Tuesday, 9 PM.
The sound of a sword cutting through the wind echoed in the outdoor training ground behind the Mage Academy.
The one wielding the sword was none other than Lee Seo-jun. As always, he was training in swordsmanship outdoors. The only difference today was that the strength in his grip had become noticeably stronger than before.
“Hoo.”
He stopped his long training session and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Then, he walked over to a bench and sat down to rest.
Staring blankly into space, Lee Seo-jun suddenly let out a chuckle.
“This is interesting.”
Just when he had started feeling a little bored with school life, something new had come along to entertain him. Was “entertainment” the right word? If he thought about it, it might be closer to worry and anxiety. But Lee Seo-jun decided to take a positive view of the situation.
“Kim Sunwoo……”
Once again, his first-place rank had been taken from him. He had lost count of how many times it had happened now.
And once again, a new record had been set. Just how many school records was Kim Sunwoo planning to break?
Of course, Lee Seo-jun himself had rewritten numerous records before. But that was only in his specialty—enhancement-type magic.
Kim Sunwoo, on the other hand, wasn’t just excelling in his own specialty, manifestation-type magic. He was setting records across a variety of fields.
It was almost absurd.
“Hmmm.”
Still, one reassuring fact remained—he was still holding onto first place in major exams where grades mattered the most.
But compared to last year, when he had practically taken first place in every test, gradually losing that top spot was a bit of a shock.
“How fascinating.”
How could someone improve at such an unbelievable pace?
It was a mystery no matter how he looked at it.
Regardless of the reason, one thing was certain—Kim Sunwoo had become a major source of motivation for him.
“Hoo……”
The upcoming final exam in England.
He couldn’t afford to lose.
He had to defend his first-place rank no matter what.
Oh, right.
This time, they would be taking the test alongside students from the British Mage Academy. Would that mean even more competition?
Lost in thought, he was suddenly interrupted by the vibrating sound of his smart student planner on the bench beside him.
[Yo, lol. Did you see the interview with the British Mage Academy’s second-year top student?]
It was from Shin Young-joon.
The top student of the British Mage Academy’s second year?
[No, I haven’t. What interview?]
[That 1st-place student totally called you out, lol. Check it out. (Link)]
“…They called me out?”
Blinking in confusion, Lee Seo-jun clicked on the link.
A news article immediately popped up.
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[British Mage Academy Prodigy ‘Lily Rose’ Calls Out Lee Seo-jun]
[With the upcoming Korea-Britain joint training session in two weeks, the British Mage Academy’s top prodigy, Lily Rose, made a bold statement directed at Lee Seo-jun.]
[She claimed that “the genius reputation of Lee Seo-jun, who is ranked as the world’s top young prospect, is exaggerated,” and stated, “I will demonstrate the difference in skill during the upcoming joint exam.”]
━━
“Hm……”
After skimming through the article, Lee Seo-jun closed it.
There had always been young prospects who tried to challenge him. By now, he had grown indifferent to such things.
However, what set Lily Rose apart from the others was that even Lee Seo-jun himself had heard of her before. She was a well-known figure.
He sent a reply to Shin Young-joon.
[Interesting. Isn’t she pretty famous?]
[Yeah, she’s super famous. People even call her ‘Britain’s Lee Seo-jun,’ lol. Did you see the photo? She’s crazy pretty. (Photo)]
A picture popped up in the chat.
It showed a beautiful blonde woman smiling brightly.
Lee Seo-jun stared at the photo for a moment before setting down his smart student planner.
“…I should just get back to training.”
In Western Europe, across the North Sea, lay the island nation of England.
London, the capital of England, was one of the world’s leading cities for magical research.
Among its many landmarks, the towering Big Ben stood proudly, and nearby, the British Mage Academy—one of the world’s top five magic schools—could be found.
Inside the academy’s dormitory, England’s brightest rising star, Lily Rose, was sitting in front of her laptop, searching for videos about Lee Seo-jun.
“He’s quite good.”
His swordsmanship, the way he infused magic into his blade, and his combat sense—there was certainly a level of refinement rarely seen in someone his age.
He might even be a bit tricky to face in a one-on-one fight.
“But what’s the point if he’s only good at his specialty?”
Lily Rose checked the public academic records from the Korean Mage Academy.
There were several tests where Lee Seo-jun had failed to take first place in subjects outside of his specialty.
“I’ve been ranked first in every single test. Hehe. That’s what you call a gap in skill.”
She had heard that the upcoming exam would evaluate overall abilities.
And when it came to comprehensive assessments, she was confident she wouldn’t lose to anyone.
As she skimmed through the ranking lists, a name she didn’t recognize caught her eye.
“Kim Sunwoo?”
For every test where Lee Seo-jun hadn’t taken first place, this person had.
But she had never heard of him before.
When it came to promising Korean students, she at least knew names like Yoo Ara and Shin Young-joon.
Maybe she should look him up.
“…What the? Total bookworm.”
First place in theoretical exams. Two consecutive perfect scores.
The Korean Mage Academy’s written tests were notoriously difficult.
This was certainly impressive, but…
“Hm.”
But in practice, it’s a different story.
On top of that, after watching a certain video uploaded to MyTube, it seems that he even suffered from mana depletion during a basic magic proficiency test.
I felt secondhand embarrassment just from watching and quickly closed the video.
“…Why did the Korean students lose to someone like this?”
Since when did the level of the Korean Magic Academy drop this much?
It was once considered the best among the world’s top five magic schools.
“Tsk.”
Lily shook her head.
Korea is done for.
“Well, this works out for me.”
The so-called “Seo-jun of England.”
She hated that nickname.
“This time, I’ll make sure Seo-jun is called ‘the Lily of Korea’ instead.”
With a confident smile, Lily pulled out her smart student notebook and took a selfie.
Then, she uploaded the photo along with a post on SNS.
[A yet-to-be-encountered character has taken a slight interest in you.]
[You have earned 500 points as a reward.]
“…What?”
Just as I stepped out of the dormitory shower, a sudden message appeared.
“Who now?”
I mulled over it alone but eventually shook my head.
There was no way to find out.
There were too many characters, and I had recently filmed a documentary, so that might have sparked some attention.
Sorting out my thoughts, I began drying my damp hair.
“Oh, right. It’s about time I bought a new trait.”
I had earned an enormous amount of points from filming the documentary.
Right now, I had a total of 103,500 points.
With this much, I could probably even afford a few S-rank traits.
I should buy something in preparation for the final exam in two weeks.
[Entering the Point Store.]
I browsed through the trait list one by one.
A combat-related trait.
And a growth-type one.
Many traits came to mind, but some were tricky to handle, so I couldn’t choose carelessly.
If I could simply obtain Seo-jun’s [Genius (SSS)] trait, all my problems would be solved, but that trait required a ridiculous amount of points.
A full 1,000,000 points.
“This one seems like the best choice.”
━━
[Battle Maniac (S)]
Category: Trait
Description: You grow stronger through combat.
[Passive Effects]
▶ Overpower
When fighting against an opponent with higher-ranked mana, all stats increase by 10%.
▶ Battle Armament
Magic resistance increases by 15%.
Dynamic vision is enhanced.
[Active Effects]
▶ Victory Call
Select a target. If victorious in battle, you will randomly obtain additional stats or traits depending on the opponent’s rank.
*Cooldown: 7 days
▶ Fighting Spirit
For 3 minutes, all stats increase by 20%.
*Cooldown: 3 days
Price: 100,000 points
━━
Battle Maniac was never mentioned in the original work, so I didn’t know who had used it.
But I had been eyeing it in the point store for a long time.
As the name suggests, it grants power through combat, making it a good fit for someone like me who knows the hidden villains of this world.
“I’ll be left with only 3,500 points.”
It was a shame to spend the 100,000 points I had worked so hard to collect, but the trait’s efficiency made it a necessary purchase.
Let’s do it.
[You have purchased Battle Maniac (S).]
A bright light flared before my eyes and merged into my body.
Instinctively, I understood how to use the trait.
[You have achieved the ‘S-rank Trait Purchase’ milestone.]
[You have earned 20,000 points as a reward.]
“…Huh?”
Wait, 20,000 points?
“This is insane.”
I had just gotten a 20,000-point refund out of nowhere.
I never expected to get cashback from this.
I grinned.
“Heh. Nice, nice.”
Now that I had obtained the trait, I needed to test it out.
First, the active effect—Victory Call.
To make the most of it, I needed a fight.
I had to find a villain I could take down with ease.
Someone not too weak but still within my capability.
And someone worth defeating.
One person came to mind.
Since it was already late today, I’d make use of the weekend.
I pulled out my smartphone and typed a message.
[Han Se-yeon, are you busy?]
The next morning, Wednesday.
For some reason, the classroom felt unusually noisy.
Curious, I glanced around and saw a crowd of students gathered around Seo-jun, bombarding him with questions.
“Seo-jun, did you see that British girl targeting you?”
“Seriously, it’s ridiculous. I’m rooting for you to take first place!”
“She posted another callout on SNS last night.”
Ah, so that’s what this was about.
It was because of Lily Rose’s SNS post from last night.
This was a development that had also appeared in the original story.
And it was one that would continue to occur from time to time.
After all, the number of people in this world who saw Seo-jun as a rival was too many to count.
I pulled out my smart student notebook and logged into SNS.
Searching for “Lily Rose” immediately brought up her account.
━━
[Lilly Rose (@Lilly_1_)]
[Photo]
━━
Tapping on her ID revealed the familiar face of a blonde woman I had seen in past news reports.
Beneath her photo was a long caption written in English.
At the same time, my “Outsider’s Privilege” ability activated, automatically translating it for me.
The gist of it was: “The level of Korean magic has seriously declined. During this joint training, I’ll show the overwhelming gap in skill.”
A deliberately provocative message.
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[What the hell is her problem? LOL]
[Wow, her personality is garbage LOL]
[If Seo-jun loses to her, I’m becoming his lifelong anti-fan LOL]
━━
And the comments section was exploding.
An overwhelming flood of English cheers and Korean insults filled the thread.
This was practically a small-scale international conflict.
“…What the hell?”
But for a different reason, I found myself baffled by this post.
This was quite… no, extremely different from the original story.
In the original, Lily Rose had indeed targeted Seo-jun.
But she had never gone as far as to target Korea as a whole.
What changed her mindset?
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