Magic Academy’s Genius Blinker

In the magic academy, practical training began in earnest.

There were various types of practical training, but undoubtedly, the most anticipated training by the students was actual combat.

Among them was the dungeon where demons infested, various phenomena occurred, and treasures and mysteries appeared at every corner.

Flame looked around the students of Class A and S who were gathered in the Stella Dome.

‘A total of 141 people…’

Class A-1 and Class A-2 had 50 students each, and Class S had 41 students.

However, in the original version, the total number of students in Class S should have been 39. Flame expected 40 people including herself, but she did not know one more person would be added here.

‘Where did Baek Yu-Seol come from?’

The original version had 1,140 first-year students, which increased to 1,141 students including her.

In other words, Baek Yu-Seol already existed in the original novel.

The problem was that she had never even heard of his name.

‘I have to take it slow. I can figure it out since I’m the only person in this world who knows the original version.

Flame stopped observing the students momentarily and looked around at the surrounding landscape. 

It was a space that felt truly realistic.

The grass field danced along the wind. Far in the distance, the meadow was spread wide enough to see the horizon, opening up even her stuffy heart.

However, this space, Stella Dome, was not real.

Stella Dome was a place similar to a subspace installed deep within the Stella Academy’s grounds. It could be manipulated at will to expand it or change its structure.

Therefore, in addition to various sports and events, activities such as dungeon training were organized here.

In other words, most of what Flame saw with her eyes was artificially created.

“Young Master Jeremy, have you completed the course registration?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Since you took the Soft Magic Exploration course, I also took it.”

“Really? Let’s do our best together.”

Flame turned around at the voice beside her.

Crown Prince Jeremy.

In the original story, he was a wicked and unfortunate sub-main character obsessed with Eisel, but in the end, he was abandoned without receiving affection.

‘He’s handsome.’

He was a handsome man in ideal form. Tall and elegant, he had a warm personality and a smile that never left his lips.

He was competent, kind, innocent, well-mannered, and witty, and his talent didn’t pale compared to Ma Yu-seong. 

Combined with his status as the crown prince of the Skalven Empire, he was simply perfect.

Those innocent eyes could stimulate the protective instincts of many women, and the occasional playfulness he showed was one of his charming points.

However, they were all thoroughly calculated actions for his image management.

‘This pretense must not deceive me.’

Jeremy was such a perfect man that even Flame’s heart fluttered despite knowing the reality. However, she had no intention of ever getting close to him because she knew his true nature.

As she stared intently at him, Jeremy turned to make eye contact with her.

“Ah.”

Jeremy’s expression betrayed his surprise. He waved his hand toward her with his dazzling signature smile.

‘Ugh!’

He was really too handsome. Flame quickly avoided his line of sight, but the afterglow of that brief eye contact did not go away easily.

‘If I become obsessed, my life will end as it is. My belief should never be shaken.’

‘I can understand the feelings of those kids wagging their tails next to Jeremy…’

Astonishingly, this academy also had factions.

Even if their skill level were similar, the person who would eventually rise to a higher position was already determined. They all seemed to be equal within the academy, but after graduating, the difference in status would become apparent.

Students at prestigious academies were aware of that fact since their first year and were always busy trying to hold onto their factions.

Among those factions, the most notable was the faction of Crown Prince Jeremy.

Not only were high-ranking young masters gathered there, but even students who had abilities that could invoke respect wherever they went.

Whether male or female, Jeremy’s charm and identity resembled a magnet that attracted everyone.

Flame was not part of any faction, but she made as many connections as possible.

She had been reincarnated into this world with a new life, and she had to prepare for the future because she would live here until she died.

‘Then, Baek Yu-Seol…’

Flame glanced over at him. Black hair, black eyes, and a warm and pure white complexion. A face that suited the word cute rather than handsome and a somewhat relaxed smile that did not fit such a youthful appearance at all.

From a third person’s point of view, he was quite likable, and quite a few students seemed to have approached him to create a Baek Yu-Seol faction, but she knew he kicked them all out.

Thanks to that, there was no one around him.

‘Why do you have to be alone?’

Someone approached Flame, who was observing Baek Yu-Seol absent-mindedly.

“Flame, will you join us during this training ?”

It was Jecky. 

Recently, while hanging out with commoners, they often met at the same gatherings. Still, Jecky was a child who felt awkward and distant when alone.

“Sorry. I already planned on training alone this time.”

“Ah, indeed. In this training session, the scores must be distributed among team members, so there’s nothing you can do about it, right?”

“Ehh…”

Jecky said the obvious, but somehow, it sounded like she was saying, ‘You’re doing it alone because we’re obstacles.’

Assuming that it was her grandiose delusion, Flame tapped Jecky on the shoulder.

“Let’s do it together next time.”

“Yes.”

At Flame’s words, Jecky led the group to another place. 

She looked at Jecky’s back for a long time. Even Jecky’s smile as she led her friends seemed to resemble her. Flame suddenly felt a little strange.

‘Heh. It’s puberty. It’s puberty. It’s the age where you want to follow your idol.’

Flame struggled to get rid of her thoughts.

“Attention.”

The sound of raucous chatter stopped at once.

A single word from the instructor in charge of Class S, Lee Han-Wol, calmed the hall. Next to him were the professors, instructors, and assistants of Class A, and among them, Lee Han-Wol’s spirit was the most prominent.

“Before starting the class, we have to conduct a brief training. It can be seen as a kind of test. We need to evaluate your level so that we can properly educate you. Is that understood?”

“That’s right!”

“I don’t like the sound of your voices. I heard there were promising young people, but it appears to be a false rumor.”

The lips of some nobles twitched. Whatever Lee Han-Wol’s reputation, he was still a commoner. However, no one came forward because the students in Class S did not respond much.

“The training is conducted at the discretion of the instructor. If there is a student who does not like it.”

He glanced around the crowd and said with a smile on his face.

“Keep it quietly in your heart. The instructor has no intention of listening to your grievances.”

Of course, expressing dissatisfaction with any professor was not easy, even if it was not Lee Han-Wol.

Each semester, each student was assigned a final result, and professors had the authority to assign or reduce the score at their discretion. A student would be expelled if he or she lost more than a certain number of points. 

If one was expelled from Stella, they would have to bow their head in shame. Even if one was the descendant of a prominent family, there would be no point in complaining.

‘Eisel used these points to drive Hong Bi-Yeon into the abyss…’

After looking at the students once, Lee Han-Wol opened his mouth quickly.

“I’ll give you a short explanation of the training from this point forward.”

Flame was familiar with the details of training. Various anomalies, traps, and monsters that occurred in actual dungeons were materialized to demonstrate the challenges to students.

“Four points for killing a Lvl 1 demon.”

“Eight points for killing a Lvl 2 demon.”

“And anyone who acquires a point stick gets twenty points. Students securing the first to fifth places with the most points will be awarded small rewards, and points will be deducted from students who score zero points or those who fail.”

A small reward.

The students’ eyes glowed. Stella Academy rewarded students all the time, and these rewards were mostly good magic equipment.

“If you are afraid of dropping out or not confident about working alone, you can form a team. However, make sure you know that points will be divided when you form a team.”

As soon as those words were finished, the instructors’ appearances, including Lee Han-Wol’s, became blurred. 

It wasn’t just that.

Grrr!

“Uh, huh?”

“What? What’s going on?”

The floor started to rise.

Flame understood the phenomenon right away.

‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’

The dungeon looked similar to a giant bean tree.

The floor which rose high enough to reach the clouds became a bean tree, and verdant branches and leaves spread everywhere.

However, swamps, rivers, soil floors, rocks, etc., remained in the topography, making it look like ordinary land at first glance.

Beanstalk Field was not open terrain but instead had wide topography at the top and bottom, making it slightly more advantageous for students who learned long-ranged shooting magic compared to those with area magic.

However, such a nuisance was meaningless. One could not always get advantageous terrain, so they had to overcome those disadvantages.

When the bean tree finally stopped growing, Lee Han-Wol’s voice echoed.

“For your information, if you defeat another student, you get all the points in his possession. Now, let me wish you all good luck.”

For many reasons, it was better to form a team for dungeon training. It would be unlucky if one ran into students who had teamed up.

So most students would team up with nearby students immediately.

Flame was a priest-type mage, which made it difficult for her to go alone, but since her magic skills were so diverse, this dungeon training was not a major issue.

Flame did not encounter any demons along the way.

Since the demons were originally implemented as an illusion magic, their intelligence was far lower than their actual level and they could only perform certain actions.

Flying demons could be shot down with light spheres, and demons on the land could be easily defeated with natural magic.

Since Flame was good at trapping, destruction, defense, and healing, this training session was not too difficult for her.

Ever since middle school, she had been trained to listen to the tour guide.

“Whoa, I’m so tired.”

After about an hour, her score was 18 points, thanks to the fact that she had killed quite a few small and medium-sized demons.

However, This score level could be achieved with just one point stick. It was too dangerous to go around looking for it, but anyone who happened to find one by accident would take it quickly.

“Whoa, whoa!”

A scream came from afar. 

It was a common occurrence.

No matter how elite Class A was in the academy, it was often impossible to respond to unexpected pitfalls because it was their first real battle.

The ground would suddenly cave in, and wooden whips would fly at you. Lightning would suddenly strike, arrows could come flying from all directions, etc…

They were outdated and old-fashioned traps tailored to the freshman level.

Most of the traps posed a little threat to Flame. She had quite a bit of wit to accompany her, so it was enough for her to occasionally spread a veil of light.

‘Huh?’

She sensed something and walked slowly in the direction. At first, she thought it was a monster, but it turned out to be a human being.

‘A student can hide his presence at this level?’

It was quite strange, but she was hiding a miracle. 

Thanks to her nature’s beloved trait, “Nature’s Child,” in these forests, her movements were agile and it was easy to hide her presence.

So, if the opponent were alone, it would be easy to surprise and steal points from him.

As Flame slowly approached through the verdant branches, someone’s silhouette was revealed.

A boy with black hair and black eyes.

‘Baek Yu-Seol? Why is he here?’

He put one hand in his pocket and tapped on his shoulder with the other. The stick in his hand, on the other hand, was familiar.

‘Point stick? He already got it?’

The number 20 clearly floated above his head, slightly exceeding Flame’s score which she had worked hard on for an hour.

He was still walking leisurely and seemed to be looking for something as if he had not noticed her.

‘It’s all right. I need to test him.’

‘What the hell is he? What kind of magic skill does he use? I have to get even a simple clue.’

‘In addition, if I can get the Point Stick, it would be hitting two birds with one stone.’

‘Activate.’

A yellow-colored magic circle glowed at the end of Flame’s staff. It was a light-type magic skill used by the angels of heaven.

She used magic skills very aggressively.

‘Light bullet!’

A Class 2 light bullet was fired. The distance was approximately fifteen meters. At this distance, he would not be able to use a defensive technique, meaning he would take a lot of heavy damage and get eliminated.

Meanwhile…

“…!”

Baek Yu-Seol abruptly turned to meet Flame’s gaze after the magic was cast.

“Huh…?”

‘How?’

Before she could finish her sentence, his figure vanished like a mirage.

The light bullet crashed into a pitiful tree and disappeared, while Flame sank to the floor with a ghostly look on her face.

Not even a trace remained of Baek Yu-Seol’s presence.