Arrival

Adam readily admitted the fact. "Mm, that's right. I knew all along."

But those words instantly ignited the emotions of the others.

"If you knew all along, why didn't you stop it sooner? So many people, so many people died!" Krystal covered her mouth and spoke through tears. Hearing this news and seeing the Mage Continent, the girl—already on the verge of collapse from the deaths constantly unfolding before her over the past days—finally erupted. She suddenly felt that over this past month, she had been like an idiot, toyed with in the palm of someone else's hand.

The others stepped back at the same time, surrounding Adam. This time, Adam's actions had touched the bottom line in their hearts. They could endure no more.

Adam watched their reactions and found them interesting, so for once, he said quite a lot. "You seem to think I should naturally do things with your interests in mind?"

Quentin said furiously, "With our interests in mind? What nonsense are you talking about? There are only six of us left now, and only now do you end the beast tide? Ha, was it because there was no one left to die in your place? You Despicable One."

Adam did not get angry. "I never made anyone die in my place."

Quentin laughed in extreme anger. "Then how do you think you survived until now? Without everyone's help, just by yourself?"

"You are mistaken. My survival until now has had nothing to do with you. On the contrary, the reason you can stand here and speak to me like this, instead of becoming a corpse devoured by Magic Beasts, is because of my help." Adam was utterly blunt.

At those words, Quentin's face flushed red, and he did not know what to say. He roared angrily a few times, then turned his gaze toward the others.

Adam ignored him and continued, "You should learn to take responsibility for yourself instead of shifting it onto others. I have the strength to survive, so I can choose my own way. But I have no obligation to accommodate your thoughts."

Quentin could not take it anymore. He condensed a fireball and wanted to fight Adam to the death, but Randy quickly dispelled the magic. For some reason, he felt that Adam did not seem to be wrong.

"Quentin, forget it. Let's go." Randy had a good relationship with Quentin. He could not just watch Quentin clash head-on with Adam, especially when even together, they were no match for him.

"No, stop!"

"Watch out!"

No one had expected Adam to strike back, and to use a killing move right away—ten whole fireballs. If they hit Randy and Quentin, not even their bones would remain. Yet they had no way to stop them. Their casting speed and numbers were insufficient to dispel Adam's magic.

Quentin and Randy went pale. They smelled a familiar scent—the scent of death—and this time, it was denser than ever before. They had even closed their eyes, their hearts filled with sorrow. After so much hardship, after so much hardship, we made it here, right before the Mage Continent, yet I am going to die. Die at the hands of a "companion."

Just then, a Water Screen descended from above and blocked the space before Randy and Quentin. It looked like only a thin layer, yet it possessed unimaginable defensive power. The ten fireballs were like sparks, easily extinguished.

Then Eileen Mage suddenly appeared on the deck. No one saw how she moved; it was as though she had been standing there all along.

"Mm, only six Little Fellows left? I cannot watch you kill those two."

"It is a pleasure to see you, Respected Eileen Mage." All six bowed in unison. Quentin and Randy, having narrowly escaped death, looked at Eileen Mage with gratitude overflowing from their eyes, then glared viciously at Adam.

Adam found it strange. Human values were truly strange. They had not considered at all that it was the mages' decision that had caused everyone's deaths. Instead, they placed all the blame squarely on Adam's head.

What was this called? Bullying the weak and fearing the strong? Or choosing the lesser evil when weighing two harms? Adam thought.

"Respected Eileen Mage, I request that Adam be punished. He..." Quentin could not wait to lodge his complaint, like a laughable clown.

Eileen Mage glanced at him, her brows knitting slightly. "Mm, enough." After saying that, she ignored Quentin no longer. In her heart, she had drawn a cross over Quentin's name. Such a disposition clearly could not survive in the Mage World.

"Adam, you are very good. Since you knew long ago that there was a problem with the Rune Array, why did you wait until now to shatter it? Tell me the answer, and those Lesser Aether Crystals will be yours." Eileen Mage asked Adam with a smile. At present, Adam was merely an apprentice while Eileen was already a mage. There was a heaven-and-earth gap between their levels of life, yet Eileen could almost certainly say that as long as Adam did not die young, he would definitely become a Formal Mage.

That was why her attitude was quite good.

"First, the flaw was too obvious. I did not think a mage's wisdom would leave behind such an obvious loophole."

Eileen Mage nodded. "That is right. If you had shattered it from the beginning, a harsher trial would have awaited you—for instance, swimming to the Mage Continent." Eileen Mage covered her mouth and laughed endlessly with malicious delight, as if she found such a scene amusing.

"Of course, aside from Adam, those who possess wisdom will always receive preferential treatment."

"Second, it was interesting. It was an experience I had never had before. I could collect much new information and many new observations from it, especially since it was not dangerous to me."

Eileen Mage nodded repeatedly as she listened. In the eyes of mages, the value of lower life forms lay in whether they were useful to mages. As for whether lower life forms lived or died, no one cared. She found Adam increasingly interesting. Aside from the gap in life level and strength, his way of thinking was already similar to that of a mage.

Ophelia and the others felt chills run through their entire bodies. Although this past month had already made them realize that so-called academy life could never be as peaceful and interesting as they had once imagined, hearing this conversation "between mages" still filled them with regret and fear. They doubted whether they could adapt to that kind of life.

Eileen Mage said, "Interesting. They are yours." Then she clapped her hands. "Mm, Little Fellows, let me tell you some good news. Starting today, you may return to your cabins and enjoy life. The Mordo Academy will arrive at Karachi Port on the Mage Continent in three days. After that, we can use a short-range Teleportation Array to reach Mordo Mage Academy. You will soon begin brand-new lives."

This was clearly the best news possible. The apprentices' taut nerves suddenly relaxed, and all the strength seemed to vanish from their bodies at once. They nearly collapsed to the ground. No one cared about appearances now; everyone greedily breathed in the air called safety.

A month of intense battle, a month in which death descended every moment, had not allowed them a single instant of peaceful rest. Even though Mental Power could replace sleep, the exhaustion in their hearts could not be remedied.

This month had left a heavy shadow in the hearts of the Five People other than Adam. It was the original sin known as weakness. Everyone yearned from the bottom of their hearts for strength, for control over their own fate—for the ability, at the very least, to choose a stable life.

But it was not without benefits. At least, they had matured far more than before. They understood that being fortunate enough to step onto the path of mages did not mean they were fortunate. Rather, they had to work even harder to acquire knowledge and resources, fighting with all their strength.

After speaking, Eileen Mage departed in the same incomprehensible manner. Clearly, saving Quentin and Randy had merely been incidental. Her original purpose should have been to collect those substances called Lesser Aether Crystals. In other words, the days of fighting Magic Beasts should have ended today anyway.

Adam's relationship with the other apprentices truly fell to freezing point. Ophelia and Krystal no longer traveled with him. William maintained the distance he had always kept. Quentin and Randy, meanwhile, made no effort to hide their hatred. Adam believed that if given the opportunity, the two would not hesitate to attack him.

Of course, they would not have that opportunity. Life was the foundation upon which Adam pursued knowledge. Anything that threatened Adam's life, no matter what it was, should be destroyed.

Before they could make a move.

Adam became someone forgotten. Over the next three days, even Krystal was accepted by the others, and Ophelia agreed to attend the wine gathering, but no one invited Adam.

The sailors appeared once again. They no longer looked at the apprentices with those strange, mockery-laden eyes. In their place was complete reverence. Magic Beasts were a trial, and the apprentices who had passed this trial now possessed status far exceeding theirs. They had to show reverence, or they would pay with their lives.

During those three days, Adam did not leave his room except to eat. He continuously optimized the Mental Power Solidification Rune and studied the Lesser Aether Crystals.

This was a high-energy crystalline substance. To apprentices, it should be something extremely important.

Lesser did not mean that the crystals were of low purity. Rather, they were more suited for apprentices to use. As long as one held a Fragment in hand, one could become a magic turret, casting magic continuously without pause until all the energy within the crystal was exhausted.

"No wonder Black Mage said that energy veins were merely the lowest-grade resources available for use. It seems that among apprentices and mages, Aether Crystals are the high-value form of energy."

Adam stopped his experiments and put away the three Fragments. A small quantity of such things would not be especially precious, but during the Initial Stage of apprenticeship, they would already provide tremendous help.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Accompanied by a piercing steam whistle, Adam came onto the deck. Many ships had abruptly appeared alongside the Mordo Academy. Over the previous three months, Adam had never spotted even a single vessel passing by them. Only when they were nearing port did he see them, making one unable to help but marvel at just how vast this ocean was.

"The continent where mages live, the cities where mages reside." Everyone was filled with anticipation. The long voyage and countless lives had all been for the sake of setting foot upon this miraculous land. They all hoped to see it at the first possible moment.

The four Mage Masters arrived on the deck at the same time. Though they no longer needed to breathe, they still drunkenly drew in a breath of the Mage Continent's air.

Black Mage said softly, "This is a place fit for living, isn't it?"

At the same time, Krystal, standing at the very front of the deck, cheered, "I can see it! I can see it! The Mage Continent—how amazing!"