“Huff… huff…”
“T-this is exhausting…”
“Haaah! Haaah!”
“……”
At some point, the members of Nerha’s group had completely collapsed from exhaustion, and he found himself speechless as he looked at them.
How long has it even been already…?
They had only been climbing for around an hour, yet the others were already drained dry, crawling along the ground like worms.
Seriously, how did these people even make it to Libra in the first place?
What Nerha didn’t know was one simple fact:
Libra’s entrance exam, thanks to the overwhelming support and absurd wealth of the great noble families, had been closer to transportation than actual mountain climbing.
Inside Libra and around its vicinity, survival magic maintained the oxygen levels throughout the area, so living within the academy posed no issue at all.
But the moment they stepped outside, their limitations were exposed immediately.
The instructors probably know that too. That’s why they’re sending the freshmen outside this early—to force them to realize their own shortcomings.
When he turned his head, he saw two or three nearby groups suffering in exactly the same way. Most of the other teams were probably in similar condition.
“L-Leader Nerha… could we rest a little…?”
“I-I think I’m dying…”
“……”
Considering they were carrying gathering equipment and climbing gear on top of everything else, it was no wonder their stamina had run dry so quickly.
Letting out a sigh, Nerha finally spoke.
“Keep circulating your mana cultivation method while moving. At the very least, you won’t collapse from exhaustion.”
These weren’t ordinary people. They were mages capable of handling mana. Suffocating in high-altitude terrain like this was honestly embarrassing.
Yet his teammates only stared at him blankly.
“T-That’s possible?”
“……? Why wouldn’t it be?”
“M-Mana cultivation is usually done while sitting still…”
“That’s the orthodox method, yes. But that doesn’t mean movement cultivation is impossible.”
Mages typically cultivated mana while sitting motionless and focusing their minds, which was why movement-based cultivation techniques had never properly developed.
Unlike martial artists—who could train their bodies while simultaneously cultivating internal energy—mages couldn’t build mana reserves and learn spells at the same time. Naturally, the field had stagnated.
Of course, another reason was that movement cultivation inherently had lower efficiency than seated cultivation since it also involved physical exertion.
“Get up. I’ll teach you a few tricks, so follow along.”
Though doubtful, the group members slowly got to their feet.
Using Jereon’s body posture as an example, Nerha quickly taught them the fundamentals of movement cultivation on the spot.
It was a universal technique applicable regardless of the specific mana method one practiced. Once they grasped the basics, they could use it immediately in real situations.
“Ah! This really does feel easier!”
Sonia Iznen’s eyes widened in delight as the trembling in her thighs quickly stabilized.
Following Nerha’s instructions and circulating mana while moving clearly eased the discomfort.
“Your body will feel lighter, but at first your concentration will be split everywhere, so it’ll feel mentally exhausting. Once you get used to it, though, you’ll essentially gain the ability to accumulate mana even while moving.”
Naturally, they couldn’t spend every waking moment focused solely on mana cultivation. At their core, they were still mages, meaning most of their time and mental energy had to be devoted to studying and researching spells.
Even so, by calculation alone, this method improved overall efficiency by roughly twenty percent.
“T-This couldn’t possibly be… a secret cultivation art of the Radeus family?”
“No— uh… yes, that’s right!”
Nerha hastily changed his answer midway.
Judging by their reactions, they had clearly never encountered movement cultivation before. Apparently, it was far rarer than he had assumed.
“You’re members of my team, so I’m teaching you this specially.”
“Oooooh!”
“But obviously, leaking this outside the group is forbidden. Understood?”
“Yes!”
Seeing their eyes sparkle, Nerha realized changing his answer had definitely been the right call.
A little showmanship was fine. Any more than that would only backfire.
Still… if things are this bad for everyone else, gathering materials might actually be easier than expected.
Of course, most of the freshmen were talented enough to adapt quickly. They wouldn’t spend all three days crawling around helplessly.
Still, for now, time was clearly on Nerha’s side.
“Sonia.”
“Yes, Leader.”
“What’s the first herb we should search for?”
“Just a moment. Let me see…”
Pulling out a notebook from her pocket, Sonia skillfully flipped through her notes.
The Iznen family was widely known as a prestigious alchemist lineage. Naturally, they possessed deep knowledge of pharmacology, medicine, and food science.
“The easiest thing to obtain first would probably be Saratis berries. They’re a type of lingonberry, so we’ll likely find them lower down the slope!”
“Good. Everyone, move out.”
Rather than splitting the team apart, Nerha chose to keep everyone together.
Since “stealing” was tacitly permitted in this assignment, they never knew when an ambush might happen.
“Ah! I found Seleshian over there!”
The team’s roles were simple.
Sonia would identify the habitats or likely growth locations of herbs listed in the assignment, while the remaining three searched the surrounding area.
“Whew… another one.”
Nerha smiled faintly as he discovered a tiny flower cleverly hidden from sight.
The hardest materials to locate in this assignment were the ones infused with mana.
Items like that were usually hidden in places that couldn’t be found through normal eyesight alone.
Of course, they still couldn’t escape Nerha’s mana perception.
“Sonia. Confirm it.”
Out of the twenty-something ingredients, Sonia had classified five as “extremely difficult.”
Yet Nerha had already found three of them—including the flower in his hand.
Accepting the material from him, Sonia blinked repeatedly.
“……Can you smell mana or something?”
“It’s not my nose. It’s my eyes.”
“Eyes? D-Don’t tell me you had magical eyes implanted?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Naturally, the material Nerha brought her was genuine. Once Sonia confirmed it, admiration filled her eyes.
“A-Amazing… Even first-rate herb gatherers couldn’t find them this quickly…”
Of course, by ranking standards, Nerha wasn’t first-rate.
He was special-grade.
Hearing the praise, Nerha smugly puffed out his chest.
Hmph. Back in my day, I even dug up eternal snow ginsengs. This much is easy.
Naturally, he kept those thoughts to himself.
About half a day later, Nerha decided it was time to return to Libra.
“Hm… there aren’t many people around anymore.”
“Yeah. Looks like nobody came this far out on the first day.”
“Hehehe… this feels kind of satisfying.”
The group members proudly puffed out their chests.
By the end of the first day, Nerha’s group had gathered fourteen materials.
He was confident no other team had collected more than them.
“Everyone, listen up.”
Once they reached Libra’s entrance, Nerha stopped the group and addressed them seriously.
“This should go without saying, but don’t casually talk about our progress around others. Maybe tomorrow will still be fine, but by the final day people will definitely start picking fights.”
“Yes!”
“Get some rest, then gather at the library in two hours. We’ll research the remaining materials together. Sonia, focus on estimating possible locations.”
This wasn’t simply about searching.
Advance investigation was equally important.
Even though they already held a significant advantage, the word carelessness did not exist in Nerha’s dictionary.
By the second day, things unfolded exactly as expected.
“Hey! Our group found that first! Don’t touch it!”
“The first one to grab it owns it, idiot!”
There were several forbidden rules in the assignment, one of which restricted the use of magic.
Naturally, that meant conflicts were often resolved the “manly” way.
“Grab him!”
“He’s alone! Surround him and beat him down!”
…Though many groups preferred solving things through sheer numbers instead.
“At least we’re lucky.”
“If we hadn’t gathered so aggressively on the first day, we’d be in serious trouble.”
“It’s all thanks to the method Leader taught us.”
Nerha’s team simply avoided the conflicts and took the long route around them. They had already collected everything in the nearby area anyway.
Considering how physically exhausting gathering is, avoiding fights might actually be the smarter strategy.
Looking around, he even spotted groups that had completely abandoned gathering and focused solely on ambushing others.
Fighting them wasn’t the issue.
Wasting time was.
Hm? What are those guys doing?
Just as he was about to continue onward, Nerha noticed a group casually strolling down the mountain while chatting leisurely.
That’s the group Zekron belongs to.
For some reason, they showed no motivation whatsoever to gather materials.
They looked more like people out for a peaceful walk.
And it’s not just them.
Looking closer, Nerha noticed several other groups behaving similarly.
The common trait among them was that they all contained members from particularly influential noble families.
As Nerha stood there staring, Sonia—who had walked ahead—turned back.
“Leader?”
“Ah. I’m coming.”
He had no idea what those people were planning, but if they kept dawdling around like that, they might fail to collect all the materials.
Since the consequences would be theirs to bear, Nerha simply ignored them and rejoined his group.
The team gradually moved away from the chaotic battlefield forming around Libra and headed toward another peak.
Using the movement cultivation technique Nerha taught them, they carefully managed their stamina while searching for the remaining ingredients.
“This makes nineteen.”
“So only one left?”
“Yes. But there’s a bit of a problem.”
Sonia frowned as she looked at the final unchecked material.
“The last ingredient… allows for substitution.”
“……A substitution choice, huh. So here it comes.”
Nerha let out a low groan and checked the final item.
“Root of Snow Polopia, or powder from a Basic Elemental.”
“What’s Snow Polopia?”
At Rudel’s question, Sonia answered grimly.
“It’s a spiritual herb used in high-grade elixirs. Honestly, I pushed this material to the very bottom of the priority list because I thought obtaining it would be nearly impossible.”
Spiritual herbs were fundamentally different from ordinary mana-infused plants.
Their mana had to compress and refine over countless years until it evolved into spiritual energy before they could truly be called spiritual herbs.
Nerha looked at Sonia.
“Then what about Basic Elemental powder?”
“It’s one of the most basic ingredients used in alchemy. But there’s no need to gather it. I always carry spare amounts. Even if I didn’t, we could easily buy some inside the academy.”
“……”
Nerha narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
A spiritual herb…
That meant it was likely the most important material in this entire exercise.
“So whether we obtain it or not could completely change the final product.”
“Honestly, yes. The quality difference would probably be at least three full grades.”
“Then we’ll get it.”
The quality of the final result could affect their evaluation score—and they might even be allowed to keep what they produced afterward.
If possible, they absolutely had to obtain it.
But Sonia still looked pessimistic.
“I heard they only grow at the peaks of extremely high mountains untouched by humans, or deep within regions overflowing with spiritual energy.”
The reason her explanation sounded uncertain was simple:
Even Sonia herself had never actually seen one.
“But if it’s listed in the pamphlet, then it must exist somewhere here.”
“Well, in terrain this harsh, it probably does grow somewhere. But definitely not near Libra. We’d have to cross several mountain peaks and enter monster habitats before we’d even have a chance.”
Naturally, they neither had enough time nor any reason to go that far.
Just as Nerha was wondering what to do—
“Who’s there?”
“……?”
Sensing someone entering the range of his perception, Nerha suddenly turned and shouted behind him.
The others looked at him like he was being ridiculous, but moments later a voice echoed from the distance.
“Young Master Nerha?”
The moment he recognized the owner of the voice, Nerha’s expression turned strange.
“Lucia?”
