Chapter 126
It wasn’t recommended to light a fire in the forest.
No, I had to say it was practically forbidden.
Just a single spark could set the entire forest ablaze.
On top of that, we were in the middle of Battle Survival.
If smoke rose from the fire, it was only a matter of time before we became targets.
Most cadets would give up on lighting a fire in this kind of situation.
It was practically common sense in Battle Survival.
……But right now, I was trying to light a fire.
A ‘method’ had entered my mind through the System, one that prevented wildfires and avoided giving away my position with smoke.
It wasn’t anything fancy.
All I had to do was dig a bit.
Thud-! Thud-!
I shoved the shovel into the ground and dug.
“……Villed, are you really trying to light a fire?”
Behind me, Lapin asked.
Her tilted head and curious gaze carried nothing but pure wonder.
It made sense.
From the outside, it didn’t look like I was trying to light a fire at all.
It looked more like I was digging a small burrow.
“Just wait a bit.
It’ll be done soon.”
Before long, I had made two small holes side by side in the ground.
Each hole was 25 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters deep.
The distance between them was about 30 centimeters.
Only then did Lapin seem to realize what I was doing, nodding her head.
“You’re going to light a fire in this hole.”
“……Yeah.But it’s not finished yet.”
I reached my arm into one hole and carefully dug at the inside.
Focusing on the sensation at my fingertips, I dug a thin tunnel that connected the two holes.
‘……That should do it.’
The slender passage that linked the two holes.
It was called a ‘Dakota Fire Hole.’
“Ah, if the fire is lit underground, it’ll prevent a wildfire.”
Karin peered into the hole and nodded.
But she still looked doubtful as she turned her eyes back to me.
“But you know… fire needs oxygen to burn, right? If you light it underground like this… will it really work?Wouldn’t it just die out from lack of air?”
It was natural for Karin to question it.
The three elements of combustion were fuel, heat, and oxygen.
“That’s why there are two holes.”
I answered her, then took out the birch logs I had prepared earlier.
They were leftover logs from the first day of the exam, when I built a house.
The smooth, white bark unique to birch trees had been peeled away.
With little moisture and good flammability, they were ideal firewood.
I placed the logs into one of the holes I dug.
“This side is for the fire. The other side is the air intake.”
Snap-!
I snapped my fingers close to the hole with the logs, and a small black flame flickered to life.
It was a fire born from combining Hwayo and Shurk’s powers.
“By connecting the two holes with a tunnel… oxygen flows naturally.
As long as air keeps coming in, the fire won’t die out and will keep burning.”
“Ah!
So this one’s the vent hole!”
Karin pointed toward the hole without fire.
“Something like that.”
I kept my eyes on the flame that had caught on the logs.
Crackle-! Crackle-!
Before long, the small flame consumed the logs completely, burning hot and strong.
The heat radiated fiercely.
“It burns really well… right, Lapin?”
“Yeah.
It’s warm.”
Both Lapin and Karin crouched in front of the fire hole, stretching out their hands toward the warmth.
Then Karin blinked as she glanced back and forth between the two holes.
“Huh… come to think of it, there’s surprisingly little smoke.
I thought it’d come out from the other hole.”
And she was right.
If it had been a regular campfire, the smoke would have risen into the air, revealing our location instantly.
But—
“Thanks to the structure, there’s almost no smoke.”
Inside this hole, the fire burned so completely that almost no smoke remained.
Only a faint wisp sometimes escaped, vanishing almost immediately.
“How did you even figure this out?”
At Karin’s question, I scratched my head.
“I just followed something I read in a book.
Anyway, since we have fire now, let’s eat.”
“Ah, yeah.
Yeah.”
I skewered shiitake mushrooms on sharpened branches and set them over the Dakota Fire Hole.
Ssshhk—.
The moment the mushrooms began roasting, Karin and Lapin’s eyes sparkled.
“They look so good… they smell so fragrant and delicious…”
I pulled off one of the mushrooms once it had turned golden and took the first bite.
‘……This is better than I expected.’
A savory fragrance spread across my tongue.
The outside was nicely browned, while the inside stayed moist.
The juices and sweetness, mixed with a faint birch-smoked flavor, filled my mouth.
“So?
Is it good?”
Karin asked eagerly.
No explanation was needed.
I kept chewing the mushroom, offering the rest to Karin and Lapin as my answer.
“Ah, hot.”
Blowing on it, Karin took a bite.
And in that instant, her eyes lit up.
“This!
This is it…!
Grilled like this, it’s just too delicious…!”
After finishing the meal.
I looked at the jar filled with mushroom spawn.
I considered planting them.
‘Fungi prefer shade over light, and moisture over air.’
Darkness and humidity.
Those were the essential conditions for growing mushrooms.
If I ignored them and planted the spawn anyway, all I’d get was rotten wood contaminated with mold.
I looked down at the piece of birch wood in my hand.
The surface of the logs was neatly cut.
The inside was soft enough, and it seemed it would absorb moisture well.
It was a suitable condition for growing mushrooms.
I carved several small gaps into the log.
Then I pressed lumps of mushroom spawn into the gaps.
‘……This should be enough.’
I placed the log with the spawn beneath the shade of the Tree House.
From here on, it was important to keep the log moist so it wouldn’t dry out.
I was about to wrap the log with damp fallen leaves when it happened.
Karin and Lapin, who had been watching me plant the mushrooms with interest, walked over.
“So, after planting them like this, when will the mushrooms start growing?”
“If harvested early…… about half a year.”
“Half a year……?”
Karin blinked without any expression.
“Are you serious? Then planting them now is pointless, isn’t it?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Not necessarily? Come on!”
At Karin’s protest, I simply smiled quietly and covered the log with leaves.
I had told her it would take half a year, but after the exam ended, I could return here using the ‘Teleport’ I had installed on the log.
With help from Boogie’s ‘Illusory Paradise’ skill, it wouldn’t even take a few days for the mushrooms to fully grow.
……Time passed, and the sun eventually began to set.
Once again, I used the Dakota Fire Hole to roast mushrooms and finished dinner.
I wrapped up the day’s tasks and lay down on the hammock.
A peaceful day went by without a single incident.
‘Up to today, things are going smoothly.’
Other than the Minotaur, I hadn’t encountered a single cadet or monster so far.
‘On the third and fourth day, the chances of running into monsters will be even lower.’
Not just monsters—the chances of meeting other cadets were significantly reduced too.
By now, many cadets had likely been robbed of their points by others.
Those cadets, desperate to earn points, would gather in the central island where the monsters roamed.
‘As for us…… we’ll finish this exam with about 400 points.’
Without being attacked or defeating any monsters, 400 points were guaranteed.
Normally, 400 points was considered mid-rank.
It was enough for Karin to pass her desired Alchemist Department.
As for me and Lapin, the Common Magic Department had a lower cutoff, so our acceptance was practically certain with this score.
‘Yeah.
If the exam could just end peacefully like this…… that would be best.’
Lying in the hammock, I gazed up at the night sky, when I suddenly noticed the ‘Ring’ hovering above my head.
Thanks to defeating the ‘Minotaur’ and surviving until the second day, the score displayed on the Ring had increased.
200 points for surviving two days, 50 points for defeating a Named Monster.
A total of 250 points.
Then, I recalled the injection mark I had seen on the Minotaur’s neck yesterday.
‘……I think I get it now.’
For ‘some reason,’ Ruber had been researching monster enhancement.
At this point in time, he might have already created an elixir that could multiply a monster’s power several times over.
Like the Minotaur I had fought.
……But Ruber wasn’t a villain, so he had no reason to come here and inject monsters during the exam.
‘……Lahan’s group, maybe.’
I thought of the bespectacled black-haired man—Ruber’s assistant—who was likely supervising the exam at the coast right now.
It reminded me of the Enhancement Elixir that had been used back during the Student Council incident.
Judging by the Minotaur’s strength, the elixir used this time was almost three times stronger than the one used in that incident.
Since Lahan was Ruber’s assistant, he could have easily stolen at least one elixir.
‘The storyline has changed again.’
Lahan wasn’t supposed to use the elixir yet.
In the original story, on the last day of the exam, a giant boss monster appeared on the island, and Lahan’s group injected it with the elixir to sabotage the Comprehensive Exam.
Hundreds of students, including Ren, would then unite to subdue the monster—that was how it was supposed to go.
……But this time, it had been pushed forward.
‘If Lahan interfered, then enhanced monsters won’t stop at the Minotaur…….’
Monster enhancements would appear again and again.
But what did it matter?
‘Thanks to the magic formula’s protection, students only lose points.
Their lives aren’t in danger.’
As I was wondering what Lahan’s real aim was—
‘……Huh?’
The ‘Ring’ floating above my head began to vanish.
20 floors underground in the Main Building of Yggdrasil, inside the Mirror Room.
Hilda and Ruber were staring at a giant mirror.
Through the mirror, they could view the island where the First-Year Comprehensive Exam was taking place.
It didn’t show detailed scenes of each cadet.
Instead, it showed tiny, ant-like white silhouettes of the students.
Above each silhouette, the examinee number and score were displayed in the form of a small ‘Life Ring.’
Thanks to this, the island’s situation could be checked at a glance.
“……”
Ruber frowned as he observed the island.
“Professor Hilda, did you notice it too?”
“Yes.
Suddenly, they’re gone.”
Hilda blinked, peering into the mirror.
Ruber’s magical formula converted physical damage into mental damage.
Under this formula, students whose scores were reduced would faint, but their bodies remained completely unharmed.
A few years ago, during the same exam, not a single student suffered so much as a scratch.
Thanks to this spell, in some ways, the exam was as safe as a written test.
“……”
But something was different.
An anomaly had appeared.
The students’ points could no longer be seen.
Ruber attempted to establish a mana communication link with Lahan, the overseer stationed on the island.
“Lahan, do you hear me?”
[Yes, Professor.I just checked myself.But why on earth……]
Lahan’s urgent voice betrayed the seriousness of the situation.
“Report the phenomenon in detail.”
[Professor, the Rings…… they’ve vanished.]
Without the ‘Ring’ above their heads, the students were no longer protected by Ruber’s magic.
If they suffered a fatal injury from a fellow student or monster…… it would directly lead to death.
[I tried to restore the formula, but it’s useless.This is an error even I cannot resolve.]
“So even you can’t fix it.”
Lahan was Ruber’s top assistant.
That was why he had been entrusted with overseeing the Comprehensive Exam site.
Ruber had even considered recommending him for a professorship within two years—his skill was that well-proven.
Yet even Lahan couldn’t resolve this accident.
Ruber’s deliberation didn’t last long.
“I see.Then I’ll have to go there myself and fix it.”
Ruber raised his hand toward the mirror.
“To all students, hear me.”
As the mana transmission circuit activated, his voice echoed outward.
“From this moment on, you are strictly forbidden from attacking one another.”