Surviving at the Magic Academy

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Nothing particularly special happened on the way back. Getting a bit bored, I decided to give a few fallen guys by the roadside a little kick. I’d really like to take a couple of them and put them to use.

Should I secretly drag one or two along? Even though they’re nothing but rotten junkies, they’re still technically mages. They could come in handy as materials. But I hesitated to act on that thought.

These guys are pretty much the property of the Swordsman Alliance. They use their magic every day to buy potions. They’re like pests for the gang. If I killed them carelessly, those Swordsmen would definitely go berserk.

In the distance, I began to spot the sign that read Ebron’s Doll Workshop. It’s the safe haven I’ve spent ten years preparing. Aside from the center of the slums, it’s probably the most intact building around.

I remember how hard I fought to claim this building. Just thinking back to those damn Swordsmen threatening me with swords makes my heart tremble.

I opened the door and stepped inside. The sight of the workshop filled with an array of dolls soothed my mind. I headed straight for the reception desk. One doll that looked like a monkey was sprawled on the counter, so I gave it a gentle nudge.

Looks like it didn’t break. I infused it with magic. The doll, now straightened out, quickly leapt to its feet.

The doll stood at the reception desk, staring blankly at the store’s entrance. It was the reception doll that managed the shop while I was away. Yesterday, I’d come back and just drank my sorrows away, completely forgetting about it.

I took a quick walk around to check if anything was malfunctioning. It had been a week, so there might have been some glitches. Thankfully, everything seemed perfectly normal. As expected, it’s one of my creations. Absolutely perfect.

I left it there and headed to the workshop in the basement. Time to repair the dolls that got broken during the exam.

This exam was a duel-style test, and it was really tough. For someone like me, who only knows how to blow up dolls with attack magic, it was a brutal ordeal.

Out of thirty duels over the past week, I only managed to win twice, and even then, I had to pull every single one of my dolls to win barely. After all my dolls were gone, I just rolled around and yelled my surrender.

No, fighting isn’t my strong suit.

This time, my luck was really bad. I kept hoping and praying that there wouldn’t be a duel, and then, of course, it was a duel. I’ll definitely pass on the next chance.

Inside my robe, I pulled out a spatial pouch from my steel belt. This tiny pouch was enchanted with spatial expansion magic, enough to hold about a hundred dolls. My dolls—perhaps even more precious than my entire fortune—are treasures I acquired through a lucky encounter.

These are not things meant to be found in the slums. If someone were to see them, a bloodbath would surely ensue, which is why I always hide them tightly in my belt. I flipped it over, and the dolls broken during the exam tumbled out. Seeing their grim state made a sigh escape my lips.

Ugh, it always hurts my heart every time I take an exam. I have to torture these poor kids.

Amidst the wreckage, I started picking out the few that were still okay. The most important thing is the Magical Heart. As long as I have that, I can fix the body.

But no matter how hard I looked, there were only three dolls with their hearts intact.

The rest were all destroyed. Especially those with hearts cut flat like slices. It was the Swordsman’s doing. That wicked girl didn’t care about others’ dolls and just sliced them apart as she pleased.

At first, I underestimated her because she was a girl, but as soon as the duel started, her eyes went wild, and she cut through my dolls mercilessly. This exam’s failure is entirely her fault.

I carefully took those three, throwing the rest into the incinerator to be burned. They had already lost their magic and were nothing but wood scraps. Recycling that junk wouldn’t yield anything useful, so it was better to dispose of it this way.

Watching those dolls turn to firewood made me feel a bit sad. Ugh, to have to send you off like this as your father. I’m truly sorry. Next time, I’ll gift you with stronger bodies.

I also took out the insect dolls from my pocket. Originally, I used to carry a few hundred of them, but after this exam, only about ten remained. That blasted Swordsman comes to mind again. I’d made a massive multi-explosion spell by carefully assembling about fifty of those insect dolls, but she just waved a sword a few times to stop the explosion.

Damn Swordsmen. Those barbaric fools who only know how to fight!

Grumbling, I used magic to gather up the doll materials all around the workshop and piled them on the workbench. Today, I must strengthen my workshop. Let’s fix up those broken dolls and create something new.

First, I felt the wood. It was soaked with magic, almost turned into a mass of magic. Magic seeped out like liquid between my fingers. Mmm, perfect.

Feeling irritated melted away quickly. When making dolls, I couldn’t let any distractions creep in. I needed to focus solely on the doll itself and fully harness the power of the materials.

I pushed all thoughts and emotions aside and awakened the wood within my heart. The magic seeped out from the leaves on the sapling, creating a steady flow. It began to swirl down my fingers, drawing bizarre patterns on the magically soaked wood.

I started shaping the wood along those patterns. The patterns fluttered lightly, almost like they were breathing. How much practice did I put in for my ‘Magical Deep Breath’ to become this refined? I continued to make dolls, carving and practicing, searching for the essence of vitality my Old Man had mentioned regardless of day or night.

When I finally understood what that essence of vitality was through grinding away bone, my unique magic evolved to a new level. No, it would be better to say I discovered something new that I hadn’t known before.

Thus, my magic flowed along the strands of vitality and magic, breathing a faint life into the dolls.

The magic held by the wood was sucked into those patterns. I made dozens of pieces of wood that way.

While the patterns were absorbing magic, I pulled out the Magical Hearts from the three damaged dolls. These tiny hearts, in the form of small pieces of wood, looked like they were about to die any second.

Their condition was dire. I needed to proceed with the transplant immediately. I placed a few selected pieces of wood beneath the Magical Hearts. They were the ones with the most beautiful and thick patterns. The magic inscribed on the Magical Hearts vibrated softly, resonating with the wood beneath them.

Then, the patterns on the wood and the hearts began to intertwine, sharing their magic as if they were alive. The hearts received magic from the wood and rose back to life.

Excellent. I helped guide the amalgamation little by little. But I couldn’t lead the whole process. If I did, the Magical Hearts would become scrap. Just like mages, these hearts had to rise up on their own.

The Magical Hearts quickly regained their vigor and merged into the wood. Thus, the core of the new dolls was established. I had to create bodies that suited them based on this. I began rummaging through materials that would match the wood they had merged with.

Did these Magical Hearts instinctively realize that they had come back to life? They each exhibited a more defined affection than before. One was generating a wild essence and circulating magic powerfully. Another was wrapping itself tightly like armor, trying to hide. The last one was casually dispersing its essence everywhere.

I named them First, Second, and Third.

This sort of situation happens often. The Magical Hearts, combined with their unique powers, began to show a sort of preference, and those that had died and revived seemed to exhibit this tendency even more.

Okay, okay. I’ll dress you up in outfits that are just right for you. Imagining what they would look like, I began shaping other pieces of wood to form their bodies.

The First one should have a wild beast’s outfit. Maybe something leopard-like? No, what he has is too wild to be contained by a leopard. So what should I make?

What about a monster that digs tunnels? Or a powerful bird like a colorful eagle? None of them satisfied me. The wilderness within First was something I had never seen before.

I need an even stronger creature. The strongest creature on the entire continent.

What was the most magnificent creature I’ve ever seen?

Thinking of that swiftly brought a creature to mind. A turtle! A turtle. Twenty years ago, while drifting across the continent on an airship. The moment word got out that a turtle was moving, the airship immediately descended to hide. The mages lay flat, as if dead, without a single trace of magic moving.

What on earth is a turtle? At that age, I had never seen one, yet I acted brazenly. I turned to look at the sound of the ground rumbling. And then, I saw the turtle.

In that moment, I felt their fear. When the turtle moved, hills were crushed. The mountains that stood high crumbled into the ground. Huge lakes disappeared. No matter how deep and wide the lake was, it was just a puddle in front of the turtle’s feet.

The turtle was crushing everything in its path, heading towards the direction from which the airship had come, towards the sea. After that, I fainted and lost consciousness for around ten days.

The turtle was a powerful being that wandered between land and sea. No bizarre creature of the ocean could approach that robust body, wild enough to rival a dragon. That was a kind of natural disaster shaped like life.

Yes, that would be the perfect form for the First one.

But I felt it wasn’t enough just the First one. The wildness of the First is undoubtedly unique. But that is all it is.

Then, a thought suddenly struck me. What if the Second wrapped around it like armor?

Oh my, how beautiful can this get?

Then I couldn’t leave the Third out of this. The Third will serve as the bridge between them and function as their second heart. When I connect these three hearts into one core, the true turtle doll will be completed!

In a flash of inspiration, the harmony of these three came together. Just imagining it gave me shivers. Plus, if I make a shelter within the body of the Third to house them?

It would become my very own moving workshop. Why couldn’t I think of such a thing before?

Thoughts kept racing on. If these three aren’t enough,

I’ll just add more hearts. If I combine hearts with distinct features to create a blend, the turtle will be even more complete.

Continuing to shape bodies that would suit them.

Stacking up wood, I kept running my knife over it, pulling out assorted rare materials to embed.

Seeking the most perfect form.

How many days had passed? I lost all track of time, completely absorbed in my work, when I suddenly realized.

Ah, it’s a failure.

I failed.

And at that, the very last moment, I failed.

Each Magical Heart bore its individual characteristics. Just like a mage, they had to possess a sort of completeness.

The turtle’s body was completed.

When I embedded the three into their respective areas and connected them through my ‘Magical Deep Breath’, I was certain of success.

However, in that massive flow of magic, they lost their completeness and blended into one. And then, they bounced right out of the doll.

I should have anticipated this.

I deeply reflected. I couldn’t maintain enough composure when making the doll. I’d gotten too excited, digging into a flawed realization, and ultimately, this was the result.

But failure has to remain just that: a failure. Since becoming a mage, I’ve gone through countless failures. This is just another one of those. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my heart.

The three hearts became entwined in the most encompassing flow, settling into the Third.

While they became intertwined like this, it didn’t make the Third any stronger. It just temporarily gained magic that was stronger than before. As time passes, it will return to its original state.

My strength ebbed away, and I slumped down. I had created a massive turtle doll that filled the workshop, yet there was no pilot to make it move.

I stared blankly at my masterpiece. I had poured almost all the materials I’d hoarded into it. From that mountainous shell to the heavy feet that crushed mountains, to the gaping mouth that inhaled magic like mist.

The turtle’s distinctive features I had seen in the past were alive down to the tiniest details.

Is this really how it ends in failure? I felt so regretful. If only I had a corresponding Magical Heart for this doll. Then this turtle would come alive.

But already, the three hearts had merged into one. Having crafted the doll entirely around them, no other Magical Heart could move it but those three.

It had just become a beautiful, gigantic statue.

At that moment, a slight vibration stirred in my chest. I quickly sank into the wave that began with the wood.

Inside my chest, the sapling was shaking with excitement. As it moved, the leaves of the sapling dripped with magic, creating one massive spell.

‘Magical Deep Breath,’ the wood was casting that spell upon itself.

In a flash, it dawned on me. No, it was a revelation coming from the wood within my chest.

The Magical Heart!

The essence of all my Magical Hearts lies within the wood in my heart. Even if each Magical Heart boasts its character, when traced back to the roots, ultimately, my wood exists there.

If that’s the case, this wood holds all the possibilities of those hearts.

I placed my hand on my chest. I felt like the wood wanted to burst out immediately. Right, I can take the place of the Magical Hearts. No doll can surpass the possibilities of its original self.

“I will become the turtle.”

Whispering that, I connected the wood in my chest with the essence of the turtle. A strong pressure began to build. The magic from the turtle started to rush through this new passage, tearing me apart.

My bones shattered, my veins ruptured. My body swelled like a balloon, threatening to burst.

In a hurry, I pressed the roots into my body. The roots that had only been seeping into my bones and muscles now began to replace them.

Only when the entire skeleton of my being became roots did the flow of magic stabilize a bit. Though cracks spread through every part of my body, I could endure it better than before.

This deepening root greedily consumed the magic from the turtle. The sapling refined the absorbed magic and sent it back out, allowing that magic to flow back into the turtle through the connected flow.

What a beautiful cycle this is. I’m becoming one with the turtle’s Magical Heart. Soon, the union between me and the turtle will be complete.

My human body and the body of the doll. In this strange sensation where both are felt, I focused more on the turtle’s being.

I lifted a leg and took a step forward. The floor of the workshop couldn’t withstand the weight, sinking down. This overwhelming mass. This was what I had been pursuing all along. I trembled with strong satisfaction.

Within my chest, the sapling too quivered with joy. The unprecedentedly mighty magic was dissolving into it. The sapling began to grow rapidly, based on the enormous turtle doll.

Compared to before, the sapling almost doubled in size, emitting an even stronger magic as it drew the ‘Magical Deep Breath’. Consequently, the bond between me and the turtle grew stronger. The two beings that had been separate began to merge into one.

But that was as far as I could go.

I instinctively understood that I wouldn’t be able to go any further. My level was still too weak to proceed. If I pushed on, I would lose my ego and become just a part of the doll.

To be so close to a deeper enlightenment yet unable to advance was painfully frustrating as a mage. Still, I should be grateful to have confirmed the path I need to take. I calmed the wood and naturally withdrew from the turtle’s body.

Looking at my body, it was filled with cracks, like it had been hastily glued back together. An uneasy feeling settled in, as if it might break any second. I’d need to take at least two months to recuperate. I absolutely can’t go outside.

As I lay on the turtle’s back, caught between extreme fatigue and fulfillment. I was utterly exhausted. The moment my back touched the ground, I lost consciousness.

 

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