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Anti-magic collars were specially crafted as a restraining tool for magical criminals. In general, they resemble a plain black choker, these would shut off the mage’s internal mana from the outside world.

When casting a spell, a mage requires both the ability to control the mana within him, and the ability to communicate with his environment. Theoretically, one could stop spellcasting entirely by cutting off this process. But these collars do not only work against mages. To a varying degree, aura in normal fighters have been noted as being affected. When worn, the collars restricted their ability to externalize their aura.

Naturally, these collars are made to be highly durable against physical removal, rendering most high-level mages powerless before this nightmarish implement.

———From <>

“Instructor… is it too late for me to take back my words?”

“What do you think?”

“…”

As of this moment, Tallin was a dozen meters above ground, climbing up a man-made plateau, hands shaking profusely as he grabbed onto the white magical rings.

Because of the anti-magic collar I attached onto him, he only had his physical strength to rely on while climbing. In other words, if something were to go wrong, he had no magical means of saving himself.

I was stationed above, watching over him in case of any accident.

Down below were the rest of the students. They gathered below their climbing compatriot like a bunch of ants. Each one of them had their arms stretched out should he suddenly fall off…

Or jump…

That was basically the game I had in mind for them. An exciting game which they would never forget for the rest of their lives!

“Instructor… I’m afraid of heights…”

While Tallin might seem like a fearless, stout fellow, and he was so as he climbed the initial section of the plateau, but when he finally reached the top and had the opportunity to gaze down…

“Then just jump.”

“I…”

At this height, his classmates were still able to see the terrified look on his face. Naturally, they weren’t about to let him off the hook so easily.

“Tall, stop stalling and just jump!”

“Yea, the Instructor’s orders, and all that.”

“If you’re so afraid of heights, why did you climb so high in the first place?”

“Don’t worry, Tall, we will catch you, I promise, so just jump!

“Come on, Tall, where’s your usual bravery?”

“Yeah, I want to have a go myself. Get your bum down here!”

“Stop wasting time now, come on!”

Unfortunately, no amount of taunting was going to change the boy’s mind. Thankfully, the weather today wasn’t bad, and a dozen or so meters wasn’t that high either. Because the winds were mostly mild, he didn’t sway much as he held onto the last ring. Being a three-star magister, his physical strength wasn’t bad to begin with, so hanging on for another half an hour shouldn’t be a problem.

Basically, he needed some convincing to… help him down.

With that in mind, I threw a look at the middle-aged mage nearby, who promptly nodded and began casting a spell.

Barely a second later, the spell began to take effect. Out of nowhere, a powerful gust of wind blew across the poor boy. And just like a helpless kite in a storm, he swayed violently from left to right.

Hours before this game started, I had already considered the question of “what to do if someone wouldn’t let go?” A gust of wind, what else!

“Ahhhh….” Tallin held on for dear life while his body continued flying about in the winds. In just one second alone, I saw his grip change a few times. However, he held fast, and was likely to hold on for a while longer.

Damn stubborn kid.

Shadow Guardian!

Time to up the ante…

I quickly summoned Shadow Guardian, materializing the shadowy being directly above Tallin’s head. Right hand morphing into a wispy scythe, it started to take aim at the ring that Tallin was holding onto…

A moment later, both the ring and plateau were split…

“Nooo… save me…”

Without something to grab onto, he freefalled down the plateau.

Due to how sudden this was, the kids below were caught off-guard by his sudden scream. Thankfully, some of the quicker students were able to form up, taller ones ready to catch him, while the rest began casting wind magicks to slow his descent. With everyone’s concerted efforts, Tallin landed safely.

Though he still fainted… useless brat…

A few students started calling for healers to attend to him, but all in all, our hair-raising first attempt was over, and Tallin woke up moments later.

“I’m… alive?”

“Did you want to be dead?”

Slightly before his descent, I touched down nearby – as a backup of sorts.

Now that he was awake, I was standing right above him, smirking at the silly kid who actually fainted from fright. “Ready for another round?”

“…I… do…” It took him a second to register what I was asking, but when he did, his eyes practically shone with light. “Instructor, let me have another go! Please!”

“…”

Hold on, that wasn’t the plan at all…

“Instructor? So can I go again?”

“Scram!” I snapped. “If you want to have a go, you need to wait your turn. There’s still 99 people in front of you!”

****…

“Who’s next?”

“Me!”

“Me! Me!”

A good number of students began clamoring to be the second person in line. Of them, there was a 7:3 split between the boys and the girls. But I had other plans for the girls…

Not long after, the second plateau was erected, and the students began climbing up that as well.

Just like with Tallin, they had anti-magic collars to restrict their use of magic. Thankfully, everyone here was a trained magister, so regardless of gender, the students had the strength required to complete the task.

This whole exercise was to simulate a sense of helplessness in the students. Hence the collars to prevent any levitation magicks. This was to hammer into them the fact that there were times they had to rely on others, and that a single person’s strength was limited.

Having the students gathered below was a sign of support for the person up top -even if you are helpless, we got your back, was what they were saying wordlessly.

Hopefully, the brats would come together as one. It was in times of trouble that real bonds were forged. Teamwork. Cooperation. By aligning everyone together, even the complexity of human beings could be purified and distilled into a cohesive unit.

Shameless Self-promotion

I hate this novel.

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