Surviving at the Magic Academy

---

A massive hand appeared.

This hand was emanating a magical power so strong, it dwarfed my own existence. And that power was pouring over me. The gigantic hand also reached towards me, its fingers splayed wide.

Staring at those fingertips made my stomach drop. The hand was a collection of many fingers, all wriggling towards me like a pack of hungry worms.

If I were caught by that, my soul would likely be ripped away, just like before. I gripped the key I held tightly.

If that thing didn’t respond, then my only choice would be to escape. Around me, several Mirror Bugs were floating about, shimmering and aiming their light at the hand.

But the creature showed no reaction. It greedily advanced, clearly intent on capturing me.

I tried to subtly convey my intent using magic, but it vanished within the creature’s fingers.

It was charging at me, completely under its own instincts. I had expected that from the moment I laid eyes on it.

The bizarre magical energy radiating from its fingers started to ensnare my body. The cluster of fingers quickly lunged at me, as if to swallow me whole.

And in that moment, a line was drawn.

The line seemed to cut the space in half, severing the fingers that had been reaching for me. Kashian stood in front of me, her black hair flowing lightly.

She raised her sword and directed her gaze at the creature. In an instant, the fingers regenerated and reached out again.

But as she waved her sword, another line appeared, slicing through the fingers once more. She glanced at me and smiled.

“What do you think? It seems like this thing is pretty unresponsive, doesn’t it?”

She looked back at the creature and let out a mischievous laugh. Although its fingers had regenerated, the creature paused, hesitating in its approach.

Could it be gaining a bit of reason? With that thought, I sent a wave of intent to the Mirror Bugs. They flickered in response, signaling a rather peaceful conversation.

But the pause was only momentary. It charged at us again, ignoring my signal. Kashian stepped in to block it.

“This one’s a no-go. We should retreat for now.”

I spread my magic, and the Mirror Bugs quickly returned to me. I poured magic into the key in my hand and held it out into the air.

Magic flowed from the key, and a door emerged before me. The creature seemed to realize it was a passage and suddenly went into a frenzy, charging towards it.

But it crashed to the ground, blocked by the barrier formed by the door. I lightly tossed a piece of paper towards it, which landed right nearby.

“If you regain your senses later, feel free to take a look at that. If you still act like this next time, I’ll have to conclude there’s no hope.”

The creature writhed and tried to get back up. Watching it, I slipped through the door. Kashian followed closely behind me.

Beyond the door was astonishingly quiet. Surrounding a spacious hall were numerous doors, indicating we were in a treasure vault on the sixth floor.

I glanced back at the door we came from. Something resembling Professor Ilian’s doodles floated above it.

Room 2 – A collection of things that generally eat people.

It was firmly shut and sealed again. I could only imagine those hands were thrashing about where we had just been.

“What a shame. This one seemed to have some thinking capacity before. Though, we might be able to snap it out of it by feeding it. Shall we give it a shot?”

Kashian said with a bright smile. Her eyes were sparkling with a lively glint I hadn’t seen before. She leaned against me effortlessly.

I gently caught her. In the process, her expression changed slightly, resembling someone who was taken aback.

“Uh, um. Please don’t cling to me like that… It’s still my body…”

Her words barely finished when her expression morphed again into a playful smile, reminiscent of Mira’s characteristic grin.

She pressed herself even closer, almost as if trying to embrace me fully.

“Hmm, did you not promise to let me take over in the treasure vault? That was the deal, right? Hehe, since we’re like this, let’s enjoy it to the fullest.”

With that, she shot a light-hearted smile at me, followed by a cheeky wink.

“Ebron, what do you think? This body, surprisingly nice, isn’t it?”

As she spread her arms wide, I shook my head and took a step back. I didn’t have time for her antics.

“Enough with the jokes. There’s plenty to be done. And not much time.”

I shot a glance at her form, feeling a slight tremble from it. Seemed like blocking that huge hand was putting a bit of a strain on her.

The waiting dolls poured magic into her body, helping her recover a little. Our work wasn’t done yet; we had to act quickly.

I had just recorded the creature in the Mirror Bugs. It hadn’t been so hard to deal with, so I figured I’d give it a Class 2 rating. It displayed a hostility that didn’t seem concerned with our words at all.

So it was classified as a Class 2 hostile entity, noted beside the name “Cluster of Fingers”. I could finalize that rating on my next visit.

Kashian, or rather Mira within, looked at it with a light chuckle.

“Hmm, I’m suddenly curious. Did you jot anything down about me?”

I nodded. I had figured she’d be curious. I unfolded the part where I had noted her.

6th Floor, Room 2, Mist Heart, Class 3 friendly entity.

“Class 3 is the maximum at the moment. I set that limit for the sixth floor. I’ve been judging the treasures’ scores against yours, Mira.”

“Hehe, is that so? I like it.”

She smiled contentedly. Still attached to my arm, she turned to gaze at the door again. We would have to go back through where we just came.

We needed to enter quickly and escape before the hand noticed.

A faint mist began to rise from her form.

It flickered ever so slightly, hardly putting out more than that. But for now, it would be enough to slip past the hand’s senses.

“Then let’s re-enter. We still have three treasures left to check.”

I studied the treasure list posted on the door. We had already checked seven. Except for one, none seemed to understand our words. In the end, we had just fought endlessly.

This time, it should be fine. The treasure we’d be looking for now was the “Eyeball Attached to a Star.” Maybe this one could actually hold a conversation.

I raised the key again. The creature seemed to find it entertaining to keep playing with the door, radiating bright light.

So I inserted the key into the door. The barrier that tightly closed around it vanished, and the door slid open, revealing the inside.

I stepped through.

As I had hoped, this treasure was somewhat communicative. A little persuasion was needed, but still.

I looked around. The remnants of wraiths, which had been cleaved apart, left gray magic swirling around us. Kashian had cut down roughly a hundred of them that had been the center of the gaze.

The eye, resembling a tranquil lake, stared at us. Initially, it ignored my signals and continued charging forward.

Of course—it’s not like an ant would react if I waved my antennas. To it, I was merely an insect.

If Mira hadn’t held it back, it would have kept coming at me relentlessly. Thanks to Mira’s inhibitions, we could have this encounter now.

I handed a piece of paper to it and stepped outside again. I noticed her wobbling slightly.

Her flesh needed to be allowed to rest as much as possible. When Kashian emerged from the door, dolls quickly adhered to her body.

The creature’s strength was greater than I had anticipated. Mira sent a signal indicating she was struggling after about two minutes of holding out. I jotted it down as a Class 3 endpoint.

But we had two more to go; not much left.

One of them was entirely unresponsive despite my signals. It just kept lunging at us. So I had no choice but to run.

The other one, however, seemed rather amicable. Whether its hard clattering of teeth meant it could understand me was uncertain. At least it left behind a piece of paper.

The paper was a kind of map marking our meeting location. I had scattered it among the others as well.

It seemed more efficient to gather the treasures together and proceed to discuss them at once. If they didn’t come to me, there was nothing I could do.

After taking adequate rest, I crossed the door again to the location marked on the map. Three treasures awaited us there.

One long tongue, a gigantic eye, and a necklace made of teeth. They seemed likely to show up. They were the ones that had at least shown some responses to our words.

“I see everyone has arrived. Thank you for responding to my request.”

I slightly bowed my head and said so. They all looked at me, some magical energy flickering from them. It seemed they were trying to send a signal, but I couldn’t understand a word.

I pulled several Mirror Bugs from my spatial pocket and sent them towards the treasures. Their bodies were impressively large, and as strong as they looked, they also boasted impressive toughness.

The bugs hovered gently beside the treasures, which reacted by exuding their magical energies to receive them.

“Now, with this, you should be able to communicate easily. If you project your intent using magic, these kids will interpret it in simple text. The opposite applies as well.”

The words I spoke appeared in written form on the Mirror Bugs. It became a sort of magic that was delivered to them. They started leaving awkward inscriptions of words in return.

– Eyeball Attached to a Star: Is this it? Is it correct?

– Unrecognized Tongue: dldirlwhgektjdrhdwjr

– Tooth Necklace: This is a great communication tool. It’s quite astonishing! I have been feeling so frustrated not being able to speak until now, but with this, it seems like we’ll be able to converse comfortably. Oh, not just words, but other things too!

(Image of neatly aligned teeth as if smiling) (Image of teeth clattering)

Something like that. Oh, I really like this! Are there more functions than this? Ooh, this is possible too. How about this? Oh, nice, very nice.

I forced a smile. This Tooth Necklace was adapting impressively quickly. It was bombarding me with a massive amount of text like a downpour.

The newly opened bulletin board for the treasures was quickly filling up with its writings.

“We hope to gather those who can communicate like this to establish a structure for mutual communication. If you wait, we’ll soon connect with other areas. Many treasures should gather here.”

– Tooth Necklace: Oh, communication, huh? I was feeling rather hopeless at the thought of spending time with these frustrating friends, but what a wonderful opportunity. I greatly appreciate this… But is that it?

Suddenly, the Tooth Necklace started clattering away furiously. A sharp surge of magic began to emerge from within it. I shook my head gently.

“Certainly not. I wouldn’t just give you that to talk. I came here to propose something to you instead.”

With that, I smiled lightly. I could feel their focus shifting towards me.

“Don’t you want to see the world outside this stuffy room? I have the means to arrange that for you.”

At that, they seemed to get excited, sending out waves of magic. The Mirror Bugs were unable to process what that magic meant properly.

Instead, they were gradually losing a bit of form under the pressure of that magic. I hurriedly waved my hands to calm them.

“You must not break the Mirror Bugs. They’re creatures I put great effort into creating and must be handled with care. No infusing them with intent, and certainly no devouring them.”

Upon hearing this, they calmed down a bit. The Mirror Bugs trembled lightly, gradually repairing their damaged parts. I was glad I had infused various types of magic within them to prepare for situations like this.

“Writing is fine. However, if it negatively impacts the bulletin board or the bugs, be aware I will sever our connection immediately and imprison them in the vault forever.”

– Tooth Necklace: Of course, of course. Who would be so foolish to do that!

Reading that message made my eyes twitch slightly. Mira watched the Tooth Necklace with amusement, and it averted its gaze from her.

They continued the conversation like that. I smiled and responded to them while beads of cold sweat trickled down my back.

Those treasures were pouring magical energy towards me. The tongue was practically drooling, melting the ground beneath it.

It was clear they felt an intense hunger directed towards me. But they didn’t rush towards me heedlessly. Perhaps it was due to Mira’s presence, but also because they had become interested in what I was saying.

The tongue was rated as a Class 1, the necklace as a Class 2, and the eye as a Class 3. They were all categorized as uncertain entities for now. These creatures consumed life, so I couldn’t properly gauge their tendencies.

Dark energy rippled from the magic pooled on the ground. I took a step back from them, casting a glance at the Mirror Bugs.

I noticed they left some signs of affirmation. It seemed I had taken a successful first step.

I lightly brushed the key in my hand. I had achieved my objective; now it was time to leave. I didn’t want to linger unnecessarily in front of them.

“Well then, I hope to see you again. If you need anything, contact me through these bugs. If it’s a monster-type issue, I can surely provide ample supply. Wouldn’t it be nice if we helped each other?”

– Tooth Necklace: You can’t just let us out like you did with that friend next to you? That would be wonderful.

The necklace clicked its teeth rapidly. At that, Mira covered her mouth, giggling.

“Hehe, you should have seized the opportunity first. You see, our positions have changed. Look at me. I really am beautiful, aren’t I?”

She spun around in front of them with pride. The treasures began to radiate even stronger magical energy at that sight. As I pulled her closer, I bowed my head towards them.

“Professor has forbidden us from retrieving other treasures. I’d like to help if I could, but it seems I’m not powerful enough to do that. Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

With that said, I stepped away. While the door could be opened from anywhere, there was no need to show them that unnecessarily.

They remained still, examining the Mirror Bugs, as we slipped out of sight and exited the room.

The sixth floor was still calm. I gradually began to relax from the tension I had been holding. I plopped down on the ground, exhaling a sigh. Mira lightly climbed onto my back.

“That went rather successfully.”

I nodded. Despite it being my first visit, the results had been surprising. There was good reason Mira had highly recommended this. I hadn’t expected so many treasures capable of communication.

“I still don’t understand why they were so agitated last time. It’s going so smoothly now.”

At that, Mira chuckled softly. She stretched her arm and placed her hand over my chest.

“Because their intellect was asleep. At that time, there was no chance for it to awaken. They were all too excited over Ebron’s scent.”

Hearing that made bitterness rise in my mouth. The scent of a soul. Something she often talked about. I had no idea its significance.

I absentmindedly fiddled with the key in my hand. At least with this, I wouldn’t have much to worry about for now.

This key held formidable protection. Even the connection to the Shadow Tree was somewhat secluded because of it.

If those creatures intended to burrow into me through the Mirror Bugs, all I needed to do was sever the connection. There would be some damage, but I was sure I wouldn’t die.

“So, now that the day’s business is over, shall we return to that stuffy body once again?”

Mira straightened herself. She then approached her original body, which was lying on the bed as if asleep. She placed her hand on its chest.

A thick mist began to pour out from Kashian’s body. It flowed directly into the doll’s form. The doll’s eyes slowly opened.

At the same time, Kashian collapsed onto the floor. A waiting Bear Doll gently caught her. She let out a short scream, “Mhm!”

That light impact seemed to induce more intense pain than expected. It made sense; facing treasures wasn’t a simple task. It was an endeavor that pushed her limits.

Despite that, Kashian wore a rather satisfied expression. She waved her trembling hands around randomly, attempting to mimic Mira’s movements. She looked up at Mira.

“Sister, this is fun!”

Mira tenderly patted her head. She gradually started adjusting Kashian’s movements.

“You should do it like this. But be careful. If you use your body like me, it could fall apart quickly.”

Under her guidance, Kashian’s arms twisted in strange directions. When she swung it, a powerful cracking sound resonated. Strength beyond that of her flesh was evidently contained within.

When it came to facing treasures, Mira didn’t adopt human movements. How should I describe it? It was almost like she was squeezing every bit out of Kashian’s body.

Every drop of blood, every muscle, every bit of flesh twisted just to swing a sword once. The movements were bizarre, unlike anything I had ever witnessed before.

She treated that body like a disposable item. Of course, that allowed her to face treasures.

“Still, next time should be easier than now. This time was my first time handling it, so I might have gotten a bit too excited.”

Mira remarked while feeling around Kashian’s body. Mist flowed from her fingertips, enveloping Kashian’s form.

It seemed like she was performing some healing. Kashian blushed gently from within that mist.

I quietly observed that scene. To return that body to its original state, it was evident she’d need about a week’s worth of rest.

This meant I wouldn’t be able to enter the vault in the meantime. If we didn’t possess enough strength, treasures wouldn’t pay us any mind.

The enrollment period was approaching, and factoring in the start of classes, we had roughly three months until the first lecture. I’d need breaks in between, so the opportunities to enter the vault would be significantly limited.

I fiddled with the Mirror Bugs. I needed to gather as many treasures as I could into this.

Distributing Mirror Bugs to the treasures—this was my new potential.

I had been visualizing rolling out the Mirror Bugs across the entire university. That was the most certain way for my growth. But that plan was thwarted by others.

Then I needed to look for another method. A new direction came to me when I considered the Butler. All it did was consume Professor Ilian’s magic and managed to greatly develop its own ego.

So, there was no need to gather complicated information from many. If I could receive it from a strong few, wouldn’t that suffice?

And those were laying right beside me. They were the treasures.

Those items were also affiliated with the tower. Therefore, there was no risk of being bound by a contract.

Of course, there were risks involved. The treasures could potentially consume me through the Mirror Bugs, and they might hatch plans to escape the vault.

But with that risk, I could also grow much quicker. Opportunity and risk always walked the same path; they didn’t know how to fall apart. So all I could do was embrace them and move forward.

And this was also necessary for the lectures I envisioned. Treasure hunting had become a thing of the past.

The new lectures ahead would become a marketplace of encounters between treasures and students. I would be raking in points within that setting. The scene was vividly painted in my mind.

 

---