Graduate Trial Mission

"Vice Dean, you have a point, but I've still decided to graduate. At the academy, I'm ultimately just a boy under everyone's protection."

"Ah, well, all right. You know the tradition at Ulada Magic Academy, don't you?"

"Within the next few days, the instructors will discuss it and assign you a suitable trial mission. As long as you successfully bring back these items from the Magical Beast Mountain Range, we'll let you graduate."

"Of course, if you reach Level Seven, you won't have to take the trial."

Jonathan smiled faintly. The vice dean understood what he meant and told him to go back and wait for news.

For the next few days, Jonathan planned to stay in the academy dormitory.

"What? You're taking the academy's graduation trial? I thought you'd had a change of heart and were coming back to live with us. Looks like I was mistaken."

"You've got a conscience, but not much of one."

Listening to Collette, Jonathan couldn't help laughing wryly. "Is it really that bad? I'm already a Level Six Mage. I'm not like everyone else, trying to coast through the academy forever."

"Graduating early and facing the harsh realities of life will do me good."

"You're facing harsh realities? You're a seventeen-year-old marquis. His Majesty the King and the Dark Church are both waiting for you to graduate."

"Your future couldn't look brighter."

"Forget it. You've already made up your mind, so there's no point in trying to talk you out of it. It's been ages since we all got together. Today, we drink until we drop."

"Until we drop!" Ford shouted as well.

That day, Charles and Jonathan helped the thoroughly drunk Ford and Collette back to the dormitory.

The two of them exchanged looks and smiled wryly.

Jonathan returned to his room, cultivated for a while, and then went to bed.

The next day, someone delivered a letter to the dormitory.

The other three had gone to class, leaving Jonathan alone in the dormitory.

"For me?"

After the messenger left, Jonathan opened the letter and saw that it was from Abraham.

As he read, a smile appeared on his face.

"So he's reached the O'Brien Empire. That's good. It's a fine place for a warrior like him. Aunt Sanita is pregnant, too. He must be thrilled to finally have a true heir."

The letter included Abraham's current address, and he wrote at the end that he hoped to see Jonathan again soon.

After burning the letter, Jonathan continued cultivating.

Two days later, the academy sent him his trial mission: retrieve the gallbladder and Magic Crystal Core of a Level Six Red-Lian Poison Snake, as well as the tail stinger and Magic Crystal Core of an Earth Scorpion.

The graduation mission was somewhat difficult for every sixth-year student.

However, Ulada Magic Academy had never explicitly forbidden students from working together on their trials, so most of them did just that. Only those confident in their own abilities attempted the trial alone.

"Are they trying to make me give up?"

Jonathan was well-read, and he knew at a glance that the academy had deliberately made things difficult for him. Both kinds of magical beasts lived in groups.

Moreover, larger groups could have a Seventh-Level Magical Beast among them.

Even a Level Seven Mage might not be able to complete this mission. A Level Six Mage would have to wait for the beasts to become isolated to stand a chance.

The mission had a time limit of two months. If he failed, he wouldn't be allowed to apply for graduation again for a year.

That very day, July 10, Jonathan set off for the Magical Beast Mountain Range once more.

At the same time, fifteen-year-old Linley was undergoing a life-and-death trial in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

During the month he'd spent there, he had been ambushed several times and suffered several deep wounds.

This trial had shown him just how dangerous the outer reaches of the Magical Beast Mountain Range were.

Humans were even more dangerous than magical beasts!

The bloodstained scars on his body were hard-earned lessons.

Jonathan traveled at full speed and reached the Magical Beast Mountain Range in less than two days, without slowing down much along the way.

Some magical beasts tried to attack him, but they couldn't even keep up. Often, by the time they sprang out, Jonathan had already slipped past their jaws and claws.

By the time they searched for him, he was long gone.

Besides completing his mission, Jonathan had come to the Magical Beast Mountain Range to collect Magic Crystal Cores of various elements for research.

It took him only two days to find a Red-Lian Poison Snake.

The places where Red-Lian Poison Snakes lived were full of poisonous plants, their favorite food.

Besides being extremely venomous, these magical beasts also had a Fire Element affinity and could launch fire attacks.

They were also remarkably nimble and agile. A Level Six Red-Lian Poison Snake could attack as quickly as a peak Level Seven warrior.

Standing on a tree, Jonathan looked down at more than a dozen Red-Lian Poison Snakes crawling across the ground. Each was several yards long. From time to time, they flicked their tongues and raised their heads to scan their surroundings.

"Let's do it the old way."

Jonathan instantly cast Shadow Mist, covering an area several hundred meters in radius.

Then he covered himself in Earth Guardian Holy Armor made of jade, cast Anti-Gravity Spell to lighten his body, and gripped a black dagger inscribed with Sturdiness and Sharpness. He crept toward them without making a sound.

The snakes' scales were so hard that low-level spells like Sharp Stone Spell couldn't pierce them.

Earth Spike Array was powerful enough, but the elemental fluctuations in the ground would give the snakes a good chance to dodge, even if Jonathan cast it instantly.

It was better to fight them himself. With the dagger's sharp edge, and his Level Seven strength and battle qi, he could behead one with a single strike.

However, he had forgotten that snakes were extremely sensitive to temperature. They used it to pinpoint his location and slammed into him as he tried to ambush them, sending him flying.

If not for his Earth Guardian Holy Armor, the force of the magical beasts' charge would have broken several of his ribs.

"I underestimated you!"

Jonathan grew slightly annoyed and began cutting them down head-on. Dark battle qi surged around him like a raging tide.

"Get out of my way!"

He used hand-to-hand combat to punch or kick most of the Red-Lian Poison Snakes away. Then, a streak of black light flashed toward one of them.

The Red-Lian Poison Snake in front of him was instantly cut in two. He stomped on its head, crushing it, and found its Magic Crystal Core. Then he hefted the several-thousand-pound snake carcass and ran.

One gallbladder was enough. If he lingered, the snakes would only surround him, and he'd waste his strength for nothing.

At that moment, Heavy as Light proved immensely useful. Jonathan leaped into the ancient trees and bounded from one to the next. It didn't take long for him to shake off the Red-Lian Poison Snakes.

After finding the gallbladder, he removed it, wrapped it in gauze, and put it in his pack. Then he tossed the snake carcass aside and left.

The carcass he'd left behind immediately became a feast for the nearby magical beasts, letting them eat their fill.

In less than half a day, he found an Earth Scorpion. He obtained its tail stinger and Magic Crystal Core without much effort, then left calmly.

He headed north, crossing thousands of miles in just a few days and acquiring quite a few fifth- and sixth-level Magic Crystal Cores. Light and Dark Element cores were rare; most were Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind.

Among them were also two Lightning Element cores, one fifth-level and one sixth-level. They had come from a pair of Thunder Leopards he'd hunted, a male and a female.

He wasn't interested in anything below that level.