It reinforced her initial analysis that this year's batch of students was talented. A few moments later, Isabel arrived to switch shifts with her, and Ruth was happy to be relieved. Chatter erupted among the students the moment they saw the famous Isabel. She checked on the other groups using a magic circle, and she was impressed with their performance.
As usual, Isabel did not enjoy babysitting incompetent people, but this year's first class was doing better than she had expected, especially Zazan, who had been breezing through the training. There was also a silver-haired girl from the same class who never once took her eyes off her book. Just then, Isabel noticed that Oscar and his group were nowhere to be seen.
Ruth explained that their broadcast feed had been acting up, so she had no updates about them. She told Isabel to ask Professor Amon for the details. However, when Ruth looked around, Amon was nowhere to be found.
Back in the fifth graveyard, Levin and his group settled down for the night while one of them kept watch. Oscar, though, was still lost deep in his magic theories. He was trying to work out how to use mana the same way swordsmen strengthened their bodies with sword ki. A swordsman circulated, condensed and heightened his sword ki within his own body.
Before Oscar could finish working the theory through, a sudden sense of danger struck him. The two boys who had been keeping watch came crashing out of the bushes, screaming at everyone to run, but Levin did not take them seriously.
Thinking they must be running from another pack of puny beasts, he prepared to fight the noble way again. Then a sudden burst of flame came down from above them, and it left everyone completely shocked. Levin began questioning his own existence, while Lily realized that it was a vortex of flame. After a moment of nerve-racking silence, a gigantic dragon emerged from the forest, and it was at that very moment that Levin and his group realized they had stumbled into something far worse than they had bargained for.
Levin wondered aloud why a dragon would show up in what was supposed to be junior training, because taking down a dragon was strictly the work of those at the magic saint level. Oscar finally concluded that someone was definitely targeting them. One of the group members told Levin to use the magic paper to call for help, and he had to remind them that he had torn it up an eternity ago.
Since there were no other options available, Oscar suggested fighting the dragon. Lily was stunned to hear it and could not believe such a ridiculous proposal. Oscar let her know that it was the only way any of them would survive. Hearing this, the boys were relieved, especially since they had the unbeatable noble Levin with them. With his defensive magic, they hoped they could hold out until the professors noticed and came to their aid.
After an awkward silence, Levin suddenly slammed his wand into the ground. He cast his earth spirit shield magic and created an earth cocoon around himself alone. That left everyone stunned, especially his lackeys, who had been counting on him for their survival. Levin called them idiots, reminding them that his measly shield could never hold back a dragon. Then he let them know that he planned to survive by himself.
At that point, the boys who had been counting on his protection began to panic. Lily, however, decided to trust Oscar, and she told them confidently that they needed to fight exactly as he had proposed. She took the lead and attacked the dragon with sharp earth spikes. At first the boys were excited, hoping her attack had brought the beast down, but the dragon came through it without a single scratch.
That made them realize that they would need at least advanced magic to do any damage to it at all. Refusing to give up, Lily decided to act as bait, and she told Oscar to find a way to call for help. Oscar ignored her instructions while he considered his next move. At the same time, one of the boys cast several spells while shaking like a fountain, and the other gave up completely and simply waited for death to come.
Just as the dragon began to gather another fire vortex in its mouth, Oscar finally stepped forward. Lily watched him quietly, wondering what he intended to do. Oscar noted that the dragon was gathering mana out of the air and using it as an energy source to power its flames.
Despite the terrifying sight in front of him, Oscar stayed calm, and he found himself looking forward to testing his strength against that of a dragon. Since ancient times, dragons had been considered agents of disaster. They could absorb unlimited mana from nature to fuel their catastrophic breath. From that, Oscar had cooked up another of his theories. He wondered what would happen if he condensed and refined that natural mana in the same way.
As the dragon unleashed its flames, Oscar's group prepared to meet their ancestors. Levin trembled inside his earth cocoon, hoping to be the lone survivor. Lily feared for Oscar's life, but he remained perfectly calm in the face of the danger. As the dragon's flame came straight at him, Oscar cast a powerful fire bullet spell to counter it.
His spell dispelled the dragon's flame and struck the dragon square in the head, ending its reign of terror. Lily was left speechless, her knees hitting the ground as she stared at Oscar in disbelief.
Elsewhere, Amon watched the whole battle through his magic mirror. He could not believe that Oscar, a freshman, had killed a dragon in one shot. Before he could work out what kind of power the boy wielded, Amon sensed that someone might be onto him. So he decided to wrap things up, though not before swearing to eliminate Oscar the next time, because he believed that only those of noble blood were permitted to wield such power, and Oscar was nothing but a puny commoner.
Meanwhile, Oscar was pleased with himself, because his magic theory had worked. He had applied the same principles of sword ki refinement to the use of mana, and it had worked perfectly. He knew that this idea had only been possible because of who he had been, a swordsman.
A few moments later, the two boys went to check the dragon to make sure it was dead. They still found it hard to believe that they had survived such an ordeal. Levin, who finally opened his earth cocoon, was equally stunned that a commoner had defeated a dragon. He could not believe that a noble like himself had been protected by a commoner. Lily was still in shock as she tried to make sense of what she had just witnessed.
Suddenly Oscar wobbled and dropped to the ground, and Lily rushed to his side to check on him. He assured her that he was only a little tired from pushing himself too hard. The spell he had cast had been too powerful, and it had drained him. He could feel his whole body burning up, as though it might explode at any moment.
A few moments later, the group was frightened again by a rustling sound coming from the forest. Lily wondered whether another powerful beast had found them, but it turned out to be Isabel and her giant golem. She had found traces of a teleportation circle and decided to follow it.