Surviving at the Magic Academy

---

“`html

A doll let out a big howl from inside the crystal sphere. It was clear that it was celebrating yet another victory.

Seemingly unable to cool its excitement, it lightly scratched the wall with its claws.

Despite its seemingly light movement, the wall split open like water, leaving a massive scar following the path of its claws. Koit removed his hand from the crystal and crossed his arms, glaring at the creature while clicking his tongue.

“Why is that thing so strong?”

He slumped back into his chair, looking utterly drained. I quietly offered him a cup of tea. He took it and sipped lightly, but his eyes remained fixed on the crystal sphere.

I could only blink in confusion. I too had no clue why that thing had become so strong. Like Koit, I stared at the doll beyond the crystal.

The two wolf heads bared their teeth at each other, their four arms extending with sharp claws, emanating murky magical power from their tips. It was quite the bizarre sight.

Moreover, it perfectly expressed Rumira’s Magical Heart trapped inside. The contents were a tendency towards self-destruction—an emotional distillation that had reached the end of doubt directed at oneself.

Perhaps such feelings existed within me too. Of course, they wouldn’t be identical, but the hesitation within a mage’s heart manifested differently for each individual.

Rumira wished to eliminate all such hesitations residing inside her. The manifestation of that desire was this Tower of Trials, and in accordance with her request, the tower was composed of seven floors.

The seven hesitations dwelling in Rumira’s heart awaited her, trapped within the forms of dolls on each floor, just like that creature in the crystal.

The creature—rather, should I call it the wolf doll?—was merely at the first stage of that seven-floor journey. Yet, here we were, already hitting a wall. I thought Koit had intended this.

Koit began tapping the crystal again with his fingers. The magical power swirling from his fingertips enveloped the crystal, and time within it began to rewind slowly.

Watching the process of Rumira and the wolf doll battle in reverse, Koit stroked his chin. In that slow flow of time, he could see every step of the fight laid out clearly.

It allowed for an analysis of how things would ultimately be resolved. But after confirming everything, Koit let out a weary sigh; the analysis felt meaningless.

The wolf doll simply devoured Rumira’s magic, relying solely on overwhelming magical power. Seeing that, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion. I had created it, but I had no idea it would become that strong just by containing her Magical Heart.

“Could the other floors be like this too?”

Koit muttered. Once he stopped feeding magical power, the crystal’s flow returned to normal. Rumira’s figure appeared on the screen again as she re-entered the first floor.

She unleashed several spells towards the wolf doll. Distorting the flow of time slowed the doll’s movements, while she twisted space to prevent a clear path for it.

Simultaneously, various attack spells originating from her fingertips shot towards the wolf doll’s body. Those spells became sharper and more massive.

But the wolf doll gobbled up all of Rumira’s magic and seized her by the neck. Koit shook his head disapprovingly as he watched her neck snap.

Koit shifted his gaze away from the crystal. He directed it not to the first floor but upwards. At the end of that gaze was the figure of a doll.

It was a sturdy doll with a cow skull. The being on the second floor stood like a gargoyle, stiff as a statue. Thick magical power surged strongly from its body.

The intensity of that magical power was not lacking compared to the wolf doll on the first floor. Koit clicked his tongue in response. Then he lifted his gaze higher.

On the third and fourth floors, Koit’s face grew increasingly grave. All the dolls had been strengthened. His sight finally reached the last floor, occupied by Mira.

The crystal then captured Mira’s image. She was sketching out the perfect Tea Magical Circle I designed. Sipping a cup of tea, she lightly savored its aroma.

Just like the other dolls, thick magical power flowed from her. She too was bound by her Magical Heart.

However, unlike the other dolls, she showed no signs of transformation. Her mind appeared as stable as it seemed at present. This might be because her desires outmatched her Magical Heart.

In that state, she gently pushed her glasses up and turned her gaze toward us. I couldn’t help but flinch. Her eyes were clearly focused on the crystal.

Her eyes didn’t merely stay fixed on the crystal but rather seemed to target us beyond it. As our eyes met, she smiled and gave a light shake of her teacup.

“Peeping on an awaiting actress? How rude! My turn is still a while away, so please come back later.”

With her words, mist began to flow from her. Softly filling the room, the mist clouded the crystal’s screen. It could no longer identify her figure.

I rubbed my chin, recalling the memory of wandering in her mist earlier. The flow of that mist, slowly melting away what was contained within, felt dreamlike.

Perhaps her mist resonated well with this dream theater’s fantastical atmosphere. Under normal circumstances, one would take a month to adapt to this dream, but she had effortlessly begun to comprehend the dream in less than a day.

In doing so, she could exert influence over the dream in which she existed. It was to the extent that she could block Koit’s gaze overseeing the dream. It was a feat that could even fluster Koit.

“Oh, and what happens down below has nothing to do with me. Hoo, I’m just watching, and it’s quite amusing. I mention this in case there’s any misunderstanding.”

Amidst the mist, her words resonated. Following that, the mist thickened further, forcing the crystal’s gaze to resume to the first floor.

Once again, Rumira began to dwell within it. Standing at the entrance of the tower, she was weaving out a magical circle in the air. These were all new spells born from her previous attempts. It seemed her will hadn’t broken yet.

Koit looked relieved seeing that. Mira was undoubtedly correct. She had no reason to ruin this dream, at least not without good reason. Though I wasn’t entirely certain.

Koit appeared to have understood him well enough. He stroked his chin briefly before getting lost in thought. Eventually, he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, suspicion etched in his expression.

“Did you do something? This is completely different from what I calculated.”

That made me smile wryly. The arrow of suspicion was now pointed at me. His suspicions were entirely valid. My dolls, after all, were the ones causing the problem.

However, like Mira, I had no reason to spoil this dream. With that meaning in mind, I gently shook my head. Surely, I hadn’t done anything wrong.

This dream was worth one million eight hundred thousand points! I had done my utmost just to make it perfect. Those dolls were the result into which I poured my Magical Power. Koit knew this too.

“You already verified everything, right? Back during the preliminary dream, there were no issues.”

“That’s true. But then why is this happening now?”

He ruffled his hair in frustration, a displeased look plastered across his face. Apparently unable to figure out the cause, he flopped dramatically onto the table.

Before we entered this dream, we had performed many rehearsals. We couldn’t afford any mistakes in this dream. Of course, something had indeed gone wrong.

In any case, during those rehearsals, the seven dolls, including Mira, had experienced various other dreams. No abnormalities had emerged for any of the dolls in that process. Koit himself had closely monitored that.

Of course, this was the first time the Magical Heart had been fully embedded into a body. It was said that binding the Magical Heart of any individual into a doll’s body was challenging even for Koit. That option alone was worth a million points!

So during the practice, he had only infused minor flows. That thought widened my eyes slightly. Perhaps that was the very issue—the Magical Heart had fully settled into the doll.

Just then, Rumira was seen rising again. Recognizing it, Koit straightened up. He was now manipulating the crystal.

The wolf doll on the first floor faced Rumira once more. It glared at her, growling threateningly. At that moment, circuits began to ripple across its body.

I had engraved the only magic I attributed to that creature when I crafted it. The function was simple. It merely increased its endurance against magical power. A sort of weak anti-magic effect.

Leveraging that, the wolf doll cleaved through Rumira’s massive magic. It lunged towards her, munching on the collapsing spell whole.

Seeing that, I fell deep into thought. Though I’d granted it power, it had become far stronger than I expected. If Koit couldn’t find a reason in the dream, it meant the problem lay with my doll.

No, it wasn’t the doll that was problematic, but rather the Magical Heart itself. The essence of the dream seemed utterly flawless, so what caused the Magical Heart to have such a significant influence?

Wreathed in thought, I softly crossed my arms and stroked my chin. That kind of adaptation was quite fascinating. It could be viewed as one path to gaining power.

Why had I taken classes on Doll Manipulation? To embed the perfect body of Kashian, which I had transformed with Mira, into my doll. To claim a part of that power for myself!

And those classes had been very beneficial. My doll could now walk twenty steps! Compared to before the class, when it couldn’t even take ten steps, it had made significant progress.

The doll now didn’t just move but could swing a sword too. Of course, it had to dedicate its whole body to that single swing. Given the cost of materials, that itself was a loss.

When a doll bears beyond its capacity, it is prone to collapse. Yet those dolls, regardless of being in a dream, could sufficiently accommodate that much power.

Therefore, it was necessary to delve into that reason. Perhaps it could be applied to my dolls outside of dreams. Of course, I had to resolve this incident first. I shook my head while glancing at Koit.

He was stomping his feet anxiously while watching the crystal. His eyes sparkled with a sense of crisis. It was a sight not often seen from him, who usually acted so nonchalantly.

And rightly so; this was a massive commission worth one million eight hundred thousand points! The joking refund I mentioned earlier might actually come to pass. Should Rumira choose to give up, we’d have no choice but to return that score entirely.

That was a significant crisis from Koit’s perspective. Thus, it made sense for him to appear so anxious. And it was indeed a dire situation for me, too.

Koit had always shown me a fair amount of respect. The openly revealed favor behind his demeanor was clear. I was a Doll Manipulator, and Mauro was part of the equation too.

However, the larger reason had to be Mira. As she had just demonstrated, her power blended seamlessly with dreams. Perhaps because of her, he had pulled me into this dream theater for an entire month.

If this dream shattered in such circumstances, what would happen? The respect he’d initially held for me would surely vanish. He might harbor a grudge against me. Given his greedy, glinting eyes, that didn’t seem out of the question.

Even if it wasn’t so, it was evident that he wouldn’t want to let us go. He might seek to squeeze out whatever losses had been incurred from binding me and Mira here. After all, the responsibility for this dream inevitably fell on me.

In that train of thought, I momentarily considered whether this was a trap. The aspect of being tied by points—having experienced that before.

But shaking my head, I recalled that, unlike before, I was now aligned within that union. Thus, Koit had no reason to act in such a manner. It was part of the union’s rules to refrain from harming fellow members.

“Dammit, let’s just clear the first floor.”

Koit clenched the crystal tightly, pouring an abundance of magical power from his fingertips. His body began to slim down as that flesh started transforming into magical energy, which flowed into the crystal.

With his eyes shut, he began to collect his thoughts. The seriousness of the process was clear on his face. He dispersed that magic energy throughout the entire first floor, slowly altering its structure based on that power.

The previously flat terrain began to transform into a complicated mess, with several thick columns rising up to impede the massive body of the wolf doll’s mobility. It was a structural change that favored Rumira.

Rumira just barely evaded the wolf doll’s attack like that. Her collarbone was grazed by its claws.

The wolf doll was about to pursue her, but it had to come to a halt because of the columns blocking its way. Koit molded the communal structure with precision. Every time Rumira faced peril, that adaptation was encapsulated.

With Koit’s assistance, she dodged several crises. But eventually, she couldn’t escape the wolf doll’s clutches and collapsed. Seeing this, Koit rubbed the corner of his eyes.

Such excessive alterations disrupted the dream’s continuity. Rumira, the dream’s owner, might catch on to what was happening. However, sacrificing to mitigate the advances of the wolf doll was her only option given its overwhelming strength.

Fortunately, it appeared Rumira wasn’t fully conscious of it. Watching her stand at the tower’s entrance preparing to sketch another magical circle made me speak up.

“What if we weakened the doll? It could reduce its power each time it dies.”

If the power was too overwhelming, we could suppress it. Furthermore, if we gradually reduced its strength, Rumira would likely remain oblivious to any significant change.

I cast a side glance at Koit, who was keeping an eye on the magical energy roaring in his body. Koit stroked his chin lightly at my suggestion. The chin he normally boasted of having several layers was now reduced to almost nothing.

“Hmm, perhaps we should do that. We need to clear the first floor.”

As Koit muttered those words, he gathered and braided the magical power into a kind of chain. Then, he draped that transparent chain around the doll’s body. With that, the murky magical power seeping from it reduced somewhat. The suppression of that power had begun.

With that, Rumira attempted to challenge the creature again. They fought, and she died yet again. Throughout that process, Koit meticulously adjusted the weakening effect.

Thus, the doll began to lose its strength continuously. The chain ensnaring its body was the result.

Rumira seized that opportunity without hesitation. Perhaps she really was a mage. She seemed entirely adapted to the process of death. Not even blinking while watching claws aimed at her throat.

She merely sought the optimal manner to bring it down. Within that fatal process, she began weaving the perfect spell suited for that creature. It was a simple, sharp magic to pierce through the anti-magic power.

Upon witnessing the completed magic, I blinked. It condensed into a spear-like accumulation of magical power. It was uncertain if it was an entirely new creation, but its structure was exceptionally simple and unstable.

Yet, she leveraged that instability as a source of power. The spear twisted, beginning to whirl violently. It was merely a magic tailored for piercing, designed solely for confronting that creature.

Though she had died multiple times, perhaps it was due to the sixth floor’s influence: her methods and abilities were befitting of the complete mastery over wood. She unleashed her magic and pierced the doll.

The weakened doll’s body couldn’t withstand the magic’s force, crumbling to pieces. Rumira clenched her fists, jubilant at the sight. It was a feat accomplished after no less than thirty attempts.

Finding a way through challenge after challenge was indeed fitting for a mage. Of course, this would have been insufficient without Koit’s aid. Ultimately, given that she was unaware, was this a good thing?

With that, she passed through the first floor. I glimpsed at Koit. One might have expected relief at surpassing the first floor, yet his expression remained rigid and stern. That gaunt face told all about how serious things were.

And rightly so; resolving all six remaining floors could not be achieved by the same method. The Magical Heart reinforced those stages and floors with growing strength. Even if we could weaken it, limitations still existed.

Rubbing his slimmer stomach, he gulped down the orbs. The magic he consumed from that dream charged his physique and inflated his frame slightly. I offered him a little nod.

“Would you mind putting me into the dream? Then I’ll handle this.”

Impurities couldn’t mix within dreams. When two or more lives combined in the same dream, clashes would inevitably occur. Hence, only dolls, who don’t dream, could take on the role of actors.

Yet, a sort of loophole did exist. That was precisely why I had been waiting here. To be ready for situations like this.

Koit regarded me thoughtfully. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. It seemed he was as stumped for other solutions as I was. He had to manage the dream here, after all.

This dream was also my problem. I scratched my head lightly. Koit still seemed unaware, but it appeared my doll had caused the trouble.

Thus, I had to resolve it myself. I needed to enter the dream first to confront the dolls. Reaching into the folds of my robe, I retrieved one doll—an ordinary one devoid of a soul.

“I’ll prepare now.”

As I spoke, I gently closed my eyes and poured magical power into the doll. My consciousness began to flow slowly, entrusting itself entirely to that stream.

It didn’t take long to reach the end of that flow. Opening my eyes again, I flapped the wings on my back. Wings—what a strange sensation to feel for the first time; it felt odd, but I quickly adapted.

Looking down at my hands, they were tiny and adorably petite. Waving those chubby fingers, I released magical power. I could feel a delicate flow of magic coursing through me.

This was undoubtedly the body of the doll I had just held. I surveyed my surroundings: a black sun, an expansive wilderness, and the immense tower at its center. This was indeed Rumira’s dream.

While Koit transported my consciousness into the doll’s body, this felt like a sort of illegal entry. I was dwelling within the doll’s body under the guise to momentarily deceive the dream.

Consequently, I couldn’t contain power beyond a certain threshold. Like the current state of my doll’s body, I could only manage a slight magical capacity.

Of course, that was more than enough. Even if my physical form came around, I couldn’t have intervened in the impending combat anyway.

Releasing magical power, I steadied myself. Once I did, the sensations of that body fell wholly under my control. Completing all my preparations, I lifted myself into the air.

Then, I began to flap my wings. Following that awkward motion, the wind rippled, and I, too, glided gracefully through space. Thus, I flew towards the entrance of the tower.

As if detecting my movement, the magical power of the dream began to drench me. Could it really sense even such tiny motions? I froze for a moment, and suddenly, purple magical power surged to naturally push away the dream’s magic.

It was Koit’s magic. It indicated he was keeping watch over me. I nodded lightly towards the void and then took flight again.

I had to lead this dream, this play perfectly. But first, I needed to meet the dream’s owner. Thus, slowly advancing, I eventually reached the tower’s entrance, where Rumira stood.

With that, I halted in front of her. She gave a slight glance my way, as if she had sensed my presence. I lowered my head a bit while beaming a big smile. Then, I flapped my wings lightly, trying my best to appear cute.

I recalled what I had noted about her preferences; she had a tendency to like things elegant and beautiful. Just what matched that was Mira.

But who’s to say a person has only one preference? Alongside her appreciation for beauty, she definitely held an affinity for cuteness as well. Koit himself had confirmed it through the dream.

The doll I had taken on fitted her preferences to a T. I caught the hint of intrigue in her eyes as my image reflected in them.

A girl with blond hair and emerald green eyes flapping fairy-like wings. At a glance, she might resemble the Professor, yet that was merely a misconception. I had just aimed to make it as cute as possible.

“Hello! I’m Ian, the fairy born from the tower, here to assist you in conquering it!”

I said, fluttering my wings with gusto. Rumira blinked at me in surprise. This dream was perceived by her as a reality. That was the most effective means of obliterating her Magical Heart.

Thus, I mustn’t cast any doubts about this being a dream. The moment she recognized it was a dream, the sense of reality would shatter along with it. Smiling brightly at her, I tried to exude charm.

As I met her smile, the slight suspicion in her eyes melted away. She lightly patted my head. Rubbing my head against her hand, her previously stoic expression softened completely.

While this place felt real to her, it remained a dream no less. As Koit remarked, what mattered in a dream wasn’t its logicality. Merely winning her favor would grant me persuasive power.

Again, I brightened my smile, collecting my thoughts. I was no longer Ebron. From this moment onward, I was an actress participating in the dream—a fairy. I gazed at Rumira, my eyes sparkling.

“`

 

---