Chapter 62
Chapter 62
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 62
Magma Tortoise.
It was a demonic beast shaped like a land tortoise bearing molten lava, true to its name.
A massive creature the size of an average officetel, its mere manifestation in this space caused the air temperature to spike in an instant and cracks to spiderweb across the floor.
It wielded powerful attacks using magma and had a ferocious temperament, with records of it reaching up to the 5th hierarchy, though it had also been classified as 6th hierarchy due to its turtle-like sluggish movements that belied its savagery.
Thus, the association had ultimately settled on a grade of 5.5 hierarchy.
A vague level that didn't quite fit anywhere.
Boom!
The floor rumbled as the Magma Tortoise took a single step forward.
Even knowing it was a fabricated lifeform conjured from the space's facilities, its inherent pressure remained undiluted.
A typical player would have swallowed hard and tensed up.
But the first emotion I felt upon spotting it was curiosity.
"Pretty big, huh. For an illusion or phantasm, it's awfully realistic."
I was busy scrutinizing it from every angle.
Intimidated by something that size?
My life had been too eventful for me to get tense over such a trivial scale.
To make me feel threatened by sheer bulk alone, it'd need to be apartment-building sized at least.
Anything that big might actually make me sense danger or tension.
This size was neither small nor large.
If anything, its sluggish body just made it look like an easy target to hit.
The more targets like that, the better, but unfortunately, B-rank only allowed one at most.
"How the hell did it pull off that atrocity in a B-rank exam...?"
"You never know. They said on the news they on-site executed the ringleader of the academy incident. Probably has some real skills."
"Nah, even so, Magma Tortoise is impossible."
Outside the test room, association staff were debating heatedly.
Initially, opinions leaned toward passing, but after seeing the opponent, many reluctantly shifted to failure.
Because the opponent was a Magma Tortoise.
Average 5.5 hierarchy, max record of 5ththe title of upper-hierarchy beast wasn't easily earned. That's why Magma Tortoises were sometimes used even in A-rank tests.
Whatever the case, the test had begun.
[The test will now start.]
The fully realized illusion of the Magma Tortoise charged at me.
Rooooaaarrr!!
It opened its sturdy maw, unleashing a boiling howl from within.
Not quite Fear, but the roar packed considerable impact, so I immediately shaped mana and cast a spell.
"Flame"
Whoosh!
The basic spell that simply released flames struck the Magma Tortoise's body.
Despite investing a fair amount of mana into the blaze, it was swallowed by the magma coursing through its body, merely amplifying its heat.
Beginner fire magic won't cut it, huh.
"Pyrokinesis"
Fwoooosh!
Flames taking tangible form enveloped everything, forming a massive barrier.
If this were ordinary fire, it might have charged through enduring the burns, but alas, this was a structured wall of flame.
Nothing short of physically shattering it would let it pass.
Rooooaaarrr!!
This time, an even louder howl erupted.
The eardrum-shattering boom shook my flame wall violently for a moment, but...
"If one gets messed up, just make another."
I layered another barrier atop the first.
Those watching from outside the test room let out pitying sighs at the sight.
Adding more of those rock-solid but mass-only barriers offered no meaningful damage.
"Such a shame. Magic proficiency looks high, but zero combat experience."
"He's done for. Why'd a pyromancer even try taking on a Magma Tortoise?"
"About time for it to dominate the field."
Thud, thud. No sooner had they spoken than the Magma Tortoise stomped its foreleg, shaking the ground. The floor split open, and magma surged forth.
This was precisely why the Magma Tortoise earned its 5.5 hierarchy rating.
It transformed the surrounding terrain into its favorable domain.
The longer it dragged on, the deeper the magma would seep into the earth, turning the space into an infernal hell that wouldn't even allow footing.
Everyone anticipated defeat in that moment, but the perpetrator himself showed no reaction to the sticky magma.
On the contrary, he was smiling.
Magma covering the ground wasn't much of an issue.
One mustn't forget.
What the material of this barrier was.
"Carrying magma on its shell doesn't make it immune to flames."
Unless it was a ghost or specter, it had flesh.
And flesh burns under fire.
No matter how flame-resistant its hide and shell, I doubted its organs and bones were too.
"Pyrokinesis"
The flame barrier around the Magma Tortoise writhed.
The tangible blaze wove into a wall of long, sharp thorns and spears. Already doubly surrounded, it had nowhere to escape.
Now it was a battle of endurance.
Kraaaack!
Flame thorns and spears pierced its hide.
The fire slowly cooked its veins and flesh, burrowing deeper bit by bit toward the bones. The Magma Tortoise writhed in agony, forgetting even to control its magma.
It looked just like a turtle tossed into a scalding pot.
Yongbontang, delicious.
Time to seal the lid, then.
I swept my hand upward toward the sky.
At the same instant, an intense blaze robbed the surrounding magma of its heat and clamped down like a pot lid. A grotesque chain of magic that seemed to cook the beast alive.
But the essence of this magic wasn't cooking.
Its motif was the medieval torture device, the Iron Maiden.
The iron maiden, packed with densely embedded spikes inside its coffin.
The infamous cold metal torture tool reborn in modern times as a blazing red magic. I had a knack for torture, so crafting it wasn't hard.
It looked like a pot on the outside.
But the contents mattered.
Groooan. I slowly lowered my outstretched hand. The sensation of closing a heavy pot lid tingled at my fingertips.
With the lid sealed...
"PyrokinesisIron Maiden"
KABOOOOOM!!!
Flame thorns poured down from every direction, sparing nothing.
Hundreds, thousands of crimson spikes bored into the Magma Tortoise's shell. They pierced bone, reached organs, and didn't just crush and cook themthey incinerated everything.
The shockwave wasn't confined to shaking the ground; it reverberated outside the test room.
The watching association staff and students weren't just surprisedthey were dumbfounded.
Unlike their stunned faces, my expression wasn't all that satisfied.
"...Boring."
A 5.5 hierarchy should've been no pushover, especially one that countered my primary fire magic.
Yet it died too easily.
Guess I'd been overestimating this world's standards.
Whatever. It felt good to move my body after so long; an itch had been scratched.
Since I was testing anyway, I wanted a proper fight.
Bonus: a chance for an objective self-assessment of my combat prowess.
"Um, is there a staff member there?"
Y-yes! Here. Do you have something to say...?
"No, it's just... Could I go up top to talk about it?"
Sure, come on up and... Ah! We haven't cleared it yet. W-wait a sec, we'll clean it up right away!
Speaking to the air brought a response.
A flustered, urgent voice followed, and everything in the area began vanishing like hurried trash cleanup. Not just the Magma Tortoise's corpse, but the magma it had spread and even the traces of my magicall wiped clean.
Proof the test had ended.
'This seems pretty useful.'
Illusion magic that conjured phantasms.
Manifesting illusions near-indistinguishable from the real thing was basic, and treating every trace of my combat actions as 'illusions' to erase with a finger snap seemed like advanced mastery.
What if I learned that magic?
As I pondered synergies with fire, telekinesis, curses, and spirit commands, the door before me slid open.
Stepping out, I saw the same scenery as beforebut the people's attitudes had shifted dramatically.
Just moments ago, they'd shown no expectations at all; now, they were wide-eyed in shock.
The students' reactions stood out especially.
Lee Ji-na, who'd moved with me in Ephnel's Garden before, and No Yu-ra, whom I'd saved from a 5th hierarchy beast, showed little change. They just nodded with trusting expressions, clapping calmly.
Seo Ye-rin, who'd twisted her ankle during the raid and missed my full fight, flushed red with excitement beyond expectations, pumping her fist overhead.
Isis and Seong Yeon-hwa stared in wide-eyed awe, murmuring "amazing." They apparently hadn't expected much from my real combat ability, but fortunately, I'd exceeded their hopes.
Finally, Isabel gaped in utter disbelief.
"You... did you pop an awakener?"
"Awakener?"
Was she talking about stimulants?
Suddenly, I felt the bag in my pocket.
The seven types of toxic herbs I'd brought to munch on today. Each excelled in paralysis and sleep toxins, offering potent pain relief while boosting mana and magical performance by a rank as an awakener effect.
But I obviously skipped them for an objective test.
I'm not petty enough to cheat in a test. Unlike this body's original owner, maybe.
"As if. Why would I take an awakener? Want me tested? The association has drug scanners."
"R-right? Yeah? Whew, good. I thought you'd doped illegally or something."
"What the... Ah."
I got why she'd mentioned awakeners.
She suspected the magic I'd unleashed in the test room stemmed from doping. Fair suspicion, given my spells were mostly beginner to low-tier basics.
I had learned mid-tier fire magic, but efficiency-wise, I favored basics more.
"Whatever, as long as you didn't."
"What the hell do you take me for?"
"Fianc-ruiner. Trash who lays hands on his fiance."
"..."
Conversations with her always devolved into her spouting nonsense, tormenting me daily. Time I got used to it.
As I couldn't even retort, a woman in a suit came rushing from afar.
She was the association staff who'd spoken to me via the test room speaker earlier.
"C-congrats on passing the B-rank test! License issuance in about an hour, and oh rightwhat was that you wanted to say earlier?"
Newbie, huh.
Her speech was a bit clumsy, but with my crew even clumsier, I nodded nonchalantly.
"Nothing major."
"Y-yes."
"Any higher-rank tests available?"
"...Pardon?"
She stared at me with eyes screaming, That's fucking huge?!