The mana surrounding the forest felt heavy.
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 eliminated.
Lucian Payne moved through the trees with careful steps, avoiding every brittle patch of leaves beneath his boots.
He covered his nose as a wave of awful smell hit him. But it only strengthened his resolve. He needed to find the source.
"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 immediately answered his question.
Carcasses.
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 monsters lay above the flowers, they had not been crushed by their weight.
"It's either some miracle or divine judgment. Either way, no monster could cause this."
Lucian Payne, the young man who became the heir of the Payne family despite his status as a foster child. As a result, he gained respect beyond what anyone could imagine.
But the praise and respect only placed more weight on his shoulders. He had to prove his ability to strengthen his position.
So he went deeper, but the scene only created more questions rather than answering them.
He had chosen the Dark Forest as his place to hunt, and yet despite how he had calculated it, the forest was rather quiet.
But it was to be expected. It was a dense and shadowy place that gave off a damp and gloomy atmosphere. Had he not prepared for this, he might have found himself unable to see in this forest.
But it wasn't a place where the word "quiet" fit nicely. He thought that everything would be exactly as he had calculated.
The forest grew brighter, and the air became lighter. No part of the Dark Forest should have given off that kind of atmosphere.
"What could possibly cause this?"
He created countless variables as to what could have caused all of this, but he already knew that whatever was in front of him was the same being that caused all of that massacre.
But now, standing before this scene, all the variables he had made proved to be useless, because it was something that even he could not predict.
A space completely unaffected by what was happening outside it.
A Divine Beast lay there, the kind of being 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.
What Lucian felt wasn't intimidation or fear. It was closer to the feeling of relief, the same feeling you have when your mother welcomes you.
The trees inside the space regained their life. Hundreds of flowers bloomed beneath the beast, but one thing was 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 lacking.
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 Divine 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 Divine 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 him in his tracks.
She looked helpless in that moment, fragile in a way that made the scene feel strangely unreal.
The Divine 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.
She's light.
"Hnnn..." the girl let out.
She stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes immediately after.
"Whoa!"
Startled, she jolted in his arms, breaking Lucian's balance. He tried hard to keep his balance while the girl clutched onto him.
"Phew... That was close," she said, puffing out her chest as if she had accomplished something.
"Pfft...." He concealed his laugh.
She seemed embarrassed, but that just made her actions more adorable.
"Ahh! You're... Lu... Lucian, right?"
She seemed to have recognized him, and he accepted her attempt to recall his name.
"...Could you put me down? I'm embarrassed."
"You're right, sorry."
Cleaning the dust off her uniform, the girl politely bowed down.
"It's an honor to meet the long-awaited prodigy of this generation. My name is Seo Byul-A. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you. Hope we can get along."
They stared blankly at each other, stuck inside their own thoughts. As the silence started to stretch out, Lucian noticed the long staff that Seo Byul-A held.
"Are you a mage?"
"Oh! Um... I guess you can call me a mage. Anyway, what are you doing here?"
She seemed reluctant to talk about her class.
"I find the Dark Forest to be the best place to farm points."
Seo Byul-A nodded in agreement. She then turned around and looked toward the Divine Beast with a bright smile.
"You can rest now, Mother. Thank you for recovering me."
It nodded and dispersed into countless little particles. Along with it, the space broke down, leaving the both of them back in the normal Dark Forest.
"Lucian, it's a nice encounter. I would like to be your friend, but I guess we should part ways for now."
Her words made perfect sense to him, and yet something in his heart wouldn't allow him to agree.
I want to stay with you.
The sentence made him blush. For him, Seo Byul-A's existence proved something that he had never once considered.
There's someone as special as me, and she's still covered by a thick mystery.
But just as his lips were about to part and the words were about to escape—
—Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.
The sound of the bush rustling caught their attention.
"...What's that?"
"Huh?"
As Lucian tried to see beyond the bushes, he was met with the gaze of something, but it all turned out to be another student who 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.
The boy seemed surprised by his sudden gaze, but he stayed quiet before nodding and attempting to leave the place.
"Who are you?"
The boy turned around before 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, and his eyes widened.
"You can see me?"
Lucian frowned.
"...Pardon?"
"I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation. If I'm allowed, I will excuse myself."
The boy looked calm, and yet from his behavior, he seemed panicked, as if he had messed something up badly. He turned around and ran deeper into the forest.
"Wait!"
"What's up with that guy?"
"I genuinely don't know."
Lucian bit his thumb as he tried to figure out the true identity of the student, so he made sure to burn the image of the student deep into his brain.
Messy black hair long enough to cover his eyes, average height, gentle voice, and wearing a standard uniform.
Seo Byul-A, bored by Lucian, decided to look toward the direction the student was heading. But in the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of an item lying on the ground.
She picked it up and examined it. As it turned out, it was the weird student's ID, and she found his name from it.
Kylen Noor.
"I guess you can't stay mysterious after all."
She smiled as she attached a spell to the ID.
A light appeared and formed an arrow that pointed toward the location of Kylen Noor.
◆◆◆
Kylen Noor sat down as he tried to recover his breath.
"Phew... Didn't expect them to meet this fast."
He wiped off his sweat as he opened a journal book. Inside, hundreds of pieces of information had been recorded and written by his hand.
The book dated all the way back to June 15, five years ago, with the title "Entering Astrea" written above.
"It's already been five years. I couldn't even imagine how long it would take for me to reach the end."
He closed the book and put it back into his suit jacket. He tried to stand up, but before he could properly balance himself, he found two figures standing right in front of him.
"I think we have matters that are yet to be settled."
Lucian said politely, an intimidating smile stretching across his face.
"Lord have mercy."
Before he could make any movement, Seo Byul-A had already bound him using her magic, and Lucian pinned him against one of the trees, adding more restraint to him.
Kylen struggled to breathe as Lucian kept adding more force to his arm.
"So, ready to confess?"
"T-to what?"
"As to why you're spying on us."
Kylen took a glimpse at Seo Byul-A. She stood silently, and yet Kylen could feel her killing intent as clearly as the day.
As expected of the protagonist. To think this all happened just because I met them by chance.
"You're very serious about this, aren't you? Pinning me down against a tree and binding me so I couldn't move. Don't you think this will affect your image?"
"Just answer."
"Honestly, aren't you too paranoid? You just see a student who happened to be nearby and decided that he's spying on you. You're surprisingly arrogant."
"Just answer."
"Don't you thin—"
"JUST ANSWER!" Lucian said as he struck Kylen in the chest.
"Ugh!"
"Lucian, do you want me to take over?"
"No, I can handle this."
"Oh... I see what's going on. You're mad because I interrupted your interaction with her."
"N-no, I didn't!" Despite what he said, his face blushed like crazy.
It doesn't take a genius to take the hint, and Kylen isn't one, so he took it like a good boy.
Jackpot.
"Wait, Lucian, is that true?" Seo Byul-A decided to join in.
Nice one, protagonist. Keep adding fuel to the fire.
"N-no, you misunderstood. This isn't something as trivial as that. This is your fault. Stop avoiding the question and just answer already."
"Hey, do you know a movie quote that I like so much?"
"What is it now?"
"It goes like this."
『"Don't watch the mouth. Watch the hand..."』
Before he could understand the meaning, Kylen pushed him away toward Seo Byul-A, and, as expected, Lucian bumped into her and they fell to the ground.
As mana started to circle around him, Kylen looked toward them with a look of familiarity, enough for them to notice his gaze.
"Let's meet at a much better place. Adios."
Kylen was gone from there in an instant. Someone had created a teleport spell for him, adding more questions for Lucian.
"What an interesting guy."
Seo Byul-A chuckled at the situation. Her sweet voice created a strange feeling in Lucian.
Truly, what an exhausting day for him.
To be continued.