Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 252
Chapter 252
The Noble Soul (5)
***
Flame occasionally had dreams.
While dreaming was a natural and ordinary phenomenon for humans, it wasn’t so for her.
She was born with the traits of numerous races. Human, elf, dwarf, spirit, and even traits of angels.
Although only five traits were listed in her records at Stella Academy, Flame had already discovered and noted over twelve different racial traits, and chances were that more would manifest in the future.
Each race had its innate characteristics—elves could commune with nature, dwarves could manipulate materials, and so on. Flame possessed all of these abilities, and sometimes she would display abilities so unique that she couldn’t even tell which race they belonged to.
For example, she occasionally had ‘prophetic dreams.’
-That’s not a prophetic dream, Flame.
It’s what they call a “Vision.”
She once asked the angels about it, but it wasn’t one of their traits either.
After all, angels… don’t dream.
‘Hmm.’
A throbbing headache, the feeling of endlessly falling into a bottomless pit, the dizziness of wandering aimlessly in a whirlpool, and the overwhelming sensation of being lost in an endless ocean.
It felt familiar.
Once a year, no, perhaps only once every three years would she experience this unique sensation… It was unmistakably a prophetic dream.
‘You mustn’t find it…’
‘From the very start, you…’
‘…become the next star…’
‘There is no predetermined fate…’
She realized it.
This was a prophetic dream, a lucid one.
But even though Flame was aware that she was in a lucid dream, she couldn’t do anything. It was as if her entire body was paralyzed, unable to move.
‘What the heck? What are you even saying? Speak clearly!’
She shouted toward the empty space.
The place was bathed in golden light. In the sky was an enormous castle, floating upside down, and at the end of a large, U-shaped bridge dangled clouds like decorations.
The eerie sensation of dreams blending with reality filled her with the desire to wake up immediately, but she knew better.
Prophetic dreams were special. Even in the original romance novel, prophetic abilities were extremely rare.
Though surprising, it wasn’t strange for her to possess such an ability.
‘Who are you, really?’
The figure in front of her was as vague as if shrouded in mist, a dark and blurry silhouette.
Despite her questions, the figure didn’t answer and continued repeating the same words.
‘You will… become the next star…’
Please, just stop.
Every time the voice echoed, her head throbbed painfully. This wasn’t a prophetic dream—it was just torture.
When she had prophetic dreams as a child, they would at least show her significant moments, like the day she would be admitted to Stella Academy or the time she would awaken her magical powers—important moments of her life, presented clearly.
But this dream was only painful and provided no helpful insights.
‘Please…’
As Flame squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears, suddenly, with a strange sensation of being sucked into somewhere, the world turned white.
“Ah…!”
Before her eyes appeared boys and young men with golden hair and radiant white wings.
They gazed at her with worried eyes, extending their hands toward her.
-We’re sorry, Flame. We can’t bear to see you suffer.
With those words, they gently closed her eyes again.
-We wish you wouldn’t have any more dreams, Flame.
-That’s…
-It only brings you pain.
‘Ah…’
The headache washed away like water.
She felt peaceful, as if she were a baby falling asleep in her mother’s womb.
And when she opened her eyes again, it was as if nothing had happened—she was back in her ordinary day-to-day life.
“Now, who wants to solve the next problem?”
Stella Academy, classroom.
She must have dozed off while trying to finish an assignment late into the night.
Of all times, why did it have to be a nightmare—no, a prophetic dream—right now?
“Hey, Flame, are you alright?”
A male student sitting next to her quietly asked. Only now did she realize she was drenched in cold sweat.
“Uh… yeah, I’m fine.”
Since entering Stella Academy, she hadn’t had a single prophetic dream. Why, of all times, did she have one now?
Who knows…
Prophetic dreams had no reason.
They had no meaning.
They never provided clear answers to the things she wanted to know, and only revealed the things she didn’t care about.
She didn’t know which race this trait came from, but she figured it must be from an incredibly obnoxious one.
‘…I wonder if Baek Yu-seol knows anything about prophetic dreams?’
There was a good chance that her alternate self had already told Baek Yu-seol about her prophetic dreams. He would probably have figured out the truth by now, given his personality.
But… she didn’t want to burden him by injecting the memories that her other self had left behind.
He would learn about it eventually when the time came, so she decided not to ask for now.
Ding-dong!
As the bell signaling the end of class rang, Flame packed up her textbooks and left the classroom, walking down the hallway with an exhausted expression on her face.
“Hey, Flame!”
“Hi.”
“Hey! You look tired today.”
“Yeah.”
“Flame! Wanna go to Cafe Bridge?”
“No.”
As she walked down the hallway, her friends cheerfully greeted her, but even that felt like a chore, so she responded half-heartedly. Of course, Flame always responded half-heartedly, so her friends didn’t notice anything unusual.
“…Hi.”
“Yeah.”
Once again, someone greeted her, and she responded indifferently, about to walk past them.
But when the person suddenly blocked her path, she was forced to stop.
“…What is it?”
Flame raised an eyebrow as she finally looked up.
The boy with black hair, tinged with a shade of red, stared down at her with cold, purple eyes.
“…Hae Wonryang. What’re you doing?”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor? If it’s troublesome, pass.”
“It’s not something troublesome. In fact, I think you’ll find it quite interesting.”
“What is it…?”
Recently, life had been so boring that nothing really piqued her interest, but Hae Wonryang’s words caught her curiosity. As her eyes sparkled, he quickly handed her a small pamphlet.
“There’s going to be a League of Spirit match to select additional players for the school team.”
“Ah. So, you’re inviting me to watch?”
Hae Wonryang shook his head.
“How about participating as a player?”
“What?…”
Come to think of it, hadn’t she gone through something similar before? Then, she suddenly remembered something important.
‘Wait… Didn’t I already get registered as a participant?’
Flame only enjoyed watching League of Spirit matches. She had no intention of competing herself.
But thanks to Jeremie Scalven, she was forcefully registered as a participant…
Since then, she had frantically tried to cancel her registration, only to be told repeatedly that it was impossible because her name was already on the roster.
She had even visited the manager several times over the past few days, but it was always the same story—it couldn’t be undone. And now, just a few days later, they were holding another player selection tournament…
‘Wait, am I… actually going to be a player?’
Flame’s face turned pale as her mouth gaped open, and Hae Wonryang’s expression hardened.
“You’re not interested in being a player?”
“No, that’s not it…”
What should she do?
Her future felt bleak, and she couldn’t even hear what Hae Wonryang was saying anymore.
The thought of having to become a League of Spirit player, something she never wanted, made her dizzy.
“Jeremie, you bastard… I’m going to kill you someday…”
Her eyes glinted with a deadly resolve.
***
Dawn.
As the reddish sky bathed the morning in soft hues, I arrived at the Orchard of Flower Radiance, the home of the Third World Tree, on the early morning train.
I took a deep breath.
I used to think it was strange when I’d see elderly people stretching and doing exercises to “absorb the vital energy” on mountain tops. But now, I kind of get it.
Even with Mana Leakage Syndrome, where the mana I absorbed was immediately released, this kind of breathing wasn’t entirely meaningless. The more I inhaled pure mana, the more efficiently mana circulated within me, speeding up my growth.
Of course… no matter how much time I spent breathing deeply in a place like this, the benefits wouldn’t be significant.
Perhaps if I trained rigorously in such a place, it would make a difference.
The Orchard of Flower Radiance was part of the elves’ lands, but it had been opened to humans for decades now. They said the culture and scenery hadn’t changed much from the old days.
The reason the elves maintained their traditions was that this place had become more of a tourism spot. By sharing their culture with outsiders, they not only preserved their heritage but also made a good profit from it.
“…Shall I wait a bit?”
After arriving at the station, I didn’t rush to act. Instead, I sat down on a nearby bench and opened a book.
The history of Aether World was a vast fantasy epic, and reading it was one of the most enjoyable ways to pass the time.
Though my magical knowledge hadn’t grown much since arriving in this world, I had become thoroughly versed in its history.
If I had no other prospects later, maybe I could become a history teacher.
After reading for about thirty minutes, I heard the sound of the next train pulling in.
As expected of a train traveling to the land of the elves, it was incredibly quiet, though it seemed to have sacrificed a lot of speed for that silence, moving very slowly.
And on that train…
The Elven Queen, Flowerseorin, was aboard.
Shhhk-!
The train doors opened, and a small group of passengers disembarked. Among them, I spotted a gloomy-looking mage wearing a hooded robe, a confident dwarf with a stocky build, an elf with their ears wrapped in bandages, and a few humans worn down by their daily lives.
Though there were plenty of diverse individuals, it wasn’t hard to pick out Flowerseorin.
Dressed in a black gown and wearing a mask to cover her face, she appeared rather plain for a mage, but she stood out to me.
She, too, spotted me right away and quickly approached with hurried steps.
“It’s been a while. I never thought we’d meet again here like this…”
“Do you still wear a mask when you go out?”
“I still have the curse on me, so I need to be cautious when I go out.”
“And… it’s hard for me to move around freely as the Elven Queen.”
Well, she did have a point. While the curse was definitely part of it, Flowerseorin, who had always yearned for freedom, probably wore the mask so she could move about without being recognized by anyone. Even after the curse was lifted, she might continue to wear it.
The moment her face became public, the whole world would recognize her.
“Shall we get going?”
Flowerseorin said, walking confidently ahead. She was ready to enjoy her leisurely vacation, brief though it was—maybe less than two days—but unfortunately, her plans were ruined in less than thirty minutes.
Thump! Thump!
Elven knights clad in green robes knelt before Flowerseorin, who wore her black gown and white mask, hiding her identity.
The emblem of the Orchard of Flower Radiance was embroidered on their robes, making the situation all too clear.
‘We’ve been caught.’
I had expected this much.
As the Elven Queen, Flowerseorin was connected to the first and most primordial of the World Trees, the Heavenly Spirit Tree.
From her, a mystical aura that only elves could sense would be seeping out. While her gown could block the effects of the curse, it couldn’t completely conceal the aura of the Elven Queen.
Though she had likely done her best to suppress it, ordinary people could be fooled, but not the elder of the Third World Tree, Flower Radiance.
“Your Majesty, why have you come to visit our cradle without informing us?”
The lead elf, kneeling at the front, spoke with a voice full of gravitas.
So, that man was probably like the mayor of this place in human terms.
“…I had my reasons for visiting quietly.”
“I see. I apologize for failing to recognize the depth of Your Majesty’s intentions. However, since we’ve come to know of Your Majesty’s visit, we couldn’t ignore it, and so we are here to greet you in person.”
“In that case… I suppose I have no choice.”
Flowerseorin looked at me apologetically, but honestly, I didn’t really care.
Mayor, elder, or whatever—our destination was simply the Spirit Beast’s Garden where Leafanel resided.
Sometimes, experiences like these could be refreshing too.
Still, something about the situation felt off.
‘This is far too formal, even for elves.’
The noble culture of humans and that of elves was vastly different.
While it was natural for human subjects to show utmost reverence to their king, elves did not need to grovel before their monarch in such a manner. To them, a king was simply the greatest being who could commune with the Heavenly Spirit Tree—not someone to bow to excessively.
Though Flowerseorin lacked much social experience, even she seemed perplexed by the excessive formality.
“Your Majesty, may I humbly offer my words?”
As expected, the elder’s voice hinted that something was amiss.
“…Go ahead.”
Flowerseorin nodded slightly, and the elder raised his head to speak.
“The Orchard of Flower Radiance… has begun to be corrupted from its very roots.”
Wait, what?
The Orchard of Flower Radiance is being corrupted?
Already?
‘Things are progressing… much faster than I expected.’
As far as I knew, the corruption of the Orchard of Flower Radiance by dark mana wasn’t supposed to happen until at least the middle of the second year or the beginning of the third year.
This meant that the timeline had been pushed forward by one to two years.
While episodes had gone awry before, this was the first time events had accelerated so drastically. I was just as taken aback as Flowerseorin.
“Your Majesty, please… protect our cradle.”
The elder bowed his head once more, and Flowerseorin and I exchanged silent glances.
We had come to check on Leafanel, but things had taken a far more complicated turn than expected.
End of Chapter
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