Cyril was sitting on the ground in front of the tree in the lotus position.
With some time to waste, he decided to practice for a bit. Morpho did the same.
After about half an hour, there was finally a change.
From the disc-shaped crystal erupted a brief, piercing noise, followed by a flash of light.
Finally! This must be the signal.
Cyril quickly stood up and approached the tree, trying to touch the object he was supposed to protect.
He really didn't want to spend the whole test sitting in a cave like some hermit.
Unfortunately, the crystal remained as unmovable as ever before.
What is this? Cyril's expression immediately became a level more tired.
Was he supposed to wait here for any challengers to arrive on their own?
"It seems like it..."
No matter how much he didn't like it, the tree wasn't going to grow legs and walk out.
Perhaps this was to prevent Cyril from actively hunting his fellow students down. That would make the test a bit too short.
Are Myra and Cedric also stuck somewhere?
To avoid wasting mana, he interrupted the light spell, plunging the area into darkness again.
With nothing else to do, Cyril sat back down on the ground, continuing to practice the technique.
At least he had someone to talk to.
...
After a period of time that seemed way longer than it actually was, Cyril's hearing managed to pick up footsteps and the sound of someone talking.
He quickly got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and prepared for combat.
"I told you there would be a cave here! It was too obvious," someone exclaimed with a proud voice.
"Not bad. I hope we find something good here. I still can't believe the academy planted treasures all over the area," their companion replied.
Treasures?
"We weren't told anything about that..."
Cyril cautiously moved closer to them, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"But what about our score? We need to find them and fight!" A third voice said in complaint.
"Oh, shut up. There is no way for us to win; I would rather enrich myself a bit first. Who cares about grades anyways?" annoyingly replied the first student.
It seems this wasn't a particularly studious group.
"Damn, it's too dark here. Hold on," said the second student when they reached the area Cyril was in.
The student stretched out both of his hands in front and focused.
With some effort, a circle of magic appeared, and a spell was beginning to shape up—though rather slowly.
"Tsk. What a waste" Rhamn sneered, her voice thick with disdain.
Finally the spell was finished, and an orb of light appeared, revealing a small area around them.
This was a group of 12 people, all warily staying close to each other.
"Is that... someone standing there?" A students in front suddenly said with fear.
At those words, the others noticed it too. Right in front of them, at the edge of the lit area, stood a vague human figure.
"W-Who are you?" one of them asked, their voice trembling.
The students nervously pulled out their weapons.
Without answering, Cyril made a step forward. Now, they were able to see him clearly.
"Cyril! What are you doing in a cave!?" A student yelled out.
Having lost patience, Cyril sprang forward, driving a fist into the abdomen of the nearest person.
"Ugh!" The student bent over and dropped to the ground.
The Divine Dragon's Judgement couldn't reach the body of the student, hitting the barrier instead that soon broke from the impact.
One down.
"Wait! We'll just leave," yelled another student.
But before the student could finish, Cyril lunged forward, grabbed his face, and slammed him into the stone wall.
The student slid down while clutching his head, the barrier easily broken.
Two down.
The others were finally able to master a response.
People standing further at the back started casting spells, while the ones at the front desperately swung their weapons.
Cyril easily dodged their slow-moving attacks and retaliated in quick succession, sending two of his attackers to the ground.
Four down.
One of them was the person keeping up the light spell, so the only light source in the cave was extinguished, plunging the group into further chaos.
"Be careful when swinging your sword, idiot!"
"Clear the way!"
"I give up!"
Everyone was panicking; as a result, their attacks were even less effective, and some even stopped moving altogether.
It was easier for Cyril; relying on his senses, he dodged whatever attack managed to find him and hit whoever was close enough.
Eventually someone managed to cast a light spell, getting rid of the darkness once again.
Eight down.
The remaining students happened to be preparing some spell at this moment.
With some excitement, they were about to send out a bolt at their target, who was standing still.
But at this moment a blur shot out from Cyril's shoulder, hitting the three students one after another.
Even a hit from Morpho was enough to incapacitate them.
The butterfly triumphantly flapped her wings over the fallen humans.
With this, the light spell was interrupted for the second time.
No longer needing the advantage, Cyril himself relit the room, observing the outcome.
That's eleven down...
Suddenly Cyril quickly moved to the side, dodging a dagger covered in green flames.
Cyril regained his footing and looked at the remaining student.
It was an unremarkable young woman about a head shorter than Cyril.
Somehow her face appeared familiar.
"She looks a bit similar to Jack, the shady guy we met near the Shamrock village." Rhamn reminded him on the side.
The student stood there with sweat rolling down her forehead, her right hand trembling as it gripped the dagger, while her left hand cast a spell.
Soon it was finished, and the young woman started to melt into nothingness bit by bit.
A familiar spell too.
Cyril didn't interrupt her and waited until she had fully become invisible before asking with curiosity, "Do you know Jack?"
It was obvious that she did, because in her surprise, the spell faltered, and the student reappeared in the same spot.
"He is my brother..." She cautiously replied.
"I see. Let's continue" Cyril nodded in understanding.
With his curiosity satisfied, he suddenly lunged forward and punched the student.
Before the young woman could even yell in surprise, she was slammed into the wall, her barrier shattering on impact.
It's done.
Cyril made a light sigh and stretched a bit.
At first he was a bit cautious given their large number, but now it appears he worried for nothing.
"A bunch of weaklings. They are nothing."
Looking at their uniform, they were students from class III. Everything from their cast time to physical ability had much room for improvement.
"Why does he have to take it so seriously?" whispered one of the students on the ground.
Some of them already recovered from the blows.
When Cyril turned to look at him, the student quickly lay back down on the ground, pretending to still be recovering.
"Coward"
While Cyril was staring at him, the student and everyone else around him started disappearing into thin air.
Is this also illusion magic?
Cyril looked in wonder at the empty space where there were bodies before.
He even tried feeling out the place, but nothing could be found.
They were real, right? They must be—I even met Jack's sister.
"Maybe the staff took them away for treatment."
Maybe.
When finished, he turned to look at the bracelet on his hand; he could feel some kind of movement on it earlier.
Once Cyril injected mana into the bracelet, on its surface appeared the number 12 in bright lights.
Looks like it's also keeping my score.
"Convenient. I wonder how this was made."
With his battle here finished, Cyril, with Morpho back on his shoulder, returned to the tree to wait again.
...
But before even a few minutes passed, Cyril could no longer sit still here.
I just have to wait here for some Class III students to approach? That's not really enjoyable...
He walked up in front of the tree and looked at the disc in thought.
"You want to..."
I'll try at least. The professor said that the crystal needed protection, not the tree.
Cyril brought his hands close to the disc and began cautiously destroying the tree bark around it.
Nothing bad was seemingly happening to the crystal, so Cyril began moving more boldly.
After a bit of work, he finally pulled out the disc with some of the tree still attached to it, but that was good enough.
There! Time to leave this cave.
Cyril nodded with satisfaction at his work and started walking towards the exit with a disc in hand.
He was going to explore this illusion world to his heart's content.
From the student's words earlier, there could be more here than he first expected.