Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 314

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 314

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 314

Warmer Than Expected (4)

The bloodline was severed.

In truth, for a magician, a severed bloodline isn’t that big of a deal. Incompetence isn’t inherent to the study of magic.

There are many ways for a caster to survive even with a severed and twisted bloodline.

However, if the mana circuits are severely damaged in the process…

If the circuits become tangled and severed along with the bloodline, causing significant damage… well.

“…This is bad.”

At least it wasn’t a good sign.

Seungwoo clutched his aching body and dizzy head as he rose. The dizziness made it difficult to focus his vision.

“At this rate, I won’t be able to see ahead.”

The focus in his eyes was blurry.

Still, forcing himself to look around, he could tell that he was surrounded by trees. Very large trees, densely packed.

“Very large, and the energy they possess is strong. But the energy isn’t fierce.”

It seemed like a magical plant.

Even so, he could tell at a glance that these were very unique trees.

Right then.

“Uh, uh?”

His vision spun.

His body couldn’t overcome the dizziness.

Eventually, Seungwoo stumbled backward and leaned against a tree.

In that very moment, Seungwoo could feel the tree’s uniqueness with his entire body.

“Leaning against it makes me feel a bit… better.”

Leaning against the tree made his body feel a little better.

The pain lessened, and his dizzy mind gradually regained its balance.

At first, he thought it was just a coincidence, but as he continued to rely on the tree, he knew for sure.

‘The entire tree has circulatory abilities.’

Tuk, tuk.

He tapped the tree bark with his hand.

He could feel the moisture inside the tree condensing towards that spot.

Mana containing moisture was reacting to external stimuli.

This tree was like a giant circuit.

By resting his body against the circulation of that circuit, he could circulate his own tangled mana circuits, which were difficult to circulate on their own.

That’s how he stabilized his body.

Now, he barely felt any pain.

It was all thanks to this tree.

“I’ve never even heard of such a tree, but as soon as I come here, I’m having a strange experience.”

Seungwoo was knowledgeable about plants.

It was all thanks to his smoking pipe.

The dried leaves and smoking pipe stored in the space within his ring.

At first, it was a means to absorb poisonous plants and build resistance to those poisons, but now he possessed all sorts of plants that contained all kinds of positive effects, including awakening.

Even Seungwoo had never heard of such a tree.

‘If I had known about the existence of such a tree, I would have obtained even just a branch.’

A tree he didn’t know.

It wasn’t that his knowledge was lacking, and there was no way people wouldn’t have known about such a huge tree until now.

‘It would be reasonable to assume that this tree doesn’t exist in my world.’

It was still too early to conclude.

But he thought it wasn’t a wrong hypothesis.

If there was such a huge tree, it would be impossible not to know about it, even if you didn’t want it to be known. Seungwoo looked up.

A giant tree.

It was so huge that the phrase “forest of buildings” came to mind.

Judging by the bright light, it was clearly a sunny day, but the leaves hanging on the branches of the giant trees became umbrellas covering the sky.

The sky and the sun were completely obscured.

A world with so many giant trees.

‘Could this be a world destroyed by plants or something?’

He hoped it wasn’t.

Anyway, if it wasn’t the world he was born in, and it wasn’t a world in a novel.

Where on earth was this?

‘Not a jungle… and maybe a forest?’

The lush green waves reminded him of a jungle, but it didn’t have the humidity typical of a jungle.

The trees were extremely large, but.

With this kind of ecosystem, it was closer to a forest than a jungle.

Hmm… if it’s a forest, I can’t burn it down, right?

Just in case, he unconsciously tried to release a purple flame from his fingertips.

Poong!

The fire went out before it could even come out.

Like a gas stove that fails to ignite.

A flame of subtle size wasn’t properly emitted.

“Why is this…? Ah. That’s right.”

The flame Seungwoo was unconsciously trying to use was “Foxfire.”

Come to think of it, it was natural that it wouldn’t come out.

Just a few minutes ago. The system had notified Seungwoo that he couldn’t use any abilities related to it.

That was true.

The skill, “Foxfire,” didn’t work.

“…Everything is like that.”

He activated or examined all skills and traits.

“Magical Body,” “Yoma Eye,” “Essence Absorption,” etc. Including abilities he had used since the beginning, and even relatively recently acquired abilities, they all stopped automatically.

As if they were functions that couldn’t be used here.

They triggered a rejection.

‘So, does that mean I have to overcome all difficulties here with my own strength?’

Only the strength and skills he had built up himself were the only means.

Then this should work.

「Pyrokinesis」

The harmony of flame and telekinesis.

Of course, Seungwoo’s unique secret magic could be used.

Whirr, whirr, whirr!

He injected mana into the flame.

Then the red flame grew larger and larger.

The enlarged flame was enough to cover the tree, but the flames didn’t spread.

This was virtually close to an illusion in the shape of a flame.

Because he had taken away the heat from the flame and only fixed the shape, no matter how large the flame became, a forest fire wouldn’t occur.

It just kept getting bigger and bigger.

“The range doesn’t increase as much as I thought.”

Mana manipulation became several times more difficult due to the tangled blood vessels and mana circuits.

He couldn’t fix this on his own.

His medical knowledge was woefully inadequate to fix this, and even if he knew something, he didn’t have the tools to perform the procedure.

‘Tsk. Well, let’s think about treatment later and check the reaction first.’

Seungwoo moved the greatly enlarged flame here and there.

He didn’t intend to burn the forest.

In the first place, it was a flame with the fire removed, so he couldn’t burn anything.

He was just trying to observe the reaction.

‘Living things naturally react to flames.’

Especially if it’s a creature living in the forest.

But no matter how much he moved the flame.

He couldn’t sense any intelligent life forms or even tiny creatures reacting to the flame.

‘That’s strange.’

─What’s so strange?

‘There’s so much mana in the forest, but there are no living things.’

Tamamo tilted her head at Seungwoo’s words.

Was that so strange?

─It could be an area that is artificially protected, or a forest created artificially for experimentation.

An artificial ecosystem. That was also a possibility.

‘But I don’t think so.’

The balance between the plants is appropriately maintained for an artificially created ecosystem. If someone artificially created an ecosystem, a specific intention would be clearly visible, or they would create a 100% perfect ecosystem.

But this forest is just balanced.

It’s not particularly great somewhere.

It’s not perfect without an inch of error.

“Well, let’s get out of the forest first.”

Seungwoo slowly loosened his body.

He didn’t know how wide this forest was, so walking out of the forest wasn’t a good idea. First, to find out how wide the forest was and where to go.

He had to go up.

Ttak!

He climbed onto a small tree.

Ttak! Ttak!

He moved his foot to the branch of a larger tree than that.

Like jumping up stairs. He climbed up, stepping on the branches.

A voice of astonishment at the sight reached Seungwoo’s ear.

─That… doesn’t your body hurt?

‘Body? The blood vessels and circuits are damaged, so it has nothing to do with moving my legs?’

─No, your physical abilities are weak. Can you overwork yourself like that?

He climbed the tree to the highest point.

A tree that reminded him of a building.

The leaves were located high enough to cover the sunlight.

Combining this information, it was obvious without asking that considerable strength was required in the process of climbing the tree.

‘Ah. You were talking about physical abilities. That doesn’t matter at all.’

Climbing trees isn’t done with strength.

‘This is a skill.’

It’s possible with moderate strength and skill.

Seungwoo, with a nonchalant look, looked down from the highest tree like that. At the same time, Seungwoo’s eyes slowly hardened.

“…No.”

It wasn’t the worst situation.

Even when looking down from the tree, all sides were green, so it wasn’t that he didn’t know where to go, but.

“…What is that.”

Just something ridiculous came into view.

It was a tree. A very ordinary-looking tree that grew far away from here.

What was so ridiculous about it was.

“Why is the proportion like that.”

Clearly, it was very far away.

But it felt bigger than the tree right in front of him.

A giant tree that completely ignored perspective.

Seungwoo stared at the ancient tree without a word.

* * *

Baek Hyeon-ah, who was resting in the living room, screamed.

“Aaaaaah!!!”

Something was cut off.

And then filled again.

Baek Hyeon-ah was tormented by the pain while only receiving that fact.

She knew very well where this pain came from.

The “Doppelganger,” which was no different from her origin, was severed.

In fact, that alone wasn’t painful.

The problem was what Baek Seungwoo had done as a follow-up measure.

‘How am I supposed to accept such a large capacity being forcibly transferred!’

Seungwoo transferred the control of the skill by using the bloodline connected to her as a network. To put it simply, it was like using a hose that was watering the garden.

Suddenly, it felt like transporting a huge fish.

Since the fish wouldn’t fit in the hose, he forcibly shoved it in.

Originally, the fish would die from being forced in.

But somehow, he took measures so that the fish didn’t die, and the hose wasn’t damaged either. However, it was exceeding the limits of that hose.

It was terribly painful.

“Mom! Are you okay?! Does it hurt somewhere?”

Erzebet ran over when Baek Hyeon-ah groaned.

Baek-ah had just eaten breakfast and had fallen asleep, so only she rushed over in a flurry. Her daughter stroked her back, and Baek Hyeon-ah smiled as if to say she was okay, but in fact, her insides were still burning.

No, really.

She had expected something to happen.

‘But I never thought this would happen!’

Through the information that was constantly being transmitted, Baek Hyeon-ah knew why she had to be so painful.

She also understood 100% what had happened to Seungwoo.

‘But if you think about it carefully, isn’t this a big deal?’

Baek Hyeon-ah, who was slowly getting used to the pain.

She began to predict the future that would happen if Baek Seungwoo disappeared.

‘If it becomes known that Seungwoo is not here right now.’

Various other problems will arise, but the biggest problem is still.

The power struggles taking place in the family.

It is clear that a change will occur in the fight between the existing old elders and the newly appointed new elders.

Seungwoo designed a large game with the hope that the two forces would fight each other, with the elders eating each other’s flesh and falling.

But if the elders who were playing on that board suddenly noticed Seungwoo’s absence, that alone would cause a big change.

‘What can I do?’

On the outside, she was smiling and hugging Erzebet to calm her surprised daughter, but on the inside, she was really repeating a lot of worries.

It was just then.

Ddiring!

The sound that Baek Hyeon-ah shouldn’t have heard was heard.