Bart away wouldn't do either.

(Having him here let's me keep an eye on him so that I am assured that he is not scheming against me.)

[Shrewd. Now, let's discuss tomorrow's plans. Using this road, it will take about four hours to get to the western exit of the mountain path. From there, we will be going to an area with tall trees; within that area is an old, dead tree that seems ordinary but has a thousand year old ichor root buried among its dead roots. An ichor root when prepared properly and consumed will nourish your mindscape enough to increase its quality greatly. You already have a special mindscape so I don't have to tell you the benefits that increasing the quality of your mindscape will have.]

Nick grew excited but he had questions:

(Since my mindscape is already special grade, what would an increase in quality even look like? Also, since the ichor root is buried, how do you even know about it?)

Slade became frustrated:

[Do I have to keep reminding you of my greatness? When I first came to this realm and obtained a host, I explored the entirety of this realm and using my magic sense I found all sorts of resources. The magic sense of a World Class Magician is not something that you could even fathom. I've explored the entirety of realms and worlds thousands of times bigger than this one or your Grand Earth. Finding a few useful items among some dirt is a simple task for me if I put in the effort. As for your other question, what the increase in quality will look like depends on you, I can't give you a useful description.]

Nick was satisfied with that answer.

(Okay, what is the other resource?)

[After we get the ichor root, we will head twenty kilometers south to a swamp where within a certain pool of foul smelling water, there is the mummified corpse of a Regular Magician, a rank six Hero Magician to be exact. I know for a fact that that Magician specialized in soul magic because it's body is filled with soul laws, probably originating from its destroyed mindscape but those laws are peculiar and weren't suited for my soul eating lion host. We will use that corpse to nourish your mindscape and help you push towards rank 2 Apprentice Magician. Since you are not going to sleep, what will you do until morning? I suggest that you meditate in order to nourish your mindscape; you should get into the habit of meditating for hours because the only way to actually get to rank 2 Apprentice Magician is to have the right accumulation of laws and to improve your meditation. Those requirements are not that high when you have sufficient methods to nurture your mindscape which I do and you are familiar enough with your meditation to improve it.]

Nick was pleased to have Slade so wholeheartedly trying to help him but this generosity made him wonder:

(How much does he hate his enemies that he would help a stranger like me so earnestly?)

Slade gave an answer with a menacing tone:

[I despise them more than you could imagine so get yourself in gear. I will keep an eye on your little visitor so you can focus, figuratively speaking of course.]

Nick relocated to the side of the fire opposite to Bart and began meditating. Slowly, the magic sea within his mindscape began churning and the magic energy in the surroundings began forming a whirlpool above Nick's head, slowly entering his body. This was what most Magicians spent their free time doing; to increase their rank, a Magician had to nourish their mindscape by meditating. Meditation resulted in magic energy being attracted to the mindscape which resulted in naturally derived laws being accumulated within the mindscape. What kind of magic that these laws would be associated with was determined mostly by the Magician's affinities. After a certain amount of accumulation, the Magician would then be able to increase their rank by chanting an adequately improved version of their meditation. Nick was quite a distance from rank 2 because of the magic holding capacity of his mindscape. He realized some months ago that he required far more meditation that the normal person to make any progress in accumulating natural laws within his mindscape.

Bart noticed the change in the flow of magic energy and was shocked by the intensity of the movement. He could see the magic energy whirlpool above Nick's head and thought:

(Is this guy for real? How can he even meditate in this situation? Sigh, since he thinks it is safe enough to do so, I should probably meditate too, after all, I'm far from getting to rank 3.)

Bart sat up and crossed his legs, beginning his meditation.

........................................................

When the sun rose, the magic energy whirlpool that was above Nick's head dispersed and he opened his now blood shot eyes. The fire had died a few hours before and only a mass of gray ashes remained. Bart was still lying on the ground, sleeping; Nick took out a meal container from his space band along with a bottle of water and had his breakfast of raisins, bread and dried meat.

(Man, compared to the serpent meat, this might as well be lard but I'm still grateful for it. I remember those days when I had disagreements with my grandaunt and I had to go hungry for the rest of the day as punishment...glad those days are over.)

Bart woke up while Nick was having his meal and decided to also have his breakfast. Nick stored his trash within his space band and got up to head to the next area but he spoke to Bart before leaving:

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"It was nice to meet you mister Bart, I hope you don't get caught up in any bullshit during the exam. See you another time."

Bart quickly replied, trying to convince Nick:

"Wait...Nick, why don't we travel together. This realm is fairly dangerous so why don't we help each other out. I wasn't sure last night but now I'm certain that you're only a rank 1 Apprentice Magician. I can help you pass the exam safely."

Nick heard that and sighed internally. The truth was that the difference in power between rank 1 and rank 2 was not that great and with Nick's special mindscape and his new spell, he could definitely kill rank 2 Apprentice Magicians like cutting grass.

(This shit again...)

"No thanks mister Bart. I will see you another time."

Nick walked away from Bart, leaving Bart staring at his back in disbelief.

(Why wouldn't he want to team up, at least until we left the mountain? Does he somehow know how to leave this place safely? He did know that this road would not be approached by magic beasts and he even had the spare energy to roast beast meat, he must know something that I don't. I should follow him.)

Bart started tailing Nick, staying ten meters behind him as Nicked walked on the road. Nick noticed Bart's actions and became annoyed.

(Maybe he is just walking along the road and it doesn't have anything to do with me.)

Slade chimed in:

[He is making sure to keep a certain distance from you at all times and his eyes have never strayed from your position. He is definitely following you. Deal with him accordingly. If you need justification, we are approaching a fork, see if he still follows you so boldly.]

Nick walked a bit further and did come upon a fork with four diverging roads appearing; the road farthest to the right would lead to the western exit so Nick planned to use this road but before walking down it he started preparing Soul Pressure and quickened his pace. When Nick walked far enough along the road and turned to see Bart still following him, he immediately turned around and walked towards Bart. Bart saw Nick walking towards him but was not worried because he thought that he should be stronger than Nick or at worst they are of equal strength; he would just pretend that it was a coincidence that he was walking on the same road. When they were two meters apart, Bart decided to greet Nick:

"Hey Nick, it looks..."

(Soul Pressure.)

Before Bart could finish his sentence Nick activated his spell and Bart's movements immediately froze having become almost defenseless. Most rank 2 Apprentice Magicians in Nick's year would not have had the time to strengthen the defense of their soul so they were easy prey for Nick's spell. Bart stood still with a line of blood falling from his right nostril. Nick walked up to him and spoke with a wide, hypocritical smile:

"Mister Bart, don't be ungrateful. Don't make the mistake of returning my kindness with enmity. If you follow me one more step, I will brake your legs then throw you off of the road for the magic beasts to come find you. If you died in that way, I doubt that I would face execution. Don't you agree?"

Bart couldn't speak but from the frightened look in his eyes, he clearly understood the implications of continuing his foolishness. Nick was satisfied and turned around to continue his journey. When Nick and Bart were separated by five meters of distance, the effects of Soul Pressure were cancelled by Nick. Bart was able to move again and so he turned to run in the opposite direction. Why? Bart turned his head slightly to see Nick walking down the road and thought:

(There's a monster on this road!)

.............................................................

After walking for about four and a half hours, Nick finally reached the western exit of the mountain path. Nick stopped to eat some food and then started running towards his destination. After about twenty meters, he became winded and stopped.

(Ah man, I really need to start doing cardio exercises. The spot that Slade described should be less than a kilometer in this direction.)

Nick started walking again and reached the dead tree two hours later. On the way Nick encountered two wary dog packs filled with baby wary dogs and killed them fairly easily using a combination of Soul Pressure and Big, freezing them in place and beheading them with his knives; he also encountered a rhino sized wary dog but since Nick had time to prepare Soul Pressure, it had the same experience as the other dead wary dogs. Nick took out one of his knives and used it in combination with his spell, Big, to chop down the tree, even removing its truck completely,leaving only its roots in the ground. Nick created a lot of noise in the process; at this point Slade warned him:

[Be careful going forward, the ichor root shouldn't be too far from the surface so make sure that you don't damage it when digging it up, move slowly.]

Nick listened to Slade's instructions and enlarged one of his knives to the appropriate size, slowly digging at the ground. Two hours later, Nick pulled a foot long bronze colored root from the ground that had a strong ginger like smell.

[Smell that kid, that's your future, smells good right?]

Nick smiled and replied:

(Yeah, it sure does.)

Nick stored the ichor root in his space band and asked:

(This thing is supposed to increase the quality of my mindscape, right? How is it even formed?)

Slade spoke with some uncertainty:

[I'm not a magic botanist so I'm not sure about the details but when I was still in my world, rumors were that the ichor root was randomly formed in a realm when a certain rank 9 magic beast shed its blood but I'm not sure how accurate those rumors are.]

Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise.

(A rank 9 magic beast? If that rumor is true, then this realm used to be its home. It would be long gone by now, right, since there are clearly no signs of it. The academy would never have sent students here if there were such signs.)

[Your guess is as good as mine, kid. Let's move on to our second objective.]

When Nick was about to leave his position, he heard loud noises of a battle in the distance.

"Another group battle?"

Nick moved towards the sound of the battle using the surrounding trees as cover and came upon a large group of students battling with an army of wary dogs led by a huge wary dog that seemed to be the size of a small house; it had a length of thirteen meters and a height of three meters. It was literally barking orders from the rear of the pack to the other wary dogs while the group of students were desperately resisting but they were obviously about to be overwhelmed. To Nick's surprise, he actually recognized a few of the people in the group of students.

(Hmmm...that's Cindy Reece and that's...Daryl Smith, the student that was ranked number 1 in the mid year exam. Should I help them?)

Nick looked at the huge wary dog and became determined.

(While I'm in this area, there is no way that I can let that wary dog remain alive or I might end up as one of its victims.)

Nick focused on the leader wary dog's position and ran in a curved path towards it.