[34] Teleportation (5)
Teleportation practice ground.
Students arrived one after another at the peak, a thousand meters above sea level. Because there were no regular classes, not only the Class Seven kids but students from higher classes had gathered to see the results.
After today, one student from Class Seven would be promoted to Class Five.
Considering it normally takes about two years on average to move up one class, in the worst case they'd end up with a classmate more than four years younger.
"Wow! So this is the Uncrossable Bridge. I've never been here before."
The students taking the promotion test gaped at the sheer size of the practice ground. On the opposite peak, seven hundred meters away, teachers and students were gathered as well.
"But why is it called the Uncrossable Bridge? Where exactly is the bridge?"
"Idiot, there it is."
A long iron rod connected the peaks. As length increases, tension drops; the mere fact a seven-hundred-meter pole was stretched out told them it was made of alchemical material.
A few students walked to the cliff edge and looked down. Contrary to the teachers' words, there were no safety rails or anything like that in sight.
"What is this? If you fall, won't you die?"
Sade, who had reached the peak by teleporting, said.
"No need to worry. The safety device will work for sure."
The students were not reassured. They had heard that, at other schools, students had died during teleportation practice.
"How does it work?"
"If you fall a hundred meters, an Air Net spell automatically activates. We designed it to be invisible so seeing a safety device wouldn't make you relax."
"What if it malfunctions?"
"Hahaha! I can't say it never will. But it hasn't happened yet."
"So there's no absolute guarantee of safety, then?"
"Hmm, you could put it that way."
The students paled. Sade turned away with a satisfied expression. Even if the safety device failed, no real accident would occur—they had suspended all advanced classes and called in the teachers for precisely this reason.
Still, if an accident did occur, there was nothing to be done. The Magic Academy was a special-purpose school supported by the kingdom, and as a rule they didn't pursue negligence claims if students were injured or killed during class. The students had known this before applying to the advanced class.
"It's been a while since I've been here. Amy, let's go over there."
Seriel grabbed Amy's hand and pulled her up the hill. Amy looked reluctant, but followed and said, "I really don't want to. Class Seven level is predictable."
"Oh come on! It's your boyfriend's big day moving up to Class Five. If you don't cheer him on today, when will you earn points?"
"Tch! Cheering or not, the one who's going to pass will pass, and the one who fails will fail."
Amy put on a brave face, but inwardly she was worried. How much had Shirone improved his teleportation in a month? Could he actually teleport?
Practical training was the best way to get the feel for teleportation. But the process was so painful that most students learned tricks and tips from veterans before attempting it themselves.
Amy had learned mostly by brute force. Thanks to having internalized the schema from childhood, she hadn't suffered too much.
'But Shirone wouldn't be like that. He's not the type to give up. He'd better be in good condition.'
Even if not Shirone himself, there were several noteworthy talents in Class Seven. Depending on the circumstances, it wouldn't be strange if Shirone failed.
"Huh? I don't see Shirone yet."
When Seriel scanned the peak with a spyglass, Amy snatched it away. Of the twenty students standing on the cliff, Shirone was nowhere to be seen.
"What? What happened?"
"Surely he didn't already fail?"
They couldn't say for sure. They trusted Shirone, but this was not a magic one could easily learn alone.
'That idiot... where on earth is he?'
* * *
Shirone opened his eyes to the sharp sunlight. His vantage point felt lower than usual and the sky seemed higher. A bird hopped in front of him and he snapped fully awake.
"Ugh! What the—!"
He looked around and realized he was in the middle of the training ground. He had been asleep since he collapsed last night.
He'd been sleeping only three hours a day to study, and he'd pushed his body hard over the last week. Collapsing wasn't surprising.
'The promotion test!'
Cold sweat ran down Shirone's spine. Without time to feel empty, he vaulted to his feet and sprinted. To reach a thousand meters above sea level he had to run, no matter his condition.
'Please! Please!'
The Uncrossable Bridge (1)
"Let us begin, Principal."
"Mm, indeed."
When Siina fired an illumination spell into the sky, tension swept the practice ground. Etella, having confirmed the signal from the opposite peak, turned to the students.
"When the teachers give the signal, run toward the cliff. The person who teleports the farthest will pass the promotion test."
The students swallowed. The Uncrossable Bridge was only a level-one difficulty with no obstacles—but the terror of flying through empty air was beyond imagination.
Putting rankings aside, you needed to chain at least seventy teleportations to safely touch ground. If your rhythm broke midstream, the fear of falling could even erase your Spirit Zone.
'I can't cross anyway. Even if I fall in the end, what if the safety device doesn't activate?'
People don't trust assurances, so most of the students were frozen with tension. The only relaxed ones were Mark and his tactical squad.
'Hah. I practiced every day. If no one interrupts, seventy should be enough.'
The variable was Shirone's absence. Mark's personal mage had reported Shirone's slow progress, but until you saw it yourself you couldn't believe it. Now that Shirone might be late, Mark felt uneasy at being rattled by someone he considered insignificant.
'He couldn't master teleportation. Well, he was pretty much nothing outside his Spirit Zone anyway.'
The person most anxious about Shirone's absence was Amy. Her bold demeanor vanished and she paced nervously along the cliff.
"What is this! What happened! Why isn't he here yet!"
"Amy, look!"
Seriel pointed at the opposite peak. Amy checked with the spyglass and saw Shirone running toward the summit. His clothes were caked with dirt as if he'd tumbled, and his face was deathly pale.
"What were you doing! You idiot!"
Seriel breathed a sigh of relief.
"At least he made it in time. But he must be exhausted—will he be okay?"
"I don't know! Who cares! It's a relief he hasn't been disqualified!"
In any case, his arrival meant he could teleport. Seeing his chapped lips and bruised arms, Amy pictured the ordeal he'd endured. She regained her composure and looked around.
"The wind's pretty strong today. It'll be a hard test."
Teleportation wasn't completely free of wind speed and air pressure like the Fly spell. Losing focus for even an instant would be dangerous.
The students waiting for the test hardened when Shirone appeared. They had relaxed assuming he'd quit, and now they felt slapped in the back.
"Tch! That guy did that on purpose to throw us off."
"He acted innocent but he's sly. Does he want promotion so badly he'd do something cowardly like that?"
Though Shirone's arrival shocked the others, he'd come utterly drained—so it was actually a disadvantage for him.
Etella stared at the panting Shirone and hesitated. He'd arrived before the start, so he was eligible, but exams must assess skill under equal conditions.
'If we proceed now, would that be fair?'
She shot an orange flare into the sky. Blue meant ready, red meant start, orange meant question.
The teachers who saw Etella's flare discussed. Some argued they should start immediately; others urged giving him at least ten minutes.
"What does Principal Alpheas think?"
Alpheas was resolute.
"Begin. Managing one's condition is itself a skill for a student about to be tested. This isn't a matter for us to intervene in."
"Understood. Then—"
Siina signaled to proceed with a red flare. Shirone squeezed into the line of students. Those who kindly made room for him were Mark's planted tactical crew.
All the students were tense. No matter how much special training they'd had, running along a thousand-meter cliff was another matter. The unknown was equal for everyone. What they'd see beneath them, how it would feel, how terrified they'd be—no one could know until it happened.
"Now then, we will begin the early promotion test for Class Seven. Prepare."
The students took their stances. As the heartbeat-like thudding began, Etella cast her signal.
With a bang, a red sphere shot into the sky. Teachers on the opposite peak shuffled record sheets, and the students, without waiting for one another, pushed off the ground and dashed forward.
'Get the lead! I have to be first!'
'If you get out first, it isn't completely impossible!'
Most of the students shared similar thoughts. As a result, Shirone, whose legs had lost strength, inevitably fell behind.
But there was still a chance to make up for it. Where you chose to cast teleportation before the cliff changed everything. The best start was to push off the cliff, fly up, and then cast teleportation.
But who could actually do that? The starting point was the most nerve-wracking place, and the Uncrossable Bridge sat at an altitude of one kilometer.
Wind speed, wind direction, pressure, temperature—all were different from practice. If you leapt and your magic failed, that would be the end. Human nature wanted to start on ground where you had a chance to recover.
Just as Shirone had guessed, when there were five meters left to the cliff the students who couldn't bear the fear began teleporting and launched into the air. The others followed one after another. Among the group trying to keep the lead, only Mark's party had not started.
'No! Just a little more!'
He stamped his feet, pushing down the rising fear. Shirone would certainly aim for the best start. If so, he needed a comparable starting point.
'Can I do it? What if I fall?'
Even biting down and steadying himself didn't stop the nausea. When Mark's tactical squad faltered and flashed away, he too finally teleported.
Even after more than half the students had left the cliff, Shirone was still running. For the tactical members trying to match his pace, it was a throat-drying ordeal.
If this kept up he would fall off the cliff. With two steps left before the edge, the tactical squad finally cast their magic first. Yet Shirone kept running. He understood the nature of danger; fear was no hindrance to him.
The first turn hadn't even ended yet. If he could just nail the start, he could make up for what he'd lost on the ground.