More than seven months had passed since Shiba and Eini left Border Town on their journey to the academy.
Due to Eini's guidance on the way, they didn't find any trouble in those seven months of travel, so they only battled to hunt beasts to eat when they were starting to run low of supplies.
They visited several towns, but they stayed at most a night on them before leaving.
Even being so focused on traveling, they still haven't reached their target after more than seven months, but they were already near.
"Once we cross this forest, we will be almost there, but I am not sure if we should cross it or not. The detour would take us about half a year, given the size of the forest."
That was the only uncertain point of all the route. That forest was indeed the fastest, but the forest had Rank 2 beasts that could fly.
However, if they walked, the beasts wouldn't be able to attack them due to that forest's particularity, but that was the point that was worrying Eini.
"What happens with this forest?"
Shiba found strange that Eini had doubts about what to do. She usually decided the route by herself without consulting Shiba since he didn't know anything about geography.
"There are flying beasts that we can't deal with, but those aren't an issue since they wouldn't be able to enter the forest. Well, at least not the same forest we will enter."
Shiba looked confused after hearing Eini's words.
"I don't know the exact reason, but those on Rank 2 or higher and those who haven't reached Rank 2 will visit different forests. There seems to be some kind of formation or spell affecting the whole forest. For those Rank 2 or higher, this is just an ordinary forest, but for everyone else, this is called the Forest of Illusions. It isn't that we see illusions the others don't see; it seems that we will be thrown into some kind of separated dimension while inside the forest."
Eini guessed that originally that separation was made as a safer way for those under Rank 2 to cross the forest, but based on what she had read, someday, the area for the weak people started to provoke illusions for everyone, so it turned quite dangerous for those with weak wills.
"As you should be guessing, there are a lot of illusions in that forest. I haven't been there before, so it is difficult to know if it is something that we will be able to endure or not. Illusions aren't as easy to predict as beasts, and although Rank 2 beasts can't enter, some weaker ones may do it."
Weaker beasts included Rank 1 beasts, which wasn't a type of beats that Shiba and Eini could beat easily, but illusions also affected the beasts, so usually, it isn't difficult to flee inside the Forest of Illusions.
Shiba was still at level 7 after those months. Without fortuitous encounters, the fact that he was feeling near level 8 was already very good.
Eini hadn't advanced either, but her case was due to restricting herself. It wouldn't be difficult for her to jump directly to Rank 1 if she wanted, but she didn't want to end up looking so young for a lot of time.
"If it is too dangerous, it may be better to take a detour, but if you are asking me, it shouldn't be something impossible to do."
If it really were that dangerous, Eini wouldn't have asked anything even if there was a huge detour.
"It isn't that dangerous. Some people disappear there and appear again months later, but that is about the worst it can happen. Some people never appeared again, but I doubt that it is a coincidence that they all were fleeing from enemies. Most likely, they got out but changed their identities."
The Forest of Illusions was annoying, but it wasn't considered a deadly area. Even if someone really died there sometimes, it didn't reach the point considered a place to avoid.
"The issue is that once we enter, it is impossible to stay together. We need to find each other inside the Forest of Illusions or after leaving. If we are both quick, it is fine, the problem is if one of us gets trapped for several months."
Eini wasn't sure about how she would react to the illusions, and the same went for Shiba.
After traveling for so long with Shiba, she didn't want to travel alone again.
"I see..."
Shiba could understand Eini's worry because he didn't want to travel alone again.
However, his time was limited since he couldn't just advance whenever he wanted like Eini could do. That might happen if he faced a risky situation that made him surpass his limits to survive, but he knew that going through safe routes weren't the best for his training. On the other hand, he didn't want to push his luck by facing many near-death situations to just increase his chances of advancing.
At the academy, the situation would be better for him, and without deadly risk, so he didn't mind that he hadn't been fully focused on training for several months like he did.
His problem was that although he wasn't sure about his exact birthday, he knew that it should be soon given that they were already near the end of the year, which meant that he would soon be fourteen.
The system could show his age if he asked, and still showed thirteen, but he knew that he was born before the end of the year for sure, so it would be soon enough. He had roughly two years left to reach Rank 1.
His level had been increasing extremely fast due to having good luck and risking his life, but based on his talent alone, he thought that his chances of reaching Rank 1 in time were the same as failing to do it if he continued to lose time. Of course, those changes were already great for most people, but Shiba felt pressed by the fact that failing would mean disappointing Eini and his master.
In fact, Eini also knew that Shiba was worried about that, so she thought that may be traversing the Forest of Illusions would be good for Shiba. Otherwise, she would have just chosen the detour.
Shiba's talent was quite lacking compared to Eini's, and he was already thirteen when he started to train, which was his greatest handicap.
"Let's cross the forest. Maybe it will help me to advance to level 8 sooner than expected. I also want to reach the academy quickly. Sorry for being so selfish."
Shiba understood that Eini gave him a choice because she knew of his circumstances, but he couldn't reject that chance. He felt the need to hasten his training as most as he could until he could reach Rank 1.
"I don't want you to remain a weakling for your whole life, so you don't need to be sorry. Just be sure to not fail to reach Rank 1."
Given that Shiba was Master Liye's disciple, as long as he reached Rank 1, it would be a matter of time that he became strong if he weren't killed, but he had started to train too late. If he started at ten like Eini did, with his talent, with Liye's legacy, he would have reached Rank 1 before being sixteen without problems even without strokes of good luck.
"Thank you."
Shiba was really grateful to Eini. Without her, he doubted that he would have been able to reach the academy before being sixteen due to his lack of knowledge about the terrain.
"No need to thank me either. Let's go to the forest. We must try to find each other inside, but don't fall to the illusions. If we don't meet, let's wait for the other two weeks after leaving. After that, we should go to the academy and meet there. From the other side of the forest, even you should be able to reach it quickly."
She was really worried that Shiba would waste months waiting for her if she were too slow to leave.
"Understood. However, I believe that we will meet inside."
Shiba was mostly trying to convince himself, and Eini knew that, but she just nodded.
"Alright, let's go. See you later."
Eini spoke as both of them stepped into the forest and disappeared after being transported to the dimension of Forest of Illusions.
Just after they disappeared, Lina materialized in front of the forest.
"As if this little toy could block my way."
She waved her wand, and the space distorted, showing a different forest. Then, she advanced through the distortion and entered the Forest of Illusions. Illusions didn't work on her since she had immunity, but even if she didn't have that immunity, illusions of that level wouldn't be able to affect a Law God like her anyway.
The trick used to separate the strong from the weak was something that no one in that planet managed to block, but the strongest on that planet was only a Rank 9. In front of a Law God, there was no way it could work unless someone stronger had set it.