The mana surrounding the forest felt heavy, yet cold enough to send shivers down the young man's spine.
With each step, he had to stay silent.
The class placement exam had finally begun, scattering the students beyond the gate in separate directions.
Some had likely already encountered monsters. Some might already be fighting. Some might already be dead.
The young man moved through the trees with careful steps, avoiding every brittle patch of leaves beneath his boots.
"It stinks."
The deeper he went, the stronger the smell became.
Death.
At first it was faint enough to mistake for rotting leaves left beneath the trees after rain. But it clung to the air like a thick fog, growing stronger with every step he took.
Step after step it followed, even the cold air of the forest could no longer hide it.
Only then did the trees begin to thin.
The sight beyond them made him stop.
Bodies.
More than one.
Each left with burning marks.
They lay scattered across the forest floor as though something had passed through and left nothing alive behind.
Kneeling down, he touched the bodies. They were still warm. It hadn't been long since they died. And though they were almost hidden, small flowers grew beneath the bodies.
The surrounding trees were somehow unaffected, each one still intact, and if he looked closely, he could see that even though the monster lay above the flowers, they had not been crushed by its weight.
"It's either some miracle or divine judgement, either way no monster could cause this."
Lucian Payne was no ordinary student.
He was the top scorer of the class exam, a genius so exceptional that some people called him a "once in a thousand years prodigy".
But now, standing before this scene, all the titles he held proved to be useless, because it was something that even he cannot predict.
A space completely unaffected by what's happening outside it.
A Divine Beast lay there, the kind of creature even a fool would recognize as extraordinary. It stood within the chaos surrounding the forest like something apart from the world itself
The beast had created its own space. A clear line was drawn on the ground, separating the corrupted forest from its domain.
Its antlers rose high, red strings hanging from them. And yet, there was something gentle about it. Even imagining it stepping on a flower felt impossible.
The trees inside the space regained their life, hundreds of flowers bloom below the beast, but one thing is much more important.
A young girl slept beneath the shadow of the Divine Beast.
Her appearance was difficult to describe. Not because there were no words for it, but because every word Lucian thought of felt strangely mocking.
Beautiful. Elegant. Delicate. None of them felt right, as though describing her already diminished her beauty.
Lucian took a slow step into the space. The oppressive weight of mana outside eased at once, and the air regained its purity.
The Beast lifted its head.
A low growl rolled out of its throat.
Lucian stopped.
For a moment, neither side moved.
Then, after a brief pause, the Beast settled again, as though it had judged him and decided not to attack.
Lucian took that as permission and stepped forward once more.
The closer he got, the clearer the girl's face became.
Captivating.
That was the only word that came close. Her face was enough to stop his track.
She looked helpless in that moment, fragile in a way that made the scene feel strangely unreal.
The Beast growled again, but this time the sound was lower, less threatening, almost like a warning.
Lucian tilted his head slightly.
"What do you want me to do?"
The Divine Beast answered with another low growl. Then, with a flick of its tail, it handed the sleeping girl to him.
Lucian blinked.
Lucian felt as if time had slowed in her presence.
For a while, he found himself captivated, unable to look away from her.
A sea of questions came rushing to his mind. Who is she? Did she do this? Why did the Divine beast protect her? And much more.
He adjusted his hold on her, looking down for a moment before lifting his head again.
"Hnnn..." The girl let out.
She stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes immediately after.
"Whoa!"
Startled she jolted in his arm, breaking Lucian's balance. He tried hard to keep his balance while the girl clutched on.
"Phew... That was close," she said, puffing out her chest as if she had accomplished something.
"Pfft...." He concealed his laugh.
She seemed to be embarrassed, but that just made her actions more adorable.
"Ahh! You're... Lu... Luxan, right?"
She seemed to have recognized him, and he accepted her attempt to recall his name. He nodded.
"I would like to introduce myself, but first... Could you put me down?"
"Oh yeah, that is insightful of me."
Cleaning the dust of her uniform, the girl puff her chest out, and with her hand placed around her hips she proudly introduced herself.
"Seo Byul-A. My name is Seo Byul-A, and I'm just another student like you."
Byul-A—a name meaning "elegant star," fitting for such an eye-catching young lady.
Indeed, despite her fragile look, her demeanor was bright, the kind that shines even in the darkest part of the world.
"Now, to correct your mistake, my name is not "Luxan" it's Lucian Payne, it is nice knowing you."
They stare blankly at each other, stuck inside of their own thoughts. As the silence started to stretch out, Lucian noticed the long staff that Byul-A held.
"Are you a mage?"
"Oh! Um... I guess you can call me a mage."
Everything that had happened was too sudden to call coincidence. Fate? No—Lucian wouldn't settle for such a variable answer.
Can I trust her?
But the honesty in those eyes had to be taken into account. Did she cause the carnage outside?
No, she didn't look tired. If she had killed that many monsters and the trees were still untouched, it must have taken a huge toll on her.
An awkward silence followed which was perhaps to be expected.
"Lucian, Is there something wrong?"
He shook his head.
"No, it is nothing to be worried about."
And then they saw him.
Another student stood nearby.
Or rather—he was trying to hide.
Poorly.
Branches formed a crude crown over his head. Vines wrapped around his body in an attempt to blend into the forest, though the result was so clumsy it was almost insulting.
A truly pathetic attempt at camouflage.
"Who are you?" Lucian yelled.
The boy turned at once, looking around as if Lucian had called someone else.
"I'm talking about you."
The boy pointed at himself.
"Yes, You!"
His body went still.
Then his eyes widened.
"You can see me?"
Lucian frowned.
"Do you think I'm stupid?"
Panicked, the boy turned and ran immediately, leaving his pathetic disguise behind him.
"Bind."
A ring of light appeared before the boy's feet, and with one swift motion it bound his leg. But Lucian paid no mind to the boy. What caught his attention was something else.
Byul-A had cast a spell without Lucian noticing.
How did she...
It was impossible to cast a spell without emitting either light or sound, and the fact that she had done so, proved something Lucian had never known.
But he brushed it off for now, because the sudden appearance of the boy completely changed the atmosphere that has been going on.
◆◆◆
She caught me.
I tried to run away and she caught me, damn it.
"How did they see me anyway?" He mumbled.
It was a stupid question, even to himself. There was no way someone who wore whatever he could grab as a disguise could properly hide.
But for him that is his reality.
"So... Are you ready to talk?"
Lucian asked, Byul-A just watching beside him.
"Let's just eliminate him. He must be worth some points."
Damn, you're scaring me.
"Seo Byul-A, I think you're scaring him," Lucian said, a worried expression on his face.
"Haaa... So, what do you want?"
"You see, I was scouting the area before I stumbled upon that sea of monster corpses, and then I saw him"—he pointed at Lucian—"so I just decided to follow him, and now we're here."
I didn't lie. I absolutely did not come here just to watch this scene.
He tried to make an excuse for himself, not acknowledging his own reason.
While Lucian was pondering actually believing his words, Byul-A just shrugged and turned the tip of her staff toward his face.
"Too long, fall asleep."
The tip of the staff began to vibrate, and small particles started forming above it.
I'm sorry, my lady. I don't think I'll be able to accompany you in S-class. He recalled the image of the young lady he serves, not a great image but still.
"Wait Seo Byul-A. I still have one thing to ask."
"Again... Dude, you really love playing detective, aren't you."
"I agree with her," he nodded.
"Please don't pay any mind to it. So..." He stretched the words, trying to guess his name.
"Kylen Noor, just call me Kylen."
"Kylen, okay—so how did you get so close without aggroing the Divine Beast?"
"Hey, Mother isn't a monster, and she can't be aggroed," Byul-A cut in.
And so it started—the back-and-forth conversation between them. This would be a very wholesome scene if not for the fact her staff is very close to his face.
Kylen had seen this scene countless times, and not once had he ever gotten tired of it. Seeing the scene unfold before his own eyes he can't help but remember years he had spent in this world.
Five years. Somehow, it had already been five years.
"Alright, I'm very sorry, Byul-A. I will address her correctly."
They seemed to have finished arguing. Kylen glanced at them and noticed the way Lucian addressed Byul-A. They were already on a first-name basis.
"So I'm going to ask you one more time Kylen, how did you avoid mother's space without attracting her attention."
"Right. I'm absolutely sure no one can see me, and here we are interrogating me with a spell because I got caught," Kylen said sarcastically.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Obviously she can't catch me if she wasn't here in the first place." His face was annoyed, as if everything he said should have been obvious all along.
Lucian turned around, scanning the space left and right, but the Mother was nowhere in sight. Kylen's right, the mother had been gone for a long time.
But the very fact that she could disappear without him noticing created a bigger mystery than anything he had seen previously.
While Lucian was dumbfounded by the sheer absurdity of the situation. Kylen tried to wiggle his way out of the situation before a circle of magic suddenly appeared beneath his body.
It shines brightly as if preparing for something.
"About damn time."
Byul-A turned her head back to find Kylen laying above the circle.
"Lucian, he's about to teleport his way out of here!"
"What!" Lucian quickly turned his head, but it was already too late. As the circle grew brighter. With a mocking smirk, he said.
"Sayonara bitch, let's never see each other again."
And he disappear, into God knows where. But before they could react, Lucian noticed something on the ground.
It was a student ID. Yes—Kylen Noor's ID.
"Damn it! How could I let that guy leave? What's that?"
"Something that will make him search for us."
To be continued