Magic With You

The shadow spikes caused heavy injuries on the deer but it was not enough to totally kill it. This is the Magic Beasts' edge over humans.

Human spells need to be powerful enough to kill magic beasts. As for the beasts, one solid hit on the human bodies might already be enough to kill.

Calter poured more mana on the sword in his hand and the black aura around it intensifies. Since the deer is still controlling the surrounding trees, it would be harder to get close to it

Calter poured strength on his arm while his eyes locked on the deer.

Swoosh!

The sword traveled in a straight line and penetrated the deer's face, finally killing it as a result

Nature calmed down and Calter didn't immediately approach the deer to take the crystal diamond. He decided to survey his surroundings first for any unexpected variables before cautiously walking towards the corpse of the deer

Fortunately, Calter did that as five seconds after the deer died, that diamond shot a red beam and it penetrated several trees in a row

Calter started wondering how the examinees will retain their lives. With these many obstacles, how did the academy do that?

Calter waved his hand and a black hand made from mana formed in front of him. He controlled the hand and it inched closer towards the dead deer and he successfully picked the crystal on its forehead

However, Calter was dismayed when the crystal exploded into stinky fogs. The crystal on the deer is one of the fake ones

Calter sighed while shaking his head. Being a student from Escardon Academy is harder than what most people think

The youth just made more ghost spy and used them to search for new enemies

Calter didn't know it at that time but every student was being watched by the Academy staff. Grand Knights were also spread on every part of the forest and they will save the ones that can possibly die

The three Great Kingdoms already has a lot of Grand Knights in them, what more for the Escardon Academy? The low-level Grand Knights are sometimes even treated as expendables

The people that are watching Calter can't help but praise him. He has great fighting skills and is even cautious. The staffs can't find any flaws in him

Calter continued and head deeper into the forest. A spell boosting spell is ready to be activated from the slightest signs of danger

The youth reached an area with a lot of vines that made it harder for anyone to continue walking

Calter slashed his sword in the vine and pieces of it fell to the ground. The damned academy made everything hard for the students

The written exam is already hard for the geniuses but this practical exam is practically hell for everyone. The mechanics and settings were all ridiculously hard

Calter's ears twitched and he immediately moved his hand to place his sword in front of him. One of the vines around moved and it was about to strangle him

"Could it be ...?" Calter muttered before seeing that more vines around him started moving

"Damn it!" Calter cursed before spreading mana on his sword and a black colored fire burned on it. "[Dark Magic: Shadow Flame!]"

Calter slashed his sword all around him. The vines were easily cut and the shadow flame that touched them continued burning

The more vines that touched Calter's sword, the bigger the fire becomes

"Should I use summoning magic?" Calter asked in himself as he saw the more vines were trying to attack him

Summoning his skeletons will make things easier for him. However, he can't blindly summon his creatures. Summoning spells required a lot of mana, if he summoned them as if they were nothing then that might attract an unwanted attention

Calter wants to be hailed as a genius in the academy so that he'll have more resources. However, he can't show all of his capabilities as he knew how shocking his power is for someone at his level

Normal Rank 1 mages can summon around 3 skeletons but with all the mana that Calter has, he can summon ten times of that!

If Calter summoned rank 1 skeletons, then people will think that he already used 1/3 of his mana

"If I can't summon Rank 1 Creatures then I'll summon a weaker version" Deciding this, Calter waved his hand and a few meters summoning circle appeared

Five skeleton warriors appeared but their power is only at the apprentice level. Calter didn't stop though and summoned fifteen more of them

The skeletons' power was not enough to resist the vines but they can buy time for Calter. Besides, summoning this much Rank 0 creatures is normal for a Magic Warrior

Calter used a speed-boosting spell to himself and moved his flaming sword around so that it will have contact with all the vines around. That will ensure that the shadow flames will burn the annoying 'props'

Calter literally used the skeletons as cannon fodders. Pieces of bones fell on the ground as the vines constricted their bodies

When all the vines were finally destroyed, the skeletons were no more. The vines didn't destroy their head but their lower bodies were mostly crushed and they lose the ability to move

With another wave of Calter's hand, the poor skeletons dissipated into black specks of light and vanished.

Calter was about to continue but he saw a red flash coming from his side. The youth's body moved on its own and he dodged that read beam. Fortunately, Calter still has his speed-boosting spell and his body was able to react.

As soon as Calter dodged, he immediately jumped away and looked at the attack's source. He saw the item he needs to pass the exam embedded in a small ball of vines.

The vines were destroyed and some flames were burning the remaining vines on that crystal because of all Calter's earlier attacks

Seeing that, Calter just made another hand using mana and controlled it to retrieve the diamond crystal.

This time, Calter is in luck as the crystal didn't explode into stinky gas and he stored it inside his spatial ring

Calter decided to just find a shelter first to rest. He still has a lot of mana but in other people's eyes, using the spells he made must have used a huge chunk of his reserves

Calter needs to show that he is a genius but is still on an acceptable level

The young master went to one of the bigger trees with thick leaves that can shade him from the sun

As Calter is cautious, he checked first if there was another trap. He almost got pierce by the leaves before because of a trap and he doesn't want that to happen again

Calter made several hands from mana and patted the surrounding areas. He activated one trap in front of the tree he was about to rest and hardened leaves fell from above

After checking the area for the second time only then did Calter 'rested'

The Tower Manager didn't give a time limit to the students and Calter is sure that this exam will take more than a day to complete

-----

Kence knew his shortcomings and didn't head deeper into the forest. Kence decided to circle around the edge because of several reasons

The first is that stronger magic beasts might be in the core area of ??????the forest. Second, Kence doesn't want to fight any humans if possible. The other examinees will think of entering deeper into the forest and that will make the outer area free for Kence

Kence was walking steadily and slowly while watching out for any magic beasts that will sneak attack him. His magic ring is already activated and he's ready to use a spell if needed

Kence stepped on something and when he looked at it, he saw a rune on his feet. There was something on Kence that tells him to duck and he did that which was the right choice

Sharp grasses from the ground aimed for his head. If not for Kence ducking in time, that hardened grass would have surely hit him

"A t-trap?" Kence muttered and gulped. "Why does the Tower Manager didn't inform us of this?" Kence asked to no one bitterly

If not for Kence reacting on time, that grass would hit him on the head. Kence stood up again while sighing. He became even more mindful of his surroundings

Kence looks as if he was walking on a thin sheet of ice wherein one wrong move of his will destroy his footing

Soon, Kence encountered his first magic beast. The youth was naive as he thought that it wasn't hostile. The magic beasts that he encountered was a gorgeous bluebird

Kence was amazed by its appearance before the bird opened its beak and shot an arrow of water towards him. Kence's body move on its own and he turned his head on the side

The water arrow hits the ground behind Kence and left a hole in it

Kence's heart shudders before he turned serious. The youth might be naive and innocent but he still knew things that he should do

Four throwing knives appeared around Kence and he poured icy energy on them. The knives floated in the air and Kence controlled it using magic

Four icy trails appeared in the forest as the knives went to attack the bird. The bird flapped its wings and that action generated winds, strong enough to lower the momentum of Kence's knives

The knives found it hard to continue moving and Kence just controlled them to fly back on his position. He poured more icy energy on them and the image of a bird's head made from ice formed on it

"[Ice Magic: Bird Assault!]" Kence made a slapping motion with his hand and the knives' speed accelerated

In the past month, Kence made a lot of progress and made several new spells. The one he is currently using is one of them

The knives flew side by side and the bird tried using the same tactic of flapping its wings to generate strong winds. However, this time, the knives' speed slowed down but still has a great speed

The bird panicked and decided to fly higher but Kence just controlled the knives and their speed accelerated even more. One of the knives managed to successfully hit Kence's opponent and it penetrated the bird's right wing

The bird loses the ability to fly and it was slowly descending down. Kence sighed as his attack hits the bird before he controlled the other knives again to finish this fight

Too bad that the bird still has fighting capabilities. Five birds similar to the one that Kence is fighting suddenly appeared on the injured bird's side

The new birds met the three throwing knives and the birds turned into water that stopped the knives in their places

The remaining two birds continued and flew in the air to attack Kence

The youth didn't think that the bird still has the power to resist and was caught off guard. He can only move his body on the side to dodge but one of the birds still grazed pass his shoulder

The youth felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Warm liquid flowed out from it and the pain lowered Kence's fighting ability a lot

Kence's senses warned him and when he turned his head behind, he saw that the bluebirds that he dodged seconds ago were coming back to him

Kence knew that if he was hit again, it would be game over for him and he doesn't want that! Kence wants to be admitted to the academy!

He can't let his foster father lose face. He can't let all his hard work be wasted!

Without Kence knowing, the half of his heart that has ice on them started beating faster and it sent a wave of power all around his body

Kence's innocent and youthful eyes vanish. It was replaced by a coldness that can pierce one's heart and make people shudder

A layer of ice covered Kence's wound and it stopped the bleeding before it starts to slowly heal

Kence's eyes flashed with a blue light and he moved his hand that was exuding a cold blue fog