Wizard: I am a goblin

Chapter 51 Mirrors and Puzzles

silence.

Gebu broke the awkward silence: "Uh... a ceasefire?"

"...You go first."

"No way, you go first."

"Together?" the girl asked.

"Okay," Gebu said. "Three, two..."

"Wait!" the girl suddenly interrupted. "Is it three, two, count to one and then put it away? Or is it three, two, one, all the way through, before you put it away?"

"...You talk too much nonsense," Geb complained. "Just count to one."

"Three...two...one!"

Uh……

Neither of them lowered their hands, and they stared at each other in bewilderment.

"One more time...?" Gebu asked tentatively. This man was quite wary, though he himself was just as wary.

"How do I know I can trust you?" the girl said. "Are you part of a trial?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you too!"

"Name! Academy!" the girl said. "I'll go first. My name is Bell, from the Fourth Magic Academy of the Empire, Emerald Spire, seventeenth class of wizard apprentices. What's your background?"

"Gebu, the Broken Tooth Tribe."

"A wild wizard?" A moment of alertness appeared on the witch's face.

"They're wild goblins... Hey, never mind where I learned magic from, it seems we're both wizard apprentices now." Geb pointed to the huge archway mirror with his other finger. "And we all have to go through this mirror—we can fight to the death, or we can call a truce. You choose, I'll be there for you."

The girl hesitated for a moment, her eyes darting over the goblin—after a few seconds, she sighed and lowered her hand.

Geb put away his fire arrows and scratched his head.

The girl turned her head and gestured with her chin towards the mirror, then said to Gebu:

"Try to see if you can get through this... I've been stuck in front of this mirror for so long, sigh... I didn't expect the first hurdle of this ordeal to be so difficult."

After listening to the girl's words and seeing that she didn't make any further moves, Gebu lowered his guard and kept the girl in his peripheral vision.

The goblin stepped back two paces to get a better view of the archway as a whole.

The archway is engraved with geometric shapes—like some kind of writing.

Like... the words on a magic scroll.

This is a bit of a headache, because the Book of Sand is not with me, so I can't look up words in the dictionary.

"Hey, do you know what's written on this?" Geb asked the witch.

"Uh..." The girl then noticed the symbol on the archway.

This guy, he said he'd been stuck here for so long, and he hadn't even noticed the words on the door.

This person is incredibly greedy!

"Let me see... Impedi... Impedimentum... Se..."

The girl said hesitantly.

"...Do you even know how to do it? If you don't, don't make things up."

"Shut up, my grades are excellent."

Ancient sage's words... So this is the name of this magical language. Gebu silently memorized it.

"Impedi... means obstruction or hindrance, and Se means 'oneself.' So, the overall translation is..." The girl thought for a moment, "The obstacle is oneself—probably."

"You mean, what's holding you back is yourself?"

The girl nodded, her eyes fixed on the goblin.

Geb turned his attention back to the mirror—what was blocking him was himself.

The goblin walked up to the mirror, stretched out his hand, and tried to pass through the mirror.

The goblin in the mirror also reached out its hand, and their fingers touched.

A resistance—the forest in the mirror blocked Gebu's outstretched hand.

Hmm... I see.

Based on the observation just now, the items can go in, but people can't. This is because people are blocked by their reflection in the mirror.

Geb waved to the person in the mirror, and the person in the mirror did the same.

If you have a dimensional bag nearby, the goblin can crawl into the bag, and you can throw the bag at it with Wizard's Hand—that solves the problem.

Unfortunately, the bag wasn't with me.

Geb scratched his head.

"Hey, Gebu, is there any way?" the girl asked from the side.

This is the first human to refer to himself by his name; everyone else calls him "goblin" or "little beast"...

Geb's impression of this person improved somewhat.

"Don't rush."

Gebu thought for a moment and realized that this should be the first trial.

He shot a flaming arrow at the mirror—the magic passed right through the mirror, leaving the curtain unharmed.

Magic and objects can pass through it.

Brute force won't get you through. Gebu thought for a moment—could he go around it?

It's not that simple! To get close to that ivory tower, you have to pass through this archway—surrounded by a bottomless abyss, with no way to go.

It seems this is the first trial... What is this trial testing—testing what?

will?

magic?

intelligence?

Or something else entirely.

"Hey, Bell," Geb asked the witch beside him, "You said you've been stuck in this place for a long time... Besides ramming your head against it, what other methods have you tried?"

"Huh? Ah! I've tried, I've tried so many methods..." The girl hesitated for a moment, then said, "I've tried going in with my eyes closed, I've even tried going in backwards... going in while spinning around, going in upside down... but I still couldn't get in."

"Teleportation spell?"

"No..." the girl said, "If I knew such advanced magic, I wouldn't need to undergo trials."

Geb fell into deep thought.

Many clever schemes popped into his head, but unfortunately, he had no tools around him, and there didn't seem to be any usable items nearby—his intuition told him that this trial wasn't testing his ability to be cunning.

If Geb gained any insight from learning magic, it was this: there are no shortcuts on the path to becoming a wizard.

The laws of magic are absolute—what works is what works, and what doesn't work is what doesn't work. There is no cheating, and the ether doesn't lie.

Observe, analyze, experiment—integrate and master the knowledge, then practice consistently.

As a trial to become a wizard, the Deep Well Ritual must have been a test of the apprentice's potential to become a wizard.

Learning magic requires great wisdom, not cleverness.

Geb turned his gaze back to the text on the archway:

Impedimentum Se

The only thing that can stop you is yourself.

What is the deeper meaning behind this statement?

Geb looked at the goblin in the mirror.

During his first meditation session, he was unable to enter a meditative state for a long time.

Because goblins are naturally impatient and suspicious, Goblin has difficulty concentrating.

Therefore, it is my nature that prevents me from becoming a wizard.

Wait a moment……

Geb looked down at his green fingers, then at his green toes—and when he looked up, he seemed to understand something.

He grinned at the person in the mirror.

The person in the mirror grinned at him.

He waved to the person in the mirror.

The person in the mirror waved to him.

Geb thought for a moment, bowed to the goblin in the mirror, lowered his body, and then made a "please come in" gesture.

"Hey, what are you playing? Goblins?" the girl interrupted impatiently. "Hurry up and find a solution."

Gebu ignored her and maintained the position for one second, two seconds...

He raised his upper body and looked in the mirror.

The girl gasped.

"this!"

This time, the goblin in the mirror did not follow Geb's movements; it remained motionless, bowing and inviting him in.

Geb turned his head, flashed a canine-toothed smile at the girl, and said confidently.

"We shouldn't stop ourselves; on the contrary, we should 'invite' ourselves in."

Having said this, the goblin raised its head and strode forward, stepping into the mirror—

"Wait...wait a minute!"

The girl quickly ran after the goblin, and bumped right into her reflection in the mirror with a bang!

"Ouch!"

Belle covered her forehead, her face turning red with pain.

Geb poked half his head out of the mirror:

"Don't forget to bow!!! You big idiot!"