Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Teamless Team (3)
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Truth be told, I hadn't planned on cheating from the start. The original plan was to 'observe' the magic formula with the SZX-9500, 'memorize' it exactly as is, and then 'recreate' it on my mana calipers.
It was irresponsible.
Way too optimistic.
Once I actually tried it, I ran out of mana. The Notebook's capacity was insufficient too. I nearly burst a blood vessel in my eye just looking at Soliet Arkne's magic formula.
So, I had no choice but to pivot to a far more direct and efficient Plan B.
Stealth-walk—"walking at the very back."
"Did you tail us?"
The price was an angry Soliet. Of course, she couldn't care less about her own grade, but being raised in a knightly family, she despised these kinds of shortcuts.
"......"
I nodded silently and kept walking.
The cave held quite a few stone chairs and a blackboard. It felt like what a school from primitive times might look like.
Asilen glanced at her watch and said,
"It's 6:30 now, so we'll wait until 9~"
Two hours and thirty minutes left.
I sat on a chair and yawned. My butt and back ached from the hardness, and the piercing glares from Soliet's team stung the back of my head, but it seemed like a good spot for a decent nap.
......
"Okay~ Focus, focus! Let's concentrate~!"
Clap clap—the sound of applause snapped my eyes open. I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth and looked around.
There were a lot of people. Way more than I'd expected. The chatter was louder than Edrilla Station's waiting room.
"Nice to meet you all~ Looks like we've got about 200 people here?"
Looking closely, most were in different uniforms. Not just Endex—Devon, Sdeme, Otali, and so on... It seemed seniors from mana high schools across Edrilla had gathered.
"No worries about who arrived early or late—that's not part of the evaluation~"
Asilen said,
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Asilen, the College Board handler. I'm in charge of Exploration Area A, the Mist Mountains of Parascal."
With a tired face, she continued,
"Today's task is simple. Write an exploration report on everything you see, hear, and feel in these 'Mist Mountains.' Your grades will be based on the report's quality, and there are just two evaluation criteria."
The blackboard already had 'Key Elements of the Exploration Report' written on it.
１. Mana
２. Ecosystem
"How well and accurately you observe and write about mana and the ecosystem—that's all we'll look at. Phones won't work here, so bringing them is useless~ It's teamwork, but make sure to track what you investigated! There are individual scores too~"
That was when someone in the seat in front of me raised their hand.
"Yes? What is it?"
The guy in front turned to look at me for some reason. It was Kielli. His eyes held a petty hostility.
"Can we fight if it comes up during exploration?"
"Pfft."
Asilen snickered.
"Of course~ When has the College Board ever banned fighting? Just don't kill anyone~"
Just don't kill. It was a brutally stark statement.
"Got it."
Kielli nodded and sank back into his chair with satisfaction. I scratched my brow.
"Alright, task starts now~ Deadline is midnight. We'll send you off in the order you arrived, with 5-minute intervals~"
Asilen pushed aside the large blackboard. Behind it were about five passages.
"Enter through here, and the Mist Mountains await~ Soliet's team first!"
She pointed at Soliet. Her five team members shot to their feet.
"Which passage will you pick~?"
Soliet strode to the farthest right one. Her four teammates followed behind her.
Mist Mountains entrance. Soliet and the other four scanned the area.
Fog enveloped everything. Visibility was barely 3 meters, and beyond that was all opaque.
"......This fog is insane."
"Anyone can tell it's water-attribute mana, right?"
Fog this thick was a first, drawing gasps of admiration. At least deducing the mana attribute was easy. Fog was water, obviously.
Kielli said,
"Pull out the tools first."
"Okay."
A teammate took a portable mana analyzer from his bag.
Click—
"......Huh?"
Click-click-click-click—
No matter how many times he flipped the switch, it wouldn't turn on.
"It's not turning on?"
Kielli frowned.
"What? Why? Did you bring a defective one—"
"Let me see."
Soliet held out her hand. The teammate handed it over with a cowed expression.
Click-click—click-click—
Dead as a doornail.
"It's not defective. Probably the mana density."
"Mana... density?"
"Yes."
She had expected this much.
In places where mana density is far higher or lower than the continental average, artifacts might not function. In harsh terrains like this, you have to sense mana properties with your body or infer from the environment.
If it's water-attribute, you'd get thick fog like this, insane humidity where you get soaked just standing there, or nonstop rain—something like that.
So the Mist Mountains' mana was likely water-attribute, but you couldn't jump to conclusions.
"Put it away."
"Ah, okay."
The teammate stowed the analyzer in the exploration bag.
"Now, let's spread out."
Soliet's team had pre-planned their exploration as 'individual scouting.' The five would fan out in different directions, explore, regroup at set times, compile info, and write the report.
"Okay. Here, take one each."
Kielli handed paper cup phones to his four teammates.
"We're all connected, so communicate with these."
Paper cup telephones. Same principle as the childhood game with string between two cups, but the string here was mana—vastly different.
This was Kielli's Spectrum.
He could draw out mana as thin threads. Normally limited to 2-3 km, but in a mana-dense place like this, it could stretch to 10 km max.
"Call if anything happens. I'll come."
The teammates attached the cups to their belts.
"You guys go ahead. I need to talk to the team leader real quick. That's fine, right, team leader?"
Kielli looked at Soliet. She paused, about to head out for exploration.
"I'll be back."
"Whew. Tense, huh."
"Meet at 4, right?"
Soon, the three teammates scattered in different directions. Kielli said to the tilting-headed Soliet,
"Team leader. What about that guy?"
"That guy?"
"Y'know, the yellow buzzcut."
"......You mean Sion Askal?"
"Yeah. He just gonna sit it out?"
Soliet replied calmly,
"Yes. Shit is dirty, so it's shit. No need to waste time stepping in it."
A perfectly Soliet answer. Kielli grinned, showing his right side. He preferred it over the left.
"Haha. Fair enough. Guess I'll do the same."
"Yes. See you later."
Soliet walked into the fog, then suddenly stopped as if struck by a thought. She turned back to Kielli.
"By the way, I have a question."
"Huh? What? Ask anything."
To the innocently smiling Kielli, Soliet asked in a flat tone,
"High score. Was it you?"
"......Huh?"
High score, 687 cm.
Kielli's sleeve still lacked its button.
"Uh......"
Caught off-guard, he stammered and scratched his neck.
"That...... Later. After the task."
"......Yes."
Soliet silently climbed the mountain path without another word.
As her back vanished into the fog, Kielli clenched his fist tight.
"Whoa!"
Somehow, things were going according to plan.
687 cm was obviously the handler's doing anyway. No one else but Gerkken Kal Dun could hit that. No-mana zone? Just don't go back, no chance of getting caught. And hey, it wasn't even a huge lie, right?
I could clear 550 cm easy. Decent physical build, if I do say so.
Use this to get closer, live worry-free forever.
"Heh...... Oh, right."
Kielli, who had been fiddling absentmindedly, suddenly sobered and raised his finger. Five threads dangled from his index.
Four connected to teammates, the other one...
"Fucking dogshit bastard."
Tied to Sion Askal secretly while he slept.
A pathetic cheater. Endex's official outcast, total loser.
Even a loser like that would explore. Write a report, too.
"Just you wait."
Kielli planned to snatch it once he thought the guy had scribbled something decent.
It'd be crap quality, sure, but it bugged him that a punk like that was still in the College Board.
Ziiing—
Right on cue, the blue line to Sion Askal vibrated. Sign he was moving.
"You're done for."
Kielli smirked at it.
"......What a shitty environment."
I muttered as soon as I entered the Mist Mountains.
Felt trapped in clouds. Visibility zero, doubting if I was even walking forward.
At this point, walking was pointless.
I stopped and pulled out my mana calipers. Infused mana into the handle, and a transparent film like soap bubbles formed between the prongs. I invoked Mana Realm onto it. The film turned achromatic and spat out a reading.
[9,000ppm]
Mana calipers' purpose. Catalysts to reduce mana cost and ease memory recall.
"9,000... 0.09%?"
Over three times the continental average—brutal density. Explains the mana phenomena.
I wrote a line in my report.
◆ Mana Density
The mana density in the Mist Mountains' air is estimated to be over three times the continental average.
Next, I invoked Mana Analyzer onto the calipers. The recently achromatic film turned transparent again.
Honestly, no real need to check. Fog this thick screamed water-attribute.
In general, mana attributes in any region are 'elemental.' The familiar water, wind, earth, fire. Non-elemental mana existed, but rarely.
I infused mana to activate Mana Analyzer on the calipers.
"......No dice."
No response. Supposed to disperse mana and emit a specific attribute's spectrum.
Probably the density again.
Portable analyzers max out at 7-8,000 ppm. Higher, and they fail.
"Hm......"
Could just call it water-attribute, but why leave it to chance?
I gripped the calipers tight and invoked Perion.
Whiiiirrr——!
The two prongs resonated. The film flickered wildly—proof of amplification.
I swung it through the air. Crackle—! Fog mana dispersed like sparks between the prongs, releasing a spectrum laced with attributes.
Purple.
"......Not water-attribute."
Fog is condensed water vapor clinging near the ground. Clouds on the surface. 'Water.'
But this fog was purple. Purple wasn't one of the four great elements. 'Spirit energy.' The kind you see in graveyards usually.
I added a line to my report.
◆ Attribute: Estimated to contain spirit-like energy.
Attribute identified, I activated the SZX-9500. The irritating fog cleared from my retinas.
A kind of mana vision filter. For analyzing magic formulas mixed with multiple mana attributes—works here too.
"Let's see."
Planned to find high ground first. Higher up for better view.
"......Hm?"
Climbing the path, I suddenly caught a 'flow' near the Mist Mountains' peak.
Thin mana strands twisting together, rising to the sky—an odd scene.
Precursor to a mana phenomenon.
"8-9 hours left."
Tonight, Friday 9 PM: natural mana phenomenon occurs.
Type: 5th-grade Dispel.
In Edrilla, happens 2-3 times a year—fairly common. Dispel's effect: 'Extinguishes mana in the area for a not-insignificant time.'
In other words, the entire Mist Mountains becomes a no-mana zone.