Chapter 19: A Broken Mountain Needs Broken Spells

Viren rubbed his hands together enthusiastically. Oh, yes. He was going to be making a lot of money today. Just as he had promised Ryland. Viren had it covered.

The graduate student candidates were all here, all of them together in their teams. Each had been assigned a numbered badge, with Ryland’s group getting number three. There was a whole heap of fanfare, and lots of formalities too, but Viren wasn’t paying attention to any of that.

He just made sure to note the important bits of information, most of which he had already picked up yesterday.

“Each team will need to head to the Designated Area as soon as they enter the Trial Zone,” said the administrative official, pointing at the enormous dome of mana. Of Living Mana, to be exact. Despite having seen and known about it for ages, Viren still had trouble believing the academy could contain and control this much Living Mana at once.

He focused on the actual task and ticked the main information off his fingers.

“Every mage is allowed to use any kind of magic they see fit. It is what they achieve with their magic that will be a key criterion being judged.”

Check.

“The mages must rely on each other for support. No external assistance will be provided, not even in the case of emergencies, for the difficulty of the Trials will be based on the capabilities of the participating mages.”

Check.

“There is no set number of entrants who will be accepted. It may be a lot. It may be none. It all depends on the general performance within the Trial Zone. However, participants can only be victorious as a team. If any member is eliminated, the whole team is eliminated.”

Check.

There were a few more minor things, but Viren disregarded them and headed over to the best spot of this whole business. The betting spot.

“Hello,” he said to the bookkeeper, an older student who was in his last year at the academy. “I’d like to place a wager on Team Three.”

“The team who got the late newcomer just to fill up their ranks?” The student laughed. “Wild bet, little junior.”

Viren waved around the cash. “You want it or not?”

His senior snatched away the money. “Sure, I’ll take it off your hands. Just don’t come crying when you end up broke.”

Viren received the listings as the others around him argued and laughed about who might win.

“Team Seven has that jerk from House Flitchard,” a girl was whispering. “Haven’t you seen how he’s been acting? He’s not going to let any of the other teams live, much less compete to win.”

“Psh,” scoffed someone else. “Team Two has the junior Kleador. He’s supposedly even better than his older brother, and we all know how he’s been doing at the academy.”

The name made Viren’s ears perk up. Kleador was the surname. The “older brother” was one of the Excursion Club leaders, and the one who had been in charge of Viren’s excursion. The one who had left Viren behind.

He suppressed the surge of annoyance by looking down at the betting list. In fact, he smiled when he found the line that had Team Three’s odds.

210/3.

Viren almost laughed.

It was funny to recall how much Ryland had seemed worried that he was spending so much at the restaurant, when Ryland himself was about to earn him back all that money and more.

“Hey, uh,” Viren said, trying to contain his smile as he located the bookkeeper. “I think I want to raise my bid a little.”

Ryland checked his watch just before the Entrance Trials started. Hmm. An important event had come up on short notice, and it was unlikely he’d be done with the Trials when it started. Oh, well. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be in too much of a bind when the time came.

A pleasantly cool sensation washed over him as he entered the dome of Living Mana with the rest of his team. It was like walking through a thin, chilly waterfall.

He almost felt like lingering underneath it just to enjoy the sensation a little longer.

Unfortunately, the pleasantness was interrupted by a sparking warning shooting through his abdomen. Ah, right. Another little interference he needed to take care of.

“[Endless Evolution],” Ryland muttered.

The spell circle with his Soul Glyph of Genesis as the Centreglyph came to life within his body, so it wouldn’t draw much attention. Within moments, the pain in his lower torso disappeared.

“What did you just do?” Kendren asked. He was shivering. Apparently, he had been observing Ryland. “And—and what was that spell you just used?”

“Ah, I possess a certain organ that doesn’t interact well with Living Mana,” Ryland explained. “It’s called a Procyon. I keep it to regulate mana through the rest of my organs, so it’s kind of like a mana heart, which I mostly use to empower my magical defences—”

“Hello!” Alendra said. “Y-you two need to c-cut the chitchat and focus on the Trials.”

She had a point there. Now that Ryland was no longer preoccupied with ensuring his guts weren’t threatening to tear themselves apart, he could focus on the landscape they had just arrived at.

Kendren was giving him an odd look, but Ryland was honestly used to it by now. No doubt, before all this was over, he’d be garnering a lot more attention.

The Trial Zone seemed to have flung them to a mountaintop. Except, the mountain was broken. They were standing on one of the largest shelves of rock in the area, with the broken chunks of the mountain floating all around them, both above and below. The sky was a misty grey, and there was actual fog swirling through the area too, obscuring the distance.

Oh, and it was cold as well. No surprise. This was supposed to be a mountain peak.

“D-don’t worry,” Alendra said, teeth still chattering. “I’ve got this. [Environmental Control].”

Immediately, the cold lessened. Alendra’s spell circle shone bright gold in the air, taking control of the air and instilling warmth around them. The others slowly relaxed.

Ryland hadn’t been affected to begin with, but he appreciated that the others felt better.

He observed the spell carefully. “Ah, what an interesting Soul Glyph. Is that at Tier [7]?” he asked with academic interest.

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Alendra shot a surprised look at him. “You already read the Soul Glyph?”

She had good reason to be a little shocked. Most spell circles formed and activated far too quickly for anyone to identify the Centreglyph easily. Well, anyone not named Ryland, that was.

“I have my suspicions, but I thought I’d confirm.”

“Suspicions? If you really read it, then you should have seen it’s obviously Tier [7].”

Now she was scowling, though it felt a little forced. Like she wanted to use her annoyance as a cudgel to beat back her disquieted shock that Ryland had casually identified her Soul Glyph.

He just smiled at her. “You’re right to be proud. This spell is great.”

Ryland noted a hint of pride in her voice. That was one of the things he was curious about. While Alendra had confirmed that the Grand Frame had clearly appropriated the spell ranks generally popular across the Realms, Ryland still didn’t know what exactly was appropriate for a mage’s rank.

Would a Silver-ranked sorcerer such as himself normally be capable of Tier [20+] magic?

Doubtful. Very doubtful.

So then, what did that say about Alendra’s rank? Especially with the context that she was proud to have manifested a Tier [7] spell?

“Yes!” Kendren said, rubbing his hands together as he enjoyed the new warmth. “My vision is no longer getting clouded by my own breaths. Alendra is amazing.”

Instead of feeling pleased, she just gave them a soft glare at laying it on so thick. “Thank you, but we’re wasting time.”

“I can point the way,” Sint said, stepping forward.

She had forced her arms to unclasp from around herself now that the temperature was higher. A Glyph manifested as she held out her hand—a Glyph of Search.