WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 81

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The eighth opponent was Aldric. It was exactly as he had said. He was also a sword-user who had climbed to the fifth floor. We did not know just how great his power was.

So the seventh demand naturally targeted those fifth-floor swordsmen. Just as with the previous demand, Cassian challenged them to duels. The Blade Association accepted.

I spread the story all over the city. A second-floor swordsman had thrown down the gauntlet against the fifth floor. The rumor made the city quite lively.

It was Cassian’s declaration, and a show of her confidence as well. She wanted more people to watch the duels, and she wanted more people to take part in them too.

“Because I’m going to win in the end.”

Cassian smiled confidently as she stepped onto the training ground. People packed the area around her. It was not only swordsmen there. Even a few mages could be seen.

The puppets moved among them and handed out waiting tickets. Soon, a man climbed up across from her. He was her first opponent. When she saw him, she slowly drew her sword.

The two clashed. How many exchanges passed? Cassian dropped her sword and collapsed. Just like that, a thousand points drained away.

“Mwek,” Cassian let out as she lay there, some meaningless sound. Her opponent looked down at her, nodded, and left the training ground.

He walked over to a puppet and received another waiting ticket. Holding it in his hand, he quietly looked at Cassian.

A rematch was always possible. But I had not expected it from the very first opponent. I wondered if he was trying to earn more points, but that did not seem to be it.

His eyes were completely serious. The gaze he turned toward Cassian held slightly complicated emotions. He looked like he was already thinking about fighting her again.

It was the same after that. She lost, lost, and lost again.

The wounds carved into her body began to outnumber the ones that disappeared. The points she had earned so far melted away like snow in the process.

Still, even through those losses, she only smiled brightly. In the fights, she rushed in as if burning up her entire body. I stared at those movements.

What was the life of a sword-user like? Cassian had said her life was contained at the tip of her sword. I had thought of that as just a figure of speech.

But maybe it had not been empty words. Maybe she had meant it exactly as it sounded. As I watched the duels, that thought came to me.

Mages focused on filling what lay inside them. They grew their trees, fattening their souls and bodies. As a result, they became stronger and more complete.

Those people were the opposite. They focused on emptying what lay inside them. What they emptied flowed into their swords.

Cassian’s words may have held that meaning. Like that, they lived hanging from the tips of their swords. Even the futility of their lives lingered only at that edge.

The life of a sword-user was like a blade in that way. It only pointed forward.

The depth I did not know was coming from there. From somewhere beyond efficiency. Other mages probably would not understand it. They would not know how to strip things away.

I touched my chest. The shadow tree spread inside me rippled at my will. If not for this, I would not have understood it at all.

Cassian lost again. Along with that, another thousand points drained away.

The wall of the fifth floor was far too high. Even by realm alone, there was a full stage between them, so it was only natural. Maybe that was why she simply could not win.

But within it, her movements grew deeper.

Cassian stole their depth through defeat. The process was also quite familiar. After all, it was the same method we had used to keep adding new things to her body. She was doing it by instinct.

Like that, without our help, she stole what belonged to others, added it to herself, and then stripped it away again. Through it all, her score kept falling. The Score Sheet failed to properly recognize her changes.

Mira had said there was no more room to contain anything in that body. I had thought so too. But we were wrong. There was more space inside her.

Not in her body, but in that sword.

Cassian knew very well which direction she had to move in. That was why her actions always led to her growth. As Mira had said, it was something born from her instincts.

After giving her body to Mira and being used by me, she had simply walked silently toward her own growth. At the end of that path, her body had become perfect.

It was the same now. Even as she lost, she did not stop. She kept growing. The duels that day repeated until she lost consciousness.

“Are you all right?”

I asked Cassian. She did not wake up until we arrived at the room. Only after several puppets clung to her and loosened her body did she barely open her eyes.

“Yes, somehow.”

Cassian said it with a faint smile. The bear puppet clung to her and patted her shoulder. Cassian stroked its head and closed her eyes.

“I lost every time, but I still got a feel for it. Now I only have to keep moving forward. Then I’ll win.”

Mira released mist and wrapped it around her body. Within it, Cassian slowly fell asleep.

The next day was the same. She lost, collapsed, and lost points. But she did not stop. She simply kept raising her sword.

The sword-wielders answered her will by continuing to draw waiting tickets. Those who had come the day before returned to the training ground and watched her again.

As I watched the duels, I fell briefly into thought. Why did they live like that? Why did sword-users, no, swordsmen, live by clashing their blades?

The most important thing to me was life. I simply wanted to survive. To do that, I gathered everything I could. I avoided danger and hated losses.

As Mira had said, in a way, my life had been nothing but passive. But I had lived that way, and I had survived. Even my coming to the university was, in a sense, thanks to that attitude.

From the perspective of survival, I was living a better life than they were. In the life ahead of me, I would survive, while the swordsmen would fall at the edge of blades.

Right. To me, only survival mattered.

But if I took that away, did my life have any value?

Swordsmen chased battle. That did not change inside or outside the university. They put their lives on the line and crossed back and forth between failure and success like that.

Mages always said it. Since the lives of sword-wielders were short, their growth was very fast too. That was their trait. Like that, sword-wielders grew quickly and fell quickly.

The fact that I had mocked the shortness of their lives felt a little funny now. As I watched them fight, I understood. Maybe lifespan had no meaning to them.

Mages feared dying of old age. They feared being blocked at the end of training, their trees twisting and withering, until they died like weeds.

But those people probably had no concept of dying of old age. They would simply fight, and fight again, then break and die together with their swords. They always existed within battle.

That was why they grew quickly. In terms of survival, my method was better. But from the perspective of rising higher, their attitude might be right.

You had to clash, move, and be broken. Only then could you go upward. I closed my eyes as I watched her collapse again.

That day, she lost twenty times and won once.

The next day, she could not win at all. Even so, on the fourth day, she managed to win three times. On the fifth day, four times. On the sixth day, six times.

Like that, over the course of a week, Cassian fought close to two hundred duels. During them, both the Score Sheet’s score and the university’s points sank endlessly.

She lost more times than I could count. In those two hundred duels, she only won around twenty times.

And the eighth duel against Aldric was one of those victories. That was enough.

I checked the video. After watching that duel, the Score Sheet spat out 0 points. I gave a faint bitter smile and tucked the mirror bug into my clothes.

Then I bowed my head slightly toward the person approaching.

“You came.”

“It is good to see you. To think I would lose like that. It seems I misunderstood all of you.”

Aldric, who had come to the room, laughed heartily. The cold-looking face he had worn at first was nowhere to be seen. A very bright smile had risen on his face instead.

“Do not worry about the points. As you requested, we handled all of it.”

He said that while thumping his own chest. Cassian, who had been tense, went completely limp at those words.

That made sense. She had been extremely passionate during the duels, but those points had piled up and become quite a large debt.

Since she spent everything she earned as soon as she got it, she had barely any points on hand. So, as the eighth demand, she had asked them to shoulder the cost of the public duels.

The Blade Association had instead made an even more generous proposal. They asked if she would join the Blade Association, saying they would give her far more points than that. But Cassian shook her head.

It was only natural. She had learned harshly this time that troublesome things could happen when one became too tied down by points. Of course, she said she would continue receiving sponsorship.

“Still, thank you for going easy on her.”

I bowed my head slightly to Aldric again as I said that. At that, his eyes widened. He waved his palm with a puzzled expression.

“Going easy? We both did our best, and at the end of it, she won.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, Cassian-ssi seems to prefer being with all of you over being with us. I suppose she would. After all, if it had been us, we probably could not have raised her this far.”

He laughed as he said that. I smiled back at him. In the video, he had displayed a realm similar to the other fifth-floor people. Cassian had beaten him.

But he was a core figure of the Blade Association. On top of that, he was also someone who had won eight duels before Cassian. There was no way someone like him was the same as the others.

If he had wanted to knock her down outright, he certainly could have. But he had not. Probably because he did not want to block Cassian’s path.

“More importantly, I am amazed by how you were able to change her so much. Mira-ssi, could you refine my body the way you did Cassian-ssi’s?”

He approached Mira and smiled. The way he had treated her like the root of all evil before was nowhere to be seen. Mira smiled lightly and welcomed him too.

“Oh my, if you give me your heart, it might be possible. This child once handed me that heart.”

Mira said it while hugging Cassian. Cassian nodded slightly. Aldric stroked his chin and spoke.

“My heart?”

“Yes. I open your chest and eat your heart. Then I take that body in your place. If that happens, I should be able to change that body too.”

At those words, Aldric gave a bitter smile and stepped back. After talking with them a little longer, he approached me.

“I heard the place where Evron-ssi is staying is Professor Irian’s tower. We will have to show a little interest in the classes held there too. Cassian-ssi, no, the Blood-Red Swordflower, said she would be going there as well.”

He said it with a smile. At those words, Cassian covered her ears with a look of disgust. The bear puppet spread a handkerchief in front of her.

A flower made of red blades, her symbol, was embroidered on it. It was a gift from the Blade Association.

After nearly two months of public duels, through all those countless victories and defeats, the swordsmen had given her a title. They said it was a tradition among swordsmen, bestowed upon promising talents.

Mira took the handkerchief from the bear puppet and read the words on it.

“The blood gathered at the sword’s tip becomes a flower, and the flower embroiders the sky. What a beautiful phrase. Cassian, don’t you agree?”

She gave Cassian a mischievous smile. Cassian covered her ears and fled to the corner of the room. Mira waved the handkerchief and lightly chased after her.

The secret duels organized by the Blade Association ended like that. It was a slightly anticlimactic ending.

Had I become too steeped in mage-like thinking? Since there had been no grand conspiracy or scheme, I felt oddly uneasy instead.

Cassian did not leave the city right away. She was not satisfied yet. So she continued staying in the city and holding duels.

I watched over her too. I wanted to contain the depth she drew inside me. The Score Sheet also needed to be reorganized.

We left the city one more week after that. For the first time in a while, I climbed onto the turtle and looked at Canyon City.

It had been an unexpected experience. And a valuable one too. Information about the swordsmen’s bodies and swords filled my shadow tree. Only the core essence had been compressed densely into it.

I glanced at Cassian. She was asleep from exhaustion. That made sense. She had kept dueling right until we left.

If I lacked information, I only had to dissect that body. That body was the collection of all swordsmen. If I observed it for a long time and could use that information...

It would surely greatly grow my puppets’ egos and bodies. At the end of that, I would be able to contain that power too. Thinking of that future, I grinned.

“Were you satisfied with this trip?”

Mira asked as she clung to my arm. At that, I snapped back to my senses. Satisfied. Yes. I was satisfied. The problem was that it had come from being led around by them.

Mira had said it before. She had cast a fishing line, and I had bitten down on it. It was exactly as she had said.

In truth, after Mira appeared, I had felt a little relieved. She was trapped in a puppet body, but she was a treasure selected by Professor.

If she revealed her presence, no one could ignore her. Just as had happened in this city.

But to think Mira herself would use me. As long as she was bound to the puppet body, my life was her life. If I died, her heart would be destroyed too.

I had never expected Mira, a being bound to me like that, to plot with Cassian and move me. It was something I had not anticipated at all. My mouth felt bitter.

“As I said last time, I am obedient to you.”

Mira saw my sour expression and said that with a smile. She placed her hand on my chest and lightly closed her eyes.

“On this trip, even if not as much as Cassian, Evron-ssi gained quite a lot too. Since you formed a partnership with her, the stronger she becomes, the more safely we can move the warehouse.”

She released mist. It seeped into my chest and drifted near the shadow tree.

“Evron-ssi also obtained a great deal of information. Enough to fill this place so much. If you use this, you can grow much more.”

As she said that, she tapped my chest with her finger in a steady rhythm. She was the fourth person who knew about my shadow tree.

The first was Professor Heisen, and the second was Myra. The third was Professor Irian, and the fourth was her. I had explained it to her myself.

“I kindly told you everything. As I said before, Evron-ssi, you are far too passive. So I have no choice but to move. I want you to become someone who desires more chances, more power, more points, and more things.”

My heart began beating in time with the rhythm her finger made. It was also the pulse made by her heart. The two gradually began beating together.

As she did, an alluring smile rose on her face.

“So please desire. Please move. Please grow. Grow as much as you like with me as your foundation, until no one can ignore you.”

She leaned against my chest. I could feel a bit of excitement in her breath.

“If that power becomes sufficient, there will be no need to keep me trapped in this puppet body. At the end of that, please show me the outside world. Not this restricted place, but that very free world. I believe you will feed me even more things there.”

She whispered as a line of drool slipped from her mouth. Feeling it dampen my chest, I let out a bitter smile.

Her desire was very clear. To eat and eat again, until she even devoured Professor. From the heart that had begun beating together with mine, a powerful appetite surged, and I felt it reach me as well.

Growth. That was also the reason I had come to the university. I thought of the swordsmen. Of Cassian raising her sword.

Growth was only possible when one accepted even greater danger than before. I knew that. It had been the same when I grew into the Young Tree realm.

But after that, my possibilities had been restricted. I realized that this university was not much different from the outside. The fantasy I had dreamed of did not exist. This place, too, was nothing more than a part of the wild.

So I threw away some of the expectations I had held for the university. And I only dreamed of surviving quietly. It seemed that did not suit her taste.

Even if I stayed still, she would keep dragging trouble here. She would make it so I had no choice but to move. If so, I needed to move first. That thought came to me.

This too, in a way, was probably being guided by her. But I did not dislike it. Along with it, I remembered the mindset I had held outside the university.

Anyone who ripped me off would pay me back tenfold. That was the standard I had set in the university city. I had forgotten it all this time. Even in the university, that had to continue.

The turtle moved forward like that. The road back to the tower was extremely rough. Countless magical beasts blocked our path.

The bizarre tentacle egg we had encountered before coming to the city appeared again too. It seemed to have been waiting for us to leave the city. It had clearly smeared magical power somewhere on the turtle’s body.

After a long fight, Cassian cut its body in half. That body, with its magical power unleashed, had become stronger than I imagined.

At Cassian’s strong request, we roasted and ate it just like that. I had not expected her to even think of eating this.

“Ugh, it tastes awful...”

Cassian said that and swallowed it with her face all scrunched up. After looking down at what was left for a moment, she turned to me.

“Come to think of it, old man, are you taking a new lecture this time?”

“A lecture, you mean?”

Ah, right. Course registration. I briefly searched my memory.

Now that I thought about it, there was less than a month left until course registration. I had not even properly decided what lecture I would take yet.

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