WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 156

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156.

At the feeling of something surging up inside me, I coughed hard. A small blood lump came up from my throat. I spat it out and steadied my breathing.

When I quietly observed my body, I could feel the organs inside twisting. And it was not just my organs. My entire body was slowly crumbling in the same way.

I placed a hand on my chest. First, I needed to keep breathing. A body gradually stopped functioning from the moment its heart stopped, after all. I poured magical power toward my irregularly beating heart, then forcibly adjusted its flow.

As I felt the pulse slowly stabilize, I let out a light sigh. At least I had gotten through the worst of it. I scattered what little magical power I had across my whole body. It began supporting the body that was still collapsing.

I had almost died again right after coming back from the brink of death. I let out a bitter laugh at that. I had returned to my own body, but the aftermath of death was still continuing.

I had experienced near-death states a few times before in dreams or lectures, but this was the first time I had truly died like this in reality. That pain really was nothing short of horrific.

Of course, this shock had not come simply because I had lost my life. The biggest problem was my tree. Beyond my chest, I could feel it drooping and whining.

It was half outside its foundation, exposing its roots. My body had been shaking because of that instability. Feeling it dig back into my slightly stabilized body, I nodded.

It had spread its roots all through my dead offshoot body. The shock I was feeling now was the result of losing that body. I lightly waved my hand. The magical power wavering at my fingertips was half outside my control.

Mm, in this state, even simple magic would clearly be difficult. This body was also that badly damaged. I had thought there would be various side effects to handling an offshoot body.

But I had not known they would hit this hard. It looked like moving around in this body would be difficult. I needed to recuperate a bit more to manage it.

I lightly shrugged. Well, if this much sacrifice was the price of crossing one death, I could call it satisfying enough.

I quietly closed my eyes. Then I observed the stars rippling on the shadow tree beyond that tree. The domain stretching out in all directions was dim and filled with shadows.

That was because all the puppets supporting it were outside. In that darkness, only one cluster of stars floated. I could feel it approaching me.

It was the presence of my puppet. A lively will came from it. It seemed it had escaped that area safely too. I sent a little will to it in return and let my location flow over.

Then it moved even faster, closing in on me in an instant. It would probably arrive within a few minutes.

I leaned my back against the wall and quietly stroked my chin. This incident had been quite sudden. Of course, I had somewhat expected Ugo to target me. If not the winner of the last competition, who else would receive that fragment?

But I had not known he would pop out like this without any warning. Nor had I known I would lose my life in the middle of it. This incident had really been vicious.

I clicked my tongue lightly. Mm... as expected, the world was absurdly dangerous. Crises always came suddenly like this. I had almost died without being able to do a thing.

In that sense, I was glad I had prepared an offshoot body in advance. The reason I had volunteered to be bait was also because I had this kind of safeguard. At any moment, I myself was the most precious thing. So I always needed to protect my life two and three times over.

A small laugh escaped me. Though I had died, the information I had gained in the process was very satisfying. I had learned that even Ugo could not properly recognize my offshoot body.

Of course, Gunda, Biogan, and the others had also failed to notice that I had switched. But Ugo was an enemy. Analyzing his opponent should have been basic practice.

Even so, he had not realized it until right before I died. That was as good as saying my offshoot body was that perfect. I nodded in satisfaction.

A small droplet fell in front of me. I glanced up at the ceiling. The liquid that had seeped into this small tunnel gradually began pouring down.

Then it quietly settled in front of me. I lightly stroked its round body. Seeing it ripple slightly at that, I smiled.

It was my puppet. It seemed this fight with Ugo had been quite helpful for it. The magical power flowing through its body had become a little more stable. It must have gained some insight.

As I stroked it, I nodded. Through this fight, I had also been able to feel and realize many things. My tree was weaving its foundation anew and growing a little thicker too.

As expected, a person grew more by fighting desperately through a crisis. Of course, neither I nor that thing would die. Well... it was close enough, was it not?

I lightly beckoned to it. Since I had lost my offshoot body, I needed to construct a new body. Receiving my signal, it gradually began swelling up.

It cut away part of its greatly swollen body and changed its form. The severed part soon took on a new appearance and settled in front of me.

Watching it, I stroked my chin. Then it began doing the same thing as me. The thing stroking its chin looked exactly like me. There was not a single difference to be found.

Of course, anyone could immediately tell that it was a puppet. I quietly closed my eyes and scattered magical power toward it. Then I focused and let my will flow toward the cluster of stars hanging beyond the shadow tree.

Inside it, the star cluster was partly broken into pieces. My will slowly began soaking into those broken parts. The Fake Soul within it, those soul fragments transformed by my unique magic, mixed with my will.

My tree was the same. It stretched out its roots again and began weaving them together with the countless tree branches dwelling inside the puppet’s body. I felt the soul fragments flow both ways along that connection.

And within that circulation, the existence known as me gradually moved into the puppet’s body as well. The process of transfer flowed very naturally.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Across from me, my real body had naturally collapsed. The transfer had succeeded. I glanced at my puppet.

The thing waiting quietly in liquid form soon changed into Cassian’s appearance. It began carefully arranging my collapsed body. While I dwelled in this new offshoot body, my body would rest.

This could be called one possibility I had achieved while creating it. It was also something I was showing for the first time in this competition.

There had been no time to test it outside. The process of making it was very complicated, and I had needed to keep stabilizing it the whole way here. Fortunately, the result was very successful, just as it was now.

I felt the tree take root in my newly settled body. My soul was also flowing through that tree into this puppet’s body.

I lightly clenched and unclenched my hand several times. The body I had made last time was the result of adding many rituals and materials. Because of that, I had felt no discomfort after dwelling in it.

But perhaps because this one had been handled rather hastily, it felt quite misaligned. Even standing still gave me an awkward sensation. It seemed it would take quite a while to adjust to this body.

Of course, that did not mean others would notice. That had already been proven by the results.

A puppet dressed by a puppeteer did not feel any different from a person. Even so, the reason a mage immediately recognized one as a puppet was because of the vitality that existed only in humans. It was also because of the presence of the tree felt from a mage.

I was an existence made of several mixed soul fragments. My tree was also the crystallization of a soul rooted in those soul fragments. Because of that, it could be said that we were a mass of imperfection.

And because I had recognized that imperfection, I had been able to completely escape the treasure’s desire dwelling in my body. That was how I had gained the chance to head to the third floor.

During that process, a small question had suddenly occurred to me. Did a body even have meaning for me?

Unlike others, my soul was incomplete, and because of that, it was exceedingly free. It flowed along my tree and rode my puppet too.

Then, just as the treasures did, could I not create my own offshoot bodies as well? That thought had come to me. I glanced at the Cassian puppet.

Most of that thing’s body was made from my tree. If anything, the amount of tree branches there was greater than what existed in my main body. That meant it was more than sufficient to contain my soul as well.

That was also why I had made it despite the inefficiency. It was part of an experiment to see whether, if a puppet made with me as the base existed, my soul and mind could also be transferred into it.

And as now proved, it had succeeded. I quietly placed a hand on my chest. A little of my physical body was also mixed into this body. All three elements that made up life were contained inside it.

Even the tree was there. That must have been why others could not easily notice me. The existence known as me had surpassed the limits of flesh.

Of course, since it was a copy of me, the body’s strength was unimpressive. I let out a light bitter laugh. There was also the limitation that it could not leave the domain drawn by my shadow tree.

Still, the fact that I could have spare lives like this was valuable enough. That was also why I had deliberately not brought Mira along this time.

No matter what danger came, neither I nor the puppet would die. It was a way to experience a crisis like the death just now, understand myself more deeply, and grow. Of course, those lives had their limits.

“How is it? Does your body feel uncomfortable?”

I asked the Cassian puppet. It lightly shook its head. At that, I stroked my chin. With that death just now, it had lost about one-tenth of its capacity. Now that I had taken part of its body again, it had shrunk by that much more.

That meant the absolute amount of magical power forming its body had dropped even lower. To fill that back up, I would need careful work. That was impossible here.

So I needed to conserve my lives as much as possible. I should use them only when preparing for unexpected situations like this. Otherwise, it might even become impossible for it to steal Cassian’s appearance.

That was also why I had gathered others. Even if I created offshoot bodies like this, their limits were ultimately clear, so I needed meat shields to die in my place.

It had been the same in this trap. They had endured the explosions of the corpse puppets and fulfilled their roles well enough. Of course, because Ugo kept targeting me, I had lost my life in the end. So I needed to be careful so this would not happen again.

I looked down at my half-asleep body. During the process of the offshoot body dying, the tree and body had been shaken badly, so I needed to recover them. I drew a magic circle around that body. I saw it emit light and seep into my flesh.

There was still a lot of time left before the wall made by the circle reached this place. I planned to recover this body during that time. Later, I could swap it with my current body.

Watching my body sink into the magic circle, I nodded. No one should come all the way to this remote corner. Still, just in case, I needed to take that.

I bent down and took out a small fragment from my body. Flowing with strange magical power, it was the coin fragment I had torn from the unnamed mage who had commanded the giant ape before.

There was no telling whether the magical power of that fragment might resonate and locate my body. So I needed to take this coin fragment with me.

Flicking the fragment, I lightly stroked my chin. This fragment might be somewhat useful. Ugo had put quite a lot of effort into collecting these fragments. Then perhaps using this as bait to cause trouble would not be a bad idea.

There was no need for me to keep holding it myself. In any case, I only needed to gather the fragments by the time this competition ended, did I not? In the end, the one holding everything at the end would win.

Should I move for now? Organizing my thoughts like that, I stood. Around two hours had already passed since I died and came back to my senses. By now, everyone should be waiting at that hideout.

If I took too long, they might simply leave. So I needed to head there quickly too. The Cassian puppet smoothly thrust its sword and opened a path. Following behind it, I covered the place with dirt.

No one would know my body was hidden inside this small tunnel. After tidying the area around it, I straightened my back. Then the wide-open sky entered my view. The circle’s size had shrunk to about half of what it had been at first.

The Cassian puppet drew its sword and guarded the surroundings. Under its escort, I moved quickly. At the end of that, I was able to reach the hideout I had built.

It was inside a jungle where trees grew thickly. I quietly looked over the empty surroundings, then gently let magical power flow toward the ground. That magical power flowed underground and slowly began feeling through it.

At the end of it, I encountered a barrier. It resonated with my magical power, and I felt it gently undo the seal. Along with that, the ground split open and created a small path.

When I stepped inside, I soon saw a small cavity. At its center stood a building. It was the rest area I had planted in each hideout.

Everyone was probably inside there. Leaving behind the path that had begun closing again, I slowly stepped toward it. Then I carefully opened the door.

Sharp magical power rippled from inside. It shot straight toward me. The Cassian puppet raised its sword and knocked that magical power away.

Did they think I was an intruder? I quietly let my magical power flow and announced my presence. Soon, the one who had shot magical power at me revealed himself.

It was Biogan. Seeing me, he put away his sword. His face looked much more relaxed than it had before we separated.

“Oh, you’ve recovered a lot. That is a relief.”

I lightly waved my hand. He stared at me, then let his magical power flow. I felt it climb up as it felt over my body. It seemed he was trying to inspect me. Well, there was nothing wrong with being thorough.

As I left my body to that magical power, it lightly swept over me and passed. Soon, he nodded. He had found nothing strange. Not even the fact that I was in the body of an offshoot.

“You came back safely. Thank you for earlier.”

He showed an apologetic look and lowered his head slightly. I waved my hand at him and smiled brightly. It seemed that my decision to act as bait this time had left quite an impression on him. That was a very good thing.

Perhaps he had sensed Biogan’s magical power, because one of the many doors burst open. From inside, Gunda appeared in a robe. When he saw me, he smiled in relief.

“Ohh, I was worried because you were taking so long. I was about to go look for you, thinking something might have happened. Seeing you here is a relief!”

“As I said, I was confident when it came to getting my own body out. I’m glad all of you seem safe too.”

At my words, Gunda let out a bitter laugh. Then he looked back at the room he had been in. Beyond it, I could see a half-dissected suit of armor.

“Everyone is probably busy working on their puppets. I was the same. Well, being alive is what matters.”

He approached me and looked me up and down. I felt a slight doubt settle in those black eyes. Then he continued.

“More importantly, what happened to that bastard? To think he would turn a fellow association member into a puppet. I never knew there could be such a madman.”

I nodded slightly. Then I gently stroked my chin. A madman, huh. So I was not the only one who felt that way? Ugo was rampaging with no regard for what came after.

Of course, his magic was extremely unusual. As I had experienced myself, the process by which he created those accidents was deeply subtle. If you were not the person involved, you would surely be unable to understand the flow.

But not only did he kill people like that, he also turned them into puppets and displayed them. He even used them as bombs, as we had experienced. Like that, he was rampaging as if this place were not reality.

“He returned safely. He is probably planning to attack others again.”

“Urgh, I don’t understand why he let us go after using people as bombs. Well, trying to understand someone like that is probably wrong in the first place.”

Gunda clicked his tongue. Facing him, I shrugged. There was no need to tell him about the fragments. Gunda muttered blankly.

“The competition is scarier than I expected. Professor On is one thing, but I did not think something like this would happen when Tiena is here too. Urgh, I thought things would proceed a bit more gently.”

“I know what you mean.”

I scratched my head slightly. I felt the same way. Had they not said that not causing clear disputes between association members was a rule rooted in this association?

So even if this was a competition, killing people and turning them into puppets like Ugo did was excessive. In that sense, there was clearly some kind of intent behind it. Not only from Ugo, but from that association head as well.

Of course, I could not know what that was. I quietly stroked my chin. Still, there was one thing I knew for certain. Ugo had targeted me. That hostility was very clear.

Then what I had to do was also clear. I had to stop them from achieving what they wanted here. Hostility directed at me needed to be paid back even more heavily.

Why had I entered this association? Because I believed in the bond between puppeteers. In that sense, someone like Ugo, who broke the rules of both the university and the association, could not be tolerated.

So I would remove Ugo in this first round of the competition. Then I would surely be able to stop whatever they were planning. That would be the greatest revenge I could carry out.

And before going after Ugo, there was one important thing I had to do. I quietly observed Gunda. I saw him blink at me. Smiling slightly at him, I opened my mouth.

“I’m asking just in case, but has anyone gone outside the building?”

At my words, Gunda shrugged. He looked around at the tightly shut doors, then shook his head.

“Why would they? Everyone is busy managing their own bodies.”

“I see. Then I’ll go in and rest for a short while too.”

With a slightly tired smile, I placed a hand on my chest. I felt my magical power shake inside it. Gunda seemed to sense it too, because he lightly nodded.

“Yes, go on in. You went through a lot, so you should rest well.”

Gunda gestured for me to go quickly. I bowed my head to him and moved. Then I opened the door to an empty room and went inside.

The Cassian puppet slowly entered after me. I lowered a magic circle onto the door, checked the surroundings for any attention, and jerked my chin at it.

It changed form into an amorphous liquid and slowly seeped into the building. Then it began inspecting the entire building. If anything strange happened, it would come tell me right away.

Ugo had not spent that much strength while facing me. The same was true of his puppet. So to hunt him, I needed all the strength of this group.

But to gather that strength in one place, I first had to filter out the impurity hidden among us. If information kept leaking like this, it would only be used by the enemy.

In that sense, this hideout was a good place to identify the traitor. If we were aboveground, it would be hard to grasp their movements no matter how many barriers I set up. But underground like this, identifying the target would be easier.

Then what method should I try? The simplest method was to create a difference in information. I would give everyone slightly different information.

Then the traitor would pass that information to the enemy. The enemy would surely react to it too. And this plan was something I had already been carrying out from before.

It had been the same with this incident. The trap Ugo had prepared had been placed exactly in front of the path we were taking. And only three people had been told that I would head there.

So the suspects had narrowed considerably. Thinking of that list, I clicked my tongue slightly. I had realized once again that no one could be trusted.

This time, we had been crossing the bridge and heading toward the center. Since it was the first time I was revealing the path, I had told the real route only to the people I could trust most in this group. Naturally, Gunda and Biogan had also been among them.

I had not thought there would be a traitor among them. With a sigh, I let magical power flow through my body. It slowly began taming my flesh. First, I needed to become more used to my body. More than anything, my survival was the most important thing.

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