I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

Chapter 102 : Autumn Festival (2)

The Academy Head’s Direct Request. It was a mission that signaled the start of the final semester and an event that encouraged the growth of the students.

‘As someone who is short on credits, it’s an event I must participate in.’

I entered the plaza, which was filled with a crowd of people. There, along with a high stage that had been set up for today, stood the academy head, Cheon Mujin.

‘It’s been quite a while since it started.’

The Autumn Festival was basically an event that served as an opening ceremony to commemorate the new semester and at the same time look back on the past semester. It was also a place to praise the grades and achievements of all students, from senior to junior.

The first turn was for the top five senior students.

Cho Min-ha, the second-in-line, had already gone down, and soon, the woman from the North Sea Ice Palace, who corresponded to the third seat, went up on the stage.

Each and every one of them was a tremendous master comparable to a super-peak level. Cheon Mujin recited their achievements one by one.

Achievements such as single-handedly annihilating a murderous organization composed of dozens, killing a famous old master of the Demonic Cult, or excavating an ancient tomb left by a martial artist from an old legend in the north.

They were achievements on a different level from when I had faced the blood fiend. Every time their achievements were announced, applause and exclamations of admiration erupted from all directions.

It was a moment that highlighted the majesty of the top-ranking senior students, who were the flower and future of the Martial Academy.

And in that place, Zhuge Paegang was also there.

Although he was called fourth in order, he had also achieved a great feat this year.

He had single-handedly hunted down one of the key executives of the Green Forest Eighteen Fortresses, the deputy fortress master of the Shaanxi Province area, and had subsequently dealt with his subordinates, a hundred or so bandits.

‘If I advance to a senior student next year, I’ll have to compete with them.’

In fact, each and every one of those who had been called to that stage were monsters who would have already graduated early if they were in a different batch.

The current situation was because the first place, that is, the top student of the senior students, had not graduated, so there were those who had been deferred or had been deferred.

Including Cho Min-ha’s case, since the first and second places were only taking the points and not aiming for early graduation, the rest of the talented people were having their early graduation postponed despite having the ability.

“…That’s all! You’ve worked hard.”

And so, as he finished praising the achievements of the senior students and handed out the awards, a thunderous applause filled the surroundings.

“Then, from now on, I will assign the academy head’s mission to the senior students.”

‘Has it finally started?’

At the Autumn Festival, the academy head assigns missions to the students of each grade in his name. An event that was close to a game of chance, sometimes helpful and sometimes dangerous. Everyone’s attention was focused.

“For a senior student, it’s now a time when you’re about to graduate. A true up-and-coming martial artist must surpass their master and pioneer their own path.”

At the somewhat familiar opening, I opened my two eyes wide.

“That’s…”

“Those who have found their own path must prove it. I say to the senior students. The mission of this festival is precisely to defeat your master.”

Defeat your master. A mission where you have to defeat a professor and an instructor. In the case of senior students, since the recognized credits were small, they had no choice but to risk their lives on this.

“The top five will face the professors, and the rest are free. However, keep in mind that the difference in the credits awarded by the professors and instructors is four times.”

The period was for three days during the festival, and the instructors were 5 points, and the professors were 20 points. It was an opportunity for the top five, who had had difficulty graduating early due to the monopoly of the first and second places’ scores.

In the tense atmosphere, the senior student event came to an end, and this time, it was the intermediate students’ turn. Cheon Mujin first called the top five among the intermediate students.

‘I wasn’t there.’

Originally, for an event like this, the people involved were given a heads-up in advance and were on standby, but since there was no mention of it to me, I couldn’t be considered a target.

In the first place, since it had been less than a month since I had advanced to an intermediate student, I couldn’t say anything about my achievements.

Because I had only accumulated 19 credits.

Since they were my actual competitors, I watched them with concentration.

“Intermediate student top, Bong So.”

At Cheon Mujin’s call, Bong So of the Shaolin Sect went up.

It was said that he had dealt with a lower organization of the Demonic Cult that had been ruling the back alleys of the city, and had single-handedly wiped out a heretic village disguised as a village. And on top of that, he had even hunted a blood fiend alone.

‘He caught a blood fiend? As expected, he’s strong.’

To think he had done alone what the three of us had hunted, he could truly be called a being who stood at the pinnacle of the intermediate students.

The total external activity points he had accumulated was 118 points. It was an overwhelming number compared to other students.

Along with a thunderous applause, Bong So returned to his seat. The next to go up on the stage was Namgung Bihwa. Similarly, her contribution for catching a blood fiend was included in it. As I had already seen, she had considerable skill.

The total credits she had obtained was 107 points. It was a number that was at least five to six times more than mine.

The third was, as expected, Mo Yonghan. Since I had barely won against him in a conditional bet last semester, the feeling was different. Because I could feel that I was now competing with him on an equal footing.

It seemed he had mainly been active in hunting wanted men who were notorious in the region and in escorting.

His current total credits were 101 points.

In the case of the fourth, Yeo Jin-gon, and the fifth, Go Su-bin, they were each in the early to mid-90s, and they all showed achievements at the peak level.

And so, Cheon Mujin, who had been preaching the hardships of the intermediate students for a while, finally brought up the matter of the request.

“You have all done well. It is a chaotic world. You must have experienced many things. Harming and plundering, protecting, and performing righteous deeds. You must have felt many things that you cannot see just by accumulating them diligently.”

‘Wait. That line?’

As far as I remember, it was one of the events that happened with a low probability.

“You should know that the martial world is a place where righteousness and cooperation, evil and rebellion are swayed by martial arts. Now is the stage to put that knowledge into practice. Therefore, I will inherit the past request left by the founder of the Martial Academy and the number one under the heavens, the Heaven-Shattering Demon, and announce it in this place. From today, for the intermediate students…”

‘Oh my god.’

The most unreasonable and cruel mission among the festival events.

“We will now proceed with the credit snatching.”

The credit snatching event unfolded.

***

“You’re telling me to go back already?!”

“I can’t help it.”

I’m sorry to Tang Surin and Yang Ha-eun, but since it was a mandatory participation event, I couldn’t refuse.

“No, Gaga!”

“Then let’s see each other next time.”

“…Thank you.”

I entrusted Tang Surin, who was reaching out one arm like a tragic heroine, to Choi Mi-kyung and Yang Ha-eun, and then I headed to the place where the credit snatching was taking place.

Following the instructor’s guidance, the place I arrived at was the mid-slope of the academy’s spiritual mountain. The place where I had encountered the King of Insects and had confronted the Heaven-Shattering Martial Sect before.

The number of intermediate students gathered in the place was about 50. It was the result of selecting the top 10-20 among the junior students every year and gathering them for several years.

Among them, about 10% would advance to senior students every year. The rest would either be held back, aiming for the next opportunity, be kicked out for failing to meet the standard despite the training period, or aim for an intermediate graduation.

Because even with just an intermediate graduation, that is, a middle school graduation, you would receive a not-bad treatment wherever you went.

For reference, if you finished the academy without passing the final exam from the senior student level, it was a senior graduation, and if you completed all the courses of the Martial Academy and achieved great success, it was a great success graduation, that is, a university graduation.

Of course, what I was aiming for was a university graduation. If the words to clear the Martial Academy that I had heard when I first opened my eyes were pointing to graduation, then a great success graduation was the standard.

While waiting, the instructors divided the students into low, middle, and high based on their credits and grades, and handed them headbands to tie around their foreheads.

The headbands were white, blue, and black, respectively, and the latter had higher credits assigned. In my case, it was blue, and it seemed they had balanced my low credits and my victory at the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

Following the instructors’ instructions, I returned my sword and received a wooden sword, and then Chief Instructor Jeongmuk came forward and opened his mouth.

“Then I will now begin the explanation of the rules.”

The rules were simple. The more headbands you snatched, the higher the score you obtained.

If you defended your own headband until the time limit, your credits would remain the same, and if it was snatched, you would lose the credits corresponding to that color. It was a vicious event where you could just lose credits if you made a mistake.

In fact, even if you were in the lower ranks, if you teamed up with two people or made a good strategy according to the compatibility, you could snatch the upper headbands, so it couldn’t be seen as unconditionally unfair.

“Then won’t people just snatch the white headbands?”

Just then, an intermediate student who had been assigned a white headband raised his hand and argued.

It was certainly easier to defeat four white headbands individually than to face one black headband.

“That’s fine. If you’re not greedy for credits.”

According to the rules, since only up to two headbands of each color were reflected in the credits, in order to get more credits, you had to aim for the blue and black headbands in the end.

‘Not bad. It’s a position that’s relatively easy to move in.’

Because if I had been assigned a black one by any chance, I would have been targeted by the top five right away.

“The activity range is from the foot of this spiritual mountain to the entrance of the mid-slope. There are stakes and formations installed at each point, so you won’t get confused. If you go beyond the activity range within the time limit, you will be automatically eliminated, and the credits for your headband will be confiscated.”

Along with the explanation, the intermediate students began to scatter one by one, following the instructor’s instructions.

I also went through the deserted spiritual mountain alone.

‘From a standard point of view, it would be better to occupy the upper area. Because it’s easy to spot first, and it’s also convenient to respond to attacks.’

Since the stage was a mountain, I had to be conscious of the fact that it was a sloping battlefield. And usually, in a mountainous terrain like this, the side that occupied the high ground was at an advantage.

‘Is the range up to here?’

When I had climbed up to about the mid-slope, I could see stakes and fences that had been set up for a formation. If I ignored this and went over, the instructors would chase me. And of course, my credits would be confiscated.

Just as I was thinking about my future strategy alone, I heard the sound of a horn from a distance.

‘Has it finally started?’

I tied the blue headband I had received from the instructor tightly around my forehead. And I noticed two faint presences coming up from the bottom of the mountain and waited for them quietly.

“Hey, isn’t that the top student of the junior students who just skipped a grade!”

“Hehe, to think a newcomer like that has a blue headband. We’ve earned 4 credits for free.”

What revealed their appearance between the trees were two intermediate students with white headbands. It seemed they had teamed up with each other.

It wasn’t a bad strategy. If there were two of them, the risk of being attacked would be reduced, and there would be less chance of their forms getting tangled up in a joint attack.

And most of all, it was good in that the distribution of the headbands was easy. Since each person could only get one headband. If they just increased the number recklessly, it was easy for an internal conflict to arise later because of the distribution of the headbands.

“Just the two of you?”

“Then do you think we need more? You’re just bluffing alone.”

They drew their swords and aimed them at me. Judging by their posture and the qi wave they were emitting, they were both first-rate martial artists. Perhaps because of their numerical superiority, they approached with a confident attitude.

“Even if you won the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly. You’re still just a brat who just entered.”

“Be careful! His swordsmanship is estimated to be at the first-rate level, but the sorcery I saw at the exchange meeting last semester was quite threatening.”

‘I see.’

Come to think of it, I had never shown my true skills to the other intermediate students. For them, my last active performance was when I had fought with Mo Yonghan at the exchange meeting.

It was understandable that the opponent was so confident. It was the thought of how much stronger could he have gotten in just half a year.

“It takes a long time to produce that much power anyway. It doesn’t matter if the two of us attack. We’ll cut you down before you can even make a fireball.”

At the leading guy’s bold remark, I unconsciously asked back.

“You mean this?”

“Yeah, huh?”

The guys who were surprised by the flame bullets that were floating above my two hands before they knew it. The speed of the magic activation and its power were incomparable to half a year ago, so it was a natural result.

“What are you doing? Not cutting.”

In their silence, the flame bullets blazed hotly. The two, who had turned pale, began to run away with their faces pale.

At that sight, the [Arrogant Young Master] debuff that had been boiling up from inside for a long time.

“You’re slow, even that judgment.”

And the bullets of karma pierced them.

(End of Chapter)