"Firestorm!"
With a shout, Rest incinerated the unnaturally tall, thick grass as he and his party forged deeper into the Center of the Magical Wilds.
The atmosphere grew increasingly heavy with mana the further they advanced. The sheer concentration was enough to make one's stomach churn.
"It’s incredible... I had no idea the mana in the Magical Wilds could be this overwhelming," Isis murmured, her face pale as she clutched her mouth.
While the others remained silent, their expressions mirrored her discomfort. Isis’s reaction was the most severe, likely due to her exceptional mana sensitivity—a double-edged sword that made her a talented mage but left her vulnerable to such environments.
"Are you all right, Isis-senpai?" Yuri asked, stepping in to let Isis lean on her shoulder.
In stark contrast to the sweat-slicked Isis, Yuri appeared perfectly composed. Her low innate mana and high physical resilience seemed to act as a buffer against the atmospheric pressure, leaving her largely indifferent to the changes in the environment.
"Still... this environment is brutal," Isis remarked. "Can a town really be built here?"
"Not in its current state," Rest replied. Even without Isis’s level of sensitivity, the sheer density of the mana in the center of the plains was impossible to ignore. Establishing a settlement under these conditions was out of the question.
"We can’t live here as things stand, but once formal development begins, court mages specializing in Barrier Arts will be dispatched to set up warding magic circles. The theory is that the barriers will consume the excess ambient mana to maintain themselves, gradually thinning the concentration in the air and making the environment manageable."
"So we use the barriers to exhaust the mana and terraform the area... I see," Isis nodded.
"Can’t you just make the barrier, Rest?" Yuri asked, tilting her head.
Rest gave a wry smile and shrugged. "I can’t. That’s a high-tier technique beyond my current knowledge."
It wasn't a matter of mana capacity or skill, but purely a lack of specific instruction. While Barrier Arts were taught at the Academy, the wards required for a Magical Wilds were leagues more sophisticated than anything in the standard curriculum.
"Our role is to scout and clear the way," Rest continued. "We need to map the terrain and cull the monsters so the specialists can move in safely."
After burning away another large section of the plains, Rest used Floating and Wind Control to take to the skies. From his aerial vantage point, he carefully sketched the terrain to record their progress.
"Well... I think that covers the first day. It’s a bit rough, but I’ve got a general grasp of the layout here in the center."
They had defeated a significant number of monsters and cleared several paths by fire. While it was only a fraction of the vast plains, it was a solid result for their first day.
"Let’s call it a day and head back to the Plain Entrance. It would be disastrous if night fell while we were still out here."
In the Magical Wilds, night was synonymous with death. Being ambushed in the darkness would be fatal, especially since their Life Search was currently useless against the background noise of the dense mana. They had to be back before sunset, which meant the survey would have to be conducted over several days.
"The trip back should be faster," Rest noted. "Now that the grass is cleared, movement will be easier, which should help tomorrow’s work go more smoothly."
"I just hope the grass hasn't grown back by the time we return," Lyubase remarked with a cynical shrug.
Normally, vegetation wouldn't grow that quickly, but the Magical Wilds operated under different rules. It was entirely possible that by tomorrow morning, the person-sized stalks would have already reclaimed the cleared land.
"Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we—"
GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
A piercing, earth-shaking shriek cut Rest off. The eerie cry seemed to vibrate from the very depths of the earth—a sound they had heard before.
"That cry...!"
"Stay sharp! It’s coming!" Argyle shouted, drawing his blade.
Isis and Yuri braced themselves for combat as Lyubase gripped his hilt in a silent, ready stance.
"Firestorm!"
Rest preemptively struck, his flames peeling back the thick foliage to reveal a massive, nightmare shadow lunging toward them.
"I knew it... a Subnock's Kin!"
The creature that emerged was an Evil Lion, its pale blue fur standing on end as it dripped Saliva of Decay from its jaws. It was an elephant-sized, six-legged beast with terrifying compound eyes. A monster of the same species as the monarch Rest had previously slain—a Corrosion Beast—now stood before them.