Magic Academy Mayhem: A Class Full of Maniacs - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Cynthia was startled by the state her two teammates were in.

She walked up to Vernel, whose condition was the worst, and handed her a bottle of potion. “Drink this first.”

Vernel lowered her eyes and did not refuse. “Thank you, Captain.”

“It’s nothing.” After all, the idea of letting a Ghost enter their bodies had come from her. Cynthia didn’t want to see them get injured because of it and have it affect their next move. “Take it first to stop the bleeding.”

Vernel replied, “All right.”

Only after her breathing eased a little did Cynthia ask, “What happened before you woke up? How did it get so bad that your bodies suffered backlash?”

Vernel wiped the blood from her face with a handkerchief and explained, “After waking from the dream, I killed the Ghost inside my consciousness, so I was affected by the lingering mental attack. It’s not serious. I’ll recover soon.”

“As long as you’re fine.” Cynthia let out a breath of relief.

Off to the side, Richter tugged at the corner of his mouth and muttered in a very “quiet” voice, “Captain plays favorites.”

Considering that she had slapped him earlier, Cynthia remained very patient. She turned and handed him a bottle of potion. “Here. Drink it.”

Richter lowered his eyes and glanced at the potion in front of him.

It was pitch-black, like poison.

Richter was not pleased. “Why was hers blue, but mine is so ugly?”

“You really are playing favorites.”

“?” Cynthia genuinely had not expected him to find fault with even this. Expressionless, she pulled the bottle back. “Then don’t drink it. To be honest, I wasn’t that eager to give it to you anyway.”

Richter gave a cold laugh, bent down slightly, and snatched the potion she was about to put away. “You already handed it to me, so why are you taking it back? If you gave it to me, it’s mine.”

Cynthia could not be bothered with him. “A Magical Beast is heading this way. We’ll talk after we leave this place.”

Hearing that, Sangmo gathered up the threads floating around them.
Once they decided to leave, Cynthia took the lead. The others did not ask where they were going and simply followed in silence.

About an hour later, the group had left the Magical Beast’s detection range and found a fairly hidden cave.

After blocking the cave entrance with piles of grass, Cynthia walked inside and started a fire. Then she returned to the earlier topic and asked Richter, “Back then, did you also suffer backlash because you killed the Ghost?”

Richter said, “Yeah.”

“Then did your mental power improve?” Cynthia was more interested in the result.

Richter propped his chin on one hand, his gaze fixed on the firelight as he said lazily, “It did. This method really works.”

Vernel nodded in agreement and offered her own thoughts. “If it’s supplemented with herbs that help stabilize mental power, like Moonlight Vine Leaf, the effect should be even better.”

Moonlight Vine Leaf…

Cynthia thought back to the special properties of that kind of herb.

Any herb related to mental power was difficult to cultivate, and the process of refining it into a potion was also very complicated, so they were relatively rare on the market.

Every herb of this type carried a unique fragrance, so they were occasionally made into perfumes for nobles to use.

Wait… come to think of it, ever since earlier, there had been a faint fragrance spreading through this cave.

It was different from the scents given off by her four teammates. This fragrance was lighter, somewhat like the fresh scent of lily of the valley.

Cynthia looked toward the depths of the cave. It was pitch-black.

She got up and walked toward a corner the firelight did not reach, then raised her hand and summoned a magical flame.

Soon, vines covering the entire cliff wall came into view.

The leaves of the vines were silver like moonlight, and all of them were crescent-shaped. The flowers blooming on the vines were a deep, ghostly blue, like the depths of the sea.

Perhaps because the original owner had been obsessed with making poison, the moment Cynthia saw these herbs, an analysis automatically surfaced in her mind.

Lingyue plant. Sixth-rank herb.

Its faint fragrance was crisp and cold. Whether the vine leaves or the blooming flowers, they were extremely similar to Moonlight Vine Leaf and Moonlight Flower.

However, the sap of Lingyue vines and flowers was highly poisonous.

If the sap touched someone, their internal organs would feel as if they had been frozen by ice. In mild cases, it caused temporary blindness. In severe cases, it killed instantly.
Richter suddenly appeared within her field of view and reached toward the Lingyue Flower.

Cynthia caught his wrist. “The sap is poisonous. Don’t touch it carelessly.”

“Okay.” Richter switched hands and picked up the Bone Key hidden beneath the dense vine leaves, waving it at Cynthia. “Captain, look. Do you think this could be some kind of key to a treasure vault?”

Cynthia released his hand and glanced at it.

Strange patterns were carved into the bone. Perhaps because it had been buried here for so long, the unusual fragrance it gave off was even stronger than that of the Lingyue Flower itself.

Unlike the sap, the scent released by the Lingyue Vine and Lingyue Flower was not poisonous. On the contrary, it had the effect of calming the mind and steadying the soul.

But the important point was not the fragrance. It was that there were still dark bloodstains on the Bone Key…

Cynthia lowered the firelight to illuminate the ground. In the next second, human bones hidden among the dead leaves came into view.

There was no rotting flesh left. Judging by the marks on the bones, the deceased had only been sixteen or seventeen, but they had clearly been dead for a hundred years.

In all likelihood, they had died after accidentally touching the sap.

Ever since they had arrived on this deserted island, they had encountered so many human bones along the way that Cynthia had nearly lost count.

Was this really the academy’s secret realm? Or had Griffin transported them somewhere else after they left the forest…?

Cynthia silently stepped back and replied, “Rather than some treasure-vault key, I think it looks more like a relic left behind by the deceased.”

Richter clicked his tongue, instantly losing interest.

He tossed the key back where it had been.

“Come take a look. There are words on this wall,” Eli called out.

Cynthia turned and walked toward him. Richter followed leisurely behind her.
Six minutes later.

Cynthia’s gaze swept over the layers of twisted, overlapping patterns.

The center where the patterns converged was incomplete. Most of the array lines failed to connect, making it obvious that this was an unfinished, Incomplete Magic Array.

Eli pointed to the other side. “Don’t you think this area looks a lot like the terrain we passed through when we came here?”

“Does it?” Cynthia took a few steps back and carefully examined the entire wall.

The sea, the beach, and even the cliff at the edge of the forest were all depicted in detail. It did look very similar.

…Wait. The image on this wall was somewhat like the map the Ghost had conjured earlier.

Thinking that it must have been on this deserted island for far more than a hundred years, Cynthia sent it a voice transmission.

“What do you mean, somewhat?” the Ghost retorted eerily after hearing her out. “I drew this. It’s clearly exactly the same, all right?”

It drew this?

Cynthia was slightly taken aback. From the corner of her eye, she glanced toward the depths of the cave and transmitted, “Then the skeleton just now…”

Before she could finish, the Ghost rushed to answer, “That’s right! That was this young master!”

Cynthia: “…”

What a coincidence. Too much of a coincidence.

Thinking of its miserable fate back then, the Ghost let out a deep sigh. “Back in the day, this young master was also a famous genius. Unfortunately, I was young and arrogant. When I ventured alone onto this isolated island to explore, I accidentally stumbled into the cliff area, which led to a Rank-9 Magical Beast noticing me and hunting me down.

“After barely escaping with my life, I made it here. I wanted to carve a magic array to leave this barren land, but I was interrupted because my mental power was exhausted…”

Cynthia had already guessed what came next. “So you mistook the Lingyue Vine in the depths of the cave for Moonlight Vine Leaf and wanted to use it to replenish your mental power, only to be poisoned to death?”

The Ghost was shocked. “How did you know? Σ(ﾟ∀ﾟﾉ)ﾉ”

The corner of Cynthia’s mouth twitched. “…You made it that obvious. I’d have to be an idiot not to guess.”

The Ghost snorted. “That’s only because this young master was already seriously wounded at the time, and on top of that, my mental power was drained. Otherwise, how could a mere Lingyue Flower have possibly killed me?”

Then its tone changed abruptly. “Human, do me a favor, and I’ll tell you another secret. How does that sound?”