Chapter 485
In front of the Darkness Dynamics building, at the open training ground.
Whoosh!
Hwaryuk!
Monsters made entirely of flame, the Muspel, spewed fire one after another. Simon darted about, dodging their attacks, before coming to a halt.
“Whoop-cha!”
Five skulls floated in the air around him. They were Skull Drones, their bodies wrapped in emerald-colored Cloud.
“Now, fire!”
<Water Bolt>
The skulls opened their jaws and blasted streams of water, snuffing out the Muspels with ease.
Just as Simon stepped past their smoldering corpses, several plant-type monsters shaped like giant pitcher flowers charged at him.
The Skull Drones unleashed Water Bolts, but the plant monsters pushed through them without slowing down.
[Khuhuhu! Quite a tricky test indeed!]
‘It’s fine, Feer.’
Simon spread his arms wide with the Skull Drones hovering in front of him. His eyes glimmered with razor-sharp focus.
<Simon’s Original – Magiv System>
Normally, the Skeleton Mage—and its derivative, the Skull Drone—could only use one branch of black magic at a time. But Simon’s Magiv System was a black magic designed to break that limitation.
The magic circle he drew in the air linked with the circles engraved inside the Skull Drones via threads of Cloud. The currently loaded technique, the Water Bolt of the Darkness-water branch…
‘Change it to Darkness-flame’s Dark Blaze.’
As Simon manipulated the central circle, the circles carved into the skulls of the Skeleton Mages began to shift.
His hands moved across the air as though playing piano keys, rapidly switching the magic of the Skeleton Mages. Then, without hesitation, he issued the command.
“Dark Blaze!”
This time, the Skull Drones opened their jaws and spat fire. Unlike before, the plant monsters were instantly reduced to charred ashes.
Simon quickly slipped out of the battlefield.
‘Good thing I trained in Skeleton Mages.’
Though Simon’s mastery over Darkness-element spells was still lacking, he had Skeleton Mages to fill that gap. Thanks to that, he could adapt to any attribute monsters the Darkness Dynamics exam threw at him.
[We’re almost there, boy!]
‘Yes.’
Up ahead loomed the Darkness Dynamics building.
Simon unfolded the map he had received from Dick.
‘Dick said there was a shortcut here.’
From the front, the sound of students yelling and black magic blasting filled the air. Simon moved toward the rear of the building.
‘Two old benches in the clearing…’
His sharp eyes scanned his surroundings.
‘And a camellia tree facing the building.’
There it was.
After some light warm-ups, he sprinted toward the wall.
Hup–
His feet burst with Darkness as he ran up the wall. When his body began to tilt off balance, he stretched out a hand and grabbed a protruding brick.
“As expected!”
There were spots where older students had used black magic to push bricks outward.
Dangling from the wall, Simon looked down. If other examinees spotted him, they might attack.
Staying calm, he pressed his feet against the wall’s edge and carefully climbed upward.
‘But isn’t this too easy?’
If it were really like this, why would anyone fight at the front gate when they could just climb?
[Khahaha! Doubting everything while taking Keyzen’s exam is a wise habit!]
Feer’s doppel grinned.
[Look to the right!]
Simon turned—and saw a card wedged in the crack of the wall.
‘Damn!’
Hwaaaaaaa!
The card glowed, and his body was swallowed into another dimension. Gravity shifted, and Simon, who had been climbing the wall, now found himself crawling across the floor.
The wall had become the ground. Simon managed to steady himself, standing firmly on the “floor”.
A monster appeared before him—shaped like a giant chameleon, tongue flicking, its skin pale white.
“As I thought, a card guardian.”
Still, if he only had to defeat one monster to proceed, this was a bargain.
Simon pulled Skull Drones out of his subspace. The chameleon was covered in snow and ice—it must’ve been a northern monster.
The Darkness Dynamics exam theme was “Attributes” and “Countering”. A pure ice monster? He wouldn’t even need to swap spells.
<Dark Blaze>
The Skull Drones fired fireballs—yet the chameleon’s body melted into rippling water.
‘?!’
Boom!
Boom!
The fireballs fizzled uselessly into the watery body.
“What the—”
Simon quickly tried to reconfigure the Magiv System, switching Dark Blaze into something more suited for water.
But—
Tsk—
The monster’s body shifted into mud.
Tsk—
Then fire.
Tsk—
Then back to snow and ice again.
‘A monster that changes its attribute at will.’
Now he understood why no one used this path. Fighting this thing was a nightmare.
‘The examiner’s intent must be dual-element combat.’
Someone like Maelyn, who could wield both Darkness-flame and Darkness-frost, could overwhelm it.
But Simon’s strategy was different. His lips curled.
‘Something strong enough to ignore attributes altogether…’
Crackle!
From his waist, a violet spear emerged like a drawn sword.
‘A Darkness spell with raw, destructive force!’
<Simon’s Original – Chaos Spear>
The chameleon monster’s eyes rolled wildly when it saw the violet spear. Its body kept flickering between elements, unable to decide what form could withstand this attack.
“Hrrgh!”
Simon lunged forward and hurled the spear.
It streaked through the air like lightning, piercing straight into the monster’s open mouth.
BOOM!
With a sound like a bursting balloon, its body exploded into chunks of flesh, scattering everywhere.
One strike was all it took.
“Ah.”
Simon, who had prepared a second and third spear just in case, blinked in surprise at how easily it ended.
“Well, guess I hit the jackpot on the first try.”
The blackened dimension collapsed, and Simon returned to reality. Only then did he realize—
Gravity had returned to normal.
And he was still standing on the wall.
“!”
Before he could react, his body dropped from the wall under gravity’s pull.
“Gotcha!”
Whoosh!
A hand shot out from a third-floor window and grabbed him. Simon dangled from it.
Looking up, he saw a girl smirking, one eye half-squinted.
“Class rep!”
It was Jaime Victoria.
“I told you, I’m not class rep anymore!”
She shouted, grunting as she hauled him up.
Simon tumbled through the window, panting.
“Th-thanks.”
Jaime chuckled and poked fun at him.
“Does this settle the debt from when I helped you during the BMAT?”
Leaving only those words, Jaime walked down the stairs. Simon called after her.
“Wait a sec! What about Professor Jane’s course registration?”
“I already finished mine on the way down! You’d better hurry!”
Her voice echoed from below.
“There are probably only one or two seats left by now!”
At that, Simon paled and sprinted up the stairs.
Tadah!
He climbed all the way to the fourth floor, where Professor Jane Olivia’s office was located. The corpses of monsters lay scattered on the stairs—clearly cleaned up by Jaime just moments earlier.
But as Simon reached the landing, he saw with a shiver that new monsters were already being resummoned through Endolas Vaudeville’s cards.
‘That was close.’
He dashed down the hallway at full speed. Just then, a student stepped out of Jane’s office.
Thud!
Panting, Simon grabbed the door before it shut, wiped the sweat off his brow, and entered.
“Ah!”
Jane’s head teaching assistant, clutching a file, beamed.
“Student Council President! Ah—no, I mean, Simon!”
Simon smiled back before walking further in.
At the far end, Jane sat as if nothing were happening outside. She quietly worked on paperwork, eyes lowered in calm concentration.
Compared to the chaos outside—students battling, explosions resounding—the inside was another world, serene and still.
“You’re late.”
Her voice made Simon’s shoulders jolt.
“Students Maelyn, Kamibarez, Dick… and most of the other A-Class standouts have already come and gone.”
Finally, Jane raised her head and met his eyes.
“I didn’t expect Simon’s first choice would not be my class.”
Simon froze as though struck by a petrification curse. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
“P-Professor Jane! I… I—!”
“I’m joking.”
For once, she smiled faintly, extending her hand.
“You’ll be the last student of mine this semester.”
“Ah…!”
Relief washed over Simon, and he exhaled heavily, patting his chest.
‘That was dangerously close.’
Outside, the head assistant was already turning students away. Their cries of shock and despair echoed down the hallway.
“Here! My course registration form!”
Afraid Jane might change her mind, Simon quickly handed the form over with both hands.
Jane signed it with a flourish of her quill and placed it atop her pile of documents.
“Let’s do well again this semester.”
“Yes, Professor! Please take care of me!!”
Simon bowed repeatedly, then left the office with light, buoyant steps.
‘The biggest hurdle’s cleared!’
Now, only one course remained.
* * *
—Professor Hongpeng’s Magical Combat registration is notorious! It’s the hardest of all classes.
Simon recalled Dick’s warning as he left the second-year campus.
At Keyzen, the basic rule was to submit a registration form directly to the professor.
But Hongpeng was different. Though she had been assigned a lab and a dormitory on campus, she never stayed there. Instead, she lived in a hut outside the grounds, sleeping in nature. Her classes were always conducted outdoors as well.
Which meant—
‘You have to scour all of Roke Island to find her?’
Still, Simon knew from experience that Professor Hongpeng wasn’t careless. Despite her exotic looks, awkward continental speech, and grasslands origins, she was always wise and perceptive.
Scanning the area beyond Keyzen’s gates, Simon immediately spotted a suspicious place.
One section of Roke Island was dark as though storm clouds loomed overhead, filled with swirling crimson mist.
He headed straight for it.
‘Ah.’
The air dimmed, heavy fog rolling across the forest in a crimson haze.
–Crunch!
From the shadows, an orc-like monster lumbered forward.
Not a native of Roke Island… must be a summoned test monster.
‘So, the point is that Professor Hongpeng is within this range, and I have to find her?’
–Crack!
The orc swung its axe and charged. Simon reached for his subspace.
‘Huh?’
It didn’t open. When he tried to force out Darkness and draw a magic circle, the crimson fog dispersed it instantly.
‘I see.’
Simon chuckled.
Of course, the exam for Magical Combat was—
Bam!!
His fist smashed into the orc’s face, sending it flying across the ground.
“Fighting with martial arts alone.”
Dusting off his hands, Simon strode forward. More monsters, eyes gleaming, growled from the mist.
Five of them leapt at once.
< Hongpeng’s Original – Impalement >
With a casual sweep of his arm, Simon slashed the air. The charging monsters split cleanly in a line, collapsing. The others froze, unnerved.
—Professor Hongpeng’s Magical Combat registration is notorious! It’s the hardest of all classes.
Recalling Dick’s voice, Simon smiled.
“This doesn’t seem so bad.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters