Surviving at the Magic Academy

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The eighth opponent was Aldric, just as he had said. He was also a Swordsman of the fifth floor. We had no idea how strong he was.

So naturally, the seventh challenge was aimed at those fifth-floor duelists. Just as before, Kashian challenged them to a duel. The association accepted.

I scattered the news throughout the city. A duelist from the second floor threw down a challenge to the fifth floor. The city buzzed with excitement.

This was Kashian’s declaration and expression of confidence. She wanted more people to watch and join in the duel.

“I’ll win in the end!”

Kashian climbed onto the training ground with a confident smile. People filled the area; not just duelists, but a few Mages could be seen as well.

Dolls moved among them, handing out waiting cards. Soon enough, a man appeared across from her. He was the first opponent. Seeing him, she slowly drew her sword.

And then the two collided. After a few exchanges, Kashian found herself falling, losing her grip on her sword. Just like that, a thousand points slipped away.

“Mmm,” Kashian groaned as she collapsed. The opponent, looking down at her, nodded and left the training ground.

He approached the Doll and received another waiting card. Quietly, he stared at Kashian as he held it.

A rematch was always possible. But I never expected it to be this way from the very first opponent. I thought maybe he was trying to score more points, but it seemed otherwise.

His gaze was very serious. There was a complex emotion as he looked at Kashian. It seemed filled with the intention to fight again.

And it continued like that. She lost, lost, and lost again.

She was accumulating scars much more than they were disappearing. All the points she had earned thus far melted away in the process.

Yet, amidst the losses, she simply smiled brightly. In those fights, she charged forward as if burning her entire body. I just watched her movements intently.

What is the life of a Swordsman like? Kashian said her life was contained at the tip of her sword. I thought that was merely a metaphor.

But perhaps it wasn’t just empty words; watching the duels, I started to think it might have a real meaning.

Mages focused on nurturing their inner selves. They grew trees, nourishing their souls and bodies. As a result, they became stronger and more perfect.

But these duelists focused on emptying themselves. What they emptied flowed into their swords.

Kashian’s words might have held such meaning. They lived clinging to the point of their swords. The fleeting nature of their lives lingered only at that point.

The life of a Swordsman was like a blade. It only faced forward.

The depths I didn’t understand were emerging from there. Somewhere beyond efficiency. Perhaps other Mages wouldn’t grasp that. They probably didn’t know how to let go.

My hand brushed against my chest. The Shadow Tree that had spread inside me quivered at my will. If it weren’t for this, I never would have known.

Kashian lost again. Another thousand points slipped away.

The wall of the fifth floor was just too high. Even considering the ranks, there was a difference of one tier, so it’s no wonder she couldn’t win.

However, within that, her movements deepened.

Kashian stole their depths through her losses. That process felt quite familiar. It was the same way we had been adding newness to her body. She instinctively carried it out.

Thus, without our help, she was stealing from others and adding it to herself while also letting go. In that process, her points continuously decreased. The grading board failed to recognize her changes properly.

Mira had said there was no longer space to contain more in that body. I had thought the same. But that wasn’t the case. There was more space inside.

Not in her body, but in that sword.

Kashian fully understood the direction she needed to go. Hence, her actions always led to her growth. As Mira had said, it was due to her instincts.

Giving her body to Mira and being used by me, she quietly walked toward her growth. At the end of it all, her body became perfect.

Even now, it was the same. She kept going despite her losses. And she was growing. Today’s duels continued until she lost consciousness.

“Are you okay?”

I asked Kashian. She hadn’t woken up until she arrived in the room. After several dolls clung to her and loosened her body, she finally opened her eyes.

“Yeah, somehow.”

Kashian said with a faint smile. A Bear Doll was patting her shoulder. Kashian stroked the head of that Bear Doll and shut her eyes again.

“Everyone lost, but I still got the hang of it. Now I just need to keep moving forward. Then, I will win.”

Mira enveloped her body in mist, and gradually, she began to drift into sleep.

The next day was the same. She lost, collapsed, and lost points. But she didn’t stop. She simply kept raising her sword.

The duelists responded to her will by continuously drawing waiting cards. Those who had come yesterday returned to observe her again.

As I watched the duels, I fell into thought for a moment. Why do they live like that? Why do duelists clash their swords and live?

To me, the most important thing was life. I just wished to survive. I gathered everything for that. I avoided danger and hated losses.

As Mira had said, in a way, it was a passive life. But that was how I had lived, and I had survived. It was perhaps that attitude that allowed me to come to the university.

If it came to surviving, I was living a better life than them. In my coming lives, I would survive while the duelists would fall at the tips of their swords.

Right, for me, surviving was all that mattered.

But excluding that, did my life have any value?

Duelists chase fights. They do so regardless of the university or outside of it. They risk their lives, dancing between failure and success.

Mages always said this. The life of a Swordsman is short, and thus their growth is very rapid. That’s what sets them apart. And indeed, duelists grew fast and fell fast.

It felt slightly amusing to think I had mocked the shortness of their lifespan. Watching them fight made it clear. Perhaps for them, lifespan held no meaning.

Mages feared dying old. Stuck at the end of their training, twisted like an old tree, eventually dying like weeds.

But the duelists likely had no concept of dying old. They just fought, then broke and died alongside their swords. They always existed within battles.

That’s why they grew fast. In terms of survival, my method was superior. But in terms of ascent, their approach might be correct.

They had to clash, act, and break to rise. I closed my eyes as I watched her fall again.

On that day, she lost twenty times and won once.

The next day, she didn’t win at all. Yet on the fourth day, she managed three victories. On the fifth day, four victories, and on the sixth day, six victories.

Over the course of a week, Kashian engaged in nearly two hundred duels. In that time, her grading board points and university points continuously dropped.

She lost beyond counting. Out of those two hundred duels, she barely managed to win around twenty times.

And her eighth duel against Aldric was one of those victories. That was enough.

I checked the footage. The grading board spat out a zero for that duel. I smirked slightly and tucked the Mirror Bug into my arms.

Then I slightly bowed my head toward the one who came closer.

“Welcome.”

“Nice to meet you. I didn’t expect to lose like this; I must have misunderstood you all.”

Aldric said, laughing heartily upon entering the room. The initially cold expression on his face was nowhere to be found, replaced by a bright smile.

“Don’t worry about the points. We handled everything as you requested.”

He patted his chest confidently. Kashian, who had been tense, slackened at those words.

And rightly so. Though she was incredibly passionate during the duels, the accumulated points had become quite a hefty debt.

She had spent everything she earned somewhere, leaving her with hardly any points. That’s why she requested them to cover the costs of the public duel for the eighth challenge.

The association had made an even bigger proposal. They could give her more points and suggested she join the association. But Kashian shook her head.

Having learned the hard way that being too caught up in points could lead to annoying situations, it made perfect sense. Of course, she said she would continue to accept sponsorship.

“Still, thank you for your understanding.”

She said while bowing slightly again towards Aldric. He widened his eyes in surprise at her gesture, waving his hands in puzzlement.

“Understanding? We both did our best, and in the end, she won.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, it seems like Kashian prefers to socialize with you folks more than with us. That seems right. If it were us, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to raise her like this.”

He said this with a laugh. I smiled at him in return. In the footage, he displayed a level comparable to other fifth-floor characters. Kashian had defeated him.

But he was a key figure in the association. Moreover, he was someone who had won eight duels before Kashian. He couldn’t possibly be the same as everyone else.

If he had meant to take her down, he certainly could have done so. But he hadn’t. Perhaps it was to avoid blocking Kashian’s path.

“But I can’t help but wonder how you were able to change her like that? Mira, can you help me refine my body like Kashian’s?”

He smiled as he approached Mira. The image of him previously treating her as the villain was nowhere to be found. Mira also warmly welcomed him with a light laugh.

“Oh my, if you give me your heart, I might be able to do that. This child once gave me her heart.”

Mira said as she hugged Kashian. Kashian slightly nodded. Aldric stroked his chin.

“The heart?”

“Yes, opening that chest and letting me devour your heart. Then I could occupy your body instead. That way, I could change that physical form.”

Aldric chuckled wryly at her words. After chatting with them for a while, he came over to me.

“I heard Ebron is at Professor Ilian’s Tower. We might need to pay a little attention to the classes there. Kashian or rather, the Crimson Blade Flower is supposed to go there too.”

He said with a smile. Kashian grimaced, covering her ears. The Bear Doll displayed a handkerchief before her.

Embroidered within it was a red blade flower, her symbol. It was a gift from the association.

Having engaged in public duels for almost two months, amidst countless victories and defeats, the duelists had bestowed her with a title. They said it was a tradition among duelists to give such titles to promising individuals.

Mira took the handkerchief from the Bear Doll and read the inscription.

“The blood at the tip of the sword becomes a flower, and the flowers adorn the sky. How beautiful these words are. Kashian, don’t you think?”

She smiled mischievously at Kashian. Covering her ears, Kashian ran to the corner of the room. Mira lightly chased after her, waving the handkerchief.

The secret duel hosted by the association thus came to an end. It was rather an anticlimactic conclusion.

Was I too trapped in a Mage’s way of thinking? With no grand conspiracy or trickery, I felt rather uneasy.

Kashian didn’t leave the city right away. She wasn’t satisfied yet. So she continued to stay in the city, engaging in duels.

I observed her as well. It was to absorb the depth she was creating within me. The grading board needed to be reorganized anew.

It wasn’t until a week later that we left the city. Riding the Turtle again, I looked at Canyon City.

It was an unexpected experience. And a valuable one. Information on the physical forms and blades of the duelists filled my Shadow Tree. I’d tightly packed only the essentials.

I glanced at Kashian. She was exhausted and asleep. It was understandable; she had kept dueling until we left.

The lacking information could be obtained by delving into that body. That body was the collection of all duelists. If I observed it for long enough and utilized that information.

It would surely allow for a significant growth in the identities and bodies of my Dolls. Ultimately, I’d be able to contain that strength as well. I chuckled at the thought of that future.

“Did you enjoy this trip?”

Mira asked as she clung to my arm. It jolted me back to attention. Enjoyment, yes. I was satisfied. The problem was that it had originated from these people.

Mira had previously mentioned that she cast the fishing line, and I had bitten it. That was precisely it.

In fact, I felt somewhat relieved with Mira’s presence. Although she was trapped in the Doll’s body, she was a treasure handpicked by the professor.

Should she display her presence, no one would be able to ignore her. Just as she had done in this city.

But I never expected that Mira would use me. With her bound to the Doll’s body, my life equated to hers. If I were to die, her heart would also be destroyed.

Therefore, I never suspected that Mira, who was bound to me, would conspire with Kashian to make my moves. It was utterly unexpected. A bittersweet taste lingered in my mouth.

“As I said before, I am obedient to you.”

Seeing my sour expression, Mira smiled. She placed her hand on my chest and gently closed her eyes.

“This trip was advantageous for you too, Ebron, even if not as much as Kashian. Since we joined forces, as she has grown stronger, we’ll be able to move our supplies more safely.”

Mira released a mist that seeped into my chest, swirling around my Shadow Tree.

“Furthermore, you’ve gathered plenty of information. This much is brimming. If you utilize this, you should be able to grow significantly.”

She said as her fingers rhythmically tapped my chest. She was the fourth person to know about my Shadow Tree.

The first was Professor Heisen, the second was Maira, the third was Professor Ilian, and the fourth was her. I explained it to her.

“I kindly informed you of everything. As I said before, Ebron, you’re too passive. Hence, I have no choice but to take action. I want you to be someone who desires more opportunities, more power, more points, and more things.”

With the rhythm created by her fingers, my heart began to beat. It was also the heartbeat she generated. The two began to resonate together.

As she did so, a captivating smile adorned her face.

“So desire, act, and grow. Please flourish to a point where no one can overlook you, establishing yourself based on me.”

She leaned against my chest. There was a hint of excitement in her breath.

“Once that power is sufficient, there’ll be no need to confine me in this Doll’s body. At the end, show me the outside world. I trust that you will feed me more in that free world, not this constrained one.”

She whispered, letting a drop of saliva trail down, dampening my chest. I couldn’t help but smirk.

Her desire was quite clear. To eat and eat, consuming even the professor. The strong appetite bubbling from her heart, which had begun to resonate with mine, was shared with me.

Growth. That was also my reason for coming to the university. I recalled the appearance of duelists. Kashian raising her sword.

Growth always required taking on more risks than that. I understood that. It was the same when I had reached the stage of a young tree.

But afterward, I felt my potential was restricted. I realized that this university was not much different from the outside world. The illusions I had dreamed of didn’t exist. This place was merely part of the wilderness.

So I discarded the part of me that had some expectations for the university. I merely dreamed of surviving silently. It seemed that this did not sit well with her.

If I were to stay still, she would surely bring accidents my way. I would have no choice but to move. That thought crossed my mind.

This might also be seen as her guiding me. But I didn’t mind that. Along with that, thoughts about my mindset outside the university came to me.

You repay those who cheat you tenfold. That’s the standard I had set in the university city. I had overlooked that throughout this time. In the university, this would have to continue.

The Turtle thus moved its feet. The path back to the Tower was very treacherous. Countless Monsters blocked the way.

That strange Tentacle creature I had encountered before coming to the city reappeared. It seemed to be waiting for us to exit the city. Some of its power was definitely laced somewhere in the Turtle’s body.

After a long battle, Kashian sliced the creature’s body in half. The unleashed power made its body stronger than I had imagined.

With Kashian’s powerful request, we roasted and ate it. I never imagined I’d think to eat this.

“Ugh, it’s not tasty…”

Kashian said with a face full of grimaces as she swallowed it down. Glancing at the remainder, she turned to me.

“By the way, are you going to take any new classes this time?”

“Classes, you say?”

Ah right, course registration. I briefly searched my memory.

Thinking about it, there was less than a month left until the course registration. I hadn’t even properly decided what courses to take yet.

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