'Just how long are those two going to pretend they are sneaking around?'
Theo kept his eyes closed ever since he sat down to slowly, carefully bring his mana under proper control. And yet, roughly midway through the process, he first sensed one, and then another presence approaching.
At first, he expected them to just pass on through, judging them to be one of the many unfortunate bastards assigned to the earliest patrol duty of the day. Then, as the two continued to rudely linger just outside the standard range of basic detection, Theo started to internally curse his luck, changing his assessment from unlucky bastards to one of the camp's officials.
'Who else would have time to just… stand around? But,' Theo resisted the desire to open his eyes and verify his findings, 'if they were actual teachers or officers, wouldn't they try to check up on a stray cadet?'
This situation made little to no sense. But rather than trying to still force some logic on it, Theo decided to just conveniently ignore the whole issue and focus on the problem at hand—reining in his mana.
The process itself wasn't all that unfamiliar. To a degree, it was quite similar to learning how to use the boosts from buff-class spells or potions, by allowing one's body to get used to the sensation of the increased strength, slowly overwriting the limiters designed by the divine to stop humans from using so much strength that they would end up harming themselves.
Focused on nothing but this task, by the time those two uninvited guests showed up to this remote part of the camp's forest, Theo was pretty much done with the job. The mana now moved through his flesh in the form of a constant stream rather than the raging current it was after his tricky tactic. But…
But there was still one more crucial step for him to take.
And it was to actually unleash this mana while he was still in a somewhat mendable state, to force his body to develop proper channels for doing so. Otherwise, Theo would have to face the one event that was extremely amusing to all the onlookers back at the mage's tower but fittingly painful to the one subjected to the experience.
He had yet to lose his magic virginity. And if he allowed himself any further delay, his body would recover completely, forcing his mana to first break free from its confines before Theo could actually make any use of it!
'They are still here…' Theo thought, gritting his teeth in silent frustration.
He still had some of his patience left… But judging by the warming-up of the air, the sun was already rising. And with it, it would soon be the time for the exam!
'Okay, I guess that's it.'
Taking in a breath so deep his chest visibly moved, Theo opened his eyes and then blinked them a few times, allowing his eyes some leeway to get used to the light of the morning.
He remained stationary for a few more moments before finally cutting the slack and rising up, all the while holding onto the tree for some basic support.
'Head, torso, arms, legs, check,' Theo thought, running his focus through every general area of his body in search of potential problems. Thankfully, save for some residual pain—one that he pretty much expected to keep bothering him for the next few days or up to a week or two—he managed a full recovery.
'Should I chastise them or not,' Theo thought as he started to move around to warm up his exhausted limbs. Yet, after stealing but a single glance in their direction, masked as but a casual, sweeping scan of his surroundings, Theo quickly made his decision.
'Superintendent? What the hell is he doing out here? Isn't he supposed to open up today's exam?' Theo thought, only for his body to suddenly grow stiff. 'Wait, exam!'
In the process of actually waking up, Theo had no other choice but to acknowledge that his internal clock wasn't as precise as it would be in over ten years in the future. And what he took for early morning… was an early morning, just at a much later stage than Theo predicted!
"Damn, I'm going to be late!" Making a scene to give the two onlookers something to think about, Theo reached out to wipe the morning sweat from his forehead, only for his hand to return not only moist but also sticky and covered in a dark-red color he didn't actually expect.
"Oh right…" he muttered, eagerly recalling the formula of a spell that would only be developed some five years in the future, before taking in a deep breath and breaking his magical hymen by unleashing his mana through several paths of least resistance his flow could find.
Theo then held on to the spell formula for a while, allowing his brain to get comfortable with its projection… Before opening up the palm of his hand and stirring up his mana all the while invoking the feeling of casting magic he was perfectly familiar with.
WHOOSH!
A sudden gust of wind covered Theo from head to toe as his mana ignited and burst into flames.
Flames infused with just one special quality, of only burning through stuff that had mana on its own.
Originally developed as an anti-magic spell, designed to counter a wide array of magical attacks, it quickly became a trick pretty much every adventurer in the world would learn just to rid themselves of all the monster-borne filth and blood.
The flames rose up and quickly spread over the entire surface of Theo's skin and clothes, eating away at all the blood and guttural grime he bathed in just a few short hours ago.
The whole process lasted only a few seconds, with the flames dying out as soon as they consumed all of their magical fuel and reverted to using Theo's own mana for sustenance, allowing him to sense the burden and cut the supply.
'Now then…'
Freed from the filth of the yesternight's battle, Theo shook his head before turning towards the forest's edge and taking his very first step since the start of his hunt—that is, if one were to exclude the several hours long crawl through the forest on his way back from the fight. By the time he finally emerged from the woods, Theo took a quick scan of his surroundings, only to realize that the two freaks who somehow found it interesting enough to observe him for hours on end were now nowhere to be found.
'I never really considered this to be a viable option… but do we actually have two perverts on the loose, roaming the camp at night only to just… peep at their victims for hours at a time?' He then swallowed a gulp of saliva as he recalled the one face he actually did recognize. 'Is it why the superintendent claims to like this job so much?'
A cold chill moved up the young man's spine as his imagination painted this whole encounter in extremely different colors.
"Well, I guess the less you know, the better you actually sleep." Pressed for time, Theo had little to no other option but to drop the topic and rush to the camp's center, where the exam was supposed to take place. Yet, after taking just a few steps, he couldn't help but look over his shoulder, strangely wary of his surroundings, a sense of an actual danger he felt in this place for the very first time in both of his lifetimes.