Chapter 24: I'm In Your Care

Leylin was there and he sighed a breath of relief.

When the various magus professors from the academies attacked, many bright coloured lights flashed continuously outside the window, clashing with the lightning.

The dirigible gradually started to sway.

Leylin's face turned slightly pale. He could only pray for the Magi to use their might and chase that darn giant storm sprite away, otherwise he would not even be able to escape since he was stuck high up in the sky.

But he soon learned that there would be nothing to be afraid of. Before the attack even landed, the the giant storm Sprite was terrified of the power of the various Magus. At least that's what he saw like any another person at the scene, that's what they thought happened.

"Has it left?"

" Errr...Well... Hmp! Of course it has left! It is only a giant storm sprite that has just matured, it is only comparable to half of an elemental Magus at most. There are nine of us here, so it running away is natural!"

If only the various Magi have known that it was all thanks to Seely and the aura he was emitting to scare the Pendra.

Poor Pendra, he just wanted to protect his territory but Seely emitted an aura far above his level and bullied the pitiful creature.

The voices of the Magi discussions sounded from outside but even some of them doubted that their power was the primary reason the Sprite left. It obviously did not take a lot of effort for them, which eased the minds of the acolytes.

As expected, when the acolytes heard those words, they all shouted and cheered loudly.

"Woo! To our great Magi!"

"Damn it! I thought I would fall and be smashed into minced meat!"

"Haha! Look at that coward; he actually peed in his pants!" The acolytes all mocked an unlucky acolyte and vented the fear that they had held in their hearts.

Leylin's eyes scanned the surroundings.

When the giant storm sprite spoke earlier, Jayden had already released the vines binding Kaliweir, and right now it seemed like Kaliweir had escaped. However, although Jayden's face was rather pale, he stood his ground and maintained the pose of a victor.

"The A.I. Chip did not detect that Jayden was carrying a magic artifact earlier. It seems like it was only acquired recently, and the only means of that is through Dorotte!"

"It seems like after obtaining the magic artifact, Jayden has been leading Kaliweir into picking a fight with him impatiently. If not for this incident, it is very likely that he would have succeeded!" Leylin thought to himself.

Because of the interruption from the giant storm sprite, the fight between Jayden and Kaliweir remained unsettled as it drew its curtains.

From then on, Kaliweir would try his best to avoid appearing in the same place as Jayden. It seemed like he was afraid of his opponent's magic artifact.

This fight had greatly influenced Leylin's thoughts.

"Kaliweir has already ignited his internal life energy, and got through the bottleneck and became a full-fledged Knight. However, in front of an acolyte with a magic artifact, he is still as weak as a lamb! It seems like the strength of Magi greatly surpass that of Knights!

"Originally, I thought I must ignite my internal life energy. But after this, if I haven't ignited it before reaching the school, then I'll give up on it! I definitely have to pour all my attention and energy into my studies to become a Magus!" Leylin made up his mind.

"Hey Bro! I have some fruits here! Wanna have some?"

"Seely!? What the heck! Why were you in your room for 15 days and you didn't even got out until now!?"

Seely smiled on the outside but communicated on his mind. Seely started to walk back while beckoning his brother to follow.

'Well, I experimented with my plant affinity and tadaa! I made some fruits! I'm 80% sure I made them!" Seely laughed a little.

'Im not even going start with that 80% thing... But it still doesn't explain why you didn't come out for 15 days!'

'Brother, will you believe me if I said that I slept for these 15 days?'

'Who would believe such an excuse? Now tell me the truth.'

'...'

'...'

'...'

'You really were sleeping during those 15 days??? HOW? WHY???!?'

'Well I might have had a tiny insy bitsy...super duper small and insignificant... accident?'

Leylin... didn't even know where to start. My brother is a genius to already have the power to make some fruits using raw energy but... his talent is equal to his troublemaking.

"Somehow, the way you minimized the description of you "accident" further convinced me that you were being reckless again!"

"Okay brother, Calm down. The experiment was a success. I made some fruits, seeeee."

"Can you really call that a success? 15 days of sleep for a bunch of fruits? You could have died!"

"I think I just used a lot of energy hehe"

"And how did you even made them in the first place???"

"You know.. just... will it or whatever hehe~"

"Don't whatever me, you punk?!"

"Calm down brother, you heart, your heart." I think I'm a bad influence on the MC's original personality ...but.. who cares... It's funny seeing his mad face hahahahaha.

"Were you just laughing at me in your mind?" Oh I see veins purtruding, let's not push this too far.

"okay okay bro. I'll promise not to be so reckless... most of the time"

"hmp, okay. 5 crystals."

"What?"

"5 magic crystals because you made me worried and almost made me an only child."

"WHAAAAAT? THATS UNFAIR AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"Who told you to f*ckin make me worry with your experiments??? "

"Okay! Stop it already, my ears freaking hurt!"

Leylin was scolding Seely like an adult scolding a child.

...

The time slowly passed, and the dirigible finally reached another continent.

In addition to the incident with the giant storm sprite, the dirigible had several encounters with other flying creatures. This led Leylin to realise that not only was the Death Seas difficult to navigate through, it was the same in the skies.

Seely spent his time eating kinds of fruits there. Some he loved, some too sour for his taste and some that even could heal. He tried to make some fruits and vegetables from his past life and it actually worked! Apples, oranges, grapes and watermelon but if he doesn't know the taste, the image of the outside and inside exterior of the fruits then even if he wanted too, he couldn't make them just by wishing them to come. Example, he wanted some mangosteen but since he never ate one in the past, he couldn't make it.

Technically he could but it just looks like the fruit on the outside but it doesn't have any taste. Everytime he goes to bed he would request some scented flowers and then make a blanket out of soft leaves.

He gave some scented flowers to Leylin and Leylin actually loved them. He said it was beneficial to something blah blah but Seely didn't really tried to listen.

Seely also tried to use his other elements but it actually took spiritual energy from him unlike the plant elements who had absolute loyalty towards him.

After the giant storm Sprite, it was smooth riding from then on. Fortunately, Kirkwul's letter of agreement was still rather effective in front of the various large creatures and no conflicts were started.

During this period, the dirigible alighted several times and sent several Professors and acolytes off. The dirigible slowly became more vacant.

Another dozen days passed unknowingly.

* Bang! * The dirigible landed and the whole interior shuddered.

"We have arrived at the Abyssal Bone Moor! Attention to all acolytes of the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy! Please bring your belongings and leave the dirigible in an orderly fashion!" A voice rang through the cabins.

"We've finally arrived?" Leylin packed his belongings and quickly left the tiny space he had been holed up in during the past month.

'Seely! wake up. We're here!'

'Brother I'm already at the end of the hall. I'm just waiting for you.'

'When did you ...? Anyway, wait for me there. Let's go outside together.'

"Jayden, Kaliweir, please take attendance!" Dorotte held a black staff, with a large green jewel embedded in its tip.

"Alright!" Jayden and Kaliweir nodded their heads and started accounting for the attendance.

Leylin glanced at Kaliweir. Ever since the incident in the dining hall, this youth had turned much quieter and often holed himself in his own room. Looking at his face now, he seemed to be gloomier than before.

On the contrary, Jayden was extremely lively, and according to some rumours, he had already been accepted by Dorotte as an apprentice.

Seely noticed how he could feel... the plant elements even before they landed. It was like he was a wandering light seedling that had been floating on air and being waited to reach the ground. This was also the reason he got ready before the others. He could feel it, one of the foundations of a growing plant, the earth, the dirt and the ground. All of it waiting for him.

When he realized though why he was excited... it just felt weird. Being excited to meet the ground and dirt is just weird...Well except if you have a really severe case of motion sickness... 'like that guy.'

Seely saw a guy practically acting like a drunk but with his heightened senses, he could tell that he was just dizzy.

Anyway, back to Jayden.

Apprentices were different from other acolytes as their status were higher, and they could even freely obtain a lot of advanced knowledge from their professor.

A dozen or so people walked out of the dirigible.

"So this is our academy? It seems to be a little desolate!"

"and it looks haunted too ... Oh would you look at that.. I'm mistaken... This is haunted."

Somehow the trees nearby told Seely that many had already died in this area.

Leylin looked at the surroundings, and it seemed rather desolate. There were a few small trails with obvious traces of others using it before.

There was a wooden sign in the middle of a crossroad, riddled with several holes.

There were directions written in black, showing the various locations.

"The land of shadows and death – Bone Abyssal Moor!" The words twisted, and Seely just gave it a 7/10 plus 1 for its twisting effects if this was used in a haunted mini park back on earth.

"Hehe... Follow me!" Dorotte stretched his body leisurely, and his white bones creaked and crunched as if they were going to fall apart at any moment.

"Pay heed! Although our academy's acolytes do a scheduled cleansing, there are still some living creatures, and polluted and evil beings roaming in this area. So if you were to stray off, I think we would be able to pay respects to your deceased body soon afterwards!"

Dorotte snickered, and the acolytes' faces all changed. They followed behind Dorotte closely, for fear of losing him.

The group gradually traversed across the Abyssal Bone Moor.

"What is that?" Leylin walked in the middle of the group, and suddenly something black flashed in front of him. It seemed to be a blue creature with a horn.

"A.I. Chip! Begin scan!"

"Task initialising, Begin Scan!" The A.I. Chip chip's robotic voice sounded.

[An unknown creature of high energy! Estimated Strength: 3-4, Agility: 4-5, Vitality: About 5, Assessment: Extremely dangerous!]

"Ss! Whatever it is, it's much stronger than the direwolves and may have some strange tricks up its sleeves. A Knight would only die if they encounter one!"

Leylin hurriedly squeezed forward. In this land where danger lurked, it seemed like the black-robed skeleton, Professor Dorotte, was his only insurance.

"It seems like our little acolytes have finally understood the dangers!"

The green flames in Dorotte's sockets flickered as he said indifferently.

The group proceeded forward, and very soon the barren earth lessened and more forestry could be seen around them.

Very soon, the acolytes entered a black coloured forest.

'Oh it seemed to have gotten darker... and this mist... It's my first time seeing a mist. We don't have these in my countries.' Seely really was looking around much more.

Seely also felt more comfortable inside a forest. Although he's pretty sure the trees won't protect him from danger, the very essence of plants inside this forest of death I what actually made him comfortable, not the "many have perished inside" part.

[Warning! Warning! A high energy being is approaching! Position: In the air!] The A.I. Chip's warning sounded.

"Everyone take cover!" Seely yelled.

Leylin hurriedly looked down and crouched.

"Kak!" A piercing sound rang.

A black raven with red eyes swooped down.

*Bang!*

*Slash*

Seely used the throwing knife and hit it's eye then took his crossblade and finished it off.

[You have killed a Red-Eyed Raven. You gained 100 exp.]

Don't think you can escape, my precious exp. points hehe.

Leylin saw that expression on Seely's face and already knew that this environment would awaken Seely's bloodlust for a killing spree.

"Oh, brother."

On the outside it seems like Leylin was concerned about Seely but Leylin was really just feeling helpless right now.

"Young Man, that was great! You can use the corpse for experimental purpose if you want or just leave it here to rot." Dorette asked.

"No thanks, it seems like they aren't useful. How about you, brother? Do you need this?"

Although Leylin was tempted to study the corpse... but it was the first day and he thought that it might be better to enter an academy unhindered.

"No, brother. It's fine."

"It seems like these red-eyed ravens increased in numbers yet again. I think I will need to distribute more missions after we return, and let the acolytes cleanse this area!"

"What are you all looking at? Let's go!"

The acolytes looked at Seely with curious gazes. Some of them even had lustful eyes.

Tch.I don't need leeches. Seely thought to himself.

Dorotte's voice sounded at the front and continued their travel.

After another hour of journeying, the group arrived in the centre of the Abyssal Bone Forest.

"This is..." Leylin saw a spacious area in front of him.

"Creepy~ I guess this is where we'll end up after all." Seely joked.

The acolytes heard what Seely said then looked at Dorotte.

"Hey don't be scaring your fellow acolytes now. That's my job." Dorotte said.

And what was projected before their eyes was a large graveyard.

In the heart of the Abyssal Bone Forest, a large graveyard sat there unknowingly.

This graveyard was extremely huge and was marbled in black and white, seeming luxurious.

Only, it seemed to have been forsaken for some time. Many of the graves had weeds growing on them, and some even had vines. Occasionally, the ravens caw on top of them, giving off a terrifying vibe.

"Welcome to your home of shadow and death – Abyssal Bone Forest!" Dorotte snickered, but no matter how Leylin saw it, Dorotte seemed to be taking joy in their unfortunate plight. He looked at the other way then saw his brother also smiling. Leylin wondered if he chose the right school for them both.

Seely was just happy to find a fitting environment.

Nice, Nice. Dark, desolate, monster roaming the outer area and perfect for hunting experience points. Dear Abyssal Bone

Forest, I'm in your care.