"Are you sure?" asked Alice.
The girl asked because Morgan's condition had just recovered from yesterday's battle. It would be difficult and dangerous for a mage to return to fight after recovering.
"I'll be fine, thanks," expressed Morgan, smiled in response to Alice's concern.
The young man stepped ahead, to a circular arena built of wood for the Viridian dorm students to practice inside. Alice told the name of the young man who challenged Morgan. He was Jesse, one of the talented students from the Viridian dorm.
Right after Morgan and Jesse entered the arena. Five students stretched their hands forward, forming a similar elemental magic to guard the outside area.
[High Magic: Protective Wind Shield]
Morgan cast a slow glance back, aware of the appearance of light shields on the five students outside the arena.
'What an amazing defense. Such a combined wind shield would be difficult for a novice stage student like me to destroy,' Morgan explained.
"So, do you want to give up? I'll give you one last chance. Admit that Jake wasn't defeated by you, but by others!" insisted Jesse.
Jesse's attitude was normal, according to Morgan. Students with higher status would not easily admit to other students from lower ones. That was the point Jesse wanted to prove to Morgan.
"If Jake was defeated by someone else, then tell me, who is that person?" Morgan asked.
"Tch! Don't argue with me. Only you know who that person is," Jesse replied.
Suddenly, Jesse brought out his magic aura as red as flames. Morgan knitted his eyebrows, sensing Jesse's magic, which was unusual but not so strong.
Jesse lunged strongly straight ahead with his hands gathered with powerful magic energy. Morgan jumped to the side cautiously, thinking Jesse's ability could have been better than Cobalt's dorm students.
"Keep dodging, and you'll be caught by me in the end!" snapped Jesse, pursuing in a circular direction following Morgan's back.
[Mid Magic: Fire Arrow Strike]
A magic circle appeared before Jesse's hand, releasing dozens of fire arrows aimed at Morgan, who stayed in front of him. Morgan cracked a faint smile, jumping backwards to trick Jesse.
"What?" asked Jesse in surprise.
Jesse turned around and pointed his hand forward again, letting the fire arrows shoot forcefully at Morgan's body. Morgan wasn't out of ideas; he could easily handle Jesse's magic.
[Mid Magic: Protective Wind Layer]
Morgan moved his hand gently from left to right, accompanied by the appearance of a magic circle. At once, a transparent protective layer appeared before Morgan, destroying every fire arrow that hit the layer.
BOM!
The explosion did not occur so big inside the arena. A puff of smoke billowed, covering half of the place, causing other students outside the arena to have difficulty seeing Morgan and Jesse's condition.
"What happened?"
"Can you see where they are?"
"Jesse's magic seems difficult for those rune students to handle."
The students began to express their thoughts right after seeing the events inside. A girl approached Alice, asking about Alice's view of the two persons inside the arena.
"What do you think, Alice?"
"Can't say for sure. Their strengths are pretty balanced, in my opinion," Alice replied.
The girl nodded. Among the girls in the place, Alice was second only to Adeline, who had great strength. Now. She was assigned by Tobias to recover Morgan's condition.
Not long after, Jesse jumped out of the smoke, attracting many students' attention. They pointed at Jesse and said the battle was over, and Arcana students won.
'This is strange. Morgan's agility and strength are almost comparable to Jesse's,' Alice explained.
Jesse landed in a kneeling stance, his breath hitching tiredly with his eyes still focused on the puff of black smoke, hoping his fire arrow attack could hit Morgan's body.
'Did I hit him?' Jesse asked, curious.
The smoke began to fade, all Arcana students in the place were obviously shocked to see Morgan kneeling with a fire arrow stuck in his body. Instead of being upset and angry, Morgan smiled while trying to stand up.
"H-he was hit by Jesse's magic attack."
"I had expected that. Jake was defeated by another student, not by Morgan."
"If Tobias was here, he would have kicked Morgan out right now."
Doubts began to arise in the hearts and minds of all Viridian dorm students. They thought Morgan was a liar and manipulative, especially after using Jake's moment of defeat as his victory.
The battle was over. As the protective wind shields guarding the area outside the arena began to disappear, some students walked over to Jesse to praise the young man's abilities.
"Now, you have lost. By rule, you must tell me who defeated Jake?" asked Jesse sternly.
'Morgan lost?' asked Alice, shocked.
[That's good. This fight isn't important, you don't have to keep winning it]
'I've been so conspicuous lately. If I win against him, I'm afraid more attention will be drawn to me,' explained Morgan, still on his feet.
He picked up the fire arrow and destroyed it with his magic aura. This defeat belonged to his and Morgana's plan. Morgan deliberately opened the protective layer to let one arrow pierce his shoulder.
[Let's just say it was me]
'Are you sure?' Morgan asked.
[Don't doubt my plan]
"Tell me, Morgan! Who was the guy who beat Jake?" asked Jesse.
"Alright. I didn't see her clearly. However, she was wearing a black dress with a rose pattern. She had long black hair with a beautiful face like a queen," Morgan explained.
"When I was on the verge of fainting, I saw her come and beat Jake," Morgan chimed in.
"Is she the woman who drove you to the waterfall?" asked Alice. Morgan cleared his throat and looked at Alice.
Alice walks over to Morgan to help him explain the woman's identity in detail. Alice's eyes were glued to the front, looking at Jesse sternly.
"According to Tobias's words, the woman has the aura and strength of a servant," Alice replied.
"Wh-What? Servant?" asked Jesse, shocked.
Not only Jesse but also the others were shocked to hear Alice's explanation. The power of servants was indeed strong, but the person who made the summoning was not random. Sometimes, if the summoning failed, it would be fatal to the person using it.
"We don't know who the servant's master is, but it's definitely not Morgan," Alice explained. Jesse laughed out loud with both hands clasped around his waist, a contemptuous laugh.
"Of course it is. A weakling like him wouldn't be able to summon a servant!" declared Jesse, provoking Alice slightly.
Morgan held Alice's shoulders, trying to calm down the girl with shoulder-length black hair. The young man strode forward, asking no one to bother him again.
Just when Morgan was about to return to house number fifteen, Morgan's steps were interrupted as Jesse's figure appeared before his body in a swift wind. Jesse had come for another reason.
"This is the Arcana student dorm. After losing to me, you have no right being here!" Jesse threatened.
"Jesse! You've gone too far," insisted Alice.
"He was forming an alliance with Adeline, but after seeing her abilities, the alliance will only burden us," Jesse explained.
"So, you want me to leave here?" asked Morgan, Jesse flicking his finger in agreement with Morgan's question.
Morgan sighed. He had no intention of staying longer because the Arcana students didn't seem to like him. In the end, Morgan agreed to what Jesse said and went in the other direction.
"I suggest you keep hiding until the exam is over. With your abilities, you'll be easily defeated by other students!" Jesse scolded, watching Morgan walk away from the Viridian dorm compound.
Alice clucked her tongue, her teeth grinding as she realized Jesse's attitude was too harsh towards Morgan, while Morgan had saved Adeline's group from Jake's magical destruction.
"Wait until Tobias comes! I want to see your reason for sending him away," Alice complained.
"Tobias will definitely agree with me after I tell him how weak Morgan is!" declared Jesse, leaving with his friends back to his house.
Alice was still with her friend at the wooden gate of the Viridian dorm compound. She looked straight ahead; Morgan was no longer in sight as far as the eye could see.
"What should we do?" asked Hannah, Alice's friend.
"Morgan's still recovering. Tell Tobias that I went to help recover Morgan's mana capacity. You can find my position on the map," Alice explained, deciding to go after Morgan.
"Alright. I understand." Hannah would relay the message while telling Alice to always be careful. Alice knew what she was doing.
Morgan continued to walk through the forest path while keeping his guard up. He didn't want a bunch of monsters to attack him like the other day.
'I haven't had a chance to check the contents of the black pouches belonging to the two groups of Cobalt dorm students. I'd better find a safe place,' Morgan explained.
[Don't forget. Since I helped you defeat Jake, you must craft a third-level essence jewel.]
'In the past, I could only make first-level essence jewels. I don't know if I can do it for the third level,' Morgan explained.
Morgana came out of the purple-black smoke, standing gracefully before Morgan while holding her arms forward. Morgana's lithe hands choked her master, sending him into the air at tree height.
"You dare break your promise?!" snapped Morgana, enraged by the servant's energy fluctuations that ticked every second.
"I-I wasn't planning on it. I just had doubts," explained Morgan.
"If you can make a third-level jewel, then you should be able to make a third-level essence jewel as well," Morgana retorted.
She threw Morgan's body a long way forward, breaking several tree trunks. Morgan fell and sat limply against one of the trees. Instantly, Morgan vomited blood caused by his servant.
"I can torture you more than this. Do you understand, boy?!" snapped Morgana, arriving in a floating form and continuing to emit a magic aura.
'I'll die sooner if I refuse Morgana's request,' said Morgan.
"Fine."
"I'll try to make it tonight. Due to this wound, I need to recover for a while," Morgan explained.
Morgana smiled faintly with arrogance. If Morgan had said so, then Morgana would have no other fear if her master refused to make a third-level essence jewel at any time.
While talking to Morgan, she was startled by the presence of another magic aura around the forest. The woman turned her head to the side swiftly, seeing through her see-through eyes that a girl was sneaking up on her.
"Someone's coming!" exclaimed Morgana, disappearing and transforming into purplish-black smoke flying towards the magic aura.
Alice, who was following Morgan, witnessed the mysterious black smoke flying towards her. The girl tried to fight back by releasing water elemental magic, but it didn't work against Morgana's magic power.
Morgana appeared before Alice, making the girl widen her eyes in shock.
"Y-You? You're the servant who beat Jake, right?" asked Alice.
COUGH!
Morgana reached out and grabbed Alice firmly by the neck, lifting her high enough to make the girl suffocate.
"How dare you follow me!" snapped Morgana.
"I came... to help Morgan!" insisted Alice, stammering.
"Stop it, Morgana!" insisted Morgan, getting up from his seat and heading over to them.
"Tch!"
Morgana released her stranglehold on Alice, then vanished her form and returned to Morgan's realm of soul. Morgan walked over to Alice, seeing the girl's neck reddened from Morgana's strong choke.
"Are you alright?" asked Morgan, Alice cleared her throat softly.
"Come with me. I know a safe place to recover."