The forest under the night sky felt excessively quiet because of the explosion earlier that day. Merlin pushed aside a patch of dew-covered bushes, and a wave of damp air hit her face.
Merlin did not intend to fly over this mountain like she did the first one. She had to prepare to hunt magic beasts, as the extra points from reaching the summit alone wouldn’t be enough.
She moved through the woods like a ghost, her fingers skillfully twisting as she silently set traps laced with potions.
When she was nearly at the foot of the mountain, a familiar, dull explosion echoed once more from the distant summit, making the leaves rustle and shake.
‘I wonder how effective it will be this time.’ After all, some people would surely choose to bypass the summit to reach the finish line as quickly as possible.
The faint sound of water reached her ears. Merlin’s spirits lifted. She identified the direction and crept toward the water source.
She intended to replenish her water supply, clean off the bloodstains, and relieve the fatigue from a long day of traveling.
Poking through the last thicket of shrubs, her vision suddenly opened up.
The cold, bright moonlight poured down like liquid silver, outlining a familiar figure in the center of the clearing. The person was standing by a gurgling stream.
It was Marcina.
Merlin had happened upon her just as she was delivering the final blow to a bear-shaped magic beast by the creek.
The moisture in the air condensed instantly, turning into a sharp, freezing ice spike that silently pierced the giant bear’s heart.
Immediately after, the ice spike shattered with a roar. Countless azure ice crystals exploded under the moonlight like a magnificent firework display.
The giant beast crashed to the ground, silenced forever.
Judging by its size and mana, it was likely a B-rank magic beast.
Marcina was already at the seventh rank, which meant she could be called a Grand Mage.
For someone to reach this level at only sixteen years old was a rare feat even in the history of the Empire.
Merlin recalled the day she had peered into memories with Ophelia.
‘If I hadn’t given my crystal core to Marcina, would I have reached this level of strength at this age?’
As expected, Marcina was one of the top students currently ahead of Merlin’s progress.
‘I should avoid her for now.’
Just as Merlin tried to retreat quietly and melt back into the darkness, a voice that was gentle to others but cold only to her drifted through the trees.
“Merlin, where do you think you’re going?”
‘How sharp…’
Marcina did not turn around. Still facing away from Merlin, she slowly crouched down by the clear stream and washed the blood from her body as if no one else were there. Clearly, the battle just now had not been easy.
“I wouldn’t be able to survive on the battlefield if I weren’t at least this perceptive.”
“The three explosions were the work of you students from the Alchemy Department, weren’t they?”
“I didn’t order the first one.”
“I see. So the latter two were your doing…”
Marcina gazed quietly at the moon reflected in the stream, but she continued to release an oppressive aura, warning Merlin not to even think about escaping.
“Why did you do it?”
“The exam rules didn’t say it was forbidden. It only prohibited using potions to lure magic beasts.”
“You’re just like you were when we were kids. You look honest, but you’re always coming up with these eccentric ideas. The alchemy students have all been led astray by a princess like you.”
Merlin spread her hands.
“What do you mean ‘led astray’? Everyone was very supportive, okay? It proves that deep down, they wanted to do it too. Since the magic department students are so powerful, it’s a shame they couldn’t withstand a mountain flood.”
If nothing went wrong, the two landslides likely caused more than half the students to be eliminated.
Merlin slowly tilted her chin up, meeting those pinkish-blue eyes that were staring intensely at her.
“Isn’t that right, Lady Marcina? Anything can happen on a battlefield. Your classmates were simply careless.”
Marcina sighed.
“Honestly… even after becoming a girl and a princess, that wild streak of yours hasn’t changed at all.”
That pitying remark instantly ignited the suppressed flames in Merlin’s heart.
If anyone else belittled her, she might have laughed it off, but Marcina was the one who had left a scar on her heart—the one who had abandoned her because the gap between them was too large. That made things different.
Merlin’s response became increasingly sharp.
“I’ve lived in the slums since before I can remember.”
Merlin took a step forward, her voice turning cold.
“I’m not like a certain high-born lady who stayed in the filthy slums for a few years and couldn’t stop acting disgusted by it.”
“True. Staying in the slums for too long does leave one with many bad habits. In that case, I won’t waste any more words on you.”
Although she had spent the entire day hunting magic beasts and was exhausted from finishing off a B-rank beast, Marcina had no intention of letting Merlin go.
“I didn’t plan on hunting you specifically, because I would win even if I didn’t run into you.”
After racing past the first mountain, Marcina had begun hunting and advancing with high efficiency.
She could confidently say that her current hunting score would absolutely crush Merlin’s.
Furthermore, her bonus points for reaching the summit were higher than Merlin’s.
Even without looking for her, she would have won regardless.
But since the girl had delivered herself to her doorstep, Marcina wouldn’t be blamed for showing no mercy.
“Merlin, it looks like I win this time.”
The moment the words left her mouth, a chilling, piercing ice mana erupted from Marcina as the center.
The stream beside her stopped flowing in an instant. Starting from beneath her feet, the surface of the water rapidly froze into ice.
The temperature in the air plummeted, and white frost condensed on the blades of grass.
Behind Marcina, countless ice spikes constructed from mana materialized out of thin air. They reflected a cold glint under the moonlight, all aimed directly at Merlin.
“Don’t blame me.”
An instant before the storm arrived, Merlin did not retreat. She suddenly pulled a small, dark-red vial from the alchemy pouch at her waist and crushed it in front of her without hesitation.
*Sss—!*
A harsh sound, like hot iron being poured into snow, rang out.
The dark-red liquid did not hit the ground. Instead, it vaporized in midair, forming a thin, warm-colored curtain.
The ice spikes, which were sharp enough to pierce through steel, melted rapidly the moment they touched the curtain, like snowflakes tossed into a furnace.
“An Ice Mana Blocking Potion? You can even make those?”
This was something that could serve as a graduation thesis for the Alchemy Department.
For the first time, Marcina’s brow furrowed slightly.
The potion’s effect was fleeting. The warm mist dissipated quickly after blocking the first volley, and the bone-chilling cold swept in once more.
But that single moment of respite was all Merlin needed.
From the day they reunited, Marcina had become her hypothetical enemy, and her primary targets were Marcina’s ice spells.
Merlin reached back and pulled out a magic crystal engraved with complex runes. This was the “special stuff” that the alchemy students had researched together.
Minimum size, maximum effect.
The people who had already experienced it were buried at the foot of the mountain with “excellent reviews” by default!
Marcina didn’t even move; she simply raised her hand.
Ice elements in the air gathered in her palm. With a *clink*, they condensed into a sheet of ice as thin as a cicada’s wing.
The ice crystal flew out even faster than Merlin’s throw, accurately striking the side of the magic crystal.
*Bang—!*
The magic crystal traced a distorted arc and exploded violently on the opposite bank of the stream. Water and debris were blasted several meters high.
The explosion was deafening, but utterly meaningless.
“Have you made enough of a scene? I told you, you aren’t suited for combat.”