***
Five days later.
Colossal Forest.
Viridian's hideout.
"Are you ready?" Adeline was still in a wooden house built decades ago. Due to the solidarity of the Viridian dorm students over the decades, every time an exam was held, they were assigned to guard, build, or repair the hideout house.
When Albert and Lilia first came to the complex, they could only gap in disbelief when they found several wooden houses standing in the middle of the forest, with wooden furniture.
Today, Albert and Lilia live in house number 11 of the 15 houses available. As the leader of the Viridian dorm, Tobias allowed them to stay because they were both trustworthy.
Adeline came to house number eleven with Parker and Nancy. They received important information from Tobias regarding the cave inhabited by third-level monsters.
"Where are we going?" asked Lilia.
"East of the forest. There's a fairly secluded cave in the ravine. If careful, we can get there and retrieve the chest's contents," Adeline explained.
"What level of monsters inhabit the cave?" asked Albert. Adeline held up three fingers and showed them to Albert.
"T-Third-level monsters?" asked Lilia, trembling with fear.
Adeline cleared her throat, both hands clasped around her waist with a heart full of confidence, "Don't worry. There's me and the fifth group from the Viridian dorm. That monster is no threat to us."
Lilia glanced briefly at Albert; Albert was also seen swallowing his saliva deeply. The hunt this time was quite risky, though less dangerous than before.
In the end, Albert agrees because Morgan's group has to survive anyway while waiting for Morgan to wake up from his fainting.
Adeline smiled with her hands clenched into fists, happy to see Albert and Lilia respond so positively to her invitation. Once everything was ready, Adeline's group and the fifth group departed for the cave as Tobias had instructed.
Alice walked into the house used as a treatment center for the wounded, house number fifteen. Alice's steps halted as she realized Adeline's group was walking through the complex gates to return to their duties.
Only Adeline and Tobias' group regularly participated in hunting missions among the five groups of the Viridian Dormitory. Tobias had highly recognized Adeline's ability, so the girl had become Tobias's big hope to win the extra reward for the exam this time.
"They are tireless," said Alice.
Alice did not come empty-handed. She carried a wooden box with a carmine blue gem inside. Given Morgan's unrecovered condition, using the carmine blue gem to restore Morgan's mana could be effective.
Although there was another way by using natural energy transformation magic, but with Morgan fainted, that technique would be useless.
The house had five doors; one could accommodate about two people at a time. As for Morgan himself, he was in the third room.
The room door was opened by Alice. The girl could only stare in shock as she realized Morgan was sitting cross-legged on the bed, whereas yesterday, Alice was pretty sure Morgan was still lying there faint.
"H-he's awake?" asked Alice, shocked.
Unexpectedly, Morgan was sitting with his hands resting on his thighs. Alice could use natural energy transformation magic so the girl could witness the natural energy flow entering Morgan's body.
'This flow of natural energy? There's no mistaking it, he is recovering,' Alice said.
'But how could a Rune class student be able to cast this magic spell without being affected?' Alice asked.
The girl with glasses and shoulder-length black hair stepped closer to Morgan's bed. She placed the wooden box on the nightstand while picking up a carmine blue gem to help the mana recovery process.
'Relax, Morgan. I'll help you,' Alice replied.
Alice crushed the gem, making her ability to absorb natural energy possible quickly.
[High Magic: Natural Energy Transformation]
After relaxing, Alice focused on absorbing the natural energy into her body. After transforming her body, Alice reached her right hand forward, directing the energy flow into Morgan's body.
Morgan felt another large flow of energy enters his body. The young man opened his eyes slowly, seeing a girl with shoulder-length black hair helping him recover his mana.
"Thank you," Morgan said briefly.
"Sure," Alice replied.
Due to the silence of the place and the level of security maintained, the two could perform the natural energy transformation well. Morgan's physical wounds began to heal until there were no scars. However, it is different with internal organs. It took time to return to their original condition.
Thirty minutes into it, Alice felt herself reaching the limit of the magic. Her eyes opened softly, peering forward to see Morgan still absorbing energy.
'How bad are the wounds inside his body?' Alice asked.
"Uhuk!" Alice coughed while still forcing herself to perform the recovery magic. Morgan opened his eyes, obviously seeing that Alice had reached the limit of using the magic.
Not wanting Alice to get hurt, Morgan stopped the recovery process so that Alice would not be further injured. The natural energy that was spinning quietly around Morgan's body began to fade and disperse, surprising Alice.
"Eh? Have you recovered?" asked Alice, Morgan smiled slightly as he shook his head.
"Yesterday's battle hurt me quite a bit. So, it'll take me longer to recover," replied Morgan, getting up from his bed and opening the wooden box.
Morgan's eyes saw a gem carmine blue inside. However, he did not plan to use it since he had quite a lot of blue gem carmine.
"For today's recovery, this is enough. You're already feeling the reciprocity, right?" asked Morgan, Alice lowered her head, embarrassed that her status was higher than Morgan's, but she couldn't do long-term mana recovery yet.
"Sorry, I can't help much," Alice explained.
"That's okay. I understand," Morgan replied, stepping closer to the room's door.
Alice continued to watch Morgan's back, her head haunted by thousands of basic questions about Morgan. The entire Arcana class was shocked by Jake's loss at the hands of a Rune class student.
The news instantly subsided and was no longer heard, thanks to Tobias' protection. Tobias told every group in the Viridian dormitory that Morgan was a valuable asset.
Establishing a good relationship with Morgan in this exam would benefit the Viridian Dorms. That was the important thing Tobias emphasized to them.
'Tobias respects him so much. Who exactly is he?" Alice asked, curious.
Morgan stepped out of the house, breathing in the forest's fresh air in his fixed suit of clothes. Now, Morgan stood in the center of the Viridian dormitory's hideout complex.
"Where am I?" asked Morgan, softly.
"You're at the Viridian dormitory hideout," Alice explained, walking up to Morgan.
'Did Adeline and Parker bring me here after the fight?" asked Morgan.
"Albert! Lilia! Where are they?" asked Morgan, immediately remembering his two friends.
"They're on a mission in the east. Don't worry, Adeline is with them," replied Alice, still wearing a flat face without any expression.
Some students who weren't on the mission crowded around and whispered. They knew that Morgan was the one who defeated Jake, but not a few of them believed it wasn't Morgan's true power.
In other words, someone else helped Morgan in that fight. However, that person left first, so all the credit went to Morgan.
That conclusion was also based on their logic. There was no way a Rune class student could defeat one of the top three Arcana students.
"Hey!" called a young man wearing a white uniform, indicating an Arcana student.
The young man walked up to Morgan with two other young men, their friends. Morgan turned his head, noticing the young man who had called him staring at him with a sarcastic look.
"What trick are you playing?" the young man asked.
"I don't know what you mean," Morgan replied.
"Your fight with Jake. Tell us, who helped you?" asked the young man, insisting with a strong, intimidating look in his eyes to Morgan.
"I beat him with my own strength." Morgan returned the young man's gaze with a confident look, his arms crossed over his chest in a show of authority.
"I don't believe that!"
"We Arcana students have a hard time beating him, but how come you can do it?" snapped the young man, contradicting Morgan's words.
"Show me your mark!" said another youth.
Showing the marks was one way of knowing exactly what someone's strength was. Morgan quietly put his ring back on, which helped restrain the magic aura on his body.
Once it was in place, Morgan took a deep breath and showed the Vergina Sun mark in a two-pattern. It was a sign that Morgan was only a Rune student at the novice stage.
"Is the mark ever wrong?" the young man asked Alice. Alice shook her head coldly.
"Never. The mark comes from his magic aura energy. Even if it's different, only people of the Sage stage can perform magic aura manipulation," Alice explained, giving a detailed explanation.
Alice turned to look at Morgan closely, "It's impossible for Morgan to have reached the Sage stage, especially after he was badly injured in the fight with Jake."
"If he is indeed a Sage, then fighting Jake was just a simple matter for Morgan."
"B-But how could a student with mark number two defeat Jake and kill many Cobalt dormitory students?" the young man asked, surprising Morgan.
'What? They're all dead? Did Morgana do it?' asked Morgan, confused.
Alice stood over Morgan, protecting him from the bullying of the other youths who were jealous of his achievement. It created a commotion in the complex when Tobias wasn't around.
"Magic is something mysterious; it can't be calculated like math. You should know that since you're an Arcana student," Alice insisted.
"I don't believe in him!" The young man insisted on not admitting that Rune students could be better than him. He raised his hand and pointed at Morgan firmly, full of confidence and courage.
"I challenge you to a fight. We'll fight until one of us surrenders!" the young man threatened.
"Challenging someone recovering from a big fight. Have you lost your mind?" asked Alice, angry.
"I don't care. If he did win against Jake using his abilities, I have to prove it," insisted the young man.
"YOU!" shouted Alice, furious to the point of bringing out her powerful magic aura.
Morgan reached forward, patting Alice lightly on the shoulder to bring the girl's attention back. Now, Alice and Morgan's eyes were glued to each other.
"I have an idea," Morgan explained, stepping right up to Alice.
"We'll fight in 10 attacks. If one of your attacks hits me, I'll admit your skill."