I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

Chapter 68 : Formation Certification Exam (3)

Although it was a sudden change, there was no opposition.

Zhuge Hyeonguk had asked, and I had answered. That was the end of it.

The rule was changed to 3-on-1.

Three people came up onto the model garden prepared for the formation. They each had a clearly displeased expression.

“Your arrogance pierces the heavens. How dare you speak such nonsense to Elder Jong-cheol.”

“I don’t know what you’re trusting to be so cocky.”

“Don’t think we’ll be like the director who let you off. A loser who would have been thrown away long ago if not for being a blood relative…!”

As they say, even a worm will squirm if you step on it, and it would be even more so for the elite formation masters who had been protected by their branch families and elders since birth.

To insult them so openly was close to them venting their true feelings, now that they had a justification.

If it had been a scoundrel like the previous Zhuge Cheonwu, he would have immediately shown a disgraceful appearance, spouting all sorts of curses.

But a provocation is only a provocation when it works; otherwise, it’s just a pathetic struggle.

“You guys are not enough. By the way, it’s quite pathetic to see the three of you barking in fear of just one of me. Isn’t it miserable to have no skills on top of a shabby background?”

As I touched on the sore spot of the branch families, their faces twisted as if they had bitten into a bitter persimmon.

“Who…!”

“You can’t even grasp the situation. Do you really think I bribed the directors? The directors who are not even in my sphere of influence?”

“What?”

The opponent, who was at a loss for words, as if he had felt a chill at the reasonable point. He must be thinking, ‘Could it be?’ now, but it was already too late.

“It would be quite a sight to see the three of you lose to a single third-class formation master.”

Along with my words, the host’s shout echoed through the hall.

“Then we will reveal the stage for the formation battle!”

“Ooooh!”

As the workers removed the huge cloth, the model garden that had been hidden underneath was revealed along with the cheers of the surroundings.

It was a terrain with mountains made of rocks and tree trunks, and a small stream passing between them.

‘It’s classic. The more special the exam, the more they emphasize the basics, is that it?’

As I took out a jade stone, they stood in a triangle and formed a formation.

A triangular formation, the most basic and stable method of a joint formation.

‘A provocation is a provocation, and an opponent is an opponent, is that it?’

It seemed they were planning to crush this side properly while they were at it.

On the contrary, it was a good thing.

I threw a jade stone containing mana.

‘I’ll crush them with power.’

At the same time, walls that soared here and there on the mountain ridges. At the sight of them dividing the terrain in half like a small-scale Great Wall, the surrounding exclamations poured out.

“A dirt wall of that level. No matter how small the model garden is, it’s outstanding.”

“It’s also clever to have caught the flower points along the strategic line.”

Although the three formation masters showed a moment of agitation at the barrier that covered the area, they soon focused and began to construct a formation.

‘Oh?’

I could feel three kinds of energy surging. They were the true qi of the water, wood, and fire attributes, respectively.

The water overflowed along the stream, and the forest soared after absorbing it. A haze rose between the trees, and a mist bloomed, forming a cloud.

‘The combination is surprisingly good.’

Considering the power of the formation masters I had faced at the Geummun Merchant Guild and the teachers I had fought in the dojo challenge, it was clear that they had brought the top personnel among the second-class formation masters.

Swoosh-

Soon, a green airflow colored the spaces between the trees that covered the mountain. A sinister flow that created a blur in a different sense from the mist.

“What’s that?”

“Amazing!”

The audience’s admiring reactions followed the strange formation that had appeared with a unique energy.

Those were spores. Phantom bodies of spores that had bloomed after eating the heat and moisture from between the trees.

‘A biological phantom body is tricky.’

Just like poison arts, formations also have their own unique attributes and manifestation methods, so even if you use the same wood attribute, the form can be divided into a tree, a vine, a flower, or a spore.

In particular, fungal phantom bodies like spores were tricky because they had the characteristic of eroding a formation.

‘The easiest way to deal with it is with fire, but it’s difficult if it’s covered in mist like that.’

From the beginning, they had kept this in mind and had laid down spores that had a good compatibility with mist.

It’s certainly tricky when the three of them are combined.

But it was a situation where I couldn’t just leave it as it was.

‘Time is on their side.’

If the entire formation is covered with the self-sustaining power of the spores like this, there is no answer.

Because among the five elements, earth, water, fire, and even metal were not suitable for countering the spores that contained mist.

‘What’s left is the same wood attribute or another applied attribute.’

Fwoosh-

The spores began to overflow beyond the castle walls along with the mist.

The sight of them pushing down, covering the mountain range like a green dry ice, was truly like a desert storm.

“It’s usable.”

I threw a jade stone containing mana and intervened in the formation. And I spread the energy I had hidden in advance.

Rumble-

With that, the castle wall that had been erected earlier grew even higher. At the same time, a wind began to blow between the spiky castles.

A whirlwind rushed along the terrain, and the mist and spores began to be slowly pushed back.

But as if that alone was not enough to drive out the overlapping energy, the wave of spores met the oncoming wind at the boundary and grew in size, swelling up.

At the green barrier that had bloomed like a cumulus cloud, the surrounding exclamations poured out.

“It’s a magnificent sight.”

“The third young master is also quite something.”

Now, all that was left was a power struggle between the two completed formations. Wind or spore mist. But I didn’t want such a simple ending.

‘That would be boring.’

I threw several more jade stones containing mana into the model garden. Then the formation began to churn.

“Huh? Does he have the energy to interfere more from there?”

“If he’s a second-class, it should be difficult enough just to handle the wind against the opponent’s spore mist!”

The audience that was getting noisy. Soon, the energy of the mana extended between the castle walls that had taken root in the ground.

“What is that…?!”

A fierce cold. A powerful cold air spewed out from the depths of the ground where it had been embedded under the mountain range from before, and the surroundings began to freeze.

Craaack-

The mist turned into frost and settled on the ground, and the spores that were entangled with the mist also froze and poured down as hail.

Life is the pulsation of yang. In other words, the moment this is lost, life is bound to lose its power and become dim.

‘Unless it operates on the principle of yin.’

When the moon is full, it wanes. Similarly, when the balance of yang is broken, yin rises. That was the principle.

While the spores and mist, which had lost their control under the overwhelming cold, were turning into a frozen ground and disappearing, the storm that contained the cold grew even stronger and began to rush to the front of the three formation masters before I knew it.

“Hiiik!”

The formation masters, who had been struggling just to control the joint formation of the spore mist, turned pale at the freezing gust and began to back away.

Although they belatedly tried to draw up the fire attribute, the tide of the battle had already turned a long time ago.

The small flames were swallowed up by the ice wind and were often extinguished, and on the contrary, they began to encroach on the place where they were standing.

“It’s shabby compared to what you said.”

I muttered low, looking at them who were trembling in the cold.

This was decided from the beginning.

Because with the talent of [Absolute Magic], my output and processing were different from those who handled circles and mana.

I swung the ice storm and pierced the center of the three formation masters’ interference zone.

““Uaaaargh!!””

They, whose connection with the formation was cut off, were swept away by the gust and rolled on the ground.

“I told you.”

In the midst of the ice storm that was rushing beyond the upright castle walls, I added low.

“You guys are not enough.”

“The winner is Zhuge Cheonwu!!”

Along with the judge’s shout, I recovered the energy of the formation.

Then the collapsing castle walls and the scattering gust. As the sight that was reminiscent of a battlefield crumbled and the model garden regained its appearance, a cheer burst out from among the audience, who had been wrapped in silence at the overwhelming majesty.

“Woooow!”

“He really won against the three of them?!”

“To think that that scoundrel young master had such an ability… was he really hiding his power?”

At the anomaly that had unfolded in front of their eyes, the onlookers began to exchange opinions excitedly.

“Hmph!”

In the midst of that, I saw the back of Zhuge Paegang, who was frowning and turning around.

A reaction as if there was nothing more to see. Like that, the atmosphere of this exam was completely driven to my side.

If it went on like this, it was a situation where the second-class formation master qualification would obviously come into my hands without a second word.

‘But that’s not enough.’

I shone my two eyes like a beast that had been starved for several days. It was still far from enough.

Just a second-class formation master qualification.

“I don’t know who the teacher is, but he’s really terrible.”

So I provoked Zhuge Jong-cheol. The elder of the Zhuge family and an authority on formations.

“What?! You half-wit bastard!”

Zhuge Jong-cheol, who suddenly got angry and spat out a curse. The jiggling of his cheeks along with his reddened complexion was impressive.

I bowed my head with a nod.

“My apologies. Seeing those who are only light on their tongues compared to my skills, I became very curious about their roots.”

“I hear you’re insolent! As expected, you can’t get away from your dirty background!”

Whether he had passed the threshold, Zhuge Jong-cheol, who kicked his seat and stood up with a shout, walked this way.

He, who was glaring as if to eat me up, twisted the gold-chained necklace.

Then a sinister wave of true qi formed in his palm. Since he was at the level of an elder, both his formations and martial arts were at a considerable level, so the aftermath was considerable.

“Zhuge Jong-cheol-nim! You must calm down…”

“The elder is angry!”

‘I’ll get on his bad side a bit, but he’s a guy I have to deal with anyway.’

From what I had heard through Wihye, since he was a person who had considered me a thorn in his side from the past, he was also a being I would have to confront someday.

Rather than having a useless power struggle later, it was better to suppress his spirit here.

That was my calculated position on this incident.

“A dirty background…”

I felt a strangely boiling emotion and a cooling head at the same time and drew up my mana.

I was a little strange right now.

I had tried not to make enemies unless it was absolutely necessary, but now I was breaking that principle.

‘It’s strange.’

The reason I felt this emotion was clear.

Because in Yu Sia’s journal, one of the elders who had particularly tormented her was Zhuge Jong-cheol.

Perhaps this feeling, which was close to anger, was Zhuge Cheonwu’s emotion.

“How can a mere human judge the earth? And even more so if he is less than a microbe.”

So I didn’t hold back.

The boy who had stood alone had now grown enough to cast his own shadow on the place where he stood.

“You really want to die!!”

Zhuge Jong-cheol finally stepped up onto the model garden.

“On the contrary, it’s a good thing.”

If I could defeat him, a first-class formation master, publicly, it would be easier.

First-class was the highest realm that an individual could reach with just talent. In terms of a martial artist, it was a realm that was particularly wide in its variation, as it was a feeling of being between the peak and the super-peak.

Not to mention someone at the level of an elder.

That’s why. I made a proposal as if I were just throwing it out.

“Let’s have a match.”

“What?!”

Zhuge Jong-cheol shouted, his glaring eyes distorted.

He probably hadn’t expected to hear a suggestion to have a match so openly. And even more so from the position of an elder.

I raised the corner of my mouth coldly at him.

“Let’s have a fight, taking off our ranks.”

(End of Chapter)