The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 18

Right before Monday’s class started, Instructor Go Chang-soo made an announcement, saying he had a brief notice.

“The mid-term comprehensive evaluation is now over. Based on these scores, we will be forming groups for the upcoming tests and training.”

From the second year, training to become a full-fledged mage begins in earnest.

There will be more practical training, and there will be many instances of group activities.

In that sense, the mid-term comprehensive evaluation scores are the most optimized data for dividing groups.

“From the second year, all training will be reflected in your grades, so please do your best.”

Although the reflection rate is lower than tests, training results are also reflected in grades from the second year.

If you slack off during training, your student record after graduation will be a mess.

From now on, you have to do your best in every training session.

Especially for me, whose first-year grades are terrible, I have to work even harder.

“Now, I will announce the mid-term comprehensive evaluation results.”

The instructor pressed the control pad on the podium.

A hologram screen appeared behind the instructor.

The screen displayed the mid-term comprehensive evaluation rankings, starting from 1st place.

“First, let’s start with applause. The glorious 1st place came from our class. Shin Hayul.”

All the students’ eyes, including the instructor’s, were focused on me.

“Congratulations. You are currently the most outstanding 18-year-old in Korea.”

Clap clap clap-

At the same time, applause rang out.

Loud applause and weak, perfunctory applause.

The former was applause that genuinely congratulated me, and the latter was applause filled with envy and jealousy.

There were also some who didn’t even bother to clap, with expressions that showed they didn’t care.

They just quietly glared at me, grinding their teeth.

“As an instructor who has seen Shin Hayul’s constant efforts since his first year, I am genuinely happy for his achievement.”

The instructor smiled warmly and sent me sincere applause.

“Thank you.”

“Now that it has come to this, aim to maintain the 1st place for two months and participate in the Academy Olympiad. It will definitely be a good experience.”

The World Academy Olympiad.

There are only a limited number of people who can participate.

None are selected from the first year.

Only 3 from the second year.

The remaining 7 are selected from the third year.

“Yes. I will try my best.”

That’s exactly my goal anyway.

“Okay. It might be tough because of your first-year grades, but do your best.”

But it won’t be easy to participate.

As I said, my first-year grades are the worst.

Unless I maintain 1st place with overwhelming scores for the next two months, it will be impossible to participate in the Olympiad.

“A guy who got lucky with Vision magic is talking about the Olympiad.”

“Two months, my foot. The bubble will burst in a week.”

“After all, he’s just an unsuitable guy…”

Students who had always looked down on me whispered and hurled criticisms at me.

The way they were looking at me with sly smiles clearly showed their intention to mock me.

I returned their petty mockery with a sneer.

The expressions on their faces as they quickly soured were quite a sight to behold.

“Then, let’s start the class right away.”

And so, Instructor Go Chang-soo’s class began.

The class on the origin of magic and its beginnings.

‘Then, shall I start my self-study?’

I’m sorry to the instructor, but I already know all the content, so there’s no need to learn it again.

I quietly began re-analyzing the information about the Vaitener-style magic that I had written down last night.

* * *

All of Monday’s classes were over.

As if considering the aftermath of the mid-term comprehensive evaluation, today’s classes were filled with only theory lessons.

“Ah. I’m stiff. How can all 8 periods be theory classes?”

Soonchan stretched his body this way and that.

“Well, that just means tomorrow will be nothing but practical training.”

“…That’s also not good.”

Soonchan frowned, still in his stretching position.

His face, changing colors like a chameleon, was quite a sight to see.

“That’s why I told you to increase your stamina quickly. You stamina scrub.”

“Did you say everything? You magic scrub…”

Soonchan trailed off.

Then, he frowned.

“Ugh. Now I can’t tease you about being a magic scrub.”

“If you’re so upset, why don’t you increase your stamina and overcome your weakness?”

“…Okay. I’ll definitely overcome it.”

Soonchan gritted his teeth.

“Really? Then, let’s strike while the iron is hot. Shall we go to the training room after dinner for the first time in a while?”

I also feel like I’ve been neglecting my physical training lately.

It might be good to work out with Soonchan for a change.

“Uh… I really want to, but my body condition is too bad today.”

I could almost hear Soonchan’s eyes rolling.

“You said you were stiff?”

“I meant my joints were stiff. Ouch. It hurts.”

He clutched his knee and claimed it hurt. It was such a terrible act that even a 3-year-old would point out it was fake.

I chuckled.

“If you don’t want to work out, just say you don’t want to, you idiot.”

Then, Soonchan turned serious.

“No, let’s be honest. It’s not that I don’t want to work out. It’s that I don’t want to work out with you. You know? With you, you idiot.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“How can I keep up with your crazy workout intensity? I’ll die if I try to keep up with that.”

“Stop exaggerating.”

“If this is exaggerating, then my funeral will be an exaggeration too.”

Soonchan snorted.

“Anyway, I’ll work out alone. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve found my own routine.”

Soonchan waved his hand dismissively, actively refusing to work out with me.

“Okay. Then. It can’t be helped. I’ll have to go work out alone.”

“Is this the first time you’re going to the training room since you became a second-year?”

“Yeah.”

“…The first-years are going to be terrified.”

“Why would they be terrified?”

“Anyone who sees you working out for the first time will be terrified.”

Soonchan shuddered.

“People make such a fuss about working out.”

“Yeah. You know it well. People don’t make a fuss about people working out. Yes. Peo.ple. working out.”

It must be my imagination that I felt a staccato in the word ‘people’.

* * *

In the physical training room, which I hadn’t visited in about two weeks, I noticed some new faces.

“Hey, that’s Senior Shin Hayul over there.”

“Wow. So that senior uses this place too.”

There were many new faces that I hadn’t seen in the past two weeks. They must all be new students who just enrolled this year.

‘I really have been neglecting my physical training.’

Right after being promoted, I got my hands on the Book of Idread, so I put exercise on the back burner and focused solely on mastering Vaitener-style magic.

I need to reflect a little.

Wasn’t it written in the Book of Idread?

[The Infinity Circle is a massive circle that flows throughout the entire body, so it is affected by the level of physical training.]

[A strong body creates a strong circle and increases rotation efficiency.]

[Physical training should not be neglected.]

Even if it’s not just for strengthening the Infinity Circle, physical training is a must.

Unlike before, fighting on the front lines has become the main position for mages, so physical strength is the most important stat for mages.

‘Hoo. Then, shall I go with my usual routine lightly?’

Since it’s been two weeks since I last worked out, I decided to stretch much more carefully.

“Excuse me, senior.”

While I was carefully loosening my body.

A sturdy-looking male student approached me.

Judging by the fact that he called me senior, he must be a junior. And it’s also a face I’ve never seen before.

“If you don’t mind, could you teach me some exercises? I’ve heard that no one can surpass you when it comes to physical training…”

“Me?”

At that moment, an inexplicable silence descended upon the training room.

“Goddamn.”

“Another corpse to clean up today.”

And then, sighs were heard from all directions.

“I was like that once.”

“Ignorance is a sin, they say.”

“I bet 10,000 won that he won’t come to the training room tomorrow.”

“Only 10,000 won? I bet 100,000.”

The male student who asked me to teach him exercises was flustered.

He looked like he had no idea what was going on.

“Junior, take back those words while you still can.”

A familiar face approached the junior, patted him on the back, and shook his head.

He was a friend I often encountered in the training room last year.

His name was Kang Jae-hyuk from Class 3, if I remember correctly.

“It’s true that Hayul is the best at exercising among the students in this school. He probably has the best stamina and body too.”

“Yes. I’ve heard the rumors.”

I’m quite famous in this school.

First, the most famous thing is that I’m the only unsuitable person in the school.

Second, I’m famous for being the youngest of the Mado family.

And the third most famous thing is about my body.

“Junior, think carefully. He’s an unsuitable person. Ah, Hayul, don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to belittle you.”

Kang Jae-hyuk gestured to me, telling me not to misunderstand.

“Anyway, it took him 8 seconds to use a simple 1-circle magic, you know? Not anymore though.”

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“Ah, come on. You’re not very understanding.”

Kang Jae-hyuk sighed, tapping his head.

“Think carefully. It takes you 8 seconds to use a very basic water magic.”

“Yes.”

“Can you complete all the first-year subjects in that state?”

“Huh?”

“Can you even pass the exams, let alone meet the standards?”

“That’s…”

“You’re not confident, right? You shouldn’t be. If you say you can pass, that’s bullshit.”

Kang Jae-hyuk fired off words like a machine gun.

“He did it. That’s what I’m saying. How do you think he did it?”

“…How did he do it?”

“With his body.”

“Huh?”

“He did it with his body. His body. This monster made up for his shortcomings with his body.”

“…”

“You get it? His body is not normal. His body itself is magic. This is magic. Okay?”

It was a bit of an exaggeration, but it wasn’t wrong.

Honestly, I’ve never thought that I was inferior to anyone in terms of physical ability.

I thought I had to make up for my lack of magical skills with my body, so I’ve been working hard on my physical abilities for the past year.

I had also been doing physical training steadily in the Mado family before that.

“If you learn to exercise from this inhuman… ahem. This monster, you’ll die. I’m serious.”

Kang Jae-hyuk looked at the junior with a serious gaze.

However.

“Hearing that makes me want to learn to exercise even more.”

The junior’s eyes lit up instead.

“…Ah!”

“Oh my god.”

Sighs erupted again from the surroundings.

“Senior Hayul. Please, teach me the secret to creating that strong body.”

As if their sighs were nothing, the junior looked straight into my eyes and said.

“Okay.”

I like people who are this passionate. Their passion becomes the driving force for my growth.

“Thank you!”

“Then, let’s start by loosening up our bodies together.”

“Yes!”

And so, I began physical training with a junior I had never met before.

“…I don’t know.”

“Sigh. I should just pray.”

Sighs were heard one after another from all over the training room.

* * *

“Puhaha! I knew you’d do that. How did you manage to catch him like that?”

That night.

I was chatting lightly with Soonchan in the lounge.

“Looking at him, he probably won’t even pee in the direction of the training room anymore.”

Soonchan grinned and nudged my side with his elbow.

“I’m reflecting on the fact that I was a bit too much. He followed along better than I thought…”

Even though I had rested for over two weeks, my body condition was so good that I overtrained more than usual.

Thanks to that, the junior fainted.

‘Is it the effect of the Infinity Circle?’

My physical condition was unbelievably good.

Even when I was training according to my usual routine, I didn’t feel tired at all.

‘Since it was said that the body and the Infinity Circle are closely related. Maybe it’s that effect.’

The more I train my body, the stronger the Infinity Circle becomes, and the more I refine the Infinity Circle, the stronger my physical abilities become.

It was a truly amazing synergy effect.

With this, aiming for victory in the Olympiad will be much easier.

It was the luck I had been hoping for.

“And what? Why are you stopping mid-sentence?”

“Huh? No, I’m just saying I’m reflecting.”

“What a letdown.”

Soonchan finished his canned coffee with a deflated expression and threw it in the trash can.

“Ah.”

But perhaps it was because the distance was a bit far. The can bounced off the trash can and flew out.

I focused my mind on the bouncing can.

“Huh?”

The can, floating in the air due to the influence of my mana, changed its trajectory and went into the trash can.

“You can’t even throw that in.”

“…Wow, what are you?”

Soonchan pursed his lips and looked at me, genuinely surprised.

“Did you move your mana at that moment to control the can? What’s up with your control?”

He was so surprised that he didn’t even hear my sarcasm.

“It’s nothing. You just have to handle mana like your own hands and feet.”

I turned the half-drunk can of coffee upside down and spilled it on the floor.

The black liquid scattered in the air.

I used mana to fix the coffee in the air.

A lump of coffee moving in a fluffy way.

“Like this. Easy, right?”

“…Wow.”

Soonchan stared blankly at the coffee floating in the air for a while.

I must have shocked him too much.

Just as I was about to stop joking around, Soonchan’s expression suddenly turned fierce.

“You bastard, are you playing with food?”

Ah.

Was that the problem?