26
Chapter 26
The outskirts of the White Forest.
Birch trees stood thick and dense. With their pale bark, the entire forest had a hazy, white appearance.
Moss blanketed the ground, and the damp air clung to the skin.
As they descended the slope, the sound of a valley stream soon reached them. Clear water flowed ceaselessly through the gaps in the mossy rocks.
Enoch looked around.
"It should be around here."
Benny said, peering between the rocks.
"Where? I don't see anything!"
Edelyn also searched the area. There was plenty of moss and grass, but no white flowers.
"Teacher, are you sure this is the place?"
"It is."
"I don't see a thing..."
Benny climbed onto a rock and crossed his arms, complaining.
"I can't see the flowers! I really can't! Did we come to the wrong place?"
"I told you, we're in the right place."
"Then where are they?!"
Enoch sighed and began to explain.
"Moonlight Plum Blossoms grow where the sunlight doesn't reach. Look in the shaded crevices of rocks or at the base of damp cliffs. Be especially thorough in areas with thick moss."
Enoch continued, his gaze sweeping along the stream.
"The white petals are thin, so they blend into the surroundings easily. When they're hidden among the moss, they're hard to spot."
Benny tilted his head, still looking confused.
Edelyn double-checked.
"So we should focus on the kinds of spots you just mentioned?"
"Exactly."
Enoch looked toward the upper reaches of the valley. A large boulder jutted out over the water.
The area beneath it was deeply shaded and covered in thick moss, with moisture trickling down the surface of the rock.
"For example, a place like this—"
He turned his head to check the area he was pointing to.
There it was.
Beneath the shade of the rock.
White petals, so thin they were almost transparent, peeked through the deep moss.
Their silvery stems glistened faintly, damp with moisture.
Moonlight Plum Blossoms.
'They're actually here... I was just giving an example, but I actually found them.'
Enoch was surprised inwardly but kept his expression neutral.
"Here they are."
Enoch pointed calmly.
Benny rushed over, and Edelyn approached slowly. Morse and Sancta followed behind.
About five Moonlight Plum Blossoms were clustered together in the shade of the rock.
The petals were translucent, allowing the color of the moss behind them to show through slightly.
"Wow."
Benny squatted down to peer at the flowers.
"These are so pretty. They look like glass!"
Edelyn carefully touched a petal.
"You're right. I can't believe petals can be this thin."
Sancta squatted in front of the flowers and gazed at them for a long time. Overcome by curiosity, she lightly touched a stem.
Morse smiled as she watched her sister.
"So this is the flower used for healing potions."
Enoch spoke to the group.
"Just look for these flowers around the valley. Don't pull them out by the roots; carefully pluck only the blooms."
"Yes, sir!"
They began to scatter along the valley.
Edelyn moved meticulously, checking every single rocky shade.
Sancta quietly searched near the water's edge, with Morse searching beside her.
Benny was different.
"I know they're around here! Here! No, here!"
He jumped from rock to rock, rummaging through the moss. He flipped over stones, pushed aside grass, and cleared away branches.
His method was crude, but he covered a lot of ground.
"Teacher!!! I found them!!!"
Benny shouted from the upper part of the valley. He had discovered a colony of Moonlight Plum Blossoms in the shade behind a large rock, with more than ten flowers clustered together.
"There are so many here!"
Benny beamed with a bright smile.
Enoch looked toward Benny and spoke.
"Benny~"
"Yes?"
"Whenever you arrive at a quest location, always stay alert to your surroundings."
Benny looked puzzled.
"Huh? Why all of a sudden?"
Enoch's gaze was directed just beside Benny.
Right next to him.
A single birch tree twitched.
— Screeeeeeech.
It was no ordinary tree.
The bark-like surface split open, revealing two pitch-black eyeballs.
What had looked like branches were actually arms. Roots burst from the ground, shooting toward Benny.
An Ent.
A monster that disguises itself as a tree.
"—Whoa?!"
By the time Benny sensed the danger, the roots were already upon him.
— Boom!
Just before the roots could reach Benny, a deep blue droplet flew in and slammed into the Ent's torso.
The Ent staggered, stepping back.
The roots lost their trajectory, grazing past Benny.
Edelyn stood there with her hand still extended.
"Idiot."
She tossed the remark at Benny.
"You're so distracted by the flowers that you've stopped keeping watch. What did Teacher just say?"
Benny shouted back.
"I'm not an idiot!!!"
Even as he yelled, his hand already gripped the wooden sword at his hip.
Engine start.
— Thump.
His heart gave one powerful beat. A haze shimmered up from beneath his feet.
Benny raised his wooden sword and charged at the Ent.
The Ent thrust its roots out again.
Two strands this time.
They closed in from the left and right like a pair of pincers.
Benny dove right through the center.
The roots grazed his sides.
The Ent's torso was right in front of him.
"Downward Strike!"
— Crack!!
The wooden sword slammed vertically into the Ent's body.
The bark split wide, and black sap splattered everywhere.
The Ent screamed and collapsed.
"One!"
Benny shouted as he exhaled.
— Screeeeeeech.
— Screeeeeeech.
— Screeeech.
All the birch trees around the valley began to twitch at once.
The Ents simultaneously shed their disguises and awoke.
"Ten of them?!"
Benny yelled. Edelyn was already channeling her mana.
"Water Ball."
Four deep blue water droplets emerged, circling Edelyn like satellites.
"You take the three on the left!"
"Got it!"
Benny bolted to the left. The engine's heat scorched the grass beneath his feet.
Edelyn launched her Water Balls. All four flew at once, striking four Ents.
Two collapsed. The other two staggered but still thrust their roots forward.
Edelyn stepped back and created two more Water Balls.
'The mana consumption is too high. I have to end this in one shot.'
She curved their trajectory. The two droplets flew straight before banking sharply toward the Ents' sides.
They pierced the eyeballs—their weak point—with perfect precision.
— Thwack! Thwack!
Both Ents collapsed simultaneously.
On the other side, Benny was battling three.
— Crack!! Crack!!
Two of the Ents were split apart.
The third Ent aimed its roots at Benny's legs.
Benny leaped into the air to avoid it and struck down with his wooden sword.
— Crack!!
Mission accomplished.
Edelyn finished the rest. She launched three Water Balls in rapid succession, precisely bursting the eyeballs of the remaining three Ents.
Silence returned to the valley.
Ten fallen Ents lay scattered around. Black sap trickled over the rocks.
Benny leaned on his knees, gasping for air.
"Hah... hah... Got them all."
Edelyn was also breathing heavily. Her mana was nearly depleted.
"Teacher, we got them—"
Just as Benny turned toward Enoch.
The sound of something pushing through the brush echoed from the forest.
It wasn't just one or two. Several sets of footsteps were intertwined.
— Screeeech! Cackle!
The sounds drew closer.
Green skin appeared through the foliage.
Small frames. Pointed ears. Cackling through yellowed teeth.
Goblins.
Five of them emerged from the forest, each wielding a stone axe or a branch.
Enoch's expression shifted.
'Goblins?'
Enoch narrowed his eyes.
'Their habitat shouldn't be here...'
Goblins are monsters that primarily dwell in caves. It was strange for them to enter the Ents' territory.
'Were they driven out by something and forced here? Or—'
There was no time to gather his thoughts.
The Goblins cackled as they charged at the students, their eyes gleaming with greed.
"Again?!"
Benny raised his wooden sword. His breathing was ragged, and his legs were weary. His Engine was slowly powering down.
Edelyn raised her hand.
She tried to channel her mana.
— ......
Nothing came.
Her Mana Storage was empty. It was the price for fighting the Ents. Her fingertips tingled.
'Mana exhaustion...'
Edelyn's hand trembled. A Water Ball began to form but dissipated.
"Edelyn!"
Benny stepped forward. Checking her condition, he shouted.
"I'll hold them off!"
Benny blocked the path of the five Goblins.
The first Goblin swung its stone axe.
Benny parried it with his wooden sword.
— Clang!
The second one lunged from the side.
Benny twisted his body to dodge.
He was a fraction too slow. The Goblin's branch grazed his forearm.
— Rip.
"Urgh."
Blood seeped out. It wasn't deep, but it stung.
The third and fourth charged simultaneously.
Benny brought one down with a Downward Strike.
— Crack!
The last one aimed its stone axe at Benny's side.
He twisted away, but not entirely. The edge of the stone axe grazed his side.
"Kgh."
The fifth one leaped from behind.
By the time he turned, it was already too close.
Benny's Engine died.
— Thwack.
A boulder slammed precisely into the leaping Goblin's head.
ᚱᛟᚲ
Enoch had his hand extended. A rune was drawn in the air.
The Goblins stared at Enoch.
As Enoch moved his hand once more, three boulders rose and swept away the rest of them.
— Thwack! Thump! Thwack!
The Goblins were all wiped out.
Silence returned to the valley.
Benny knelt on the ground, panting, before lifting his head.
He saw the afterglow of the runes fading from Enoch's fingertips.
"Tea... Teacher?!"
Benny's eyes went wide.
"W... what was that?! Letters came out of your hand and a rock just flew!!"
Forgetting his wounds, Benny rushed toward Enoch. He grabbed Enoch's hand and inspected it from every angle.
"Is this magic?! You could use magic too?! Why are you only showing us now! It's so cool!"
Enoch pulled his hand away and spoke.
"Calm down."
"Letters were carved in the air!! And a rock flew!!!!"
Edelyn remained sitting on the ground, staring at Enoch. Though exhausted from mana depletion, her eyes were sharp.
'Was that... really magic? There was no magic circle?'
All the magic Edelyn knew was manifested through magic circles.
But what Enoch had used were letters. He had sent a boulder flying with a single character.
Edelyn asked.
"Teacher! Was that rune magic? Can I learn it too?"
Her face was filled with intellectual curiosity as she looked at Enoch.
Even though she was exhausted, her curiosity remained vivid.
'Even if you look at me like that, I don't know until I try... Runes are different from magic...'
Enoch looked back and forth between the two students.
"More importantly, there's something else."
He spoke with a serious expression.
"Sparring and real combat are very different, right?"
His words had a sharp edge to them.
"You did well taking down ten Ents. That was impressive. But you were completely helpless against the Goblins that attacked immediately after, weren't you?"
The students fell silent.
"Tell me what each of you felt during today's fight."
Enoch's gaze shifted toward Edelyn.
Edelyn pressed her lips together for a moment before speaking.
"I felt that my mana was far too low."
She tried to sound composed, but her voice trembled at the end.
"I was so focused on fighting the monsters that I didn't realize how much mana I had left."
Edelyn looked down at her shaking hand.
"Once I hit mana exhaustion, I could only watch as Benny got hurt."
She took a breath and continued.
"I felt powerless. I hated that the most."
Enoch nodded and looked at Benny.
Benny toyed with the wound on his forearm before speaking.
"Sparring... it has a beginning and an end, doesn't it?"
His voice was lower than usual.
"Whether it was at the Academic Festival or sparring with Knight Commander Garrett, there was always an end. Once a winner was decided, it stopped. It didn't matter if I was exhausted."
Benny looked up and gazed deeper into the forest.
Toward the direction where the Goblins had appeared.
"But real combat has no end. I thought we'd finished the Ents, but then the Goblins appeared. I don't know what will come next."
Benny looked down at his wooden sword. It was stained with a mixture of sap and blood.
"The idea that I have to keep fighting... is harder than I thought."
Enoch listened to both students until they finished.
Then he spoke.
"It's enough that you've realized that."
Enoch continued.
"It's true that your mana is low. And it's true that real combat has no end. That's undeniable."
Enoch reached out his hand to Edelyn.
"But you are growing even at this very moment."
Edelyn took Enoch's hand and stood up.
"You only recently created your Mana Storage. If you accumulate mana every day, your capacity will grow. Right now you run out after a few monsters, but in a month, you'll be able to take down twenty or more and still have plenty left."
Enoch reached out his hand to Benny as well.
"The Engine is the same. Right now, your physical strength runs out first, but as your body is trained, you'll be able to use it for much longer."
Benny took Enoch's hand and stood up.
"Your mana and your bodies are growing every day. Don't worry."
Enoch looked at both students.
"Today, you simply felt what you were lacking. You didn't fail."
Benny gave a wide grin.
"Yes! I'll do better next time!"
A faint smile spread across Enoch's lips.
'Smiling even when covered in wounds... that's so like Benny.'
Sancta walked over to the injured Benny.