"Can you stand?"
"No… I can't move my body at all."
"I see."
Professor Orfina snapped her fingers, and Arvell's body began to lift in the air, supported by a white rectangular object.
'What is going on?'
Arvell could not see just how he was floating off the ground since he still didn't recover enough strength to turn his head.
Looking at professor Orfina, Arvell decided to figure it out himself.
[Status]
[Status Information]
Status: Unavailable
Arvel wanted to smack himself in the head.
He'd completely forgotten he'd tried to check her status at the start of the entrance exam but failed.
There were only a few things he couldn't see the status of.
Namely, he couldn't see the status of mages from the 5th circle and above, August, Titus, and his pendant.
Arvell still had no idea why he couldn't see the status of the last 3, but he knew that it was probably because he wasn't strong enough.
Lykos had mentioned that he needed to get stronger to utilize more of his status skill's power, so that was probably the reason he couldn't.
Professor Orfina sighed when she saw Arvell looking at her perplexedly.
"You're wondering why you're floating, right? Everyone has a similar reaction when I use my magic. Well… I can tell you since it's not much of a secret either way. I'm a user of barrier magic."
She pointed to Arvell, or more specifically, what was underneath him.
"You're currently lying down on one of my barriers. We can't risk moving you haphazardly in case you had any spinal injuries, so keeping your back straight is our top priority."
'So she mistook my condition as a spinal injury? I guess it might be easy to think that, considering I can't move my body right now.'
Arvell didn't want to tell her it was the side effects of an elixir he snuck into the exam, so he decided to let her have her misunderstandings.
It's not like he ever told her he had a spinal injury.
If she made an incorrect assumption of his condition, that's on her, not him.
Plus… he was too tired to correct her.
Professor Orfina turned to Lydia.
"You said there were 2 people who needed help, right? So where is the other one?"
Lydia looked around frantically before turning her attention to Arvell.
"Do you happen to know where the other boy is?"
Lydia's eyes widened as she covered his mouth.
"Is he…?"
"No, he's not dead. At least he shouldn't be."
Lydia breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Where is he then?"
Arvell motioned with eyes in the general direction where Titus was sent flying.
Professor Orfina nodded and began walking to where Arvell had pointed.
Arvell's motionless body began to float after her while Lydia followed them with a spring in her step.
She was glad she managed to get help in time to save Arvell's life.
However, it wasn't like Professor Orfina needed her help…
If anything, her main contribution was giving Professor Orfina details of what had transpired.
"Ah, he's there!"
Lydia's cries alerted Arvell and Professor Orfina.
Following her finger, the two found Titus slumped against a tree, fast asleep.
"SNORE"
While he was out cold, surprisingly, Titus's body showed no indication of serious injuries.
Instead, he looked like he was just out cold.
Professor Orfina walked up to Titus and shook his body.
"Wake up."
Titus looked around groggily.
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"Hmm? Cookie?"
Professor Orfina took a closer look at Titus before a conflicted expression formed on her face.
"Weren't you the youth who broke the carriage door? I can see your body is… quite durable."
Titus's back was leaning on a tree, but the tree looked like someone had hit it with a giant mallet.
It was bent so far that none of them would have been surprised if it came crashing down any second.
Meanwhile, Titus looked like he had escaped the ordeal relatively unscathed.
Moreover, his luck wasn't anything to scoff at either.
Most of the forest was burning as well, making the fact that he didn't burn to death a miracle.
He didn't even choke out from inhaling any of the harmful gasses either.
Titus pulled himself to his feet and looked at Arvell with a smile.
"We won."
Arvell replicated his smile.
"Yeah, I couldn't have done it without you."
This was the first time Arvell had ever fought alongside someone like this.
Someone who could actually help in a fight.
After all, most kids weren't anywhere near Arvell's level of strength, so they couldn't really do anything to help him in a life or death situation.
While he felt uncomfortable leaving his safety in someone else's hands, fighting alongside a partner was a new and enjoyable experience for him.
Titus sniffed the air before turning to the raging forest fire.
"That is not good."
Professor Orfina narrowed her eyes as she gazed towards the burning forest.
She turned her head, glaring at Lydia.
"Couldn't you have been more sensible when using fire magic in a forest?"
"Eep!" Lydia froze as sweat began to form on her forehead.
"I-I'm sorry, I did it in a panic!"
Kneading her forehead, Professor Orfina sighed.
"I guess it's not entirely your fault. Your life was in danger after all."
Professor Orfina raised her hand, causing an opaque white shape rectangle to form in the air shortly in front of her.
She swiftly swiped her outstretched hand to the side, an action which the floating apparition mirrored almost identically.
*WOOSH*
A loud gust of air spread out from the floating barrier, hitting the flaming forest with an onslaught of wind.
*PSHHHH*
The fire was almost instantly put out, leaving only the charred mess of countless burnt trees.
'This person can utilize the wind far better than Angela, even though she's not even a wind mage!'
Marvelling at the raw display of power, Arvell began to feel a sense of admiration for the professor.
After repeating the process a few more times, all of the fires in the surrounding area were put out.
After putting out the last remaining sparks, Professor Orfina looked at Arvell and the others.
"Let's get you three back to the forest clearing. Once we do, I'll need you three to give me a full account of what transpired here."