While in his Pegasus state, Darwin's wings continuously fluttered in the air, and his four hooves trod upon the sky, letting out rhythmic "clatter-clatter" sounds.
"So... so amazing...!!"
"Darwin, you can actually fly now?!"
As Darwin's Pegasus form gradually ascended, cries of delight and admiration escaped Erza's lips.
The young girl's reaction caused Darwin's vanity to instantly inflate to the brim!
"It's just a minor little trick!"
Hearing Darwin imitate her own tone from earlier, Erza felt a sweet sensation in her heart.
"Come to think of it, I know magic now too!"
"If I Take Over a set of armor, put on a helmet, and hold a sword in my hand, I could definitely become a magnificent 'Pegasus Knight,' right?!"
"I say... Darwin!"
"If we encounter a combat situation in the later parts of the exam, you'll coordinate with me like this, okay?"
Riding on Darwin's back with her arms wrapped around his waist, Erza began to fantasize about herself wielding a holy sword, riding a Pegasus, galloping through the battlefield and sweeping away all enemies.
"No problem!"
"As many times as you like. No matter if you want to be a 'Pegasus Knight,' a 'Tenrou Knight,' or any other kind of knight—as long as you ask, I will cooperate with you every time!"
If Erza hadn't been sitting on Darwin's back, she would have seen that his face had turned a shade of red deeper than a chilled watermelon in summer.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course I am!"
"Thank you so much, Darwin! You're so nice..."
"Hehehe... it's only right..."
After finish speaking with a silly grin, Darwin suddenly realized an extremely grim fact.
That was: every word and action of his was currently being recorded by the "Surveillance Magic Pattern" on his wrist, to be uploaded to his dad's phone later for "review and scoring" by the eight high-ranking members of the guild!
In other words—at the earliest within half a day, and at the latest by the end of the exam—what he just said would be known by the adults of the guild!
"I'm doomed..."
"What's doomed?"
"Nothing."
"Oh... I say, Darwin!"
"What is it?"
"The Soul of Pegasus you've taken over right now, is it actually flying with its wings, or can it naturally tread on air?"
Riding atop Darwin, Erza asked a probing question while gently stroking the pure white mane of the Pegasus with her small hand.
The Pegasus was a creature that only existed in fantasies and was not found in real life, which was why Erza was so curious about this question.
If it relied on wings to fly, what kind of body structure would a Pegasus have?
One must know that a normal creature of this size simply wouldn't be able to take flight!
If it relied on its hooves to tread on air, then what was the point of constantly flapping its wings?
"So you were curious about that..."
Darwin said confidently: "This question is way too simple! Of course it's a combination of flying with wings while using the hooves to tread on air to assist the flight!"
"Is that how it works?"
"Absolutely!!"
While practicing magic over the past few days, Darwin had learned the underlying logic of his magic from Weston—
There are two main sources for the targets of "Imaginary Take Over" magic: one is the general public's fantasy, and the other is one's own fantasy!
For the latter, whatever settings he gave the target, the Taken Over entity would be like that.
To give a simple example: some people believe a Pegasus flies with wings, while others believe it treads on air. But as long as he set it to be a combination of both, the Pegasus he took over would fly using the "Wings + Air-Treading" method!
Of course, he could change these settings at any time.
One second the flight principle of the Pegasus could be "Wings + Air-Treading," and the next it could change to just "Wings," or "Air-Treading," or even "Mind Power"—methods no one would ever think of.
The reason Darwin wasn't using a single mechanism right now was, on one hand, to distribute the pressure of flight equally between the wings and the four hooves, and on the other hand, to hide the true flight mechanism of the "Soul of Pegasus."
Soon, Darwin carried Erza over the tops of the trees and above the forest, hovering in the sky as the two of them looked down.
With one look, they indeed saw the truth.
The place where they had been previously was indeed right in the middle of a complex tree labyrinth—and it was near the center of the labyrinth at that!
In the areas slightly toward the outside of the labyrinth, those trees were slowly moving in a special way, noiselessly changing the paths they had walked before.
If they hadn't seen through the flaw and flown into the air, they likely would have been trapped in the labyrinth until dark without finding a way out!
"Look over there, there seem to be labyrinths there too!!"
When their gaze moved from the tree labyrinth beneath them to the distance, the two of them immediately discovered that other locations in the forest had similar traps.
"It seems we aren't the only ones trapped by a tree labyrinth!"
"Others from the guild have stepped into traps too, and very likely haven't seen through the flaws yet..."
Just as his voice fell, a sudden movement came from ahead.
First, a familiar large head poked out from the distant trees, and then this large head continued to rise, freeing the neck, shoulders, chest, and other parts from the cover of the forest.
As the person grew taller, their physique also continued to expand horizontally; the surrounding trees were squeezed and collapsed one after another.
By the time this figure stopped expanding and settled at a certain size, the trees in the forest were only as high as his knees.
"It's Mr. Joey!"
Darwin and Erza recognized at a glance that this person was the guild wizard Joey, who hailed from the Sun Village.
"I heard he was a member of the Giant race but just practiced 'Shrink Magic' to become as large as a normal person. Turns out it's true..."
"He must have discovered the labyrinth, so he reverted to his true form to escape it!"
Looking at the tall figure in the distance, a hint of yearning suddenly appeared in Darwin's eyes: "Speaking of which, among my 'Imaginary Creatures,' there are also 'Giants'! Hmm... maybe one day I'll take over a Giant just for fun. The view from that height must be very different from usual..."
Erza asked: "Why don't you try Taking Over one right now??"
Darwin explained: "After turning into a giant, one can indeed see further and more clearly, but it's also easy to overlook small things."
"The goal of this stage is to find the 'Golden Lion Coin' after all. That thing might only be the size of a palm. If I turn into a giant, finding it would be a huge hassle!"
"Furthermore..."
"If there's an Interferer watching this exam, making oneself that large makes it very easy to be targeted!"