I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy-Chapter 257: Noble Soul (11)

Chapter 257: Noble Soul (11)

Meanwhile, when the chairman of the Mage Association, Aryumon, and the elder of the Third World Tree, Suhaksan, were meeting.

A small clear land at the edge of the World Tree.

Chirp! Chirp!

This land, where sparrows chirped and leaves rustled, was located in such a secluded spot that people rarely found it.

"Ugh..."

In a hidden corner of that land, someone was sprawled out, completely drunk, on an old, worn-out bench.

Covered with just a single sheet of newspaper, the person appeared utterly disoriented and in a pitiful state.

"Mister."

It seemed someone had found this hidden spot after all.

A young girl with pointed ears walked by and she was unable to just ignore him, so she spoke.

"Ugh..."

But there was no response.

"Mister!"

"Ugh!"

When the girl shouted again, the newspaper fell to the ground, revealing the man's face.

With patchy stubble growing like pepper grains and curly, tangled hair, he had the typical look of a vagrant.

His round ears indicated he was human, and his shabby clothes confirmed his status as a beggar.

"What is it..."

He scratched his head roughly with his gloomy eyes and sat up.

The girl pinched her nose and stepped back.

“Ugh. You smell like alcohol…”

"Ugh. Who are you?"

“Who are you, mister?”

“Me? I’m…”

Only then did the man raise his hand.

It was still covered in a bluish liquid.

“What’s that?”

“Blood.”

“Blood? Blood is red.”

“Maybe for you elves.”

“Human blood is red too. You’re human, aren’t you?”

“Me? Do I look human to you?”

When the girl nodded, the man let out a dry laugh.

Could this innocent girl in front of him even fathom the truth?

The blue blood staining his hand was actually the blood of a deranged dark mage, who had spent over a decade slaughtering only virgins.

‘Well... He deserved to die though.’

His name was Chelven, the Dark Mage Slayer.

Although Chelven was a dark mage himself, he was also on the run from other dark mages.

Was it because he was a Dark Mage Slayer?

No, that was just a hobby.

It was a natural law of nature for weaker dark mages to be weeded out, so it wasn’t much of a problem.

However...

He was on the run because, a long time ago, he had challenged the Dark Mage King and lost.

Once a dark mage challenged the king, they couldn’t return alive.

Arrogantly, he had aspired to the throne of the strong despite being weak, and the price for that was death.

Shamefully, he had fled, and thus, it was only natural that he still couldn’t show his face.

“Hmm. It’s quiet here.”

After the fierce battle, he was slightly exhausted, but fortunately, there were no pursuers in this place.

He was tired from staining his hands with blood, so it was a good time to take a break.

“It’s always quiet here.”

“Well... That’s not exactly what I meant. But it is quiet. You don’t have any friends, do you?”

When Chelven asked with a sly grin, the girl shouted back.

“I-I do!”

“Who?”

“Ch... Chiko...”

“That’s the name of your dog?”

“It’s a cat!”

“Puhaha! A cat as a friend? You’re a funny little girl. Elves live for hundreds of years, and you’re going to spend your whole life playing alone...”

Creak!

As Chelven was chuckling and talking to the girl, his senses suddenly went on high alert.

Crash!

In that instant, a massive stone wall erupted from the ground, encircling Chelven and the girl in the shape of a dome.

“Whoa?!”

As the sunlight was suddenly blocked, the girl fell back onto the ground.

“M-Mister, did you do this...?”

“Well... Yeah, I guess.”

While the action was indeed caused by Chelven’s ability, it wasn't his will that initiated it.

The earth sensed a threat and moved on its own to protect him.

‘This is... the Earth’s Will.’

It was a unique type of technique used by only a few mages in Aether.

It lacked incantations, so it was not quite magic, yet it involved formulas, making it not exactly non-magical either.

‘A widespread manifestation of the Earth’s Will that covers the entire World Tree.’

Releasing the stone wall, Chelven stretched his stiff neck with a loud crack.

‘... It seems someone formidable who knows I’m here has come looking for me.’

He had a good idea of that person’s identity, and his eyes narrowed.

‘Aryumon Brushun. Annoying fellow.’

The thought of that tiresome mage having followed him all the way here made his head ache.

“Ah! I could really use a drink.”

Moreover, Aryumon wasn’t the only problem he needed to worry about.

‘Where on earth is that guy…?’

It was all well and good that he had come to the Orchard of the Third World Tree chasing after a dark mage, but the signal had abruptly cut off here, and he hadn’t been able to find the mage for several days.

Well, since he’d stayed here for so long, it was only natural that a high-profile pursuer like Aryumon would show up sooner or later.

For decades, Chelven had lived as a fugitive and never stayed in one place for more than a day.

“Hmm. I think I know where he might be... But I’m not sure if I should fight him.”

Chelven subtly glanced up at the sky.

The dense green tree canopy covered the entire sky.

This enormous World Tree, which rose high enough to pierce the clouds, had a will of its own, making even Chelven wary of causing a disturbance here.

‘I don’t feel comfortable with the World Tree being so strangely quiet, but…’

Regardless of the reason, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

“... Mister.”

“Hm?”

Lowering his gaze, he saw the young girl from earlier looking up at him with eyes full of curiosity.

“Mister... Are you loved by the earth?”

“What? What kind of nonsense is that?”

“I’ve never seen a mage who controls the earth like you. I can hear it. The earth likes you. It moved by its own will.”

“Are you going to keep saying weird things?”

“It’s true.”

“Enough. Get lost.”

“Huh?”

As Chelven said this and waved his hand dismissively, he started walking off somewhere.

The girl was startled and reached out her hand.

Even though this was a clear land, it was still on the trunk of the World Tree.

If she took a wrong turn onto a strange path, she might fall.

“That’s a cliff...!”

The girl hurried after him, shouting, but it was already too late.

"... Huh?"

She thought it was too late.

However, a thick pillar of earth suddenly emerged from the tree trunk, forming a stepping stone path for Chelven.

The clumsy, winding, earth-colored pillars seemed to have formed naturally and not by human will, but by nature itself.

“Wow...”

The girl watched Chelven’s disappearing figure with shining eyes.

If an earth spirit truly existed... She imagined it would look like that.

—

After staying in Leafanel’s garden for three days, he suddenly realized he had forgotten something.

It was something very important, yet also trivial.

‘Attendance!’

Today was Monday.

A school day.

While meditating in Leafanel’s garden, he hurriedly dashed out of the garden.

At that moment, a white owl that had been circling the sky suddenly wobbled and flew straight into his head.

“Eek!”

“Oof!”

Baek Yu-Seol screamed at the same time as the owl and managed to grab its ankle as it fell to the ground.

“Ugh. My head…”

Though it was his first time seeing it in person, he knew what it was.

‘Stella Safety Management System.’

If a Stella student goes out for a mission or other reasons and there was no contact for a while, a magical owl would follow the tracking device attached to the uniform and come after them.

Those owls were imbued with stealth magic of class 7 or higher and spatial penetration magic, allowing them to travel vast distances instantly.

Even if something goes wrong, they were usually not detected.

The fact that this owl was visible to Baek Yu-Seol might mean his senses had become overly sharp, but it could also be because this owl was just particularly dumb.

“Coo… coo…”

The owl made a strange sound, lifted its head again, and looked straight at him, then spoke in a deep voice.

“Baek Yu Seol! Student Baek Yu Seol! Since you have not returned by Sunday without a valid reason, you will be penalized!”

“No. There were circumstances…”

“But! If you are currently in danger, press 111!”

“If you are in a special situation where you cannot return, press 112!”

“Where am I supposed to press?”

The owl spread its wings.

Swish!

There, attached to it, was something resembling a telephone dial with a number keypad.

After a moment of consideration, he pressed the dial for 112, and the owl let out a “Hic!” sound, then flew high into the sky and headed somewhere.

It was probably going back to Stella Academy to report that he was currently unable to return.

“... Is that it?”

While it was a great system, it was still inconvenient.

He wished Alterisha would develop a handy device like a mobile phone as soon as possible.

‘… But to do that, we’d need to develop satellites or transmission towers first.’

Catching his breath, he sat down on the ground.

Saaah…

The blowing wind awakened every cell in his body.

It had only been three days.

Just three days, but he felt like a completely different person than before.

Baek Yu-Seol hadn’t gained any dramatically superhuman power, but all his stats had grown evenly, so it felt good to feel this sense of accomplishment.

‘This is the true blessing of Pink Spring Moon.’

Come to think of it, he was really foolish.

In the game, because it was impossible to utilize the blessings of the Twelve Divine Moons, he thought of their value merely as ‘additional attribute effects.’

For example, Blue Winter Moon only increased resistance to ice attributes, and Pink Spring Moon just enhanced mental strength.

But… Hadn’t he felt it several times up until now?

Florin, who received an excessive amount of Pink Spring Moon’s blessing, possessed the ability to enchant everyone, and he, too, could use the ability to read others' psychology.

To think he had left the abilities of the Twelve Divine Moons, which possessed such infinite possibilities, unused until now.

‘... The first thing I need to utilize is Silver Autumn Moon.’

Even in the game, it was one of the abilities whose secrets were not fully revealed; no player had ever reached the highest level, so its true power was never unlocked.

But it might not be such a difficult thing for Baek Yu-Seol.

In the game, characters could only grow through simple, repetitive grinding, but since he was in reality, he could feel and use his actual body.

[Blessing of Silver Autumn Moon Lv.1]

[Sensory perception increased by 40%]

[Mental strength increased by 12%]

[Ability not unlocked.]

‘Tick-tock. The silver time flows.’

It was quite an amusing skill.

Among the Twelve Divine Moons, it was the most special, endowed with the power of time, yet all it did was give a slight boost to some stats.

In the original game, since this blessing was like this, he didn’t pay much attention to it.

He was foolish.

If he had thought a little more deeply, he would have tried to unlock that locked ability.

How?

The question briefly crossed his mind, but it didn’t seem as difficult as he initially thought.

As long as the blessing of Pink Spring Moon was with him, self-reflection wasn’t such a hard task.

‘… Taking a little more time should be okay.’

Florin was probably back with Elder Suhaksan by now, discussing future measures.

Since they'd discovered that Leafanel was the cause, they might be preparing magic to purify this place.

So what should he be doing?

‘Since I’ve already skipped academy, it’s fine to take one more day off.’

There’s this strange phenomenon where, if someone is about to be late for school, they feel rushed, but once they’re actually late, they feel surprisingly calm.

That was exactly how Baek Yu-Seol felt right now.

Maybe because he’d already skipped an entire day of academy, he felt like he’d let go of lingering attachment.

So, just for one day.

He decided to stay a bit longer in Leafanel’s garden.

Two days should be fine, right?