Just like that, Irina and Sylvie, distracted by their conversation, turned their attention to where Astron was pointing.

To their surprise, a small squirrel made entirely of mana walked gracefully in front of them. The creature's form shimmered with ethereal light, and it seemed to follow a predetermined path through the forest.historical

"A Mana Formula disguised as a squirrel?" Irina mused, her eyes narrowing as she observed the magical creature. It was quite a sight to see such a complex life form was imitated by a magic formula, meaning they would get a lot more points just from capturing and defusing it.

Sylvie couldn't help but smile. "It's so cute! Can we catch it?"

'Hmm...She is weak to cute things.'

Irina mentally noted seeing Sylvie's reaction and chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Of course, we can. Remember, the goal is to find these formulas and understand them. Let's work together and capture it without harm-"

SWOOSH!

Just as she was about to continue her words, suddenly, an arrow shining green went right past through her ears.

STAB!

And stabbed the pitiful squirrel from its legs, hindering its movements. However, instead of dissipating, the squirrel staggered, its movements hindered by the magical impact.

GASP!

Sylvie gasped, worried about the creature's well-being. "Did you have to do that?"

Irina, with a mixture of frustration and intrigue, turned her gaze to Astron. "What was the point of that? We were supposed to capture it unharmed!"

Astron, unfazed by their disapproving glares, calmly retrieved another arrow. "Relax. It's just a magic formula. We needed to see how it reacts to an attack, right?"

He looked composed for someone who had just shot a pitiful, innocent squirrel. "And, it is not like it is dead or anything. The formula is just fine; what you are seeing is nothing but an illusion."

Just as he said, the squirrel would have dissipated if the magic formula had been affected and destroyed. That itself showed that the arrow didn't cause any harm to their objective. It actually made their lives easier since the squirrel was bound to be different from other formulas.

Most likely, it would be able to escape rapidly.

"Still...."

However, even then, it was quite heartbreaking to see that cute squirrel squirm like that.

"For someone who burns monsters alive, you are quite sensitive about a little mana squirrel," Astron remarked, his tone as expressionless as ever.

Irina shot him a glare, her frustration mounting. The reason wasn't because he was wrong. It was because he was right since she had killed countless other monsters and took pleasure in the act of combat.

'But, I haven't fallen enough to shoot an innocent squirrel.' She wanted to retort, but she didn't hold her word. She knew he was just going to shrug it off anyway.'

"Sigh...Let me take a look."

With a hearty sigh, Irina approached the struggling squirrel. She extended her hand, palm glowing faintly with mana. The magical aura enveloped the wounded creature, and she carefully observed the reactions of the formula. It squirmed but showed no signs of dispersing.

"Remarkable," Irina murmured, her gaze fixed on the enchanted squirrel. "The formula has a resilient structure. The arrow impact seems to have altered its movements but hasn't disrupted the magical construct. Interesting."

She retrieved a small, intricate artifact provided by the academy for this exam. The device was designed to record and analyze mana formulas, an essential tool for investigators since awakeners would always leave traces in the form of Magic Formulas even if they had used skills.

Of course, this device they were provided was actually the lesser version of the real one, but it still did the job.

Placing it close to the mana squirrel, Irina initiated the recording process. A minute later, the squirrel disappeared, leaving no trace as the mana was absorbed by the artifact.

"It is over, let's go." And then, she continued leading the group into the forest.

On the way, none of the three talked. Sylvie was busy looking at the environment and controlling her eyes, and Irina was observing him.

'This guy...'

Looking at those shining purple eyes, Irina thought to herself.

'I knew it. He is quite smart.'

She still didn't know why he was ranked this low, but after being with him for a whole period and exploring dungeons, she admitted that Astron was someone who learned fast. He might not be a genius like her or this monstrous girl, but he was at least way above average.

The time it took him to learn the Mana Observation was a lot shorter than even most of the mages under their family, whom she had sparred when she was a child.

'Tch. I can't make fun of him anymore.'

Now that he finally got a grasp of how to use Mana Observation, she lost the small chance to make fun of him.

'Well, it might not be that bad.'

His reaction speed was insanely fast, and most importantly, the time for him to assess the situation and make decisions was almost nonexistent.

He didn't waste any second while making plans and acted instantly, just like he did with the squirrel.

'I hate to admit it, but he is a lot better in terms of this.'

Even though it might scratch her pride, in the end, she wasn't an asshole who refused to accept other people's achievements.

'Well, I might have been that asshole.'

Just like that, the group ventured into the forest, looking around for squirrels. Since all three of them were able to use Mana Observation, they swiftly found Mana Formulas disguised as parts of a forest.

Irina used her magic to trap the monsters where the magic formulas were attached.

Even though she was a fire mage mostly focusing on explosive elements, because this time it was a capture, she used other forms of magic as well. Even then, she proved why she was labeled as a genius, as her other forms of magic were also strong and swift.

Astron was Astron, as he simply used arrows, and as for Sylvie, she was the one that surprised the two the most, as she was somehow able to 'charm' the magic formulas, making them unable to move.

It was quite a weird scene to witness and clearly something Irina was seeing for the first time.

However, that peaceful time reached its end not long after...

*******

'Something is not right.'

I thought, walking in the forest.lightsnovel

'The presence of other students is lessened considerably.'

In the past hour, we had been exploring the dungeon and recorded quite a lot of formulas on the device. And, of course, since many of the first-year students were also in the forest, normally, we were bound to encounter others, and a fight would occur, but our 'smart' leader came up with another good idea.

She released her aura intentionally, making other students aware of her presence.

'Certainly, something expected from Irina.'

Knowing what kind of person she was, it was evident that she would do something like this. Of course, what she did wasn't bad. Most of the other students would never want to go against her in this forest either since she was basically one of the strongest students in the academy.

It wasn't wise to make an enemy of her, and it seemed most students knew their place.

However, this method had a small disadvantage, something that might have been detrimental to us.

It was the existence of other possible high-ranking students who held the same amounts of authority and power as Irina—someone who could go against her toe-to-toe.

If someone like that were around us, they would be well aware of our location, and that would give them an advantage over us since they could conceal their presence.

Slowly approaching Irina, I whispered.

"Have you noticed it?"

"Not-"

"Sssh...."

Seeing my hand, she naturally lowered her voice and looked at me.

"Noticed what?"

"....Really?"

It seems this girl still held the same pride that made her this carefree. Releasing her aura intentionally while not paying attention...

'Do I really need to crush her pride?'

I thought but discarded the idea not long after. Even though she was flawed, this was what made Irina a strong individual.

"What are you talking about?"

However, she was still dumb when it came to picking things up.

"You really need to be more careful when you do such a thing."

"What do you me-"

Just as she was about to continue, she stopped her tracks. It seems she also finally realized what was missing. Of course, she should. Her stats must be much higher than mine, so there was no way she would miss what I had seen if she looked at it carefully with her high mana sensitivity as well.

Truly, I wish this arrogance of hers was at least a little limited to some extent. Maybe, then, she would be the strongest.

"Sylvie."

She immediately looked at Sylvie and then turned her attention to me.

"Cover her."

At the very least, she knew one of the core rules of a party.

Always protect the healer if there is one, and knowing that Sylvie wasn't someone who could protect herself, I immediately dashed towards to her, sensing the incoming projectiles.

"Wh-"

THUD!

As Sylvie looked at me in confusion, I quickly grabbed her, tackling her to the ground just in time.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Countless ice shards materialized on the ground where we had been standing, a deadly dance of frozen projectiles aimed at our group.

"Stay down," I muttered to Sylvie while already having taken cover from the boulder in front of us.

lightsΝοvel She didn't ask any questions either. It seems she got used to such situations in her past dungeon explorations in the first period.

'Good, she is not a liability, at least.'

Having someone in your team who panics is not good. I guess I should thank her first group for that.

BOOM! SWIRL!

In that split second, fire erupted around us. I glanced over to see Irina, her eyes ablaze with determination. She manipulated the flames expertly, creating a fiery barrier that intercepted the incoming ice shards.

"Wha-what's happening?" Sylvie asked, her eyes wide with surprise while looking at the flames and ice clashing.

'Well, this scene is certainly not normal.'

The amount of mana that had gathered around us wasn't normal, and there was no way Sylvie had missed that mana with her new powers as well. It was quite understandable that she was feeling overwhelmed, thanks to that amount.

"Stay low and quiet," I advised, my gaze fixed on the source of the attack.

After all, there was only one person who could confront our fiery mage.

"Ho...you are pretty good as usual."

Emerging from the shadows was another student, an incredibly beautiful girl with silver hair cascading towards her waist and eyes as blue as an icy winter sky.

"Seraphina."

The rival of Irina and one of the strongest future characters stood in front of our group.

Seraphina Frostborne.