Chapter 123 – Q: How to Master a Bunch of Taboos in Two Days? (Urgent)

Just like Lalu mentioned, the school trip this year was set to be at the Elven Forest.
Since the Hero's Sword had already been drawn, there wasn't much meaning in visiting Mana City any longer.
Thus, it was natural that the school trip's destination changed.

Meanwhile, the Elven Forest where elves lived was a good alternative destination.
Although one could find many pictures and videos of the Elven Forest online, few people had actually visited the forest in person before.
This was because apart from the exorbitant entrance fee, the Elven Forest was also located at the human realm's border.
Depending on one's starting point, one might even need to make use of teleportation arrays to reach the forest.

The nobles in Class Group A had more or less visited the Elven Forest before.
After all, their families did not lack the money to travel.
However, students in Class Groups B and C might not have visited the forest before.
Thus, the academy decided to set the school trip's destination at the Elven Forest.
Many people also welcomed this change.

Of course, there were also a few fearless fellows on the academy's forums voicing their disappointment that the high schooler's school trip this time wasn't set at the Dragon Mountain Range.

…

In the afternoon, Lalu headed to Alice and Zauna's dormitory, as usual, to have lunch with them.
The room Alice and Zauna lived in was very spacious, and it even had its own kitchen.
So, they would typically head back during lunch break to enjoy Luna's home-cooked meal.

Meanwhile, after receiving Alice and Zauna's invitation, Lalu was more than delighted to join them for lunch.
This was because Luna's cooking was truly delicious.
As an elf who was used to eating bland foods, Lalu got quite the taste shock when she first tasted Luna's cooking.

Oftentimes, elves would have difficulty accepting human food due to the huge disparity in taste.
However, Lalu was only 17 years old, so she was still at an age where she could accept new things easily.
As a result, she quickly became infatuated with human food.

“The Elven Forest has a high admission price to ensure that the forest's peacefulness isn't disturbed by too many tourists.” During lunch, Lalu took the opportunity to brush up Alice and Zauna's knowledge about the Elven Forest.
“The main reason the forest is open to tourism is to prevent elves from getting isolated and stagnating.
However, it'd be counterproductive if the forest's tranquility gets undermined as a result.
The older generation of elves wouldn't want to see that happening at all.”

“That is understandable.
My family has considered visiting the Elven Forest in the past, but we decided against it after seeing the exorbitant admission price and how far it is,” Zauna said, nodding.
As someone from an ordinary family, she knew that the Elven Forest's admission price was indeed very expensive for the average household.
“But the academy is footing the bill this time, so it doesn't matter.
There is also no way this academy lacks money.”

The amount of money the March Academy had received from nobles over the years was beyond imagination.
So, it wouldn't have any trouble paying for a tour to the Elven Forest for several hundred people.

“By the way, do you elves have any special taboos?”

Rather than the admission price, Alice was more concerned about something else.
Ever since she learned that they would be visiting the Elven Forest, the first thought that came to her mind was whether the taboos the elves owned were any different from the taboos available in the human realm.

The elves might not have much talent for magic, but it was undeniable that they possessed vastly superior sensitivity to mana.
Adding on their long lifespans, it wasn't impossible for some elves to invent taboos that none of the other races possessed.

The school trip's date was set at one month after classes resumed.
In other words, Alice had already spent close to a month studying in the March Academy.
During this one month, not only did she catch up and surpass the academic progress of most students in the academy, but she had also started learning how to cast taboos.

The feeling of being a genius was extraordinary.
When Alice was still an ordinary person in the past, she would find studying a pain since she could never tell if she had made any significant progress even after studying a book for an entire day.

However, after studying for a month as a genius, she realized just how wonderful it was to be a genius.
She could sense herself improving with every book she studied.
Thus, she gained even more motivation to continue studying.

In the aspect of taboos, Alice was currently researching Psychokinesis Transcendence while simultaneously studying two other taboos named “Burning Star” and “Wicked Wind.”

In the eyes of others, studying three taboo spells simultaneously was something only a lunatic would do.
However, this was Kristine's suggestion.
According to her, studying three or more taboos simultaneously wasn't a problem for the Hero.

Although Alice was initially skeptical about Kristine's suggestion, after trying it out, she realized that not only did learning three taboos not affect her learning speed at the slightest, but doing so had even allowed her to save some time.
This was because some of the principles used in these taboos were similar, so she didn't have to invest more time into learning these same principles.

Hence, Alice was currently in a state of hunger for learning more taboos.
Meanwhile, after verifying that she would be visiting the Elven Forest for her school trip, she immediately set her sights on the elves' taboos.

“Aren't you a little too interested in taboos? Aren't those things only useful as references?” Lalu asked in confusion.

Because Alice had constantly been updating her Hero LINK account with fake information during this period, Lalu had not once suspected that Alice might be the Hero.
She merely thought that Alice was a strange student whose hobby was studying taboos.

Meanwhile, after seeing the hopeful look Alice gave her, Lalu snorted lightly and revealed a helpless expression as she said, “Alright, alright.
Since you're so curious… We do have some unique taboos.
With our long lifespans, so long as someone with extraordinary talent appears, they'd have plenty of time to research and develop their magic.
So, it isn't strange to see these people creating new and unique taboos.”

Lalu was a prime example of an elf with extraordinary talent.
Although her talent could only be considered slightly above average by human standards, paired with her lifespan of at least several centuries, there was a high chance that she could grow to a point where she could cast taboos by herself in the future.

Meanwhile, Lalu wasn't a unique entity among her race.
There were definitely many more elves similar to her that had appeared in the past, and it'd be completely normal for these elves to create a taboo or two during their lifetimes.
Only, due to the closed nature of elves, most of these taboos had never been spread out of the Elven Forest.

“Can you get your hands on those taboos? I want to look at them,” Alice said as she put her hands together and begged Lalu.
“Just a look, alright?”

“Of course I can.” Lalu was a little powerless against Alice's pleading gesture.
As a prideful elf, seeing Alice making a request of her in such a cute manner stirred her heart, and she couldn't help but fake a few coughs to hide her embarrassment.
“I am a well-known genius among our race, after all.
If I request to read our race's taboos, the elders should accept my request.”

Before Alice could express her gratitude, Lalu suddenly put on a stern expression and continued, “But you cannot take the books away.
So, you'll probably only have as long as the school trip lasts to study them.”

“No problem.
Piece of cake,” Alice said, patting her non-existent bust.
Then, she looked at Zauna and curiously asked, “By the way, how long will our school trip last?”

“Two days,” Zauna, who knew about Alice's true goal, answered awkwardly.