Magic Academy’s Genius Blinker

Chapter 272

Field Training (1)

The purification ritual ended without incident.

Although it was called a purification ritual, it was actually a process to reseal Isaac Morf’s body, but in any case, Hong Bi-yeon did her part well.

Contrary to expectations, the nobles were surprised that Princess Hong Bi-yeon was able to perfectly perform Hwaryeongjin even at the level of a mere 4th class, but they did not outwardly show it.

In order for their princess to become the queen, Hong Bi-yeon must disappear. Her reputation had been growing lately, and the internal atmosphere was already uneasy, so there was no need to stir the pot.

“You’ve worked hard, Princess.”

As Hong Bi-yeon, who had withdrawn the Hwaryeongjin, slowly regulated her breathing, Terrybun approached and gave his usual disgusting smile.

“Oh, my. You’ve sweated a lot. Do you need a handkerchief?”

“I don’t need it.”

Looking at him, she could soon realize.

Why the Royal Head Mage was here, acting as a priest.

‘I thought it wasn’t time for him to retire.’

She had thought that there must be some reason for his sudden change of heart.

Looking back, Terrybun was a man full of ambition. But to suddenly retire? That couldn’t be.

‘He was researching permanent cold here…’

And the fact that he had not yet returned meant that he had not yet found out why the cold was leaking from Isaac Morf’s body.

‘Hong Si-hwa. So this altar was the reason why that woman could still walk around freely.’

After completely ending the ritual and dismissing the mages, Hong Bi-yeon boarded her private airship and organized her thoughts.

Normally, the descendants of the Adolevit family had difficulty living past their twenties.

Unless they completely gave up magic like her mother or had no talent for fire, but wasn’t Hong Si-hwa not like that?

‘She’s extending her lifespan by absorbing the cold…’

In other words, without that altar, Hong Si-hwa’s insignificant life could be naturally cut short, but she felt disgusted with herself for having such a thought.

It was exactly the same way of thinking as Hong Si-hwa.

‘I won’t get my hands dirty.’

Besides, destroying that altar meant that Isaac Morf’s body would have to be disposed of…

‘…That’s not very appealing either.’

For Aiselle’s sake? That wasn’t it.

It was simply because she had once respected Isaac Morf as a person, and she wanted to respect him until the end.

‘A man who protected his family, the world, and his own daughter by sacrificing himself…’

Who could easily make such a decision? The Isaac Morf she had seen in her past memories was a person who should not be insulted like this.

Crack!

Blood seeped from her tightly clenched fist. She couldn’t forgive Hong Si-hwa and Queen Hong Seriu, who had insulted Isaac, but there was nothing she could do right now.

She had to endure.

Endure, persevere, and hold on.

The day she graduated from Stella Academy.

She would become the queen and repay them.

‘I will…’

***

When you hear an instructor’s order to assemble first thing on a Monday morning, complaints naturally arise.

“Are we dogs?”

“Who does he think he is, ordering us around?”

“Ah, that old man is so annoying.”

Of course, no student could express such complaints directly to the person in question.

It was quite obvious, of course.

“Everyone, quiet!”

The students of Class A and Class S, assembled in the Stella Dome, looked up at Instructor Hedaron, who was floating in the air with a terrifying expression and his hands behind his back.

Although they had cursed him as an old man, Instructor Hedaron was also a war hero and a renowned mage, so no student could dare to defy him.

“I believe you all have had sufficient practice by the end of last week.”

At those words, Baek Yu-seol yawned widely and thought.

‘Did I have practice…?’

He had experienced more than practice, actual combat, but he only remembered skipping all the classes for the past few days.

“There’s no point in practicing any further. The repetitive drills are boring for you, and we instructors are not making any progress, so it’s no fun for us either. Therefore, starting with Class S, we will assign you field missions in order.”

At Instructor Hedaron’s words, the students began to murmur.

It was called ‘sufficient practice’, but in fact, they hadn’t had any proper training since the start of the semester. Although they had studied theory hard in the first semester, how long had it been since the second semester started, and they were already going into the field?

But this was Stella’s way.

By sending out the students of the higher-ranked Class A and Class S on missions first, they accelerated their growth through real-world experience, and then, after a week or two, when they deemed the lower-ranked students to have had enough practice, they would send out Class B and below on field missions. This was Stella’s plan.

“Ugh, my brother said there was nothing like this last year…”

“I’m confident. I can hit the running wooden doll 8 out of 10 times now.”

“Idiot. Do you think monsters are the same as wooden dolls?”

Since the most outstanding students of Class A and Class S were going into the field, good results could be expected, but honestly, Baek Yu-seol thought they were all pretty much the same.

‘What happened in the game…?’

He thought about it for a moment.

‘I don’t remember…’

He had forgotten.

He didn’t remember it as a particularly impactful episode.

It was a brief interlude before the League of Spirit began, and although the Dark Mages were involved, there were no particularly dangerous problems.

Of course, that was only the story of the original. Now, reality was so different from the original game that, even if he knew the future, he had to be prepared.

– Practice?

As he listened to Hedaron’s words with one ear and let them out the other, a clear and refreshing girl’s voice came to his mind.

It was Leafanel.

‘Yeah. Practice. Are you awake now?’

-Mhm. But I’m sleepy again.

She and Baek Yu-seol were connected by heart and soul. So, telepathy should have been possible long ago, but until now, it had been impossible because Leafanel was recovering her strength.

Even when she had recovered some of her strength, the blessing of the Red Spring March had become so strong that her mind was completely blocked.

But now, Baek Yu-seol had loosened the blessing of the Red Spring March to some extent, making it possible to connect his mind with Leafanel.

Of course, they were not always connected.

This process also required a considerable amount of mental effort, and above all, it was only possible when Leafanel was awake.

‘Recovery… how much has been done?’

She was still tainted black and had not yet fully returned.

Even recovering her strength was a struggle, let alone purifying her mana.

He couldn’t even imagine how difficult and painful a process she was going through, but Leafanel’s voice was as bright and cheerful as ever.

-Yes! It’s okay! Yu-seol’s friend came to find my heart, so it’ll be quick!

‘…Is that so.’

She must be talking about Cheollibeun.

He had told her many times that he was not her friend, but Leafanel recognized everyone who was close and helped each other as friends. She had only been able to talk to two beings, and they both called her ‘friend’, so it was understandable.

‘But why did he return the heart?’

The invincible Cheollibeun was neither good nor evil, but neutral.

In a way, he was similar to Ma Yuseong, but while Ma Yuseong often turned to the side of evil, Cheollibeun always remained neutral, no matter what happened.

He had a personality that never did anything troublesome, but for some reason, he repeatedly hunted down specific Dark Mages, excluding all unnecessary actions in the process.

It was because he didn’t want to be exposed to others and cause more innocent killings.

‘I don’t know the reason, but it’s probably a good thing.’

-Mhm. It’s a good thing!

‘Then do you have two hearts now? Like Park Ji-sung?’

-Huh? No. I need to absorb it, but it’s still too polluted… that…

‘Washing dishes?’

-Yes! I’m washing the heart!

Because she hadn’t been able to socialize much, Leafanel sometimes got confused with her word choices. Whenever that happened, Baek Yu-seol would just throw out a random word, and she would happily agree, which was fun to tease her with, but he also felt a little guilty.

-Yawn… I’m sleepy.

‘Go to sleep.’

-Mhm. See you later…

Leafanel seemed to be sleepy again, as she suddenly cut off the mental wave and fell asleep.

She must be busy all day purifying the impurities, washing away the pollution of the heart, and refining the heart of the divine beast. Still, one good thing was that once the purification of the impurities was complete, she could go out whenever she wanted.

Having regained the heart of the spirit, even if she couldn’t use her overwhelming abilities from the past, as a spirit, she could now walk freely on two legs, escaping the confines of the tree.

No one knew when that would be, but with Flowerseorin’s magic creating a perfect barrier around the garden, she would no longer be disturbed by anyone, so it would probably be soon.

“Then, let’s specify the types of missions.”

As the conversation seemed to be wrapping up, Hedaron finally got to the main point.

“First, dungeon exploration. Second, Persona Gate destruction. Third, Dark Mage elimination. Fourth, monster hunting.”

All four options were missions that any magic warrior could experience.

“Dark Mage elimination is a mission for second-year students, so it’s excluded. You have the opportunity to choose from the three remaining options. You can form a team of at least one and up to six people, but keep in mind that a teaching assistant will always monitor your mission performance.”

From here on, it was properly recorded in his Bulbul Glasses.

Normally, in the original game, Ma Yuseong would go on the Persona Gate destruction mission alone, Hae Wonryang would go on a dungeon exploration with Aiselle, and Flame would…

‘Feng Hwarang?’

She was recorded to be hunting monsters with a boy from Class S named Feng Hwarang.

‘Come to think of it, there was a guy like that.’

He was a supporting male character who started to appear in earnest in the second half of the semester, so he didn’t remember much about him, but he definitely remembered the impact.

He was a character who confessed to Flame on the day winter vacation started after the first semester and was rejected, receiving sympathy from many male users.

There was even a time when the community was filled with tears, saying they felt a sense of camaraderie.

‘Hmm, what should I do?’

Honestly, if dungeons or Persona Gates were in a game, he would have chosen them because they sounded fun, but honestly, it was a hassle.

‘I should just do the simple monster hunt-‘

“Commoner.”

“…Huh?”

As he was absentmindedly reading the mission application form handed out by the instructor, Hong Bi-yeon approached him from behind and spoke.

She stood with her arms crossed over her chest and spoke to him with her usual haughty expression.

“Persona Gate, let’s go.”

“…Suddenly?”

“Yes. You don’t want to?”

She exuded an aura that seemed to say, ‘If you say no, I’ll kill you,’ so he couldn’t dare shake his head.

“No… I’d love to. I was so eager to go that I was waiting for you.”

It was obviously a lie, but Hong Bi-yeon seemed to be in a good mood anyway, as she smiled slightly and nodded.

“Okay, hurry up and follow me.”

“…Yes.”

He had wanted to quickly finish the simplest and fastest monster hunt, but he ended up getting stuck with the most troublesome Persona Gate.

End of Chapter