Ch. 41 - Gourmet Club (1)
I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic AcademyThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Notes
Here’s the new chapter. Happy reading!
Thank you Mathis Jusseaume for your support. It means a lot!
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Here’s the new chapter. Happy reading!
Thank you Mathis Jusseaume for your support. It means a lot!
Chapter 41: Gourmet Club (1)
Eisel Morph’s magical demonstration was a wonder to behold. It was even captured on video storage devices and quickly spread throughout the audience.
Of course, it wasn't long before the footage was surreptitiously smuggled out and shown to magic scholars far and wide, eager to witness her incredible abilities for themselves. Her magic—or rather, her art—caused a sensation within the academic community.
Undoubtedly, Eisel’s magic was impressive, but many priests and other mages also recognized the incredible skill of Baek Yu-Seol.
From the outset, he had declared that his strategy was designed exclusively for the priest.
At first, it was unclear what he meant by this. The monsters were so recklessly challenging that only knights could hope to suppress them.
But his words proved true.
Baek Yu-Seol devoted himself entirely to Eisel’s magic, moving from beginning to end with no thought for his own position in the arena.
His selfless protection had a poignant effect on many mages who witnessed it, and his skill with magic drew widespread admiration.
The knight exists for the priest.
Wasn't Baek Yu-Seol, who sacrificed himself solely for Eisel, the ideal knight?
All priests dreamt of having a knight they could entrust everything to, just like Eisel.
However, that was just an ideal and was hardly the reality.
But Baek Yu-Seol showed that kind of dedication to Eisel, so it was inevitable that the hearts of all priests would be moved.
[Simulation Results of Mock Monster Battle]
[First place: Group 32 (Baek Yu-Seol, Eisel)]
[Second place: Group 31 (Ma Yu-Seong, Hong Bi-Yeon)]
[Third place...]
"We lost completely,” Ma Yu-Seong said with a bitter expression as he looked at the scores on the classroom bulletin board.
Hong Bi-Yeon stared at the scores with her mouth tightly shut. The score difference was overwhelming.
First place: 199 points.
Second place: 127 points.
It was an amazing feat to have surpassed 100 points, let alone two people taking on a large special monster with opposite affinity, which had never been done before.
However, to see 199 points right above them was shocking.
"I have to admit it. Baek Yu-Seol was more like a knight than me, and Eisel performed the priest position better than you.”
"... Yeah."
Hong Bi-Yeon had to acknowledge some parts of it. But there was one thing she couldn't admit.
‘If my knight was Baek Yu-Seol…’
He existed solely for the priest.
He developed strategies for the priest, chose positions for the priest, and even selected a stage solely for the priest to shine.
Ma Yu-Seong was undoubtedly an excellent knight, but in the end, Baek Yu-Seol was better.
‘If Baek Yu-Seol was my knight, I could have wielded magic as powerful as Eisel’s.’
However, a sense of unease grew.
‘Why is that commoner so devoted to Eisel?’
She couldn't accept nor understand it. If there existed the perfect knight, shouldn’t they obediently serve her, who was destined to be the perfect queen?
Instead, such a knight was taking care of another woman.
‘I should find out more about Baek Yu-Seol.’
Hong Bi-Yeon held out her hand to Ma Yu-Seong.
A handshake was appropriate to finish off their business relationship, as they were not friends.
"This performance evaluation was tough. You did a good job, though."
"Yeah, it'd be great to do it together again next time.”
For some reason, Ma Yu-Seong’s voice seemed powerless, so Hong Bi-Yeon looked at him and added, "Don't be too hard on yourself. You did your best, and getting 127 points means we did well too."
Ma Yu-Seong forced a bitter smile.
‘You did your best…’
Did she know that her best meant nothing to him?
"Actually, I had fun. It was exhilarating."
"What?" Hong Bi-Yeon looked at him in surprise.
"Yeah. Something from the depths of my heart… A burning sensation that makes me want to win immediately. I can’t stand it… Don’t you feel it too?"
Hong Bi-Yeon looked genuinely bewildered.
"No. Not at all."
"Really? That's a shame."
‘What’s with this weird guy?’
Not sure if he knew what Hong Bi-Yeon was thinking, Ma Yu-Seong said with a light smile, "I'll be going now."
As Ma Yu-Seong walked away, Hong Bi-Yeon couldn’t avert her gaze from his back. After a long time, she shook her head and turned around, feeling uneasy.
She was heading back to Class S when she locked eyes with a woman.
She had jet-black hair like silk, an expression as cold as ice, and eyes so pure that it was as if nothing could sully them.
Almost as tall as Hong Bi-Yeon, she had a third-year student badge.
‘… Sayeran.’
She furrowed her eyebrows and withdrew her gaze. She had no desire to meet Sayeran, especially now that she had lost so thoroughly.
Sayeran Orkan.
She was destined to be an enemy of Hong Bi-Yeon in the future, as the successor to the confidant of the current Queen Adolevit, Duke Orkan.
She supported Hong Bi-Yeon’s sister, Hong Si-Hwa.
She was a frustrating woman who maintained a cold facade even in the face of defeat and would resort to any political maneuvering to get what she wanted.
Hong Bi-Yeon tried to avoid her by taking a different corridor. Being young and inexperienced, she didn't yet realize that every little move she made could be interpreted as weakness by Sayeran.
Luckily, Hong Bi-Yeon had someone she could rely on at times like these. It wasn’t her mother, a friend, or someone else; it was her mentor, Hameryl.
‘I think I'll go see Hameryl.’
Elsewhere in the school, a group of students were buzzing about the recent mock battle.
"Hey, did you see group 32? They were amazing!"
“They were amazing, all right. At first, I thought it was the professors demonstrating magic when they played the video without explanation.”
"And what about Baek Yu-Seol? That guy took on five monsters all by himself!"
“My Monster Studies professor said that Baek Yu-Seol must have near-expert knowledge in monster studies. It was a win made possible due to the broad knowledge of the characteristics of monsters.”
Despite losing the battle, Flame was feeling relieved and satisfied. She had given it her all, and in the end, that was all that mattered.
Now it was time for class.
The students, who were sitting in groups of two or three, looked at Eisel and gossiped.
Despite everything, there was still a sense of distance between Eisel and the others, which Flame also felt.
However, things were a little different now.
Before, they simply loathed her, but now, they felt a sense of awe towards Eisel.
‘If things had gone according to the original storyline…’
By now, Eisel would be slowly going through a breakdown, trapped inside Jeremy's fence and unable to escape after the shock from the recent mock battle.
She would have continued to decay until she was nothing but a shell of her former self.
But that future was now completely overturned.
The Eisel they knew was no more. Even now, they couldn't help but feel a sense of awe towards her as she confidently laughed and enjoyed the attention of the other students.
'Who would have thought... that the crystal flower would bloom so quickly.'
That magic was a trademark and trump card created by Eisel after overcoming all the hardships and challenges in her life.
And now, she was able to showcase it to everyone so early on. Perhaps it was all thanks to Baek Yu-Seol.
As a result of this incident, Flame was certain of one thing.
‘Baek Yu-Seol definitely regressed for Eisel’s sake.’
In the original novel, Eisel and Ma Yu-Seong shared their feelings, leading to the destruction of the world and a sad ending.
However, what if there was an unknown extra story?
Maybe it would be something like this.
Baek Yu-Seol, an unnamed character, loved Eisel all his life but never received love in return until the moment the world was about to end.
Then he chose to regress to change everything...
‘Is that too far-fetched?’
Having seen too many romance stories, strange thoughts kept coming to her mind.
However, in this incident, Baek Yu-Seol created a stage solely for Eisel, something that no one else could do.
How much time had Baek Yu-Seol spent preparing for this day?
In truth, Flame would be horrified to learn that the content was made up on the spot through Sentient Specs, but since there was no way for her to know this, her strange misunderstanding only grew larger.
‘It's unrequited love.’
Regression for the sake of fulfilling love and creating a world where the loved one could live happily ever after.
Even if one's existence was doomed to be completely forgotten by the loved one.
‘He won't have any regrets in his final moments, will he?’
‘Ahh, that's too much…’
For some reason, she felt a foreign emotion and tightness in her chest. She couldn't believe she was witnessing a story with a sad ending in real life rather than in a drama or novel.
Baek Yu-Seol said he wanted to live, which probably meant he didn't want to be forgotten.
So she made a decision.
She would find a way to prevent Baek Yu-Seol from disappearing from everyone's memories in his final moments.
‘I'm the only one who can do it. Only I, who knows his secret, can help him.’
‘I must find a way.’
All of a sudden, something came to her mind.
He would do anything to fulfill his heartfelt love, even if it meant giving up his existence as the price and turning back time.
‘What would it feel like to be loved so deeply?’ she wondered.
‘… No, why am I thinking like this again?’
She shook her head, trying to clear her mind.
The mock battle was a success. He hadn't expected it, but not only Eisel, even he had been given a high score.
Of course, he messed up his grades in other classes so much that it was unlikely he would even receive a scholarship, but if he could improve his grades even a little bit, he might be able to avoid getting a warning from the academy.
He was feeling a bit anxious because his grades were so bad right now.
[Episode 5 ‘Mock Monster Battle’ has been completed.]
[You have gained a massive amount of EXP!]
[You have successfully led the story in a great direction, and as a reward, you will receive an additional bonus from the Constellation Project.]
"Great."
As Baek Yu-Seol changed the story in a unique direction, those shady gentlemen would get satisfied and give him rewards.
"What will I receive this time?"
He had thought about it beforehand, but he still hadn't decided. Although he was tempted to ask for an enhancement of his teleportation ability or Mana Leakage Delay, he thought that would be a bit of a waste.
Besides, he wanted to get something that would be useful for the upcoming episode, [Familiar Contract Ceremony.]
Obtaining a magical item that could help with this would be ideal.
Acquiring a familiar was an incredibly rare opportunity in the magical world. Stella Academy provided a chance for magic apprentices to form a contract with a familiar only once, and only a mere 5% to 10% of students were successful.
There was no guarantee that he would successfully form a contract with a familiar. However, any item that boosted familiarity would be useless after a single use.
It had to be a perfect reward that would enhance his Mana Leakage Delay and also help in the next episode.
A two-birds-with-one-stone kind of reward.
Suddenly, he thought of a great item. "I'd like an item reward."
[What item would you like?]
After a moment of thought, he reached for one of the items he had owned in the past without any hesitation.
[Leafanel’s Green Key]
Although this was not as high as the ancient relic-level equipment that his original character wore, it was one of the ultra-rare grade items that only very high-level players could obtain. It was a key that communicated with a 'divine spirit.'
However, this key had only one function.
To open a certain dungeon door.
‘Will its function be downgraded?’
He waited in anticipation.
[System review complete.]
[Reward issued.]
"Great!" he exclaimed with delight.
The item was granted in its entirety with no signs of being downgraded or altered. While someone attempting to exploit a system loophole might have been disappointed, the item was rare to come by regardless.
‘Leafanel’s Green Key... Why didn’t I think of this sooner?’
Reflecting on his purchase, he realized that Leafanel's green key was better known among players as a secondary character development item.
Despite being a dungeon admission ticket that could only be obtained after reaching a very high level, it was practically useless at high levels. However, for low-level characters, the dungeon was a sweet hunting ground, offering easy difficulty and lots of experience points.
Baek Yu-Seol had obtained this item to train his secondary character but had never used it before.
Little did he know that one day, he would have the opportunity to use it in real life.
But first, he had to find a way to get there.
‘How am I going to go out?’
He pondered but soon realized that the necromancer incident had led to stricter conditions for leaving the academy, making it harder to go out whenever he wanted.
"Sigh..."
Baek Yu-Seol ran his hand through his hair, feeling helpless.
Suddenly, he remembered how he used to go out in a video game where there were similar constraints.
‘So, what did I do then?’
The answer was simple and didn't require much thought.
‘Club.’
Yes, he had joined a club.
He smiled as the memory came flooding back.