The week after forging ties with the eccentric half-elf Erza Essol, the academy's days moved forward with a quiet yet unshakable rhythm. On March 22nd, Connor McCloud stood at the entrance of the Forest of Courage, the first of the three great northern forests that bordered Trinity Academy's lands. Normally, this place was avoided. Ancient growth pressed in like silent sentinels, and tales whispered of lingering spirits and wandering beasts. But today, Connor entered not by choice, but by decree.
The academy had called him here to undergo the Promotion Test, a trial disguised as simple procedure, yet holding hidden weight.
A golem named Merog, created by Principal Parcaso himself, barred the entrance. Its stone-carved form spoke in a low rumble: the task was simple—venture into the forest, locate the pillar hidden deep within, awaken it by infusing magic, and return. On paper, it was nothing more than a measure of one's ability to endure environments filled with uncertainty. For many students, this test was a formality, a stamp on their records.
But behind the mask of routine, something more waited.
Far away, in the academy's principal office, Parcaso Andalucía—once known across history as the Great Hero who ended the war four centuries ago—watched Connor's steps through a crystal orb. To most, the test was small. To him, it was an examination of secrets. Twice already had Connor shown the impossible: the revival of Rune Magic, long thought erased from the world, and the crushing of Rank 38 Meteor during the hall test. Both feats carried impossibility like a crown. And impossibility demanded answers.
Parcaso's eyes did not blink. If Connor held the power that he sought for centuries, this trial would expose it.
The forest greeted Connor with deceptive peace. Leaves rustled gently. The dirt crunched softly underfoot. Small animals lingered on branches, curious but unthreatening. Yet beneath the calm, his instincts rang with unease. A faint tingling pressed at his forehead—a warning his body would not silence.
Kyle's voice, the regressor's guiding spirit that shared his soul, whispered the truth. He was being watched. Not by students, not by golems, but by the principal himself. The method was simple, ancient, and insidious: Servant Beasts, creatures bound through low-level magic to serve as eyes and ears. The squirrel that had followed Connor since he entered was no harmless animal—it was Parcaso's window into the forest.
To be spied upon unsettled him, yet within the trees, a structure soon revealed itself. Rising out of roots and soil stood a tall stone pillar, its surface etched with runes indecipherable to most. The Test Pillar, designed to awaken upon contact with magic. But to Kyle, it was more than a tool for grading. It was a beacon—a tower that could send out waves of power strong enough to disrupt the magical tether binding the servant squirrel.
Connor pressed his hand against the cold stone. The tingling in his forehead grew sharp, as if the surveillance resisted his touch. Yet there was no choice. Drawing upon his own mana and Kyle's strength within him, he poured magic into the pillar. The carvings flared with light, trembling with a rising hum. Energy surged, the air itself vibrating as though the earth's pulse had been forced awake.
Then came the wave. Blue light exploded outward in ripples, shaking trees, scattering wildlife, and sending Connor sprawling back into the dirt. The squirrel—Parcaso's eye—was thrown from its branch and fled in terror, its tether severed. For the moment, Connor had broken free from the principal's gaze.
But victory was brief.
From the pillar's awakened glow emerged a figure that defied the peace of the forest.
It was a turtle—no, not a turtle. A being of the earth, walking upright with a white beard flowing down its chin. Its eyes held age beyond centuries, and its voice rumbled like stone shifting underground.
An Earth Spirit.
Among cultivators, spirits were considered the manifestations of the world's great attributes—fire, water, wind, and earth. Most that roamed freely were formless, weak, and unseen by mortal eyes. But this one bore shape, substance, and authority. It was no common spirit, but a higher being, one that had lived alongside the academy's forest for four hundred years.
Confusion replaced awe. Spirits were legends to students, spoken of in texts but rarely seen. To Connor, however, the spirit's appearance was not mysterious but oddly comical—a bearded turtle claiming dominion. Still, its gaze carried weight.
It accused him of intrusion. It raged at the pillar, calling it a "toy" planted by Parcaso, breaking a pact made long ago. It called Connor not a challenger but a victim of the principal's schemes, for these forests were never meant to be touched by outsiders.
And then—silence. The spirit's gaze sharpened, and its voice deepened as it stepped closer.
Why, it asked, did it feel the power of the earth within him?
The air froze. The weight of that recognition was not light.
The Promotion Test, meant to be a simple formality, had become something far greater.
What lay dormant within Connor McCloud had drawn the attention of forces far older than the academy itself.
The true examination had only just begun.