Magic Academy Mayhem: A Class Full of Maniacs - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Captain, why did you let the Ghost possess you on purpose?” Richter’s voice came from in front of her. “You lost consciousness for a full hour, you know.”

Cynthia withdrew her sidelong glance, opened the jar of ointment, and replied, “Isn’t our third lesson about raising our mental power threshold? A Ghost’s particular method of attack happens to target mental power, so I thought I could use it to improve mine.”

Richter said slowly, “Seeing you work so hard, Captain, almost makes me feel ashamed of myself.”

“Really? Then you should follow my example from now on.” Cynthia answered casually as she lifted her hand and dabbed the ointment toward his slightly swollen cheek.

Because they were so close, the faint rose fragrance was especially clear. A cool sensation spread over his face, followed by the soft touch of the girl’s fingertips.

“…” Richter instinctively dodged away.

Cynthia’s hand stopped in midair. She looked at him. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“…A little.” Richter raised a hand and caught her wrist, smiling. “But I was only joking earlier. I wasn’t blaming you, Captain. So I’ll do it myself.”

He didn’t give Cynthia a chance to answer. Releasing her hand, he took the ointment from her and, as if completing a task, casually smeared a bit on his face before stopping.

“Can I keep this jar of ointment?” he suddenly asked.

It was only a jar of ointment, and Cynthia had never planned to take it back in the first place. “Of course.”

Richter said, “Thank you, Captain. Once we’re back at the academy, I’ll prepare a better gift in return.”

Cynthia waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just a jar of ointment.”

Richter said nothing, merely smiling.

Just then, Vernel leaped down from a tree not far away and walked up to Cynthia. Politely, she asked about the final result. “Captain, did letting a Ghost possess you help improve your mental power?”

It wasn’t anything worth hiding, so Cynthia answered truthfully, “It had some effect. Unfortunately, that Ghost’s level wasn’t very high, so the result didn’t meet my expectations.”

At first, she had thought it was useless, but after waking from the Sea of Consciousness, she could clearly sense that her mental power had improved a little. That meant the method was viable.

Seeing that she had fully returned to normal and was no longer baring her claws at everyone, Eli finally relaxed and walked over. “So if the Ghost’s level is higher than your own, the effect will increase by several times as well?”

“Judging from the current situation, yes.” To be safe, Cynthia added, “But this method has its drawbacks. Aside from losing control of your body, while you’re being controlled by the Ghost, your own consciousness will fall into a fictional abyss of nightmares, or you’ll return to scenes from negative memories.

“If you can’t wake up in the end, not only will you fail to improve, there’s also a chance your mental power will be completely devoured. As for anything else… this was my first attempt, so I’m not too sure whether there are other negative side effects yet.”

At the words “first attempt,” all four people present fell silent.

They had assumed she dared to try it because she had experience. In the end, she really had been gambling with her life?

Richter tilted his head and asked, “Captain, weren’t you afraid you wouldn’t be able to wake up?”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Cynthia answered calmly. “Aside from waking up on your own, if you really can’t wake up, there are methods to forcibly rouse you, though they will cause a certain backlash. If you aren’t confident, you’d better not try it lightly.”

Vernel thought for a moment, then looked at Cynthia and said seriously, “Captain, I want to try.”

Cynthia felt she had already explained the pros and cons clearly enough. Since Vernel had volunteered, she did not stop her. “All right. I’ll watch over you. If you still haven’t woken up after two hours, I’ll consider forcibly waking you.”

“Mm. Thank you.” Vernel nodded, then turned without the slightest hesitation and walked toward the blue thread.

Cynthia glanced at the color.

It was probably a Ghost around the Second Order, higher in level than Vernel.

Clearly, Vernel held herself to strict standards when it came to her own strength as well.

The instant Vernel gave up her defenses and let the Ghost enter her body, Cynthia witnessed an eerie twisting of limbs.
Just like what had happened to her earlier, three minutes later, under the Ghost’s control, Vernel’s body slipped completely out of her command, finally twisting into an eerie, distorted shape.

She remained in that terrifying state for five full minutes before her will was completely seized by the Ghost.

Once she lost control, her body pitched straight downward.

Seeing this, Cynthia flashed forward and caught her around the waist, then gently set her down beneath a tree.

Richter suddenly said, “I might as well give it a try too.”

As he spoke, he directly grabbed a blue thread beside him.

Cynthia froze for a moment when she saw the thread he had chosen.

Its color was a little darker than the one Vernel had held, which meant the Ghost’s level was close to Third Order. Had he lost his mind?

Helpless, Cynthia kept her eyes on him.

After drawing the Ghost into his body, he calmly took a magic blanket out of his space, spread it on the ground, and only then obediently sat down.

Cynthia had noticed earlier that this guy seemed to be something of a clean freak…

She was just about to see how he would react after being possessed by the Ghost when she realized that, even under its control, the degree to which his limbs twisted was barely noticeable.

If not for the faint trembling of his hands and the veins bulging at his temples from restraint, Cynthia might have thought the Ghost had failed to invade him at all…
It was now around two in the morning. Richter and Vernel had both fallen into an unconscious state. Cynthia had originally been worried that Eli and Sangmo would also try it, but fortunately, they did not.

Cynthia let out a breath of relief.

Having four people fall into a deep sleep was still far too risky.

If a Magical Beast invaded while they were asleep, it would not be hard for her to escape alive on her own. But protecting herself while also guarding four completely defenseless teammates was not exactly realistic.

“Tzz, tzz, tzz!”

A sudden disturbance came from nearby. Cynthia looked toward the source of the sound and saw it coming from the direction indicated by the red threads.

At that moment, Sangmo was silently taking care of the small number of Vengeful Spirit entities.

Cynthia surveyed the surroundings. Most of the nearby threads were blue, connected to Ghost entities that would not cause fatal harm.

There were fewer Vengeful Spirit entities formed from negative emotions like resentment and hatred. At a glance, there were only around a dozen or so.

Seeing that nothing seemed wrong with Richter and Vernel, Cynthia stepped forward to help.

Eli was responsible for watching the surroundings for any unusual movement.

—

Two hours later.

Richter and Vernel still had not woken up.

Probably because they were trapped in negative dreams, their faces gradually turned pale, and fine beads of cold sweat broke out across their foreheads. Their condition worsened as time passed.

At that moment, Eli said, “There are two Third Order Magic Wolf creatures five hundred meters away heading this way. We can wait five more minutes at most. If they still can’t manage it, wake them by force.”

Different people had different levels of tolerance for negative emotions, and Cynthia did not know how deeply they would be controlled by the Ghost.

But the fact that they had been trapped for two hours was partly because the possessing Ghost was at a higher realm than they were, allowing it to sustain the dream for longer.

There was also another crucial reason: it was very likely that they themselves had not realized they were currently inside a dream.

After all, not everyone was like her, with two souls living in one body.

The previous Ghost could never have known that the dream it had gone to such lengths to create was, to her, no more than watching a movie.

At most, she would get emotionally drawn in. She would not lose herself.

But Richter and Vernel were truly participants in the situation, so their chances of becoming lost were much higher.

Five minutes passed quickly. Cynthia was just about to forcibly wake them when both of them opened their eyes almost at the same time.

Vernel’s face was deathly pale, and bright red blood poured wildly from her eye sockets like tears.

As for Richter, dark red blood silently seeped from the corner of his lips. In his icy blue, jewel-like eyes, the hostility and bloodlust had yet to fade…