The exam grounds were a large garden with no mushrooms on sight. Amy, Emily and Ashley moved to the middle of the garden. Amy and Emily were side-by-side and Ashley in front of them. Ashley pointed to a group of dummies carved out of mushrooms that faintly resembled half-humans.
"I need you two to hit them as strong as you can." Ashley said.
Emily slowly moved forward to face a mushroom-carved half-snake. She took a deep breath and raised her hand, with a rotation of her hips she hit the half-snake, it didn't even flinch.
"If you don't mind I would recommend physical training." Ashley commented with a smile.
***
Emily and Amy went up to the red counter and sat in their chairs again. Ashley took notes on their documents for a second.
Speed, power and endurance exam but not magic... Amy thought
"With that the exams are over." Ashley sat in her chair. "You may get your quest certificate in a few hours."
Amy and Emily got up from their seats.
"Um... thanks for helping with the exams!" Emily said with a small bow.
Ashley answered with a smile. "No problem."
The group walked outside away from the scent of wine. Amy took a deep breath.
I still need to decipher the text from the obelisk.
Amy pulled her orb from her backpack and double-tapped the surface.
"Emily can you read this text?" She held out the sphere to Emily.
She inspected the runes. "A-ah... I don't know how to read..."
Suddenly the orb's surface turned completely black.
Out of mana...
Amy concentrated her mana in her eye. She looked around.
No mana in sight, I'll have to use mine...
Drip
Raw mana from above dripped on top of a mushroom house.
That mana seems... wrong.
The crimson-red cap of the mushroom slowly darkened like a banana left to ferment for months. Azure veins bulged and pulsated faster and faster as if it had gone berserk. Something was waking up.
"Ruin-walkers..." a child whispered.
Amy turned her head to the source of the voice.
A mother was embracing her child as she slowly backed away. Their eyes met.
The mother stood in her place like a mushroom-carved statue, pale as if all blood drained from her body.
"Please..." The mother mumbled.
Amy turned her head again.
The mushroom twisted on itself, gushing spores in every direction.
One screamed, slicing open the silence. Others joined him.
People ran looking nowhere, their shoulders clashed.
One stood her ground, the spores already had engulfed her.
One woman fell to the ground, and no one turned to help.
Children cried endlessly.
Wha...