I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy

December website update

Two weeks?

One day should be enough.

That's what she thought.

At the Stella Dome, where the League of Spirits training was taking place, Flame crossed her arms and asked while tapping her foot.

“... Where’s that old man?”

Eisel was crouching down the corner as she stared at a League of Spirits strategy book with deep concentration. At her question, she lifted her head.

However, the book was so large and vast that it seemed like she was barely peeking out from behind it.

“He suddenly had to go somewhere in a hurry.”

“Somewhere? It’s not the bathroom, is it?”

“Who knows...”

“It’s not like he went to build a bathroom, so why is he so late?”

“Well, if it’s Baek Yu-Seol, that’s possible.”

Ma Yu-Seong, who was also crouched down, was reading the League of Spirits rulebook.

That’s right. The rulebook.

When Eisel heard that she was going to participate in the game, she had already finished reading the rulebook and was now at the stage of devising strategies. Meanwhile, Ma Yu-Seong, who had been lounging around, was just now getting familiar with the rulebook.

“Damn it.”

Flame, who was suddenly hit by a headache, held her head and glanced at Hae Won-ryang, who was diligently working on something nearby.

"... What’s he doing now?"

"He's sculpting."

Hae Won-ryang had summoned ice and was engaged in the delicate work of carving it with wind blades.

"Sculpting. I know it’s sculpting. What I’m asking is, why is he doing it here...?"

“He said the Stella Dome is a good place to practice. Apparently, it helps with fine-tuning his magic control. I tried it once but gave up.”

“Insane…”

Hae Won-ryang appeared oblivious to Flame’s bewildered gaze and continued carving with a serious expression.

Ma Yu-Seong was bored and suddenly stood up, rolled up the rulebook, tucked it under his arm, and stood in front of the sculpture, resting his chin on his hand. His posture was eerily similar to that of an art critic admiring a piece in a museum.

“Wow! It’s really beautiful!”

But a moment later, Hae Won-ryang casually shattered the ice sculpture with wind blades.

“It was beautiful…”

“I didn’t like it.”

“Why?”

“There was a flaw. I have to start over from the beginning. I need to practice my mana control until a perfect sculpture comes out.”

“Oh. Is that so?”

Watching Hae Won-ryang summon another ice sculpture and start carving again, Flame began to realize that her plan had gone wrong from the beginning.

‘I must be crazy…’

It was impossible to manage a bunch of eccentric geniuses who had never worked together before.

Meanwhile, she couldn't help but resent Baek Yu-Seol, who still hadn’t shown up.

A man in his late twenties appeared hesitant as he spoke to Flame.

“Is the preparation still far from done?”

“Almost done.”

“I see…”

His name was Hwang Seol-Gu, a teaching assistant at Stella Academy.

However, not all assistants at Stella were the same. Some were graduates of Stella, while quite a few came from outside, making up a significant portion of the staff.

Why?

Because 90% of Stella graduates followed elite, prestigious paths.

The Great Magic Tower, academic societies, renowned magic towers, royal magic advisors, or high-rank magic warriors.

For this reason, there were only a few teaching assistants who were Stella graduates, while many assistants came from outside, looking to boost their careers.

One of these was the assistant assigned to the 'LOS Flame Team.'

“Just wait a moment.”

“... Okay.”

Flame didn’t particularly have any complaints about the assistant. In the original story, the presence of a teaching assistant in Eisel’s team was nonexistent. So, the fact that this assistant even spoke to them was something to be thankful for.

However, when she thought about this team, it was strange.

The successor of the Full Moon Tower.

The most genius mage to appear in the last thousand-year—Ma Yu-Seong and Eisel.

Flame, who could summon light, and even Baek Yu-Seol.

Despite gathering the century’s genius magic warriors, they were stuck with a lackluster assistant.

The reason was obvious.

‘It must be Ga Yu-Rin.’

Ga Yu-Rin was a promising professional League of Spirits player and the youngest daughter of a prestigious family that often produced winners of the League of Spirits.

When it came to magic warriors, it was understandable, but in the sports industry, her family held significant influence. So, it wasn’t surprising that an unimpressive assistant was assigned.

In the current world, which was now perfectly prepared for the invasion of the dark mages, the more peaceful it gets, the more influence the sports industry wields.

“Sigh. There’s nothing I can do. I’ll give Ma Yu-Seong a brief explanation while we wait for the old man.”

Flame eventually gave up on training and started explaining the rules and strategy.

With only five members in their team, the absence of one person would throw off their entire formation.

After about 30 minutes passed.

Baek Yu-Seol appeared. He was covered in mud and walking in with difficulty.

“Oh. I’m a little late…”

As he lazily waved his hand in greeting, Flame didn’t even have the chance to get angry.

"What the hell. Where have you been?"

“I had to step out for something personal. I tried to make it on time, but things got a bit tangled…”

Flame crossed her arms and glared at Baek Yu-Seol. She hated nothing more than people who broke promises.

But Baek Yu-Seol... was a bit different. His concept of time was unlike that of ordinary people.

What might be a boring, trivial minute or second to others could be a life-changing time attack for Baek Yu-Seol, and the moments they took for granted could be the ordinary life Baek Yu-Seol so desperately sought.

“Fine. At least you made it.”

So, Flame decided to be lenient about this.

Baek Yu-Seol was never one to waste time carelessly.

‘Whew. I ended up being late because I went to the Eslen Mud Festival.’

Baek Yu-Seol brushed the mud off his body and fidgeted with a ring in his pocket.

If Flame knew that the reason for his tardiness was to get this useless ring, which had no special function other than making mud taste delicious, would she forgive him?

‘Well, everything has its use.’

Although he was late because he rushed to get it in advance, he felt relieved that he had finished the task neatly.

"Alright. Let’s start practicing properly. You’re not going to tell me you’re just now reading the rulebook, are you, old man?"

"Of course not."

Even if Baek Yu-Seol wasn't particularly fond of directly playing LOS, he often watched online tournaments, so he was quite knowledgeable about the rules and strategies.

In fact, since Flame came from Earth, where 'Aether World Online' didn't exist, Baek Yu-Seol might actually be more proficient with various builds and strategies.

Of course, just because you know something in theory doesn’t mean you can execute it in practice.

If that were the case, everyone in the neighborhood would already be a professional player.

"I’ll leave the strategy to you then."

Flame’s leadership was excellent, so having Baek Yu-Seol, who wasn’t very skilled in leading, take charge would be much worse.

Besides, Baek Yu-Seol’s position was a close-combat dealer or assassin. It was not a role suited for commanding.

"First, I’ll explain the basic rules for Ma Yu-Seong."

"Uh-huh."

Ma Yu-Seong nodded like an obedient puppy, and Flame explained with a satisfied expression.

"Once the match begins, the five of us are summoned in front of our team’s ‘Control Tower.’ We have to protect it while destroying the opponent’s Control Tower to win. But it’s not as simple as just charging in."

League of Spirits was similar to an AOS (Aeon of Strife) genre game that was popular on Earth.

For Baek Yu-Seol, the ‘LOS’ game inside Aether World Online was one of the most popular AOS games.

When the match begins, each mages distributes their mana across the map, which is absorbed by monsters. Players then defeat those monsters to gain mana, but they don't use it all just for casting spells.

Mana can be used to upgrade wands, robes, boots, and purchase items at the Control Tower, which can change the tide of battle.

"Upgrading your wand increases the power of your spells and your total mana capacity. Upgrading your robe increases your defense, and you already know what boots do, right? They increase your movement speed."

Ma Yu-Seong raised his hand like a student with a question.

"Then isn't it a disadvantage for someone like me, who has a lot of mana?"

"Exactly. But in LOS, all mages need to be on equal footing. This isn't real combat; it's a sport. If someone like you, who can overpower others with sheer mana, dominated every match, how could we call it a strategic game?"

"Ah..."

Strategy, multiplayer, battle arena—all of that came together in League of Spirits.

If a few players start running wild just because of their mana reserves, it’s no longer a sport.

"That said, having a high mana capacity isn’t entirely useless. The more mana our team has, the quicker and more frequently monsters will appear, which gives us more resources."

"So having a lot of mana is still an advantage?"

"Yes. But be careful. Even though the monsters appear in our territory, the enemy can come and steal them."

"Oh, I see..."

The players must defeat monsters or gather resources and gradually destroy the enemy towers one by one. In order to do that, defeating enemies becomes a crucial factor.

“You’re also limited in the number of spells you can use. You can use your bloodline magic or any legendary magic you’ve learned, but there’s a maximum limit of seven.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and the stronger the magic, the longer the cooldown time. So, it’s important to balance out weaker spells that can be used more frequently.”

“Hmm.”

As Flame continued explaining the various rules, she realized that this game put Ma Yu-Seong at a significant disadvantage.

She understood why Ma Yu-Seong didn’t participate in LOS even in the original story. For someone like him, who used his infinite mana to fire off dozens of spells, these restrictions would be quite painful.

On the other hand, this battlefield would greatly favor Hae Won-Ryang, who was used to combining spells with limited mana.

'This is totally his stage, isn’t it?'

And there was no need to mention Baek Yu-Seol.

He only used a single spell to begin with and had almost no limitations with his mana.

In League of Spirits, there might be some restrictions on the use of flash due to mana limits, but Baek Yu-Seol was still the person who could operate most similarly to real-life combat.

'I think I can count on him to carry us.'

Flame hadn’t originally aimed to win, but now that she thought about Baek Yu-Seol’s strengths, her chances seemed to improve, and she felt better about it.

She hadn’t been too focused on winning from the start, but meeting Ga Yu-Rin had changed her mind.

‘I need to knock that arrogant brat down a peg.’

It wasn’t about competition, but more about putting a troublesome opponent in their place to sleep soundly that night.

Meanwhile, Baek Yu-Seol stared intently at the rulebook, shaking his head at the complexity of it all.

‘This is bad.’

No matter how many times he looked at the strategy, it still didn’t make sense to him.

Flame seemed intent on working together to win, but unfortunately, that was the one thing Baek Yu-Seol was the worst at.

If it were real combat, at least they could fight back-to-back, but in LOS, the best way to defeat the enemy was through coordination between the team’s spells.

‘How am I supposed to coordinate…?’

He could only use one spell.

Flash.

Baek Yu-Seol already felt doomed.