After finishing the meeting with Lee Hee-young, Yoo Ara, Park Inhwan, and I were on our way back to the classroom.
As we walked down the hallway in silence, Park Inhwan suddenly spoke to me with a face full of dissatisfaction.
“What’s your deal?”
“What?”
“First, it was Teacher Kim Yunjin, and now Teacher Lee Hee-young—why are they all so desperate to get you a scholarship?”
“I don’t know. Why are you asking me that?”
I gave a half-hearted response to Park Inhwan’s baseless picking a fight once again.
“No, but seriously, isn’t it weird? Do you come from some ridiculously prestigious family? Or did you bribe someone?”
“No.”
“You’re really a strange guy. You don’t even have mana, and you collapsed from mana depletion on the first day. There’s something about you, isn’t there?”
“…Sigh. Think whatever you want.”
[Character ‘Park Inhwan’ feels mild anger toward you.]
[You have gained 500 points as a reward.]
“What did you just say?”
Park Inhwan lowered his voice. But I wasn’t the type to get riled up by such provocations. I simply shook my head and ignored him.
This guy is something else. If he can’t even control his temper, how’s he going to survive in the real world later?
Oh, right. He’s destined to become a villain anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
“You guys are being loud. Cut it out.”
Yoo Ara turned around and spoke sharply.
At the fierce look in her eyes, Park Inhwan shut his mouth for a moment, but soon he spoke again.
“Doesn’t this bother you at all? The lowest-ranked student in the entire school getting recommended for the special class?”
At his words, Yoo Ara’s gaze turned to me.
Transparent eyes.
I had no idea what kind of emotions were behind that look.
“I think he deserves it.”
“See?! Wait, huh? What did you say? He deserves it?”
“Yeah. He sat next to me in the Manifestation class, so I know. He’s got talent. His mana capacity is just terrible, that’s all.”
At Yoo Ara’s unexpected response, Park Inhwan looked baffled.
“But still, he’s dead last in the whole school.”
“That’s just how I feel. Stop asking.”
With a slightly annoyed tone, Yoo Ara cut him off.
Finally, Park Inhwan fell silent.
After finishing all my classes and training, I returned to the dorm.
Checking the time, it was already past 11 p.m.
By the time I had showered and changed, it was 11:30.
Only 30 minutes left until the next day, and I finally felt like my day was done.
“…Oh, right. I had an assignment due tomorrow.”
I had to write a report on the historical changes in the properties of classical magic for my theory class.
This assignment had actually been given a week ago, but with how busy I’d been lately, I kept putting it off until now—leaving me with just one day to finish it.
“Ugh, what a pain.”
Looks like getting a full night’s sleep isn’t happening today.
The theory classes didn’t contribute significantly to grades at the magic academy. But I had worked hard to build my reputation and earn points, so I couldn’t afford to skip a single assignment.
Besides, if I wanted to rank in the top 80 in the next evaluation, excelling in these theory subjects was crucial.
“Hmm.”
Will I even be able to break into the top 80 on next week’s exam…?
If it were as simple as the public test on the first day—just hitting a target—I’d be confident about making the top 10.
“Eh, whatever~”
Today’s training had been rough, and I was exhausted. I wanted to just throw this report aside and go to sleep.
Still, at least I had the benefit of being an outsider.
If I focused, I could probably finish it in two or three hours.
All I had to do was write down the information that came into my head.
“Alright, let’s get this over with.”
Thanks to the outsider’s advantage, I managed to finish the assignment in just one hour—twice as fast as I expected.
I got completely absorbed in writing and ended up filling over 40 pages.
Even I thought it was a bit excessive.
This was practically at the level of a professor’s thesis.
After getting a good night’s sleep, I turned in the assignment the next day.
The Classical Magic professor looked bewildered.
“Kim Sun-woo, did you do all this by yourself?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Wait, why is the page count so high?”
Maybe she thought I just added fluff to pad the length, because she started skimming through my report.
After scanning it quickly, she flipped back to the first page and reread it at a slower pace, her eyes serious.
“…”
She looked up at me with wide eyes.
“Kim Sun-woo, you didn’t plagiarize this from somewhere, did you? …No, never mind. If this were copied, I would have recognized it, so that’s not possible.”
“I wrote it all myself.”
[Character ‘Yang Hyun-sook’ is impressed by your diligence.]
[You have gained 500 points as a reward.]
So the Classical Magic professor’s name was Yang Hyun-sook.
“Th-this is amazing. I only skimmed it, but the quality is already impressive.”
“Thank you.”
“Alright, go back to your seat.”
I gave a slight nod and returned to my seat.
From two rows ahead, Yoon Ha-young turned around and gave me a thumbs-up.
“Everyone, do you see Kim Sun-woo’s assignment? He wrote a whopping 42 pages! Isn’t that incredible? I hope the rest of you can learn from his dedication.”
[35 students find you annoying.]
[You have gained 500 points as a reward.]
“42 pages? Is this for real?”
“That’s not a report, that’s a full thesis.”
“Insane. Seriously.”
The professor, oblivious to the jealous stares directed at me, beamed proudly at the class.
“Now, let’s all give Kim Sun-woo a round of applause for his hard work.”
“Wooow!”
A weak applause echoed through the classroom.
Barely audible.
I glanced around and saw that only Yoon Hayoung, Lee Seo-joon, Shin Young-joon, and Lee Hyun-joo were actually clapping.
I knew it. Either clap together or don’t clap at all.
This is just embarrassing.
The professor, noticing the underwhelming reaction, let out an awkward chuckle.
[Magic Academy Scholarship Foundation]
[₩5,000,000 has been deposited.]
“Oh.”
The scholarship money had finally arrived.
With tens of billions already in my hands, ₩5,000,000 wasn’t exactly a fortune, but free money was always welcome.
I had already decided how to use it.
[Purchased 12 shares of Hanseong Pharmaceuticals]
I was going to invest in stocks.
But even though the article hadn’t been published yet, the stock price had already risen significantly over the past few days.
As a result, I was only able to buy 12 shares.
Still, once the article was released tomorrow, the stock price would rise even more, so buying now was the right move.
Besides, there was no immediate use for the cash anyway.
‘…Hmm, maybe I should invest in something else too.’
As I was looking through my smart student planner and considering other stocks, Yoon Hayoung called out to me from the front.
“Sun-woo, what do you think?”
It was Tuesday afternoon’s sparring class.
Yoon Hayoung held up an ice arrow she had conjured in her hand and spoke to me.
I observed it carefully and muttered under my breath.
“…That’s amazing.”
“Huh?”
“It’s really good. The conjuring detail is incredible.”
She must have diligently followed my assignment to memorize the structure of an arrow.
Her magic form showed clear signs of dedicated practice.
Her skill had improved tremendously in just a few days.
She had great talent.
Maybe not on Yoo Ara’s level, but at least as talented as Park Inhwan.
Honestly, someone like her should be in the special scholarship class instead of me.
“The conjuration seems solid, and your fundamentals are decent too.”
“Really? Then let’s try a light sparring match. We have practical duels in the midterm exam next week, right?”
That’s right. Now that I thought about it, dueling was part of next week’s midterm exams.
Sparring with Yoon Hayoung wouldn’t be a huge help to me, but it was a different story for her.
Aside from our previous bet match, she had almost no experience in real combat.
With just a bit of practice, her skills would improve rapidly.
“Alright, let’s spar. It’ll help build your combat instincts.”
“Oh! Really? Okay! Time for a rematch. Hehe.”
“You’re feeling confident now that your conjuring has improved, huh?”
“To be honest, yeah. My confidence is through the roof. Plus, I already experienced your fighting style last time, so I know how to counter you now.”
Oh, really? Is that so?
“Alright, then show me what you’ve got.”
I knew it was just a taunt, but it still stirred my competitive spirit.
‘I’m also curious to see the results of my training in the physical enhancement room.’
I put some distance between us and spoke.
“Don’t treat this as just a spar. Think of it as a real battle and come at me seriously.”
“Huh? You sure? What if we get hurt?”
“It’s fine. I won’t get hurt.”
“…That kinda hurts my pride.”
Her eyes flashed with competitive fire.
I smirked and gathered mana into my body, focusing it in my lower limbs as usual.
I could see the slight tension in Yoon Hayoung’s eyes.
“Begin!”
The moment the match started, Yoon Hayoung conjured and released dozens of ice arrows.
The ceiling was covered in ice projectiles.
Just as I suggested, she was treating this like a real battle, throwing everything she had at me.
Her conjuration detail had definitely improved, but her casting speed was still slow.
I easily dodged the ice arrows with quick movements.
Thanks to my recent strength training, reinforcing my body with mana no longer felt painful or burdensome.
I evaded her projectiles with ease and steadily closed the distance between us.
“Haaah!”
She had clearly learned from our last duel.
This time, she released her ice arrows in a way that made it difficult for me to approach.
Her mana reserves were impressive.
Even after firing off so many spells, she showed no signs of running out.
If it were me, I would’ve exhausted my mana after just a few shots.
‘But…’
Magic duels weren’t just about mana.
Experience and combat sense were crucial.
Yoon Hayoung still lacked experience.
Meanwhile, I had spent over five years as a professional mage on active duty.
I conjured a small magic sphere in my hand.
It wasn’t packed with a lot of mana, but it was enough.
I fired it toward her legs.
—Whoosh!
—Boom!
As expected, Yoon Hayoung reacted quickly, twisting her body to evade my attack.
But that wasn’t a failed move.
My goal was to create an opening in her attack.
During her evasive maneuver, she momentarily stopped conjuring magic.
That was the moment I had been aiming for.
I gathered mana into my legs and dashed toward her at full speed.
As soon as I got close, I forcefully pushed her over and conjured a spell in my hand, aiming it at her.
In just a short moment, the duel ended once again—just like that.
“…Haa.”
“Ugh. I was so sure I’d win this time.”
Lying on the ground, Yun Ha-young muttered regretfully.
I also learned a lot from this match.
It was clear that focusing on physical reinforcement helped compensate for my lack of mana.
At that moment—
[Character ‘Jang Ancheol’ is impressed by your combat instincts.]
[You have received 500 points as a reward.]
‘Huh?’
—Clap, clap, clap, clap!
The sound of applause echoed from the direction of the private sparring room’s entrance.
Startled, I turned toward the door and saw Jang Ancheol looking at us with an expression filled with admiration.
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