Elric hurriedly turned around, only to be greeted with the giant wheel of fire that was the sun already rising high into the air. “Ah, how amazing! It’s a shame I missed the sunrise. Just when did it come rising out?”

Collins stared at Elric’s back for a moment before saying significantly, “When your back was turned, the sun had just started to rise.”

As Elric immersed himself in the magic that was the sunrise, Collins had quietly left the area.

Returning to his room, he had noticed that Kite was already up. Jerry was currently making a valiant struggle from getting out from his bed. “Go wake up Belladonna.” Kite had asked. 

Walking over, he pushed open the door only to see Belladonna hugging her pillow in her sleep. Arriving at her bed, Elric began to shake her awake.

“Wha—” A sudden cry could be heard before a leg suddenly sent Elric flying.

“Annoying! Let me sleep a little longer.”

Elric crawled back to his own room, his hands on his sore stomach as he entered it. “You go wake her up.” He muttered to Kite.

“You couldn’t? Let me try then.” Without knowing what he was up for, Kite entered the neighboring room.

Expectantly, Elric waited. Sure enough, a furious howl could be heard along with the sound of a weight falling to the ground. Kite could then be seen crawling into the room in the same manner Elric had. With a furious eye, Kite glared at Elric, “You set me up!!!”

“I’m heading out first. I’ll leave the other two to you.” Elric lifted his luggage and scrambled out the door.

Dragging his luggage with him, Elric began to reflect on what his master had told him yesterday. Perhaps his master would give him some direct advice before the examination, he wasn’t sure. After all, now that he knew that his master was a Magus, Elric had an indescribable vote of confidence in Victor.

Time slowly went by as people began to gather. But his teacher was still nowhere to be seen. The faith Elric had in him had begun to shake once more.

“Ah, you came here so early I see.” Victor didn’t even seem to look embarrassed even despite being late to the party.

“Didn’t you have something you wanted to say?” Elric asked.

“Ah. That’s right. I have something good to give you.” Victor’s hand reached into his bosom and began to grope around. Elric’s friends had started to gather close, hoping to see just what high-grade equipment a Magus would give to his disciple. Their own masters had carefully selected the very best items for their disciples to use after all.

Then, Victor pulled out a foot-long stick from his clothes. “I’ll give you this. When you need to make a decision, this will come in handy.” With that, he patted Elric’s shoulder and then ruffled his hair, “I wish you luck, my student.”

“No way!”

“Even stinginess has its limits!”

“Poor Elric!”

“I’m so glad my master isn’t like him.”

“He doesn’t change does he? A fool I was to think he would have something beneficial for his student!”

“How ruthless, to actually give out a toy like that!”

Everyone had all sorts of thoughts, but their faces had all the same expression of shock and pure sympathy for Elric.

Elric looked at the God’s Stick in his hands. Yes, “God’s Stick”. His mind had gone blank. A God’s Stick was for travelers who had lost their way to use in order to determine what direction to go in. Unless they were at the end of the line, they wouldn’t ever use one though. According to statistics, a God’s Stick had only a sixty percent chance of working, making it a slightly better approach than praying to god. For that reason, people had given this item a graceful name of the “God’s Stick”.

Seeing the leisurely unhelpful magus in front of them, Elric and the other people around him began to give their most appropriate evaluation of the —”God’s Stick”.

“By my announcement, the examination will start!” Preceptor Collins was the first to retrieve his thoughts, “The destination this time around will be the Norman Laboratory deep within the Forest of Illusions.”

“Come now, weren't the original examination grounds to be the Chichen Islands?” Bellissa asked.

“The aptitude of the examinees this year is quite high. Furthermore, I have confidence in my disciple. For that, I changed the testing grounds for this year.” Collins explained.

“Belladonna, we’ll take the exams next year!” Bellissa was baffled as she spoke out to her student, “The Forest of Illusions is far too dangerous.”

“No, I’ll take it. I have faith in my own strength.” Belladonna said.

“Don’t be stubborn, a trip to the Forest of Illusion is something that a Journeyman needs to be approved for first.” Pierrot spoke up kindly.

“Why?” The four students asked.

Collins then stood up, “Allow me to answer that.”

“As you are surely aware, a war broke out between the gods and demons over thirty-seven thousand years ago. It continued for thousands of years before one final decisive battle was fought and the demons were routed. This war later became known as the Glorious Crusade.”

“Everyone knows that, of course. Of the three major holidays, the Day of Thanks, Day of Glory, and Day of Triumph, isn’t the Day of Glory the day we celebrate that battle? Is there anyone that doesn’t know about it?” Belladonna asked.

“Many would fail to understand that the crusade’s final battle took place in the Forest of Illusions.” Replied Collins.

“Really? Why isn’t that knowledge made publicly known then?” Kite, the originally most polite person of the group, interrupted his master. He was rather eager to go now that he knew. Being able to see the ancient battlefield where the Glorious Offensive took place was a highly attractive thought for a knight like him.

“Despite the victory of the Gods and the successful extermination of many of the stronger monsters and demons, many of the weaker monsters managed to escape. They slipped into the hidden alcoves within the forest and spent the next tens of thousands of years assimilating with the local wildlife. The inhabitants of the forest were already magical in nature. Combined with the otherworldly monsters, the Forest of Illusions became a terrifying place to venture for any person.”

“Then, then why did the Circle construct a laboratory in the middle of that place?” Belladonna asked another question.

“The Circle of Magi would do no such thing.” Bellissa explained. “The laboratory was established by a mad magus by himself.”

“Wow, who was this great magus?” Everyone had asked in awe.

“Acolyte Crazy.” Bellissa had answered unwillingly.

“Acolyte?” It seemed that shocks to the hearts were coming one after another in the past two days.

“You’d do well to not scorn her. Her strength, despite being an Acolyte, ranks up there with the six current Archmagisters. She gained the rank of Archmagus by the time she was twelve years of age. The youngest ever to attain the rank.”

“Then why do you say she’s an Acolyte?” Belladonna asked.

“Oh! For studying taboo magic, embezzling the Circle’s resources, destroying public property, abducting young magi to be guinea pigs for her experiments, the injuring of many more, and her other misconducts saw to her honors and titles being stripped from her. As an Acolyte, Crazy was deemed one of the Circle’s Five Disgraces.” Belllissa explained.

“So, you should think it over if you wish to participate or not.”

“We do!!” The four youngsters had completely ignored Bellissa’s warning and replied in unison.

Each of the four youngsters harbored a different thought about how they had officially started their endless journey to become a magus.

Kite was because of his admiration for the ancient Glorious Battle. Elric thought about having the assistance of a strong magus. Belladonna purely wished to see the magus her aunt had detested bitterly. Jerry simply just wanted to have fun.