Ch. 7 - Enrollment (5)

Chapter 7: Enrollment (5)

Stella Academy had many faculty members. Not just a lot, but an immense number. There were 1,141 first-year students and as many as 23 classes. Each class had a professor in charge (combat instructor) and one to three assistant professors, including a magic researcher and numerous professors in charge of the different subjects.

With fresh students arriving at the beginning of the semester, there was only one subject of interest for the several faculty members.

‘How many special freshmen have shown up?’

Princess Hong Bi-Yeon of the Adolevit Kingdom belonged to one of the most prestigious families in the Aether World. The kingdom was nicknamed ‘Crimson Kingdom’ or ‘Kingdom of Flame’ due to its strong affinity with the fire attribute.

Crown Prince Jeremy Skalven succeeded in defeating all his older brothers and became the crown prince of the ‘Skalven Empire’ at the age of 12. In that imperial family, power was determined solely by one’s magical skills.

Hae Won-Ryang, the successor of the Great Tower Master of the best magical tower , the ‘Full Moon Tower’.

This year, elite students from mighty families entered Stella Academy one after the other, making even Stella’s faculty nervous, and the world’s attention was naturally drawn to the Stella Academy.

Therefore, faculty members used a slightly flimsy but special method for this year’s Class Placement Test.

Students who had been studying normally would have to put up with not one but three difficult questions on the test.

And those were the first three questions. There were many reasons, but one reason was to evaluate the students.

A flexibility test was a type of test where students could skip questions they didn’t know and quickly move on to the next question.

In other words, it was an admission strategy.

Boldly give up on problems you can’t solve and move on! If you’re stuck on it for no reason, you might not be able to earn even one more point that you could have normally earned with the next problem.

But that was a superficial reason, and the real agenda was something else.

‘Will the students be able to solve a problem that is not covered in the textbooks they have been studying?’

All of the freshmen who entered Stella Academy were children referred to as geniuses worldwide, and they would have studied strategically and completed all of the magic formulas up to the university course.

However, if the problem was not within the scope of their studies, then what? What if a problem could not be solved by any formulas they had memorized and ingrained in their heads?

What if there was a problem that could only be solved through creativity, logical reasoning, and critical thinking?

Gone were the days of simply fighting with a cold weapon. The age of magic warriors had arrived.

What kind of magic would be used by the opponent? How to respond appropriately? These were the main concerns. A lack of creativity had become a significant issue for mages in this era where magic could be manipulated in many ways.

“Hmm…”

The Class 7 mage and Class S Professor, Lee Han-Wol, drooled while checking the students’ grades.

Then, an old female professor, Edel Tyman, who was passing by, noticed Lee Han-Wol and approached him.

“Oh, it seems that Lee Han-Wol is very interested in the grades of these freshmen?”

Edel Tyman was a professor at Stella Academy’s Senate. Frankly speaking, she was one of the pillars of the academy, being in charge of overseeing its policies.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“It’s all over the place right now. Isn’t this year really fun?"

As she said, the faculties were already making quite a fuss because of the results of the first freshman test.

Lee Han-Wol nodded and continued to check the results of the test paper again.

The first three problems were more like traps and were never meant to be solved.

As a result, out of 1,141 students, more than a thousand submitted these three questions as blank, showing that most of the current Stella Academy students entered through the strategic entrance exam.

However, magic was not just a strategic study. One could only become a true mage by thinking outside the box.

In that sense, the hundred students who tried to solve this problem were unique. 

Most students who tried to solve the problems also got average scores on the Placement Test, so they were assigned to the highest class called Class A, but most did not get even one of the three questions right.

'Wasn’t there a single student who answered all three questions correctly? Who was it again?'

'There were.'

'In fact, there were three people.'

Although his origin was unknown, Ma Yu-Seong, a boy who appeared like a comet and swept through the magic world, was the genius of the century.

Flame, a commoner girl recognized for her special ability and talent comparable to Ma Yu-Seong, enrolled at the recommendation of the Great Mage and Principal Elthman Elwin.

And…

‘Baek Yu-Seol.’

Lee Han-wol could not comprehend it.

Since Ma Yu-Seong and Flame were already geniuses, even if they solved all three problems, it would be convincing to say, “Ah, yes, they are geniuses.”

But it was not the case with Baek Yu-Seol.

He was a student who barely made it into the school by scoring last out of 1,141 on the entrance exam.

But didn’t he answer all three questions? So what if he couldn’t solve any of the other questions?

Edel Tyman laughed as if she knew Lee Han-Wol’s thoughts.

“It’s a problem that you can’t solve even if you know a lot of formulas, but in the same way, you can solve it without knowing anything too.”

“… So, Professor Edel Tyman, do you think this kid could be such a genius?”

“He could be. And it could be a coincidence too.”

Lee Han-Wol sighed as he saw her leave. In the first place, the professor knew better than him that this problem could not be solved by coincidence.

'Does Baek Yu-Seol know that only these three problems have caused a stir for the entire faculty?'

‘A magic warrior student who specializes in flash.’

He burst out laughing as he slowly read Baek Yu-Seol's admission certificate. A student, so shrewd that he told him, a Class 7 mage to “Be careful next time.”

[Appreciating the surprising ability to control Flash, admission under special circumstances is granted.]

This memo was left by the principal of Stella Academy himself. There were so many unusual students this year, so it might be challenging to stand out with just a specialization in flash…

“We’ll find out soon."

'Did he accidentally ace these questions, or is he really special?'

‘Let's wait and see.’

The next day.

The long-awaited class placement results.

It was a day where everyone, from the nobles of the magic family to the elite called geniuses, had no choice but to be nervous.

Everyone received a notice that the class placement results had been posted on the central bulletin board outside the academy. The students gathered there and chattered.

The bulletin board sparked magically, like a digital neon monitor, and the names of over a thousand new students appeared on it.

'Ugh, can’t you just inform the students one by one by letter?'

Baek Yu-Seol had no idea what they were doing there, but since it was the academy’s custom to reveal the class placement in public, there was nothing he could do about it.

“Oh, is that Baek Yu-Seol?”

“I heard he got zero points during the magic skill demonstration…”

“It’s really amazing. If that’s enough to get into Stella, then I wonder how the academy will survive.”

“No way. If you think about the lineup this year, no one would believe it, right?”

Some students recognized Baek Yu-Seol and murmured.

Some geniuses stood out exceptionally from the first day, and there were cases where students like him, who scored zero points, were showered with unwanted attention.

‘There was nothing I could do about the magic skill demonstration, though…’

Upon entering the school, there was a simple magic skills demonstration to see what kind of magic skill one used as a special skill.

And Baek Yu-Seol used flash.

It was a basic magic skill, and no one used it anymore.

Because of this, the instructor’s expression became cold, and he attentively examined him.

‘More importantly, if I’m being bullied like this, would I have to spend my school life without friends?’

It was a bit disappointing, but Baek Yu-Seol did not intend to be friendly with anyone in the first place.

‘Hmmm…’

Baek Yu-Seol found Class F first.

Class F had the lowest-ranking students, and Class A had the top-ranked students.

Surprisingly.

Class F did not have his name.

“Eh?”

'What? It can’t be true. Since I only solved three questions during the Class Placement exam, there is no way that I can go beyond class E, so it must be class F.'

'But the fact that my name isn’t in class F… '

‘It's crazy. Did I fail?’

Very rarely, even after entering school, there were cases in which students were expelled for failing to take the exam properly…

No matter how easy it was. Starting from the Placement Test was a bit too much for Baek Yu-Seol.

It was so absurd that he blankly looked through Class F repeatedly. Suddenly, he heard students muttering something as if they were shocked.

“Baek Yu-Seol? That kid with a failing score? Why the hell?”

“What? Isn’t that wrong? Don’t you think there’s something strange about this?”

“It’s absurd… Young Master Yuslek, son of Count Chekobalen, had been preparing to get in here since he was seven years old. Yet he's in Class A despite being 29th ranked…”

“Kyle, ranked 17th after getting a perfect score in theory, was also assigned to class A. Why?”

Something was strange.

Baek Yu-Seol checked the arrangement of Class S, which he had ignored, and he could not help but open his eyes wide.

[S-0 Class Baek Yu-Seol]

'What?'

'Why is my name over there?'

‘Perhaps it was a mistake…?’

Class S was special. Unlike Class F to Class A, only students with something special would be there.

Considering that most of the historically famous great men or even the most popular mages were in Class S, there had to be something special about it to make it stand out in the magic society.

One couldn’t get into that place simply by studying well.

Just like that 29th-ranked student who was transferred into Class A. It meant that not just anyone could get into Class S.

It was very unusual for Baek Yu-Seol to be assigned to class S, the place desired and dreamed of by every student of the Stella Academy, the most prestigious magic academy.

Baek Yu-Seol honestly had no idea if this was a bad thing or a good thing.

Even if he had been placed in Class F, he could have contacted the main characters of Class S at any time if he distributed his lecture timetable well.

However, his time with the main characters would increase if he got placed in Class S. Wouldn't it also increase the possibility of interfering with the protagonists’ plotline? It was a sin he was desperately avoiding. It would ruin his plan to stay lowkey.

‘That’s right, I'm sure I’ll manage somehow, but really…’

Baek Yu-Seol thought for a long time while stroking his lower lip, but he couldn’t shake off Class S in the end, so there was only one answer.

Even when he entered Class S, he had to behave like a hibernating animal without signs of life and do his job correctly.

‘Well, it’ll work out somehow.’

Baek Yu-Seol decided to think positively.

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