I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy - Chapter 40

Time flew by, and the preparation period ended before anyone realized it. While some groups were still wavering over which monster to face, others had been training diligently from the very beginning.

Flame belonged to the latter.

This episode wasn’t described in detail in the original novel, so Flame took it upon herself to meticulously comb through the monster encyclopedia, selecting potential candidates for her confrontation in advance.

This early preparation allowed her to begin training smoothly from day one.

Special monsters could provide additional points for their abilities, offering a strong opportunity to earn additional points through ‘counter-attributes.’ However, since Flame primarily dealt with the light-attribute, which had few attribute matchups, she had to abandon those additional points from the start.

In the original novel, no one successfully hunted a medium-size special monster. Flame boldly chose to leave that pursuit behind.

Instead, she resolved to face the same challenge Ma Yu-Seong tackled in the novel: hunting medium-size monsters.

This decision freed her from worrying about counter-attributes, enabling her to focus entirely on achieving the highest possible score.

"Four days might have been short for some and long for others, but I decided this was plenty of time. You may choose your desired monster and practice," said Instructor Lee Han-Wol, starting the practical assessment for the 100 Class A and 41 Class S students.

The Stella Dome buzzed with activity, filled not only with professors but also with students from other years who had come to watch. Seats were prepared for everyone accordingly.

‘Hmm, I hope Eisel does well…’

In that episode, Hong Bi-Yeon pushed Eisel into despair.

Initially, Flame had tried to recruit Eisel to her team, but to her surprise, Eisel was already partnered with Baek Yu-Seol.

‘Well, I can rest assured since it's Baek Yu-Seol,’ she thought.

If Eisel received a high score in the mock monster battle, her bleak future could change significantly.

"Alright, let's start the performance evaluation now. Group 1, come forward and prepare," said Instructor Lee Han-Wol.

The students of group 1 stepped forward and arranged themselves in formation. A knight was placed at the front, with three bishops in a triangle formation behind. The knight would attract the monster’s attention, one of the bishops would immobilize it, and the remaining two would unleash a massive attack.

As the formation locked into place, a bright light illuminated their opponent… a single monster appeared before them.

"Oh... It’s a spellturtle?" asked one of the students.

"Yes, that's right," replied Instructor Lee Han-Wol.

A spellturtle was a monster that resembled a turtle with a sturdy shell as its armor. However, it had a weakness against the fire-attribute, making it one of the medium-size monsters that could be exploited easily by the mages. 

It appeared that the students, being inexperienced, opted for a relatively easy and non-threatening monster to hunt.

During the battle, group 1 effectively thwarted Spellturtle’s most menacing attack, the spiral blitz, and synchronized their breathing to deliver a coordinated strike, resulting in a flawless victory.

"Excellent job!" exclaimed one of the students, feeling elated with their triumph.

“Hooh.”

Even if a monster wasn’t defeated, students could still earn points based on strategy and execution. However, successfully hunting the monster brought an unparalleled sense of accomplishment. Group 1 descended the stage, beaming with satisfaction.

Next was the performance evaluation of group 2. 

Unlike the first group, they appeared disorganized and failed to position themselves properly. When their monster emerged, they scrambled into action without a clear plan.

Without a knight in their formation, the ideal strategy would have been to deploy two bishops to establish a defensive line. However, distrust among the group members led to chaos, with each casting their own defensive magic independently. The lack of synergy caused them to fall one by one, like autumn leaves scattered by the wind.

As a result, they were completely annihilated without causing significant damage to the monster. 

Although they were also from Class A, indicating excellent individual skills, it seemed there were internal divisions or some other issues.

"What are they doing?" 

"Haha, all the promising rookies from the first year are gathered together, but they turned out to be a bunch of comedians." 

Some second and third-year students jeered.

"... Next, group 3." 

After the performance evaluations of a few other groups, it was finally Flame’s turn.

"Group 17, come forward," said the instructor. Taking a deep breath, Flame headed towards the central stage.

‘Oh, Oh?’

As she was walking, something caught her foot, and her weight shifted abruptly, causing her to stumble forward. 

‘Ahhh!’ she panicked, bracing for impact.

Fortunately, someone grabbed her by the nape of her neck, preventing her from hitting the ground.

Startled and flustered, she found herself dangling in midair, prompting laughter and teasing from the audience.

“What’s with her? She’s so cute.”

"What is she, a middle schooler? She’s even smaller than my little sister," one remarked.

Someone pointed out, "The guy who caught her looks like he’s the same age."

Slowly turning her head, she realized that it was Baek Yu-Seol who was holding her. 

Sweating and blushing, she whispered, "Let go."

Baek Yu-Seol released her immediately, saying, "Oh, sorry," 

In response, Flame replied gratefully, "No, it's okay. I appreciate it."

Barely managing to regain balance, Baek Yu-Seol let out a sigh of relief and pointed downwards. 

"Your shoelace is untied. You should fix it."

"... Huh?"

Glancing down, Flame noticed her shoelace was a tangled mess. Jecky had tied it for her earlier, so it hadn’t been an issue. If she had entered the battle like this, it could’ve spelled disaster.

"Should I tie it for you?"

"No, I’ve got it."

Quickly fixing her laces, Flame made her way onto the stage.

A murmur rippled through the crowd.

"Is she by herself?"

"It seems like it?"

"No way. How can she do it alone?"

"Probably one of those loners who couldn’t find a team."

"There’s always one. They get judged by their looks and end up ostracized."

The second-year students murmured among themselves and quickly concluded.

"Well, relationships are everything in magic society."

Regardless of their misunderstandings, Flame’s personal evaluation began.

The monster that Flame faced was a medium-size monster with a simple name, a mac giant. 

It was an ordinary monster without any special attributes, but since it was invulnerable to elemental advantages, it was one of the most unpopular monsters in this evaluation.

“Hooh…”

Flame gripped her oversized staff tightly with both hands and steadied her breathing.

"Begin." 

At the sound of Lee Han-Wol’s signal, the mac giant charged towards Flame. Unflinching, she raised her staff high and brought it down with a thud.

‘A whisper of flower petals carried by the wind...’

A faint rustling of leaves accompanied tough vines that erupted from the ground beneath the mac giant.

Roar!!!

Snap, crack!

Although the vines initially failed to hold the giant, they quickly grew stronger, entangling its massive form.

‘Matter manipulation.’

Grrrgle! Grrgle!!

The vines thickened, slowing the giant’s movements. Flame summoned three clusters of light above her, their diamond-shaped forms gradually expanding.

Zzzzap…

The lights converged into a single point, glowing brighter as the mac giant tore through the vines.

Bang!!!

A massive beam of light was fired, piercing through its abdomen.

Roar~!!!

"Huh...?"

"What just...?"

In an instant, everything turned upside down. With only three combined magic, the medium-size monster was critically wounded.

‘Tch, weaker than I thought.’

However, the injury wasn’t fatal. The mac giant, still alive and roaring, charged at Flame. She swiftly extended thick vines in all directions and climbed atop them.

Although she wasn’t a knight and couldn’t use a power jump, Flame had honed her stamina and mastered controlling the vines. Against monsters like the mac giant, which lacked long-range interception skills, she had a clear advantage.

'Wave-riding branches.'

Riding the swaying vines, she fired a concentrated beam of light. Despite the mac giant’s brute strength tearing apart some branches and causing her to nearly lose balance a few times, she persevered. Eventually, the monster succumbed to her final strike.

Bang!!!

A thin beam of light pierced through its neck.

"Wow, seriously?"

"A first-year... Oh my god."

"Does that even make sense...?"

The crowd was stunned, their jaws practically hitting the floor. Officials from the magical community repeatedly adjusted their glasses, while the second-year students who had mocked Flame earlier stood speechless.

"... Perfect performance. Well done," Lee Han-Wol acknowledged. Even though he, too, found the situation almost absurd.

Yet, his words were true. Flame had flawlessly tanked, restrained, and dealt decisive damage to the monster. It was, indeed, a perfect performance.

"Thank you."

As Flame descended from the stage, a collective sigh escaped from some of the first-year students.

"We couldn't even defeat a medium-size monster properly with five people... That’s crazy!"

The first-year students from classes F to B, who were permitted to watch, were filled with self-doubt and disappointment as they recalled their own failed attempts.

"Next group, please come up.”

The next group approached the stage hesitantly, clearly lacking confidence. While they managed to defeat their monster, their performance paled in comparison to the other groups.

Flame’s exceptional showing had set the bar impossibly high, leaving little room for mistakes.

“Group 31, come up.”

Flame, sitting quietly, raised an eyebrow upon hearing the moderator announce Hong Bi-Yeon’s group.

"Eh?" 

Hong Bi-Yeon, who was supposed to be with her six faction members, unexpectedly came forward with Ma Yu-Seong.

‘What kind of pairing is that?’

Flame was perplexed. The two characters had no connection in the original novel, making their partnership all the more baffling.

When the monster was summoned before Hong Bi-Yeon, gasps echoed through the crowd.

"A Water Paragon…”

"Oh my god, that's a special medium-large monster!" 

"They dare challenge a monster that hard to suppress...?" 

“Wait, isn’t that counter-attribute for them?”

"This is insane." 

Some of the professors and mages quickly took out magic charts to search for Hong Bi-Yeon and Ma Yu-Seong's attributes. 

While several teams had attempted to face special medium-large monsters in the past, they only did so when their elemental attributes aligned. This team, however, seemed to disregard such advantages entirely, clearly aiming to boost their scores.

"But isn’t that only if they succeed?" 

As skepticism spread through the crowd, Instructor Lee Han-Wol gave the signal to begin.

At the same time, the Water Paragon howled and soared high into the sky.

The monster was an extreme opponent with a tough exterior, the ability to manipulate water, and even the power to fly! 

However, it was highly susceptible to ice magic, which placed it on level 3 risk on the danger scale. 

Without that, it would have been at least a level 4 or 5 risk.

"Let's begin," said Hong Bi-Yeon, slamming her staff down. Ma Yu-Seong spun his wand, which was shorter than his forearm and backed away.

"Why is the knight retreating behind the bishop?" 

"What's going on?" 

Thud!

As the mages watched with round eyes, Ma Yu-Seong did a power jump and leaped diagonally into the air.

"Wow... For a first-year, he’s got an impressive power jump.”

"But he can't reach the monster with just that. After all, you can’t use power jump in mid-air.”

"What's he trying to do?" 

As if to quickly dispel their doubts, Ma Yu-Seong summoned a square rock platform beneath his feet.

Perfectly on cue, Hong Bi-Yeon launched a fireball at the base of the platform, propelling Ma Yu-Seong forward like a rocket.

“Ah…!”

"Double-jumping to cover maximum range and reach the target directly!”

As expected, Ma Yu-Seong quickly closed the distance and summoned a massive rock fist above the monster… a magic known as ‘Titan’s Fist.’

Boom!!!

A tremendous physical impact caused the monster’s shell to crack, and its bulky body fell to the ground. 

Without missing the chance, Ma Yu-Seong used the earthbind skill to tie up the monster’s body. 

Although he was not a binding-type mage, he gained enough time while the monster was temporarily immobilized.

Fwoosh!!!

Hong Bi-Yeon, known as the strongest first-year in terms of firepower, completed her spell. A massive fireball resembling a small sun appeared and hurtled toward the monster, creating an explosion that engulfed the entire stage.

"Oh my goodness..."

"That's a Class 3 magic spell."

"I can't believe it..."

The Water Paragon’s mucous layer, designed to resist fire-attribute attacks, proved useless against overwhelming firepower. The layer melted, its skin burned, and with its shell already compromised, the monster was rendered defenseless.

The final explosion tore through its weakened body, bringing the battle to an end.

A moment of silence ensued. 

Then, cheers erupted.

"Woah!!!"

"They're crazy. This year’s freshmen are really crazy!"

"That freshman who killed a medium-size monster alone was impressive, but those guys are no joke either."

“That’s almost on par with the third-year S-class seniors!”

“Wow, seriously… That’s what real geniuses look like.”

The evaluation demonstrated the incredible potential of first-years when talent met competition.

As Hong Bi-Yeon returned to her seat, her gaze swept over to where Eisel and Baek Yu-Seol were sitting. Just as she locked eyes with Baek Yu-Seol, she turned her head abruptly, avoiding eye contact.

‘Hmph, there’s no way he can top this, right?’

Feeling victorious, Hong Bi-Yeon puffed out her chest with pride. The lingering excitement from her performance was so palpable that, even as Baek Yu-Seol and Eisel stepped onto the stage for their evaluation, no one seemed to pay them any attention.

Satisfied, Hong Bi-Yeon sat back with a confident smirk.

‘No matter what Monster Baek Yu-Seol chooses, there’s no way his performance can beat mine,’ she thought.

"Please summon five monsters.”

As if a freezing spell had been cast, the entire audience fell into stunned silence.