C35
Despite the fierce mental battle happening between the competitors, in the eyes of the spectators watching from afar, it simply looked like they were busy jumping off.
'I'm not teleporting until I start falling down.'
Despite the edge of the cliff being one step in front of him, Shirone's body did not disappear with a flash. Seeing him so close to the edge, the hearts of those watching thumped loudly.
And their eyes widened.
“He jumped off…”
Shirone jumped off the edge, as far as he could, and into the sky.
The weightlessness of floating. Strong winds shook his body and mountain birds flew in flocks, dozens of meters beneath his feet.
Shirone grit his teeth and focused on teleporting. At the critical point of the leap, his body finally jetted off with a flash.
Shirone was the last to get off the cliff, and as the people ahead started to get ready for the second round of teleportations, the rankings got overturned. The group that started first sagged to the rear.
Shirone made up for his late start… But above all else, he was able to get ahead of Mark by a narrow margin.
“Wha—”
Mark freaked out when Shirone suddenly popped up in front of him.
'What the hell?!'
'How late did he start to overtake me in the first cycle of teleports?!'
Of course, they were still on their first turn, so the chances of the rankings getting reversed still existed, but the fact that the first operation went down the drain ticked Mark off.
“You weasel! Stop right there!”
With a hair width of a difference, Shirone and Mark cast teleportation magic almost simultaneously.
10 minutes before the start of the promotion exam.
A girl headed towards the training ground with a gloomy face.
Maria Earlin.
She was the third daughter of the House of Earlin, which was a 3rd-class noble family. She was a 19-year-old talent who entered the Alpheas Magic Academy after waking up to her magic talent early.
Although she was now stuck in Class 7, it was not as if she never stood out from the beginning.
She entered the academy at the young age of 10 and has since then been fighting fiercely to rank up.
But when Maria entered Class 7 at the age of 15, she was so happy she felt like she could fly. But her happiness was short-lived as her fear of the competition grew.
Ironically, her best performance was in her first year of being promoted to Class 7. However, starting the following year, her grades gradually started to decline. This trend continued to the point that now she was even ignored by new students.
At some point, such competition felt meaningless. She realized competition was not something she desired.
Knowing it would only bring her suffering, she couldn't find a reason to push for the top-level classes. She knew that even if she were to get promoted, it would just be the start of a new competition with new people. Like a marathon that had no destination, she hated the continuous climb up the world pyramid knowing there was no end to it.
She didn't want to deal with the competition, She only wanted to learn magic for that was what she loved.
“Haah, what am I doing right now?”
She felt like she had missed all her opportunities to climb up. And coupled with the fact that she eventually realized she was the oldest in Class 7, she felt like everything she worked for went down the drain. This realization took everything from her. Even her love for magic.
But yet she still couldn't find it in herself to leave the academy. Was it because it was part of her life already? Or was it because she still had a little bit of that passion from before left inside her?
“Haah…”
Maria, who entered the magic academy because she liked magic, sighed when she realized she was starting to not even know who she was.
To her, the promotion exam was none of her business. But to also study side by side with her younger classmates while the exam was happening did not sit well with her.
That was the only reason why she started heading to the training ground.
'I think it'll start soon.'
As soon as she checked the time, an Illumination magic flashed near the peak of a mountain.
It was blue in color. And the moment that light flashed, she could hear the cheers of the students echo.
She couldn't continue walking. Tears flowed down her eyes.
'I have no place there. I guess only the talented ones out of Class 7 are there.'
Was this the end?
As soon as she realized that she didn't have the courage to even leave the academy, fear consumed her.
At that moment, a devil's thought consumed her mind, leading her astray.
'If Mark wins…'
He would never let the person who snitched on him about Shirone's bullying go.
It felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest and her field of vision turned dark.
'No!'
