I AM A GOD

Chapter 6

The laughter rippled through the preparation hall like a toxic wave. Henry stood amid the sea of students, his expression unreadable beneath the shadow of his hood.

The comment about a fashion parade had created another wave of mockery, but it did not sting this time. It felt distant, like noise coming from the other side of a thick glass wall.

"All right, that is enough!" Tutor Vaughn barked, slamming a heavy magic manual against the wooden podium.

The laughter slowly died.

"Begin your final team selections. You will enter the forest in groups of four, and anyone without a group will remain inside the academy."

Alistair immediately moved in front of Henry.

"Henry, please join my group," he said, his voice filled with concern. "Sector Seven is filled with Shadow-Wolves and Razor-Boars. Even I have to be careful inside that forest, and unlike you, I can actually fight."

A few students nodded in agreement.

"I will place you in the centre of our formation," Alistair continued. "You won’t have to cast anything, touch anything or make any decisions. Just stay behind me and let the people who can fight handle the beasts. I’ll make sure you return in one piece."

"Alistair is too kind," someone whispered. "He is willing to endanger his entire team just to carry that failure through the forest."

Alistair gently straightened Henry’s collar. To the watching students, it looked like another caring gesture from a worried brother.

"Stop embarrassing me in front of everyone," he whispered, his smile never leaving his face.

Henry’s grey eyes remained fixed on him.

"Your offer is generous," Henry said calmly. "But the field marks belong to the student who makes the kill. If I stand behind you while you do everything, you will return as the hero while I return as the same failure you keep telling everyone I am."

The room became silent.

Henry removed Alistair’s hand from his collar.

"Besides, you have always been most helpful when there is an audience."

Angry murmurs immediately rose from the students.

"What an ungrateful bastard," someone muttered. "Alistair should let him die."

Alistair lowered his eyes, placing a wounded expression across his face.

"I don’t know what I did to make you hate me," he said quietly. "All I have ever tried to do is protect you."

More angry eyes turned towards Henry, but he had already looked away.

He walked towards the equipment table and began checking the available weapons.

Oregon, who was leaning against one of the weapon racks, released a loud, mocking whistle.

"Let him go, Alistair! It would be better for everyone. At least if he disappears inside the forest, we won’t have his stench inside our academy anymore. The Maxwell name might finally regain some dignity once the weak link is broken."

Tutor Vaughn shook his head and looked down at his ledger.

The students quickly formed groups with the strongest mages. Alistair was surrounded by the academy elites, while Oregon and his thugs formed their own group.

No one approached Henry.

They moved away from him as though his bad luck was a contagious disease, leaving him alone beside the equipment table.

"It is over, Maxwell," Vaughn said. "You have no team, and no group is willing to accept you. Return to your dormitory."

Henry picked up a dagger and checked its sharp edge.

"Actually, sir, I wish to invoke the City Compulsory Education Law, Article Nineteen, Section B. It states that during any academy-sanctioned field operation, a student who cannot find a group may proceed as a Solo Clearer after signing a waiver that releases the academy from responsibility."

The room fell silent again.

Solo clearing was usually attempted by A-Class mages who believed a team would only slow them down.

"You want to clear Sector Seven alone?" Vaughn asked, staring at him. "Even an A-Class mage would think twice before entering that sector without a group."

"I know what it means," Henry replied. "Put my name down."

Vaughn studied his face, searching for fear, but found nothing.

Henry had spent countless hours studying the mana signatures, movement patterns and weaknesses of every creature inside the Forbidden Thicket. Back then, he believed he would never possess enough magic to use that knowledge.

Now, those creatures were his chance to grow.

Seeing that there was no changing his mind, Vaughn signalled to the quartermaster.

"Assign Henry Maxwell to the Sector Seven perimeter as a Solo Clearer. May the Gods have mercy on your soul, boy, because I doubt that dagger will buy you much time."

Henry turned the blade once in his hand.

"I didn’t take it to buy time."

The Forbidden Thicket was filled with twisted black trees and a thick fog that felt like damp wool against Henry’s skin.

He arrived at his assigned sector, where the silence was broken only by the distant howl of a beast.

A C-Class Razor-Boar charged out of the bushes without warning.

Henry did not panic, and he did not chant.

He pictured the water hidden inside the damp air. With a flick of his wrist, a Water Chain erupted from the mist and wrapped itself around the beast’s neck.

The chain tightened.

The Razor-Boar crashed onto the ground before it could reach him.

Henry pulled out his dagger, cut through its chest and removed a red core the size of his fist.

The moment he closed his fingers around it, the divine core inside his body reacted.

The beast core cracked, and red light leaked through his fingers before sinking into his palm. Heat rushed through his veins as the concentrated mana entered the Endless Evolution pathway.

Within seconds, the beast core became grey dust.

Henry felt the amount of mana inside him increase.

‘So the scrolls were right.’

He moved deeper into the sector.

One C-Class beast fell after another. White-hot fireballs struck the Shadow-Wolves before they could leap, while Water Chains crushed the Razor-Boars that charged from the bushes.

After every kill, Henry removed the beast core and allowed Endless Evolution to absorb it.

Some cores filled his veins with heat, while others sent cold waves through his bones. His divine core accepted all of them without resistance.

The seal around his true power trembled with every core, although none was strong enough to break open the next layer.

By the time two hours passed, the entire sector had become silent.

Henry’s robe was slightly singed, and sweat covered his face, but the mana inside him had grown stronger.

He found a moss-covered clearing and sat down to wait for the check-in team.

He had cleared an entire sector so quickly that he actually had enough time to sleep.

Henry rested against a tree and drifted into a light nap, using his mana to keep himself warm.

He did not know how much time had passed when frantic footsteps and snapping twigs reached his ears.

Henry slowly opened his eyes.

The bushes parted, and Divia burst into the clearing with the other members of his group.

Their robes were torn, dirt covered their faces and they were breathing heavily. They looked as though they had fought an entire army, most likely after struggling against a single C-Class beast.

They stopped when they saw Henry resting beneath the tree.

Their eyes moved from him to the ground surrounding the clearing.

Dozens of C-Class Shadow-Stalkers and Razor-Boars lay in heaps, their bodies already cold.

Divia’s mouth fell open, and his face turned ghostly pale.

"How is this possible?"

Killing that many creatures should have required at least ten high-ranking mages and an entire day of fighting.

Henry looked at their torn robes before resting his head against the tree again.

"I was beginning to wonder whether this forest had any difficult beasts.”