WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 137

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I usually did not pay much attention to my past life. A past life was just a past life, separate from who I was now. That was how I thought of it.

The reason I paid so little attention to that past life was simple. The memories it held were always hazy.

Those meaningless memories that surfaced out of nowhere brushed past me like fragments, then quickly faded. It was impossible to scrape them together into a single whole. Because of that, they had never affected me all that much.

At that moment, I felt a soul fragment brush against my fingertip. It breathed a faint memory straight into my head. The memory held one broken scene. In it, I stepped on a bomb, and it exploded beneath me.

Pain, as if my whole body had been blown to pieces, seemed to reach me from beyond the memory. I slowly felt through it, wondering if there might be something else.

But aside from that broken memory, I could not feel anything from the soul fragment. The fragment that had poured that memory into me rode the current and vanished somewhere.

I quietly shook my head. That soul fragment was nothing more than a shard carrying one small memory. Many of the soul fragments that had brushed past me before had been the same.

Like this, every soul fragment flowing through my soul lake, and every memory born from them, carried only a kind of trace within itself.

I quietly looked down at the lake. Countless soul fragments flowed within it. There were so many that I could not even begin to guess the number.

And these broken soul fragments were simply flowing along with my soul. In that sense, the being called me was like a kind of colony formed by the gathering of these tiny soul fragments.

That must have been why I had never been able to properly recognize those memories before. The memories held by the soul fragments were fragmented, so the being called me, formed from their gathering, could only hold those memories in a hazy way as well.

Even so, as I looked through those memories, I could tell one thing clearly. Most of the scenery held by these soul fragments had its origin in war.

Most of them had been beings that wandered from battlefield to battlefield. Perhaps the being called me was a cluster of wraiths that had bloomed out of those wars.

I remembered the countless soldiers we had met on the way here. And the sharp smell of iron they had given off. It was like a trace carved deep inside them.

The reason they had blocked our path in those forms was probably because most of the memories inside my soul were built on battlefields. They must have been part of these fragments too.

I felt the awakened soul fragments flowing. There were definitely more than tens of thousands of them, at a rough count. Perhaps these soul fragments were the traces of the soldiers we had fought our way through. They had died and been contained in my soul again.

But they were not all of them. I reached my hand deep below. Then I touched a hardened fragment. It did not ride the current, and simply lay sunken at the bottom.

The lakebed was covered in things like that. More were sleeping down there than were flowing along the current. They too could be called part of my soul. Fragments that had not fully awakened yet.

I lightly placed a hand on my chest. Then I focused my will toward the tree beyond it. This tree was a crystallization of magic that grew around my soul. Because of that, it also held within itself the unique nature revealed by my soul.

At first, it had appeared as the basic magical form called Magical Deep Breathing. That had become my innate magic and made my puppets more vivid.

That simple breathing. Perhaps it was the single breeze those soul fragments wanted. The thought crossed my mind. They wanted to breathe out their lives, even if only through magic.

In that sense, perhaps it was only natural that the form of that innate magic had developed and reappeared as Fake Soul. That magic must have been the form these fragments wanted.

Fake Soul. The meaning inside it was clear. It could not be called a complete soul. Even so, it still had the shape of a soul. That resembled the nature these soul fragments possessed.

Then perhaps these fragments of soul that split off from me naturally entered that magic. A small soul fragment entered a puppet’s body along with the stem of my tree, becoming the root that formed its ego.

I lightly traced the flow of innate magic carved into the tree. My thoughts rode my will and reached the tree as well. I could see it sway slightly, as if agreeing with my guess.

Was this unique nature of my soul the reason my puppets formed egos so easily? My talent as a puppeteer might also have come from that.

I pulled my hand out of the lake for a moment and let out a sigh. Maybe because I had properly recognized the unique nature of my soul, my head felt a little dizzy. I needed to rest, if only for a short while.

I quietly sank onto the ground. Then I looked at the lake before me. That soul lake softly shimmered with the silver light given off by the soul fragments. I could see that light ripple gently.

I was blankly watching it when I felt the nun approach my side. I glanced at her. She met my eyes and smiled lightly.

Come to think of it, what were the Professor group doing? I shifted my gaze and swept my eyes over the surroundings. They were clustered near the lake, observing it just like I was. I could see interest in their eyes.

“How does it feel to confirm your own soul?”

The nun waved at me with a bright smile on her lips. I met her gaze and smiled a little bitterly. My soul? It was shocking beyond words.

“I was truly surprised. I never expected my soul to have this kind of form.”

“Hoho, is that so? Well, if not for this dream, my little lamb would never have had the chance to face his soul directly.”

The nun covered her mouth and laughed softly. I nodded. On the surface, the shape of my soul looked perfectly fine.

If I had not dug into my inner world directly like this, I would never have known that my soul had this kind of form.

I stared at the lake with the nun. I felt her move and sit gently beside me. I glanced at her. She looked utterly relaxed.

Why had she guided me here? It should have brought her nothing but disadvantages. The thought suddenly occurred to me.

This lake contained my soul exactly as it was. Because of that, the moment I recognized the form of this soul, I naturally understood why my soul held obsession.

My suspicion had been right. And what the General had said was roughly correct too. He had said they were contaminated bodies. Just as he said, they were fragments of my soul, but they were contaminated by a treasure’s magical power.

Using that magical power as their base, they had escaped from my lake. They had half slipped free from the restraints created by the flow of the soul. That must have been why the soldiers opposed them. They were beings trying to break away from my soul.

It roughly matched what I had been thinking. In that sense, they could be called something like my inner demons. Then why were the fragments of my soul naturally drawn to the magical power of treasures?

I lightly reached toward the lake. Then I held one soul fragment flowing along it in my hand. A small memory brushed past me. In it, I was in a city.

In that forest of huge buildings filled with rising smoke, I felt something strike the building I was in. Then the building collapsed from the impact. Like that, I was crushed to death beneath the wreckage.

Aside from that memory, I could feel nothing from this soul fragment. Through my fingertips, I could clearly feel that it was nothing more than a single shard. Like that, this soul fragment was terribly incomplete.

Because they were such incomplete fragments, they always wanted to fill themselves. I could confirm that their wish was contained in my innate magic.

That was why they were so easily colored by things with clear desires, such as the magical power of treasures or inner demons. That was also why Lumira’s dream had turned into such a mess. It had been the result of my soul fragments being strongly drawn to that inner demon.

And the same problem was appearing in my dream too. The nun, the rabbit, and the Hunter. Each of them was like a result of my obsession, created on the foundation of a treasure’s magical power.

I lightly scratched my head. But they could not be dismissed as simple inner demons. In Lumira’s case, those puppets had changed their forms according to the direction held by the inner demon.

If they had simply been contaminated by the magical power of treasures, their forms should have all been different. But every one of them had Professor’s form. That uniformity was impossible with only a treasure’s magical power.

In that sense, the treasure’s magical power was nothing more than a catalyst. The reason they had Professor’s form was very clear. They were my dream anchors, and also the beings my soul had taken as its core.

My soul had wanted them to have that form. I stared silently at the lake. As I had already seen, the soul fragments flowing within it were truly unstable.

Then what about myself, the whole they made up? What about that soul? I lightly shook my head. No matter how many incomplete fragments gathered and became one, they would eventually scatter. Like this, my soul was nothing more than a collection of small fragments.

My soul was an utterly incomplete being, both as those little fragments and as a greater whole. Because of that, just like the fragments, my soul also always wished to become perfect.

I raised a little magical power and drew a magic circle. It was Perfect Tea magic. I poured it into a teacup and handed it to the nun sitting beside me. She accepted it and smiled softly.

“Oh my, thank you.”

“It is nothing. Please enjoy it.”

I quietly sipped that tea too. Perfect Tea magic. Like this, the magic I created mostly included the word perfect.

Perfect Massage magic, Perfect Cushion magic, and so on.... Maybe the reason I liked the word perfect came from that soul of mine.

It was the expression of an instinctive desire to become complete. In that sense, it was only natural for Professor to become the object my soul obsessed over.

In this world made of magical power, a dragon meant perfection. A dragon could be called a being completed from birth.

That was not just something I knew as information. It was something I had learned after staying by her side and seeing and experiencing her magical power myself.

Her magical power was different from that of other mages from the start. It was extremely pure, and the traces born from it were flawless.

Because of that, the moment I realized Professor was a dragon, my soul began desiring the perfection she held. That longing for perfection could be called a natural desire held by an incomplete being.

And that wish must have combined with the desire of the treasure that had eaten into my body, creating an even greater obsession. I glanced at the nun again. The face that resembled Professor held a soft smile.

That was why the group of around fifty Professors had been created. They were the result of soul fragments carrying a treasure’s magical power revealing their obsession with perfection.

I gently touched the surface of the lake. I felt light ripples spread from my fingertips. As I touched my soul like this, there was something else I could naturally recognize. How to erase my obsession.

It was very simple. I only had to get rid of all of them. The General might have been right. I naturally remembered him passionately speaking about purity.

Like that, in order for my soul to become pure again, I needed to remove the objects that contained that obsession. Just as Lumira had removed her inner demon and eliminated the hesitation in her heart, I too only needed to kill every being that resembled Professor.

If they disappeared, the obsession filling me would naturally settle down. They were currently at the center of my obsession, after all. I learned that by observing the flow of this soul.

I stared at the nun. Perhaps she felt my gaze, because she met my eyes and let out a light laugh.

She must have known this too. She must also have known that I would naturally realize it the moment I reached this place.

So from her perspective, there had been no need to bring me here. Even so, she had guided me to this place.

No matter how much I had promised to show them reality, it was hard to believe she had done this for that alone. I silently stroked my chin. At the same time, I remembered what the General had said.

Had he said they might contaminate this lake, my soul? If what they wanted was to reach my soul, I might be facing a great danger right now.

“Looking at this lake makes me curious about one thing. Why did you bring me here?”

“Because my little lamb wanted it.”

The nun placed a hand on her cheek and laughed softly. I looked at her and quietly nodded. What she said was true.

I was the one who had summoned them. I was also the one who had made a contract and brought them this far. But they must have wanted something too, or they would not have followed me.

“Hoho, you look a little suspicious. You do not need to worry. We have something we must do too, but it will not harm my little lamb.”

As she said that, she rose from her seat. Then she clasped both hands in front of her chest and bowed her head. After offering a short prayer toward the lake, she looked at me and continued.

“If you suspect us, you may erase us. You know what kind of beings we are now, after all. If my little lamb intends to do that, we will gladly accept that hand. That is one method too.”

The nun smiled gently. At her calm attitude, I could only let out a bitter smile. I closed my eyes and thought for a moment.

Standing before my soul like this, I could clearly recognize the connections between them and me. Within those connections, all of them were under my control.

If I simply wished for them to disappear, my will would reach them through those connections. And they would not be able to refuse it. No matter how contaminated they were by a treasure’s magical power, they were still fragments of my soul.

If I erased them, the obsession filling me would definitely vanish. I could also easily prepare against whatever unknown schemes they might have. My own safety would be secured.

I continued thinking, then slowly shook my head. Then I opened my eyes and faced the nun. She was quietly watching me, as if waiting for my answer.

“No. I have spoken with all of you, so I cannot do that. Since all of you led me here, I will send all of you out into reality. That was our promise.”

If I erased them, the obsession I had right now would disappear at once. That much was clear. But I could not say that would remove every cause.

The reason they had been created lay in my soul. As long as I accepted a treasure’s magical power, and as long as my soul remained this incomplete, obsessions like them would naturally arise again.

I lightly stroked my chin. Perhaps their birth was a stroke of heavenly fortune for me.

When I first recognized the obsession, I had slightly regretted accepting the treasure’s magical power. It had led my tree to grow, but I thought it had brought side effects even greater than that.

But now that I looked at it, that treasure’s magical power was nothing more than a catalyst. A more important element than that magical power had been hidden in my soul.

If the treasure’s magical power had not eaten into my body, and if my soul had not been forcibly dyed with obsession, I would certainly never have recognized this soul’s form. I would have simply lived an ordinary daily life.

Then, in that daily life, my soul would have naturally and steadily begun harboring that desire toward Professor. I would have found out she was a dragon somehow, after all.

And at the end of that desire, without even recognizing my own abnormality, I might have brought an intense obsession toward Professor into bloom. An obsession even worse than now. That flow would have been utterly natural.

But because the treasure’s magical power had forcibly pulled that flow forward, I had been able to realize the abnormality of my soul and confirm my soul with my own two eyes. I had prevented a danger that might have arrived in the future.

In that sense, they could be said to have helped me once. So I could not erase them. Of course, if I thought only about efficiency, erasing them would definitely help for the moment.

But beyond that, there was the issue of trust. They had shown me goodwill. So I also needed to show goodwill to them. Even if they were nothing more than soul fragments under my control.

No, because they were soul fragments, I had to do so even more. Their soul fragments were like puppets. I could instinctively tell that they contained strong feelings toward me.

It must have been because the same flow of soul lay at the root. Because of that, I needed to repay their feelings. Thinking that, I looked at the nun.

“Hm, I am thankful just to hear you say that. But then how do you intend to solve my little lamb’s problem?”

The nun said that and lightly knelt beside me. I saw her tilt her head. I gave her a small smile and looked at the lake.

The problem, huh. The cause of my abnormality was very clear. My obsession ultimately came from the incompleteness of my soul. The problem was not the treasure’s magical power. Fundamentally, it was a problem with my soul.

Then I only needed to properly fix that cause. If I somehow resolved the instability held by my soul, no more obsession would arise in me.

“I intend to go inside there and directly control the flow of that soul.”

I said that and looked at the lake. That lake was my soul. If I could not even handle my own soul properly, could I truly be called a mage?

In that sense, this was a kind of challenge. I had been given a chance to mend my incompleteness and govern my soul myself. I quietly rose.

The nun stared at me. I could see interest in her eyes. I bowed my head slightly toward her and walked toward the lake.

I slowly put my body into the lake. Then I walked into it, one step at a time. I felt soul fragments brush past the area around my body.

Feeling those memories lightly seep into me, I closed my eyes. As I kept walking, the water soon rose past my neck. My entire body had completely entered the lake.

Once even my head was submerged, I sank into the flow of this soul. I lightly breathed out. The soul fragments making up the lake followed my breath and began to flow through my body.

It felt completely different from when I had simply put in my hand. The scenes of memory created as the soul fragments flowed through my body were more intense, and more direct.

Like that, more memories brushed past me within the flow. And within that torrent of memories, I could feel the incompleteness inside my soul even more strongly.

This incompleteness was what made me dream of perfection. And now, that longing for perfection was aimed at Professor. As my body soaked in the lake, I felt those soul waves directly.

I slowly lifted my hand and let magical power flow. That magical power stretched out like thread and began weaving into the current of the lake. I carefully adjusted the magical power that seeped into the flow.

What was perfection? I thought about that for a moment. The being called a dragon was undoubtedly perfect. That was a clear fact.

That must have been why my soul instinctively clothed them in Professor’s form. I lightly shook my head. But that was the wrong direction.

Simply imitating Professor could not be called perfection.

Borrowing that form would ultimately grant only a brief stability. In the end, it was nothing more than leaning on someone else. It could not be called a perfect way to resolve that instability.

Perfection as a mage was not achieved by leaning only on someone else like that. Cultivating oneself, governing oneself without end, and completing the tree. That was what could be called the most perfect thing for a mage.

I lightly caressed the flowing soul fragments. These soul fragments were part of what formed my soul, while also being individual little shards.

Perhaps because of that, they could not properly recognize the existence of that magical power. Just like the soldiers I had faced earlier, they were only wandering through their memories.

So I needed to make the fragments of my soul feel that magical power deeply as well. I stretched out my magical power and forcibly drew the flow of the soul toward me.

If they felt that magical power, they would naturally connect to me too. And they would feel the tree inside me. I focused my mind and continued accepting the soul fragments into my body.

My soul lacked many things. It had no choice. It was nothing more than a colony made from these small soul fragments gathering together.

That was a shocking truth I had not expected. I had thought my soul would have a stronger and clearer form.

But to think this unstable, incomplete lake, all the more shabby because of that, was my soul. Because of that, a little disappointment had risen in me when I faced it.

But even that was still me.

If I denied it because it was incomplete, and only longed for a being more complete than myself, I would simply remain where I was.

So I could not let that obsession turn outward. All recognition had to be directed only toward myself.

The incompleteness of my soul could be called a lack. But lack also meant the possibility of being filled. So I would make these little fragments recognize me, and make them endlessly fill that incompleteness.

If I reached the end like that, my soul might not become complete, but it could certainly become greater than it was now. That was my conclusion as the owner of this soul, and as a mage.

I scattered my magical power into the flow of the soul. Then I led that flow according to my intent. I made the being called me into a single clear light, so the fragments of that soul would be drawn to me.

During that process, I could feel my magical power flowing through those fragments. They began giving off a more intense light, and at the same time, they received that magical power and gradually took form.

The forms they completed somehow seemed to resemble me. Those small soul fragments flowed through my body and emerged outside again. Then they slowly began spreading throughout the lake.

Along with that, my tree also began to twitch lightly. I silently placed a hand on my chest. Somehow, it felt as if the scent born from my tree had begun filling the area.

And that scent was not a simple illusion. My tree had begun taking root in this soul, beyond my flesh and even beyond the dream. Like that, dark shadows began forming around me.

They were the stems of the shadow tree that had begun eroding the lake along with my tree. It slowly began devouring the lake.

Inside that shadow tree, the soul fragments were gradually dyed by my magical power. At this rate, my soul would definitely come fully under my control.

But perhaps it sensed a kind of danger. The quiet lake began to ripple violently.

Along with that, I could feel the flow created by these soul fragments gradually turning rough. It flowed more fiercely and began tearing apart my magical power.

My tree hurriedly stretched out its stems and withstood that flow. My magical power also barely maintained the connection and contained the soul fragments within it.

That rough flow was like an instinctive movement that refused to lose its obsession with Professor. The longing for completeness was rippling so strongly that it escaped my control.

I frowned slightly. I had expected this kind of resistance from the soul. The center forming that obsession still clearly existed, after all. The beings in Professor’s form.

So I had prepared a little, but I had not expected it to resist this fiercely. I moved my magical power and pressed down on that flow of soul.

But the flow writhed violently, as if resisting my control. If the soul continued resisting like this, it might be impossible to take full control of this current.

That was when it happened. I felt something sink into the lake. I slowly opened my eyes and looked there, and saw the nun beginning to walk toward me.

She was looking at me with a faint smile on her lips. She stood in front of me and lightly clapped her hands. Along with that, mist flowing from her gently caressed my body.

I tensed slightly. If she tried to contaminate the lake here, that obsession would definitely grow beyond control.

But she seemed to have no intention of doing that. With that mist, she only gently melted away the fatigue in my body. Thanks to her support, my magical power flowed a little more smoothly and could contain those soul fragments.

“I came to help after seeing my little lamb work so hard.”

The nun said that with a light laugh. Help, huh. I glanced at the mist she had raised. That magical power was flowing extremely violently. She quietly watched the flow of the soul.

“As my little lamb knows, this resistance was born because of us. Unless we disappear, this soul will never try to give up that flow.”

I nodded. That was a fact I had clearly recognized too. Of course, I had not known the resistance would be this severe. The nun looked at me and laughed softly.

“We thought a great deal on the way here. We knew our origin well. And we knew that if we existed, we would only harm my little lamb like this.”

She approached me and touched around my chest. Beneath her soft touch, my tree trembled lightly.

“At first, we even thought about contaminating my little lamb’s soul. If we did that, we would become a little freer. It was simply greed from wanting to exist longer.”

After saying that, she tapped my chest with her fingertips. Then she gave me an affectionate smile and stepped half a pace away from me.

“But as we came this far, we were able to know that the promise my little lamb made to us was sincere. We should repay that trust too. So I hope you will keep the promise we shared someday.”

With those words as her last, she put her hand into her own chest. Her fingertips dug into the place where her heart was. She grabbed something from inside and carefully pulled it out.

It was a thick orb. Its dreamy energy was extremely clear. It was the same kind of object as the wish orb that had been used to summon the Professor group before.

She lightly threw it toward the flow of soul created by the lake. Then that dreamy energy slowly unraveled, and the orb gradually began changing its form.

At the end, a small soul fragment appeared. It approached beneath my shadow tree and began to flow lightly. I felt the memory born from it brush past my head.

It was the memory of a small monastery collapsing under a bombardment. It was definitely the fragment of memory the nun had carried. It happened before I could stop her.

The nun sank down where she stood. Then she began to cough lightly. I quickly approached her and supported her body.

I carefully raised magical power and lightly scanned her body. Then I could only frown. Her body was gradually collapsing.

That wish orb must have formed her core. I could feel her body gradually growing hazy after losing it.

“Why did you do something like this?”

“...Hoho. As the General said, we are beings that must disappear. For us to repay my little lamb’s sincerity, we had no choice but to use this method.”

As if proving her words, the treasure’s magical power that had left her began to scatter. Along with that, I felt the violent flow created by the soul settle down a little.

I met her eyes. I could see great joy in the nun. She lightly tapped my arm, then slowly closed her eyes.

I bowed my head deeply to her with gratitude. To think she had given up her body to repay me. I had never expected this.

“I will be sure to keep the promise I shared with all of you.”

“...Is that so? Hoho, I am truly looking forward to it. To what kind of scenery reality will have, instead of a dream like this.”

She let out a dry cough with her laughter. Like that, her body continued to grow hazy. And at the end, she became a wisp of mist and scattered into the lake.

I felt the touch of that final mist flow down my hand. At the same time, I hardened my resolve. Thanks to her, seizing my soul had become easier. So I needed to repay that grace, without fail.

She was not the only one who offered a wish orb like that. The moment she offered hers, the others also opened their chests in the same way. Then they took out the orbs inside and released them into the lake.

I felt those soul fragments approach me. I gently wrapped them in my shadow domain and checked their memories. Then I engraved each and every one of them inside me.

They had lost the magical power born from treasures, and they had also lost the core that maintained their minds. So it was certain that their previous forms could no longer be found.

Even if I placed these soul fragments into puppets, their egos would be extremely faint. I would need to cultivate their egos from the beginning, like my other puppets.

But if I raised those egos, their previous memories might return too. So I would definitely guide them to reality. That was the only repayment I could give them.

Of course, before that, I had to completely seize this soul. I closed my eyes and began scattering magical power. Perhaps because it had lost every center of obsession, the flow of the soul was very faint.

I quickly seized it. Then I cultivated an even larger connection to them. Like that, my tree took root in the soul and began growing even larger.

The grain drawn by my tree grew thicker, and the domain of the shadow tree it created expanded even further. The entire lake sank within that domain.

The soul fragments flowed along that tree, took in a little of that magical power, and swam toward the soul lake again. Their forms had become clearer, and they possessed more distinct shapes.

I felt most of the awakened soul fragments form connections with my tree. That touch of soul, that fullness, filled my chest.

I placed a hand on my chest and silently savored that feeling. Within it, the soul fragments had incomplete forms. But that incompleteness was exactly my identity.

So there was no need to desire someone else’s perfection. I only had to fill this lack little by little. As I fully seized the soul like that, I could recognize that my tree had grown another size larger.

And the moment I realized that, the dream gradually began to collapse. The lake grew hazy like foam, and the soul fragments filling the surroundings sank down as well. It was because all the anchors forming that dream had disappeared.

Along with that, I felt my body being dragged somewhere. That flow had a suction force so strong I could not resist it. Like that, I sank into darkness.

Then my eyes snapped open.

I saw gentle light flowing around me. And beyond that cluster of light, I saw Mira and Koite talking with each other.

I lightly touched my forehead and rose from where I had been lying. The place where I had been lying was a bed like a small coffin. It was the place meant for entering a dream. Perhaps noticing that I had awakened, Mira lightly waved at me.

“Oh my, you have awakened. I was waiting for you.”

Her tone and behavior resembled the nun. No, it was the opposite. The nun had resembled Mira. Somehow, it felt like it had been a very long time since I had seen Mira. I approached them with awkward steps.

“How much... time has passed?”

Mira lightly tilted her head. Then she took a mirror bug from her arms. It began showing the current time on its screen.

“About four hours have passed.”

Mira said that with a slight smile. At those words, I could only laugh hollowly. It felt like I had spent weeks inside there. Since it had been a dream, the flow of time seemed to have moved however it wanted.

“How was the dream? Was it fun?”

Mira leaned toward me, eyes sparkling. I nodded lightly. Fun, huh. It definitely had been fun. I had been able to face all kinds of Professors, after all. There had also been a kind of realization.

I placed a hand on my chest. That tree boasted a much thicker body and grain than before. It seemed that growth had not happened only in the dream.

The flow of magical power drawn by that tree was much purer than before, and more explosive too. When I focused my mind, I could feel tiny grains flowing inside it. They were definitely fragments of my soul.

The growth of this tree did not end at a simple expansion in quantity. This was like a foothold toward a higher realm. Because of that, I could instinctively tell that my realm had become more solid.

I could clearly recognize that I had grown by one stage, and that based on that, I had finished preparing to move on to the next.

At that moment, the space before my eyes split open. Then a sheet of paper fluttered out from within it and landed on the table.

What was this? As I thought that, Koite let out a soft laugh. Then he began clapping loudly. I could see joy on his face.

“Huh, I should congratulate you. Looks like something good did happen inside. If you received this, that is.”

He picked it up and lightly waved it. Then he filled it with magical power and sent it flying to me. I carefully accepted it and checked its contents.

The paper was a kind of guide. I slowly read the letters written at the very top.

[Advancement Evaluation Notice]

It said to come to the city next month for an advancement evaluation. I quietly blinked. It had not even been two years since I advanced to the second floor. But to think I had already received an Advancement Evaluation Notice.

It was a result far beyond the average. Mira tapped around my chest and smiled brightly. It meant congratulations.

I also smiled and answered her congratulations. But I could not simply smile too widely. This was not a result I had achieved alone.

This was the result of the sacrifice of the fifty or so Professors who had given up their lives for me. My promise with them was deeply engraved in my chest. I needed to keep it without fail.

And there was one more person I had to thank. I bowed my head deeply toward Koite.

“This could not have been resolved without you, senior. Thank you very much.”

Dream Theater. I recalled that name again. The space called a dream was extremely strange. Even though it was my dream, it had been full of things I could not understand. If not for Koite, I definitely would not have been able to grasp this chance.

At my thanks, Koite lightly waved his hand.

“Well, I only guided you into the dream. I could not see inside it either. I wanted to have a taste of it, though. So, are you going back now?”

Koite lightly smacked his lips as he spoke. I felt him glance at the coffin I had come out of. I nodded. Then I placed a hand on my chest.

The intense obsession that had always churned deep inside me was no longer there. As a result of placing the incompleteness of my soul fully under control, the obsession caused by it had naturally settled down too.

It was time to return to the tower. And to face Professor. Since my obsession had been completely resolved, I needed to report it to her.

Like that, I exchanged final farewells with Koite and headed to the tower. Then I confidently walked toward Professor’s room.

And when I faced the tightly shut door, I realized something. Ah, right. Solving my obsession and asking Professor for forgiveness were two separate matters.

Just because I had completely shaken off that obsession did not mean Professor would gladly throw open that door.

She was still firmly sulking.

As if proving that, the nameplate hanging before the door was giving off a clear light.

[Evron Entry Prohibited]

Looking at it, I lightly scratched my head. It seemed not all my problems had been solved yet.

I racked my brains like that and tried to soothe Professor’s anger. But she did not easily open that door for me. Amid that, one year quickly passed.

Many treasures held lectures, and during that time, I challenged the advancement evaluation to head to the third floor.

And I failed.

The wall of advancement was still far too high for me to cross.

I also failed to turn Professor’s heart back around.

Standing in front of Professor’s door, I smiled bitterly. Beyond it, I could feel no trace of magical power. Professor had left the tower for the graduate evaluation.

Since I still had not received forgiveness, I could not follow her there. In my place, Mira had set out together with Professor.

I quietly stroked my chin. I could not let this happen again. So as Mira had said, I needed to give Professor a proper gift.

And over the past year, I had also made a sufficient plan for that. I thought of the treasure that would run the next lecture.

Blood Axe. It would run the next lecture.

That was the target I was aiming for.

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