"Mage Of Justice?"
"Yes, the Mage Of Justice is a character in the fairy tale book that the master gave me."
"Ah, I remember there was such a character. So you want to be like him?"
"Yes!"
Akasha's eyes were now full of life energy, completely different from before.
(Does it really work? As expected of a psychologist doctor. When I see her again, I'll buy her a present.)
"Hmm, the Mage Of Justice is a great mage who can defeat anyone, so before becoming the Mage Of Justice, you have to be strong first."
"I see... Then why don't Master teach me everything to become a Mage Of Justice, shall we?"
Aaksha shiny eyes made it difficult for Erina to refuse.
(After all, I did intend to make her my apprentice from the start, the problem is her Ether. For now we can think about that later.)
"Okay, but you have to be prepared with hard training."
"Okay!"
...
The next day
*Door Opens*
The door to Akasha room was forced open and made a loud noise that instantly woke Akasha up.
"Time to get up."
"Master?"
Akasha glanced at the window and it was still very dark but she could feel that the air was starting to warm up. Which meant it was morning, not night.
"But it's still dark outside."
"Don't make excuses, get out of bed, let's get ready."
"Are we going somewhere?"
Erina smiled at Akasha with a meaningful smile.
"Yes."
Akasha immediately followed Erina with thick and warm clothes, considering it was now starting to enter the fall season.
They walked on for a very long time and now they were quite far from their home.
"Master? Isn't it here yet? We've walked too far from home."
"Take it easy, our destination is very close. Ah!"
Erina footsteps stopped which resulted in the head of Akasha who was following behind Erina bumping into Erina back.
"Aww, are we there yet?"
"Yes."
Akasha looked ahead and what she saw was a beautiful lake with a plain in the center.
"A large body of water, what is it called master? Sea? Lake? River?"
"Ah, right. It's your first time going far away. It's called a lake."
"Hmm...That's a lake, interesting."
Akasha observed the lake and added visual information to her memory.
For Akasha who had never gone far from her home, the new scenery was something fresh for Akasha.
"What are we going to do at the lake?"
"Not exactly, but to the land in the middle of the lake."
Erina pointed towards the land in the center of the lake.
"That's where the training is, no, you could say it's a test."
"An test, not a practice?"
"Yes, this is a test. I want to see how high your will is."
The two of them then walked closer to the lake and not far from there, there was a wooden boat on the shore of the lake.
"What is that?"
"One type of boat made of wood, this one needs to be powered using human power, and that tool is that wooden thing."
Erina closely observed the wooden boat with curiosity.
"Come on, hurry up and get in. You don't have to be afraid, this thing will take us to the center of the lake."
Akasha followed Erina words and walked even though almost half of her feet were submerged in water.
Akasha just kept walking and sat in the boat in the opposite direction to where Erina was sitting.
"You... At least roll up your pants first. You have to get used to acting on your own and not being bound by orders or requests. Take your own initiative even without being told, understand?"
"Okay. I'll try to do that next time."
(Does he really understand?)
"Then, we'll start rowing."
Seeing Erina start rowing, Akasha thought that she should also start taking the initiative herself as Erina had said earlier. Akasha started to pick up an oar that was twice the size of her body.
"Ah, you don't need to help."
"But the teacher herself said I should take the initiative myself."
"Well, that was that, this is this. The point is to leave such things to me."
(Master advice is very complicated.)
"Master, why do we have to use a boat to get there, isn't it easier to use magic?"
"Good question. Do you know where we are now?"
"Yes, we are in neutral territory, Vladimir."
"Good, then how many lakes are there in Vladimir?"
"3."
"Wrong."
"But in the book... "
"Indeed, if you look at history, there are only 3 lakes but Vladimir has 4 lakes, because of its unique conditions, the 4th lake is not included in the lake category and is included in the Supernatural Category."
Hearing the word supernatural region, Akasha remembered the designation. Supernatural Category was a mysterious region capable of producing supernatural phenomena that could not be explained with knowledge.
"Then this is..."
"Right, this is a supernatural category that has the ability to produce Anti-Magic."
"So that's why teachers can't use magic here."
'Well, it's not that you can't, it's just that it takes too much Ether to activate even simple magic.'
Anti-Magic, a unique energy that can neutralize the magic created by magicians. But that doesn't mean Anti-Magic can neutralize all magic.
Anti-Magic is only able to neutralize magic under the condition that the amount of Ether when activating magic has an amount of Ether equal to or less than the amount of Anti-Magic deployed.
Which means, if Erina wants to use magic, she must use magic with the amount of Ether put into the magic must equal or exceed the total amount of Anti-Magic that is there.
Not that it was impossible for Erina but it was too burdensome for her to use magic that drained a lot of Ether just to cross a short distance.
Moreover, this place was a place that would continue to produce Anti-Magic every second making it a dangerous area for any Magician.
"Here we are."
After a few minutes of rowing, they finally reached the center of the lake.
"What a beautiful forest..."
Akasha muttered while looking at the forest here.
"What are you waiting for, get out of the boat quickly."
After getting off the boat, Akasha looked at Erina with a big question mark on her head.
"You must want to ask what the test is, right? It's quite simple. You stay here for a week, if you can survive here then you pass the test."
Instantly Akasha became silent, confused as to what her master meant.
"So what it means is that I have to survive here for a week, and if I manage to survive then the master will teach me how to be strong?"
"Yes. In that case, I'll see you next week."
"Eh?"
Before Akasha process what happened , Erina had already left on the boat without Akasha realizing it.
What Erina was doing right now was something unreasonable, telling a child to survive in the wild was tantamount to suicide but Erina was a great mage.
It was easy for her to save Akasha at any time but Erina also made a strange mistake.
Using magic in an area with Anti-Magic, meaning Erina seemed to forget the fact that Erina sent Akasha to a place where Erina herself could not use magic.
This meant that Erina could not do anything if Akasha was in danger. Erina mind at the moment seemed to be so narrow that she could not think of such trivial things.
As if there was something that made Erina do it without Erina realizing it.
Akasha who saw Erina leave could only stare with a determined gaze.
(I have to survive here, to become a Mage Of Justice like in the story.)
Akasha decided to think positively and prepare for the first hell of her life.