Magic Academy Mayhem: A Class Full of Maniacs - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

By the time her vision cleared, Cynthia found herself in the middle of a vast ocean.

Shimmering light shattered across the surface of the water, the glare dizzying. A dull, suffocating pain rose from her lungs, and Cynthia felt as if she might already be a little bit dead.

She hurriedly struggled to break through the surface. Oxygen returned at last, followed by one choking cough after another.

Wait… one after another?

Cynthia swept a glance around.

Her four teammates were in just as sorry a state as she was.

And the place they had found themselves in was an endless expanse of sea…

This sudden change interrupted the conflict that had been about to erupt between Richter and Eli. At the same time, it also meant their break was officially over.

Richter coughed until his voice turned hoarse. He seemed to hate water. Using magic, he conjured a magical cloud and sat on it, lifting himself away from the sea.

But in the very next second, the magical cloud dispersed.

With a splash, Richter fell back into the ocean.

Several seconds passed before he managed to struggle back to the surface.

The smile was gone from his face. “…This damned place can restrict magic. What exactly is that evil Jellyfish Head trying to do?”

Evil Jellyfish Head → Instructor Griffin, who was devastatingly beautiful but had an extremely strange hairstyle.

Cynthia reminded him, “Careful. Talk behind someone’s back and you might get caught.”

Richter tugged at the corner of his mouth and narrowed his eyes at her. “Captain, don’t you think I’m just stating the truth?”

“…” Cynthia had no strength to refute him.

Well… Instructor Griffin’s hairstyle really did look a lot like a jellyfish.

And his personality, heh, really was evil too.

Just then, the Light Screen lit up.

Everyone subconsciously glanced at it.

A message from Instructor Griffin had appeared on the Light Screen-

“…” Cynthia felt a bad premonition rise in her heart. And usually, whenever that happened, her premonitions came true.

Sure enough, the moment the message on the Light Screen faded, the originally calm sea began to churn.

Immediately after, several Soul-Evil Demon Sharks appeared out of nowhere and charged toward them at a speed that made one’s skin crawl.

The instant she saw their razor-sharp teeth and vicious, blood-red eyes brimming with murderous malice, a chill crawled up Cynthia’s spine.

Third Order Magical Beasts…

Her body moved faster than her reason. Cynthia swam for her life in the opposite direction.

The other four also fell silent for a split second, then tried to draw on their magic.

Failed.

They tried again.

Still failed.

Two seconds later, four more fleeing members joined the frantic swim forward.

Cynthia asked Richter, who was closest to her, “What level are you right now?”

“…First Order Five-Star.” Whether it was because he hated seawater or because of the strenuous movement, Richter’s complexion was even paler than it had been when they were sprinting madly through the forest. His eyes were lowered, making the tear mole beneath one eye stand out even more clearly.

The ten realms corresponded to the ten Orders. It was basically a shorthand system.

Cynthia looked toward the others. “What about you?”

Even while being chased, Vernel’s emotions remained terrifyingly steady. “First Order Six-Star.”

Sangmo pulled off his soaked hood, revealing a face so delicate it almost seemed unreal, tinged with a bit of gloom. As his eyes lowered, droplets rolled from his lashes and fell into the sea, scattering the cold, fragmented shimmer on the water. “…First Order Five-Star.”

Eli was still in the best condition among them. Of course, “best” did not mean good by much. Irritated, he swept his drenched bangs upward, though no emotion showed in his voice. “First Order Five-Star.”

Cynthia fell into thought.

For freshmen who had just enrolled, their levels were honestly quite good.

Three Five-Stars and one Six-Star. Against one Third Order Magical Beast, they might have had a chance of winning. But against five Third Order Demon Sharks? There was no need to even think about it.

Besides, their magic was currently being suppressed.

On top of that, she, their captain, was an honorable 0-Star, which basically reduced their odds of victory straight to zero.

As the Demon Sharks drew closer and closer, Cynthia’s nerves gradually pulled taut.

Fortunately, heaven never bars every path.
Hope appeared before long.

Behind a stretch of sea that had been blocked by a massive reef, there was actually an island.

“Swim to the island first!”

Cynthia signaled for everyone to swim toward the far side of the reef.

With their lives on the line, no one wasted a single word. They cooperated in perfect tacit agreement.

–

Twenty minutes later, on the island.

Having finally shaken off the Demon Shark pursuit, Cynthia collapsed on a stretch of beach some distance from the water. Her nerves had been strung tight for too long, and her stamina had been drained past its limit.

The others were no better.

Even Eli, who looked like he had the best physical endurance among them, was now sitting against a rock with no regard for appearances. Though he was clearly trying to restrain himself, his breathing was still heavy.

“Is this how St. Novis Academy of Magic trains its freshmen?” Richter wasn’t laughing anymore. The expression on his face had been replaced by cold indifference since earlier. “No wonder they say the academy doesn’t produce trash. Turns out all the trash just dies.”

Cynthia found it hard to disagree.

Eli said flatly, “The instructor won’t let us off this easily. Don’t drop your guard.”

Vernel swept her gaze over their surroundings. Near the beach was a forest so dark its true appearance couldn’t be made out.

For some reason… it gave off an unpleasant aura.

While things were still relatively calm, Cynthia opened the Light Screen.

The positioning function had been blocked. The map had been blocked too. All they could receive were messages from Griffin; they couldn’t even send anything back to him.

Most likely, this place had already left the area covered by the campus magic network, so the functions of their Spirit Card had been restricted as well.

Griffin could send messages freely because he had naturally paid the corresponding magic power to break through that restriction.

Cynthia scrolled the messages back to the very start of the group chat.

The second lesson was agility and gravity resistance. The Demon Shark chase just now… didn’t fit either category.

In other words, this so-called second lesson… hadn’t even begun yet.

At that realization, Cynthia felt her temples start to throb.

She closed the Light Screen, got up, and walked beneath a tree before sitting down cross-legged.

While things were still relatively calm, Cynthia didn’t stay idle. She began absorbing Magic Element according to the method she had learned in the library yesterday.

Although everyone said their magic power had been suppressed, fortunately, Magic Element could still be absorbed normally.

The elements within Magic Element were metal, wood, water, fire, earth, as well as ice, lightning, wind, light, and darkness-ten types in total. When mages absorbed them, they would choose to absorb them all together.

If the body showed signs of rejection, that meant it couldn’t absorb every element. Later on, it also wouldn’t be able to use the rejected Magic Element, and could only exclude those elements one by one while absorbing the rest.

Cynthia had originally been wondering what she should do if she encountered that situation, but after discovering that this body could actually absorb every element, her worries disappeared.

Cynthia closed her eyes. Guided by that power, ten different kinds of light appeared in the pitch-black Soul Sea.

They gathered densely, forming a vast sea of light.

“Each time a mage’s realm rises by one star, one more star will appear in the Soul Sea”-that was what the book had recorded.

Right now, her Soul Sea was completely empty, with only points of elemental light. That meant she was currently at Realm 0.

Cynthia tried to condense those different points of light and gather them into a star.

The instant the elements collided, bone-piercing pain spread through her entire body.

Cynthia gritted her teeth and endured it. A thick taste of rust rose in her throat.

Cold sweat poured down her body, and she began to tremble.

But she still had no intention of stopping.

As long as she broke through the first layer of obstruction, the condensation of her first star would be complete.

She could accept being a salted fish and slacking off when appropriate, but she couldn’t accept staying at the very back of the team forever as dead weight.

The scent of blood spread. The others noticed what Cynthia was doing, and surprise flashed through their eyes.

Resting his chin on his hand, Richter asked leisurely, “Our captain actually chose to advance at a time like this? Do you think she’ll succeed?”

Eli and Sangmo didn’t answer.

Vernel’s gaze swept over the young woman, dazzling as a rose. Without the slightest hesitation, she said calmly, “She will.”