Survival Exam (9)

"I'm starving…."

"I'm hungry too, so shut up. You're wasting energy."

Wednesday. Morning of the third day broke, and the cadets were finally hitting their limits.

The uninhabited island had plenty of edible plants and animals—but just as many competitors. Countless carnivores and monsters, and the other cadets themselves, were all out hunting for food.

"Hey, isn't that a wild boar?"

"Shh. Let's go."

A chance at a real meal had finally found two hungry cadets combing the forest. After two days of nothing but fruit, a boar was enough to make anyone's eyes light up.

"Hey! Who the hell are you? That one's ours!"

"Haa… I'm so hungry I don't even have the strength to fight…."

But they weren't the only ones eyeing the boar. The two cadets locked eyes with another group that had emerged from the brush, and a standoff began.

"Come on, we're too wiped to fight. Can't you just back off?"

"No way we're giving up a boar. I'm sick of fruit."

"Hold on—do we really have to fight?"

Day three. Roughly half the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cadets had already been eliminated. That meant most of the survivors had already been through one or two fights.

And they had learned something.

Beating the enemy in front of you did not fill your stomach.

The food that came out of supply crates was pathetically scarce, and killing monsters didn't yield any rations either. In other words, the more you fought, the more energy you burned for nothing.

Of course, that was exactly what the academy had intended. High demand, low supply—compete, and sometimes cooperate, to scrape together food and survive. It fit the "survival" theme of the exam perfectly.

But in this version of events, diverged from the original, the cadets had come up with a different solution.

"Why don't we just team up and go find Lee Hoyeon? I heard he brought a mountain of food."

"…Yeah. I heard he's got a ton of smoked duck."

"Fighting each other is just going to wear us down."

"Let's round up the others too."

And so the cadets began hunting for the golden goblin somewhere on the island.

Wednesday morning.

"Nngh…."

I kneaded Elise's shoulders, feeding mana into her as I worked.

"So you're not meeting Rumi anymore?"

A few days of traveling together had loosened her up a little; Elise had started speaking up first now and then. Today, out of nowhere, she asked about Rumi.

"Yeah. Rumi said she wanted to stick with Lucy."

"Hmm…."

Why is she asking about Rumi?

I still couldn't get a proper read on Elise.

After finishing the mana infusion, I checked the remaining headcount on my smartwatch.

"A hundred and thirty…."

"They're dropping slower than I expected."

"…Yeah."

Elise was right. This was genuinely strange. A hundred and thirty people still alive. By day three, the number should have been dipping under a hundred. What had changed?

The biggest problem in the survival exam was food. Monsters were so numerous that wild game was scarce, and the fish weren't big enough to be worth eating. In the end you scraped by on tree fruit and waited on supply crates. Cadets were supposed to tear each other apart over those scarce drops—and yet the numbers weren't falling.

What was going on?

"Up ahead. Four of them."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Elise's voice snapped me back to the present.

"Ah. Okay. Got distracted and missed the check. Sorry."

I'd spent hours walking lost in thought about that headcount and let my awareness slip.

"It's fine."

A faint smile touched the corner of Elise's mouth—she looked pleased she'd spotted the enemies before I had.

"Two each."

"Yeah."

"You take the two in front. I'll handle the two in back."

We split the roles and closed in. Familiar faces—a mixed team from Class A and Class B. Facing the two of us should have been enough to make them flinch, but oddly enough their expressions were already full of fight.

"It's Lee Hoyeon! Kill him!"

"Hand over the food, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you bastard!"

"Look at that healthy glow. How well have you been eating out here?!"

"You're still hanging around with Elise even here? I'm leaving you a one-star review for real after this."

So I was the problem.

Well—it was about time they came looking. They'd known from the start that I had food on me….

Wait. Don't tell me the reason nobody's fighting is because of me?

Nah. No way.

"Guys. You should've prepared harder yourselves. Don't take it out on me."

I drew up my mana. Elise and I exchanged a glance, then charged at the same time. I took the two mages while Elise took the two swordsmen.

Two-on-one was a bad matchup on paper, but the gap between a top-tier cadet and an upper-tier one was more than enough to cover it.

I twisted my upper body mid-sprint and slipped past a flying ice arrow. At the same time I burned away the wooden vines coiling around my ankles and wrenched my feet free.

Their coordination's solid.

They felt like a pair who'd been running together from the start, the way Lucy and Rumi did. I was still weighing the cleanest way to finish them when the tree behind me suddenly hurled its leaves at my face.

"What the hell is this?"

I dodged and looked ahead—one cadet had a hand pressed to the ground, controlling the trees. The ice mage beside him kept summoning shards of ice around me, boxing me in.

I'd love nothing more than to just burn the whole lot of them….

That was the annoying part about being a fire mage in a forest. One careless spark and the whole woods went up. I wanted to casually drop a bolt of lightning on their heads, but I still wasn't ready to reveal my other elements.

"…Ah, forget it. Just die already."

Getting jumped by people who weren't even Nam Da-eun's level was starting to irritate me.

I floored the circuits in my body, detonated mana under my feet, and closed the distance in a blink. The moment a mage like me forced a melee, they flinched—but they clearly had a plan ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for close range too. They stopped steering the trees and started wrapping their own bodies in vines instead.

"Too late, you bastard."

One of them was probably holding the line while the other prepped a big spell. Way too simple a strategy.

A skill that spread flame out in a shallow, rolling surge. I'd used it before during the practical exam, slipping it into the gaps of the scrap-iron giant.

Ordinarily, a weak wash of fire slipping between those vines wouldn't have done a thing. But with my Mana Sensitivity, it was a different story.

"It's useless! Our duo is invincible!"

The plant mage stayed behind his wall of vines, covering the ice mage as he prepared an advanced spell. He looked plenty confident in his durability.

But when the flames that had slipped through the vines recombined right in front of his face, even he shut up.

"W-wait. How are you controlling a spell after it's already been cast— Argh!"

The fire crashed over him and swallowed the mage casting behind him as well.

"Ghk!"

"Aaaagh!"

Caught completely off guard, the two cadets reeled—then the warning chime on their smartwatches went off and the teleportation kicked in.

"See you. Next time, pack more food."

I waved them off as they vanished.

"You demon! Enemy of all men!"

"I draw the line at you going after Elise too!"

Tsk, tsk. Pathetic. So in the end they were just jealous I was hanging out with a girl.

The fight had dragged on longer than expected. Elise should have finished hers already, of course.

"Huh?"

I turned around—and found Elise being driven back hard under two blades.

"Am I seeing this wrong?"

I rubbed my eyes and checked again. Same picture. Elise couldn't hold against the two-pronged assault; every clash of steel forced her another step back.

I opened Insight and checked the state of Elise's body.

"Ah. She's out of mana."

Well—it had been a while since the last refill. That tracked. Elise had already noticed my fight was over, and she still wasn't calling for help. Pride, no doubt. She wanted to handle it herself.

I made myself comfortable and perched on a broad rock nearby. The mana she had left wasn't even a handful. Ten minutes at best, no matter how hard she stretched it. I'd leave her to hold out as long as she could and step in right before she got hurt.

About thirty minutes later.

Elise finally lost her grip on her sword. And just as one of the swordsmen brought his blade down, I stepped in.

"Sorry. Any longer and you were going to get hurt."

"…."

I slid between Elise and the swordsman and caught the descending blade on Cotton Guard. Forced to accept my intervention, Elise hung her head, pride clearly stung.

"Wh-what?! Why is Lee Hoyeon here?!"

"Where are the others?!"

The two swordsmen had been so locked into the fight they hadn't even noticed me watching for half an hour.

"You'll be seeing them soon enough."

Cleaning up two swordsmen who'd already spent over thirty minutes fighting themselves ragged was easier than blowing my nose. Once both of them had been teleported out, the silence that settled was thick enough that neither of us wanted to speak first. The negative energy rolling off Elise was no joke.

"Ahem. Elise? It's fine. I'll top your mana back up."

"…."

"I mean—your mana control was seriously incredible. You held out for thirty minutes on less than a handful of power."

"…How did you know."

"Hm?"

"How did you know I barely had any mana left in my body."

Elise lifted her head and fixed me with a terrifying stare.

Why is she mad about that….

"I just have a bit of a talent for mana, that's all."

"…I see."

It was a leak of information, sure—but it also quietly set up the idea that nobody else could match me as a masseur later on. Not a bad trade.

"Come here for now. Let's refill your mana."

I moved behind her and set my hands on her shoulders. Then Elise's next words stopped me cold.

"It works better… skin to skin, doesn't it?"

"…The cadets have started banding together. Targeting Cadet Lee Hoyeon."

"How frustrating. Is this even an exam anymore?"

"It might not be so bad. Situations like this are rare. It'll be a unique experience for all of them."

In the conference room where the professors had gathered, they were scoring the survival exam in real time. Scoring stopped the moment a cadet was eliminated, of course—but a high accumulated score could still outrank someone who lasted longer.

Among the professors, Lim Sol was quietly watching Lee Hoyeon.

I've never seen mana control like that before…. Incredible.

He was the first person whose work actually helped her own magic every time she watched him. Lim Sol was starting to wonder whether she should reveal herself as his sponsor—or take him on as a disciple outright. Either way, it would be a huge social boost for a twenty-year-old like Hoyeon.

I'll watch a little longer first.

Bzzzt—

Her smartwatch, set to vibrate, went off. Ordinarily you were supposed to power the thing down completely during scoring. But Professor Lim Sol was a specially invited lecturer brought in personally by the dean and the chairman; she didn't even have to participate in the grading. She was only here to look at Hoyeon's face, and the other professors hadn't complained.

"Hello? Why are you calling?"

Lim Sol stepped out of the conference room to take the call.

That familiar voice belonged to Min Yeji. Lim Sol sighed at her high-energy friend.

"It's ordinary. What do you want?"

"You know that's not allowed, so don't start with the nonsense."

As if she didn't know about the Mana Oath. Such a tiresome friend.

"A bribe…."

Lim Sol's mind flashed to the face he always made whenever she went down on him—that look of pure delight.

"Hoyeon…."

But she couldn't bring herself to say that Yeji could reel him in easily with her body. It was the kind of casual joke she normally tossed around, and Min Yeji wouldn't have taken it seriously anyway.

Even so, she didn't want to say it.

"…I don't know. He likes magic."

"I said I don't know, you damn fox. I'm busy. Bye."

Beep— beep—

"…Maybe I should take a break."

She'd been staring at Hoyeon's face for too long. Her head felt a little off. Getting possessive over something that wasn't even hers—wanting to keep him from anyone else.

"Haa… I'll just do some magic research."

For Lim Sol, rest meant magic research. But the moment she started researching, the image of that outstanding disciple only circled more stubbornly through her mind.