Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 289

Chapter 289

League of Spirit (2)

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Two weeks?

One day is enough.

That’s what I thought.

At the Stella Dome, in the training grounds for the League of Spirit, Flame, who had gathered her team, asked with one foot tapping and arms crossed.

“Where is that Mister?”

Aiselle, who had been crouching in a corner, staring intently at a League of Spirit strategy book, looked up.

However, the strategy book was so large and voluminous that she had to crane her neck to peek out.

“He said he had something to do and rushed off somewhere.”

“Something to do? Don’t tell me it’s the bathroom?”

“Well…”

“Did he go to build a bathroom? Why is he so late?”

“Knowing Yu-seol, that might be the case.”

Beside her, also crouching, Ma Yuseong was reading the rulebook for the League of Spirit.

That’s right.

The rulebook.

Aiselle, upon hearing that she would participate in the match, had already thoroughly read the rulebook and was now strategizing.

Meanwhile, Ma Yuseong, who had been goofing off, was only now familiarizing himself with the rules.

“Damn it.”

With a sudden headache, Flame grabbed her head and glanced at Hae Wonryang, who was diligently working on something nearby.

“What is he doing now?”

“He’s sculpting.”

Hae Wonryang had summoned ice and was meticulously carving it with wind blades.

“Sculpting. I know it’s sculpting. But why is he doing it here…?”

“He said the Stella Dome is convenient for practice. He said it helps with fine-tuning magic, but I tried it and gave up.”

“Crazy…”

Whether he knew Flame was staring at him with a dumbfounded look or not, Hae Wonryang continued his sculpting with a serious expression.

Ma Yuseong, bored with the situation, abruptly stood up, tucked the rolled-up rulebook under his arm, and stood in front of the sculpture, chin in hand.

He looked exactly like an art critic admiring a piece in a museum.

“Wow, it’s really pretty!”

But a moment later, Hae Wonryang suddenly shattered the sculpture with a wind blade.

“It was pretty…”

“I don’t like it.”

“Why?”

“There’s a flaw. I have to start over. I need to practice mana control until I have a perfect sculpture.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Watching Hae Wonryang summon another ice statue and begin sculpting again, Flame realized that her plan had gone awry from the start.

‘I must be crazy…’

These unique geniuses, who had never gathered before, were impossible to control.

Meanwhile, she resented Baek Yu-seol, who hadn’t even shown his face yet.

“Excuse me…”

Hesitantly, a man in his late twenties approached Flame.

“Are we still far from ready…?”

“Almost done.”

“Okay…”

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

However, not all teaching assistants at Stella were the same.

Some were graduates of Stella, while others were recruited from outside.

The latter made up a significant portion.

The reason?

90% of Stella graduates pursued prestigious elite careers.

Great Magic Tower, academic societies, renowned magic towers, the royal family’s head mage, high-ranking magic warriors.

For this reason, teaching assistants from Stella were few, and many were from outside, trying to build their careers.

One of them was the teaching assistant in charge of the ‘League of Spirit Flame Team’.

“Just wait a moment.”

“Okay.”

Flame had no particular complaints about the teaching assistant.

In the original romance novel, Aiselle’s team had no teaching assistant presence at all.

She was grateful that a teaching assistant even spoke to them.

However, it was strange considering this team.

The successor of the Tower Master of the Full Moon, the thousand-year genius mages Aiselle and Ma Yuseong, Flame who manipulates light, and even Baek Yu-seol.

Despite having a team of the century’s genius magic warriors, the League of Spirit teaching assistant assigned to them was surprisingly lax.

The reason was obvious.

‘It must be Gayurin.’

Gayurin was not only a promising professional League of Spirit player but also the youngest daughter of a prestigious family that frequently produced League of Spirit champions.

The sports industry, if not the magic warrior field, was firmly in the grip of Gayurin’s family.

It was no surprise that a lax teaching assistant like him was assigned to them.

The world was now a peaceful place, fully prepared for the invasion of the Dark Mages.

In such times, the sports industry thrived even more.

“Sigh, there’s nothing I can do. While we wait for Mister, I’ll give Ma Yuseong a brief explanation.”

In the end, Flame gave up on practice and began explaining the rules and strategies.

With only five members, their team was so fragile that even one absence could disrupt their formation.

Thirty minutes passed.

For some reason, Baek Yu-seol appeared, covered in mud, walking with heavy steps.

“Oh, I’m a bit late…”

Seeing him waving his hand slowly in greeting, Flame couldn’t even find the right moment to be angry.

“What the hell? Where have you been?”

“I went out for a bit to take care of some personal business. I tried to be on time, but things got a little complicated…”

Flame stared at Baek Yu-seol with her arms crossed.

She hated people who broke promises more than anything.

But Baek Yu-seol… he held a different meaning.

His concept of time was likely different from ordinary people.

A minute or a second that might seem trivial and boring to others could be a crucial time crunch for Baek Yu-seol to change the future.

And the time we consider normal might be the ordinary everyday life Baek Yu-seol had always wished for.

“It’s fine. You came, even if late.”

So, Flame decided to be lenient about Baek Yu-seol’s tardiness.

He was never one to waste time.

‘Sigh, I was late because I went to the Eslen Earth Festival.’

Baek Yu-seol brushed off the mud from his body, put a ring in his pocket, and fiddled with it.

If Flame knew that he was late because he had to get this useless ring, which had no special function other than making mud taste delicious, would she forgive him?

‘It will all be useful.’

He was late because he tried to get it in advance for a future need, but he was relieved that he had finished the task cleanly.

“Then let’s start practicing properly now. Mister, don’t tell me you’re going to say you’re going to read the rulebook now?”

“Of course not.”

Even if he didn’t enjoy playing the League of Spirit himself, Baek Yu-seol frequently watched online tournaments.

Therefore, he was well-versed not only in the rules but also in strategies and tactics.

Moreover, since Flame came from Earth, where ‘Aether World Online’ didn’t exist, Baek Yu-seol might be more knowledgeable about various builds and strategies in this area.

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

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

‘As for strategy… I’ll just leave it to her.’

Flame’s leadership skills were excellent.

It would be much better than having Baek Yu-seol, who didn’t know what he was doing, take the lead.

Besides, Baek Yu-seol’s position was that of a close-range dealer or assassin, not suited for a commander’s role.

“First, for Ma Yuseong’s sake, I’ll briefly explain the basic rules again.”

“Okay.”

As Ma Yuseong nodded like an obedient dog, Flame explained with a satisfied expression.

“When the match starts, the five of us will be summoned in front of our team’s ‘Control Tower’. We have to defend it while destroying the opponent’s Control Tower to win. But you can’t just rush in and destroy it.”

The League of Spirit resembled the AOS genre games popular on Earth.

In fact, from Baek Yu-seol’s perspective, ‘League of Spirit’ in Aether World Online was one of the most popular AOS games on Earth.

When the match begins, all mages redistribute their mana across the map, imbuing it into monsters.

Players defeat these monsters to acquire mana, but they don’t use it all for casting spells.

Mana can be used to upgrade wands, robes, and boots at the Control Tower, and various items can be purchased to turn the tide of battle.

“Upgrading your wand increases the power of your spells and your total mana. Upgrading your robe increases your defense, and boots, well, you know, right? Your movement speed.”

Ma Yuseong raised his hand like a student wanting to ask a question.

“Then isn’t it a disadvantage for someone like me who has a lot of mana?”

“That’s right. But in the League of Spirit, all mages must be equal. This is a sport, not a real battle. If someone like you, who relies on overwhelming mana, sweeps through the matches, how can it be called a strategy game?”

“Ah…”

Strategy, multiplayer, battle arena.

All of these come together in the League of Spirit.

If a few strong individuals start rampaging based on their mana, it’s no longer a sport.

“Still, having a large mana pool isn’t entirely useless. The more mana our team has, the faster and more frequently resource-generating monsters appear.”

“So, having more mana is still advantageous?”

“Yes, but these monsters appear in our territory, and the enemy can come and steal them, so be careful.”

“Ah…”

Thus, players defeat monsters or acquire resources, gradually destroying the opponent’s towers one by one.

To do this, defeating enemies is essential.

“The number of spells you can use is also limited. You can use bloodline magic, or if you’ve learned a legendary spell, you can use that too… but there’s a limit of seven.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And the more powerful the spell, the longer the cooldown, so you need to have a mix of weaker spells that you can use multiple times.”

“Hmm.”

While explaining the various rules, Flame realized that this game was quite disadvantageous for Ma Yuseong.

She understood why Ma Yuseong didn’t participate in the League of Spirit in the original romance novel.

For Ma Yuseong, who used to unleash dozens of spells with his infinite mana, these restrictions would be quite painful.

On the other hand, for Hae Wonryang, who used to combine spells with little mana, this would be a very advantageous battlefield.

‘This is completely Mister’s stage, isn’t it?’

Not to mention Baek Yu-seol.

He only used one spell from the beginning, and he had almost no mana restrictions.

In the League of Spirit, there would be some mana restrictions on using Blink according to the rules, but even so, the person who could operate most similarly to a real battle was Baek Yu-seol.

‘This, can we trust Mister and go with it?’

Originally, she didn’t have any desire to win, but thinking about Baek Yu-seol’s strengths, she felt their chances increasing and her mood improved.

She didn’t have much intention of winning in the first place.

But after meeting Gayurin, her mind changed.

‘I need to crush that crazy woman’s arrogance.’

She didn’t care about competitiveness, but she needed to put those who provoked her in their place to sleep soundly at night.

Meanwhile, Baek Yu-seol stared at the rulebook, shaking his head to clear his complicated thoughts.

‘I’m screwed.’

He still couldn’t understand strategy no matter how much he looked at it.

Flame seemed to have a plan to win through cooperation, but unfortunately, that was what Baek Yu-seol was worst at.

In a real battle, he could at least fight back to back, but in a sport like the League of Spirit, coordinating spells among team members was the best way to defeat the opponent.

‘What am I supposed to coordinate?’

The only usable spell, Blink.

Baek Yu-seol already felt a sense of foreboding about the future.

End of Chapter