That Part Stands Up Before Mother Nature
That Part Stands Up Before Mother Nature
— Vwoom!
A low, droning tinnitus—as if his brain were being flipped inside out.
Dizziness. Much like stepping through a portal.
The classic side effect of teleportation magic.
Ian's senses belatedly stirred, one by one.
The first to wake was smell.
Water and moss, timber and damp soil—the scents layered across his senses. As the rest of his awareness caught up, the scene around him swam into focus.
"......."
The entire world was green.
Ahead, a riot of grasses and plants.
Above, a dense canopy of leaves.
At least when he looked down, the moist, rich earth softly bore his weight.
Birds fluttered among the towering trees, chirping— chirp chirp chirp— a lively chatter.
"Haaah—"
Ian drew a deep breath without realizing it.
The great outdoors was simply that immaculate.
Not that Ian was normally the type to wax poetic about nature.
It was just—
"The earth mana's responding."
The mana of the earth element, resonating with nature, had lifted his mood.
The earth-attribute mana flooding his body raced through him, leaping excitedly as though it had come home.
Suddenly, his trousers pulled taut.
"What the hell is this."
Ian sat cross-legged on the ground.
He needed to settle his mana, and fast.
'... I've really gone nuts, haven't I.'
The creeping dread—aimed squarely at himself.
Obviously, Ian wasn't some deviant who got off on nature.
The impossibly animated mana flow had simply gotten to his body.
The sensation of brimming mana was undeniably wonderful, but mishandled, it could run wild beyond his control.
Ian swiftly settled his mana through dantian breathing.
Only then did the mana rampaging through his system collect in his dantian.
Earth-attribute mana, always prioritized for purity above all.
Looking at it again, the amount gathered was about the volume of a large water bottle.
"... If I do this right, I could expand it even more here, couldn't I?"
So this is the taste of Mother Nature?
Grinning, Ian rose and surveyed his surroundings.
Far off stood a crocodile-shaped rock. Called a crocodile, but more precisely, it bore the features of an eastern dragon.
The official in-game name was 'Dragon Rock'.
Its location and approach strategies were stored in Ian's head in considerable detail—after all, this was one of the few places in Fanta X Aca where true mystery slumbered.
"... Farther than I thought."
The distance was greater than expected.
He must have landed at the far edge of the designated zone.
Ian set off quickly.
— Kreeeng!
Hunting the odd animal or monster for food along the way.
Back in his cash-strapped early days after possession, he'd often scrounge protein through hunting, so it was no hardship.
And on top of that, he was an earth element Awakened.
To Ian, this place was practically his natural-born home ground.
◆
Ian adapted superbly to the wilds.
The other students? Their state was dire.
"Kyaaaaah! It's a fuzzy bug!!"
Some students shrieked at the sight of caterpillar-like creatures.
"They said island, so I pictured a resort... heavens, to think an island like this actually exists. Utterly filthy."
"I just wanted to sit for a moment. This tree at least looks clean... what is this! Some kind of sticky gunk on my clothes...!"
Children who couldn't cope with the island in its wild, untamed state kept popping up.
The reason, simply put:
Most Lichten Academy students were children of high-ranking nobles or the bourgeoisie.
Raised in the imperial capital or major cities, they found true, untamed nature thrust upon them anything but easy to handle.
To be fair, the academy gave students a variety of experiences through sparring and practical training.
Those who accepted those experiences with an open mind adapted with some flexibility.
But for the greenhouse children who hadn't, it was nothing short of hell.
Meanwhile.
Behind a large tree.
Elena burst out laughing as she watched the flustered students.
"Hehehe. Everyone seems a good deal more timid than I expected."
Elena was a priestess of the Numina sect.
She had no money.
Which meant she was close to nature.
— Crunch!
Munching on a handful of wild fruit, Elena looked around.
"I should get to a higher spot."
Her short stature wasn't giving her a good view.
Still, Elena moved while keeping herself hidden.
The area where she had landed was crawling with students.
Stepping into an open space meant a high risk of exposing herself to attack.
"... Over there, is it?"
Unmistakably a rock shaped like a crocodile.
Fortunately, it didn't look very far.
Maybe a thirty-minute walk if she hurried?
Elena took a long-sleeved shirt and pants from her backpack, put them on, and pushed through the undergrowth, moving fast.
In the midst of that—
— ... Hold it right there. If you've got anything, hand it over and move along.
A low voice came from the clearing beyond the trees.
"... What's that?"
Elena carefully peered toward the clearing from behind a tree.
Three male students were surrounding one female student.
'... Those scoundrels!'
Elena, a fundamentally good-hearted priestess, was furious.
She was too scared to go out and save her, though.
But wait.
Isn't that Sharon Pierce?
As Elena stood on tiptoe, the confrontation grew heated.
"... For what reason are you blocking the way?"
At Sharon's murmur, one of the men sneered.
"For whaaat reason are we blockin' the way? Keheheh."
"This bitch still thinks she's somebody."
Two of them chuckled.
The one with a slightly uneasy expression hesitated.
"Tch. Even so, she's the strongest in the swordsmanship club. Wouldn't it be better to just let her go?"
"This bastard's scared."
"S-Scared, my ass! I'm just thinking strategically here."
"Hey. Did you not see this bitch at the rank evaluation? She's just a toothless tiger."
"Even so..."
"Come on, she's clearly in bad shape. We need to collect some coins now. How can you call yourself a top ranker in the scouting division with that attitude?"
Sharon, expressionless, tried to walk past them.
In that moment—
"Hey. You just gonna pretend you didn't see us and walk by?"
"Looks like the rumors are true. You're a laughable girl who takes after your father."
Information concerning imperial authority was tightly controlled. The Northern Duke's involvement with the Blood Rock Sect was a prime example. Such things only ever circulated as rumors. Simply voicing a rumor like that was an overwhelming insult.
A twitch.
Sharon's brow moved, just barely. But it wasn't because of the insult to herself.
It was because she couldn't stand the delay.
She had to move as quickly as possible.
If it meant being of help to him—
"I am in a hurry. Move aside."
"No stamina and still acting tough."
The male students mocked her.
Normally, with her temperament, she would have already drawn her blade.
But Sharon, even if it meant gritting her teeth, opened her mouth once more.
"I have no wish to waste my strength here. Move aside. I also have no intention of making more enemies."
Endless despair and pain. Sharon was someone who kept walking even through that ruin.
She had to improve.
By his standards.
However—
"Whoa. Our Sharon's really lost her fire, hasn't she? Looks like the rumors are true. Kind of spine-chilling, huh? Keheheh."
In the eyes of others, she merely looked weakened.
"Now that I look at her, isn't she sort of cute? Like we've broken a strong-willed girl."
"You're a crazy bastard, you know that. You'll get expelled, man."
"Who said I'd actually do anything? Just making an observation, keheh."
Ceaseless insults.
Yet the reason Sharon finally swung her sword was different.
"Looks like the rumor that something's going on with that womanizer bastard is true."
"Ah. Ian Blackangus? Birds of a feather."
"Victor said he'd toss us something if we hunt that bastard. Now let's finish collecting this bitch's coins and go get that piece of—"
— Shhhk!
The blood of the three men sprayed upward.
The scent of blood wasn't overwhelming—because the bracelets on their arms had activated.
[ Agelon Student Eliminated! Emergency Protection System Activated ]
[ Anyeff Student Eliminated! Emergency Protection System Activated ]
[ Dave Student Eliminated! Emergency Protection System Activated ]
Red pillars of light shot up over the three collapsed students. They just lay on the ground as if dead, gasping.
"Wooow..."
Before she knew it, a gasp had escaped Elena's lips as she watched the scene.
"...Hhk!"
She hurriedly covered her mouth, but—
Sharon slowly turned toward Elena.
A dry, lifeless gaze colder than any expressionless face.
A few drops of blood flecked her porcelain cheek.
"Hieeek—!"
Elena ran without looking back.
◆
Meanwhile.
Two enormous ships were anchored on one side of the island.
In one of them, every professor leading the students was gathered.
This was the so-called central control room, where the promotion battles were monitored.
Through a multitude of crystal balls and screens, the students' figures were displayed.
And at the very top, summary figures floated.
[ 1931 / 1987 ]
"It hasn't even been ten minutes since the start, and already more than forty have been eliminated."
While one professor murmured, another grumbled as he pulled on his clothes.
"Three eliminated at once! Imbeciles!"
Handling eliminated students fell under the supervising professors' duties as well. They rotated shifts to manage it, but the more of their own students who were eliminated, the bigger the headache—nothing to be done about that.
The lead professors in charge of first-years for each discipline—the so-called 'grade heads'—were exempt from that particular headache.
The grade heads' role was to track the overall flow of the students.
"As expected, Emilia Raymond of Aether Class is charging ahead. Overwhelming."
The most keen-eyed among them, Professor Rowen of the Scouting Department, murmured the words.